Zack Greinke was three for three with a homer to offset his worst start in three years as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-8 on Thursday.
Greinke (11-2) gave up five runs before getting an out, finishing with six runs allowed and seven hits in six innings, but he helped himself at the plate and Adrian Gonzalez hit a three-run homer to pace the National League West leaders.
The six runs equaled the total Greinke gave up in his previous nine starts combined. He had a scoreless streak of 45-2/3 innings during that span.
Photo: AFP
Greinke had not allowed six earned runs since Aug. 19, 2012, when he gave up six for the Angels at Tampa Bay.
Greinke’s ERA rose from 1.41 to 1.71. His batting average went from .170 to .220.
Kenley Jansen got two outs for his 21st save in 22 chances.
Domonic Brown hit a three-run homer for the Phillies.
David Buchanan (2-6) lasted four innings, giving up seven runs and 10 hits.
CUBS 5, GIANTS 4
In Chicago, rookie bopper Kyle Schwarber homered in his second consecutive game as Chicago beat San Francisco to move a half-game ahead of the Giants in the race for a National League wild card.
The Cubs, playing meaningful baseball in August for the first time in years, won for the seventh time in eight games.
Jorge Soler hit a two-run single in the first inning and Schwarber made it 5-0 with a three-run drive off Chris Heston (11-6) in the second, but instead of an easy win, the Cubs had to hang on.
San Francisco’s Brandon Belt hit a two-run homer off Jason Hammel in the fourth inning and Brandon Crawford added another off Tommy Hunter in the sixth to make it 5-4.
Jason Motte and Pedro Strop each worked a scoreless inning for the Cubs. Hector Rondon pitched the ninth for his 17th save in 20 chances.
The Giants lost for just the sixth time in 22 games.
Winning pitcher Justin Grimm (2-3) got out of a jam in the fifth.
YANKEES 2, RED SOX 1
In New York, Jacoby Ellsbury hit a tiebreaking homer to snap out of a slump and C.C. Sabathia pitched six gritty innings after leaving his previous outing with dehydration, leading New York over Boston.
Alex Rodriguez had an RBI double and Justin Wilson (4-0) struck out three batters in the seventh inning to help the Yankees take two of three from the Red Sox.
Andrew Miller put two on in the ninth, but struck out Rusney Castillo to remain perfect in 24 save chances.
Ellsbury connected with two outs in the seventh off 22-year-old Eduardo Rodriguez (6-4).
Thursday’s other results:
‧ Blue Jays 9, Twins 3
‧ Cardinals 3, Reds 0
‧ Tigers 8, Royals 6
‧ Nationals 8, Diamondbacks 3
‧ Astros 5, Athletics 4, 10 innings
‧ Brewers 10, Padres 1
‧ Braves 9, Marlins 8
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