NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington’s Chad Tracy hit a game-ending single in the 13th inning to give the Nationals a 5-4 win over Atlanta on Monday, extending their lead over the Braves in the National League East division to six games.
Ian Desmond led off the 13th with an infield single off Cristhian Martinez (5-3) before Danny Espinosa’s attempted bunt led to a forceout. Kurt Suzuki then hit a slow roller for an infield hit, allowing Espinosa to take third.
With the infield in, Tracy hit the ball to Braves second baseman Dan Uggla, who had to choose between trying to get Espinosa at the plate or attempting to turn a double play, but instead fumbled, and Espinosa dashed home.
Craig Stammen (6-1) pitched two hitless innings for the win.
GIANTS 2, DODGERS 1
In Los Angeles, Madison Bumgarner pitched eight scoreless innings as San Francisco edged Los Angeles to reclaim the NL West lead by half a game.
Bumgarner pitched his second scoreless outing of the season for the Giants, who leapfrogged the Dodgers in a division race that has seen the rivals frequently swap leads.
Bumgarner (14-7) struck out 10 and walked none. Javier Lopez got the final out to claim the save.
Pablo Sandoval drove in both San Francisco runs.
Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw (11-7) gave up six hits in eight innings.
PHILLIES 12, REDS 5
In Philadelphia, John Mayberry Jr hit a two-run homer and Ryan Howard and Erik Kratz had solo shots to power Philadelphia past Cincinnati.
Domonic Brown hit a go-ahead two-run double off Mike Leake (5-8) in the Phillies’ four-run fifth inning.
Phildelphia starter Roy Halladay (7-7) was not sharp, allowing five runs in seven innings, but the offense bailed him out and he recorded the win.
The Phillies have won 12 of 13 against the Reds, dating to 2010. This was their first meeting this season.
PADRES 3, PIRATES 1
In San Diego, Edinson Volquez struck out 10 to steer San Diego past Pittsburgh.
Volquez (8-9), who had a dismal 13,83 ERA over his previous four starts, turned his form around and allowed just one run.
San Diego has won 16 of its past 19 against the Pirates, but Pittsburgh remained half a game ahead of the Dodgers for the final wild-card berth.
MARLINS 12, DIAMONDBACKS 3
In Phoenix, Giancarlo Stanton homered twice, including the first of back-to-back long shots during Miami’s nine-run fourth inning, which set up the win over Arizona.
Miami’s 10 hits in the fourth matched a franchise record set last year, and the 12 runs and 20 hits were season highs.
Marlins starter Mark Buehrle (11-11) took the win, allowing two runs over seven innings.
Arizona’s Joe Saunders (6-10) gave up nine runs in just 3 2-3 innings.
In other NL play, it was:
‧ Rockies 3, Mets 1
‧ Brewers 9, Cubs 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, CHICAGO
Chicago’s Alexei Ramirez hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh inning as the White Sox beat the New York Yankees 9-6 in Monday’s opening game of a three-game series between American League divisional leaders.
Ramirez connected with two outs in the seventh off Boone Logan (4-2), and Adam Dunn added his major league-leading 36th homer of the season in the eighth as the White Sox ended a run of three straight defeats.
Brett Myers (2-1) got the win by pitching two-thirds of an inning.
New York’s Derek Jeter homered and had four hits, tying Eddie Murray for 11th place on the career list (3,255). He also took over 13th place on the runs scored list (1,845), passing Craig Biggio.
RANGERS 5, ORIOLES 1
In Arlington, Texas, Ryan Dempster pitched eight innings, his longest outing in more than two months and his best since being traded to Texas, as the AL West-leading Rangers beat Baltimore.
Dempster (7-6) retired the last 11 batters he faced. He allowed one run.
David Murphy had two RBI singles for the Rangers, who opened a 10-game homestand. All nine Texas starters had a hit.
Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez (5-3), who had won his previous three decisions, gave up four runs in five innings.
RAYS 5, ROYALS 1
In St Petersburg, Florida, Jeremy Hellickson pitched seven innings for his first home win in three months as Tampa Bay downed Kansas City.
Hellickson (8-8) allowed one run in ending a stretch of seven consecutive home winless starts.
The Rays went ahead 4-1 in the fourth on Jose Labaton’s RBI single and a run-scoring double from Desmond Jennings off Will Smith (4-5).
TWINS 7, ATHLETICS 2
In Oakland, Josh Willingham drove in two runs against his former team and Joe Mauer hit a two-run single as Minnesota snapped Oakland’s five-game home winning streak.
Brian Duensing (3-8) struck out seven and walked one in six innings.
A’s starter Brandon McCarthy (6-5) surrendered three straight hits in the first. McCarthy was knocked out after 3-1/3 innings, having allowed six runs.
MARINERS 5, INDIANS 3
In Seattle, Michael Saunders hit two two-run home runs to help Seattle to its sixth straight victory, defeating Cleveland.
The Mariners have won 13 of their past 14 games at Safeco Field. It’s the best home stretch over 14 games in club history.
Seattle’s Charlie Furbush (5-2) earned the victory in relief of starter Kevin Millwood.
Joe Smith (7-4) took the loss in relief as Cleveland suffered a sixth straight defeat.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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