LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Martin Prado had two RBIs, including a run-scoring double during a four-run 12th inning, to help the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-6 on Wednesday night. There was no repeat of the brawl that occurred in the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory a night earlier, when six players and coaches were ejected. No batters were hit by pitches this time. Prado put the Diamondbacks ahead 5-4 with a ground-rule double to left field off Ronald Belisario (3-5), wh

June 13, 2013

Not so long ago, Kim Kwang-hyun of the SK Wyverns in the Korea Baseball Organization was one of the country’s premier pitchers. His career has been derailed by assorted injuries in the past three years, but Kim, 24, said earlier this week that he will not dwell on his painful past.In a three-year stretch from 2008 to 2010, Kim was one of the most dominant starters in the KBO and was voted the league MVP in 2008. He and Ryu Hyun-jin, now the lefty starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers, often found

June 13, 2013

Nexen Heroes pitcher Kim Byung-hyun on Thursday denied allegations that he intentionally threw the ball at an umpire during a game.“I just answered ‘yes’ to an umpire telling me he was ejecting me from the game, but I did not admit to throwing the ball at him,” Kim said via team officials. “Aiming and throwing a ball at an umpire is something that just cannot happen.”During the fourth inning of Wednesday’s game against the Lotte Giants, Kim was taken out with the score tied at 3-3. As he walked

June 13, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Ian Kennedy hit Yasiel Puig and Zack Greinke with high pitches, sparking a heated brawl that involved players and coaches and resulted in five ejections in a game in which the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 Tuesday night.Kennedy, Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson and coach Turner Ward, along with Puig and Dodgers hitting coach Mark McGwire were ejected in the seventh inning after the prolonged scuffle that nearly spilled into the stands.In the

June 12, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Dan Uggla had two homers and four RBIs, Freddie Freeman drove in three more runs with a double, and Mike Minor kept the Atlanta Braves’ rotation rolling with six solid innings in an 8-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.Minor (8-2) allowed a run and six hits, struck out six and walked three while helping the NL East leaders gain a split of the four-game series. The left-hander is 5-0 with a 1.76 ERA over his last seven starts.Atlanta’s rotation has yielded four ru

June 10, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) ― In the longest major league game in more than three years, Adeiny Hechavarria hit an RBI single in the 20th inning and the Miami Marlins outlasted the New York Mets 2-1 on Saturday, well after Matt Harvey left with lower back tightness following another stingy start.Steve Cishek retired Daniel Murphy on a fly ball to the left-field warning track for the final out of a game that took 6 hours, 25 minutes. It started 5 1/2 hours before the Belmont Stakes ― and still ended around an

June 9, 2013

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ― With the old Cole Hamels and the new Domonic Brown leading the way, the Philadelphia Phillies are .500 again.Now, they’re looking to push forward.Hamels had a season-high 11 strikeouts in seven dominant innings, Brown hit another homer and the Phillies beat the Miami Marlins 6-1 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep and even their record for the first time since they were 6-6.“Getting back to .500 is key to starting over,” Hamels said. “We want to keep the same approach

June 6, 2013

Oh Seung-hwan, a relief pitcher for the Samsung Lions of South Korea’s top professional baseball league, is garnering attention from U.S. pro baseball clubs.Several Major League Baseball scouts attended the Lions game against the Nexen Heroes at Seoul’s Mokdong Stadium on Wednesday, reportedly to watch Oh play. The game ended in a draw after 12 innings.Oh made a strong impression in front of the scouts, appearing at the bottom of the 11th inning to shut out four batters, striking out one without

June 6, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Yasiel Puig homered twice and drove in five runs in his second major league game, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers rally for a 9-7 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.The 22-year-old Cuban defector made a curtain call from the top of the dugout steps after his second homer, a two-run shot with two outs in the sixth, when the Dodgers scored three runs to snap a 6-all tie. Batting leadoff for the second straight game, Puig hit a three-run homer ― his first in the m

June 5, 2013

Ryu Hyun-jin, a starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was picked as South Korea’s favorite athlete in a national survey released on Tuesday.According to Gallup Korea, Ryu, the left-hander in his first Major League Baseball season, earned 28.1 percent of support in the May 27-30 survey.Gallup Korea polled 1,216 people nationwide who are at least 19 years of age, and the polled could select up to two athletes.Figure skater Kim Yu-na was second behind Ryu with 24.6 percent of support.Ryu si

June 4, 2013

DENVER (AP) ― Dexter Fowler hit two homers off fill-in starter Matt Magill and Jorge De La Rosa pitched seven effective innings, helping the Colorado Rockies to a 7-2 win over the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.It was the second multihomer game of the season for Fowler. Todd Helton and Michael Cuddyer added solo homers as the Rockies took two of three from Los Angeles. De La Rosa (7-3) struggled early, but settled down as he allowed six hits and struck out five for his first career win a

June 3, 2013

PITTSBURGH (AP) ― Mike Leake continued his recent run of strong pitching by working six scoreless innings Saturday night as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0.Leake (5-2) scattered seven hits as the Pirates stranded seven runners during his six innings. He had five strikeouts and one walk. In his last four starts, Leake has gone 3-0 with a 0.27 ERA, allowing only one run in 33 innings.Also, Dexter Fowler’s RBI single down the first base line in the 10th inning lifted the Colorad

June 2, 2013

CLEVELAND (AP) ― Justin Masterson pitched six solid innings, Jason Giambi and Mark Reynolds homered, and the Cleveland Indians broke a five-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.Masterson (8-3) worked out of a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the sixth to preserve a 2-1 lead. Cincinnati’s only run off the right-hander came on Joey Votto’s two-out homer in the first.Giambi’s three-run homer in the sixth off Bronson Arroyo (5-5) pushed the margin to four

May 30, 2013

The field of sports announcers in South Korea was largely dominated by men; however, the trend has been shaken up and female sports announcers are now bringing more insight to sports fans around the country.Kim Min-a, Choi Hee, Kong Seo-young and Bae Ji-hyun are among today’s most popular and successful female sports announcers in Korea. All in their late 20s to early 30s, they have the looks of supermodels, yet it is their varied backgrounds and ceaseless efforts that earned each of them “ballp

May 30, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Ryu Hyun-jin pitched a two-hitter for his first complete game in the major leagues, Luis Cruz hit his first homer of the season and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Angels 3-0 in the second game of the Freeway Series on Tuesday night.Ryu (6-2) struck out seven and walked none. The left-hander from South Korea retired 19 consecutive batters during one stretch. His six victories lead all rookie pitchers in the majors, while his 71 2-3 innings pitched lead all rookies this season

May 29, 2013