ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 2021 SPORTS 14

Rays top Red Sox, take AL East lead Ocon wins Hungarian GP Votto inches from HR record as Báez helps Mets rally past Reds as Hamilton takes F1 lead NEW YORK, Aug. 1, (AP): Joey Votto came oh-so-close to matching the major league record with a home run in eight consecutive games, but Javier Báez did clear the fence in his New York debut and the Mets rallied past the 5-4 in 10 innings. With the Mets down to their final strike, Dominic Smith hit a tying single off Sean Doolittle in the ninth. Brandon Drury opened the bottom of the 10th with an RBI single against Luis Cessa (3-2), driving in automatic runner Kevin Pillar from second base to win it. Votto, riding a seven-game homer streak, laced a line drive that hit the orange padding atop the right-field wall in the eighth and bounced back into play - mere inches from sail- ing over near the 370-foot sign. A foot higher and Votto would have tied Dale Long (1956 ), (1987 ) and Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. (1993 ), the only players to homer in eight ’ Javier Baez hits a two-run straight games. home run in the sixth inning of the Edwin Díaz (4-4) was the winner. game against the Cincinnati Reds, on July Rays 9, Red Sox 5 31, in New York. (AP) In St. Petersburg, Fla., Wander Franco had behind Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the two key run-scoring hits, the Tampa Bay bull- major league lead. pen worked out of a pair of bases-loaded jams and the Rays beat Boston to take the AL East Giants 8, Astros 6 lead. In San Francisco, San Francisco hit five Franco’s RBI triple off Nathan Eovaldi (9-6) home runs, four off Astros ace Zack Greinke, gave Tampa Bay a 6-5 lead in the sixth. Francoi and beat Houston in an interleague matchup of added a run-scoring single during a three-run division leaders. eighth that made it 9-5. Francisco Mejía had a Darin Ruf, Donovan Solano, Wilmer Flores two-run single in the eighth. and LaMonte Wade Jr. connected off Greinke. Mike Yastrzemski added a later shot to help the Giants become the first team in the majors with BASEBALL 65 wins. Brandon Crawford hit a tiebreaking Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland, center, and Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico, right, crash during the Hungarian Formula single in the sixth inning for the Giants. One Grand Prix at the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod, Hungary, on Aug 1. (Inset): Race winner, Alpine driver Esteban Ocon of France Braves 8, Brewers 1 celebrates on the podium. (AP) Andrew Kittredge (7-1) fell behind Christian Vázquez 3-0 with the bases loaded and one out In Atlanta, Dansby Swanson hit a grand slam in the sixth, but rebounded to get the strikeout. and a two-run shot and drove in a career-high Bottas crashes He kept the game tied at 5 when he fanned seven runs to lead Atlanta past Milwaukee. Boks beat Lions, set up series decider Bobby Dalbec on three pitches. Swanson had three hits, including his second Mejía and Ji-Man Choi homered for the career grand slam in the seventh off John CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Aug. 1, (AP): Rays. Curtiss. He broke a 1-all tie with a two-run BUDAPEST, Hungary, Aug. 1, homer in the sixth, one pitch after it appeared South Africa delivered the promised physical Yankees 4, Marlins 2 (AP): Frenchman Esteban Ocon fightback and emphatically beat the British and he struck out. His run-scoring single in the Irish Lions 27-9 to send their charged series to In Miami, Anthony Rizzo homered in his fourth tied it at 1. won a chaotic Hungarian Grand second consecutive game since joining the a third test decider next weekend. Jesse Chavez (2-2) pitched a scoreless sixth. Yankees, leading New York over Miami on a Prix on Sunday while Lewis The Lions, who edged the first test and came Brandon Woodruff (7-6) took the loss. Hamilton fi nished third to take night Marlins manager Don Mattingly missed Blue Jays 4, Royals 0 to the second with momentum, had a shot at the game after testing positive for COVID-19. the Formula One championship clinching their first series in the republic in 24 Obtained from the on In Toronto, George Springer hit two home years but surprisingly lost control after half- Thursday, Rizzo drove a sinker from reliever runs, Alek Manoah pitched seven dominant lead from Max Verstappen by six time. points heading into the midsea- Steven Otker near the right field upper deck in innings and Toronto beat Kansas City for its The Lions’ fitness has seen them finish the seventh for his 16th homer. third straight victory. son break. stronger on tour but after the Springboks scored Rizzo also singled, walked twice, was hit by Activated off the 10-day injured list before Verstappen placed 10th after being the first of their two stylish tries, their confi- a pitch and scored the go-ahead run. He is 4 for the game, Manoah (3-1) allowed just two sin- taken out early in the race by Hamilton’s dence soared and they won the second half 5 and has reached base eight times in two gles. The rookie right-hander hadn’t pitched 21-0. The Lions turned desperate, instead, and, games with New York. since July 9 after slipping on the dugout steps Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in a in chasing the game, made errors the Springboks first-lap crash that caused him and four Bench James Rowson managed the and hurting his back in Toronto’s first series were able to exploit. Marlins in Mattingly’s absence. following the All-Star break. others to retire. Lukhanyo Am scored the second try, and It was only the 24-year-old Ocon’s second Handre Pollard nailed his last four goalkicks to Indians 12, White Sox 11 Twins 8, Cardinals 1 podium, following a second-place finish at the finish with a 17-point haul. In Chicago, White Sox rookie Seby Zavala In St. Louis, Ryan Jeffers hit a three-run Sakhir GP in Bahrain late last year. The teams return again to an empty Cape hit the first three home runs of his career, homer, rookie right-hander Bailey Ober threw British and Irish Lions’ Robbie Henshaw Town Stadium next Saturday with the world including a grand slam, but Cleveland rallied to four effective innings and Minnesota beat St. goes over the line but South Africa’s Siya champion