Veteran Philadelphia pitcher Jamie Moyer took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, extending his dominance over Florida and giving the Phillies a 3-0 win over the Marlins in the National League on Thursday.
Philadelphia scored two runs off a wild pitch on the way to avoiding a three-game sweep, putting the Phillies three games clear of Florida atop the NL East.
The 45-year-old Moyer allowed only two hits in eight innings, trimming his ERA from 4.56 to 4.12. He remained perfect against Florida — 9-0 in nine career starts.
Cubs 3, Braves 2, 11 innings
In Chicago, pitcher Jeff Ridgway hit Reed Johnson with the bases loaded in the 11th inning, giving Chicago victory over reeling Atlanta.
The Braves have lost six straight and fell to 7-24 on the road this season. They have lost their past 21 one-run games on the road since August, matching the longest such streak in major league history.
Chicago’s Jim Edmonds tied it at 2 with a one-out solo homer in the ninth, setting the stage for the comeback victory.
The bases were loaded before Ridgway came into the game, and subsequently struck Johnson.
Reds 6, Cardinals 2
In Cincinatti, Brandon Phillips hit a three-run triple in a four-run seventh inning which secured a win for Cincinatti over St. Louis.
The Reds loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh. A walk delivered the go-ahead run and Phillips followed with a drive down the right-field line.
Brewers 9, Astros 6
In Houston, Ben Sheets struck out a season-high nine batters as Milwaukee downed Houston.
Mike Cameron and Corey Hart homered for the second straight game as the Brewers took two of three in the road series.
D’backs 5, Mets 4, 10 innings
In New York, closing pitcher Billy Wagner blew his third consecutive save chance as New York lost to Arizona.
The All-Star closer squandered a two-run lead in the ninth inning.
Padres 9, Dodgers 0
In San Diego, the home team scored five first-inning runs in a win over Los Angeles.
Padres pitcher Jake Peavy combined with three relievers on a five-hitter in his first start in nearly a month since being sidelined by a strained right elbow.
Pirates 7, Nationals 5
In Pittsburgh, Ryan Doumit hit another home run in Pittsburgh’s win over Washington.
In the three-game series, the Pirates catcher went 9-for-11 with four home runs, two doubles and seven RBIs to help the hosts win two of three.
Giants 10, Rockies 7
In Denver, Fred Lewis hit a three-run homer to help San Francisco avoid being swept by Colorado.
Giants second baseman Ray Durham picked up his 2,000th career hit.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, BOSTON
Mike Lowell hit his second grand slam of the season to trigger the Boston Red Sox to yet another home win on Thursday, beating the Baltimore Orioles 9-2 in the American League.
The Red Sox are 18-3 in their past 21 games at Fenway Park. Their 28-7 home record is the best in the majors, but their 14-20 mark away from home is the worst of the six divisional leaders going into a six-game road trip that started yesterday.
Indians 12, Twins 2
In Cleveland, Ben Francisco and Jamey Carroll had four hits apiece to lead injury-depleted Cleveland over Minnesota.
Even with five key players from last year’s AL Central champion team on the disabled list, the Indians had 18 hits.
Second baseman Carroll went 4-for-4 with an RBI and was 8-for-9 in the three-game series. Francisco went 4-for-5 with three RBIs.
Yankees 4, Athletics 1
In Oakland, California, Hideki Matsui hit a grand slam on his 34th birthday and that was all the runs New York needed to beat Oakland.
Pitcher Andy Pettitte move into a tie for fourth place on the New York Yankees career wins list. Pettitte bounced back from giving up a career high-tying 10 runs last Saturday to shut down the A’s and tie Ron Guidry with his 170th victory in Yankee pinstripes. Pettitte allowed only one run in a season-high eight innings.
New York was held scoreless until the sixth inning, when Matsui hit his fifth career grand slam.
Tigers 2, White Sox 1
In Detroit, Miguel Cabrera hit a game-ending solo homer in the ninth inning as Detroit completed a three-game sweep of Chicago.
Cabrera hit a 2-1 pitch into the stands in right-center field for his ninth homer of the season, ending a game that lasted only two hours and four minutes.
Royals 6, Rangers 5
In Kansas City, Missouri, Alex Gordon and Mike Aviles each hit two-run homers as Kansas City avoided a three-game sweep by Texas.
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
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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