MAJOR LEAGUES
Detroit’s Torii Hunter hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Tigers a dramatic 7-6 win over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday, boosting their commanding lead in the American League (AL) Central division.
Detroit’s win, combined with Cleveland’s loss at Atlanta, meant the Tigers led the division by 6.5 games, with the teams having 28 and 29 games left respectively. The Tigers and Indians were set to begin a vital series yesterday.
Elsewhere, Baltimore put some life back into its flagging playoff hopes with a win over Boston, while Pittsburgh’s post-season ambitions hit a speed hump with a home defeat by Milwaukee.
Detroit scored four times in the ninth off A’s reliever Grant Balfour (0-3). A two-out walk set up Victor Martinez’s RBI single, and then Hunter connected for the walk-off homer as the Tigers avoided a four-game series sweep.
Detroit starter Max Scherzer (19-1) was denied his 20th win, taking a non-decision after giving up six runs in five innings.
Star Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera hurt his abdomen making an awkward slide while attempting a double in the fifth inning. He insisted he would be back in the lineup yesterday for the start of their key series against Cleveland.
Oakland slipped three games behind Texas in the fight for the AL West division lead.
Atlanta catcher Brian McCann hit a three-run homer, which was enough to give the Braves a 3-1 win over Cleveland.
McCann went deep in the third after Justin Upton kept the inning going with a two-out single. Upton had to leave the game in the sixth after being struck on the left hand by a pitch, but X-rays showed no fracture.
Braves starter Kris Medlen (11-12) pitched seven scoreless innings to cap a series of dominant pitching by the Braves, who surrendered just three runs in three games.
Baltimore’s Chris Tillman pitched seven strong innings to earn his 15th victory of the season and steer the Orioles to a 3-2 win over Boston, who avoided a three-game sweep.
Tillman (15-4) allowed two runs, while striking out eight.
The Red Sox remained 2.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East, with Baltimore another four games back.
Milwaukee’s Yovani Gallardo pitched seven scoreless innings to guide the Brewers to a 4-0 win over Pittsburgh.
The Pirates fell one game behind National League Central-leading St Louis, who were scheduled to start a three-game series at Pittsburgh yesterday.
Gallardo (10-9) allowed one walk, while striking out five, and improved his career record against the Pirates to 11-4, including 5-2 in Pittsburgh.
Aramis Ramirez homered for the Brewers against his old side, having also gone long on Tuesday for his 350th career home run.
Los Angeles’ Jason Vargas pitched seven scoreless innings to give the Angels a 2-0 win over Tampa Bay, and a fifth win in six games.
Kansas City’s Bruce Chen bounced back with a solid start as the Royals downed Minnesota 3-1 to complete a sweep for their fifth straight win.
New York’s Carlos Torres held Philadelphia scoreless over the first six innings to set up the Mets’ 11-3 win over the Phillies.
Washington’s Jayson Werth and Ian Desmond each hit a three-run homer, leading the Nationals over Miami 9-0.
Seattle’s Franklin Gutierrez hit a two-run homer after Nick Franklin gave Seattle an early lead with a solo shot, providing enough for the Mariners to beat Houston 3-2 and end a six-game skid.
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
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