Zimmerman, Harper star as Nationals level series

Dodgers take commanding lead

WASHINGTON, Oct 8, (AFP): Ryan Zimmerman and Bryce Harper blasted home runs in the eighth inning to rally the Washington Nationals over the World Series champion Chicago Cubs 6-3 Saturday to level their Major League Baseball playoff series.

Harper belted a two-run homer to equalize for the Nationals at 3-3 and Zimmerman delivered the winning blow by smashing a three-run homer into the left-field stands.

“We’ve been struggling to score some runs. We kind of busted out that inning,” Zimmerman said. “The timing was huge.”

The Nationals and Cubs are 1-1 in the best-of-five National League division series, which shifts to Chicago’s century-old Wrigley Field for games on Monday and Tuesday.

“You don’t want to go down 0-2. Obviously a huge win,” Zimmerman said. “Going down 0-2 going into their place would be tough. Needless to say, big win.”

Washington’s Adam Lind singled

Washington Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman dives into third base during the fifth inning in Game 2 of baseball’s National League Division Series against the Chicago Cubs at Nationals Park on Oct 7, in

Washington. (AP)

in his first playoff appearance to set the stage for Harper’s towering tworun homer to right field off Cubs relief pitcher Carl Edwards to lift the Nationals level. It was Harper’s first homer in two months.

“I was trying to get a pitch I could drive and I got one. I got pretty lucky,” Harper said. “For us to come back and win that ball game like that, pretty incredible.”

The series winner will face either the Los Angeles Dodgers or Arizona Diamondbacks for a berth in the World Series.

The Dodgers rallied for an 8-5 home victory over the Diamondbacks to take a commanding 2-0 lead in their series.

Austin Barnes delivered a two-run double as part of a four-run fifth inning for Los Angeles, who were down early after Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt belted a two-run home run off Dodgers starting pitcher Rich Hill in the first inning.

Logan Forsythe, again getting the start at second base over Chase Utley, had three hits, scored two runs, drove in one and stole a base for the Dodgers.

Yasiel Puig, who drove in two runs in Friday’s win, had three hits and drove in two runs.

After Brandon Drury pulled the Diamondbacks to within two runs with a three-run pinch-hit homer in the seventh, Dodgers closing pitcher Kenley Jansen entered the game with one on and one out in the eighth and retired all five hitters he faced to seal the win.

The Dodgers will try to finish off the series in Arizona on Monday.

The American League playoffs resume Sunday with the Cleveland Indians at the New York Yankees and Houston Astros at Boston Red Sox, each visiting squad needing a victory to complete a series sweep. Cyprus’ Jason Demetriou (left), challenges for the ball with Greece’s Kostas Stafylidis during their World Cup Group H qualifying soccer match between

Cyprus and Greece at GSP Stadium in Nicosia, Cyprus on Oct 7. (AP)

PARIS, Oct 8, (AFP): Blaise Matuidi’s early goal saw off Bulgaria 1-0 on Saturday and kept France top of European World Cup qualifying Group A, while the Netherlands’ hopes are hanging by a thread despite a 3-1 win in Belarus.

France took the lead in only the third minute as midfielder Matuidi curled home a fantastic shot from a tight angle into the far top corner.

Bulgaria more than held their own in Sofia, though, as they looked to repeat the famous win over France that sent them to the 1994 World Cup, and Hugo Lloris was forced into a pointblank save to deny Georgi Kostadinov.

But Didier Deschamps’s side closed out the vital win, and three points at home to Belarus on Tuesday would book their ticket to Russia.

“It was a difficult match with lots of mistakes, commitment,” said coach Deschamps.

“We’re still first – that’s important – we’ve got one match left and (qualification) remains in our hands, so we have to win on Tuesday.”

The Dutch needed a victory in Barysaw to keep alive any hopes of a top-two finish, but despite a third goal in two games from Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Davy Propper, Belarus equalised through Maksim Volodjko.

Captain Arjen Robben came to his side’s rescue by netting a penalty with only six minutes remaining, before Memphis Depay added some gloss in injury-time.

The Netherlands are looking to avoid failing to qualify for successive major tournaments for the first time since 1986, having also missed out on Euro 2016.

France’s Corentin Tolisso (left), battles for the ball with Spas Delev during the World Cup Group A qualifying soccer match between Bulgaria and France at Vassil Levski Stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria on

Oct 7. (AP)

But they now face a near impossible task, as Sweden thrashed Luxembourg 8-0 earlier on Saturday, with forward Marcus Berg scoring four goals, to extend their advantage over Dick Advocaat’s men on goal difference to 12.

Trailing the Scandinavians by three points, only a massive victory over Sweden in Amsterdam next week will save the three-time World Cup runners-up.

Portugal struggled for long periods in Andorra, needing the rested Cristiano Ronaldo to come on as a half-time substitute and help them stumble to a 2-0 win and set up a winner-takes-all showdown with Switzerland in Lisbon on Tuesday.

The European champions had to wait until the 63rd minute for Ronaldo to break the deadlock on the artificial pitch, before Andre Silva finally put their nerves to bed.

Real Madrid star Ronaldo, who started on the bench to help avoid collecting a yellow card that would have seen him suspended for Tuesday’s game, is now level on 15 goals for the campaign with Poland’s Robert Lewandowski, a record for European World Cup qualifying.

“Thank God that he scored,” said Portugal coach Fernando Santos.

“Cristiano Ronaldo was decisive for us in this match, but that’s why he’s the best player in the world.

“On that type of pitch, we were not able to really play our game, but we took advantage of the best player in the world.”

Steven Zuber scored twice in Basel as Switzerland made it nine wins from nine by thrashing Hungary 5-2.

Switzerland lead Portugal by three points but have an inferior goal difference.

In Group H, Greece moved into second place with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory in Cyprus after Bosnia and Herzegovina had suffered a stunning 4-3 home defeat by already-qualified Belgium.

FC Copenhagen striker Pieros Sotiriou put Cyprus ahead early on as they looked for a win to maintain hopes of a play-off place, but two goals in three first-half minutes from Kostas Mitroglou and Alexandros Tziolis sent Greece two points clear of Bosnia.

Michael Skibbe’s side are almost certain to finish second as they host pointless Gibraltar in their last game on Tuesday, although they could still miss out on the play-offs as the worst second-placed team.

Goals from Haris Medunjanin and Edin Visca put the Bosnians ahead in Sarajevo after Belgium full-back Thomas Muenier’s early strike, but Michy Batshuayi and Jan Vertonghen turned things around.