MAJOR LEAGUES
Kansas City’s Norichika Aoki and Billy Butler each drove in two runs during a five-run seventh inning that rallied the surging Royals to a 7-3 win over Oakland on Thursday, keeping them top of the American League (AL) Central division.
The Royals, who have not made the playoffs for 29 years, stayed half a game ahead of Detroit, who beat Pittsburgh thanks to a superb performance by pitcher Max Scherzer.
Photo: AFP
Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Dodgers boosted their lead in the National League (NL) West to near impregnable proportions by beating an Atlanta team who are struggling to stay in playoff contention and fell further behind Washington, who beat the Mets in New York yet again.
Kansas City have won 18 of their 22 games to move 12 games above a .500 record for the first time since 2003.
Aoki’s two-run triple put the Royals ahead 5-3. Butler’s single scored Aoki and Alcides Escobar.
Oakland’s Jeff Samardzija (3-2) took the loss despite leaving after 6-2/3 innings with a 3-2 lead. Reliever Ryan Cook faced three batters and all of them scored, ending his streak of 21 consecutive shutout innings.
Los Angeles’ Drew Butera hit his first homer since May, clunking a two-run shot in the second inning that helped the Dodgers beat Atlanta 6-4.
Adrian Gonzalez drove in three runs with three hits, while Dee Gordon scored four runs for the National League pacesetters.
Roberto Hernandez (7-8) pitched six strong innings, allowing just one run, to notch his first win for the Dodgers after being traded by Philadelphia last week.
The Braves have lost 12 of 14 and dropped three games off the second and last NL wild-card berth.
Detroit pitcher Max Scherzer struck out 14 batters in eight scoreless innings to lead the Tigers to a 5-2 victory over Pittsburgh.
Scherzer (14-4) has a 6-1 record over his past 10 starts with a 1.78 ERA and 85 strikeouts.
Scherzer’s performance and a homer from J.D. Martinez gave the Tigers a split of the four-game series that started in Pittsburgh.
Pirates’ starter Francisco Liriano (3-9) took the loss despite allowing only three hits in six innings and striking out nine.
Washington won 4-1 at the Mets to notch a franchise record of 11-straight wins in away games against the one team.
New York’s 11 straight losses to Washington in Queens is also a new franchise record against one team; the Mets lost 10 in a row to Atlanta in Shea Stadium across the 1991 and 1992 seasons.
Stephen Strasburg (9-10) bounced back from a poor previous start to pitch seven efficient innings, giving up only an unearned run while producing eight strikeouts.
Bryce Harper and Adam LaRoche each hit a two-run homer for the Nationals, who moved six games clear of the Braves atop the NL East.
St Louis’ Jon Jay delivered a two-run double in the eighth inning and right fielder Shane Robinson threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the ninth to help the Cardinals hold off San Diego 4-3.
Trailing by two runs in the ninth, the Padres loaded the bases with one out and Jake Goebbert came through with an RBI single, but Alexi Amarista was cut down at home plate when he tried to score from second.
Jhonny Peralta hit an early two-run homer for the Cardinals, who moved ahead of Pittsburgh into second place in the NL Central. St Louis remained two games behind division-leading Milwaukee, who beat the Chicago Cubs 6-2.
Milwaukee’s Mike Fiers struck out a career-high 14 through six innings to lead the Brewers to victory.
Miami’s Marcell Ozuna doubled home Garrett Jones with the winning run in the 10th inning to give the Marlins a 5-4 victory against Arizona.
Colorado’s Charlie Culberson hit his first homer in more than a month — a three-run shot in the fifth — to help the Rockies defeat Cincinnati 7-3.
Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria homered and drove in three runs to power the Rays past Texas 6-3.
Boston’s Dustin Pedroia hit a two-run double which capped a seven-run sixth inning that led the Red Sox past Houston 9-4.
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
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
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
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barca secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barca a 2-0 win over
RSS