MAJOR LEAGUES
Joe Nathan held on through another rocky ninth inning for his 13th save a day after blowing one, helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics 5-4 on Thursday for a split of the four-game series between division leaders.
“If Joe’s on you’re going to have quick outs. He’s been one of the best closers, he had an unbelievable year last year,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “If he’s on, he’ll get quick outs. It just wasn’t today.”
On the other side, Oakland’s Jim Johnson — last year’s American League saves leader — walked off the mound to boos from the home crowd after allowing two runs in the seventh.
“I’m throwing pretty good pitches, I just feel like I’m in a little bit of bad luck,” he said.
Miguel Cabrera hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fifth to back Rick Porcello’s eighth victory.
Porcello (8-2) overcame a career-high six walks, three shy of his season total coming into Thursday’s start. Nathan allowed Josh Donaldson’s leadoff double, an RBI infield single by Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick’s run-scoring double before pinch-hitter Jed Lowrie grounded out to end the game.
Toronto’s nine-game winning streak ended with an 8-6 loss at home, with Omar Infante hitting a two-run single in the 10th inning and the Royals overcoming two home runs by Edwin Encarnacion — his 15th and 16th of the month.
Encarnacion matched a major league record with his fifth multihomer game in a month. Albert Belle did it in September 1995 and Harmon Killebrew in May 1959.
Texas won their second straight four-game series on the round, with Leonys Martin doubling twice and scoring three times in a 5-4 win over the Twins.
The Angels had a 7-5 win over the Mariners, with Erick Aybar hitting a three-run homer, while Houston extended their winning streak to six with a 3-1 result against the Orioles.
The Boston Red Sox won their fourth straight after a 10-game skid.
In the National League, Michael Morse homered and drove in three runs to lift the San Francisco Giants to a 6-5 win over St Louis. The Diamondbacks beat the Reds 4-0. The Pirates won 6-3 at Dodgers Stadium.
In Philadelphia, Chris Young hit a two-run homer and Zack Wheeler struck out nine in 6-1/3 innings to lead the Mets to a 4-1 win over the Phillies.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
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