Thomas hits two homers as Athletics beat Twins
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Frank Thomas hit a pair of home runs Tuesday, leading the Oakland Athletics to a 3-2 playoff victory over the Minnesota Twins.
Oakland takes a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five American League Division Series into Wednesday's game in Minnesota.
Thomas connected for a second-inning home and added an important insurance run in the ninth with his second home run to support the strong pitching of Oakland starter Barry Zito, who allowed four hits over eight innings. Huston Street got the save, despite giving up a run in the ninth.
Thomas' first homer came on a 3-1 pitch to lead off the second and the Athletics made the score 2-0 when Marco Scutaro doubled in Jay Payton two outs later.
Both runs came off Twins' starter Johan Santana, who allowed five hits over eight innings in taking the loss.
Pujols homer leads St. Louis over San Diego
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer Tuesday as St. Louis defeated San Diego, 5-1, in the opener of their National League Division Series.
Chris Carpenter pitched 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball. Carpenter (1-0), who defeated San Diego in Game 1 of the Division Series at Busch Stadium last year, yielded only five hits with seven strikeouts and one walk.
Pujols went 2-for-4 and Jim Edmonds also had two hits with an RBI and scored for the Cardinals, who swept the Padres in last year's NLDS.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Thursday afternoon in San Diego.
Brian Giles drove in the lone run for San Diego, which was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Jake Peavy (0-1) surrendered five runs on 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings with two strikeouts and a walk in the defeat.
Clemson's all-conference receiver injured
CLEMSON, S.C., Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Clemson first-team All-ACC wide receiver Chansi Stuckey suffered a broken foot Tuesday while making a cut during a non-contact practice drill.
Stuckey, who has 25 receptions for 331 yards and three touchdowns this season, will have surgery on Wednesday afternoon. He suffered the same injury as starting safety Michael Hamlin, who broke his foot during the Boston College game on Sept. 9.
Stuckey's injury is just another in a long list of setbacks for the Tigers, who were expected to contend in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season. Starting linebacker Tramaine Billie broke his ankle earlier in the season, while fellow linebacker and Butkus Award candidate Anthony Waters tore his ACL in a 54-6 victory over Florida Atlantic.
The Tigers (4-1, 2-1 ACC) play the undefeated Wake Forest Demon Deacons (5-0, 1-0) on Saturday.
Russian Safina gets tough win at Stuttgart
STUTTGART, Germany, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Sixth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina barely won her first-round match Tuesday at the $650,000 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.
Safina defeated Italian Mara Santangelo 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (11-9).
France's Tatiana Golovin advanced by beating Russian Elena Likhovtseva 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Two Germans advanced when Anna-Lena Groenefeld defeated countrywoman Tatjana Malek 6-3, 2-6, 6-0, and Martina Muller beat Czech Kveta Peschke 6-0, 7-6 (7-4).
Muller has a second-round match against French Open runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, who is seeking her third title in three events. Kuznetsova recently won championships in Beijing and Bali.
Gasquet wins, Ferrero loses in France
METZ, France, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Frenchman Richard Gasquet was a winner Tuesday but former world No. 1 Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero lost at the Open de Moselle in France.
The fifth-seeded Gasquet, 20, defeated Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-1. Gasquet was runner-up in 2004.
The second-seeded Ferrero lost to Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (9-7). Benneteau reached the French Open quarterfinals earlier this season.
In other action involving seeds, No. 3 Serb Novak Djokovic beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 6-3 and Frenchman Cyril Saulnier defeated sixth-seeded Slovak Dominik Hrbaty 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
