American LeagueJohan Santana struck out 11 in Minnesota's 12-1 victory over the Tigers on Sunday, pitching two-hit ball into the seventh inning and pulling the Twins within two games of first-place Detroit in Major League Baseball's American League Central Division.
Indians 5, White Sox 2
In Chicago, Victor Martinez hit a tiebreaking homer in the ninth inning, C.C. Sabathia pitched a four-hitter and Cleveland beat Chicago to split a four-game series. The White Sox remained 3 1/2 games behind Detroit in the AL Central.
Athletics 9, Devil Rays 7
In St. Petersburg, Florida, Frank Thomas homered for the fifth consecutive game and drove in three runs to help AL West-leading Oakland beat Tampa Bay. Eric Chavez hit a two-run shot and had a tiebreaking RBI double off Shawn Camp (7-3) that made it 7-6 in the seventh. Marco Scutaro added an eighth-inning homer. Nick Swisher connected earlier.
Angels 4, Blue Jays 3
In Anaheim, California, Jered Weaver struck out Troy Glaus with the bases loaded to help preserve his 11th victory, and Los Angeles took advantage of a first-inning injury to Toronto ace Roy Halladay.
Yankees 9, Orioles 4
In Baltimore, Derek Jeter extended his career-high hitting streak to 20 games, going 2-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs to lead New York over Baltimore.
Red Sox 9, Royals 3
In Boston, David Ortiz hit his career-best 48th homer and Wily Mo Pena drove in two runs to help Boston snap a three-game skid with a win over Kansas City. The Red Sox avoided being swept at home by the Royals for the first time since April 1996. Boston remained 7 1/2 games behind Minnesota in the wild-card race.
Rangers 4, Mariners 2
In Seattle, Michael Young got three hits and drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning to help Texas beat Seattle and end a three-game losing streak.
C.J. Wilson (2-2) earned the win and Akinori Otsuka worked the ninth for his 32nd save in 35 chances. The loss ended the Mariners' four-game winning streak.
National League
Dontrelle Willis threw a three-hitter and struck out a career-best 12 in his first shutout of the season, carrying the Florida Marlins to a 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday and earning them a split of a four-game series between NL wild-card hopefuls.
Willis (10-11) retired his last 13 batters and never allowed a runner to advance past second in his eighth career shutout. He threw 80 of his 122 pitches for strikes and walked only one.
Brewers 4, Astros 0
In Milwaukee, Dave Bush pitched a five-hitter and struck out a season-high 10 in his third career shutout, leading the Brewers past the Astros.
It was the second shutout this season for Bush (11-10), who earned his fifth win since Aug. 1. He has three complete games this year and six in his career.
Dodgers 9, Mets 1
In New York, Eric Stults pitched with unusual poise for a 26-year-old making his first Major League Baseball start, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a big September boost.
Reds 4, Pirates 2
In Cincinnati, Bronson Arroyo pitched eight solid innings for his third straight win and Brandon Phillips drove in the go-ahead run to help the Reds beat the Pirates.
Arroyo (13-9) allowed four hits and two runs with no walks and seven strikeouts.
Braves 2, Cubs 1
In Atlanta, Lance Cormier pitched seven solid innings and struck out a career-high 10, and Brian McCann doubled in the go-ahead run in the sixth to help the Braves hand the Cubs their ninth straight road loss.
Cormier (3-4) allowed eight hits and didn't walk anyone. Bob Wickman struck out two in the ninth for his 13th save in 14 attempts.
Rockies 13, Nationals 9
In Denver, Todd Helton hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the seventh inning, Matt Holliday homered and drove in three runs, and the Rockies outslugged the Nationals to sweep their season series.
Helton was hitless in his previous 10 plate appearances before hitting his fourth career slam. Holliday finished 3-for-5 with his 28th home run of the year.
Diamondbacks 9, Cardinals 7
In Phoenix, Tony Clark and Eric Byrnes hit solo home runs in the eighth inning to lift Arizona over St. Louis. With two outs in the eighth, Clark and Byrnes homered on consecutive pitches from Cardinals reliever Jorge Sosa.
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