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Monday MLB —Pirates at Braves, 4 p.m., ESPN MLB— Rays at Athletics, 7 p.m., CSNC Softball — Women’s World Cup Final, 6 p.m., ESPN2 Sports 1B Monday July 25, 2011 Still unbeaten Bumgarner wins third straight SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Madison Bumgarner was more animated about a day at the White House than he was about his third straight decision. Bumgarner will certainly enjoy his day in Washington after pitching into the eighth inning, helping the San Fran- cisco Giants survive another one-run game, a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday. ‘‘I just go out and pitch,’’ said the 21-year-old, who owns a World Series ring. ‘‘I just felt like I did a good job of just making pitches.’’ Bumgarner and the Giants will be guests of Pres- ident Barack Obama at the White House on Monday before beginning a series in Philadelphia the next day. ‘‘It will be fun to see that place,’’ Bumgarner said. Giants manager Bruce Bochy was slightly more effu- sive about the side trip. ‘‘It is going to be an honor,’’ Bochy said. ‘‘When we’re there, we’ll think about why we’re there. We get the chance to meet the President. It’s going to be a fun trip. After we see the President we’ll jump on a train, like the old days, and go on to Philly.’’ Mike Fontenot and Jeff Keppinger each drove in runs for the Giants, who have won seven of 10 games since the All-Star break. Aubrey Huff had three hits and Brandon Belt added two hits. Ryan Braun homered for the Brewers, who lost for the third time in four games. Prince Fielder and Corey Hart each had two hits. ‘‘They’re a scrappy bunch of guys; they battle really Daily News photo by Rich Greene Red Bluff’s Austin Youngblood pumps his fists as he crosses home plate, Sunday, in Chico. LITTLE LEAGUE By RICHGREENE DN Sports Editor CHICO—The games are getting tighter, but the Red Bluff Little League All-Stars keep finding ways to win. Red Bluff knocked off Lakeside 5- 4, Sunday, in the second round of the Northern California Divisional Tourna- ment. The win leaves Red Bluff just two wins away from being crowned North- ern California champions. Red Bluff plays 6 p.m., Tuesday, in the winner’s bracket semifinal game at Chico Eastside Little League. Lane Pritchard sparked Red Bluff with his bat early and his arm late, Sun- day, to help beat Lakeside from the Granite Bay-Loomis area. Austin Youngblood led off the game for Red Bluff by taking the first of three walks he would draw during the game. Two batters later Pritchard ripped a ball over the left-center field fence to put Red Bluff up 2-0. Wesley Clawson started on the mound for Red Bluff and teamed up with catcher Tanner Tweedt to prevent a run in the first inning by gunning down Lakeside’s leadoff hitter at the plate following a wild pitch. Red Bluff’s defense continued to play solid defense throughout the game. But after Lakeside got two runners on base in the bottom of the third inning following a hit batsman and a single there was nothing Red Bluff’s defense could do when Lakeside’s cen- ter fielder thundered a 3-run homer out of the ballpark. Pritchard would eventually replace Clawson on the mound. Lakeside picked up another run in the fourth inning to extend their lead to 4-2. But in the top of the fifth inning, Red Bluff battled back. Bode Parks and Youngblood drew back-to-back walks to open the inning. Two batters later Pritchard hit a grounder to the shortstop that took a huge hop at the last second and lept into the outfield allowing Youngblood Rally against Rivera falls short, A's lose 7-5 NEW YORK (AP) — For just an instant, when the ball came off David DeJesus' bat, the Oakland Athletics had visions of finishing off a rare comeback against Mariano Rivera at Yankee Stadium. Then suddenly — game-ending double play. In the end, nothing ever seems to go right for Oakland on the road. Or against the Yankees, for that matter. DeJesus lined into a rally-killing double play when pinch-runner Ryan Sweeney got trapped off first base, and New York held on to beat the Athletics 7-5 Sunday. "Obviously deflating," manager Bob Melvin said. Hideki Matsui's fifth hit, which matched a career high, loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning. Josh Will- ingham cut it to 7-5 with an RBI single, the only