AMERICAN LEAGUE
Daisuke ‘Dice-K’ Matsuzaka made a stunning return to Major League Baseball on Tuesday, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
Making his first appearance following a three-month layoff for a shoulder injury, Matsuzaka showed no signs of rustiness as he struck out five batters in six innings.
PHOTO: REUTERS
He easily won his duel with in-form Angels pitcher John Lackey, who had given up one earned run in his last three games.
In the opener of a three-game series between teams that could meet in the playoffs for the second straight year, the Red Sox forged ahead in the sixth inning.
A throwing error by Lackey allowed Alex Gonzalez to open the scoring and David Ortiz added an RBI single in the inning and belted his 24th home run this season in the eighth to seal the victory.
Tuesday’s win was the sixth in a row for the Red Sox (85-58), who took a 5.5 game advantage in the AL wild card race. The Angels (86-58), who lead the AL West by six games, suffered their second straight loss.
Lackey went 7-2/3 innings, but received only a run of support when Erick Aybar hit an RBI double against closer Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth.
The Los Angeles offense had just three hits against Matsuzaka.
Boston was missing slugger Kevin Youkilis, out of the line-up because of back spasms.
BLUE JAYS 10, YANKEES 4
In New York, Jorge Posada, the New York catcher, got into a fight with Toronto pitcher Jesse Carlson, sparking a frenzied, bench‑clearing brawl during the Blue Jays’ victory.
Two Toronto batters were hit by pitches, and Carlson retaliated by throwing one behind Posada in the eighth.
After later scoring, Posada brushed Carlson — backing up at home plate — after crossing to complete the run.
The umpire ejected Posada as Carlson shouted abuse at the catcher. The two wrestled to the ground as the benches and bullpens emptied and scuffles broke out.
Posada squared off with Toronto catcher Rod Barajas before being restrained by pitcher C.C. Sabathia. Somewhere under the pile of players was Carlson, who suffered a large bruise on the left side of his head.
Yankees manager Joe Giradi was left with a cut on his ear and a black eye.
Despite the severity of the brawl, Carlson and Posada were the only players thrown out of the game.
Both teams are waiting to hear about possible suspensions from the league’s disciplinary committee.
Also on Tuesday, it was:
• Athletics 6, Rangers 1
• White Sox 6, Mariners 3
• Royals 11, Tigers 1
• Twins 5, Indians 4
• Orioles 10, Rays 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, ST LOUIS, MISSOURI
Florida rookie Sean West had a season-high nine strikeouts to outpitch St Louis ace Adam Wainwright and steer the Marlins to a vital 2-1 win over the Cardinals on Tuesday in the National League.
Dan Uggla’s two-run homer in the sixth was the go-ahead hit for Florida, who edged within 4.5 games of the wild card berth with 17 to play.
The 23-year-old West topped his previous strikeout best of seven in six strong innings.
Also on Tuesday, it was:
• Giants 10, Rockies 2
• Cubs 13, Brewers 7
• Dodgers 5, Pirates 4, 13 innings
• Braves 6, Mets 0
• Reds 5, Astros 4
• Phillies 5, Nationals 0
• Diamondbacks 4, Padres 2
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