Baseball

Japan’s softball icon Yukiko Ueno was awarded the Order of the Golden Diamond by the World Baseball Softball Confederation for her years of contributions to the sport during its congress in Taiwan on Monday, the Japan Softball Association said. The 39-year-old threw six shutout innings to help Japan beat the […]

About the only thing hotter than Munetaka Murakami last month was the sun — and it was close. The Tokyo Yakult Swallows’ young slugger showed that he is the premier hitter in Japan right now with his stellar play last month — and he may only be getting started. In […]

Houston – Shohei Ohtani went 1-for-4 with an RBI as the Los Angeles Angels tied an MLB record by striking out 20 times in a nine-inning game, as they lost to the Houston Astros 4-2 on Sunday. Ohtani struck out twice against the Astros, who sent four pitchers to the […]

Los Angeles – Yu Darvish gave up three first-inning home runs on the way to his fourth loss Saturday as the San Diego Padres were beaten 7-2 by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Over six innings, Darvish (7-4) surrendered five runs on eight hits, including solo homers to Freddie Freeman, Will […]

Hiroshima – Ryan McBroom’s two-run ninth-inning home run powered the Hiroshima Carp to a 2-0 Central League win over the Yomiuri Giants on Saturday. The win before 30,465 at Mazda Stadium pulled the third-place Carp to within a half-game of the second-place Giants after a pitchers’ duel between Yomiuri ace […]

Toronto – Yusei Kikuchi put together a quality start to earn his first win in over six weeks in the Toronto Blue Jays’ 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday. Having lost three of his seven starts since his previous win on May 16, Kikuchi (3-4) leaned heavily […]

Hiroshima – Rookie Kazuya Maruyama broke a 12th-inning tie with a two-run double, lifting the Central League-leading Tokyo Yakult Swallows to a 4-2 win over the Hiroshima Carp on Thursday. Before 24,100 at Mazda Stadium, Hiroshima twice came from a run down before Yakult put the game away in the […]

Anaheim, California – Shohei Ohtani continued his red-hot form on the mound, striking out 11 and stretching his scoreless streak to a career-high 21⅔ innings in the Los Angeles Angels’ 4-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. The two-way star earned his fourth straight win while bringing his strikeout total […]

London – Defending champion Novak Djokovic reached the third round at Wimbledon for the 16th time on Wednesday, while rival Andy Murray suffered the earliest exit of his career at the All England Club. The top-seeded Djokovic brushed aside 79th-ranked Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 and will now […]

Hiroshima – Yakult Swallows slugger Munetaka Murakami blasted back-to-back two-run homers and went deep for the third straight game as the Central League-leading team hammered the Hiroshima Carp 9-2 on Wednesday. The 22-year-old slugged his 28th home run of the season off Hiroshima pitcher Yasunori Kikuchi in the eighth inning, […]