MAJOR LEAGUES
Cincinnati won and St Louis beat Pittsburgh on Friday to leave the top three teams in the National League Central division separated by just two games as the regular season moves toward its final month.
St Louis piled on 12 runs to beat Pittsburgh and close within half a game of the NL Central leader, while Cincinnati edged the Los Angeles Dodgers to stay within 1.5 games of the Cardinals and two of the Pirates.
Photo: Reuters
In the American League East division, Boston rallied past their archrivals the New York Yankees to extend their lead to 7.5 games over Tampa Bay, who lost in Seattle.
Detroit’s bats lit up in a rout of Kansas City that kept the Tigers 6.5 games clear in the AL Central, while Texas lost a close game against the Los Angeles Angels and were replaced atop the AL West by Oakland.
Cincinnati’s Joey Votto emerged from his deep slump with a single and a two-run homer that led the Reds to a 3-2 win over the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.
Votto hit a two-run homer off J.P. Howell (2-1) in the fifth inning for a 3-2 lead.
The Dodgers lost pitcher Chris Capuano to a mild groin strain in the second inning. Already this week, the team had to push Ryu Hyun-jin back from a scheduled start because of a sore back.
St Louis’ Carlos Beltran and Jon Jay had three hits apiece as the Cardinals beat Pittsburgh 12-8.
The Cardinals opened a seven-run seventh inning with nine straight hits off three relievers, including Yadier Molina’s three-run homer.
Jay had three RBIs and Beltran drove in two runs.
Atlanta, who have a runaway lead in the NL East, lost 2-1 against Philadelphia, with Cody Asche hitting a two-run homer for the Phillies in the seventh inning.
Asche’s homer came on the first pitch he saw from Mike Minor in the seventh. In his first time facing the Phillies this season, Minor (13-6) allowed four hits in seven innings, striking out nine and walking one.
However his impressive performance was bettered by Philadelphia’s Cliff Lee (12-6), who allowed just one run and no walks, while striking out 10 in eight innings.
Boston’s Mike Napoli hit a tying grand slam in the seventh and Shane Victorino had a go-ahead homer one inning later as the Red Sox rallied past the New York Yankees 12-8 for their fourth straight victory.
Boston erased a five-run deficit in another thrilling game between these longtime rivals. One night earlier, the Yankees took an 8-7 lead with a six-run seventh — only to lose 9-8 in 10 innings.
New York have lost consecutive games when scoring at least eight runs for the first time since 1949, according to STATS. The last time it happened with both games at home was in 1911 against Cleveland.
Napoli also doubled, singled and walked twice in a perfect night at the plate. He scored three times, one night after sparking Boston’s ninth-inning comeback with a two-out single.
The Yankees remain 2.5 games behind Tampa Bay in the fight for the second and last wild-card berth.
The Rays missed a chance to extend their advantage when they lost 6-4 to Seattle, with Justin Smoak doubling in two runs for the Mariners in the eighth inning.
The Rays’ nearest rivals for the wild-card berth are Cleveland and Baltimore, both of whom won to close within two games.
After tying the game in the top of the eighth, the Rays could not keep the Mariners from going ahead.
In the eighth, Seattle’s Kyle Seager hit a fly ball to a gap in left-center, where Desmond Jennings grassed the attempted catch and Seager reached second base. After a walk, Smoak’s hit down the right field line just missed the glove of a diving Wil Myers. Seager and pinch runner Abraham Almonte scored to give the Mariners a 6-4 lead.
Detroit’s Omar Infante set career highs with five hits and six RBIs, while Andy Dirks also went five-for-five as the Tigers pounded Kansas City 16-2.
Austin Jackson drove in four runs as the Tigers finished with a season-high 26 hits. Dirks, who is hitting .410 against Kansas City this season, scored four times.
Infante had run-producing singles in the second, fourth and seventh innings and a three-run double in the fifth.
Los Angeles’ Mark Trumbo hit a three-run homer to help the Angels edge Texas 6-5.
C.J. Wilson (15-6) pitched into the seventh inning, allowing seven hits, persevering through a few jams for his first win over the Rangers since he left the club two seasons ago.
The Rangers slipped half a game behind Oakland, who won 7-5 over Houston, with Josh Donaldson having three hits including a two-run homer in the sixth inning.
Cleveland continued their wild-card push with an 8-1 win over the New York Mets, thanks chiefly to Scott Kazmir, who pitched a season-high 12 strikeouts.
San Francisco pitcher Yusmeiro Petit was on track for a perfect game until he gave up a two-out single in the ninth, but did record a complete game shutout as the Giants beat Arizona 3-0.
Baltimore’s Chris Davis hit his major league-leading 48th home run as the Orioles beat Chicago 4-0 to extend the White Sox losing streak to eight games.
San Diego pinch-hitter Jesus Guzman singled in the winning run in the ninth inning to give the Padres a 4-3 win over Colorado.
Toronto’s R.A. Dickey pitched into the seventh inning to lead the Blue Jays to a 6-5 win over Minnesota.
Miami pitcher Jose Fernandez allowed one hit and struck out nine in seven innings to steer the Marlins to a 7-0 win over Washington.
Chicago rookie Junior Lake hit his first career grand slam in Chicago’s five-run first inning that set up an 8-5 win over Milwaukee.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Brazil has four teams, more than any other country, in the expanded Club World Cup that kicked off yesterday in the US, but for SE Palmeiras, the competition holds a special meaning: winning it would provide some redemption. Under coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, Palmeiras lifted two Copa Libertadores titles, plus Brazilian league, cup and state championships. Even before Ferreira, it boasted another South American crown and 11 league titles. The only major trophy missing is a world champions’ title. Other Brazilian clubs like Fluminense FC and Botafogo FR, also in the tournament, have never won it either, but the problem for Palmeiras
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS