NL Capsules

By The Associated Press

CINCINNATI (AP) — Brandon Phillips drove in a pair of runs with a bases-loaded single in the eighth inning and the Cincinnati Reds ended their five-game losing streak by beating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 on Monday night.

Cincinnati’s five-game slide matched its longest slump from last season, when it won the NL Central.

The Reds still didn’t hit much, but left-hander Cliff Lee helped them by letting in a run on a wild pitch in the seventh. Todd Frazier followed with a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

Bronson Arroyo (2-1) gave up pinch-hitter Chase Utley’s two-run homer in the eighth, but Cincinnati rallied against the Philadelphia bullpen. The Reds loaded the bases against Jeremy Horst (0-1), and Phillips singled off Mike Adams to break the tie.

Aroldis Chapman retired all three batters he faced in the ninth for his third save in three tries. He threw 100 mph fastballs to Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard while fanning them to end it.

Phillies center fielder Ben Revere made a spectacular diving catch of Frazier’s fly to the edge of the warning track. Revere also banged into the outfield wall to catch Ryan Hanigan’s fly.

 

By JOE KAY

AP Baseball Writer

CINCINNATI (AP) — Brandon Phillips’ bases-loaded single ended a five-game losing streak and gave the Cincinnati Reds a fitting finish on Jackie Robinson Day.

Phillips’ hit snapped an eighth-inning tie and rallied the Reds to a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies that left players with more than just the score in mind.

Reds rookie Derrick Robinson started the winning rally with an infield single off Jeremy Horst (0-1). He scored the first of the two runs on Phillips’ hit, a player named Robinson crossing home plate wearing No. 42.

Major leaguers wore Robinson’s number on Monday as part of the annual commemoration of the Hall of Famer breaking the sport’s color barrier in 1947.

“I told him, ‘That’s Jackie Robinson stuff. It’s apropos that you won it with your legs,”’ Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker said.

The game began with remembrances of those killed or wounded by the bombings in Boston near the finish line of the marathon course. A moment of silence was held before the national anthem.

Phillies center fielder Ben Revere decided to stick a strip of white athletic tape to the back of the web on his glove. He wrote in black marker: “PRAY for Boston.” Revere made a sensational diving catch at the edge of the warning track in the second inning, then ran into the wall for another grab in the third.

“I think everyone was thinking about it,” Revere said of Boston. “It hurts to see something like that happen.”

It turned into an old-fashioned pitching matchup — left-hander Cliff Lee and right-hander Bronson Arroyo throwing a lot of strikes and giving few scoring chances until the late innings.

Cincinnati’s five-game slide matched its longest slump from last season, when it won the NL Central. The Reds haven’t been hitting much — still didn’t against Lee, who helped them by letting in a run on a wild pitch in the seventh. Todd Frazier followed with a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

Arroyo (2-1) gave up pinch-hitter Chase Utley’s two-run homer in the eighth, but Cincinnati rallied against the Philadelphia bullpen. The Reds loaded the bases against Horst on Robinson’s infield single, Zack Cozart’s double and an intentional walk to Joey Votto. Phillips singled off Mike Adams to break the tie and the losing streak.

“I was tired of losing,” Phillips said. “We’re still hungry. You want to go out and stay hungry. If we go out and get the job done and play small ball like we did tonight, we’ll be OK.”

Aroldis Chapman retired all three batters he faced in the ninth for his third save in three tries. He threw 100 mph fastballs to Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard while fanning them to end it.

Neither team did much until Lee briefly lost his touch. Votto led off the seventh with a single and Phillips doubled on a two-strike pitch, giving the Reds their first runners in scoring position.

That has been their weakness. Cincinnati was 5 for 41 with runners in scoring position during the five-game slide.

This time, Lee helped them out. He bounced a 2-2 pitch to Jay Bruce, allowing Votto to score from third. Lee then walked Bruce on a full count, ending the left-hander’s streak of 169 consecutive batters without giving up a walk, according to STATS. Frazier followed with a sacrifice fly.

Utley’s fifth career pinch-hit homer off Arroyo tied it with two outs in the eighth. It was Philadelphia’s third pinch-hit homer this season. Arroyo gave up five hits and didn’t walk a batter in eight innings.

“That was a super fun game,” Arroyo said. “The older you get, the more you appreciate competing. I was putting zeros on the board. He was putting zeros on the board. It was a cool night. That was a great game.”

The late rally was a relief for the Reds, who placed 19-game winner Johnny Cueto on the 15-day disabled list before the game because of a strained muscle in his back, the third significant injury for Cincinnati in the season’s opening weeks. Setup man Sean Marshall and cleanup hitter Ryan Ludwick also are sidelined by injuries.

Despite the loss, Lee extended his streak to 20 straight starts with at least six innings and no more than one walk, a modern major league record.

NOTES: President Barack Obama’s comments about the bombings in Boston were shown on the video board while the Phillies took batting practice. ... Lee hadn’t walked a batter since last Sept. 17, a span of 44 2-3 innings. ... Michael Young extended his hitting streak to six games. ... The Reds called up right-handed reliever Justin Freeman temporarily. They expect to bring up LHP Tony Cingrano from Triple-A to start in Cueto’s place Thursday against Miami. He would be the first left-hander to start for the Reds since Dontrelle Willis on Sept. 29, 2011.

 

 

Kalida batters Jays

By JIM METCALFE

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DELPHOS — Both St. John’s and Kalida graduated a ton of seniors from last spring’s baseball teams, meaning both were beginning 2013 with a lack of experienced players.

Both needed simply to get at-bats and innings in the field and on the mound but last week’s rainy weather interrupted their progress.

On a pleasant Monday night at Stadium Park, the Wildcats went up 5-0 in the first 1 1/2 and pounded put 15 hits to grab their first win of the season, 9-6, in a non-league clash.

The Wildcats (1-3) were led at the plate by junior cleanup man Kyle Kehres (4-for-4, 3 runs batted in), freshman second batter Austin Swift (3-for-3, 3 runs scored) and sophomore leadoff man Brent Hovest (3-for-4, 3 runs, 2 RBIs). Senior number 9 hitter Adam Knueve scored twice.

The right-handed Kehres (1-1) went the first 5-plus frames on the mound, ceding six hits, five earned runs, hitting three, walking two, two wild pitches and fanning two. Senior Kyle Landin came on in relief and threw two frames, giving up two hits, an earned tally, two wild pitches, one hit batter and one strikeout.

The Blue Jays (2-5) amassed eight hits, with senior cleanup man Ryan Buescher going 4-for-4 and senior leadoff man Curtis Geise 2-for-4 (2 runs, 2 RBIs). Senior seventh man Craig Klausing scored twice.

Senior Troy Warnecke (0-2) went 4 2/3 innings (13 hits, 9 runs, 5 earned, 1 BB, 1 K) and junior T.J. Hoersten mopped up (2 hits, 2 Ks).

Both teams return to action 5 p.m. tonight: St. John’s at Minster in Midwest Athletic Conference action and Kalida at Arlington in non-league play.

Score by Innings:

Kalida 2 3 0 1 3 0 0 - 9 15 1

St. John’s 0 0 2 0 1 3 0 - 6 8 3

WP: Kyle Kehres (1-1); LP: Troy Warnecke (0-2). 2B: Kyle Kehres (K), Curtis Geise (S). 3B: Curtis Geise (S).

(Fuller story and box in Wednesday’s paper).

———

Lancers ride Farmer past Jefferson

By NICK JOHNSON

DHI Correspondent

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RURAL MIDDLE POINT — The Lincolnview Lancers faced off against the Jefferson Wildcats in baseball on Monday night at Lincolnview High School. The Lancers used a strong pitching performance from Eli Farmer to win the game 7-2 in the Northwest Conference opener.

Farmer went the distance in ceding five hits and two runs, walking one and fanning three.

Zach Kimmett took the loss (4 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs, 3 BBs, 1 hit batter, 6 Ks).

The Lancers improve to 3-5 (1-0 NWC), while the Wildcats drop to 7-4 (0-1).

Jefferson hosts Ottoville 5 p.m. tonight and Perry 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Lincolnview hosts St. Henry 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Score by Innings:

Jefferson 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 - 2 5

Lincolnview 3 0 0 1 2 1 X - 7 8

WP: Eli Farmer; LP: Zack Ricker. 2B: Zach Kimmett (DJ). 3B: Nick Leeth (LV), Austin Leeth (LV).

(Fuller story and box in Wednesday’s paper).

———

Lady Lancers bomb Jefferson 13-1 in NWC opener

By Jim Cox

DHI Correspondent

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MIDDLE POINT - Lincolnview took advantage of 10 Jefferson errors to score 11 unearned runs in a 13-1 5-inning rout of the Lady Wildcats Monday afternoon at Lincolnview High School.

It was the Northwest Conference opener for both teams, leaving the Lancers at 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the conference. Jefferson is 0-6 and 0-1.

Lauren Calvert led Lincolnview hitters, going 1-for-2 with one run and three RBIs. Bailey Neate was 1-for-3 (double, two runs and an RBI). Autumn Procter, Kaitlyn Brant and Julia Thatcher had the other Lancer hits.

Lancer hurler Ashley McClure cruised through the first four innings, no-hitting the visitors, while striking out five and walking one. Reliever Courtney Gorman came on to pitch the fifth.

The Wildcats’ Taylor Branham took the loss, although she deserved a much better fate. Branham yielded 13 runs, only two earned, and was touched for only five hits, striking out six and walking four.

Kayla Kill had the visitors’ only hit.

Jefferson hosts Perry 5 p.m. Wednesday, while Lincolnview visits Crestview 5 p.m. Thursday.

Score by Innings:

Jefferson 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 1 10

Lincolnview 4 1 3 5 x - 13 5 1

WP: Ashley McClure. LP - Taylor Branham. 2B: Bailey Neate (LV).

(Fuller story and box in Wednesday’s paper).

———-

Today’s Schedule

Baseball (5 p.m.): Ottoville at Jefferson; St. John’s at Minster (MAC); Wapakoneta at Elida (WBL); Kalida at Arlington; Columbus Grove at Pandora-Gilboa (PCL); Shawnee at Van Wert (WBL).

Softball (5 p.m.): Elida at Wapakoneta (WBL); Continental at Kalida (PCL); Columbus Grove at Miller City (PCL); Van Wert at Shawnee (WBL).

Track and Field (4:30 p.m.): Fort Jennings and Carey at Kenton; Ottoville and Antwerp at Ayersville; Lincolnview and Paulding at Continental; Columbus Grove, Mohawk and Fostoria St. Wendelin at Hardin Northern.

Tennis (4:30 p.m.): Elida at Wapakoneta (WBL); Van Wert at Shawnee (WBL).

Wednesday’s schedule

Baseball (5 p.m.): Fort Jennings at St. John’s; Perry at Jefferson; Bluffton at Ottoville; St. Henry at Lincolnview; Columbus Grove at Miller City (PCL).

Softball (5 p.m.): Perry at Jefferson; Ottoville at Elida.

Tennis: Elida at Lima Senior, 4:30 p.m.

 

 

By JENNA FRYER

The Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If garage gossip is to be believed, somebody dropped a dime on NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski and his Penske Racing team at Texas Motor Speedway.

The story blowing like wildfire Monday through NASCAR goes like this: Keselowski was parked at Texas next to Jimmie Johnson, while teammate Joey Logano was further down the garage parked next to Jeff Gordon. The assigned spots gave Hendrick Motorsports crews crystal clear views of the Penske cars all weekend.

As the story goes, there may have been eavesdropping on team chatter over the scanner during practice runs.

Did someone from Hendrick ask NASCAR to take a closer look at the Penske cars? On race day, NASCAR inspectors were indeed sniffing around looking for an infraction. What they found in the rear-end housings on the No. 2 and No. 22 Fords were confiscated — Logano barely made the start of the race — though NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton curiously avoided a very important word in explaining the problem with the Penske cars. Pemberton never said the cars were illegal.

The furthest Pemberton went Saturday in describing the problem in the rear-end housings was they were “not in the spirit of the rule.”

That might very well be the issue behind Keselowski’s post-race rant, when he hinted that NASCAR was not treating the Penske teams fairly.

“There’s so much stuff going on, you guys (reporters) have no idea — you have no (expletive) idea what’s going on,” he said. “I can tell you there is no team in this garage with the integrity of the 2 team. The way we’ve been treated over the last seven days is absolutely shameful. I feel like we’ve been targeted over the last seven days more than I’ve ever seen a team targeted in my life.”

While those are certainly fighting words, NASCAR spokesman Brett Jewkes posted Monday on Twitter that Keselowski would not be punished for his post-race remarks.

NASCAR is still reviewing the actual alterations on the Penske cars and penalties are practically guaranteed. NASCAR traditionally hands out sanctions on Tuesdays and on this particular week, that’s the exact day that Keselowski and his No. 2 team just happen to be scheduled to celebrate their Sprint Cup title with NASCAR officials at the White House.

When the dust settles, crew chiefs Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon will likely be sidelined for several weeks while Keselowski and Logano are stripped of critical points in the standings.

Remember, it will be for something that hasn’t been deemed illegal, at least not yet. It’s more likely this is a case of something in development that the Penske crew was trying and NASCAR decided was too close to the edge.

And there’s the rub in all of this. NASCAR gets to decide when a team has crept too close to a non-existent line in the rule book.

Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, has won five championships with one toe on that mark and the general public is only aware of the times he’s gotten his hand slapped. Nobody has any idea how many developments or experiments or trickery by Knaus and the Hendrick group have gotten through without a mention.

What we do know is that teams complain often that they are chasing the Hendrick group in development. That’s good for Hendrick, which has built the top team in NASCAR through hard work, strong hires, loyalty and a deep and devoted research and development program.

But the Hendrick group also knows how to play the system and it was the Hendrick cars that everyone was following last year in rear-end housing development. Eventually, when cars were so skewed it appeared they were crab-walking down the straightaways, NASCAR began to tighten the rules and add pages to the rule book that created a real line on the issue.

The crackdown took months, though, and from Darlington through Michigan, when NASCAR issued its first bulletin on the matter, Hendrick drivers won four of five races.

So now 2-car Penske Racing, which won its first Cup championship after many years of trying last season, is apparently trying new things to gain similar advantages. Only NASCAR came down fast and furious in this instance, confiscating parts and raising the threat of penalties.

It would be one thing if NASCAR made it clear the Penske guys were up to no good for weeks and had publicly warned them to clean up their act. Instead, all we’ve got to go on is Keselowski’s allegations, which seem to indicate that everything innovative or new that the Penske crew has presented over the last week or so has been rejected by NASCAR inspectors.

If true, why is that? If true, how come the big team on top constantly gets to tinker with development that leaves everyone chasing them? Nobody is alleging Hendrick Motorsports gets away with anything it wants and Knaus’ rap sheet is proof that NASCAR often deems he’s gone too far.

But the mantra is the same year in and year out from all the other teams in the garage: “The Hendrick guys have found something and we’re just trying to catch up to it.”

Should the Penske organization get hit with stiff penalties this week, then NASCAR needs to answer the what, why and how to help everyone understand exactly what is and isn’t “in the spirit of the rule.”

 

 

By JIMMY GOLEN

The Associated Press

BOSTON — Two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line Monday about three hours after Lelisa Desisa and Rita Jeptoo crossed it to win the race. At least three people were killed and scores more injured, some seriously.

