Baseball

Results of MLB games on Thursday (home team in CAPS):

PITTSBURGH 4 Chicago Cubs 2

TORONTO 12 Baltimore 6

DETROIT 7 Minnesota 6

Cleveland 12 BOSTON 3

LA Angels 5 KANSAS CITY 4

AMERICAN LEAGUE

East Division

W L Pct GB

NY Yankees 28 18 .609 -

Boston 28 20 .583 1

Baltimore 25 22 .532 3

Tampa Bay 24 22 .522 4

Toronto 20 27 .426 8

Central Division

Cleveland 27 19 .587 -

Detroit 26 19 .578

Kansas City 21 23 .477 5

Chicago White Sox 21 24 .467 5

Minnesota 18 26 .409 8

West Division

Texas 30 17 .638 -

Oakland 25 23 .521 5

LA Angels 20 27 .426 10

Seattle 20 27 .426 10

Houston 14 33 .298 16

NATIONAL LEAGUE

East Division

Atlanta 28 18 .609 -

Washington 24 23 .511 4

Philadelphia 23 24 .489 5

NY Mets 17 27 .386 10

Miami 13 34 .277 15

Central Division

St. Louis 30 16 .652 -

Cincinnati 29 18 .617 1

Pittsburgh 29 18 .617 1

Milwaukee 18 27 .400 11

Chicago Cubs 18 28 .391 12

West Division

Arizona 26 21 .553 -

Colorado 26 21 .553 -

San Francisco 26 21 .553 -

San Diego 21 25 .457 4

LA Dodgers 19 26 .422 6

Cycling

Tour of Italy

Results from the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia, a 20.6 km uphill time trial held between Mori and Polsa on Thursday:

Stage

1. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/AST) 44min 29sec, 2. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) at 58sec, 3. Damiano Caruso (ITA/CAN) 1min 20sec, 4. Michele Scarponi (ITA/LAM) 1:21, 5. Rafal Majka (POL/TST) 1:25, 6. Rigoberto Uran (COL/SKY) 1:26, 7. Carlos Betancur (COL/A2R) 1:32, 8. Stef Clement (NED/BLA) 1:36, 9. Dario Cataldo (ITA/SKY) 1:41, 10. Danilo Di Luca (ITA/VIN) 1:52

Overall standings

1. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/AST) 73hr 55min 58sec, 2. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) at 4:02, 3. Rigoberto Uran (COL/SKY) 4:12, 4. Michele Scarponi (ITA/LAM) 5:14, 5. Przemyslaw Niemiec (POL/LAM) 6:09, 6. Rafal Majka (POL/TST) 6:45, 7. Carlos Betancur (COL/ALM) 6:47, 8. Mauro Santambrogio (ITA/VIN) 7:30, 9. Benat Intxausti (ESP/MOV) 8:36, 10. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 9:34

Golf

European PGA Championship

Leading and selected scores after the first round of the European PGA Championship at Wentworth on Thursday (GB/IRL unless stated, par 72, completed rounds only):

66 - James Kingston (RSA)

67 - Mikko Ilonen (FIN)

68 - Scott Henry, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (ESP)

69 - Matteo Manassero (ITA), George Coetzee (RSA), Thomas Bjorn (DEN), Simon Khan, Marc Warren, Alejandro Canizares (ESP)

70 - Oliver Fisher, Martin Kaymer (GER), Shane Lowry, Niclas Fasth (SWE), Johan Edfors (SWE), Lee Westwood, Francesco Molinari (ITA), Paul Casey, Alvaro Quiros (ESP), Anders Hansen (DEN), Mark Foster, Scott Drummond, Gregory Havret (FRA)

71 - Branden Grace (RSA), Paul McGinley, Richard Sterne (RSA), Lee Slattery, Thomas Levet (FRA), Richie Ramsay, Eduardo Molinari (ITA), Jbe Kruger (RSA), Magnus Carlsson (SWE), Fabrizio Zanotti (ITA), Gregory Bourdy (FRA), Pablo Larrazabal (ESP), Raphael Jacquelin (FRA), Colin Montgomerie, David Drysdale, Julien Quesne (FRA), Tommy Fleetwood, SSP Chowrasia (IND), Jamie Donaldson

Selected

72 - Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia (ESP), Ernie Els (RSA), Peter Uihlein (USA)

74 - Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Darren Clarke, David Lynn

75 - Paul Lawrie

76 - Miguel Angel Jimenez

77 - Michael Campbell (NZ)

78 - Luke Donald

PGA Crowne Plaza Invitational

Leading scores on Thursday after the first round of the $6.4 million US PGA Crowne Plaza Invitational (USA unless noted, par 70):

62 - Ryan Palmer

63 - John Rollins

64 - Morgan Hoffmann, David Hearn (CAN), Graham DeLaet (CAN), John Peterson

65 - Daniel Summerhays, Matt Every, Matt Kuchar, Tommy Gainey, Josh Teater, Jordan Spieth

66 - Brendon de Jonge (ZIM), Carl Pettersson (SWE), Marc Leishman (AUS), John Huh, Jason Kokrak, Charley Hoffman, Ken Duke, Derek Ernst, Freddie Jacobson (SWE), Martin Flores

Ice hockey

NHL playoffs

Results from the NHL playoffs conference semifinal games on Thursday (home team in CAPS):

1 2 3 OT T

Boston 0 2 1 0 3

NY RANGERS 0 1 2 1 4

(Boston leads best-of-seven series 3-1)

1 2 3 T

Chicago 0 0 0 0

DETROIT 0 1 1 2

(Detroit leads best-of-seven series 3-1)

1 2 3 T

San Jose 0 0 0 0

LOS ANGELES 0 1 2 3

(Los Angeles leads best-of-seven series 3-2)

Soccer

Libertadores Cup

Quarterfinal, first leg results on Thursday:

At La Bombonera, Buenos Aires

Boca Juniors (Argentina) 0 Newell's Old Boys (Argentina) 0

At the Caliente, Tijuana

Tijuana (Mexico) 2 (Riascos 32, Martinez 53) Atletico Mineiro (Brazil) 2 (Tardelli 66, Luan 90+2)

Tennis

Duesseldorf ATP

Results on Thursday (x-denotes seedings):

Quarterfinals

Guido Pella (ARG) bt Viktor Troicki (SRB x7) 7-6 (7/5), 7-5; Juan Monaco (ARG x3) bt Tobias Kamke (GER) 6-3, 6-4; Igor Sijsling (NED) bt Jan Hajek (CZE) 6-3, 6-1; Jarkko Nieminen (FIN x6) bt Tommy Haas (GER x2) - walkover.

ATP Nice Open

Quarterfinals results on Thursday:

Albert Montanes (ESP) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) 6-4, 6-1; Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Sam Querrey (USA x3) 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1; Gael Monfils (FRA) bt Robin Haase (NED) 6-2, 6-3; Pablo Andujar (ESP) bt Gilles Simon (FRA x2) 6-4, 7-5.

WTA Brussels Open

Results on Thursday:

Quarterfinals

Peng Shuai (CHN x8) bt Sloane Stephens (USA x4) 6-2, 6-3; Romina Oprandi (SUI) bt Zheng Jie (CHN) 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

2nd rd

Jamie Hampton (USA) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL x5) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; Roberta Vinci (ITA x2) bt Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.

WTA Strasbourg International

Results on Thursday:

Quarterfinals

Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) bt Anna Tatishvili (GEO) 6-3, 6-2; Alize Cornet (FRA x3) bt Chanelle Scheepers (RSA x7) 6-3, 6-1.

China Daily