MAJOR LEAGUES
Melky Cabrera could not corral Nick Punto’s double with one out in the 12th inning, sending the surging Oakland Athletics to a 1-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Major League Baseball on Friday.
Derek Norris had a leadoff walk in the Oakland 12th against Chad Jenkins (0-1). After Jed Lowrie lined out, Punto hit a slicing double down the line in left.
Photo: USA TODAY
Cabrera moved to his right to cut off the ball, which squirted by his glove for an error. Norris scored from first for an odd ending to a game highlighted by stellar pitching performances by starters Tommy Milone of Oakland and Marcus Stroman of Toronto.
Dan Otero (7-1), the fifth Oakland reliever to toss a scoreless inning, earned the win for the league-leading A’s.
The Los Angeles Angels won their eighth game in a row at home for the first time in nearly nine years when they defeated the Houston Astros 7-6.
Photo: AFP
Mike Trout homered leading off the ninth inning after the Angels twice rallied to tie the game. Trout hit his team-leading 20th homer, and has eight homers in his past 18 games.
Joe Smith (3-0) got the victory for the Angels, who trail Oakland by 3.5 games in the American League West.
The Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw nearly had a no-hitter against Colorado again, allowing only two singles over eight masterful innings to beat the Rockies 9-0.
Kershaw (10-2) extended his scoreless streak to 36 innings before being replaced by a pinch hitter in the ninth. He nearly matched the no-hitter he threw against the Rockies on June 18, striking out eight and walking one.
Yasiel Puig hit a two-run homer and Scott van Slyke added a three-run homer as the National League (NL) West-leading Dodgers had a season-high 19 hits.
San Diego won their season-high fifth straight game, topping San Francisco 2-0.
Eric Stults pitched seven strong innings to win for the first time in nearly two months, while Alexi Amarista homered to lead the Padres to the win.
NL East-leading Atlanta moved 10 games over .500 for the first time since April 29 with a 5-2 win over Arizona. It was the Braves’ 10th win in 11 games.
Freddie Freeman drove in two runs and Ervin Santana won his second straight start for the Braves.
Arizona and Houston are tied for the most losses in the majors with 52.
The New York Mets overcame an early injury to starter Jonathon Niese to beat Texas 6-5 to stop a four-game slide.
Travis d’Arnaud broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-run double for the Mets.
Niese left in the first with a bruised lower back after he was hit by Alex Rios’ line drive.
Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen had four hits and Jordy Mercer drove in a career-high four runs, powering the Pirates to an 8-2 victory over Philadelphia.
The Yankees’ Brian Roberts hit three doubles and a triple, leading New York to a 6-5 win over spiraling Minneapolis.
Chicago’s Justin Ruggiano homered for the second straight game to lead the Cubs to a 7-2 win over Washington.
Cincinnati’s Alfredo Simon moved into a tie for the National League lead with his 11th win and Billy Hamilton homered as the Reds ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over Milwaukee.
In other games, Kansas City topped Cleveland 7-1 and Tampa Bay beat Detroit 6-3.
The Chicago White Sox defeated Seattle 7-1 and St Louis edged Miami 3-2.
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