American LeagueThe Detroit Tigers wasted a great chance to win the American League Central division, blowing a six-run lead and then watching All-Star starter Kenny Rogers lose in relief 10-8 to the Kansas City Royals in 12 innings on Sunday.
The loss left the Tigers with the AL wild card, meaning manager Jim Leyland's crew will open the playoffs today against the Yankees.
The Minnesota Twins wound up as the Central champion and will start the playoffs at home against Oakland. If the Tigers had won, they would've finished with an identical 96-66 record as the Twins and Detroit would have won the division crown because of its 11-8 mark against Minnesota.
PHOTO: AP
The Tigers loaded the bases with one out in the 11th, but Brandon Inge and Curtis Granderson both struck out.
In the 12th, Esteban German's RBI single and Emil Brown's bases-loaded walk off Rogers (17-8) won it for the last-place Royals.
Twins 5, White Sox 1
At Minneapolis, Minnesota took home another AL Central championship and Joe Mauer became the first catcher to win an American League batting title by getting two hits in a victory over Chicago.
Just over a half hour after the Twin's game ended, Kansas City completed a big comeback and beat Detroit, giving the Twins their fourth division title in five years.
Blue Jays 7, Yankees 5
At New York, Derek Jeter fell short in his quest for a batting crown, going 1-for-5 in New York's loss.
With the game tied 5-5 in the ninth, Adam Lind hit a two-run homer off Kyle Farnsworth (3-6).
Athletics 11, Angels 10
At Anaheim, California, Brendan Donnelly's throwing error enabled Jeremy Brown to score the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and Oakland avoided being swept in a season-ending four-game series.
The A's (93-69), who clinched the AL West championship last Tuesday, enter the postseason having lost six of their last nine games.
Red Sox 9, Orioles 0
At Boston, Devern Hansack pitched no-hit ball for five innings before the game was called because of rain, giving Boston a win. However, the Red Sox rookie was not given official credit for a no-hitter because of the shortened game.
In his second major league outing, Hansack became the ninth AL pitcher to allow no hits in a complete game of less than nine innings.
Indians 6, Devil Rays 3
At Cleveland, Cliff Lee finished strong with his first nine-inning complete game and Cleveland capped an unfulfilling season with a victory and a four-game sweep of Tampa Bay.
Lee (14-11) allowed three runs and seven hits and went nine innings for the first time in his career.
Mariners 3, Rangers 2
At Seattle, major league hits leader Ichiro Suzuki got two more, including a leadoff home run, to jump-start Seattle.
Richie Sexson added his 34th home run of the year in the second inning off Robinson Tejeda (5-5). Adrian Beltre then singled after Yuniesky Betancourt doubled to break a 2-2 tie in the third.
National League
The San Diego Padres clinched the National League West division title as Trevor Hoffman held on in a rough ninth inning to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-6 on Sunday.
The Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers each finished with 88-74 records and both teams had already clinched playoff spots. San Diego earned its second straight division title and the Dodgers won the wild card because the Padres went 13-5 against Los Angeles this season.
The Padres will open the playoffs at home today against St. Louis in a rematch of a series last year that the Cardinals swept. The Dodgers will start the postseason tomorrow against the New York Mets.
Hoffman, the major league saves leader with 482, gave up consecutive home runs to Chad Tracy and Conor Jackson but wound up with his 46th save in 51 chances.
Dodgers 4, Giants 3
At San Francisco, Los Angeles won what might have been Barry Bonds' final game for San Francisco.
Ramon Martinez hit a tying, two-run double in the sixth inning for the Dodgers. Jason Repko stole base and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh on Julio Lugo's single.
Bonds made good with his final swing against the archrival Dodgers, hitting a double in the sixth and then calling it a day.
Bonds has 734 career home runs, 21 from tying Hank Aaron's MLB record of 755.
Braves 3, Astros 1
At Atlanta, defending NL champion Houston came up short in its comeback and was eliminated from the Central division race when John Smoltz (16-9) pitched six shutout innings for Atlanta.
The Astros' loss clinched the division title for St. Louis.
Brewers 5, Cardinals 3
At St. Louis, the Cardinals won their third straight NL Central title despite losing to Milwaukee.
The Cardinals, who lost nine of their last 12, avoided perhaps the biggest September collapse in major league history when the Astros were eliminated with a 3-1 loss to the Braves.
Pirates 1, Reds 0
At Pittsburgh, Freddy Sanchez had two hits while becoming Pittsburgh's first NL batting champion in 23 years, and Xavier Nady's third hit of the game drove in the only run in the eighth inning.
Mets 6, Nationals 2
At Washington, David Wright and Shawn Green each had two hits in the second inning, when the Mets scored six runs on nine hits, New York's season high for an inning.
Cubs 8, Rockies 5
At Chicago, Juan Pierre hit a go-ahead single in a three-run seventh inning and Chicago beat Colorado in what was likely Dusty Baker's final game as manager. Afterward, Cubs president and CEO Andy McPahil resigned. Chicago finished last in the NL.
Marlins 3, Phillies 2
At Miami, Jason Wood hit a bases-loaded, infield single in the 11th inning to score the winning run in what was likely the last game with Florida for manager Joe Girardi.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier