NATIONAL LEAGUE
The Los Angeles Dodgers closed within two games of Arizona in the National League West by beating the Diamondbacks 4-2 on Saturday.
PHOTO: AP
New Dodger acquisitions Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake hit their first home runs as National Leaguers to complement a strong pitching effort by Hiroki Kuroda.
PHOTO: AP
Kuroda allowed just one run in 7 1-3 innings, striking out six and walking none — a marked contrast to recent form that saw him give up 20 earned runs in 18-and-a-third innings.
Ramirez, playing his second game since the Dodgers obtained him from Boston on Thursday, drove the first pitch he saw deep into the seats in left-center in the first inning for a 2-0 lead.
Phillies 2, Cardinals 1
In St. Louis, pitcher Joe Blanton won his first game since joining Philadelphia, steering the in-form Phillies past St. Louis.
The former Oakland pitcher gave up only four hits and struck out five in seven innings.
The NL East-leading Philadelphia needed just two solo homers to get the victory.
The Phillies have homered in 11 straight games, and have won six of seven.
Greg Dobbs, who leads the majors with 20 pinch hits, hit his fourth homer of the season on the first pitch of the third inning.
In the fourth, Ryan Howard hit his 31st for his major league leading 96th RBI.
Marlins 5, Rockies 3
In Miami, pitcher Ricky Nolasco struck out a career-high 13 batters to guide Florida over Colorado.
Nolasco allowed just four hits over eight innings and did not walk a batter to earn his first win in five appearances.
Jeff Baker finished with three RBIs. His two-run homer in the second inning put Florida ahead, and he drove in another run in the third.
Brewers 4, Braves 2
In Atlanta, Milwaukee equaled a club record of nine straight road wins by beating Atlanta.
C.C. Sabathia pitched deep into the game in another terrific outing for the Brewers, who stayed four games off NL Central leader Chicago.
Sabathia struck out nine in 8 1-3 innings, allowing only two runs. He has a 1.88 ERA in six starts with Milwaukee, which acquired him from Cleveland last month.
Prince Fielder led off the seventh inning with his 24th homer of the season, tying the game 1-1. Milwaukee added a further run in the seventh before Fielder hit a two-run homer in the eighth.
Cubs 5, Pirates 1
In Chicago, the home team won its sixth game in seven by beating Pittsburgh.
Reed Johnson had three hits and Geovany Soto drove in two runs for the NL Central-leading Cubs.
Giants 2, Padres 0
In San Diego, Barry Zito pitched a season-high eight innings to shut down San Diego and steer San Francisco to a narrow victory.
Zito, a former Cy Young award winner who has the most losses in the majors this year after a dire start to the season, gave up only three hits in a pitching duel against San Diego ace Jake Peavy. Each pitcher allowed just two hits through the first six innings.
The game was scoreless until the seventh when the Giants broke through.
Astros 5, Mets 4, 10 innings
In Houston, Lance Berkman sprinted to home plate on a lined sacrifice fly to give Houston a dramatic win over New York.
The Astros won after leveling the game with a memorable play in the bottom of the ninth.
New York was leading 4-2 when Houston loaded the bases with one out.
A lined single to left field brought home two runners at one, with Mark Loretta right on the heels of Hunter Pence.
Both crashed into the New York catcher in a play at the plate to score and put the Mets backstop out of the game with an ankle injury.
Nationals 10, Reds 6
In Washington, infielder Pete Orr picked up his first RBIs in more than 15 months as Washington beat Cincinnati.
Orr slapped a pinch-hit, two-run single into left field in the seventh inning to put Washington ahead to stay.
His single capped a four-run inning and gave the Nationals something they haven’t had since June — consecutive wins at home.
Orr has only 20 RBIs in 399 career at-bats.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Results from Saturday’s games:
• KANSAS CITY 9, WHITE SOX 7
• CLEVELAND 5, MINNESOTA 1
• BOSTON 12, OAKLAND 2
• NY YANKEES 8, LA ANGELS 2
• TAMPA BAY 9, DETROIT 3
• TORONTO 6, TEXAS 4
• BALTIMORE 3, SEATTLE 1
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