MAJOR LEAGUES
The Tampa Bay Rays again closed within half a game of the American League lead with a 5-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday, with David Price pitching his third complete game of the season.
Having allowed Boston to eke out their lead with a win on Tuesday, the Rays closed in again thanks chiefly to Price’s powerful performance and a two-run single from Wil Myers.
Tampa Bay’s Price (5-5) needed only 97 pitches for his seventh career complete game and did not walk a batter. Since returning from a triceps strain, he is 4-1 with a 1.76 ERA in five starts.
James Loney had two hits and drove in a run for the Rays.
Both teams are edging away from the AL East Division’s power team, the New York Yankees, who lost to Texas and their new pitcher, Matt Garza.
Garza pitched into the eighth inning of his Rangers debut, allowing only one unearned run on his own throwing error as the hosts beat the Yankees 3-1.
Garza (1-0) was 6-1 in his 11 starts this season for the Chicago Cubs before being traded on Monday to the Rangers, who had long coveted the right-hander. He was 5-0 with a 1.24 ERA his past six starts for Chicago, winning the past five.
After giving up consecutive singles to start his first game in a Rangers jersey, Garza retired 15 of the next 16 batters.
The Baltimore Orioles also slipped back in the tight division after a narrow loss to Kansas City.
The Royals’ Eric Hosmer hit two home runs and Alcides Escobar drove in the winning run in the ninth to lift Kansas to a 4-3 win.
David Lough singled and scored the game-ending run when Escobar doubled with one out in the ninth.
Hosmer homered in the first and his two-run home run in the eighth tied the score 3-3. It was Hosmer’s third multihomer game and his second this season.
Elsewhere, St Louis racked up 11 runs in their win over Philadelphia, as Jake Westbrook pitched seven solid innings and contributed offensively with his second career steal.
Westbrook (7-4) had his first career three-hit game and drew a two-out walk in the fourth, stole second and scored for a 4-0 Cardinals lead.
Pittsburgh pitcher Francisco Liriano put in a commanding performance against Washington, not allowing a hit until the sixth inning against the struggling and depleted Nationals, steering the Pirates to a 4-2 win.
Liriano (10-4) walked the first batter he faced, then retired 11 in a row. After a walk, he sent down five more batters before giving up his first hit.
Pedro Alvarez homered for Pittsburgh off Stephen Strasburg (5-8), who suffered an unlucky loss, having struck out 12 with no walks and only two hits.
The Nationals fell to 0-6 since the All-Star break — scoring a total of 13 runs in that span.
Cincinnati’s Mike Leake shone on the mound and at the plate as the Reds beat San Francisco. Leake pitched six-plus innings of wildly effective ball and had the third three-hit game of his career, leading the Reds past the Giants 8-3.
Leake (10-4) allowed a career-worst 12 hits, but just one run. He also snapped a 0-for-26 skid — his longest hitless streak — with two singles and a double.
Cincinnati finished 6-1 against the Giants this season and most of the wins were not even close, scoring 45 runs against 14.
In this game, the Giants had 15 hits, but were four-for-16 with runners in scoring position and stranded 15 on base.
Atlanta’s Tim Hudson did not allow a run into the eighth inning before suffering a gruesome leg injury when trodden on by a New York base runner at first, overshadowing the Braves’ 8-2 win over the Mets.
In Seattle, Cleveland’s Scott Kazmir allowed just one hit over his eight innings, steering the Indians to a 10-1 thrashing of the Mariners.
Los Angeles’ Mark Ellis hit a two-run homer to highlight the Dodgers’ five-run 10th inning which capped an 8-3 win over Toronto and a three-game sweep.
At Chase Field, Arizona, Chicago’s Nate Schierholtz lined a two-out double into the left-field corner in the top of the 12th inning to drive in the go-ahead run, giving the Cubs a 7-6 win over the Diamondbacks.
Detroit’s Prince Fielder, Austin Jackson and Torii Hunter homered, compensating for the absence of an injured Miguel Cabrera and leading the Tigers to a 6-2 win over the Chicago White Sox.
In Houston, Texas, Oakland’s Coco Crisp hit a two-run homer in a three-run seventh inning to lift the A’s to a 4-3 win over the Astros.
In the day’s other games, the Angels’ Jered Weaver outpitched Mike Pelfrey with eight scoreless innings in 1-0 win over Minnesota, Milwaukee’s Kyle Lohse pitched seven strong innings to direct the Brewers’ 3-1 win over the Padres and Colorado’s Jorge de la Rosa pitched six scoreless innings in the Rockies’ 2-1 victory over Miami.
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