Former National Alfonso Soriano struck out in his first at bat, but he eventually gothis: a big three-run home run that put the Nats behind. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
- Cubs 6, Nationals 5: Well, the Nats scored four runs in the first two innings, smacking six hits off Cubs starter Randy Wells (5-4), whose ERA rose from 2.72 to 3.00 — so that was good. It’s just too bad ex-Nat Alfonso Soriano had to go and ruin all the fun. Soriano’s three-run bomb in the sixth knocked Jordan Zimmermann (3-5) out of the game and the Nats out of the lead. A Mike Fontenot dinger doubled the Cubbies advantage in the eighth. But the Nationals certainly had a chance to make a move, loading the bases twice in the bottom of the eighth against Aaron Heilman; but Cubs closer Kevin Gregg coaxed Ryan Zimmerman into a sac fly, and got Josh Willingham to groundout to maintain the lead to extinguish the threat. Gregg then retired the side in the ninth to earn his 18th save.
- Freedom 1, St. Louis Athletica 0: The Freedom, playing at RFK for the second time this year, picked up a much needed win against St. Louis on the back of a 74th minute Homare Sawa goal. Your soccer oddity of the afternoon: after starting keeper Kati Jo Spisak went down with an injured quad in the second half, goalkeeper coach Nicci Wright had to strap on the gloves — and make a couple of saves to preserve the victory. Wright, who signed a short-term contract just for this weekend, was filling in for normal backup goalie Erin McLeod who was on international duty with Canada.
- Mystics 68, Liberty 67: The Mystics survived a fourth quarter surge from their Big Apple visitors — who outscored Washington 25-10 in the final period — and held on for a one-point win. Reversing some previously bad fortune at the free throw line, Lindsay Harding (who had a spectacular night with 23 points, seven boards, and five assists) hit two free throws with eight seconds left to seal the win. Shameka Christon paced New York with 21 points.
- Explorers 24, Kastles 17: The Kastles won the first match of the evening — mixed doubles — but went on to drop the remaining sets against the Bryan twins in Kansas City to drop their second straight decision. The loss puts them in a difficult situation heading into their next game against undefeated Springfield.
- United 3, Rapids 1: Keep it tuned here: we’ll have a full report of United’s big 3-1 win over Colorado later today.
