AMERICAN LEAGUE
Jurickson Profar made quite a debut at age 19, homering in his first major league at-bat and doubling his next time up as the Texas Rangers beat Cleveland 8-3 on Sunday.
Profar opened the third inning with a drive over the right-field wall, connecting on a 2-1 pitch from Zach McAllister (5-6). The teen finished two for four as a late substitute after second baseman Ian Kinsler was scratched with a stiff back.
Photo: AFP
Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre and David Murphy all hit solo home runs in the Texas fifth.
Derek Holland (10-6) gave up two runs over seven innings as the AL West-leading Rangers took two of three in the series. Texas matched its best record through 133 games, having also gone 79-54 in 1999.
Profar is the first player to homer his first time up in a Rangers uniform. The last player to do it in franchise history was Brant Alyea for the Washington Senators in 1965. The Senators moved to Texas in 1972.
Photo: AFP
ATHLETICS 6, RED SOX 2
Seth Smith hit a two-run homer, Stephen Drew hit his first home run since joining Oakland and the Athletics beat Boston for their season-best ninth straight win.
Brett Anderson (3-0) won his third straight start since returning from a 14-month absence to recover from Tommy John surgery. It was a big boost for the AL wild-card leading A’s down the stretch after losing Bartolo Colon to a 50-game suspension.
This is the club’s longest winning run since 10 in a row from June 8 to June 18, 2006, the last year the A’s reached the playoffs.
The A’s won their eighth in a row against the Red Sox to match their longest winning streak in the rivalry since the Philadelphia A’s did so from May 2 to May 28, 1932.
Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-4) was tagged for six runs and seven hits in 3-2/3 innings.
ORIOLES 8, YANKEES 3
Mark Reynolds hit a three-run shot in the sixth inning for his second two-homer game of the weekend series and the Baltimore Orioles closed in on the AL East-leading New York Yankees.
Randy Wolf (1-0) made his first appearance for Baltimore when starter Chris Tillman left with right elbow stiffness after the third inning. He helped the Orioles pull within two games of the Yankees with 3-1/3 effective innings.
Reynolds made the ballpark in the Bronx his personal launching pad in this key matchup between the top two teams in the division. He homered twice in Friday’s victory then got Baltimore on the scoreboard on Sunday when he hit a mammoth drive leading off the fifth inning.
Reynolds’ 16th homer with none out in the sixth finished Hughes (13-12) and put Baltimore ahead 5-3.
In other play, it was:
‧ Rays 9, Blue Jays 4
‧ Mariners 2, Angels 1
‧ Royals 6, Twins 4
‧ Tigers 4, White Sox 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, ATLANTA, Georgia
Chipper Jones hit a three-run homer off Jonathan Papelbon with two outs in the ninth inning, capping a five-run rally that sent the Atlanta Braves over the Philadelphia Phillies 8-7 on Sunday.
The Phillies led 7-3 entering the ninth and seemed set to complete a three-game sweep.
Instead, the Braves boosted their wild-card position, coming back against Jeremy Horst and Papelbon (3-6).
Reed Johnson singled off Horst with one out for his third hit and Paul Janish walked. Papelbon struck out pinch hitter Lyle Overbay before walking Michael Bourn to load the bases.
Martin Prado’s grounder skipped past third baseman Kevin Frandsen for a two-run double before Jones hit his 14th home run deep into the right-field seats.
The blown save was the fourth in 35 chances for Papelbon.
Peter Moylan (1-0) got one out for the win.
DODGERS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 4
Adrian Gonzalez doubled in the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers over Arizona.
Gonzalez lined an 0-2 pitch into the right-field corner off J.J. Putz (1-5) after Mark Ellis singled with one out and Shane Victorino walked.
NATIONALS 4, CARDINALS 3
Stephen Strasburg allowed two hits over six scoreless innings, striking out nine before being pulled as the Washington Nationals beat St Louis.
The NL East-leading Nationals took three of four from St Louis and passed their 80-win total from last season.
Strasburg, rocked for seven runs last Tuesday at Miami, left with a 2-0 lead and a 2.94 ERA. He threw 97 pitches and wound up with a no-decision.
The 23-year-old Strasburg has struck out a league-leading 195 in 156-1/3 innings this season. The Nationals have repeatedly stated they intend on shutting him down in his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2010.
After the game, manager Davey Johnson indicated Strasburg has two starts left.
REDS 5, ASTROS 3
Jay Bruce’s three-run homer keyed Cincinnati’s five-run eighth inning and the NL Central-leading Reds rallied past Houston. Bruce’s 29th homer came against Xavier Cedeno (0-1). Bruce, who is from nearby Beaumont, Texas, has three homers and 10 RBIs in nine games at Houston this season.
Jose Arredondo (6-2) allowed two hits and two runs in the seventh and Aroldis Chapman pitched a perfect ninth for his 34th save.
GIANTS 7, CUBS 5
Angel Pagan hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the ninth inning and the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants closed out a successful road trip by beating the Cubs.
Santiago Casilla (6-5) pitched an inning to get the victory and Javier Lopez got the final two outs for his sixth save in eight chances. The Giants went 5-1 on a swing through Houston and Chicago — the two worst teams in the NL Central.
The Giants took advantage of a bout of wildness by Carlos Marmol (2-3) to grab the lead in the ninth.
In other NL play, it was:
‧ Brewers 12, Pirates 8
‧ Mets 5, Marlins 1
‧ Rockies 11, Padres 10
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with