NATIONAL LEAGUE
Pedro Martinez made a victorious return to the mound behind a potent offense to help the Philadelphia Phillies storm to a 12-5 thrashing of the Chicago Cubs in his first start with his new team on Wednesday.
Pitching for the first time since ending a four-year stint with the New York Mets last September, the three-time Cy Young Award winner worked his way through five innings, striking out five batters while allowing three runs.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“It was really fun to get back to the game,” Martinez told reporters. “Last year was a horrible year. [Now] I’m healthy and I’m going to improve. I expect to improve.”
Martinez, who has battled a number of injuries in recent years and is coming back from a shoulder ailment, filed for free agency after last season and was finally signed by the Phillies on July 15.
As the 37-year-old Martinez enjoyed a successful return to his familiar place as a starting pitcher, Chicago youngster Jeff Samardzija was battered by the World Series champions on his first career start.
Philadelphia (63-48) scored eight runs in the fourth inning, forcing Samardzija to leave the game after being charged with seven runs in 3-1/3 innings.
Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez both hit three-run homers in the fourth after Shane Victorino had a two-run shot in the third to help consign the Cubs (58-54) to a fourth straight loss and sixth in their last seven contests.
Chicago is struggling with starting pitchers Ted Lilly and Carlos Zambrano on the disabled list as well as third baseman Aramis Ramirez.
“They hit [Samardzija] hard,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “That’s going to happen when you have two starters on the [disabled list]. This is a tough lineup. This is a world championship team you’re talking about.”
Philadelphia returned to championship form one night after squeaking out a win against Chicago despite recording just three hits. This time around, Philadelphia tallied 14 hits with every starter reaching base safely besides Martinez.
For his part, the wily Martinez allowed hits in the first three innings and got into a no-out bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning but escaped with minimum damage on his way to his 215th career win.
A bizarre moment marred the contest in the fifth inning when a fan threw a cup of beer on center fielder Victorino as he was making a catch. The Cubs general manager offered an apology to the Phillies for the incident.
GIANTS 4, DODGERS 2, 10 INNINGS
At San Francisco, Juan Uribe hit a game-ending two-run homer in the 10th inning allowing San Francisco to avoid a three-game sweep by the archrival Los Angeles.
It was a wild game in which the benches cleared and both Giants manager Bruce Bochy and bench coach — and acting manager — Ron Wotus were ejected in separate arguments.
METS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 4
At Phoenix, Cory Sullivan tripled twice and Gary Sheffield had two singles in his return to the lineup, helping New York avoid a three-game sweep.
Luis Castillo’s pinch-hit single with two outs off Arizona’s Jon Rauch (2-1) brought in the go-ahead run, then Sullivan tripled to the right-center gap to make it 5-3 in the eighth. Soon after, Rauch, upset at the strike zone, and Arizona manager A.J. Hinch were thrown out of the game by plate umpire Mike Everitt.
Also on Wednesday, it was:
• Astros 14, Marlins 6
• Padres 6, Brewers 5
• Cardinals 5, Reds 2
• Rockies 8, Pirates 0
• Braves 6, Nationals 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, SEATTLE
Pinch-hitter Ken Griffey Jr lined a single off the right-field wall with two outs in the bottom of the 14th to give the Mariners a 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night and end the longest scoreless game in Seattle’s 33-year history.
After the second seventh-inning stretch of the night, Adrian Beltre, eight days removed from the disabled list following shoulder surgery, singled with one out in the 14th.
Griffey rekindled his Seattle magic of the 1990s by lining a 1-2 pitch into the corner.
Also on Wednesday, it was:
• Yankees 4, Blue Jays 3, 11 innings
• Red Sox 8, Tigers 2
• Angels 10, Rays 5
• Athletics 6, Orioles 3
• Rangers 5, Indians 0
• Twins 7, Royals 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