Quick Hitters
Santana hits 1st career slam as Brewers beat D-backs
MILWAUKEE — Domingo Santana hit his first career grand slam and the Milwaukee Brewers held off the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-5 on Sunday.
The NL Central-leading Brewers built an 8-1 lead thanks to Santana’s blast and starter Jimmy Nelson’s 10-strikeout performance over seven superb innings. But, it was almost all for naught.
After Nelson (3-3) departed, Arizona scored four times in the eighth off relievers Oliver Drake and Carlos Torres. With the tying run at the plate, Jacob Barnes forced pinch hitter Paul Goldschmidt to fly out to end the threat. Barnes also worked the ninth for his second save this year.
The late dramatics overshadowed Nelson’s dominance. The tall right-hander allowed one run on seven hits, three of them by Brandon Drury.
Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin (4-5) gave up seven runs on 10 hits.
Schmipf, Padres break out the bats, beat Nationals 5-3
WASHINGTON — Ryan Schimpf hit a two-run homer and the San Diego Padres broke out the bats, beating the Washington Nationals 5-3 Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.
The Padres had only one run and six hits with 31 strikeouts in backto-back losses in games started by Washington’s Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg to begin the series. San Diego bounced back by matching its season high with 14 hits, with 12 coming off starter Joe Ross (2-1).
NL home run leader Bryce Harper was among four starters out of the lineup for Washington. The game was delayed 1 hour, 20 minutes by rain.
Four relievers, including Kirby Yates (1-0), pitched 4 2-3 hitless innings following starter Jhoulus Chacin’s latest bumpy road appearance. Brandon Maurer worked the ninth for his sixth save.
No. 1 Kerber out of French Open in 1st round
PARIS — A French Open already missing Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova is now without No. 1-ranked Angelique Kerber, too, lending even more of a feeling that the women’s championship is anyone’s to win.
Kerber has not been playing at all like one of the best at what she does, and on Sunday she became the first woman seeded No. 1 to lose in the French Open’s first round in the professional era.
Kerber, who replaced Williams atop the WTA rankings this month, was gone from Roland Garros by lunchtime on Day 1, putting up little resistance while being beaten 6-2, 6-2 by 40th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova of Russia. It’s the latest in a string of early exits for Kerber, who reached her first three major finals in 2016.
“This year, I mean, the expectations are much bigger, especially in the big tournaments and the Grand Slams. And the expectations are also, from me, really big, of course, because I know what I can do, what I did last year,” Kerber said. “But right now, I think that I have to find myself again.”
Other significant results as the year’s second Grand Slam tournament began: Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova played — and won — her first match since being stabbed by an intruder at her home in December; Venus Williams began her 20th appearance at Roland Garros with a victory; and Rio Olympics gold medalist Monica Puig eliminated 2015 U.S. Open runnerup Roberta Vinci 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.