NATIONAL LEAGUE
Nomar Garciaparra’s one-out homer in the bottom of the ninth gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a 7-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday and a share of the lead in the National League’s West Division.
Garciaparra lined a pitch just over the fence in left field for his sixth homer of the season and first this month. He was playing his second game since coming off the disabled list.
It was a third straight win for Los Angeles over Philadelphia, who dropped into a tie with New York for first place in the NL East.
The Dodgers trailed 6-1 in the middle of the second inning and only tied the game 6-6 in the eighth before Garciaparra’s winner.
ROCKIES 6, DIAMONDBACKS 5
In Denver, Colorado relief pitcher Brian Fuentes got the final out of the game with bases loaded to snatch a narrow win over Arizona.
Fuentes issued an intentional walk with two outs in the ninth to load the bases, then retired Adam Dunn on a ground ball.
Dunn, acquired from Cincinnati on Monday and tied for the major league lead with 32 homers, grounded out on a full-count pitch.
Defeat cost Arizona its outright lead in the West.
CUBS 10, BRAVES 2, 1ST GAME
CUBS 8, BRAVES 0, 2ND GAME
In Atlanta, Chicago recorded its first road doubleheader sweep for 16 years by doubling up on Atlanta.
In the opener, Geovany Soto hit a two-run double in the second and a two-run homer in the ninth, while Jim Edmonds also homered.
In the second, Rich Harden allowed only two hits in five innings to steer Chicago to victory. He combined with four relief pitchers for a three-hit shutout — the Cubs’ fifth this season.
Chicago has won all five of its games against Atlanta this season.
In other games it was:
• Cardinals 6, Marlins 4
• Brewers 7, Padres 1
• Mets 12, Nationals 0
• Astros 6, Giants 2
• Pirates 5, Reds 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, OAKLAND, California
Eric Hinske had three hits, including a home run, and Ben Zobrist doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh as Tampa Bay beat Oakland 3-2 on Wednesday.
Carlos Pena hit a home run for the first-place Rays, who maintained their three-game lead over Boston in the American League East. The Rays have won four of five and 10 of 14
Eric Patterson, who was recalled from Sacramento earlier on Wednesday, drove in two runs for the Athletics, while Mark Ellis and Bobby Crosby both had two hits.
In other games it was:
• Mariners 10, Angels 7,
12 innings
• Red Sox 8, Rangers 4
• Twins 4, Yankees 2
• White Sox 4, Royals 0
• Blue Jays 4, Tigers 3
• Orioles 6, Indians 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