J.J. Hardy hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh inning to back an effective pitching performance by Taiwan’s Chen Wei-yin and carry Baltimore past Texas 4-2.
Jimmy Paredes hit a home run and had two RBIs for the Orioles, who yielded eight home runs in losing the first two games of the series.
The Rangers went deep twice more — solo shots by Choo Shin-soo and Ryan Rua — but that was the extent of their offensive output.
Photo: AP
Chen (4-4) allowed two runs, four hits and a walk over eight innings to win his third straight decision. The Taiwanese left-hander is 5-0 with a 1.80 ERA lifetime against the Rangers.
Zach Britton struck out the side in the ninth for his 23rd save.
Nick Martinez (5-5) gave up four runs, three earned, and seven hits in 6-2/3 innings. He has lost three straight starts.
INDIANS 8, RAYS 1
In St Petersburg, Florida, Carlos Carrasco came within one strike of throwing the Cleveland Indians’ first no-hitter since 1981, giving up an RBI single to Joey Butler over leaping second baseman Jason Kipnis’ glove in an 8-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
For the third straight night, the Indians took a perfect game into the sixth inning against the Rays. This time, Carrasco retired the first 19 batters before walking Butler with one out in the seventh.
Washington’s Max Scherzer lost his perfect game with one strike to go on June 20, but finished with a no-hitter, the second in the major leagues this season.
Carrasco walked Astrubal Cabrera leading off the ninth, then hit pinch-hitter Brandon Guyer with a pitch. Grady Sizemore, also pinch hitting, grounded into a force play and Kevin Kiermaier struck out to bring Butler to the plate with a crowd of 11,394 at Tropicana Field on its feet.
Butler lined an 0-2 pitch over Kipnis, who jumped high in the air to make an attempt at the ball and fell flat to the ground as the line drive landed cleanly in the outfield. Carrasco smiled, clapped into his glove several times and pointed at the second baseman in appreciation of his effort.
ASTROS 6, ROYALS 5
In Houston, Texas, Jose Altuve had three hits and scored the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning to help Houston complete a three-game sweep of Kansas City.
The game was tied at 5 in the seventh when Kelvin Herrera (1-2) plunked Altuve on the forearm. Altuve stole second and reached third on a lineout. He put Houston on top when he beat the tag at the plate on a fielder’s choice by Chris Carter.
The play was reviewed and upheld to give the Astros the win.
In other MLB action, it was:
‧ Dodgers 4, Diamondbacks 3
‧ White Sox 7, Cardinals 1
‧ Cubs 2, Mets 0, 11 inns
‧ Braves 4, Nationals 1
‧ Blue Jays 11, Red Sox 2
‧ Marlins 6, Giants 5
‧ Yankees 3, Angels 1
‧ Pirates 9, Tigers 3
‧ Brewers 9, Phillies 5
‧ Reds 4, Twins 1
‧ Mariners 7, Padres 0
‧ Athletics 4, Rockies 1
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