MAJOR LEAGUES
Josh Hamilton homered and drove in three runs, and Mike Trout also hit a homer as the Los Angeles Angels regained the best record in the league with a 9-4 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.
Erick Aybar had two hits and two RBIs, and Kole Calhoun finished with three hits for the Angels, who ended a five-game losing streak to the A’s in Oakland. Albert Pujols and Howie Kendrick each drove in a run as Los Angeles won for the ninth time in 12 games.
Photo: AFP
Alberto Callaspo and Andy Parrino homered for Oakland, who had won three of four to move into a share of the top spot in the American League West.
Jared Weaver (14-7) struck out eight in 6-2/3 innings while improving to 7-1 with a 3.78 ERA in his past 13 starts. He allowed three runs and eight hits.
Washington sluggers Ian Desmond and Bryce Harper homered and drove in two runs each to help the Nationals down the San Francisco Giants 14-6.
Jose Lobaton doubled among his three hits, drove in a run and scored twice for the Nationals, who took the game against the Giants despite a labored four-innings outing from starter Stephen Strasburg.
At Cincinnati, Alfredo Simon pitched seven strong innings to earn his first win in eight starts since the All-Star break, and Todd Frazier homered as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves 5-3.
Simon (13-8), who was 0-5 since pitching in the All-Star Game, opened with six shutout innings before yielding a run in the seventh. He allowed five hits with one walk and six strikeouts over seven innings.
Logan Ondrusek allowed Evan Gattis’ 20th homer leading off the ninth.
The Philadelphia Phillies downed the St Louis Cardinals 7-1 after Jimmy Rollins homered and Jerome Williams tossed eight strong innings.
Ben Revere had a pair of hits and an RBI for Philadelphia, who took two of three from the Cardinals to claim consecutive series wins for the first time since April.
Mike Fiers held Pittsburgh to two hits in seven innings for his fourth straight win since coming up from the minor leagues as the Milwaukee Brewers edged the Pirates 4-3 to avoid a three-game sweep at home.
In other games, Lucas Duda homered twice, drove in a career-high five runs and was involved in the Mets’ first triple play in more than four seasons as New York downed the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-3, the San Diego Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-4, the Colorado Rockies downed the Miami Marlins 7-4, the Cleveland Indians defeated the Houston Astros 3-1 and the New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox 7-4 in overtime.
The Seattle Mariners had an 8-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox, the Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 3-1, the Detroit Tigers trounced the Minnesota Twins 13-4, the Tampa Bay Rays edged the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 in overtime and the Chicago Cubs were 2-1 winners over the Baltimore Orioles.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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