AMERICAN LEAGUE
REUTERS AND AP, KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, AND TORONTO
PHOTO: EPA
An 11th inning single from Erick Aybar powered the Los Angeles Angels to a 2-1 road win over the cellar-dwelling Kansas City Royals on Saturday.
Aybar drove in Torii Hunter from second base with his third hit of the game to end a classic pitchers’ duel and push the American League West-leading Angels (80-54) four-and-a-half games clear of the Texas Rangers.
Kansas City, mired at the bottom of the AL Central division with a 51-84 record, dropped to 23 games behind the Detroit Tigers.
Kevin Jepsen (5-3), who pitched the 10th inning, collected the win in relief of Angels starter John Lackey, who had held the Royals to a first-inning run and six hits in nine innings. He retired 17 consecutive batters at one point.
“They were pretty aggressive against me,” Lackey told reporters. “I was getting ahead with my fastball, locating my fastball really well, and I kind of rode it for three or four innings.”
Angels manager Mike Scioscia praised both his pitcher and Royals starter Zack Greinke.
“We’re not going to beat a guy like Greinke unless you’re pitching with them,” Scioscia said. “We were able to do that and then chipped away for a run, and the bullpen did a good job.”
Brian Fuentes earned the save, his 39th, by pitching the 11th inning for Los Angeles.
Yasuhiko Yabuta (0-1) gave up the winning hit to Aybar and took the loss.
Greinke shut out the Angels until the eighth inning when Hunter deadlocked the score with a two-out single. He struck out eight and walked two while giving up eight hits over eight innings.
“Their team’s good, they find a way to win,” said Greinke, who lowered his American League-leading earned run average to 2.22. “If some balls fell and we scored more, they’d have found a way to win probably. They’ve just got a really good team.”
Kansas City’s run came on Billy Butler’s single in the first.
YANKEES 6, BLUE JAYS 4
Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano homered to lead New York to a 6-4 win over Toronto on Saturday, extending their lead in the American League East division standings.
Both homers came off Toronto rookie pitcher Brett Cecil, who allowed seven hits in four-and-two-third innings.
Yankees veteran pitcher Andy Pettitte extended his unbeaten streak to eight starts despite not making it past the sixth inning in this one.
In other AL action, it was:
• Tigers 8, Rays 6
• White Sox 5, Red Sox 1
• Athletics 9, Mariners 5
• Orioles 5, Rangers 4
• Angels 2, Royals 1, 11 inns
• Twins 4, Indians 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, LOS ANGELES
Andre Ethier homered and doubled in a run as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 7-4 on Saturday, moving a step closer to sealing the NL West title.
Pitcher Randy Wolf earned his 100th major league victory. He allowed four hits in seven innings, striking out five with no walks while becoming the first pitcher in the majors this season to make 30 starts.
The left-hander, whose season has included 14 no-decisions, retired his final 13 batters.
The Dodgers retained a four-and-a-half game lead in the NL West with 25 to play.
GIANTS 3, BREWERS 2
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Matt Cain outpitched Yovani Gallardo for his first win in more than six weeks and San Francisco edged Milwaukee.
Gallardo gave up a homer to spark a two-run rally in the fourth inning and the Giants went on to win, staying one game behind Colorado in the wild card race.
ROCKIES 4, DIAMONDBACKS 1
In Denver, Colorado, Jose Contreras pitched six-and-two-third innings to lead the hosts over Arizona.
Acquired last Monday from the Chicago White Sox for a minor leaguer, Contreras paid immediate dividends for the Rockies, keeping them ahead in the wild card showdown.
CARDINALS 2, PIRATES 1, 10 INNS
In Pittsburgh, Albert Pujols led off the 10th inning with his second career pinch-hit home run as St Louis defeated the home team.
The Pirates suffered a ninth straight loss, despite pitcher Ross Ohlendorf giving up only an unearned run in eight innings.
Pittsburgh lost its 81st game of the season. With one more defeat, they would become the first team in any of the four major American major sports to have 17 consecutive losing seasons.
In other NL action, it was:
• Reds 3, Braves 1
• Cubs 5, Mets 3
• Marlins 9, Nationals 5
• Astros 5, Phillies 4
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