AMERICAN LEAGUE
The Tampa Bay Rays held off the New York Yankees 7-5 on Thursday to avoid a three-game sweep and dent the Yankees’ hopes of making the playoffs.
New York (75-65) fell 11 games behind the American League East leaders and failed to gain any ground in the wild card race, which probably represents their only chance of making it to the postseason.
Starting pitcher Scott Kazmir improved to 11-6 for the Rays (85-53), the left-hander leaving the game with a 6-0 lead following the sixth inning.
Tampa Bay scored five runs in the second inning to chase Yankees starter Darrell Rasner from the mound. Rays third baseman Willy Aybar finished 2-for-4 with three RBI, including a solo homer in the fourth.
Rays relief pitcher Jason Hammel gave up five runs to the Yankees in the ninth, including home runs to Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, but Dan Wheeler came on to get the final out of the game and record his 11th save of the year.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said his team had missed an opportunity to make headway in the race for the playoffs.
“We had a chance to sweep them,” he said. “That would’ve been big for us, but we didn’t and we have to move on.”
BLUE JAYS 9, TWINS 0
At Toronto, Jesse Litsch threw a four-hit shutout as Toronto completed a three-game sweep of Minnesota.
Litsch (10-8) walked two and struck out three and is 2-1 with a 0.94 ERA in four starts since being recalled from Triple-A on Aug. 14.
Travis Snider hit his first career home run and went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to help Toronto beat Minnesota for the ninth straight meeting.
In other games it was:
• Angels 7, Tigers 1
• Royals 5, Athletics 4, 10 innings
• Royals 9, Athletics 6
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Will Venable hit his first career homer as the San Diego Padres beat Milwaukee 5-2 on Thursday, handing the slumping Brewers their fourth straight loss.
Nick Hundley and Luis Rodriguez each drove in two runs for San Diego, which had lost nine straight on the road and is tied with Washington and Seattle for the fewest wins in the majors.
With all of the National League’s playoff hopefuls taking the day off, maybe Milwaukee should have, too. The Brewers’ wild-card lead was trimmed to four games over Philadelphia, and they fell five games behind NL Central-leading Chicago with 22 games left.
Fresh off being swept by the New York Mets, Milwaukee fell to 0-4 on a 10-game homestand, but this loss was much more troubling.
The Padres, mired in last in the NL West, took advantage of every opportunity Jeff Suppan (10-8) and Milwaukee gave them. J.J. Hardy hit his 22nd homer for the Brewers.
REDS 8, PIRATES 6
At Cincinnati, Joey Votto hit a solo homer and a tiebreaking, bases-loaded single in the eighth inning, completing Cincinnati’s rally from a five-run deficit.
By scoring three times in the eighth, Cincinnati avoided a sweep by the Pirates, who have dropped 11 of their last 13 games.
BRAVES 2, NATIONALS 0
At Atlanta, James Parr tossed six sharp innings in his major league debut, leading Atlanta past Washington.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Forget Real Madrid, Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain, the world’s best soccer team — statistically speaking — might be a little-known outfit from the closed central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. Founded last year, Arkadag, named in honor of former Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, have been unstoppable, notching up 36 consecutive domestic victories in a run still ongoing. The side have not lost a single competitive match and swept to a league and cup double in their inaugural season — success unthinkable almost anywhere else. However, in Turkmenistan, it could hardly have gone any other way. The energy-rich country is one of the most closed
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and