MAJOR LEAGUES
San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum threw the first no-hitter of his career against the San Diego Padres on Saturday.
The 29-year-old right hander struck out 13 batters and walked four to record the no-hitter in his team’s 9-0 win. He also hit San Diego’s Jedd Gyorko with a pitch.
A two-time Cy Young winner, Lincecum tossed a career high 149 pitches, as he registered the 15th no-hitter in Giants history and the seventh since the team was moved from New York to San Francisco in 1958.
The last Giants player to record a no-hitter was Matt Cain, who registered a perfect game at home to the Houston Astros last season.
Lincecum is just the second MLB pitcher to throw a no-hitter this year. The only other was Cincinnati Reds’ Homer Bailey, who threw his against the Giants less than two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Max Scherzer’s unbeaten run ended on Saturday night when the Texas Rangers tagged the Detroit All-Star with his first loss of the season, defeating the Tigers 7-1.
Scherzer (13-1) was trying to become the first pitcher in the majors to start 14-0 since Roger Clemens in 1986. He allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings, walking two and striking out six.
It was Scherzer’s first regular-season loss since Sept. 23, a span of 21 starts. The defeat came in his final start before the All-Star game — he could start the event tomorrow night in New York.
Mitch Moreland’s two-run homer in the fourth gave Texas a 3-0 lead, and for once, the AL Central-leading Tigers did not back Scherzer with much offensive support. Derek Holland allowed a run and five hits in seven innings.
Adrian Beltre added a two-run homer in a three-run ninth for Texas.
In New York, Samuel Deduno pitched seven impressive innings and the slumping Minnesota Twins finally figured out a way to beat the New York Yankees, hitting three home runs off Phil Hughes in a 4-1 win.
Trevor Plouffe, Ryan Doumit and Pedro Florimon connected against Hughes — all on 2-2 pitches. Minnesota ended a six-game losing streak with their second victory in 14 games, winning for the first time in six meetings with the Yankees this year.
At Cleveland, Ohio, Lonnie Chisenhall hit his first career grand slam as the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 5-3.
Chisenhall’s homer in the sixth broke open a 1-0 game and hit off the facing of the second deck in right field, landing in Kansas City’s bullpen.
Also on Saturday, the Toronto Blue Jays beat Baltimore 7-3, the Tampa Bay Rays edged the Houston Astros 4-3 and the Oakland Athletics shut out the Boston Red Sox 3-0.
In the National League, Mike Minor struggled early before recovering to throw seven strong innings, and also hit a go-ahead double that led the Braves over the Cincinnati Reds 5-2 on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Braves, who lost starting outfielders Jason Heyward, B.J. Upton and Justin Upton to injuries, found success with their fill-ins. Jose Constanza, recalled from Triple-A, started in left field and hit leadoff with Reed Johnson in center and rookie Joey Terdoslavich in right.
The patchwork outfield combined for seven hits, including three by Constanza. Brian McCann and Dan Uggla hit home runs as the Braves maintained their lead in the NL Central.
In other NL games on Saturday, the LA Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 1-0, the Miami Marlins topped the Washington Nationals 2-1 and the Arizona Diamondbacks closed out a 5-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
In Interleague games, the Chicago White Sox needed 11 innings to edge out the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 in the first game of their double header.
The Phillies responded in the second game beating the White Sox 2-1 in a 13 innings marathon.
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
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
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
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later