Alex Rodriguez moved past Barry Bonds for second place on the career RBIs list and got four hits as New York built a huge lead, then scrambled to hold off Los Angeles to win 8-7 for their fourth straight victory.
Down 8-1 in the ninth inning, the Angels rallied for six runs with the help of a routine popup that dropped between two infielders for a single. Their first eight batters reached base against Esmil Rogers and Dellin Betances.
The Angels still had the bases loaded with no outs, trailing 8-6. Betances, nicked for an earned run for the first time this season, retired the next three batters for his second save. He struck out pinch-hitter Carlos Perez with runners at the corners to end it, sending Los Angeles to their third loss in a row.
Light-hitting Stephen Drew homered twice and Mark Teixeira connected early as the Yankees took advantage of their ballpark’s short porch in right field and Jered Weaver’s soft tosses.
CARDINALS 2, DODGERS 1
In Los Angeles, Carlos Martinez outpitched Brett Anderson again during their second low-scoring duel in six days as St Louis scratched across a pair of runs in the eighth inning to beat Los Angeles.
Martinez (6-2) allowed his only run in the second inning on a bases-loaded walk to power-hitting rookie Joc Pederson. The right-hander gave up three hits and had a career-high 11 strikeouts while helping to lower the Cardinals’ major league-best ERA to 2.57.
On Sunday last week, Martinez held the Dodgers to one hit over seven innings and struck out eight in a 3-1 victory over Anderson, which followed an emotional pregame tribute to Martinez’s late teammate and best friend Oscar Taveras, who was killed in a car accident in October.
NATIONALS 7, CUBS 5
In Washington, Danny Espinosa gave Washington an early lead with a three-run homer in the second inning as Washington snapped a three-game losing streak with a win over Chicago.
The Nationals finished with 12 hits and broke out of a recent offensive slump in which they scored only 15 runs while losing six of their past seven games.
They touched up Chicago starter Tsuyoshi Wada (0-1) for five runs on nine hits in his 3-2/3 innings. Washington finished with three doubles and a homer off Wada.
Starter Tanner Roark (2-2) retired the first 10 batters he faced, but later gave up three homers — two to Chicago’s Anthony Rizzo — and four runs in 5-2/3 innings.
In other MLB action, it was:
‧ Diamondbacks 7, Mets 2
‧ Giants 5, Phillies 4
‧ Rangers 4, Royals 0
‧ Rays 1, Mariners 0
‧ Blue Jays 6, Astros 2
‧ Pirates 10, Braves 8
‧ Orioles 5, Indians 2
‧ Brewers 10, Twins 5
‧ White Sox 4, Tigers 3, 11 inns
‧ Padres 6, Reds 2
‧ Marlins 6, Rockies 2
‧ Red Sox 4, Athletics 2
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