MLB-SCHEDULE
Brewers back in gear…Ibanez, again…Medica’s 5-for-5 night
UNDATED (AP)β A couple of weeks ago, the Milwaukee Brewers were hobbling into the All-Star break, watching a six-game lead disappear as the St. Louis Cardinals closed the gap. Now, the Brewers appear headed in the right direction.
Wily Peralta (WIH’-lee peh-RAHL’-tah) won his 13th game to tie for the National League lead and Aramis Ramirez hit his 13th homer as the Brewers beat 13-game winner Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals, 7-4. The victory gives the Brewers a three-games ahead of the Cards in the NL Central.
Jonathan Lucroy’s bases-clearing double chased Wainwright in a four-run sixth inning that put Milwaukee up by six.
Matt Carpenter had two hits and three RBIs and Matt Holliday homered for St. Louis, which has lost three of four.
Peralta, Wainwright and the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw all have 13 victories. Last year, the 25-year-old Peralta was 11-15 with a 4.37 ERA in his first full season in the majors.
In other baseball:
β Ryan Vogelsong hurled a two-hitter for his second career complete game, Hunter Pence drove in three runs and the San Francisco Giants beat the New York Mets 5-1 for their second straight win after a six-game skid. Vogelsong faced 28 batters, one over the limit, and improved to 6-8. Vogelsong allowed Juan Lagares’ (lah-GAHR’-uhs) soft single leading off the sixth and Lucas’ Duda’s 20th homer to start the eighth.
β The Kansas City Royals blanked AL West leader Oakland 1-0. The 42-year-old Raul Ibanez (rah-OOL’ ih-BAHN’-yehz) connected in the fifth inning for his fifth homer for all the scoring. Jeremy Guthrie and three relievers combined on a five-hitter.
β Pittsburgh scored three in the eighth and five more in the ninth to beat Arizona 9-4. Josh Harrison tripled, doubled and scored twice.
β The Chicago Cubs routed Los Angeles starter Dan Haren for seven runs in four and a-third innings en route to routing the Dodgers 8-2. Luis Valbuena (vahl-BWAY’-noh) homered and drove in two.
__ Philadelphia has won the first two games of its set in Washington, beating the Nationals 2-1. Marlon Byrd’s 21st home run broke a sixth-inning tie. The Nats have lost four of five but still lead the NL East.
β Washington maintained its game and a-half lead because San Diego was routing Atlanta 10-1. The light-hitting Padres rapped out a season-high 20 hits. Padres first baseman Tommy Medica (MEH’-dih-kah) had a huge night by going 5-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs.
β Wei-Yin Chen won his fifth straight start and had a season-high eight strikeouts to lead the Baltimore Orioles to a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners. Baltimore has won nine of its past 11 games and remained atop the AL League East.
__Mike Trout and Josh Hamilton homered to help the Los Angeles Angels beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3. It was Trout’s 26th homer, a two-run shot.
β Gregorio Petit’s first career home run put Houston on top in the eighth inning and the Astros held on for a 3-1 win over the Blue Jays. That ends Toronto’s six-game winning streak.
β The Chicago White Sox outlasted Minnesota 10-8 behind a 17-hit assault. Jose Abreu (uh-BRAY’-oo) reached base five times while extending his hitting streak to 21 games. Abreu had three singles, scored twice and drove in a run. He also walked and was hit by a pitch.
β Anthony Ranaudo pitched six solid innings in his major league debut and Dustin Pedroia (peh-DROY’-uh) drove in two runs as the Boston Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees. Ranaudo allowed two runs and four hits, including a Carlos Beltran solo home run.
__ Mat Latos (LAY’-tohs) pitched seven strong innings, Ryan Ludwick drove in two runs, and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Miami Marlins 5-2.
β Justin Verlander equaled his longest outing of the season, pitching eight solid innings to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies. Verlander improved to 10-9.
β Cleveland rapped out 16 hits in a 12-2 laugher over the last-place Texas Rangers. Danny Chisenhall cracked his 10th home run and scored a pair of runs. David Murphy was 4 for 4 with two RBIs against his former team.
MLB-ACES IN NEWS PLACES
Cards’ Lackey, Athletics’ Lester ready for stretch run
UNDATED (AP)β The two pitching aces who changed teams ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline say they are ready to try and pitch their new teams into the World Series.
John Lackey won’t be facing his old team in his first start with the St. Louis Cardinals. Instead, Lackey will pitch Sunday in the series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers, with Lance Lynn pushed back to start Tuesday night in the opener of an interleague series against the Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals’ other trade deadline pickup, Justin Masterson, will make his first start tonight.
In Oakland, newly acquired Jon Lester walked through the Oakland clubhouse doors to quite a greeting, from the snappy, patriotic marching tune on the sound system to the handshakes and hellos from every corner.
The All-Star left-hander will make his first A’s start this afternoon at the Coliseum against Kansas City.
MLB-INJURIES
Lee, Alvarez on DL…Cain done for season
UNDATED (AP) β The Phillies have placed pitcher Cliff Lee on the 15-day disabled list with an elbow strain. The left-hander left in the third inning of Thursday night’s win over Washington after suffering the injury. It’s an apparent recurrence of the injury that put him on the disabled list in May. He’s scheduled for an MRI and additional tests when the team returns to Philadelphia early next week.
