NATIONAL LEAGUE
Jason Marquis became Major League Baseball’s first 12-game winner this season when he led the Colorado Rockies to a 6-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
Marquis (12-6), in addition to a strong eight innings on the mound, drove in two runs with a double in a four-run sixth inning.
PHOTO: AP
“I haven’t swung a bat in the past week or so with the All-Star break, and I hadn’t taken [batting practice] this road trip yet,” Marquis told reporters. “I felt good and I just tried to see it and hit it as hard as I could.”
The All-Star right-hander struck out three and walked none while giving up five hits and one run.
“When he starts throwing strikes early in the count and gets the opposition swinging, the ball starts getting hit on the ground [and] he gets a lot of easy outs,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “This is when Jason Marquis is at his best, and he was today.”
Ian Stewart and Brad Hawpe also hit solo home runs for Colorado, who won for the seventh time in 10 games.
Stewart gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead with his fourth-inning homer and Hawpe made it 3-0 with his blast in the sixth.
The win spoiled the Major League pitching debut of 21-year-old Padres rookie Mat Latos (0-1), who gave up three hits and two runs in four innings. He struck out four and walked one.
“There’s no questioning the fastball and the arm that the kid has,” Tracy said. “He’s got a very powerful arm. When he starts to get to the point where he commands his secondary pitches, he’s going to be a tough customer.”
PHILLIES 5, MARLINS 0
Unbeaten rookie pitcher J.A. Happ allowed five hits in seven innings as the Philadelphia Phillies extended their longest winning streak since 2006 to eight games by beating the Florida Marlins on Sunday.
Happ (7-0) also singled with two outs to start a three-run rally in the second inning.
Jimmy Rollins had three hits by the third, while Raul Ibanez doubled home two runs for the Phillies, who have won eight in a row in Miami.
Philadelphia won for the 12th time in 13 games. The winning streak is the Phillies’ longest since they won nine in a row April 30 to May 9, 2006. They are 29-15 on the road, best in the majors.
Florida fell seven games behind Philadelphia in the NL East.
In other NL action, it was:
• Reds 5, Brewers 3
• Cubs 11, Nationals 3
• Giants 4, Pirates 3
• Cardinals 2, Diamondbacks 1
• Dodgers 4, Astros 3
• Braves 7, Mets 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, TORONTO
Roy Halladay allowed just six hits to win for the first time since June 7 and Rod Barajas drove in three runs to lead the Toronto Blue Jays past the Boston Red Sox 3-1 in the American League on Sunday.
Halladay (11-3) could be the biggest prize available before the July 31 trade deadline. Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said this month he would field offers for the 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner, who is signed through next year.
YANKEES 2, TIGERS 1
At New York, Joba Chamberlain won for the first time in almost a month as New York got home runs from Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez in a victory over Detroit that completed a three-game sweep of the AL Central leaders.
Chamberlain (5-2) rebounded from two ineffective starts and New York edged punchless Detroit 2-1 for the second consecutive day.
Chamberlain allowed three hits over six-and-two-third innings in his longest effort since he tossed eight innings in New York’s 5-2 victory at Cleveland on June 1. He struck out eight and walked three as the Yankees pulled within one game of AL East-leading Boston.
It was the right-hander’s first victory since June 24 at Atlanta.
Mariano Rivera finished for his 26th save in 27 opportunities and third of the series. It was the first time since September that Rivera saved three games in three days.
In other AL action, it was:
• Mariners 5, Indians 3
• Orioles 10, White Sox 2
• Rays 4, Royals 3
• Angels 1, Athletics 0, 10 inns
• Rangers 5, Twins 3, 12 inns
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