MAJOR LEAGUES
The Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics 9-5 to stay within a game of the New York Yankees in the American League East as Matt Wieters hit two solo home runs on Sunday. Endy Chavez had four hits and drove in two runs for the Orioles, who have won four of six their last six games. J.J. Hardy, Mark Reynolds, Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Robert Andino also drove in runs.
Josh Reddick drove in three runs and Stephen Drew hit two-run home runs for the Athletics, who are two games ahead of the Orioles for the first wild-card spot. Adam Rosales had two hits.
Photo: AFP
Russell Martin’s three-run homer highlighted an eventful early burst as the Yankees kept their lead in the East with a 6-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
The St Louis Cardinals split of a four-game series against the Dodgers at Los Angeles, beating them 5-2 to regain undisputed possession of the second National League wild card spot. Jon Jay hit a go-ahead RBI double during a three-run 12th inning. John Ely (0-2) issued a leadoff walk to Matt Carpenter and Jay drove him on from second base with a line drive into the right field corner on a 0-2 pitch. Jay scored on an infield hit up the middle by Allen Craig and Yadier Molina walked with the bases loaded.
The Diamondbacks averted a three-game sweep at the San Francisco Giants as rookie Patrick Corbin pitched a career-long eight innings and drove in four runs with a triple and single in a 10-2 win.
Justin Upton had a solo homer and two-run double for Arizona.Corbin (6-7) tripled in three runs in Arizona’s 5-run fourth inning.
In other NL games, Anthony Rizzo hit two home runs and drove in six as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 13-9, the Cincinnati Reds edged the Miami Marlins 5-4, the Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-6, the Milwaukee Brewers blanked the New York Mets 3-0 and the San Diego Padres overcame the Colorado Rockies 12-11.
In the AL, Mike Minor threw six strong innings and Dan Uggla broke it open with a two-run single as the Atlanta Braves completed a sweep of first-place Washington with a 5-1 win.
In other games, Lonnie Chisenhall singled in the winning run with one out in the ninth inning to help Cleveland deal the Tigers a crucial 7-6 loss, the Texas Rangers extended the AL West lead with a 2-1 win over the Seattle Mariners, the Chicago White Sox downed the Minnesota Twins 9-2, the Los Angeles Angels edged the Kansas City Royals 4-3, and the Toronto Blue Jays shut out the Boston Red Sox 5-0.
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