MAJOR LEAGUES
Clayton Kershaw pitched his first no-hitter on Wednesday, striking out a career-high 15 batters and allowing his only baserunner on a throwing error by shortstop Hanley Ramirez in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 8-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
Kershaw’s gem gave the Dodgers the only two no-hitters in the majors this season. Josh Beckett tossed one on May 25 in Philadelphia.
Kershaw (7-2) retired his first 18 batters before Corey Dickerson led off the seventh with a slow bouncer to Ramirez, whose throw on the run went wide past first baseman Adrian Gonzalez for a two-base error — ending any chance for a perfect game.
That was the only runner allowed by Kershaw, a two-time National League Cy Young pitching award winner.
The Kansas City Royals won their 10th straight game, extending their best streak in 20 years when Jeremy Guthrie and a lucky hop helped them beat the Detroit Tigers 2-1.
The Royals have not won this many games in a row since a run of 14 straight in 1994. They extended their AL Central lead over the Tigers to 1.5 games.
Guthrie (4-6) allowed four hits and struck out nine in 6-2/3 innings. Drew Smyly (3-6) nearly matched him, but the Detroit left-hander was hurt by Alex Gordon’s RBI single that deflected off second base in the first and a solo homer by Omar Infante in the fifth.
J.D. Martinez homered for the Tigers in the seventh, but the Kansas City bullpen got the last seven outs, with Greg Holland pitching the ninth for his 21st save in 22 chances.
In Boston, Mike Napoli and David Ortiz hit consecutive home runs with one out in the 10th inning as the Red Sox rallied to hand the Minnesota Twins their fifth straight loss.
Boston were held to one hit — a fifth-inning double by Daniel Nava — before the homers.
Oakland’s Brandon Moss hit a tiebreaking double in the fifth inning as Sonny Gray pitched Oakland past the Texas Rangers 4-2, giving the Athletics the best record in the majors.
Meanwhile, the New York Yankees beat the first-placed Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 after Brian McCann hit a go-ahead, two-run homer and later added a bases-loaded triple.
Kevin Gausman pitched six innings, Steve Pearce’s double ended a scoreless deadlock and Nelson Cruz added his major league-leading 22nd home run to help the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0.
In other games, the Chicago White Sox edged the San Francisco Giants 7-6, the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros 6-5, the Philadelphia Phillies downed the Atlanta Braves 10-5, the New York Mets defeated the St Louis Cardinals 3-2 and the Chicago Cubs were 6-1 winners over the Miami Marlins.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
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