MAJOR LEAGUES
The Cincinnati Reds edged the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 on Saturday to move within two games of their rivals in the National League Central division.
South Korean slugger Choo Shin-soo extended his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games and Joey Votto drove in a pair of runs to lead the Reds, who have won the first two games in the series against the Pirates and are closing in on second place in the division.
Photo: AFP
Kansas City got a game-winning home run from Mike Moustakas to beat the Detroit Tigers in the American League, handing Justin Verlander his first loss to the Royals since Sept. 9, 2009.
In other games, the New York Mets ended the Philadelphia Phillies’ seven-game winning streak at Citi Field, the Milwaukee Brewers held the Miami Marlins without a run for the second consecutive game and the Colorado Rockies managed 13 hits in a win over the Chicago Cubs.
The Seattle Mariners extended their season-high winning streak to five games by beating the Houston Astros, the New York Yankees ended a three-game losing streak by beating the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays for their 16th win in 18 games.
Cincinnati’s Mat Latos and Pittsburgh’s A.J. Burnett had a tough time finding their control after a 1 hour, 17 minute rain delay in the middle of the first inning. Latos gave up three runs in five innings.
Travis Snider’s pinch-hit RBI double cut it to 5-4 in the eighth, but Logan Ondrusek got Jose Tabata to ground out with the bases loaded, ending the rally.
Aroldis Chapman escaped a two-on threat in the ninth for his 23rd save in 26 chances.
Kansas City’s Salvador Perez drove in three runs and Moustakas went three-for-four to lead the Royals to a 6-5 victory over the Tigers.
Verlander gave up six runs, five earned, on eight hits and four walks in 5-2/3 innings. It was the seventh time in 21 starts that Verlander failed to make it into the sixth inning.
Jeremy Guthrie picked up the victory for Kansas City, surrendering five runs on 10 hits and two walks in six innings.
The New York Mets’ Gonzalez Germen came out of the bullpen to bail out fellow rookie Zack Wheeler and help New York hold off Philadelphia 5-4.
Marlon Byrd, David Wright and Daniel Murphy each had an RBI single for the Mets, who handed Cole Hamels his 12th defeat of the season — the most in the National League.
Germen struck out three in 1-2/3 hitless innings for his first MLB win.
Milwaukee’s Yovani Gallardo carried a shutout into the seventh inning, while Jonathan Lucroy and Rickie Weeks belted home runs to lead the Brewers over the Marlins 6-0.
Gallardo gave up five hits in 6-1/3 innings, striking out five batters and walking two.
Miami’s scoreless streak has now reached 24 innings.
Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez homered and Todd Helton had three hits in the Rockies’ 9-3 win over the Cubs.
Troy Tulowitzki, Dexter Fowler and Wilin Rosario also had two hits each for a Colorado offense that had scored eight runs in their previous five games.
Seattle’s Michael Saunders got his team’s only hit with a two-RBI double in the seventh inning, lifting the Mariners to a 4-2 win over the Astros.
Erik Bedard pitched 6-1/3 innings of no-hit ball before he was replaced by Jose Cisnero, who walked Mike Zunino with two outs before the double by Saunders put Seattle ahead 4-2.
The Mariners tied it in the sixth inning by scoring two runs on a combination of passed balls, walks and a sacrifice fly.
The Yankees’ Brett Gardner and Lyle Overbay each had three hits and drove in a run to back Hiroki Kuroda’s seven strong innings, carrying New York past Boston 5-2.
Mike Carp had three hits and scored a run for the Red Sox, who lost for just the second time in their past 11 games at Fenway Park.
Tampa Bay’s Jeremy Hellickson won his fifth straight decision and Desmond Jennings reached base four times as the Rays beat the Blue Jays 4-3.
Jennings went three-for-four with a walk and scored twice for the Rays, who are an MLB-best 43-23 since May 8.
Los Angeles’ Hanley Ramirez doubled to highlight a two-run 10th inning as the Dodgers used seven pitchers to beat the Washington Nationals 3-1.
The Dodgers have won seven of nine to close within striking distance of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West division.
The Diamondbacks fell 4-3 to the San Francisco Giants after Buster Posey hit a two-run homer — his 14th of the season — in the fifth inning. Matt Cain allowed two runs in five-plus innings for his first win in more than a month.
San Diego’s Edinson Volquez pitched five solid innings and Huston Street was perfect in the ninth for his 16th save in 17 chances in the Padres’ 5-3 win over the St Louis Cardinals.
C.J. Wilson retired 18 consecutive batters and Alberto Callaspo homered to help the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 2-0.
Wilson gave up three hits in 8-1/3 innings, striking out eight and walking two.
Adam Jones homered and every Baltimore starter had a hit as the Orioles topped the sliding Texas Rangers 7-4.
Minnesota’s Kevin Correia threw six sharp innings for his first win in a month as the Twins beat the Cleveland Indians 3-2 for their fourth straight win.
Chicago’s Alex Rios hit a grand slam and drove in five runs, while Jake Peavy pitched six solid innings on his return from injury to lead the White Sox over the Atlanta Braves 10-6 in an interleague matchup.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier