AMERICAN LEAGUE
New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda was ejected from Wednesday’s game against Boston for using pine tar to aid his grip on the ball, compounding a 5-1 loss to the Red Sox.
Pineda’s transgression came less than two weeks after appearing to get away with using a foreign substance in another game against Boston and he now faces a likely suspension.
Elsewhere, Martin Perez threw his second-straight shutout as Texas swept Oakland and went to the top of the American League (AL) West division, and majors-leading Milwaukee broke out of a scoring slump and beat San Diego, while Atlanta defeated Miami to worsen the Marlins’ poor road record.
Pineda was thrown out in the second inning, when plate umpire Gerry Davis found the substance on the right side of the pitcher’s neck after Red Sox manager John Farrell asked him to check. Pineda walked from the mound without protest.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Pineda and the organization were “embarrassed.”
Red Sox pitcher John Lackey (3-2) allowed one run in eight innings with 11 strikeouts and no walks, while Mike Napoli had three hits as Boston scored two runs in the first and two more in the third.
Texas moved above Oakland to the top of the AL West by beating the Athletics 3-0.
Martin Perez (4-0) extended his scoreless innings streak to 26, helping Texas complete a three-game sweep of the A’s for the first time in three seasons.
Donnie Murphy homered, and Michael Choice scored one run and drove in another for the Rangers.
Milwaukee’s Jean Segura hit a three-run homer to help the Brewers win 5-2 against San Diego.
Segura homered for a 4-1 lead in the second and Khris Davis added a solo shot for the Brewers, who have won five of six and are a big league-best 16-6.
Milwaukee starter Kyle Lohse (4-1) allowed five hits and no walks in seven innings.
Atlanta pinch-hitter Evan Gattis broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-run double to lift the Braves to a 3-1 win over Miami.
Braves pitchers struck out 16, giving them 41 strikeouts against just five walks — one intentional — in the three-game series.
The Marlins fell to 1-8 on the road this season.
San Francisco’s Hector Sanchez hit two of the Giants’ six homers, including a grand slam in the 11th, which secured a 12-10 win over Colorado.
Michael Morse also hit two homers — a solo shot in the second and a three-run homer the following inning — as two Giants hit multiple homers in the same game for the first time in nine years.
Brandon Hicks and Brandon Belt also went deep as San Francisco rallied from a 5-1, second-inning deficit.
Los Angeles’ Zack Greinke outpitched Cole Hamels with seven strong innings to guide the Dodgers to a 5-2 win over Philadelphia.
Greinke (4-0) allowed two runs while striking out 11 with one intentional walk. Manager Don Mattingly tried to squeeze one more inning out of Greinke, but lifted him after Jayson Nix drove his 108th pitch for a leadoff homer.
Hanley Ramirez homered and Yasiel Puig drove in two runs for Los Angeles.
New York threw out the potential tying run at home plate in the ninth inning to preserve a 3-2 Mets win over St Louis.
Shortstop Ruben Tejada cut down Matt Carpenter for the second out of the ninth on a strong relay throw from center fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis. St Louis manager Mike Matheny challenged the call, which was upheld following a replay review.
Lucas Duda hit a long home run for the Mets.
Washington’s Adam LaRoche hit a tiebreaking single to cap a four-run rally in the ninth inning that gave the Nationals a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels, preventing a sweep.
Los Angeles led 4-1 entering the ninth but closer Ernesto Frieri (0-2) blew the save. Jose Lobaton led off with his first homer of the season. One out later, Denard Span singled, then Anthony Rendon walked and Jayson Werth came through with a two-run double to make it 4-4.
Fernando Salas entered to replace Frieri, but on his first pitch, LaRoche hit a liner that scored Werth.
Chicago’s Marcus Semien hit a seventh-inning grand slam that lifted the White Sox to a 6-4 win over Detroit.
Baltimore’s Nelson Cruz hit two of the Orioles’ season-high four home runs to deliver a 10-8 win over Toronto.
Minnesota’s Chris Colabello drove in four runs, including two on a 12th-inning single that lifted the Twins to a 6-4 victory over Tampa Bay.
Cleveland’s Jason Kipnis hit an RBI double with two outs in the seventh inning to send Cleveland past Kansas City 5-3.
Cincinnati’s Alfredo Simon pitched into the seventh inning despite erratic control and helped the Reds beat Pittsburgh 5-2.
Seattle’s Kyle Seager hit a three-run homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth as the Mariners rallied for a 5-3 win over Houston, ending an eight-game losing streak.
The Chicago Cubs marked Wrigley Field’s 100th birthday in dramatic and appropriately typical fashion by allowing Arizona to rally for five runs in the ninth inning and steal a 7-5 victory.
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