Arizona moved to a 2-0 lead over Chicago in its National League division series with an 8-4 win on Thursday that put the Cubs on the brink of despair once again.
Rookie Chris Young hit a three-run homer and Stephen Drew tripled in two more to put the Diamondbacks within one game of victory in the best-of-five series.
The series now moves to Chicago's Wrigley Field, but unless the Cubs can turn it around at home, its World Series-winning drought will extend to 99 years and counting.
PHOTO: AFP
Just three years after losing 111 games in a season, the young Diamondbacks can move into the NL championship series with a win on Saturday, when Arizona will send Livan Hernandez to the mound against Rich Hill.
Eric Byrnes had an RBI triple for the Diamondbacks, who are the first team since the 1906 White Sox to have a league's best record and worst batting average.
They won yet again with timely hitting, solid starting pitching, sound defense and a strong bullpen.
Doug Davis gave up a two-run homer to Geovany Soto in the second, then settled in for three scoreless innings. The Arizona left-hander, acquired in a trade last offseason, allowed four runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings overall. He struck out eight and walked four. He also had an RBI sacrifice bunt.
After Davis was removed, reliever Juan Cruz promptly gave up a two-run double to pinch-hitter Daryle Ward, with both runs charged to Davis.
The Cubs' lefty starter, Ted Lilly, lasted just 3 1-3 innings, allowing six runs.
Rockies 10, Phillies 5
In Philadelphia, Kaz Matsui hit his first career grand slam and drove in five runs, leading Colorado over Philadelphia 10-5 on Thursday for a 2-0 lead in their division series.
Matsui connected off scheduled Game 4 starter Kyle Lohse, who was rushed in to relieve struggling rookie Kyle Kendrick in the fourth inning.
Rookie Ubaldo Jimenez will try to pitch Colorado to a sweep tonight at Coors Field against veteran Jamie Moyer.
Making just the second postseason appearance in the franchise's 15-year history, Colorado is on the verge of going to its first National League Championship Series. The wild-card Rockies posted their eighth straight road victory, and have won 16 of 17 overall.
C.C. Sabathia settled down after giving up a debated homer on his fifth pitch and the Indians returned to Major League Baseball's postseason after a six-year absence by beating the New York Yankees 12-3 in their American League playoff opener.
Playoff newcomer Victor Martinez hit a two-run homer, rookie Asdrubal Cabrera had a solo shot off Wang Chien-ming (
Kenny Lofton had four RBIs and Casey Blake added two as the Indians delighted a towel-waving crowd.
Sabathia threw 113 pitches, allowing three runs and four hits -- including two homers -- in five innings.
Johnny Damon homered leading off the first and Robinson Cano homered in the fourth, but New York did little else.
New York has lost four straight playoff games, a streak rarely seen for the MLB's most decorated franchise which hasn't added to its collection of 26 World Series titles since 2000.
Damon led off the game with a shot to right initially ruled foul by umpire Jim Wolf, who may have lost sight of the ball in the sun's glare.
Damon had already broken into his home-run trot when Wolf emphatically signaled foul. Damon threw up his hands in disbelief as manager Joe Torre jogged out to protest.
After an infield meeting, several of the umpires twirled their fingers to indicate homer as Damon, who had stayed on the field during the discussion, crossed home plate.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
‘GLOBAL PRESSURE’: LA’s Dave Roberts said that it was difficult to appreciate the ‘pressure on a global scale’ his starter was under ‘pitching for his country’ The Los Angeles Dodgers shelled out US$1 billion for Japanese talent in the off-season and it is paying off in the MLB playoffs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Friday outdueled Yu Darvish in a historic post-season matchup of Japanese-born starters, while the Dodgers got home runs from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez to beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 and advance to the National League Championship Series. “It’s pretty sweet,” a smiling Freddie Freeman said. Yamamoto allowed two hits over five innings for the win, getting pulled after 63 pitches in a decisive Game 5 between heated NL West rivals who were meeting in a
RSS