SPORTS DIGEST

BASEBALL

JD Martinez scored his 28th home run of the season to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 5-0 drubbing of the Texas Rangers. The 30-year-old slugger hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to leave him clear at the top of the MLB’S home run list for the season. His tally of 28 homers is also the third-best return by a Red Sox player before the All-star break, with only David Ortiz (31) and Carl Yastrzemski (29) having notched more in history. Boston’s victory extended their winning streak to seven matches and keeps them clear of the New York Yankees at the top of the American League East.

The Yankees split a double-header against the Baltimore Orioles, romping home 10-2 in the second clash having been edged out 5-4 in the first.

New York’s other team, the Mets, also shared the spoils in their twin bill with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets won the opener 4-3 thanks to Wilmer Flores’ walkoff home run in the 10th, but Philadelphia bounced back to claim the nightcap 3-1 with Aaron Nola striking out 10 as well as driving in three runs.

The Tampa Bay Rays downed the Detroit Tigers 10-9 in a thrilling encounter that went to the 10th, while the Miami Marlins also needed an extra innings to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3.

It needed 11 innings to separate San Francisco and the Chicago Cubs, with the Giants snatching a 2-1 win when Pablo Sandoval singled home Andrew Mccutchen.

The clash between Minnesota and Kansas City saw the Twins extend their winning streak to five with a 3-1 triumph over the Royals, who have now lost 10 on the trot. Elsewhere, Lo san gel es dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 8-2, the Cincinnati Reds downed the Cleveland Indians 7-5, the Pittsburgh Pirates claimed a 6-3 triumph over the Washington Nationals and the Oakland Athletics beat the Houston Astros 2-0.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: Baltimore Orioles 5 New York Yankees 4 (Game 1), New York Mets 4 Philadelphia Phillies 3 (10 innings) (Game 1), Baltimore Orioles 2 New York Yankees 10 (Game 2), Boston Red Sox 5 Texas Rangers 0, Cleveland Indians 5 Cincinnati Reds 7, Houston Astros 0 Oakland Athletics 2, Miami Marlins 4 Milwaukee Brewers 3 (1EI), Minnesota Twins 3 Kansas City Royals 1, New York Mets 1 Philadelphia Phillies 3 (Game 2), Pittsburgh Pirates 6 Washington Nationals 3, San Diego Padres 2 Los Angeles Dodgers 8, San Francisco Giants 2 Chicago Cubs 1 (11 innings), Tampa Bay Rays 10 Detroit Tigers 9.

CYCLING

TOUR DE FRANCE

Stage 4 (La Baule to Sarzeau ,192km): 1 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-step Floors 4hrs 25mins 01secs, 2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-hansgrohe, 3 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal, 4 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Lottonl-jumbo, 5 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-alpecin, 6 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-groupe Gobert, 7 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, 8 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-segafredo, 9 Dion Smith (NZL) Wanty-groupe Gobert, 10 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Wanty-groupe Gobert, all at same time. Selected others: 21 Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Dimension Data, 30 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky, 32 Adam Yates (Gbr) Mitchelton-scott, 41 Chris Froome (Gbr) Team Sky, 74 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates, 97 Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky all at same time. General classification: 1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 13hrs 33mins 56secs, 2 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team at same time, 3 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky at 3s, 4 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-step Floors at 5s, 5 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-step Floors at 7s, 6 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quickstep Floors at same time, 7 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb at 11s, 8 Soren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb, 9 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb both at same time, 10 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-drapac p/b Cannondale at 35s.

SPEEDWAY

FIXTURES

Tomorrow: Championship – Redcar v Edinburgh (7.30pm)

Friday: Championship – Edinburgh v Ipswich (7.30pm).