AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, BALTIMORE
Kevin Youkilis homered in the seventh inning to break open a scoreless game as the Boston Red Sox beat Baltimore 8-2 on Saturday night to extend the Orioles’ losing streak to 10 games.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Jon Lester (7-2) gave up four hits and three walks in six-and-one-third innings to win his seventh straight decision, matching the longest unbeaten run of his career. The left-hander is 11-0 with a 2.06 ERA lifetime against the Orioles.
Jeremy Guthrie (3-6) was nearly as effective for Baltimore, but after allowing only two hits through six innings, his first pitch of the seventh inning was driven by Youkilis into the left-field seats.
Boston added a run against Guthrie in the eighth when newcomer Josh Reddick tripled and scored on a single by Marco Scutaro.
PHOTO: REUTERS
BLUE JAYS 3, YANKEES 2, 14 INNINGS
At Toronto, Aaron Hill singled home the winning run in the 14th inning as Toronto edged New York.
Facing right-hander Chad Gaudin (0-3), New York’s sixth pitcher of the game, Edwin Encarnacion led off the bottom of the 14th with a walk, then took second on Fred Lewis’ sacrifice bunt.
Hill followed with a single to center, scoring Encarnacion without a throw.
Vernon Wells and Alex Gonzalez hit solo home runs for the Blue Jays, who lead the major leagues with 96 homers, and Casey Janssen (4-0) pitched two innings for the win.
Derek Jeter hit a two-run homer for the Yankees.
TIGERS 4, ROYALS 2
In Kansas City, Missouri, Justin Verlander pitched seven strong innings and Miguel Cabrera hit his 17th home run of the season as Detroit beat Kansas City.
Verlander (6-4), who is 10-2 with a 2.57 ERA in 16 career starts against the Royals, gave up two runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
Cabrera, who leads the majors with 52 RBIs, broke up the scoreless duel with a two-out homer to left in the sixth. In his past 13 games, Cabrera has nine home runs and 16 RBIs.
RANGERS 6, RAYS 1
In Arlington, Texas, Tommy Hunter pitched a five-hitter in his season debut and Josh Hamilton homered as Texas downed Tampa Bay.
Hunter (1-0), called up from Triple-A Oklahoma earlier in the day, struck out four and didn’t issue a walk. He retired 14 of the last 16 he faced in his second career complete game.
Hunter’s other complete game came against Seattle on Sept. 13 last year.
Hamilton continued his hot June with a two-run blast in the first, and is 10 for 22 this month to raise his average from .281 to .299.
In other AL play, it was:
• Angels 11, Mariners 2
• Indians 3, White Sox 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, PHILADELPHIA
Jamie Moyer pitched a seven-hitter and Jayson Werth homered to help the Philadelphia Phillies break out of their offensive slump with a 6-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Saturday.
Ryan Howard went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs, and Chase Utley also drove in a run for the Phillies, who won their second straight.
Moyer (6-5), who moved into a tie for 38th all-time with 264 career wins, settled down after surrendering two runs on five hits in the second inning. He allowed just two hits the rest of the way while striking out one and walking one. It was the 47-year-old left-hander’s second complete game this season, and 33rd for a career that began in 1986. He also joined Phil Niekro (121) and Jack Quinn (103) as the only pitchers to win 100 games after age 40.
BRAVES 9, DODGERS 3
In Los Angeles, Omar Infante drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a single as Atlanta used a seven-run seventh inning to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Brian McCann added a two-run double and Troy Glaus hit a two-run homer during the big inning for the Braves, who won for the 15th time in 18 games and maintained their two-game lead over Philadelphia in the National League East. McCann also hit a two-run single in the eighth.
REDS 5, NATIONALS 1
In Washington, rookie Mike Leake allowed an unearned run over seven innings to remain unbeaten for Cincinnati.
Leake (5-0) allowed seven hits, walked none and struck out five, becoming the first pitcher in Reds history to go undefeated after 11 major league starts. The right-hander is the first Cincinnati starting pitcher to win his first five decisions since Santo Alcala in 1976.
He also singled twice in three at-bats, raising his average to .417.
The Reds used RBI doubles by Joey Votto and Orlando Cabrera and run-scoring singles by Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce to break a two-game skid.
METS 6, MARLINS 1
In New York, Jonathon Niese pitched brilliantly in his return from the disabled list and David Wright hit a rare homer at Citi Field as New York downed Florida.
Wright drove in three runs and rookie Ike Davis went 4 for 4 to break out of a mini-slump as New York improved to 21-9 at home with its seventh straight home win. Jeff Francoeur had an RBI single and Ruben Tejada a run-scoring double off Nate Robertson (4-5).
DIAMONDBACKS 4, ROCKIES 3
In Phoenix Dontrelle Willis pitched six scoreless innings and made a run in his Arizona debut as the Diamondbacks held on to beat Colorado.
The big left-hander, acquired on Tuesday from Detroit, brought some of his recent command problems with him. He walked four, hit a batter and the Rockies had a runner in scoring position against him in every inning except the first, but he escaped every jam.
In other NL play, it was:
• Cubs 8, Astros 5
• Cardinals 5, Brewers 4, 11 innings
• Pirates 6, Giants 3
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with