Vulgar and direct, New York Yankees fans cranked up a baleful cacophony for the scandal-tainted Houston Astros — thunderous heckles that belied their COVID-19 pandemic-restricted numbers.
“It sounded like a packed house,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said.
About the only thing louder? Maybe the ball coming off Giancarlo Stanton’s bat.
Photo: AFP
Boos and bad words streamed from the seats in the Astros’ return to the Bronx, and Stanton had a homer and four hits to help New York sate those spiteful fans in a 7-3 victory on Tuesday night.
In Houston’s first visit to New York since the Astros’ sign-stealing scam was exposed, an error by third baseman Alex Bregman in the sixth inning let New York blow the game open.
“That was intense,” Stanton said. “I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of that. They brought something heavy.”
A sellout crowd of 10,850 skipped subtle barbs for salty language, aimed especially at 2017 American League Most Valuable Player Jose Altuve. Several brought signs insulting the Astros, and security confiscated multiple inflatable trash cans.
“That was playoff energy, even though we’re not at full capacity,” Stanton said. “That was fun. They brought the noise.”
Bregman momentarily hushed the haters when he homered in the first inning off Domingo German, but Bregman’s miscue in the sixth with the game tied 3-3 doomed Houston.
He barehanded D.J. LeMahieu’s bases-loaded slow roller, but skipped his throw past first baseman Yuli Gurriel. Three runs scored on the play, the last Rougned Odor, whose left knee slammed into catcher Martin Maldonado’s head as he reached the plate. Odor appeared to be trying to avoid LeMahieu’s bat, which was lying in the right-handed batter’s box.
LeMahieu was credited with a single and an RBI, and one of the runs was unearned. Stanton made it 7-3 when he scored LeMahieu with a single.
“Looking back now, I probably should’ve ate it,” Bregman said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but