Springboks favored to take the series Louis to end a three-game losing streak. Kolisi, (top left) prevents a try being scored beat Chicago. MOTOR RACING after losing the first test 22-17. Austin Hedges, Owen Miller and Amed Jeffers hit two home runs, including his first as Henshaw could not ground the ball dur- grand slam, and drove home six in a 17-14 loss ing the second rugby union Test between The buildup was overshadowed by concert- Rosario homered to help Cleveland overcome a ed South African attacks on the first test refer- five-run deficit. to Detroit on Wednesday. He drilled his ninth Ocon finished ahead of Aston Martin’s South Africa’s Springboks and the British and Irish Lions at the Cape Town Stadium, eeing, but the hosts could have little to quibble Zavala became the first player in big league home run of the season off St. Louis starter Sebastian Vettel, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. in Cape Town, South Africa, on July 31. about new ref Ben O’Keeffe. He warned both history to hit his first three career home runs in Jake Woodford (2-3) to highlight a five-run fourth ahead of Ocon’s teammate Fernando (AP) the same game, according to Elias Sports third inning that made it 7-0. Alonso. Bureau. The 27-year-old catcher played his Cubs 6, Nationals 3 “What a moment, feels so good,” Ocon said, RUGBY 18th game in the majors - he was recalled from patting his heart. “A big thanks to the team for Alonso held off a first attack on Lap 55 and Triple-A Charlotte on July 6 to replace the In Washington, Kyle Hendricks earned his the trust they are putting in me.” blocked him two more times on Lap 57 with injured Yasmani Grandal. major league-leading 13th victory, Rafael The crash in the rain was caused by Bottas, Ortega homered and Chicago beat Washington. stellar defending on the inside. sides as early as the third minute after the first Dodgers 8, Diamondbacks 3 who retired as a result. The race restarted in Alonso’s nous was enough to repel two more scuffle, and showed he meant it with yellow The Cubs, who had dropped four in a row, absurd fashion with only Hamilton on the grid, attacks as Hamilton was blocked again on the cards to each team. In Phoenix, Justin Turner hit a go-ahead, made six trades prior to Friday’s deadline, scat- while others were changing their tires because outside and they nearly collided. An incident-packed first half in which nei- two-run homer, Albert Pujols had a pair of RBI tering Javier Báez, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo the track had dried. Hamilton had to do the When Hamilton finally got past him there ther team would concede an inch was so drawn singles and Los Angeles beat Arizona. and Craig Kimbrel and others to contenders. same a lap later and came out in last place, a were only five laps left and Sainz Jr just ahead. out that in real time it went on for 64 minutes, The game was tied at 3 in the seventh when Joe Ross (5-9) was the loser. Washington couple of spots behind Verstappen. He overtook him but by then the front two were two minutes longer than South African official Turner squared up a pitch from reliever Stefan lost for the first time since completing a dead- But a clever second tire change by Mercedes too far ahead. Hamilton’s bid for a 100th win Rassie Erasmus’ controversial video diatribe Crichton that easily sailed over the left field line sale of their own that shipped out Max for hard tires on Lap 20 outwitted Red Bull and resumes on Aug. 29 at the Belgian GP in Spa. midweek. The stop-start half helped the wall and into the Diamondbacks bullpen. The Scherzer, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner, Hamilton moved ahead of Verstappen after he Bottas will start that race with a five-place Springboks stay relatively fresh, as they gained Dodgers tacked on two more runs in the inning, among others. came in for new tires. grid penalty for causing the accident. more significant match fitness denied them by including one on a pinch-hit, RBI single from Orioles 5, Tigers 2 Albert Pujols to take a 7-3 lead. Now it was Verstappen’s turn to feel frustra- Alonso’s brilliant defensive driving helped the pandemic. In Detroit, John Means struck out six in six tion as he was stuck in 11th while Hamilton Ocon secure the victory and they hugged after It allowed them to start the new half power- Angels 1, Athletics 0 strong innings, Maikel Franco homered and was already up to fifth by Lap 35 of 70. the race, with Alonso lifting him up in the air. fully. A scrum penalty and a driving lineout In Anaheim, Calif., Shohei Ohtani ended a Baltimore beat Detroit. With 30 laps to go, the top four was Ocon- Hamilton was again loudly jeered by sections were followed by a Pollard crosskick caught by long run drought with an RBI double, Jaime Means (5-3) gave up one run on four hits in Vettel-Sainz Jr.-Hamilton. of the crowd, as he was after taking pole position Makazole Mapimpi ahead of opposite wing Barria outdueled Cole Irvin and Los Angeles first victory since May 5. The left-hander was To give Hamilton a shot at victory, Mercedes on Saturday. He won the British GP two weeks Anthony Watson. He ducked inside Stuart beat Oakland. making his third start since going on the injured made a third tire change with a little more than ago despite a 10-second penalty for taking Hogg and went over to retake the lead at 11-9 The Japanese two-way sensation lined a list in early June with a left shoulder strain. The 20 laps remaining. Verstappen out on the first lap. Heavy rain fell for the first time in half an hour. double to right-center in the third that drove in Orioles have won six of their last eight games. But he had to get ahead of the 40-year-old shortly before Sunday’s race and the track was Dan Biggar could have regained it for the Matt Thaiss and ended the Angels’ string of 29 Cole Sulser earned his fifth save, striking out Alonso first, a driver with 32 wins, 97 podiums soaked. Hamilton got away from pole but Lions but his fourth penalty attempt hit the scoreless innings against the Athletics. It was the last two batters after Detroit loaded the and among the most talented of his generation. Verstappen shot ahead of Bottas into second. post. Ohtani’s 82nd RBI of the season, which is one bases with no outs in the ninth.