AMERICAN LEAGUE
Zack Greinke was outpitched by Jeremy Hellickson in his Los Angeles Angels’ debut, losing to the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 on Sunday.
Obtained on Friday from Milwaukee, the 2009 American League Cy Young pitching award winner allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings and struck out eight. Greinke (0-1), eligible for free agency after the season, was 9-3 with a 3.44 ERA in 21 starts with the Brewers.
Hellickson (6-6) pitched two-hit ball through six innings, striking out five and walking none.
Fernando Rodney got three outs for his 30th save in 31 attempts, tying Baltimore’s Jim Johnson for the AL lead.
ORIOLES 6, ATHLETICS 1
In Baltimore, Maryland, Taiwanese rookie Chen Wei-yin struck out a career-high 12, Matt Wieters hit a three-run homer and the Baltimore Orioles beat Oakland to avoid a three-game sweep.
It was a rare setback for the A’s, who fell to 18-4 this month.
Chen (9-6) allowed one unearned run, three hits and four walks in 5-2/3 innings against a torrid Oakland team that had scored 40 runs in its previous four games.
RED SOX 3, YANKEES 2, 10 Inns
In New York, Pedro Ciriaco blooped an RBI single in the 10th inning for his latest big hit against New York as Boston squeaked out the victory moments after manager Bobby Valentine was ejected.
Felix Doubront held the Yankees scoreless until Russell Martin homered leading off the seventh inning. Martin also hit a tying single with two outs in the eighth off closer Alfredo Aceves (2-6), who went the rest of the way for the win.
Ryan Sweeney hit an early two-run double for the Red Sox, who took two of three in their first visit to New York this season, despite grounding into four double plays.
In other AL action, it was:
‧ Rangers 2, White Sox 0
‧ Tigers 4, Blue Jays 1
‧ Twins 5, Indians 1
‧ Mariners 7, Royals 6
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, DENVER, Colorado
The Cincinnati Reds posted their 10th straight win and matched their best streak in 14 years as Mat Latos pitched eight strong innings and Drew Stubbs homered on Sunday in a 7-2 victory over the Rockies.
The Reds’ winning streak is their longest since they took 10 in a row in 1998. They are two short of the franchise record, done twice and last accomplished in 1957.
Cincinnati opened a three-game lead over Pittsburgh in National League Central, their biggest edge since the middle of last month.
Jay Bruce also homered and Stubbs drove in three runs for the Reds, who have won 17 of 19.
Latos (9-3) allowed four hits and struck out eight. Jonathan Sanchez (0-2) took the loss as Colorado dropped their third straight.
ASTROS 9, PIRATES 5
In Houston, Texas, the Astros ended their team-record losing streak at 12 games, beating Pittsburgh behind three hits and three RBIs from Marwin Gonzalez.
Hours after Houston traded third baseman Chris Johnson to Arizona, Jordan Schafer homered and drove in three runs.
Houston, a big league-worst 35-68, won for only the third time in 28 games.
In other NL action, it was:
‧ Dodgers 4, Giants 0
‧ Nationals 11, Brewers 10
‧ Braves 6, Phillies 2
‧ Mets 5, Diamondbacks 1
‧ Marlins 5, Padres 4
‧ Cubs 4, Cardinals 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
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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