The San Francisco Giants’ eight-game winning streak ended in improbable fashion.
Jeff Locke on Monday night followed consecutive horrible starts with 6-2/3 scoreless innings and Erik Kratz hit his first home run since 2014 to help the Pittsburgh Pirates beat Madison Bumgarner and the Giants 1-0.
Locke (6-5) allowed five hits, no walks and struck out three, helping the Pirates to their second win in 12 games. The left-hander had allowed 18 runs and 20 hits over 8-2/3 innings during his previous two outings, certainly making him a long shot to cool off the major leagues’ hottest team.
Photo: AP
“He was throwing a lot of strikes,” Giants first baseman Brandon Belt said. “He had the ball moving both ways. His changeup was working well. He just did a good job.”
Bumgarner (8-3) was the tough-luck loser, allowing one run in eight innings while having his seven-game winning streak ended. The left-hander had his 12th straight start allowing two earned runs or fewer and gave up five hits, while striking out eight and walking two.
The St Louis Cardinals stopped a five-game slide with a 3-2 win over the Chicago Cubs, with Brandon Moss and Jhonny Peralta hitting homers off of John Lackey. The Cardinals got back on track following their first winless homestand of at least two series since 1983. It was their first trip to Wrigley Field since they were eliminated by the Cubs in their National League Division Series last year.
The Los Angeles Dodgers won their fourth straight, with Clayton Kershaw yielding six hits over seven dominant innings to earn his ninth victory in 10 starts in a 4-1 result against Washington.
Arizona completed a four-game sweep against Philadelphia with a 3-1 win and the Colorado Rockies beat the Miami Marlins 5-3 in a record-setting home run contest.
Mark Reynolds hit two homers, while Trevor Story, Nick Hundley and Charlie Blackmon also went deep for the Rockies. Marcell Ozuna homered twice and Giancarlo Stanton hit one for the Marlins. The eight solo homers accounted for all the runs in the game, setting a major league record. The previous mark was five.
In Arlington, Texas, Choo Shin-soo hit a go-ahead, two-run single, while Ian Desmond homered halfway up the hill in center field as streaking Texas beat Baltimore 4-3 in a makeup game matching the American League’s top two teams.
Texas extended their season-best winning streak to seven games, the last four being one-run decisions. Since the makeup of an April 17 rainout counted as a series, the AL West leaders stretched their club record to 10 consecutive series wins — the longest in the AL since Tampa Bay’s 10 in a row three years ago.
In Boston, Jose Abreu doubled home two runs off Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel with two outs in the 10th inning after the White Sox escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth to win 3-1.
AL Central-leading Cleveland rallied for a 7-4 win over Tampa Bay, while Justin Upton hit a line drive over the left-field wall in the 12th inning for his second home run of the game to lift the Detroit Tigers to an 8-7 win over the Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels 10-7.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two