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.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set