SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval charged up a pulsating crowd with their shouts and swings, and the San Francisco Giants surged past the Kansas City Royals 11-4 Saturday to tie the World Series at two games apiece.Down by three runs in the early going and in danger of dropping into a huge hole, the Giants and their fans rallied.The win ensured the Series will go back to Kansas City to decide the championship. In the meantime, there’s Game 5 on Sunday when postseason ace Madis

BaseballOct. 26, 2014

Real Madrid’s Pepe (third from left) celebrates his goal against Barcelona on Saturday. (AP-Yonhap)Luis Suarez set up Neymar’s fourth-minute goal in the Uruguayan forward’s first competitive debut for Barcelona following a four-month biting ban, but Real Madrid rallied to beat Barcelona 3-1 Saturday night in the first “clasico” of the season.On a subdued night for Barca star Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo started Real’s comeback in the 35th minute when he converted a penalty kick for his 21st g

SoccerOct. 26, 2014

The way the LG Twins swung their bats against the NC Dinos in the opening playoff round in the Korea Baseball Organization over the past week, it was difficult to believe this was the same club that had, statistically, the league’s worst offense in the regular season.The Twins hammered the Dinos 11-3 on Saturday to clinch the best-of-five first round series in four games. In those four games, the Twins scored 31 runs on a whopping 55 hits. They could easily have scored more runs had they been mo

BaseballOct. 26, 2014

San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park (USA Today-Yonhap)SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Eric Hosmer loaded up, launched a long fly and watched it sail toward McCovey Cove. Way out there in right field, near the 421-foot mark, the ball bonked off the brick wall.No splash shot.“We were definitely trying to hit them,” the Kansas City first baseman said. “We took turns trying, but no one did.” Even so, Hosmer liked what he saw during a workout Thursday as many Royals got their first look at San Francisco’s waterfron

BaseballOct. 24, 2014

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Georgia (AP) ― Erik Compton is happy with where he is in golf, and he’s not referring to his 5-under 65 on Thursday for a share of the lead in the McGladrey Classic.A return to Sea Island provides an occasion to take stock of how far he has come in the last 13 years, and what Compton refers to as the “hurdles” he didn’t anticipate.There’s a medical term for these hurdles. It’s called a second heart transplant.“I’m almost 35 years old. I’ve had a good career in golf, really,” h

GolfOct. 24, 2014

PARIS (AP) ― Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 70th Champions League goal and Mario Balotelli again failed to deliver as Real Madrid cruised to a 3-0 win at Liverpool on Wednesday to take complete control of Group B with a third straight win.While Tuesday night’s 40-goal bonanza never looked like being matched, there was still drama elsewhere as Arsenal scraped a 2-1 win at Anderlecht with late goals from defender Kieran Gibbs and forward Lukas Podolski ― a peripheral player this season.German sides

SoccerOct. 23, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) ― Salvador Perez and the pesky Kansas City Royals fought back from a Game 1 flop to beat the San Francisco Giants’ brilliant bullpen and even the World Series.Perez broke Game 2 open with a two-run double in a five-run sixth inning, and the Royals’ own cast of clutch relievers kept the Giants in check in a 7-2 victory Wednesday night that spiced things up as the Series shifts to San Francisco for the next three games.Jeremy Guthrie will be on the mound Friday night for

BaseballOct. 23, 2014

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ― The Champions League returned on Tuesday with a 40-goal bonanza as Bayern Munich thrashed Roma 7-1 for its biggest victory on the road and Luiz Adriano scored five as Shakhtar put seven goals past BATE Borisov.On a record-busting night, Chelsea wasn’t far behind in a 6-0 win over Maribor, but Manchester City remained without a victory in three matches after wasting a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at CSKA Moscow.Schalke also squandered a two-goal lead before scoring a contro

More SportsOct. 22, 2014

SINGAPORE (AP) ― Caroline Wozniacki credited her training for next month’s New York Marathon as a key factor in her victory over Maria Sharapova in a grueling three-set match in the WTA Finals on Tuesday.Wozniacki won 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2 to beat Sharapova for the second-straight time, having also won in the fourth round of the U.S. Open. Tuesday’s result in the round-robin match dealt a major blow to Sharapova’s hopes of claiming the year-end No. 1 ranking.Maria Sharapova reacts during the WTA

More SportsOct. 22, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) ― Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants put a sudden stop to the Kansas City Royals’ perfect postseason roll.Bumgarner pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning, Hunter Pence homered early and the Giants showed off their October poise, shutting down the Royals 7-1 Tuesday night in the World Series opener.“Our team is concentrating on what we’re doing, not what the Royals are doing,” Bumgarner said.From the get-go, the Giants simply did everything right to w

More SportsOct. 22, 2014

LEVERKUSEN, Germany, Oct 21, 2014 (AFP) - Bayer Leverkusen's South Korea striker Son Heung-Min says his team must forget their stumble in Stuttgart when they host Zenit St Petersburg in the Champions League on Wednesday.Son scored two goals in the opening nine minutes at Stuttgart on Saturday as his side finished 3-0 up at half-time, only to concede three goals and throw away two valuable league points.There is all to play for against the Russians at the BayArena with just a point separating joi

SoccerOct. 21, 2014

Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer will look to keep up his hot hitting in the World Series. (UPI-Yonhap)KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) ― Alex Gordon took a big rip at a batting-practice fastball, fouled it off badly into the cage, and ducked when the carom nearly hit him in the head.Gordon let out a huge laugh, and so did a bunch of his Kansas City Royals teammates watching Monday’s workout.“I can’t believe that just happened, dude,” pitcher James Shields razzed.It’ll be more frustrating

BaseballOct. 21, 2014

Coming off an injury-riddled 2014 season, South Korean pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers said Tuesday he will try to stay healthier next year in Major League Baseball.Ryu, who returned home last week after the Dodgers were eliminated from the National League Division Series, went 14-7 with a 3.38 ERA in his second big league season. These numbers easily could have been better had he avoided three trips to the disabled list.Ryu matched the win total from his rookie season in 2013 de

BaseballOct. 21, 2014