NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington’s Bryce Harper hit a tie-breaking double in the sixth inning, lifting the Nationals to a 2-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday.
Washington starter Ross Detwiler (3-1) allowed one run over 6-1/3 innings in his longest outing this season.
Photo: Reuters
Arizona starter Ian Kennedy (3-1) lost for the first time in 13 starts, snapping a personal nine-game winning streak.
The National League East--leading Nationals have won five of six over the Diamondbacks this season. Henry Rodriguez pitched the ninth for the save.
PHILLIES 4, BRAVES 0
In Atlanta, Georgia, Joe Blanton pitched his first shutout in five years to guide Philadelphia past Atlanta.
Blanton (3-3) did not walk a batter and had six strikeouts in his third career shutout.
Shane Victorino hit a two-run homer for the Phillies.
Braves starter Randall Delgado (2-3) allowed six hits in eight innings.
PIRATES 6, CARDINALS 3
In St Louis, Missouri, Erik Bedard struck out a season-high 11, including a team-record seven in a row as Pittsburgh set a club mark by fanning 17 batters in the win over St Louis.
Bedard (2-4) was pulled after five innings, but Pittsburgh’s relievers kept piling up the strikeouts — the 17 strikeouts were the most by Pittsburgh in a nine-inning game since 1900, the team said.
Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook (3-2) gave up four runs in 6-1/3 innings.
MARLINS 3, GIANTS 2
In San Francisco, California, pitcher Anibal Sanchez allowed only one run in seven innings to steer Miami to a tight win over San Francisco.
Sanchez (2-0) struck out five and walked only one batter.
Hanley Ramirez drove in a pair of runs without a hit for the Marlins, who completed a three-game sweep.
Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong (0-2) was tagged for eight hits in seven innings, walking four while throwing 116 pitches.
REDS 4, CUBS 3, 10 INNINGS
In Cincinnati, Ohio, the hosts scored three runs in the ninth to tie the game, then Scott Rolen hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th to give Cincinnati victory over Chicago.
Cubs closer Carlos Marmol walked three of the five batters he faced, one with the bases loaded. He has blown three of his five save chances, walking 12 in 8-2/3 innings.
Chicago starter Ryan Dempster returned from injury and pitched eight shutout innings on his 35th birthday to be in line for his first win over the season before Marmol blew it.
Opposing starter Homer Bailey was also celebrating a birthday, his 26th. It was the first time in major league history that both starters pitched on their birthday, according to information provided by the Reds, citing the Elias Sports Bureau.
Rafael Dolis (1-2) was the loser. Logan Ondrusek (2-0) pitched the 10th for the win.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
Tampa Bay’s Jeff Keppinger hit a two-run homer to help the Rays to a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday, completing a four-game sweep.
Desmond Jennings added a two-run triple for the Rays, who scored all their runs in the second inning off Kevin Millwood (0-3).
Tampa Bay starter Jeff Niemann (2-3) allowed seven hits over 5-2/3 innings as the Rays notched their 11th win in 12 games. Fernando Rodney worked a scoreless ninth for his ninth save in as many opportunities.
The Mariners concluded a 10-day, 10-game road trip on a season-worst six-game losing streak.
INDIANS 7, WHITE SOX 5
In Chicago, Illinois, Jason Kipnis hit a three-run homer and finished with a career-high four RBIs, leading Cleveland over Chicago.
Kipnis, a native of suburban Chicago, also tripled in a run, walked and scored twice.
Cleveland starter Justin Masterson (1-2) picked up his first win of the season, holding the White Sox to three runs over 6-1/3 innings.
White Sox starter John Danks (2-4) allowed seven runs over seven innings.
BLUE JAYS 5, ANGELS 0
In Anaheim, California, Brandon Morrow pitched his second career shutout to steer Toronto over Los Angeles.
Morrow (3-1) won his third straight start, striking out eight and walking none to help the Blue Jays open an 11-game trip with their fifth win in six games.
J.P. Arencibia hit a three-run homer and Toronto added two more runs on a throwing error by converted third baseman Mark Trumbo.
The Angels had only two singles and a leadoff double in the ninth, which ended a string of 14 consecutive batters retired by Morrow.
Los Angeles starter Dan Haren (1-2) gave up five runs in seven innings.
ROYALS 4, YANKEES 3
In Kansas City, Missouri, New York lost the game to Kansas City, but more worryingly, lost ace closer Mariano Rivera to a likely season-ending knee injury during pre-game batting practice.
Mike Moustakas matched a career high with three RBIs and made a defensive gem in the ninth for Kansas City, backing a strong start by Danny Duffy (2-2). Jonathan Broxton was helped by two stellar defensive plays to finish for the save.
Yankees pitcher David Phelps (0-1) allowed six hits over four innings in his first major league start.
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