AMERICAN LEAGUE
Dallas Braden allowed one run over five innings and Jack Hannahan hit a three-run homer as the Oakland Athletics ended a six-game losing streak by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 8-1 on Tuesday.
PHOTO: AP
Braden (2-0) gave up four hits, walked four and struck out one.
Braden was making his first start of the season, replacing Joe Blanton, who was traded to Philadelphia last Thursday.
Hannahan put the Athletics ahead 3-1 in the fourth with his homer off Andy Sonnanstine (10-5). A four-run eighth made it 7-1.
YANKEES 8, TWINS 2
At New York, Bobby Abreu hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth and drove in three runs to lead New York to its ninth consecutive victory at home.
Derek Jeter added a two-run double and Robinson Cano had two RBI singles, his fifth straight multi-hit game since the All-Star break.
Minnesota dropped to 3-18 at Yankee Stadium since the start of the 2002 season. The Twins have lost seven straight series in the Bronx.
WHITE SOX 10, RANGERS 2
At Chicago, Mark Buehrle pitched 7 1-3 innings and Alexei Ramirez hit the first grand slam of his career for Chicago.
Nick Swisher hit a three-run homer, Jermaine Dye had three hits and Jim Thome reached base four times as the White Sox snapped a three-game losing streak at the expense of Texas.
Pitching on three days’ rest so he could attend his grandfather’s funeral in Missouri, Buehrle (8-8) gave up a leadoff triple to Hank Blalock in the second and then retired 15 of the next 16 batters.
BLUE JAYS 10, ORIOLES 8
At Baltimore, Adam Lind had a career-high four hits, including a three-run homer, and light-hitting John McDonald had four RBIs for Toronto.
Alex Rios homered for the Blue Jays, who trailed 4-0 after three innings and 7-6 after five.
Toronto’s Shaun Marcum, making his first start in over a month after being sidelined with elbow soreness, gave up seven runs and eight hits, including three homers, in 4 2-3 innings.
Melvin Mora went 4-for-5 with a season-high five RBIs for Baltimore.
ANGELS 3, INDIANS 2
In Anaheim, California, Jeff Mathis hit a go-ahead solo homer in the fifth inning that proved enough for Los Angeles to edge over Cleveland.
Mathis, in a rut of five hits from 33 at-bats, led off the fifth with his seventh homer.
Cleveland’s Grady Sizemore pulled even for the league lead in homers with his 24th.
RED SOX 4, MARINERS 2
In Seattle, starter Daisuke Matsuzaka continued his masterful pitching on the road, steering Boston past Seattle.
After dropping five straight on the road, the Red Sox seem to have found a remedy against the Mariners, who fell a season-worst 24 games under .500 with their fourth straight loss.
Matsuzaka shut out Seattle into the eighth, improving to 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA in eight starts away from home.
Matsuzaka saw his scoreless innings streak end at 24 1-3 when Japanese compatriot Ichiro Suzuki hit an RBI double in the eighth.
TIGERS 7, ROYALS 1
In Kansas City, Missouri, starter Kenny Rogers pitched six strong innings to give Detroit a comfortable win over Kansas City.
The 43-year-old Rogers did not come back after a 2-hour, 20-minute rain delay in the bottom of the seventh. He gave up just one run and ended a personal five-game losing streak against the Royals.
Placido Polanco homered and drove in two runs for Detroit, which has gone from 12 games below .500 early last month to two games above.
Detroit sent eight men to the plate in a three-run fifth to take a four-run lead.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, ST LOUIS
The Milwaukee Brewers left it late to record their sixth straight win, finally beating the St Louis Cardinals 4-3 in National League action on Tuesday.
Bill Hall homered in the ninth inning to break the tie and put Milwaukee a game ahead of St Louis in the NL Central Division standings, and now just one game behind divisional leader Chicago.
St Louis right fielder Ryan Ludwick hit the longest home run at three-year-old Busch Stadium, but the Cardinals squandered a three-run lead and lost.
DIAMONDBACKS 9, CUBS 2
In Phoenix, Arizona starter Yusmeiro Petit allowed just one run over five innings to set up the win over Chicago.
Petit struck out five as the Diamondbacks held onto a one-game lead in the NL West, while slicing the Cubs’ advantage in the NL Central also to a single win.
Diamondbacks first baseman Conor Jackson drove in three runs with a homer and two-run double.
Arizona added two runs in the seventh and three Chicago errors in the last two innings helped turn a close contest into a rout.
PHILLIES 8, METS 6
In New York, Philadelphia got six runs in the ninth inning to storm over the top of New York.
Missing regular closer Billy Wagner through injury, the Mets turned over the game to a makeshift bullpen in the ninth and paid the price as the Phillies claimed top spot in the NL East, a game ahead of New York and Florida.
So Taguchi and Jimmy Rollins had two-run doubles in the ninth.
MARLINS 4, BRAVES 0
In Miami, Florida opener Rick VandenHurk and three relievers combined on a one-hitter to shut down Atlanta.
VandenHurk, recalled on Monday from the minor league Carolina Mudcats, pitched five hitless innings for his first win this season.
Mike Jacobs hit a three-run homer for Florida — his 20th of the season.
It was the second time in 15 days that the Braves had only one hit.
ROCKIES 10, DODGERS 1
In Denver, Ubaldo Jimenez threw his first career complete game as Colorado routed Los Angeles.
Jimenez retired 15 of the first 16 batters and gave up only four hits. He didn’t allow a runner past first until the eighth inning, with the run coming in the last.
Ian Stewart homered and drove in four runs for Colorado, which has 38 hits over the past two games.
PIRATES 8, ASTROS 2
In Houston, starting pitcher Paul Maholm went eight strong innings as Pittsburgh cruised past Houston.
Maholm allowed just one run, giving up only five singles, and struck out five to win for the fifth time in six decisions.
Freddy Sanchez homered for the second straight game.
The Pirates have scored 17 runs in two games against the Astros after scoring only 16 in their previous five, all losses.
REDS 4, PADRES 3, 11 INNINGS
In Cincinnati, Jeff Keppinger’s one-out double in the 11th clinched a tight win over San Diego.
Jay Bruce started the rally with a one-out single and Keppinger doubled for the Red’s 10th walkoff win this season — the most in the majors.
It was a rare defeat for San Diego starter Jake Peavy, the reigning Cy Young winner, who remains 6-0 in nine career starts against the Reds with a 2.31 ERA.
GIANTS 6, NATIONALS 3
In San Francisco, the home side snapped a four-game losing streak by downing Washington.
Catcher Bengie Molina hit a two-run homer and a solo shot for his fifth career multihomer game and second this season.
Giants starter Barry Zito won consecutive decisions for the first time this season, striking out five in six solid innings, allowing three runs.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS