MAJOR LEAGUES
Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-run double to cap a ninth-inning rally that lifted the Red Sox to a 6-5 win over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday, moving them to the top of the American League East standings.
Boston moved level in the standings with the New York Yankees, who lost to Tampa Bay.
Also on Sunday, San Francisco rallied for a win over Colorado, Seattle ended an eight-game losing skid with a marathon 13-inning win over Texas and St Louis improved their league-leading record with a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Washington broke out with a five-run seventh inning to beat Philadelphia, the Chicago Cubs ended a six-game skid by downing Cincinnati in 10 innings and Pittsburgh hung on to edge Milwaukee.
Cleveland led Boston 5-2 entering the ninth, when Chris Perez (2-1) issued a walk, David Ortiz doubled, and Mike Napoli and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit consecutive RBI groundouts.
Two walks, each side of Stephen Drew’s single loaded the bases. Perez fell behind Ellsbury 2-1 in the count and left with an arm injury. He was replaced by Joe Smith, who gave up a double on his first pitch.
The New York Yankees slipped back into a tie with Boston as they lost 8-3 at Tampa Bay.
Rays starter Alex Cobb (6-2) held the Yankees scoreless for the first eight innings and finished with eight strikeouts.
Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia (4-4) dropped to 0-2 with a 4.85 ERA over his past five starts and will match a career-worst six games without a win unless he wins his next start. Pitching for the Yankees, he has a 3-10 record against Tampa Bay.
San Francisco’s Brandon Belt hit a tiebreaking, two-run double in the fifth inning to lead the Giants to a 7-3 win over Colorado.
Giants starter Matt Cain (4-2) matched his season-worst five walks, but allowed only two hits in five innings.
San Francisco play 14 of their next 18 games on the road.
Seattle’s Jason Bay hit a two-out RBI single in the 13th inning to give the Mariners a 4-3 win over Texas.
Bay delivered after he was robbed of a game-winning homer in the 11th when David Murphy leaped above the fence in left-center field to take a catch.
Raul Ibanez tied it at 3-3 earlier in the 11th with a home run.
St Louis’ Matt Carpenter drove in the go-ahead run with an infield single as the Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3.
Peter Kozma hit a three-run double for the Cardinals, who improved the major league-best record to 32-17 and increased their NL Central lead over Cincinnati to 1-1/2 games.
Washington’s Stephen Strasburg came out on top of Cole Hamels in a match of two ace pitchers with poor records, helping the Nationals to a 6-1 win over Philadelphia.
Strasburg (3-5) allowed one run — with his first balk in the majors — in eight innings, walked none and struck out a season-high nine.
Hamels (1-8) struck out six and allowed only three hits through six innings, but still took the loss.
Ryan Zimmerman’s infield single started the five-run seventh-inning rally that included a pair of errors and Steve Lombardozzi’s two-run double.
Chicago’s Alfonso Soriano hit a tying two-run homer in the eighth inning and Welington Castillo had a go-ahead double in the 10th, helping the Cubs rally from a four-run deficit to beat Cincinnati 5-4.
After Anthony Rizzo hit an RBI double in the eighth — his third double in two games — Soriano followed with his fifth homer of the season and first since May 13. Soriano had also singled in the seventh and scored Chicago’s first run.
In the tenth, J.J. Hoover (0-4) walked a batter with two outs and Castillo followed with a double to put the Cubs ahead to stay.
Pittsburgh’s Wandy Rodriguez won his fourth consecutive start as the Pirates hung on to down Milwaukee 5-4. Rodriguez (6-2) gave up three earned runs in five innings to earn the victory.
Pedro Alvarez had a two-run double as the Pirates built an early four-run lead which proved to be just enough.
Arizona’s Patrick Corbin became the first Diamondbacks left-hander to start a season with eight straight wins, leading the hosts to a 6-5 win over San Diego.
New York’s Ike Davis busted out of his prolonged slump with a tie-breaking single in the eighth inning as the Mets rallied past Atlanta to win 4-2 and end an eight-game losing streak at home.
Toronto’s Munenori Kawasaki hit a game-ending two-run double in a four-run ninth inning, lifting the Blue Jays to a 6-5 win over Baltimore.
Detroit’s Max Scherzer pitched six solid innings to remain undefeated this season, steering the Tigers to a 6-1 win over Minnesota.
Los Angeles’ Josh Hamilton started a comeback when he homered leading off the seventh inning as the Angels beat Kansas City 5-2 to notch their eighth straight win.
Oakland’s Bartolo Colon struck out a season-high nine in seven scoreless innings as the Athletics beat Houston 6-2, winning their ninth straight game over the Astros this season.
Chicago’s Dayan Viciedo and Alex Rios each threw out a runner as the White Sox beat Miami 5-3.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
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