AMERICAN LEAGUE
Oakland ended a run of nine straight home losses to the New York Yankees by winning 4-3 on Thursday, thanks chiefly to Yoenis Cespedes’ two-run homer in the first inning.
The A’s won for the 11th time in 13 games overall to move a season-best four games over .500 at 48-44 — the first time the club has been there since early 2010.
Oakland starter A.J. Griffin (2-0) allowed four hits in six innings, and did not walk a batter for the first time in his fifth career start.
New York starter Freddy Garcia (4-3) lost for the first time since April. His nine hits allowed in 5-2/3 innings matched his most of the season.
A’s closer Ryan Cook surrendered a homer in the ninth before recovering for the save.
TIGERS 5, ANGELS 1
At Detroit, the hosts won for the 10th time in 12 games by downing Los Angeles.
Tigers starter Max Scherzer (9-5) struck out nine and gave up only one run over seven innings.
Alex Avila and Miguel Cabrera both homered as Detroit went out to a 5-0 lead in the fifth.
Angels starter Jerome Williams (6-7) allowed five runs over six-plus innings to lose a fifth straight start for the first time in his career.
RAYS 6, INDIANS 0
At St Petersburg, Florida, David Price became the AL’s first 13-game winner as Tampa Bay shut down Cleveland.
Price (13-4) pitched seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and three walks.
B.J. Upton hit a three-run double off Ubaldo Jimenez (8-9) during a four-run sixth that put the Rays up 5-0.
RED SOX 3, WHITE SOX 1
At Boston, Cody Ross hit a three-run homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Boston the win over Chicago.
His winning hit came a day after he hit three-run homers in consecutive innings.
Chicago pitcher Matt Thornton (2-6) got one out in the ninth, but left with runners on first and second before Addison Reed faced Ross, who hit a pitch into the Green Monster seats.
Boston’s Alfredo Aceves (1-6) pitched one inning to notch his first win of the season.
MARINERS 6, ROYALS 1
At Kansas City, Missouri, Felix Hernandez won his fourth straight decision as Seattle defeated Kansas City.
Hernandez (8-5) is 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA in his past seven starts. While he leads the majors with 143 strikeouts, Hernandez struck out only three on Thursday, tying his season low. He allowed one run, throwing only 89 pitches in eight innings.
Jesus Montero homered for the Mariners.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman and David Ross hit home runs and the Braves made the most of their three hits, edging the San Francisco Giants 3-2 on Thursday.
Tim Hudson (8-4) helped an Atlanta bullpen drained by Wednesday’s loss in 11 innings. He gave up two runs in 7-1/3 innings to outpitch Giants starter Madison Bumgarner (11-6).
The NL West-leading Giants’ five-game winning streak ended with their first loss since the All-Star break.
Bumgarner allowed three runs in seven innings.
METS 9, NATIONALS 5
In Washington, David Wright homered twice and had five RBIs, powering New York past Washington.
Wright hit a two-run shot in the first off Gio Gonzalez (12-5), who was rocked for six runs in 3-1/3 innings, his shortest start of the season.
Mets starter R.A. Dickey (13-1) won his league-leading 13th game. He pitched 7-1/3 innings to break a streak of rare ineffectiveness this season. After throwing consecutive one-hitters last month, Dickey had won just one of four starts. In his previous two, he gave up five runs in each game.
REDS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 6
In Cincinnati, Brandon Phillips homered and had five RBIs, then scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning to help Cincinnati rally from a six-run deficit to beat Arizona.
Arizona were leading 6-3 with one out in the seventh when reliever Bryan Shaw (1-4) walked two batters. Wilson Valdez’s grounder skipped under the glove of the first baseman for a run-scoring error, setting up Phillips’ game-tying two-run double. Phillips then scored on Todd Frazier’s single.
Reds reliever Alfredo Simon (2-1) took the win, and Aroldis Chapman completed the save.
CUBS 4, MARLINS 2
In Chicago, Paul Maholm pitched eight innings to steer Chicago past Miami.
Maholm (8-6) allowed one run to win his fourth consecutive start, matching a career best. He has allowed just three runs in his past 30-1/3 innings for an impressive 0.89 ERA over five games.
Marlins starter Mark Buehrle (9-9) was back in the Windy City for the first time since he left the White Sox for a US$58 million, four-year contract with Miami. He gave up four runs in six innings.
PADRES 1, ASTROS 0
In San Diego, Edinson Volquez threw a one-hitter for the first complete game and shutout of his career as San Diego edged Houston and won for the fifth time in six games.
Volquez (6-7) allowed only an infield single in the fourth. The win improved Volquez’s career record against the Astros to 6-0.
Alexi Amarista doubled and Logan Forsythe singled in the first inning to score the game’s only run.
Astros starter Lucas Harrell (7-7), who threw a shutout against San Diego last month, gave up four hits in seven innings.
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