MAJOR LEAGUES
The St Louis Cardinals opened a four-game lead over Cincinnati atop the National League Central division by beating the Reds 9-2 on Friday, with pitcher Adam Wainwright notching his ninth win of the season.
Elsewhere on Friday, Tampa Bay edged Baltimore to close the gap between them to half a game, while Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt again proved the match-winner against San Francisco.
Photo: AFP
A wild pitch in the tenth inning gave the Los Angeles Dodgers victory over Atlanta, Detroit stretched their lead over division rival Cleveland and Oakland pulled off a come-from-behind win over the Chicago White Sox.
St Louis’ Adam Wainwright (9-3) gave up two runs over seven innings to guide the Cardinals to a league-best 40th win of the season.
Tampa Bay’s Chris Archer pitched seven strong innings in just his second start of the season to guide the Rays to a 2-1 win over Baltimore.
Desmond Jennings hit a two-run homer to the deepest part of the ball park in the seventh inning, and that was enough for the Rays.
Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt continued his hot streak by hitting a three-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning, lifting the Diamondbacks to a 3-1 win over San Francisco.
The Giants looked poised for victory before Goldschmidt lined a 2-0 pitch from Jeremy Affeldt over the right field fence for his 15th home run of the season.
Los Angeles’ pinch-runner Skip Schumaker scored on the second wild pitch by Anthony Varvaro in the 10th inning, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 victory over the Braves.
Ramon Hernandez started the rally with a one-out single, took second on the first wild pitch and advanced to third on a single by Luis Cruz.
Varvaro (3-1) then bounced another wild pitch to the catcher, allowing Schumaker to score.
Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig was on-deck, but he was not needed after homering for the fourth time in five career games.
Detroit’s Justin Verlander pitched seven solid innings to steer the Tigers to a 7-5 win over Cleveland, opening a 3-1/2 game lead over the Indians atop the American League Central.
Verlander (8-4) allowed seven hits and struck out six.
Victor Martinez homered among his three hits for the Tigers in this opener of a three-game series.
Oakland’s Josh Donaldson hit his first career grand slam to rally the Athletics from a three-run deficit and beat the Chicago White Sox 4-1.
Donaldson’s sixth-inning homer was one of two key moments, with the other being Josh Reddick making a homer-saving catch in the bottom of the ninth.
Toronto’s Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run double and pitcher Neil Wagner earned his first major league win as the Blue Jays beat Texas 6-1.
Seattle’s Brendan Ryan and Jason Bay both hit two-out, two-run singles in a four-run fourth inning, while Jeremy Bonderman won for the first time since 2010 as the Mariners beat the New York Yankees 4-1.
Colorado’s Nolan Arenado hit a game-ending homer leading off the ninth inning, completing a giant comeback from a six-run deficit, and giving the Rockies a 10-9 win over San Diego.
Pittsburgh’s Francisco Liriano pitched seven scoreless innings as the Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 2-0 for their major league-leading 10th shutout.
Milwaukee’s Aramis Ramirez hit an RBI single with one out in the ninth inning, rallying Milwaukee from four runs down to beat Philadelphia 5-4 and end Philadelphia’s five-game winning streak.
Kansas City’s Billy Butler drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as the Royals beat Houston 4-2 for their third straight win.
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
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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
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