AMERICAN LEAGUE
Jacoby Ellsbury had a three-run homer with a career-high six RBIs as the Boston Red Sox beat the Yankees 10-4 on Saturday, ending New York’s eight-game winning streak and moving back into a tie atop the AL East.
Carl Crawford had four hits — giving him hits in six straight plate appearances — and scored three runs.
John Lackey (10-8) scattered six hits over six innings for the Red Sox, who are 9-2 against New York this season and have clinched at least a tie in the season series.
C.C. Sabathia (16-6) leads the majors in wins and his 2.55 ERA coming into the game was tied for fifth. However, he fell to 0-4 with a 7.20 ERA against Boston this year after allowing seven runs in six innings on Saturday, giving up nine hits and a walk and striking out six.
Tigers 4, Royals 3
In Kansas City, Missouri, Justin Verlander lasted seven innings despite some balky defense behind him as Detroit held on to beat Kansas City.
Tigers star Victor Martinez drove in a pair of runs before leaving late with a sprained left knee. He was to be evaluated again yesterday.
Verlander (16-5) won his fifth straight start and improved to 13-2 in his career against Kansas City. He allowed three runs and five hits, while striking out eight. He pulled even with Yankees lefty C.C. Sabathia for the most victories this year.
Joaquin Benoit pitched out of a jam in the eighth for Detroit and Jose Valverde converted his 32nd straight save to start the season, matching the club record set by AL Most Valuable Player Willie Hernandez in 1984.
In other AL play, it was:
‧ White Sox 6, Twins 1
‧ Athletics 8, Rays 0
‧ Orioles 6, Blue Jays 2
‧ Mariners 5, Angels 1
‧ Indians 7, Rangers 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, SAN FRANCISCO
Cole Hamels pitched allowed just seven hits for his first win in two weeks as the Philadelphia Phillies extended their season-high winning streak to nine games with a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.
Hamels struck out five and faced five batters more than the minimum, while dominating the defending World Series champs. All but three of the 27 outs recorded by the All-Star left-hander were made by the infield. Philadelphia also backed Hamels (13-6) with two double plays in a game that took 2 hours, 14 minutes.
The game was far less testy than on Friday night’s 9-2 Phillies win, which included the ejection of three players following a bench-clearing brawl in the sixth inning.
Dodgers 5, Diamondbacks 3
In Phoenix, Arizona, Nathan Eovaldi pitched five solid innings in his major league debut as Los Angeles beat Arizona.
Eovaldi (1-0), who pitched in the Double-A Southern League All-Star game in late June, allowed two runs on four hits. He struck out seven and walked two. He also singled and scored a run.
Rod Barajas had three hits and drove in a pair of runs for the Dodgers, who have won four of five.
Joe Saunders (8-9) had two hits and drove in two runs.
In other NL play, it was:
‧ Rockies 15, Nationals 7
‧ Brewers 7, Astros 5
‧ Cardinals 2, Marlins 1
‧ Padres 13, Pirates 2
‧ Cubs 11, Reds 4
‧ Mets 11, Braves 7
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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