AMERICAN LEAGUE
The Cleveland Indians’ 14-game winning streak at home was ended at the hands of David Price and the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, beaten 8-2 in the American League.
Price (5-3) was perfect for four innings, dominant for seven and became the first visiting pitcher to record a win at Cleveland in more than a month. He allowed two runs in eight innings, struck out seven and did not yield a walk.
Ben Zobrist and Matt Joyce homered, Sam Fuld had three hits and B.J. Upton had two RBIs as the Rays roughed up Indians starter Carlos Carrasco (1-2) and won for just the third time in 22 games at Cleveland since 2005.
At 12-5, Tampa Bay has the majors’ best road record.
Hosmer’s homer was a soaring shot into the second deck in right field in the fourth inning. Wilson Betemit had a tying RBI single in the eighth for Kansas City and Jeff Francoeur drove in a run during the 10th inning.
WHITE SOX 6, ANGELS 4, 10 INNINGS
In Anaheim, California, Chicago’s Alexei Ramirez scored the tie-breaking run from third base when Los Angeles reliever Kevin Jepsen threw a wild pitch during an intentional walk in the 10th inning.
Jepsen (0-2) embarrassingly sailed a throw over the head of catcher Henk Conger, who had stood up to take the four intentional balls, and Ramirez raced home to cap the White Sox rally from a three-run deficit.
Adam Dunn, who homered among his career-high four hits, scored on Brent Lillibridge’s 10th-inning sacrifice fly to add another run.
Omar Vizquel had an RBI double in the eighth and a tying sacrifice fly in the ninth for the White Sox, who stranded a season-high 15. A.J. Pierzynski had four hits and drove in a run during Chicago’s ninth-inning rally.
Sergio Santos (2-0) allowed one hit over two innings to take the win. Matt Thornton pitched the 10th for his first save.
ROYALS 4, YANKEES 3
The Kansas City Royals knocked down Robinson Cano, then pushed past the rest of his New York Yankees teammates to defeat the pinstripes 4-3 in the 11th inning on Wednesday.
Cano left the game early after he was struck on the side of his helmet by a 150kph fastball from Kansas City pitcher Nate Adcock.
The Yankees’ second baseman collapsed to the dirt, but got back on to his feet after being treated by a trainer. He smiled as he made his way back to the dugout, but was taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary tests.
“Robbie went for a catscan. He said he was OK as he went toward first base, but when you get hit in the head like that you have to get the tests,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
The Yankees, professional baseball’s richest team, were leading 2-1 when Cano departed in the fifth, courtesy of Curtis Granderson’s major league-best 12th home run, but could not close out against the Royals, who have the smallest payroll in the league.
The Royals tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning, then took the lead in the 10th when Jeff Francoeur, who was struck by a wayward pitch from Yankees starter A.J. Burnett just after Cano was felled, doubled right-center field.
The Yankees immediately drew level and forced an 11th inning when the athletic Granderson stroked a two-out, RBI single, but Eric Hosmer, a 21-year-old rookie regarded as one of the brightest young talents in the game, followed up his first career home run with a go-ahead sacrifice fly.
In other AL play, it was:
‧ Blue Jays 9, Red Sox 3
‧ Orioles 4, Mariners 2
‧ Tigers 9, Twins 7
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, MIAMI, FLORIDA
Jimmy Rollins hit a two-out, two-run single in the ninth inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-3 win over the Florida Marlins on Wednesday in a clash of the National League’s two top teams.
The Phillies fell behind 3-0, but their bats came alive late.
Shane Victorino extended his hitting streak to 14 games when he led off the eighth with a homer to tie the game 3-3. Pete Orr entered the game in the seventh and had two doubles for Philadelphia.
Dane Sardinha singled in the ninth off Leo Nunez (0-1), then took third on a double by Orr. Both scored on the single by Rollins.
CUBS 11, CARDINALS 4
In Chicago, the hosts delivered their biggest offensive output of the season to beat St Louis.
Chicago scored six runs in the third after a 53-minute rain delay, added four more in the fifth and finished with 17 hits, four by Starlin Castro.
The Cardinals are 1-1 without manager Tony La Russa, who missed his second straight game as he recovers from shingles. He’ll be absent for the remainder of St Louis’ six-game road trip that ends Sunday in Cincinnati.
Cubs starter Matt Garza (2-4) got his first win at Wrigley Field, allowing one run in five innings. St Louis starter Jake Westbrook (2-3) took the loss.
NATIONALS 7, BRAVES 3
In Atlanta, Georgia, Ian Desmond hit a tiebreaking, two-run double in the 11th and Jayson Werth followed with a two-run homer as Washington beat Atlanta.
Alex Cora had driven in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the ninth as Braves closer Craig Kimbrel blew a 3-1 lead.
Drew Storen (3-1) pitched the 10th and Tyler Clippard took over in the 11th for his first save as the Nationals improved to 5-1 in extra-innings games. Scott Linebrink (0-1) took the loss.
In other NL play, it was:
‧ Dodgers 2, Pirates 0
‧ Giants 4, Diamondbacks 3
‧ Astros 4, Reds 3
‧ Padres 13, Brewers 6
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