MAJOR LEAGUES
Pittsburgh’s Vance Worley pitched his first career shutout to guide the Pirates to a 5-0 win over San Francisco on Monday, closing within two games of the lead in the National League Central division.
The Pirates made up ground on NL Central leaders Milwaukee, who lost a low-scoring interleauge game to Tampa Bay. It was a similar story in the NL East, where leaders Washington blew a lead in the bottom of the ninth in their Monday game to lose against Miami, cutting the Nationals’ divisional lead over second-placed Atlanta to half-a-game.
Pittsburgh’s Worley (4-1) had only thrown one complete game in his career before Monday’s game, but went the distance against the Giants, showing admirable control by issuing only one walk.
Four Pirates drove in a run off Giants starter Madison Bumgarner (12-8) in the first inning and Josh Harrison added a homer in the second to account for all the scoring.
In Tampa, Florida, pitcher Jake Odorizzi won his third straight start to steer the Rays to a 2-1 win over Milwaukee. Odorizzi (7-8) allowed one run in seven innings to beat the team that drafted him in 2008.
Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when James Loney drove in two runners with a two-out, bases-loaded single off Kyle Lohse (11-5).
Rays’ state rivals Miami also won on Monday, edging Washington with four runs in the ninth to win 7-6.
The Marlins were trailing 6-1 in the seventh when Washington closer Rafael Soriano (2-1) took the mound in the ninth with a 6-3 lead, but he blew the save.
Casey McGehee led off with a four-pitch walk, Garrett Jones doubled and Marcell Ozuna hit an RBI single. Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s sacrifice fly made it 6-5 and a wild pitch advanced Ozuna to second base.
Adeiny Hechavarria ended an 11-pitch at-bat with a tying triple and Donovan Solano was hit by a pitch.
Jerry Blevins replaced Soriano on the mound and got the second out with a strikeout, but Jeff Baker then drove in the winning hit.
Arizona closed in on the Nationals in the NL East after beating Cincinnati 2-1 when Nick Ahmed hit an RBI single with two outs in the 15th to give the Diamondbacks a 13-0 record in games of at least 15 innings.
Elsewhere in the NL, New York’s Travis d’Arnaud went 3 for 4 with a three-run homer to power the Mets to a 7-1 win over the Phillies, while Chicago’s Tsuyoshi Wada earned his first big leagues win by pitching seven strong innings to lead the Cubs past Colorado 4-1 and Atlanta’s Ervin Santana pitched eight scoreless innings as the Braves blanked San Diego 2-0.
In the American League, majors-leading Oakland lost to a struggling Houston that have lost their previous five games, while Toronto romped past a disappointing Boston to close in on the AL East lead.
Chris Carter, Jason Castro, Marc Krauss and Matt Dominguez all homered as Houston beat the A’s 7-3.
Carter hit a monstrous three-run shot in the third to give the Astros the lead, while Castro and Krauss went back-to-back in the sixth, with Castro’s homer a two-run shot. Two batters later, Dominguez also cleared the fences.
At Fenway Park, Toronto’s Melky Cabrera hit a left-handed and a right-handed homer and drove in five runs as the Blue Jays routed Boston 14-1 at home.
Cabrera homered after Jose Reyes led off the game with a walk and made it 9-0 in a nine-run sixth inning with a three-run homer.
Toronto starter R.A. Dickey (9-10) had a season-high 10 strikeouts, allowed one run and one walk in seven innings.
Also in the American League, Texas’ Yu Darvish struck out eight in seven innings to guide the Rangers 4-2 over the New York Yankees.
The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 36 points from Tyrese Maxey and a triple-double from Joel Embiid, on Thursday beat the Houston Rockets 128-122 in an NBA overtime thriller. Cameroonian big man Embiid scored 32 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 10 assists, posting the ninth triple-double of his career to help the Sixers end the Rockets’ three-game winning streak. Rockets star Kevin Durant scored 36 points and Amen Thompson added 17, but Thompson was scoreless in the fourth quarter. Even so, the Rockets led by nine midway through the final frame, Maxey tying it at 115-115 with 40.1 seconds left. Durant missed a
The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo on Friday said that he will probably be out for an extended period after hurting his right calf again after a similar injury caused him to miss eight games earlier this season. Antetokounmpo had his right calf wrapped in the first half of their 102-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets. He did not appear comfortable the rest of the night and left for good with 34 seconds remaining. “At the end, I could not move no more, so I had to stop playing,” Antetokounmpo said. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player said he expected to undergo an MRI
Taiwanese FORTUNES: Wu Fang-hsien and Hsieh Su-wei both advanced to the last 16 of the women’s doubles, but Ray Ho was ousted in the men’s doubles Carlos Alcaraz yesterday stepped up his quest to win a maiden Australian Open as he overwhelmed showman Corentin Moutet to reach the last 16, while Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Hsieh Su-wei both advanced to the last 16 of the women’s doubles. Three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev battled through on day six at a warm and sunny Melbourne Park, as did Coco Gauff. Top seed Alcaraz was never in danger against French 32nd seed Moutet, easing through 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 at Rod Laver Arena in 2 hours, 5 minutes. It was the Spaniard’s 100th Grand Slam match and he boasts a remarkable 87-13 win-loss record,
LICENSE TO THRILL: Fans of Learner Tien, the youngest man to reach the quarter-finals in 11 years, wore ‘L Plates,’ signs for learning drivers, in support of the 20-year-old Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Japanese partner Eri Hozumi yesterday dominated eighth seeds Ellen Perez of Australia and the Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs to advance to the Australian Open quarter-finals, the furthest the Taiwanese has made it since her first appearance in Melbourne in 2020. Wu and Hozumi overpowered world No. 21 Perez and world No. 20 Schuurs 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour, 11 minutes at 1573 Arena in much cooled temperatures since Saturday’s blazing 40°C disrupted play. World No. 34 Wu has now made it further in the Australian Open since she was knocked out in the third round in 2024. The Taiwanese-Japanese duo
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