NATIONAL LEAGUE
Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena homered to back a dominant start by Rodrigo Lopez as Chicago beat Philadelphia 6-1 on Monday night after Phillies ace Roy Halladay left the game because of the heat.
Halladay doubled over and was visited by a trainer after Starlin Castro led off the fifth inning with a single. Drew Carpenter came in to replace him.
Photo: Reuters
Halladay was drenched in sweat on a humid night in which the game-time temperature was 33oC. The heat clearly affected him.
He gave up three runs and seven hits and took his first loss since May 15.
This was Halladay’s shortest outing since he pitched three innings for Toronto against Florida on June 12, 2009.
The early exit ended Halladay’s string of 63 road starts in which he lasted at least six innings. It was the longest such streak since Walter Johnson went 82 straight road starts from 1911 to 1915.
Ramirez gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the first with his 17th homer. Chicago added two runs in the third on Ramirez’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly and Pena’s RBI single.
Lopez gave up a leadoff homer to Jimmy Rollins in the fourth. He allowed five hits in 6-2/3 innings.
PIRATES 2, REDS 0
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Charlie Morton pitched five innings to help Pittsburgh move into first place in the NL Central.
Pittsburgh kicked off an important two-week stretch by shutting down the Reds after Morton (8-5) extricated himself from a bases-loaded jam in the first inning following a lengthy rain delay to win for the first time since June 15.
The right-hander gave up three hits, striking out three and walking two. Joel Hanrahan pitched the ninth for his 27th save as -Pittsburgh moved a half-game ahead of Milwaukee in the division.
Dontrelle Willis (0-1) pitched well in his second start since being called up from Triple-A. The former All-Star surrendered two runs in 4-2/3 innings, striking out five and walking just one.
Chase d’Arnaud and Neil Walker led off the fourth with singles. Andrew McCutchen brought d’Arnaud home on an RBI groundout and Walker scored on Matt Diaz’s sacrifice fly.
DIAMONDBACKS 3, BREWERS 0
In Phoenix, Arizona, Josh Collmenter of the Diamondbacks pitched eight innings of three-hit ball for his first win in six weeks.
The right-hander retired 21 of his last 22 batters in the longest outing of his rookie season. Yuniesky Betancourt reached on a bunt single leading off the sixth for Milwaukee’s only hit during the stretch.
Collmenter (5-5) struck out a career-best seven and walked none while running his scoreless streak to 14 innings, all against the Brewers over his last two starts. Ryan Roberts homered for the second straight day and David Hernandez finished for his ninth save in 11 chances.
Randy Wolf (6-7) pitched 7-1/3 innings for Milwaukee and was charged with three runs, two earned and eight hits. The left-hander is 0-3 with a 4.94 ERA in his last four starts, including two losses against the Diamondbacks.
Chris Young singled, doubled and scored twice in Arizona’s third straight victory.
In other NL play, it was:
‧ Nationals 5, Astros 2
‧ Marlins 4, Mets 1
‧ Braves 7, Rockies 4
‧ Giants 5, Dodgers 0
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
Dustin Pedroia doubled in two runs to spark an eight-run eighth inning and Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Josh Reddick hit home runs as Boston routed Baltimore 15-10 on Monday night.
Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Darnell McDonald had three RBIs apiece for the Red Sox, who have won 13 of 15. The run includes a 16 inning, 1-0 win over Tampa Bay on Sunday night in which Boston had only five hits.
The Red Sox had 16 hits in their seventh straight victory over the Orioles. Boston have outscored Baltimore 61-32 during that span.
Pedroia hit a tiebreaking two-run double off Mike Gonzalez (1-2) to make it 9-7.
J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones homered for the Orioles, who have lost 10 of 12.
Dan Wheeler (2-1) got the win with 2-1/3 innings of no-hit relief for starter Tim Wakefield.
In other AL play, it was:
‧ Yankees 5, Rays 4
‧ Indians 5, Twins 2, 1st game
‧ Indians 6, Twins 3, 2nd game
‧ White Sox 5, Royals 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