AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, BOSTON
PHOTO: AFP
Mark Teixeira joined Lou Gehrig as the only Yankees player to hit three home runs against the Boston Red Sox as he and Francisco Cervelli drove in five runs each as New York clinched another series with a 14-3 win on Saturday.
The Yankees have won nine of their first 10 series this season, a mark surpassed only twice in team history. They won 14 of their first 15 in 1928 and 11 of their first 12 in 1939.
Teixeira hit solo homers in the fifth and seventh, then hit a two-run shot far over the left field wall in the ninth off outfielder Jonathan Van Every, who last pitched on April 30 last year for Boston. He now has five homers this season after hitting three for the third time in his career.
Cervelli singled in a run that tied the score 3-all in the third, hit a two-run single in the fourth that put the Yankees ahead 6-3 then capped a four-run eighth that made it 12-3.
TIGERS 6, INDIANS 4
At Cleveland, Ohio, Miguel Cabrera hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the seventh inning to lead Detroit past Cleveland.
Cabrera’s bases-loaded line drive off Kerry Wood (0-1) broke a 3-3 tie and Detroit went on to win its 10th consecutive game against the Indians. The Tigers are 18-4 in the series over the past two years, outscoring Cleveland 116-79.
Justin Verlander (3-2) gave up three runs over six innings, striking out nine. A year ago, the right-hander was 4-0 with a 0.90 ERA and three games of 11 strikeouts against Cleveland.
ORIOLES 7, TWINS 3, 1ST GAME ; TWINS 6, ORIOLES 1, 2ND GAME
At Minneapolis, Minnesota, Scott Baker put together his best start of the season after Francisco Liriano tossed one of his worst as Minnesota salvaged a split of its doubleheader with Baltimore.
Nick Markakis drove in three of the five two-out runs off Liriano (4-1) in the opener, when Baltimore cruised to a victory. The doubleheader made up for a rain out on Friday night.
Joe Mauer returned in the nightcap for the first time since missing eight games with a deeply bruised left heel. The reigning AL MVP drew a standing ovation as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning, but struck out with the bases loaded.
Light-hitting Drew Butera followed with a two-run single, giving Baker (4-2) more than enough support. The Twins starter scattered three hits — including a solo homer to Luke Scott in the fifth — while winning for the first time since April 16.
ATHLETICS 4, RAYS 2
At Oakland, California, Ben Sheets finally pitched like an ace and Daric Barton drove in a pair of runs as Oakland handed Tampa Bay its second road loss of he season.
Sheets (2-3) scattered four hits over six-and-one-third innings and had a season-high eight strikeouts in his most impressive start of the year.
Andrew Bailey pitched the ninth for his sixth save in six tries.
Jason Bartlett had an RBI double for Tampa Bay, which fell to 13-2 away from Tropicana Field and lost to the A’s for the first time this season.
In other AL play, it was:
• White Sox 7, Blue Jays 3
• Rangers 3, Royals 2
• Angels 4, Mariners 3, 10 innings
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, NEW YORK
Henry Blanco hit a leadoff homer in the 11th inning to give the New York Mets a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday for their second game-ending drive by a catcher in less than a day.
Blanco drove a 1-0 pitch from former Mets reliever Guillermo Mota (0-1) just over the wall in left for his first homer of the season.
Rod Barajas connected in the ninth inning in New York’s 6-4 victory on Friday night.
Jason Bay and Angel Pagan had two RBIs apiece for the Mets, who haven’t lost at Citi Field since a 9-3 setback against the Chicago Cubs on April 21. Hisanori Takahashi (3-1) pitched a perfect 11th for the victory.
Aubrey Huff drove in two runs for San Francisco, which lost catcher and cleanup hitter Bengie Molina to a tight left hamstring in the third. Slumping slugger Pablo Sandoval singled in the fourth to end an 0-for-15 slide and hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
BREWERS 17, DIAMONDBACKS 3
At Phoenix, Arizona, Jody Gerut hit for the cycle and drove in four runs, and Ryan Braun also had four RBIs for Milwaukee.
Rickie Weeks and Casey McGehee each added three hits and Randy Wolf (3-2) settled down after a rocky first inning to improve to 7-1 at Chase Field.
Gerut hit a solo home run in the second inning, singled in the third, drove in a run with a triple in the fifth and added a two-run double in the ninth.
Mark Reynolds hit his 10th home run and had two RBIs for Arizona, which allowed a season high in runs.
BRAVES 4, PHILLIES 1
At Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Eric Hinske ignited a three-run rally in the sixth inning as Atlanta snapped Philadelphia’s four-game winning streak.
Hinske’s one-out double to right after Chipper Jones and Brian McCann led off with singles knotted the score 1-1. Melky Cabrera followed with a single to left to give the Braves the lead, and Omar Infante’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1.
The Braves added a run in the eighth on Troy Glaus’ RBI single, and Billy Wagner pitched the ninth inning for his fourth save in five chances.
NATIONALS 5, MARLINS 4
At Washington, Adam Dunn was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, allowing the go-ahead run to score and giving Washington the victory over Florida.
Josh Willingham had a triple, homer and two RBIs, and Willie Harris also homered for the Nationals. Matt Capps closed the ninth inning for his major league-leading 12th save.
REDS 14, CUBS 2
At Cincinnati, Ohio, Joey Votto hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat, and Jonny Gomes broke the game open with a bases-loaded single in the seventh off Carlos Zambrano to lead Cincinnati over Chicago.
Votto extended his hitting streak to seven games when he connected off left-hander Tom Gorzelanny (1-4), who hadn’t allowed a homer by a left-handed batter. Gomes’ single sparked a five-run rally in the seventh, and Ryan Hanigan added his first career grand slam an inning later.
In other NL play, it was:
• Pirates 2, Cardinals 0
• Padres 2, Astros 1
• Rockies 8, Dodgers 0
INJURY TURMOIL: Despite stunning French Open champions Paolini and Errani to advance, Chan was forced to pull out after her partner’s tearful women’s singles defeat Last year’s mixed doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Poland’s Jan Zielinski on Monday crashed out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, leaving the Taiwanese star focused on pursuing a fifth women’s doubles title in London, while a partner injury forced compatriot Chan Hao-ching to give up on her doubles campaign. Hsieh and Zielinksi, who last year also won the Australia Open title, narrowly lost their opening set 7-6 (9/7), before Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani stunned the former champions 6-3 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Taiwanese-Polish duo had been dominant in the first two
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has overturned French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus’ four-year suspension for doping, ruling that her positive test for a banned substance was caused by kissing her then-boyfriend, American fencer Race Imboden. Thibus, a silver medalist in team foil at the Tokyo Games, had tested positive for ostarine, a prohibited muscle-building substance, during a competition in Paris in January last year. However, CAS concluded there was no intentional wrongdoing, finding it scientifically plausible that repeated kissing over several days with Olympic medalist Imboden — who was taking ostarine at the time — led to accidental contamination. The court
‘SU-PENKO’: Hsieh and Ostapenko face a rematch against their Australian Open final opponents, the same duo Hsieh played in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday survived a near upset to the unseeded duo of Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, setting up a semi-final showdown against last year’s winners. Despite losing a hard-fought opening set 7-6 (7/4) on a tiebreak, the fourth seeds turned up the heat, losing just five games in the final two sets to handily put down Cirstea and Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2. Nicknamed “Su-Penko,” the pair are next to face top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in a reversal of last
RSS