The 35-year-old Lee missed two months because of a strained left elbow, and was making his third start since coming off the disabled list. He’s 4-5 with a 3.65 ERA.
In other baseball DL moves:
β San Francisco Giants right-hander Matt Cain needs surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow, an operation that likely will end his season. Cain has not pitched since July 9 and is 2-7 with a 4.18 ERA.
β Miami All-Star pitcher Henderson Alvarez has been placed on the 15-day disabled list because of inflammation in his right shoulder. The move was retroactive to Wednesday. Alvarez is 8-5 with three shutouts and a 2.48 ERA.
β Tyler Skaggs is now on the Angels 15-day disabled list with a strained forearm. The left-hander was injured in Thursday’s extra innings win over Baltimore. Skaggs had not allowed a hit when he left with two outs in the fifth inning.
NBA-NEWS
Spurs give Parker an extension… Nuggets sign Green
UNDATED (AP) β The defending NBA champ San Antonio Spurs haves signed point guard Tony Parker to a multi-year contract extension. The Spurs did not disclose the deal, but Yahoo! Sports first reported that it was a three-year extension worth $43.3 million starting in 2015.
Parker averaged 16.7 points and 5.7 assists in 29 minutes per game last season to help the Spurs to the franchise’s fifth NBA title.
The 32-year old Parker is among the elite point guards in the league and has spent all 13 seasons of his career in San Antonio. He was due to make $12.5 million next season in the final year of his existing contract.
In other NBA news:
β The Nuggets have signed guard Erick Green to a contract after he played last season in the Italian League. The 46th overall pick in the 013 draft led the NCAA in scoring his senior season at Virginia Tech.
UCLA FLOODING
Flooded Pauley court to be replaced
LOS ANGELES (AP) β UCLA says it will replace the court in Pauley Pavilion that was flooded by a 20 million-gallon water main leak.
Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said Friday that the entire wood floor of the famed court will be replaced by the end of October and no regular season basketball games will be affected.
The floor, two parking structures and other campus facilities were swamped Tuesday when a 30-inch water main on nearby Sunset Boulevard fractured.
Pauley Pavilion underwent a $136 million upgrade just two years ago.
NFL-GOODELL-RICE
Goodell defends Rice suspension
CANTON, Ohio (AP) β NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (guh-DEHL’) has defended the league against criticism that it was too lenient in suspending Ray Rice two games for his domestic violence incident.
Goodell maintains that the two-game suspension the Ravens running back got is consistent with other disciplines the league has handed out.
Goodell stresses that the Baltimore running back has assumed responsibility for his conduct, has no history of assault.
Rice allegedly struck then-fiancee Janay Palmer, now his wife, on Feb. 15 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
GOLF-BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL
Garcia blitzes the back nine at Firestone
AKRON, Ohio (AP) β Sergio Garcia went on a birdie barrage on the back nine to tie the course record with a 9-under 61 at the Bridgestone Invitational. Garcia birdied eight of the closing nine holes, including the final seven to grab the lead at 11-under par for the two rounds. The only hole he didn’t birdie was the 11th, where he missed his 15-foot putt from just off the green.
Garcia is three shots ahead of Justin Rose who shot a 3-under 67. First round leader Marc Leishman is tied for third with British Open champ Rory McIlroy four off the lead. Leishman put up a 69, McIlroy shot 64.
Tiger Woods struggled to a 1-over 71 and fell 10 shots off the pace.
GOLF-BARRACUDA CHAMPIONSHIP
Watney leads
RENO, Nev. (AP) β Nick Watney has widened his lead to three points after two days of the Barracuda Championship on the PGA Tour. Watney has tallied eight points under the modified Stableford scoring system to give him a total of 26. Geoff Ogilvy is three back with Wes Roach four off the lead.
GOLF-3M CHAMPIONSHIP
Dawson goes low to lead
BLAINE, Minn. (AP) β Marco Dawson fired a bogey free 9-under 63 to grab the lead in the first round of the Champions Tour’s 3M Championship. Dawson’s round was highlighted by an eagle on the par 5, 18th hole. He has a one-shot lead over four other golfers including Bernhard Langer, who is coming off a win last week at the Senior British Open championship. Also in the second-place group are Vijay Singh, Rocco Mediate (MEE’-dee-ayt) and Jeff Maggert.
NASCAR-POCONO QUALIFYING
Racing at Pocono
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) β Kyle Larson set a track record at Pocono Raceway to win his first career Sprint Cup pole Friday at Pocono. Denny Hamlin had set the record in June.
Joey Logano joins Larson on the front row. Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and points leader Jeff Gordon completed the top five.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified ninth after he won the June race at the track. He’s trying for a sweep at Pocono for the first time since Denny Hamlin did it in 2006.
NHL-DUCKS-SELANNE HONORED
Ducks to retire Selanne’s number
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) β The Anaheim Ducks will retire Teemu Selanne’s (TAY’-moo seh-LAH’-neez) No. 8 jersey in a ceremony on Jan. 11, making him the first in franchise history to be so honored.
Selanne retired this year after a 21-season NHL career spent mostly with the Ducks. The Finnish Flash is Anaheim’s career leader in goals, assists, games played and several other statistical categories.
Selanne is the 11th-leading goal-scorer in NHL history with 684, and his 1,457 career points rank 15th in league history.
