Baseball

CHICAGO – After a frustrating start with the Chicago Cubs, Yu Darvish is starting to live up to his big free-agent contract. Darvish pitched five effective innings, Jason Heyward drove in three runs and the Cubs beat the slumping Milwaukee Brewers 7-2 on Sunday to sweep their weekend series. Heyward […]

Things looked so simple in the Central League at the All-Star break. The Yomiuri Giants were in first place when the second half started on July 15, with the closest object to them in the rearview mirror 9½ games back. But, as they say, life comes at you fast. Whatever […]

HOUSTON – After losing 13 decisions in a row with Toronto, Aaron Sanchez was looking for a fresh start and a way to turn things around in his move to the Houston Astros. But even with their history of improving the performance of pitchers, it would have been hard to […]

SAPPORO – Bryan Rodriguez allowed one run over five innings, and Haruki Nishikawa put Hokkaido Nippon Ham ahead with a two-run double as the Fighters beat the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 4-3 in the Pacific League on Sunday. The win lifted the second-place Fighters to within 2½ games of the Hawks, […]

OSAKA – Yoshinobu Yamamoto cruised through eight innings before giving up a late run, leading the Orix Buffaloes to a 4-1win over the Seibu Lions on Saturday afternoon. With extremely sharp command of his fastball and cutter, the 20-year-old kept hitters from putting the barrel of their bats on the […]

HOUSTON – Despite not having his best pitch, Wade Miley found a way to get another win on a night on which he got a boost by a huge offensive effort by the Houston Astros. Miley pitched six strong innings and the Astros backed him up with a season-high six […]

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – A baseball fan signed on Friday with the Oakland Athletics after throwing a 154-kph fastball at a radar-monitored pitching booth for spectators. Nathan Patterson, 23, who played baseball in high school but did not pursue a college career, hurled his blisteringly quick pitch during a challenge for […]

YOKOHAMA – Jose Lopez hit a tie-breaking, two-run double off his former team, lifting the second-place Yokohama BayStars to a 4-2 win over the Central League-leading Yomiuri Giants on Friday night. Trailing by a run in the sixth, Neftali Soto doubled in Takehiro Ishikawa to tie it with one out […]

NEW YORK – Pittsburgh pitcher Keone Kela was been suspended for 10 games, wild-swinging Cincinnati reliever Amir Garrett for eight and Yasiel Puig for three after a furious brawl between the Pirates and Reds. Major League Baseball issued eight suspensions Thursday, two days after the fight at Great American Ball […]

ST. LOUIS – Jack Flaherty didn’t panic. Instead, the St. Louis Cardinals’ right-hander simply stayed the course during a lengthy stretch without a victory. That patience paid off Thursday. Flaherty struck out nine in seven strong innings and catcher Matt Wieters hit a three-run homer as the Cardinals beat the […]