MAJOR LEAGUES
Los Angeles pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin stretched his road scoreless streak to 26 innings as the Dodgers beat San Francisco 2-1 on Thursday to move level with the Giants at the top of the National League West standings.
It was a bad day for the National League’s divisional leaders, as Atlanta and Milwaukee also lost; the Braves in a one-run game against the Philadelphia Phillies and the Brewers suffering a one-sided defeat at the Pittsburgh Pirates, while the Washington Nationals were shut out at home by the St Louis Cardinals.
Photo: AFP
Dodgers hurler Ryu (3-1) struck out three and walked one on a season-high 112 pitches in seven innings. Closer Kenley Jansen gave up a two-out RBI singles in the ninth, but held on for the save.
Yasiel Puig returned to the Los Angeles lineup and went one for four with a strikeout. He dropped a routine fly ball in right early on, but recovered to throw out Brandon Belt at second. He also made a couple of impressive catches.
Giants starter Madison Bumgarner (2-1) allowed six hits in 4-1/3 laborious innings that required 99 pitches.
St Louis’ Adam Wainwright shone on the mound and at the plate as the Cardinals beat Washington 8-0.
Wainwright (3-1) pitched his seventh career shutout with eight strikeouts, and also hit a double and single.
St Louis benefited from four errors in beating Washington for the eighth straight time dating back to the 2012 National League Division Series.
Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen hit his first homer of the season and drove in three runs as the Pirates overwhelmed Milwaukee in the closing innings and triumphed 11-2.
Josh Harrison hit a two-run shot as a pinch hitter which started Pittsburgh’s nine-run outburst over the seventh and eighth innings that was capped by Pedro Alvarez’s three-run shot.
McCutchen, last year’s National League Most Valuable Player, hit a two-run homer in the first inning, ending a streak of 56 at-bats without a homer.
Philadephia and Atlanta staged another intense defensive battle, but this time the Phillies came out on top, edging the Braves 1-0 to reverse the score of the previous day.
The sole run came from Ben Revere’s RBI single with two outs in the eighth.
A.J. Burnett pitched seven scoreless innings, while Antonio Bastardo and Jonathan Papelbon finished off the four-hitter.
New York’s C.C. Sabathia pitched seven innings for a rare win at Tropicana Field, leading the Yankees past the Tampa Bay Rays 10-2.
Sabathia (2-2) allowed only the two runs to improve to 2-7 in 12 starts at Tropicana Field since joining the Yankees in 2009.
Rays starter David Price (2-1) entered with a 6-1 head-to-head record against Sabathia, but gave up six runs in five innings as Tampa Bay slumped to a fourth straight defeat.
Texas’ stand-in third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff delivered again, doubling twice and scoring two runs as the Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners 8-6.
Kouzmanoff is hitting .414 since being called up from the minors eight days previously when starting third baseman Adrian Beltre suffered a thigh strain.
Choo Shin-soo homered for Texas and J.P. Arencibia had a pair of RBI groundouts.
The Minnesota Twins overcame freezing conditions to win both games of a home double-header against the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-0 and 9-5.
At the start of the first game the temperature was just below zero, making it the coldest start for an outdoor game in Twins history.
Colorado’s Franklin Morales (1-1) allowed four hits in six innings to guide the Rockies to a 4-1 win over the San Diego Padres.
Boston’s Jon Lester pitched eight sharp innings to steer the Red Sox past the Chicago White Sox 3-1.
Detroit’s Ian Kinsler homered and drove in four runs as the Tigers held on for a 7-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
The Kansas City Royals completed a road sweep of the Houston Astros, with James Shields striking out 12 in eight innings.
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