Jacque Jones hit a bases-loaded triple in Chicago's seven-run fifth inning and Carlos Zambrano pitched seven innings in the Cubs' 8-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League on Saturday.
Zambrano (2-2) is unbeaten against the Cardinals in his last eight starts, going 5-0 with a 1.54 ERA. He ended a three-game winless streak by allowing one run and seven hits with two strikeouts.
Jones had two hits in the fifth and went 3-for-4 overall with four RBIs. Derrek Lee continued his hot start for the Cubs, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Lee has reached base in all 23 games he's played and is batting .391.
PHOTO: AP
Albert Pujols led off the seventh with his sixth homer of the season for St. Louis. It was the 256th of his career, moving him ahead of Ken Boyer and into second place on the Cardinals' home-run list behind only Stan Musial, who hit 475 homers.
Reds 8, Pirates 1
At Pittsburgh, Matt Belisle didn't allow a baserunner until the sixth inning and finished with a five-hitter for his first complete game and Cincinnati ended Pittsburgh's five-game winning streak. Belisle retired the Pirates' first 16 batters until Ronny Paulino hit a double into the right-center gap with Cincinnati up 5-0 in the sixth.
Astros 10, Brewers 1
At Houston, Craig Biggio had a triple and three RBIs and Houston put an end to a seven-game losing streak. Lance Berkman, Mark Loretta and Adam Everett each had two RBIs and the Astros shook out of an offensive slump on their way to their highest run total so far this season.
Marlins 11, Phillies 5
At Philadelphia, Miguel Cabrera had a career-best five hits for Florida and Dontrelle Willis won despite struggling through just more than six innings. Cabrera had four singles and his seventh homer of the year.
Braves 6, Rockies 2
At Denver, John Smoltz continued his mastery of Colorado and Chipper Jones drove in two runs for Atlanta. Smoltz (3-1) allowed two runs, nine hits, and struck out eight in seven innings.
Mets 6, Nationals 2
At Washington, Carlos Beltran and David Wright delivered two-run hits in the 12th inning for New York. Beltran's double down the first-base line off Ryan Wagner snapped a 2-2 tie and Wright's single to left tacked on two more runs.
Padres 3, Dodgers 2
At San Diego, Trevor Hoffman rebounded from two straight blown save opportunities to close the door on Los Angeles, sealing the win for Greg Maddux and San Diego. After blowing save chances in consecutive appearances for the first time in 10 years, Hoffman pitched a perfect ninth.
Diamondbacks 5, Giants 4
At Phoenix, Barry Bonds hit his 742nd career home run for San Francisco. Scott Hairston hit his 14th, and it lifted Arizona to the win. Hairston, a pinch-hitter, hit reliever Vinnie Chulk's first pitch into the left-field seats with two runners on to give the Diamondbacks a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning.
A bizarre set of circumstances in Baltimore's 7-4 win over Cleveland on Saturday led to a run that was waved off in the third inning before being added to the Orioles' total three innings later. Corey Patterson hit a two-run double in the eighth inning to help the Orioles snap a five-game losing streak and end the Indians' winning streak at six.
Twins 11, Tigers 3
At Detroit, Justin Morneau homered and Minnesota roughed up Justin Verlander and Detroit with 17 hits. Morneau had three hits and scored three times for the Twins, who reached base 23 times against five Tigers pitchers.
Rangers 9, Blue Jays 8
At Toronto, Hank Blalock atoned for an earlier error with a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to lift Texas to the win. Michael Young hit a one-out double in the 10th and stole third. Mark Teixeira walked and Sammy Sosa was given a free pass from Brian Tallet (0-1) before Blalock flied out to the warning track in center field to drive in Young.
Yankees 3, Red Sox 1
At New York, Kei Igawa came from being banished to the bullpen to saving struggling New York when it desperately needed him. Igawa (2-1) shut out Boston for six-plus innings after starter Jeff Karstens broke his leg off the first pitch and New York snapped a seven-game losing streak. Jorge Posada hit a two-run homer off knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.
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