Justin Verlander gave up one run in seven innings, helping the Detroit Tigers beat Minnesota 7-2 on Thursday and extending their American League Central lead to five games over the second-place Twins.
Verlander (16-7) struck out five and walked two, allowing a seventh-inning homer to Michael Cuddyer. Detroit, which once led by 10 games, is a mere 10-18 since Aug. 7.
Curtis Granderson hit a tone-setting homer on the third pitch of the night by Scott Baker (4-8), and Marcus Thames took him deep in the second, a two-run shot that put Detroit up 3-0.
PHOTO: AP
Joe Mauer, clinging to the AL batting lead, went 1-for-4 and saw his average drop to .3444, just ahead of the Yankees' Derek Jeter (.3439).
Indians 9, White Sox 1
At Chicago, Cliff Lee (12-10) gave up one run and five hits in six innings and Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez homered off Mark Buehrle (12-12). Chicago has lost six of eight, remained one-half game behind Minnesota for the AL wild card and dropped five-and-a-half games behind Detroit in the AL Central.
The Florida Marlins' bid for back-to-back no-hitters ended in the first inning, and Ryan Howard's 54th home run -- his 10th in 15 games -- helped the Philadelphia Phillies rally for a 14-8 victory on Thursday.
Chris Coste, Chase Utley and Jeff Conine also homered, and Philadelphia overcame a 3-0 deficit against Josh Johnson (12-7) to win the opener of a four-game series.
Pirates 7, Cubs 5
At Chicago, Chris Duffy homered leading off the game, then hit a tiebreaking drive in the ninth inning off Scott Eyre (0-2) for his third homer in 353 career at-bats. One out later, Xavier Nady homered against Ryan Dempster.
Mets 7, Dodgers 0
At New York, Tom Glavine (13-6) won for the first time since Aug. 5, and Jose Reyes flew around the bases for his first career inside-the-park home run as New York trounced Los Angeles.
Cardinals 6, Diamondbacks 2
At Phoenix, Scott Spiezio homered twice in a game for the first time since May 2003 as the Cardinals opened a six-and-a-half-game lead over Cincinnati in the NL Central and sent Arizona to its eighth loss in nine games.
Jeff Weaver (3-4) gave up two runs and five hits in five innings. Miguel Batista (10-6) allowed five runs and six hits in six innings. He had been 4-0 in 13 starts since losing to Tampa Bay on June 20.
Rockies 10, Nationals 5
At Denver, Jamey Carroll got the go-ahead hit, one of three straight infield singles in a five-run eighth and Colorado downed Washington.
Austin Kearns hit an RBI single in the top half and scored on Brian Schneider's double off Jeremy Affeldt.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but