run Rivera has allowed at home this season. DeJesus then hit a liner to first baseman Mark Teixeira, and Sweeney broke immediately for second. He had no chance to get back before Teixeira stepped on the bag. "My run doesn't mean anything. I just kind of got over- anxious. I didn't even realize he was playing on the line," Sweeney said. The 41-year-old Rivera earned his 116th career save of more than one inning, but first this year. He reached 25 saves for the 15th consecutive season, extending his major league record. "I'd be surprised if someone could outdo that," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. Bartolo Colon pitched seven effective innings to end a three-start skid and Curtis Granderson had a two-run homer for the Yankees. Eduardo Nunez hit a two-run double and catcher Russell Martin was in the middle of everything all afternoon. New York chased All-Star Gio Gonzalez and returned to its winning ways against the A's when Rivera staved off a ninth-inning uprising with a touch of good fortune. "Broken bat, base hit. Line drive, double play. Figure it out," he said. A one-run loss Saturday snapped New York's 11-game winning streak against Oakland. But the Yankees rebound- ed behind Colon, taking two of three in the series. The Ath- letics have lost 10 straight series to New York, an Oakland record against any club. to score. The rally was on. With runners on second and third base, Clawson grounded to second. Kolby Button took off as soon as the bat struck the ball and he beat the throw home to tie the game 4-4 Still with just one out, Lakeside moved its infield in and Nicholas Rodriguez grounded again to second base. This time Lakeside took the easy force out at first, allowing Pritchard to cross home plate for what turn out to be the winning run. Pritchard allowed two singles in the bottom of the fifth inning, but eventual- ly induced a rally ending groundout. Then he closed out the game 1-2-3 in the sixth inning, leaving Lakeside’s top hitter waiting in the on deck circle as the Red Bluff youths celebrated another win. The Red Bluff 11-and 12-year-old Little League All-Star is: Deonte Antolin, Blake Blocker, Kolby Button, Michael Chapman, Taylor Chapman, Wesley Clawson, Dimitre Kent, Lane Pritchard, Bode Parks, Nicholas Rodriguez, Evan Tanner, Tanner Tweedt and Austin Youngblood. PARIS (AP) — Cadel Evans has been keeping fans back home up all night watching him become the first Australian to win the Tour de France. It’s a victory that’s been a long time coming. Over the years, Evans has been better known for failing to live up to expectations than for overachieving. He finished second in the 2007 Tour and was expected to win the next year, but was runner-up again. Last year, he was leading the race but crashed and fractured his left elbow. The pain was too much and he dropped out of contention in tears, ultimately finishing 50 minutes behind winner Alberto Contador. This time, persistence, planning — and a little good luck — paid off. ‘‘I hope I brought a great deal of joy to my countrymen, my country,’’ Evans said Sunday after climbing onto the winner’s podium on the Champs-Elysees. ‘‘It’s been a plea- sure and an honor to fly the flag over here.’’ The 34-year-old Evans, the oldest champion since before World War II, stood on the podium wrapped in his national flag, his eyes tearing up as he listened to the Australian national anthem. He then embraced Andy and Frank Schleck. The brothers from Luxembourg had pushed him all the way to the end, but were finally defeated by his solo strength in Saturday’s race against the clock. On the traditional Tour victory lap on Paris’ Champs-Elysees, cham- pagne in hand, Evans seemed to stop to celebrate with just about every fan bearing an Australian flag. As he clambered into his BMC team bus, hundreds of people shouted praise, one yelling, ‘‘Cadel, we love well,’’ Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. ‘‘Like their record shows, they get in tight ballgames and they seem to come out ahead.’’ Bumgarner (6-9) won his third straight decision after allowing a run on eight hits over 7 2-3 innings. He struck out eight and did not walk a batter. Sergio Romo got one out and Brian Wilson pitched the ninth for his 31st save. ‘‘He gives up the home run and then regroups,’’ Bochy said. ‘‘It’s a great sign that he didn’t get flustered. That was an impressive outing.’’ Yovani Gallardo (11-7) lasted seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out five. ‘‘He threw the ball great,’’ Roenicke said. ‘‘When you score one, you’re not going to beat them. We had some guys on base, we had chances. We just need to get a cou- ple big hits when we get those guys out there.’’ The Giants improved to 27-13 in one-run games and recorded their major-league leading 29th comeback victo- ry. Braun hit his fourth home run over his last five games to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead with two outs in the first. Bum- garner allowed his first home run in eight starts, and his fifth overall. Bumgarner’s one-out double, which ended his 0-for-15 streak, in the third set up the tying run. He scored on Kep- pinger’s single. Josh Wilson, sans sunglasses, lost a pop up in the sun that allowed Huff to reach base leading off the fourth. Nate Schierholtz forced him at second but Belt followed with a hit-and-run single. Fontenot followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1. ‘‘I usually don’t like wearing them. It darkens the ball,’’ Wilson said. ‘‘In hindsight, I probably should have had them on. It didn’t get into the sun until late. I had it proba- bly until it was less than 20 feet above my head and that’s when it finally went in the sun.’’ Tour champ Evans keeps Australia up ‘I hope I brought a great deal of joy to my countrymen, my country’ — Cadel Evans you!’’ and others chanting ‘‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie — Oy, Oy, Oy!’’ This was a very different Tour from the ones of the recent past that have been dominated by a single rider — Lance Armstrong or Contador. At least seven riders could have won it with only a few days remaining. Contador, who is fighting a legal battle to hold on to last year’s victory after a positive drug test, faded away in the final stages and finished fifth. On Sunday’s largely ceremonial ride to Paris, Contador smiled and chatted with Evans, even patting the Australian on the back. Afterward, the three-time Tour champion said he told Evans ‘‘he was the strongest rider, and it’s normal that he won.’’ Evans’ final margin of victory over Andy Schleck was 1 minute, 34 sec- onds, but all of that was achieved in Saturday’s time trial. Evans hadn’t panicked when Andy Schleck had jumped ahead on the climb of the Galibier pass on Thursday and then took the overall lead in Friday’s last mountain stage. Evans’ wife, Chiara, did. She was consumed with emotion — at times unable to bear the suspense when he needed to make up 57 seconds in the time trial to wrest the coveted yellow jersey from the younger Schleck brother. ‘‘You don’t want to know. I was really, really bad. Crying and every- thing, and calling everyone ’How many seconds?’ ‘‘ she said. With his victory, she said, ‘‘I want to let the moment sink in. Cadel needs some rest. I need some rest too!’’ The Tour was also notable for the hard work of Thomas Voeckler, who defied all predictions to wear the yel- low jersey as race leader for 10 days, delighting the victory-starved French, and for the success of British rider Mark Cavendish, who captured five stages — including Sunday’s final one — and won the green jersey of top sprinter. In a race often marred in the past by doping allegations, only one rider has so far tested positive — Alexandr Kolobnev of Russia — although many of the doping tests done this year have yet to be analyzed. Conta- dor’s positive test last year only came out after the race finished. Evans has never faced doping alle- gations, and his longtime coach Aldo Sassi was known to be opposed to doping. Some have suggested that may be why until now he hasn’t been able to achieve his promise, though Evans won’t discuss that possibility. ‘‘When you look at the race, it’s obvious that we don’t have the same feeling like in the past, when riders were sometimes supermen,’’ Michel Rieu, scientific adviser of the French anti-doping agency AFLD, told The Associated Press. ‘‘Most of the riders suffered a lot, you could see it on their faces, and they didn’t give the impres- sion of riding scooters instead of bikes.’’ When Evans crossed the line on Paris’ most famed avenue Sunday, he was catapulted to global stardom. Red Bluff 5 Lakeside 4