MAJOR LEAGUE
deiny Hechavarria hit a grand slam and a bases-loaded triple off an ailing Roy Halladay on Sunday as he batted in seven runs for the Miami Marlins in a 14-2 National League victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
In Arlington, Texas, Yu Darvish struck out 14 batters and Adrian Beltre hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning as the Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 on Sunday, completing a three-game American League sweep and matching the Red Sox for the best record in the majors.
Photo: AFP
Halladay, 36, said after his loss he had a sore right shoulder and will undergo tests this week in Los Angeles. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr said Halladay (2-4) will likely be put on the disabled list.
Justin Ruggiano homered twice for the Marlins.
Beltre lined a hit to right-center off Clayton Mortensen (0-2) that sent home Elvis Andrus, who reached on a two-out single and moved up on a wild pitch. Boston then intentionally walked Lance Berkman.
Darvish matched a career high for strikeouts and left after throwing a career-high 127 pitches in seven innings. Joe Nathan (1-0) worked around a walk and a hit in the ninth.
While Darvish had 14 strikeouts for the second time this season, the right-hander from Japan allowed multiple homers in a game for only the second time in 36 starts for the Rangers. David Ortiz and David Ross connected in the first two innings.
Darvish leads the majors with 72 strikeouts.
Mitch Moreland and Nelson Cruz homered off Red Sox starter Jon Lester.
Also in the AL, Justin Verlander held Houston hitless until the seventh inning as the Detroit Tigers blanked the Astros 9-0 for a four-game sweep.
Verlander (4-2) struck out nine and left after the seventh. The 2011 AL Most Valuable Player and Cy Award Young winner has a 1.55 ERA this season.
Prince Fielder homered and drove in four runs. Andy Dirks had four hits, including a home run. Brayan Pena and Omar Infante also went deep.
Josh Donaldson hit Oakland’s third home run of the game, a tiebreaking drive off Boone Logan in the eighth inning that lifted the Athletics over the New York Yankees 5-4.
Luke Montz and Yoenis Cespedes homered as Oakland took a 4-1 lead against Andy Pettitte, who struggled for the second straight start, but the Yankees rallied in the sixth against reliever Jerry Blevins.
In other AL games, the Baltimore Orioles trounced the Los Angeles Angels 8-4, the Minnesota Twins downed the Cleveland Indians 4-2, the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Seattle Mariners 10-2 and the Kansas City Royals were 6-5 overtime winners against the Chicago White Sox.
In the National League, Freddie Freeman homered and drove in three runs, while Tim Hudson pitched into the eighth inning as the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets 9-4.
Freeman got three hits, including a two-run double off Jonathon Niese (2-3) in a five-run third.
David Wright hit a two-run homer off Hudson (4-1), who gave up three runs on five hits and a walk in 7-1/3 innings.
Jaime Garcia pitched eight innings and Allen Craig drove in four runs to lead the St Louis Cardinals over the Brewers 10-1 for the club’s first four-game sweep of Milwaukee.
Matt Holliday also homered for the Cardinals, who have won six straight.
San Francisco’s Hunter Pence doubled twice and drove in four runs, while Matt Cain pitched into the eighth inning for his first victory of the season as the Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 to complete a series sweep.
In other games, the Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 7-4, the Washington Nations downed the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2, the San Diego Padres defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-1 and the Tampa Bay Rays were 8-3 winners over the Colorado Rockies.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two