Martin Prado extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a first-inning home run to spark the Atlanta Braves to a 6-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Thursday.
Prado, whose streak started last season against the Washington Nationals in October, finished two-for-five as Atlanta took the decider in their three-game series with the Padres and finished a six-game West Coast road trip 3-3.
“It could have been better, but it could have been worse too,” Atlanta’s Chipper Jones told reporters, having missed the first three games of the trip with a stomach injury. “Any time you come back from the West Coast and you’re .500 or better for the trip, you’re happy. It was not an easy trip, travel-wise.”
Atlanta starter Tim Hudson tossed five-and-two-third innings for his first win of the season, while highly touted rookie Jason Heyward collected two hits and two RBIs, including a run-scoring double in the eighth after the home side had clawed back to 3-2.
The win completed a stunning turnaround for Atlanta (5-4), who won the second match of the series 6-1 on Wednesday, two days after suffering an embarrassing 17-2 defeat to San Diego (3-6) in the opener.
The Braves were boosted by fine pitching by second-year starter Tommy Hanson on Wednesday and another quality outing from veteran Hudson, who has made a strong comeback from surgery for an arm injury that restricted him to just seven starts last season.
The 34-year-old Hudson had a 3-0 lead and took a shutout into the sixth inning, before allowing a solo home run to Will Venable. The Padres added another run in the sixth when Everth Cabrera came through with an RBI single.
Padres starter Mat Latos took the loss after allowing three runs in four-and-two-third innings.
Astros 5, Cardinals 1
In St Louis, Missouri, the Houston Astros avoided matching the worst start in their history, stopping an eight-game losing streak with their first win over the St Louis Cardinals in the National League.
The Astros were the only winless team left in Major League Baseball and came close to tying the team’s 0-9 opening in 1983.
Bud Norris struck out a career-high nine and held the Cardinals without an earned run for five innings. He also got his first career RBI to put the Astros ahead for good in the third.
Brewers 8, Cubs 6
In Chicago, Rickie Weeks hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning and Trevor Hoffman protected a late lead for Milwaukee.
Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee each homered and drove in three runs as the Brewers avoided being swept by Chicago.
Thursday’s other results:
• Mets 5, Rockies 0
• Nationals 7, Phillies 5
• Marlins 10, Reds 2
• Dodgers 6, D’backs 5, 10 inns
AP, CLEVELAND, OHIO
David Huff pitched a complete game and Choo Shin-soo hit a three-run homer in the eighth as Cleveland ended a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers in the American League on Thursday.
Texas starter Matt Harrison (0-1) had a shutout through seven innings, before Asdrubal Cabrera reached on an error by third baseman Michael Young to start the eighth. Grady Sizemore followed with a ground ball to second, but the runners were safe when shortstop Elvis Andrus dropped the throw.
Choo then hit a pitch into the seats in right-center, spoiling what had been a pitcher’s duel between a pair of young left-handers.
Yankees 6, Angels 2
In New York, Curtis Granderson hit two triples and threw Hideki Matsui out at the plate, while Robinson Cano homered twice to lead the Yankees over Los Angeles.
Derek Jeter homered and had an RBI double for the Yankees. The World Series champions have opened the season by winning a series against three potent rivals — Boston, Tampa Bay and the Angels.
Thursday’s other results:
• Twins 8, Red Sox 0
• Yankees 6, Angels 2
• Blue Jays 7, White Sox 3
• Athletics 6, Orioles 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