MAJOR LEAGUES
Brian Roberts hit a grand slam, while Adam Jones homered and had three RBIs as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics 9-7 on Friday to gain ground in the American League wild-card race.
Roberts and Jones connected in a six-run fourth inning that put Baltimore up 6-3. After Oakland rallied to take the lead, Jones drove in the go-ahead run during a three-run seventh.
Photo: AFP
The victory moved the Orioles past Cleveland into third place in the wild-card hunt. Tampa Bay is on top and Baltimore now stands two games behind Oakland. The top two teams make the playoffs.
Coco Crisp homered, had a career high-tying four hits and scored three runs for the A’s, who have lost four of their past six games.
In St Louis, Missouri, Adam Wainwright earned his National League-leading 15th win with his fifth complete game.
Wainwright had a key sacrifice fly to lead the Cardinals to a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
Matt Holliday’s 132m home run off Kris Medlen (10-12) snapped a sixth-inning deadlock for St Louis, who took the first two games of a four-game set against the NL East leaders.
In the AL, Chris Nelson hit a two-run homer off Felix Hernandez as the Los Angeles Angels spoiled Eric Wedge’s return to the dugout with a 2-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Wedge managed the Mariners for the first time since he had a mild stroke a month ago.
He acknowledged being anxious about getting back on the bench and called his ailment “a heads up.”
Ian Kinsler raced around the bases for a bizarre inside-the-park home run and Adam Rosales had a conventional two-run shot to help the Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox 11-5.
The AL West-leading Rangers (75-53) had five homers in all while winning for the 19th time in 23 games. Jeff Baker and pinch hitter Mitch Moreland each had two-run shot, and Adrian Beltre belted a solo drive.
Tampa Bay rookie Chris Archer beat the New York Yankees for the third time and Evan Longoria hit one of four homers off Hiroki Kuroda as the Rays topped their AL East rival 7-2.
The Minnesota Twins downed the Cleveland Indians 5-1, while the Houston Astros trounced the Toronto Blue Jays 12-4.
In interleague play, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Boston Red Sox 2-0 in the opener of a series between playoff contenders, while Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run homer and Torii Hunter also connected in the Detroit Tigers’ 6-1 victory over the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals edged the Kansas City Royals 11-10. In the NL, Clint Barmes hit a three-run homer, while Charlie Morton pitched eight strong innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1 for their fourth win in five games.
The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Cincinnati Reds 6-4, the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3, the Colorado Rockies downed the Florida Marlins 3-2 and the San Diego Padres were 8-6 winners over the Chicago Cubs.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite