American League
Ted Lilly tossed a two-hitter, giving Toronto's struggling starters a big boost and leading the Blue Jays to a 6-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night.
Lilly struck out eight and walked two. He's the first Blue Jays starter to win this year other than AL Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay.
PHOTO: AP
Orlando Hudson had three hits and Josh Phelps drove in two runs with a double.
Michael Cuddyer spoiled Lilly's shutout bid on the first pitch of the sixth with his first home run of the season.
Brad Radke (2-2) yielded four runs and 10 hits in seven innings.
BOSTON 2, YANKEES 0
Pedro Martinez pitched seven sharp innings and Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer off Javier Vazquez for a 2-0 Boston win over New York which completed a three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.
With its first series sweep of New York since 1999, Boston improved to 6-1 against the Yankees for the first time since 1913 -- when the Red Sox were defending World Series champions.
The US$183 million Yankees are struggling mightily at the plate, leaving their fans restless. In addition to jeers for New York, chants of "Let's Go Red Sox!" could be heard from the crowd of 55,338 on a drizzly afternoon.
Even captain Derek Jeter got booed. He's hitless in a career-high 25 at-bats after going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
First-place Boston, which has finished second to New York for six straight seasons, took a 4 1/2-game lead over the Yankees, New York's biggest AL East deficit since May 10, 2002, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
At 8-11, the Yankees are three games under .500 this late in the season for the first time since April 22, 1997.
Angels 4, Athletics 3
At Oakland, California, Salmon snapped an 0-for-13 skid when he connected against Rich Harden (0-2) in the sixth to give the Angels a 4-2 lead. The Athletics were swept at home for the first time since May 2002, a span of 49 series.
Ramon Ortiz (1-2) pitched five solid innings in his best outing of the season before turning the game over to Anaheim's stellar bullpen. Troy Percival earned his fifth save.
Indians 3, Tigers 2
At Detroit, Jake Westbrook allowed two runs and two hits in his first start of the season and second career complete game. Westbrook (1-1) retired 27 straight batters over three appearances before Carlos Pena homered in the second inning.
Jody Gerut homered off Jason Johnson (1-4).
Blue Jays 15, Orioles 3
At Baltimore, Roy Halladay (2-3) cruised to an easy victory, Chris Woodward had a career-high four hits and Toronto won consecutive games for the first time this season. Carlos Delgado and Eric Hinske each had three RBIs for the Blue Jays, who roughed up Sidney Ponson (2-1).
Rangers 14, Mariners 6
At Arlington, Texas, Laynce Nix, Rod Barajas and rookie Adrian Gonzalez hit consecutive homers in the sixth inning as Texas handed Seattle its fifth straight loss.
Nix also hit a leadoff homer in the fourth and had a career-high five RBIs. Kevin Mench had a homer and a triple among his career-best four hits and tied a team record with five runs scored.
Twins 4, Royals 2
At Kansas City, Missouri, Torii Hunter hit a three-run homer in his first game since coming off the disabled list. Carlos Silva (3-0) gave up one run in seven innings, and Joe Nathan got out of a bases-loaded jam for his sixth save.
Devil Rays 6, White Sox 5
At Chicago, Juan Uribe drew a bases-loaded walk from Lance Carter, capping Chicago's three-run rally in the ninth.
Pinch-hitter Kelly Dransfeldt tied it with a two-out RBI single off Trever Miller (0-1).
National League
Sean Casey's two-run homer backed Aaron Harang's effective pitching, and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 Monday night despite losing Austin Kearns indefinitely with a broken forearm.
Harang (2-0) gave up two runs in six innings, including Craig Wilson's solo homer in the sixth, and beat Pittsburgh for the second time in two starts. He gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked one.
Danny Graves pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 12 chances, and his third in the four-game series.
Ryan Freel, Kearns' replacement, hit an RBI triple in the third, and Adam Dunn hit a two-run double in the seventh for the Reds.
Jason Kendall followed Jack Wilson's triple with an RBI groundout in the fifth. Ryan Vogelsong (1-3) walked six in four innings and gave up three runs and four hits in his third straight loss.
Kearns, the Reds' right fielder, was hit on the left arm and wrist by Vogelsong's pitch two batters after Casey's homer put Cincinnati up 2-0 in the first.
Marlins 6, Rockies 3
In Denver, Carl Pavano pitched eight strong innings and Miguel Cabrera and Alex Gonzalez each hit a two-run homer for Florida.
Hee Seop Choi also hit a home run for the Marlins, who scored all of their runs in the first inning off Scott Elarton (0-4).
Pavano (2-0) allowed two runs and scattered five hits as Florida improved to 13-6, the best start in franchise history.
Armando Benitez struck out Charles Johnson with two on for his 10th save in 10 chances.
Jeromy Burnitz homered and Todd Helton had an RBI double for Colorado.
Diamondbacks 9, Cubs 0
In Phoenix, Richie Sexson hit the longest home run in Bank One Ballpark history and Randy Johnson struck out 10, helping Arizona snap Chicago's six-game winning streak.
Sexson's two-run shot off reliever Francis Beltran in the sixth traveled an estimated 503 feet and smacked off his own image halfway up the video screen in center field, smashing several lights.
It was Sexson's 200th career home run and ninth this season.
Johnson (2-2) improved to 12-0 in 13 career starts against the Cubs. He pitched two-hit ball for seven innings and had an RBI single as the Diamondbacks won for the fourth time in five games. He walked none.
Carlos Zambrano (2-1) was tagged for seven runs and 10 hits in 4 1-3 innings.
Danny Bautista extended his career-best hitting streak to 18 games.
Padres 3, Expos 2
In San Diego, Miguel Ojeda drove in the winning run with two outs in the ninth, punching the first pitch he saw from Luis Ayala (0-3) into left-center field to score Jay Payton from second.
Akinori Otsuka (2-1) threw two perfect innings in relief.
Livan Hernandez held the Padres hitless for 3 2-3 innings, but gave up RBI singles to Payton and Ramon Hernandez in the fourth. He allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Jose Vidro and Tony Batista had RBIs in the sixth to tie the score at 2 and chase Padres starter Jake Peavy.
Padres manager Bruce Bochy was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing with plate umpire Joe Brinkman over an obstruction call at first base.
Giants 3, Braves 2
In San Francisco, Jason Schmidt earned his first win of the season in San Francisco's victory over Atlanta.
Ray Durham hit an RBI triple and Edgardo Alfonzo an RBI double with two outs in the Giants' three-run third.
Barry Bonds went 0-for-1 with three walks, two intentional, leaving the six-time NL MVP with 667 career homers.
Schmidt (1-2) became the first of San Francisco's top three starters to win this year -- lefty Kirk Rueter is 0-2 and right-hander Brett Tomko is 0-1.
Schmidt allowed two runs and struck out six in five innings. The Giants had not scored a run for him this year until going ahead 3-0 in the third.
Jim Brower got six straight outs in two innings of relief, and Matt Herges pitched a hitless ninth for his seventh save in eight chances.
San Francisco beat Horacio Ramirez (0-2) and won for only the third time in 12 games. Mark DeRosa hit a two-run homer for the Braves.
Cubs 4, mets 1
Chicago Cubs hurler Matt Clement took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the New York Mets, then one bad pitch ended the dream outing on Sunday.
But the Cubs still beat the Mets 4-1 for the sixth straight win, and that's all that mattered to Clement.
Clement retired his first six batters -- the last four on swinging strikeouts -- before walking Todd Zeile to start the third. After Ricky Gutierrez reached on a fielder's choice, Clement retired his next 10 hitters, striking out the side in the fifth.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB