The Pittsburgh Pirates again prevented the New York Mets from clinching the National League East title when Ronny Paulino hit an RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 3-2 victory on Saturday.
The Mets' magic number for clinching their first division title since 1988 remained at one. New York could have won it on Friday, too, but lost to Pittsburgh 5-3.
Second-place Philadelphia earlier staved off elimination for the second straight day, beating Houston 7-2.
After Paul Lo Duca flied out with a runner on second to end the Mets ninth, the Pirates won it.
Pinch-hittter Joe Randa drew a two-out walk from Aaron Heilman (4-5). Paulino followed with a drive to center-left field -- the deepest part of PNC Park -- and Randa scored without a play.
Padres 11, Dodgers 2
At Los Angeles, Mike Cameron, Todd Walker and Adrian Gonzalez each hit two-run homers during San Diego's eight-run third inning and the Padres trimmed Los Angeles' NL West lead down to one-half game.
Phillies 7, Astros 2
At Houston, Cole Hamels pitched hitless ball for 6 2/3 innings and Philadelphia downed Houston to stay close in the NL wild-card race. The Phillies are 1 1/2 games behind San Diego for the wild card.
Nationals 8, Brewers 5
At Washington, Alfonso Soriano entered the elite 40-40 club in Washington's victory over Milwaukee. Soriano became the fourth player in major league history to record 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a single season when he swiped second base in the first inning. Soriano also has 45 home runs.
Cardinals 6, Giants 1
At St. Louis, Chris Carpenter carried a shutout into the eighth for his 100th career win, outpitching Matt Morris in his return in St. Louis and leading the Cardinals to a victory over San Francisco.
Braves 2, Marlins 1
At Atlanta, John Smoltz won for the first time in four starts, and Marcus Giles had an RBI double in the seventh to help Atlanta over Florida. The Marlins are 3 1/2 games behind San Diego in the NL wild-card race.
Cubs 4, Reds 0
At Chicago, Rich Hill pitched a two-hitter for his first major league shutout and Jacque Jones homered to lead Chicago over Cincinnati.
Hill (6-6) struck out 10, fanning Edwin Encarnacion to end the Cubs' first complete game of the season.
Diamondbacks 7, Rockies 6
At Phoenix, pinch-hitter Chris Snyder drove in Chris Young with a sacrifice fly in the 16th inning to lift Arizona over Colorado. Jorge Julio (2-4), the Diamondbacks' team record 10th pitcher, threw a perfect 16th inning to earn the win.
Frank Thomas hit his 37th home run, passed the 100-RBI mark and helped Oakland beat his former team, the Chicago White Sox, 7-4 on Saturday.
Thomas drove in four runs for the American League West-leading A's, who won their third in a row. Thomas has 485 career homers and 102 RBIs. This year marks the 11th time in his career that he's reached the century mark.
Jermaine Dye hit his 42nd home run for Chicago, which fell three games behind Minnesota in the AL wild-card race.
The A's rallied for four runs in the seventh against four White Sox relievers, taking advantage of four walks.
Rangers 12, Angels 6
At Arlington, Texas, Chone Figgins hit for the cycle but Michael Young reached 200 hits for the fourth straight season to help Texas get the win over Los Angeles.
Red Sox 5, Yankees 2, 1st game
Yankees 7, Red Sox 5, 2nd game
At New York, David Ortiz hit a pair of doubles, Josh Beckett had just one shaky inning and Boston won the opener of a day-night doubleheader against New York. Wang Chien-ming (17-6) lost for the first time in six starts since Aug. 13 in the first game.
Twins 4, Indians 1
At Cleveland, Carlos Silva pitched seven strong innings to outduel C.C. Sabathia and Mike Redmond had three RBIs for Minnesota.
Tigers 2, Orioles 0
At Detroit, Nate Robertson pitched eight strong innings, outdueling Kris Benson and giving Detroit the victory.
Blue Jays 6, Devil Rays 1
At Toronto, Adam Lind hit a scary line drive that struck Tampa Bay reliever Edwin Jackson and forced him to leave the game and Toronto got the win.
Royals 7, Mariners 4
At Kansas City, Missouri, Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki stole his AL single-season record 33rd consecutive base in the third inning to extend the major league record but Kansas City got the win.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS