Alex Reyes pitched seven dominant innings in his third MLB start and fellow rookie Aledmys Diaz hit a two-run homer as the St Louis Cardinals moved up in the tight National League wild-card race, blanking the San Francisco Giants 3-0 on Sunday.
The Giants dropped a game behind the New York Mets for the top wild-card spot. The Cardinals closed within a game of San Francisco.
Reyes (3-1), considered one of MLB’s best pitching prospects, gave up four hits, struck out six and walked two.
Elsewhere, Gabriel Ynoa struck out eight over 4-2/3 innings in his first start to aid the Mets’ rickety rotation as New York beat Minnesota 3-2 to complete a three-game sweep.
Michael Conforto drove in two runs with a first-inning single off Kyle Gibson and T.J. Rivera added a solo home run in the third for the Mets, who won for the 11th time in 14 games.
In Boston, Hanley Ramirez homered twice and drove in four runs as the Red Sox rallied to beat the Yankees 5-4, severely diminishing New York’s chances of winning the American League East Division.
Jackie Bradley Jr had a tying RBI single for the East-leading Red Sox, who overcame a rough start by Drew Pomeranz to post their ninth win in 12 games.
Boston remained three games ahead of second-placed Baltimore. The Yankees dropped eight back in the division and remained four behind Toronto for the second American Legaue wild-card spot.
Meanwhile, the Orioles kept pace in the wild-card race, defeating Tampa Bay 2-1.
Mark Trumbo hit his MLB-leading 43rd home run and Manny Machado also homered for the Orioles, who lead Toronto by one game for the top American League wild-card spot.
Seattle also moved up in the American League wild-card race as Seth Smith hit two home runs in a 7-3 win over Houston.
The Mariners are one game behind Toronto for the second wild-card spot.
The Blue Jays gave up some valuable ground with a 4-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
Mike Trout and Albert Pujols each scored twice, while Alex Meyer gave up two hits in five innings for his first career win for Los Angeles.
In Cleveland, Ian Kinsler got his helmet knocked off by a pitch from Trevor Bauer, yelled at the Indians right-hander and was later ejected in Detroit’s 9-5 win.
Miguel Cabrera got his 2,500th career hit to help the Tigers pull within seven games of Cleveland.
Atlanta’s Adonis Garcia drove in three runs and Matt Wisler pitched five-plus innings as the Braves beat the National League East-leading Nationals 6-2.
In Phoenix, Arizona, Brandon Drury singled with two outs in the 12th, lifting the Diamondbacks 10-9 over the National League West-leading Dodgers.
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