Australian left-hander Travis Blackley won his major league debut, and Randy Winn drove in three runs to help the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 8-4 on Thursday.
Ichiro Suzuki and Bret Boone each had two doubles among their three hits. Seattle finished with six doubles and 12 hits, gaining a split of the four-game series with the AL West-leading Rangers.
The 21-year-old Blackley (1-0), who had spent this season at Triple-A Tacoma, allowed four runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings. He walked three and struck out one.
Blackley used his curveball and off-speed pitches to set up an 138 kph fastball. The Texas hitters hadn't seen him before, and it showed when Blackley breezed through the early innings.
Blackley became the sixth Seattle pitcher to win his major league debut. The others were Joel Pineiro (2000), Garcia (1999), Bob Wolcott (1995), Mark Langston (1984) and Matt Young (1983).
White Sox 2, Twins 1
In Minneapolis, Carlos Lee hit a two-run homer, Jon Garland pitched seven strong innings and the Chicago White Sox completed a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 2-1 victory Thursday.
The White Sox, who moved two games ahead of Minnesota in the AL Central, have won six of seven at the Metrodome this year. Chicago is nine games over .500, matching its season high.
Garland (6-5) scattered seven hits and won for the first time in five starts since June 4. Damaso Marte got six outs for his fourth save. He struck out Joe Mauer with a runner on second to end it.
The Twins wasted an outstanding performance by Johan Santana (6-5), who fanned 12 in eight innings. He gave up three hits.
Indians 7, Tigers 6, 10 innings
In Detroit, Jody Gerut homered in the 10th inning and Cleveland snapped Detroit's six-game winning streak.
Dmitri Young hit a grand slam for the Tigers, and Bobby Higginson tied it at 6 with a home run off David Riske in the ninth inning. But Riske (4-2) escaped a jam, and Rick White got three outs for his first save.
Other results: Blue Jays 14, Devil Rays 0, Athletics 7, Angels 3.
Sammy Sosa homered in the bottom of the 10th inning on Thursday, giving the Chicago Cubs a 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros.
Houston rallied from a 4-0 deficit, tying it when Carlos Beltran hit his second homer of the game and fourth of the series, a three-run shot in the eighth.
But Sosa's long homer to left on the first pitch from Brad Lidge (2-4) helped the Cubs take two of three from the Astros. It was Sosa's 13th of the season and the 552nd of his career.
Jon Leicester (2-0) worked a hitless 10th for the win.
Chicago's Mark Prior pitched 7 1-3 solid innings in his longest outing of the season, leaving with two on in the eighth and a 4-1 lead.
Mets 7, Reds 6
In Cincinnati, Al Leiter pitched seven shutout innings, Shane Spencer hit a three-run homer and New York held on to beat Cincinnati.
Leiter (4-2) gave up only two hits against a lineup missing Ken Griffey Jr. and Sean Casey, showing he's all the way back from the shoulder tendinitis that sidelined him in May. The left-hander is 3-0 with a 1.70 ERA since returning from the disabled list.
The bullpen let most of a 6-0 lead slip away in the eighth, but Braden Looper got four outs for his 15th save in 17 chances. He gave up Dunn's 24th homer with two outs in the ninth.
Spencer connected in the sixth off Jose Acevedo (4-7). Eric Valent, Jose Reyes and Richard Hidalgo added solo shots as New York matched its season high for homers in a game.
The Mets took two of three in the series.
Other results: Brewers 10, Rockies 9; Phillies 10, Expos 5; Braves 9, Marlins 1.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite