Ronaldo scores but Juve’s perfect run broken
Roma fall at home to plucky SPAL
MILAN, Oct 20, (AP): Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to net 400 goals across Europe’s top five leagues.
It wasn’t enough on Saturday to maintain Juventus’ perfect start to the season.
Ronaldo, who has been accused of rape in a civil lawsuit in the United States, scored in the 1-1 draw against Genoa. It was his fifth Serie A goal in nine matches.
Ronaldo has 311 goals in La Liga since January 2013, but this time it featured Krzysztof Piatek, who scored in each of their previous seven Serie A matches and had a league-best nine goals.
However, it wasn’t the Poland forward who netted the equalizer but Daniel Bessa with a header in the 67th minute as the Juventus defense was caught napping when Christian Kouame managed to keep the ball in before whipping in a cross.
It was a memorable first match back in charge for Ivan Juric, who returned to Genoa for his third spell as coach.
Roma fell to a surprise 2-0 defeat at home to 10-man SPAL, which won at the Stadio Olimpico for the first time in Serie A in 53 years. Roma went into the international break with four straight wins in all competitions while SPAL had lost its last four.
However, the visitors took the lead shortly before halftime when Andrea Petagna converted a penalty after Manuel Lazzari was fouled by Luca Pellegrini.
SPAL doubled its advantage 11 minutes after the break as Kevin Bonifazi headed in a corner at the near post.
The Red Sox are back in the Fall Classic for the first time in five years. The last time they beat the St Louis Cardinals in six games.
Boston will be seeking their fourth title in 15 years as they begin the World Series next Tuesday at Fenway Park.
Red Sox left-hander Price threw six solid innings on Thursday, allowing just three hits in shutting out the Astros to earn his first victory in his 12th postseason appearance.
Closer Craig Kimbrel took care of business in the ninth to record his fifth save of the playoffs.
Price was 0-9 with a ERA of 6.16 in his previous 11 playoff starts.
He is relieved he won’t have to talk about not being able to win in the postseason anymore.
Martinez opened the scoring with a 396-foot blast to left field for his second home run of the postseason in front of a crowd of 40,000 at Minute Maid Park. Devers, who turns 22 on Wednesday, also hit a homer to left which scored Mitch Moreland and Ian Kinsler. Devers has 12 RBIs in 10 playoff games. Moreland got on base with a double to deep left field and Kinsler hit a single to right which moved Moreland over to third base.
Facing elimination, the Astros turned to their ace Justin Verlander. He had a solid performance in a game one win but struggled to contain the Red Sox potent offense on Thursday.
Verlander allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings of work.