SPORTS DIGEST

BASEBALL

The Chicago Cubs retained their twogame lead atop the National League Central after they came out on top in a wild finish to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 in the 10th inning at Wrigley Field. After the nine innings finished with the game tied 3-3, the Blue Jays scored twice in the 10th through an ugly mix of errant throws and walks. But the Cubs would hit back in the bottom of the frame. Both Kyle Schwarber and Javier Baez struck out but reached base anyway thanks to a wild pitch and a drop from Toronto catcher Raffy Lopez. Schwarber would score on another wild pitch, and, with the bases loaded after Jason Heyward was hit by a pitch, Alex Avila hit a two-run walk-off double to win it. The Milwaukee Brewers kept pace with an 8-4 win over the Colorado Rockies as Jesus Aguilar hit two home runs. The St Louis Cardinals slipped to three games back in third after a 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Little League Classic in Williamsport. In a game which celebrated Little League baseball, Josh Bell’s two-run homer in the first inning set the Pirates on their way to victory. The Los Angeles Dodgers had their winning streak ended at six as they lost 6-1 to the Detroit Tigers, who scored four in the sixth inning with the help of Justin Upton’s two-run shot. But the Dodgers remain a huge 20 games clear in the NL West thanks to Colorado’s loss. The Washington Nationals are 14 games clear in the NL East following a 4-1 win over the San Diego Padres in which Gio Gonzalez struck out eight in 6 2/3 scoreless innings. Giancarlo Stanton’s 45th home run of the season highlighted the Miami Marlins’ 6-4 win over the New York Mets. Tyler Flowers’ fifth-inning grand slam powered the Atlanta Braves to an 8-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds, while the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants 5-2. The Boston Red Sox moved five games clear of the New York Yankees atop the American League East with a 5-1 victory over their arch-rivals. Rick Porcello held the Yankees to one run over six innings as Boston took the series. The Cleveland Indians saw their lead in the AL Central cut to five games as they lost 7-4 to the Kansas City Royals - who piled up 15 hits - while the Minnesota Twins beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-5 after scoring nine in the first inning, including a grand slam from Eddie Rosario. The Houston Astros committed costly errors to lose 3-2 to the Oakland Athletics, allowing the Los Angeles Angels to cut their lead in the AL West to 12 games with a 5-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Blake Snell struck out eight in seven scoreless innings as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Seattle Mariners 3-0, while the Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers 3-2.

GOLF

OFFICIAL WORLD RANKINGS: 1 Dustin Johnson (USA) 11.27pts, 2 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 9.36, 3 Jordan Spieth (USA) 9.06, 4 Rory Mcilroy (Nirl) 7.35, 5 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 6.82, 6 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 6.81, 7 Justin Thomas (USA) 6.57, 8 Jon Rahm (Spa) 6.42, 9 Jason Day (Aus) 6.26, 10 Rickie Fowler (USA) 6.14, 11 Alex Noren (Swe) 5.95, 12 Brooks Koepka (USA) 5.88, 13 Matt Kuchar (USA) 5.34, 14 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 4.75, 15 Justin Rose (Eng) 4.73, 16 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 4.70, 17 Paul Casey (Eng) 4.62, 18 Rafael Cabrerabello (Spa) 4.44, 19 Adam Scott (Aus) 4.44, 20 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 4.33/ WOMEN’S WORLD RANKINGS: 1 So Yeon Ryu (Kor) 9.18pts, 2 Lexi Thompson (USA) 7.99, 3 Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 7.70, 4 Sung Hyun Park (Kor) 7.06, 5 Lydia Ko (Nzl) 6.65, 6 Shanshan Feng (Chn) 6.63, 7 In Gee Chun (Kor) 6.52, 8 In Kyung Kim (Kor) 6.26, 9 Inbee Park (Kor) 5.86, 10 Brooke M. Henderson (Can) 5.74.

