AMERICAN LEAGUE
The Texas offense made it an easy day for starting pitcher Yu Darvish as the Rangers crushed the Toronto Blue Jays 12-6 on Sunday.
The American League-leading Rangers (30-18) surged for seven runs in the second inning and grabbed a 9-1 advantage by the third to take the pressure off their Japanese ace.
Photo: Reuters
Darvish, who was coming off a sloppy performance against Seattle last week, allowed three runs over five innings to push his record to 7-2.
The rookie was not at his best, walking three batters and allowing a home run, but he did not need to be as he ground through a performance in 33°C heat.
On Saturday, Texas slugger Josh Hamilton needed IV fluids to get through in similar conditions, though he still managed to blast a walk-off game-winning homer in the 13th inning.
He finished hit-less on Sunday, but his teammates rose to the occasion.
Ian Kinsler led the charge with four RBIs, Mike Napoli went 2-for-3 with a home run and three runs scored and the Rangers crushed losing Toronto starter Kyle Drabek for nine runs over three innings.
J.P. Arencibia hit two home runs and the Blue Jays (24-24) scored three runs in the final two innings, but still lost their fifth successive game as they went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
RAYS 4, RED SOX 3
In Boston, Sean Rodriguez hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Boston closer Alfredo Aceves as the Tampa Bay Rays rallied past the Red Sox on Sunday, a day after losing in the final inning.
Will Rhymes went 3 for 3 with three singles and an RBI for the Rays, who lost on Saturday night on a pinch-hit, two-run homer by Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the ninth off closer Fernando Rodney.
Adrian Gonzalez hit a three-run homer for Boston, which was about to move above .500 for the first time this season until Rodriguez hit a drive off Aceves (0-2) over the Green Monster with one out after Ben Zobrist walked.
In other AL play, it was:
‧ Yankees 2, Athletics 0
‧ Tigers 4, Twins 3
‧ White Sox 12, Indians 6
‧ Angels 4, Mariners 2
‧ Royals 4, Orioles 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, ST LOUIS
Roy Halladay gave up a grand slam to Yadier Molina in an abbreviated two-inning start before leaving with shoulder soreness as the St Louis Cardinals avoided a four-game sweep with an 8-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.
The Phillies were looking for their first four-game sweep in St Louis in 99 years.
Halladay (4-5) departed with a 3.98 ERA after an outing that matched the second-shortest outing of his career.
The team said the two-time Cy Young pitching award winner was taken out as a precautionary measure and that he will be re-evaluated in the next few days.
PIRATES 10, CUBS 4
At Pittsburgh, the Chicago Cubs lost their 12th straight game as Pedro Alvarez, Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones homered for Pittsburgh.
Erik Bedard (3-5) allowed two hits in six shutout innings. Pittsburgh completed its first three-game sweep at PNC Park since Sept. 17-19, 2010.
The Cubs’ skid is their longest since they started out 0-14 in the 1997 season. Matt Garza (2-3) took the loss.
The lowest-scoring team in baseball, the Pirates set a season high for runs and matched a season best by winning their third consecutive game.
REDS 7, ROCKIES 5
At Cincinnati, Brandon Phillips hit a three-run homer to help Cincinnati outslug Colorado in a game that set a record for Great American Ball Park with nine home runs.
Mat Latos (4-2) allowed five hits — and all of them were solo home runs. Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez hit two of them, and Troy Tulowitzki, Michael Cuddyer and Dexter Fowler also took the Cincinnati starter deep.
Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier homered for Cincinnati, which finished 6-1 on a seven-game homestand during which 29 home runs were hit — also a ballpark best.
In other NL play, it was:
‧ Giants 3, Marlins 2
‧ Mets 2, Padres 0
‧ Dodgers 5, Astros 1
‧ Diamondbacks 4, Brewers 3
‧ Nationals 7, Braves 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