NATIONAL LEAGUE
The Major League-leading Los Angeles Dodgers escaped a jam in the ninth inning to continue their recent domination of the Chicago Cubs in a 2-1 win on Thursday.
In their first meeting since sweeping the Cubs in last year’s National League Division Series, Dodgers reliever Ramon Troncoso struck out two batters with the bases loaded in the final inning to give his team their fourth win in a row.
PHOTO: AP
The right-hander went two innings, pitching his way into and out of trouble, to preserve the win for starter Randy Wolf, who struck out seven and allowed one run in seven innings.
“Troncoso was amazing,” Dodgers manager Joe Torre told reporters. “That high-wire act — he wiggled himself off. He’s proven himself to me, I am not worried about him anymore.”
The Dodgers (34-15), winners of nine of their last 11 games, took an early lead on a bunt single from Rafael Furcal in the first inning and a groundout by Casey Blake in the third.
Chicago (23-23) infielder Bobby Scales, a career minor-league player getting his first action this year, hit a home run in the eighth to make it a one-run game but the Cubs also squandered a two-on, two-out scenario in the inning, finishing the game 1-for-17 with men on base.
Scales and Fox struck out to end the game for Chicago, who have lost nine of their last 11 games.
Owners of the best record in the National League a year ago, the Cubs have dealt with injuries this year.
“We’ve got about 100 games to go. We haven’t shot ourselves in the foot,” Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee said. “If it was September and we’re five games out then OK. It’s too early to be worrying about expectations.”
The streaking Dodgers have played through the suspension of slugger Manny Ramirez, out 50 games for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs as of May 7.
Outfielder Juan Pierre has thrived in his place and finished 2-for-4 with a run against the Cubs.
DIAMONDBACKS 5, BRAVES 2
In Phoenix, Arizona, Dan Haren outpitched Derek Lowe to steer Arizona past Atlanta.
The Diamondbacks took advantage of second baseman Kelly Johnson’s error to score four times in the fourth inning.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
Jason Varitek hit two home runs and was one of four people ejected by umpire Todd Tichenor during Boston’s 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins in the American League on Thursday.
Joe Crede hit a home run in his return from a three-game absence because of a bruised hand, but Red Sox starter Josh Beckett (5-2) allowed only one run on three hits with four walks and eight strikeouts in seven innings.
In other AL games, it was:
• Indians 2, Rays 1
• Orioles 5, Tigers 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
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
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