TENNIS

ATP CHAMPIONS RANKINGS 2017: 1 Rafael Nadal (Spa) 7645 pts, 2 Andy Murray (Gbr) 7150 pts, 3 Roger Federer (Swi) 7145 pts, 4 Stan Wawrinka (Swi) 5690 pts, 5 Novak Djokovic (Ser) 5325 pts, 6 Alexander Zverev (Ger) 4470 pts, 7 Marin Cilic (Cro) 4155 pts, 8 Dominic Thiem (Aut) 4030 pts, 9 Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) 3710 pts, 10 Kei Nishikori (Jpn) 3195 pts, 11 Milos Raonic (Can) 2870 pts, 12 Jo-wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 2690 pts, 13 David Goffin (Bel) 2525 pts, 14 John Isner (USA) 2425 pts, 15 Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa) 2425 pts, 16 Pablo Carreno-busta (Spa) 2385 pts, 17 Jack Sock (USA) 2345 pts, 18 Nick Kyrgios (Aus) 2325 pts, 19 Tomas Berdych (Cze) 2310 pts, 20 Lucas Pouille (Fra) 2210 pts, 21 Sam Querrey (USA) 2095 pts, 22 Gael Monfils (Fra) 1915 pts, 23 Gilles Muller (Lux) 1885 pts, 24 Albert Ramosvinolas (Spa) 1815 pts, 25 David Ferrer (Spa) 1695.00 pts, 26 Fabio Fognini (Ita) 1580 pts, 27 Mischa Zverev (Ger) 1484 pts, 28 Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) 1460 pts, 29 Karen Khachanov (Rus) 1390 pts, 30 Richard Gasquet (Fra) 1390 pts, 31 Pablo Cuevas (Uru) 1380 pts, 32 Kevin Anderson (Rsa) 1360 pts, 33 Diego Sebastian Schwartzman (Arg) 1280 pts, 34 Adrian Mannarino (Fra) 1255 pts, 35 Feliciano Lopez (Spa) 1250 pts, 36 Robin Haase (Ned) 1168 pts, 37 Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 1135 pts, 38 Ivo Karlovic (Cro) 1125 pts, 39 Gilles Simon (Fra) 1110 pts, 40 Paolo Lorenzi (Ita) 1100 pts, 41 Benoit Paire (Fra) 1085 pts, 42 Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 1080 pts, 43 Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) 1045 pts, 44 Ryan Harrison (USA) 1041 pts, 45 Kyle Edmund (Gbr) 1007 pts, 46 Steve Johnson (USA) 1000 pts, 47 Viktor Troicki (Ser) 965 pts, 48 Aljaz Bedene (Gbr) 958 pts, 49 Hyeon Chung (Kor) 955 pts, 50 Joao Sousa (Por) 950 pts. Selected other: 87 Daniel Evans (Gbr) 622 pts WTA RANKINGS: 1 Elina Svitolina (Ukr) 4470 pts, 2 Simona Halep (Rom) 4430 pts, 3 Garbine Muguruza (Spa) 4168 pts, 4 Karolina Pliskova (Cze) 4017 pts, 5 Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 3981 pts, 6 Venus Williams (USA) 3772 pts, 7 Johanna Konta (Gbr) 3456 pts, 8 Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) 3363 pts, 9 Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) 2867 pts, 10 Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) 2586 pts, 11 Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 1973 pts, 12 Caroline Garcia (Fra) 1870 pts, 13 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) 1866 pts, 14 Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) 1841 pts, 15 Elena Vesnina (Rus) 1784 pts, 16 Angelique Kerber (Ger) 1784 pts, 17 Magdalena Rybarikova (Svk) 1539 pts, 18 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) 1525 pts, 19 Kiki Bertens (Ned) 1498 pts, 20 Mirjana Lucic-baroni (Cro) 1481 pts, 21 Shuai Peng (Chn) 1481 pts, 22 Anett Kontaveit (Est) 1473 pts, 23 Timea Bacsinszky (Swi) 1362 pts, 24 Lucie Safarova (Cze) 1361 pts, 25 Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) 1225 pts, 26 Julia oerges (Ger) 1216 pts, 27 Ashleigh Barty (Aus) 1185 pts, 28 Ana Konjuh (Cro) 1168 pts, 29 Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 1148 pts, 30 Daria Gavrilova Aus) 1131 pts, 31 Catherine Cartan Bellis (USA) 1129 pts, 32 Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) 1123 pts, 33 Mona Barthel (Ger) 1092 pts, 34 Samantha Stosur (Aus) 1089 pts, 35 Daria Kasatkina (Rus) 1083 pts, 36 Katerina Siniakova (Cze) 1027 pts, 37 Sorana Cirstea (Rom) 1009 pts, 38 Elise Mertens (Bel) 1000 pts, 39 Lauren Davis (USA) 999 pts, 40 Qiang Wang (Chn) 998 pts, 41 Carla Suarez Navarro (Spa) 993 pts, 42 Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr) 965 pts, 43 Irina-camelia Begu (Rom) 960 pts, 44 Shuai Zhang (Chn) 952.00 pts, 45 Tatjana Maria (Ger) 937 pts, 46 Kristyna Pliskova (Cze) 928 pts, 47 Donna Vekic (Cro) 916 pts, 48 Laura Siegemund (Ger) 904 pts, 49 Marketa Vondrousova (Cze) 896 pts, 50 Alison Riske (USA) 886 pts. Selected other: 59 Heather Watson (Gbr) 724 pts.

SNOOKER

CHINA CHAMPIONSHIP (Guangzhou) Semi-finals: Shaun Murphy (Eng) bt Allister Carter (Eng) 6-4.