Alex Rodriguez homered for the fifth-straight game, connecting for the seventh time during that span and sending the New York Yankees past the Kansas City Royals 6-3 on Sunday for a three-game sweep.
Wang Chien-ming (王建民) earned his 18th win to remain tied for the lead in Major League Baseball, and Jorge Posada hit a tiebreaking, two-run double that helped New York extend its lead in the race for the American League wild-card playoff berth to four games over Detroit.
Indians 6, Angels 2
At Anaheim, California, Ryan Garko hit a three-run homer, Asdrubal Cabrera had two RBIs and Cleveland beat Los Angeles to split a four-game series between AL division leaders.
Cleveland's 13th victory in 16 tries increased its AL Central lead to six games over Detroit. The first-place Angels, who played without ailing right fielder Vladimir Guerrero again, have an eight-game cushion over Seattle in the AL West.
Aaron Laffey (3-1) pitched five innings for the Indians, allowing two runs -- one earned -- and six hits in his sixth major league start. Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez and Joe Borowski combined for four scoreless innings of three-hit relief.
Red Sox 3, Orioles 2
In Baltimore, Josh Beckett allowed two runs in seven innings to earn his 18th victory, and the Red Sox completed another successful season at Camden Yards.
Coco Crisp singled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning, Mike Lowell drove in two runs and Dustin Pedroia had three hits for the Red Sox, who won six of nine in Baltimore this year.
In other games, it was: Mariners 14, Tigers 7; Twins 5, White Sox 2; Devil Rays 3, Blue Jays 2; Rangers 12, Athletics 9.
The Brewers became only the third team in US Major League Baseball history to open a game with three straight home runs when Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun connected Sunday off Phil Dumatrait in Milwaukee's 10-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Weeks and Braun each hit another homer and J.J. Hardy added two doubles -- all in the first four innings -- to keep Milwaukee in first place in Major League Baseball's National League Central Division.
Johnny Estrada also homered to give Milwaukee six in a game for the first time since April 29 last year, in a 16-2 win over the Cubs at Chicago.
Pirates 10, Cubs 5
In Pittsburgh, Freddy Sanchez's bases-loaded triple highlighted Pittsburgh's six-run second inning and rookie Nyjer Morgan make an exceptional catch and drove in two runs as the Pirates knocked the Cubs from first place in the Central Division.
Adam LaRoche and Jack Wilson had doubles to add to Sanchez's three-run triple in the sixth.
Rookies Morgan and Steve Pearce also had run-scoring singles.
Diamondbacks 6, Cardinals 5
In Phoenix, Jose Valverde retired pinch-hitter Yadier Molina with the bases loaded for the final out, and the Diamondbacks held off the Cardinals for their fifth-straight victory.
In other games, it was: Mets 4, Astros 1; Phillies 8, Marlins 5; Rockies 4, Padres 2; Giants 4, Dodgers 2; Nationals 7, Braves 4.
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
Outside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, has continued to grow this week, along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston today, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The English Premier League champions intend to honor their teammate in the best way they know how. It would be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale Stadium for what is certain to be a hugely
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
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