SPORTS DIGEST

BASEBALL

The Houston Astros continued their scintillating form as they thrashed the Detroit Tigers 8-1 at Comerica Park. Aledmys Diaz, Robinson Chirinos Jake Marisnick and Alex Bregman all struck home runs as the Astros followed up their high-scoring wins over Texas with another triumph. The Astros have now won six successive matches and nine of their last 10 to establish a sizeable lead at the top of the American League West. They are 6.5 games ahead of the second-placed LA Angels, who got back to winning ways with a hard-fought 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Minnesota led 2-0 after the first innings and were level at 4-4 when Tommy La Stella struck his 10th home run of the season to decide the encounter in the sixth.

Arizona Diamondbacks enjoyed facing Pittsburgh once again as they snapped a three-game losing streak with a 9-3 win – their ninth successive victory over the Pirates.

The game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium was postponed due to a wet outfield, and they will now face each other in a doubleheader tonight.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: Arizona Diamondbacks 9 Pittsburgh Pirates 3, Chicago White Sox 5 Cleveland Indians 2, Detroit Tigers 1 Houston Astros 8, Minnesota Twins 4 LA Angels 5, Philadelphia Phillies 7 Milwaukee Brewers 4, Seattle Mariners 6 Oakland Athletics 5 (10 innings).

CRICKET

SPECSAVERS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP Division One

Chelmsford: Nottinghamshire 187 (J A Porter 4-75) v Essex 68-0.

Canterbury: Yorkshire 210 v Kent 130-4 (Z Crawley 73 no).

Taunton: Surrey 330-6 (R J Burns 107, D Elgar 103, M D Stoneman 50) v Somerset

Edgbaston: Hampshire 291-6 (T P Alsop 131 no, A H T Donald 75, O J Hannon-dalby 4-58) v Warwickshire.

Division Two

Newport: Gloucestershire 360-6 (J R Bracey 152, G H Roderick 88) v Glamorgan.

Emirates Old Trafford: Northamptonshire 230 (L Wood 66, R J Gleeson 5-63, G Onions 4-45) v Lancashire 29-1.

Lord’s: Middlesex 325-8 (N R T Gubbins 75, G F B Scott 52 no, T Lace 51, Mohammad Abbas 4-57) v Leicestershire.

New Road: Durham 273 (J T A Burnham 76, C T Bancroft 70, C A J Morris 6-53) v Worcestershire 1-1.

CYCLING

GIRO D’ITALIA

Stage 4 (Orbetello - Frascati, 235 km):

1 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team 5hrs 58mins 17secs, 2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal, 3 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates both at same time, 4 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-hansgrohe at 2secs, 5 Florian Senechal (Fra) DeceuninckQuickstep, 6 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-visma both at same time, 7 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates at 14secs, 8 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team at 18secs, 9 Arnaud Demare (Fra) GroupaMA-FDJ, 10 Simon Yates (Gbr) MitcheltonScott, 11 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-hansgrohe, 12 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-segafredo, 13 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-hansgrohe, 14 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, 15 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-merida, 16 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-quickstep, 17 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, 18 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-alpecin, 19 Tao Geoghegan Hart (Gbr) Team Ineos, 20 Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-scott all at same time.

General Classification: 1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-visma 16hrs 19mins 20secs, 2 Simon Yates (Gbr) MitcheltonScott at 35secs, 3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-merida at 39secs, 4 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team at 44secs, 5 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates at same time, 6 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-hansgrohe at 49secs, 7 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-segafredo at 55secs, 8 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-merida at 56secs, 9 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-quickStep at 1min 2secs, 10 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-hansgrohe at 1min 6secs.

ICE HOCKEY

The St Louis Blues levelled their Western Conference final series against the San Jose Sharks with a 4-2 victory at the SAP Centre. Robert Bortuzzo scored the tiebreaker in the second period and earned his first career play-off goal as the Blues evened the series at 1-1. Jaden Schwartz had opened the scoring with a lone firstperiod goal before Vince Dunn found the net 4.16 into the second to give the Blues a 2-0 lead. San Jose’s Logan Couture applied the pressure, scoring twice within two minutes to level the game, but Bortuzzo replied late in the second as the Blues once again grabbed the advantage. Oskar Sundqvist also put his name on the scoresheet 16.52 into the third to seal the win .

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Western Conference play-off final:

San Jose Sharks 2 St Louis Blues 4 (series tied 1-1).

SPEEDWAY

FIXTURES

Friday: Championship – Edinburgh v Leicester, Glasgow v Eastbourne, Scunthorpe v Somerset (all 7:30).