David Wright drove in three runs, Moises Alou had three hits and the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals 8-4 on Wednesday, ending a five-game losing streak that cut their lead in the National League East to 1.5 games.
Pelfrey (3-7) allowed three runs in five-plus innings to win his third consecutive decision. After he left, Jorge Sosa and Aaron Heilman combined for three shutout innings, a stretch that began with Sosa getting a strikeout and a double play to escape a first-and-third, no-outs jam in the sixth. Billy Wagner gave up an unearned run in the ninth.
The game was tied 2-2 heading to the fifth, when Jose Reyes singled with one out, Luis Castillo tripled him home and Wright added an RBI single to make it 4-2. The Mets wouldn't trail again, knocking out Matt Chico (5-9) after scoring five runs in five innings.
C.C. Sabathia allowed only five hits over seven innings and Cleveland beat Detroit Tigers 4-2 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep and reduce the Indians' magic number for clinching Major League Baseball's American League Central Division title to three.
Casey Blake homered off Nate Robertson (8-12) as the Indians improved to 20-5 since Aug. 25 and moved into a temporary tie with the Boston Red Sox for US MLB's best record.
In winning three straight over the Tigers, Cleveland opened a seven-game lead over the defending AL champs.
Yankees 2, Red Sox 1
At New York, Andy Pettitte earned his 200th win, Mariano Rivera escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and New York edged Baltimore to complete a three-game sweep to pull within 1.5 games of first-place Boston.
* See scoreboard for full results
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
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