AMERICAN LEAGUE
REUTERS AND AP, ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
The Tampa Bay Rays struck for seven runs in the eighth inning to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-3 on Saturday and record their 10th win in 12 games.
Jason Bartlett and Ben Zobrist both delivered two-run singles for the Rays, who trailed 3-2 before the eighth inning.
The American League East division leaders also got runs in the eighth off an RBI single by B.J. Upton, a bases-loaded walk and a hit batsman, again with the bases full.
“We kept grinding, kept grinding, kept grinding and eventually we got all those runs,” Rays manager Joe Maddon told reporters. “[We had] some really good at-bats when it was really critical.”
The Rays (13-5), off to their best start, turned the game in their favor after Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston lifted starter Rickey Romero, who had allowed just six hits and two runs, after the seventh inning.
The Rays quickly torched loser Scott Downs (0-2) for three runs and got four more off Casey Janssen.
“[The] bullpen just couldn’t get an out tonight,” Gaston said. “Downs has pitched great for us and just kind of struggled tonight. That’s going to happen once in a while, so we just have to bounce back tomorrow and hope that we get into the eighth inning with a lead again and see what happens.”
Five Tampa Bay pitchers combined to hold Toronto to six hits, allowing only a double in the final two-and-a-third innings, with Dan Wheeler (1-0), who pitched to one batter in the eighth, credited with the win.
Toronto struck first on Lyle Overbay’s solo homer in the fifth inning.
John Jaso’s two-run homer, his first in the Major Leagues, in the bottom of the inning put Tampa Bay on top, before another Toronto home run, this one a two-run blast by Adam Lind.
Toronto loaded the bases in the seventh, but Randy Choate came on to strike out Fred Lewis and end the threat.
YANKEES 7, ANGELS 1
In Anaheim, California, Andy Pettitte pitched eight sharp innings to steer New York over Los Angeles.
Pettitte (3-0) struck out eight and walked none. He gave up his only run on Torii Hunter’s sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.
Robinson Cano had four hits, while Nick Swisher and No. 9 hitter Francisco Cervelli each drove in two runs for New York.
Angels starter Joel Pineiro (2-2) worked six innings and allowed six runs, two more than he gave up in 20-and-a-third innings over his first three starts.
Saturday’s other results:
• Indians 6, Athletics 1
• Twins 9, Royals 7, 12 innings
• Tigers 8, Rangers 4
• White Sox 5, Mariners 4
• Red Sox 7, Orioles 6
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco pitcher Barry Zito struck out 10 batters over eight crisp innings to steer the Giants to a 2-0 win over the St Louis Cardinals in the National League on Saturday.
Zito (3-0) outpitched Adam Wainwright (3-1) to come out on top in an impressive pitchers’ duel, earning his first career victory against the Cardinals after previously going 0-4.
Pinch-hitter Andres Torres singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as San Francisco inflicted St Louis’ first series defeat of the season.
DODGERS 4, NATIONALS 3, 13 INNS
In Washington, Russell Martin lined a two-out single in the 13th inning to drive in the winning run for Los Angeles against Washington.
Nationals reliever Miguel Batista (0-2) entered in the 11th inning and had retired the first two batters in the 13th before Rafal Furcal singled, stole second, then scored on Martin’s full-count hit to center.
Carlos Monasterios (1-0), Los Angeles’ seventh pitcher, threw the final two-and-two-third innings. In the 13th, he had allowed runners at second and third with one out, but Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake, who earlier had hit two homers, threw out Ivan Rodriguez at home plate to end the game.
Saturday’s other results:
• Marlins 4, Rockies 1, 1st game
• Rockies 8, Marlins 1, 2nd game
• Phillies 3, Diamondbacks 2
• Padres 5, Reds 0
• Mets 3, Braves 1
• Cubs 5, Brewers 1
• Astros 5, Pirates 2
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
Rangers on Wednesday bowed out of the UEFA Champions League playoffs with a humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Club Brugge which piles further pressure on head coach Russell Martin, while SL Benfica secured a place in the competition proper at the expense of Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce. The Glasgow giants traveled to Belgium right up against it after losing 3-1 at home in last week’s first leg, when they conceded three times in the opening 20 minutes. They never looked like turning the tie around as Club Brugge took the lead inside five minutes at the Jan Breydelstadion through Nicolo Tresoldi
Noah Lyles on Thursday warmed up for the upcoming athletics world championships by chasing down Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win the 200m at the Diamond League final. Lyles trailed Tebogo at the start, but gradually erased the deficit over the final 100m and pipped the Botswana sprinter to the line by centimeters. Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion and reigning world champion in both the 100m and 200m, clocked 19.74 seconds in a slight headwind. Tebogo was 0.02 seconds behind. It was Lyles’ sixth Diamond League title, a record for track athletes. “Six, that’s a big number,” Lyles said. “Shoot, that’s another record on
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
RSS