Kane helps England advance
Colombia eliminates Poland, Senegal and Japan play to draw
SAN FRANCISCO — Hunter Pence retooled his swing under the guidance of a hitting guru while rehabbing in the minors from a right thumb sprain.
Pence certainly liked the result Sunday, when he hit a two-run double down the firstbase line with the bases loaded and one out in the 11th inning to send the Giants past the San Diego Padres 3-2.
Brad Hand (1-4) got in trouble fast. He allowed Andrew McCutchen’s one-out double, then intentionally walked Buster Posey and hit Brandon Crawford with his first offering. Pence followed with his 11th career walk-off hit and first since another against Hand two years ago. Pence raised his arms once the ball got past first baseman Eric Hosmer.
Cory Spangenberg had put San Diego ahead in the top of the 11th with a single.
Manuel Margot led off the game with a home run, and drew a leadoff walk in the 11th from San Francisco reliever Reyes Moronta. After Ty Blach (5-5) relieved, Spangenberg singled off first baseman Brandon Belt’s glove.
A solo homer by each team was it until the 11th.
Margot began the game with a 3-2 drive into the left-field bleachers for his second homer of the year. It was his fifth career leadoff home run after hitting four last season. The Giants tied it on a leadoff homer by Gorkys Hernandez in the sixth, his ninth after none in 2017.
Dodgers hit 7 homers in 8-7 win over Mets
NEW YORK — Justin Turner hit Los Angeles’ seventh home run of the game, a go-ahead drive in the 11th inning that lifted the Dodgers over the New York Mets 8-7 on Sunday.
Cody Bellinger and Kike Hernandez each homered twice as the Dodgers beat the Mets for the 12th straight time dating to 2016. Max Muncy and Joc Pederson also connected for Los Angeles. Hernandez and Muncy led off the game with back-toback shots.
The Mets matched a team record for the most homers allowed in a game, and lost their sixth in a row overall.
Turner, a former Met, homered off Chris Flexen (0-1) with two outs to put the Dodgers up for good. Los Angeles had squandered a 7-4 lead in the eighth when Kevin Plawecki hit a tying three-run shot.
Daniel Hudson (2-2) picked up the victory with two scoreless innings.
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia — With the country’s most one-sided World Cup victory, England advanced to the last 16 with a game to spare.
Harry Kane scored a hat trick in Sunday’s 6-1 rout of Panama, giving England its biggest victory margin at the World Cup in its highestscoring game since 1966.
That previous highscoring affair turned out well, too, with England beating Germany 4-2 to win its only World Cup title.
Four years ago, England failed to win a match at the World Cup and was eliminated in the group stage.
On Sunday, England was taking on a weaker team: A Panama side making its World Cup debut. The loss eliminated Panama and Tunisia, while putting Belgium into the round of 16.
Kane’s three goals moved him into the lead with five at this year’s tournament, one more than Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku after two games.
John Stones headed in two goals and Jesse Lingard curled in another to ensure England goes into its Group G finale against Belgium level on points and with the same goal difference.
In Russia, England has been trying to cast aside the negativity of the past while remolding the image of the team on and off the field. Even locals were supporting the team in Nizhny Novgorod, despite the bitter diplomatic relations between Russia and Britain.
The egos who dominated in England’s celebrity-obsessed, underperforming Golden Generation in the first decade of century have gone. The joy and togetherness in the squad — the second-youngest in Russia — becomes clear in the goal celebrations.
England picked up where it left off in Volgograd, with a corner from Kieran Trippier headed into the net in the eighth minute. It wasn’t Kane on the end this time but Stones, who was left unmarked to score his first international goal.
Kane didn’t have to wait long to add to his tally, converting from the penalty spot in the 22nd after Lingard was brought down by Fidel Escobar.
Lingard did get on the scoresheet in the 36th with the pick of the goals. The Manchester United forward played a 1-2 with Ashley Young and exchanged passes with Raheem Sterling before shifting the ball across and bending it into the top corner.
The fourth goal was the culmination of a wellworked free kick with Sterling’s close-range header parried by goalkeeper Jaime Penedo. Stones was primed to follow-up, giving the defender his second.
However much they tried, Panama struggled to block England’s route to goal. Anibal Gody resorted to trying to wrestle Kane to the ground, only to concede a penalty that was converted by the Tottenham striker.
Chasing the golden boot, Kane relied on his heel to complete his hat trick by getting the faintest of touches to divert Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s shot into the net.
England could afford to ease up and preserve energy but it cost the team first place on goal difference.
KAZAN, Russia — Four years after Radamel Falcao was supposed to lead Colombia at the World Cup, he’s doing just that. Falcao missed the tournament in Brazil with a knee injury and had to wait until arriving in Russia to score his first World Cup