MAJOR LEAGUES
Milwaukee extended their winning streak to seven games by beating Pittsburgh 4-2 on Friday, with Aramis Ramirez hitting a two-run homer.
The Brewers’ 8-2 record is their best start since 1987 and they claimed the outright National League lead in the early stages of the season as Washington were beaten in 10 innings at Atlanta.
Elsewhere, San Francisco went joint top of the NL West division by edging Colorado, while Seattle moved above Oakland for top spot in the AL West.
Milwaukee starter Wily Peralta (1-0) allowed in only four hits in his seven innings, although Neil Walker finally got to him with a two-run homer in the seventh.
The Brewers had their own two-run shot from Ramirez off Francisco Liriano to open the scoring in the fourth.
Atlanta’s Jordan Schafer scored from first base on Justin Upton’s bloop single with two outs in the 10th inning, giving the Braves a 7-6 victory over Washington.
Chris Johnson singled with two outs and Schafer came in to run. With a 2-2 count, Schafer ran on the pitch and Upton dropped a single in front of the right fielder. Schafer already was rounding third when Bryce Harper fumbled the ball. No error was charged.
Upton also hit a solo homer in the eighth that tied the game 6-6. It was his third homer in two games.
San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high five runs to make up for his shaky pitching performance and help the Giants edge Colorado 6-5.
Bumgarner, who hit a sacrifice fly in the third, had a moment to remember in the fourth as he hit only the second grand slam by a Giants pitcher since the team relocated to San Francisco in 1958.
On the mound, Bumgarner (2-0) allowed four runs in six innings.
Seattle Felix Hernandez (3-0) became the first Mariners pitcher to bring up three wins in the first nine games of a season as he helped the hosts beat Oakland 6-4.
Hernandez held the Athletics scoreless in the first seven innings and struck out 11.
Mike Zunino chased A’s starter Tommy Milone (0-1) with a two-run homer in the sixth and Brad Miller followed two batters later with a solo homer.
Los Angeles’ Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched seven scoreless innings to guide the Dodgers to a 6-0 win over Arizona.
Ryu (2-1) struck out eight and walked only one, retiring 18 of his past 19 batters.
Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run homer in the first, doubled in two more in the third and had an RBI single in the eighth.
It was the Dodgers’ first visit to Chase Field since clinching the NL West title there in September last year, when they angered the Diamondbacks by celebrating in the ballpark’s swimming pool.
Chicago’s Conor Gillaspie had a career-high four RBIs to power the White Sox to a 9-6 win over Cleveland.
Chris Sale (3-0) pitched five innings in his first win against Cleveland since 2012. He allowed six hits from his 105 pitches.
Indians pitchers issued nine walks and walked in two runs.
Boston’s Grady Sizemore hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning, which proved enough for the Red Sox to beat the New York Yankees 4-2.
Boston starter Jon Lester (1-2) boasted a 2.51 ERA coming into the game, yet was still at risk of falling to 0-3 for the first time in his career, but the Red Sox batters finally gave him a little run support.
Jonny Gomes homered leading off the sixth and the four-run inning was more than Boston had scored for Lester in his first two starts combined.
Toronto beat Baltimore 2-0 thanks to two unearned runs arising from throwing errors by Orioles third baseman Jonathan Schoop.
Blue Jays starter Dustin McGowan (1-1) went 6-1/3 scoreless innings to earn his first win since 2008.
Making his second start since September 2011, the oft-injured McGowan (1-1) finally beat Baltimore at his 14th attempt.
Philadelphia ended a four-game skid by beating Miami 6-3, with Marlon Byrd driving in two runs.
Chicago’s Welington Castillo hit a three-run homer in the 11th inning to give the Cubs a 6-3 win at St Louis.
San Diego’s Andrew Cashner pitched a shutout to lead the Padres to a 6-0 win over Detroit.
Tampa Bay won at Cincinnati for the first time ever, beating the Reds 2-1, with David Price taking a shutout into the ninth.
Texas’ Robinson Chirinos got the match-winning single in the 12th inning, breaking a long stalemate and giving the Rangers a 1-0 win over state rival Houston.
Los Angeles’ Hank Conger was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the 11th inning, completing a disastrous inning by New York rookie Jeurys Familia as the Angels beat the Mets 5-4.
Minnesota halted a run of eight-straight defeats at the hands of Kansas City by beating trouncing the Royals 10-1, with Chris Colabello driving in three runs.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
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
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
RSS