Race volunteers and public officials rushed to the aid of wounded spectators and the medical tent set up to care for fatigued runners was quickly converted to a trauma clinic. Runners and spectators were crying as they fled the billowing gray smoke rising from a running gear store overlooking the end of the course.

The explosion sent some runners tumbling to the pavement and others, already unsteady from the 26.2-mile run, were knocked down by those rushing toward the scene. A Rhode Island state trooper who ran in the race said the blasts tore limbs off dozens of people.

The blasts shattered the post-race euphoria of what had been a pleasantly uneventful 117th edition of the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon. Runners still on the course were diverted to the Boston Common; race officials said 4,496 runners had crossed the checkpoint at more than 24 miles but did not make it to the finish line.

A year after record high temperatures sent unprecedented numbers of participants to the medical tent, temperatures in the high 40s greeted the field of 23,326 at the Hopkinton starting line. It climbed to 54 degrees by the time the winners reached Boston’s Copley Square.

Desisa, of Ethiopia, won a 3-way sprint down Boylston Street to finish in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 22 seconds and snap a string of three consecutive Kenyan victories.

“Here we have a relative newcomer,” said Ethiopia’s Gebregziabher Gebremariam, who finished third

In just his second race at 26.2 miles, Desisa finished 5 seconds ahead of Kenya’s Micah Kogo to earn $150,000 and the traditional olive wreath. American Jason Hartmann finished fourth for the second year in a row.

“The Ethiopians run very good tactical races,” defending champion Wesley Korir, a Kenyan citizen and U.S. resident, said after finishing fifth. “One thing I always say is, ‘Whenever you see more than five Ethiopians in a race, you ought to be very careful.’ As Kenyans, we ought to go back to the drawing board and see if we can get our teamwork back.”

Jeptoo, 32, averted the Keynan shutout by winning the women’s race for the second time. Jeptoo, who also won in 2006, finished in 2:26:25 for her first victory in a major race since taking two years off after having a baby.

After a series of close finishes in the women’s race — five consecutive years with 3 seconds or less separating the top two — Jeptoo had a relatively comfortable 33-second margin over Meseret Hailu of Ethiopia. Defending champion Sharon Cherop of Kenya was another 3 seconds back.

Shalane Flanagan of nearby Marblehead was fourth in the women’s division in her attempt to earn the first American victory in Boston since 1985. (Two-time winner Joan Benoit Samuelson, running on the 30th anniversary of her 1983 victory, finished in 2:50:29 to set a world record for her age group.)

“The hardest part about Boston is the Bostonians want it just as bad as we do, which really tugs at our heart,” said Flanagan, a 3-time Olympian. “We all want it, too. We want to be the next Joanie.”

Kara Goucher of Portland, Ore., was sixth for her third top 10 finish in Boston as many tries. The last American woman to win here was Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach in ‘85; Greg Meyer was the last U.S. man to win, in 1983.

“There’s just more pure numbers of African runners,” said Goucher, who noted that the field of five American women with personal bests under 2:30 was the strongest in years. “That’s a good team of American women. One day, the opportunity is going to be there.”

This year it was the men’s race with the sprint to the finish.

Desisa, 23, was among a group of nine men — all from Kenya or Ethiopia — who broke away from the pack in the first half of the race. There were three remaining when they came out of Kenmore Square with a mile to go.

But Desisa quickly pulled away and widened his distance in the sprint to the tape. It’s Desisa’s second victory in as many marathons, having won in Dubai in January in 2:04:45.

Japan’s Hiroyuki Yamamoto was the first winner of the day, cruising to victory in the men’s wheelchair race by 39 seconds over 9-time champion Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa. Tatyana McFadden, a Russian orphan who attends the University of Illinois, won the women’s race.

Race day got started with 26 seconds of silence in honor of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. A little more than two hours later, the lead runners passed the Mile 26 marker, which was decorated with the Newtown, Conn., seal and dedicated to the memory of those killed there.