Jay Payton hit a grand slam and the Boston Red Sox avoided a three-game sweep with an ejection-filled 11-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Sunday.
There were six ejections in the seventh inning following a sequence of inside pitches and two bench-clearing scuffles. Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella, and Devil Rays' pitchers Lance Carter and Dewon Brazelton were all thrown out, along with Boston manager Terry Francona, starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo and outfielder Trot Nixon.
Arroyo (2-0) allowed three runs and seven hits in six-plus innings. He hasn't lost in 13 starts -- including seven wins -- dating to last season.
Payton, who replaced Nixon, hit his second career grand slam during a six-run eighth.
Devil Rays starter Hideo Nomo (2-2) gave up four runs and seven hits over six innings.
Yankees 11, Rangers 1
At New York, Randy Johnson pitched eight dominant innings, Derek Jeter and Andy Phillips each homered and doubled, and the Yankees avoided a three-game sweep.
Phillips hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and drove in four runs, and Jeter finished a triple shy of the cycle and had three RBIs. A Yankees offense that mustered just 12 hits and five runs in two losses to Texas amassed 14 hits.
After giving up 16 runs -- 14 earned -- in his last three starts, Johnson (2-1) pitched like the ace the Yankees expected when they traded for him in the offseason, stopping the team's two-game skid and giving a taxed bullpen some much-needed rest.
John Thomson pitched five-hit ball for seven innings and the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 to finish a three-game sweep on Sunday.
Johnny Estrada drove in two runs for the Braves, who outscored the Phillies 21-3 in the series and will take a four-game winning streak into New York for a three-game set against the Mets beginning Monday night.
The Phillies have lost five of six to fall into last place in the NL East.
Thomson (2-2) struck out eight and walked two, ending his two-game skid. Chris Reitsma worked a hitless eighth and Dan Kolb finished the six-hitter.
Andruw Jones and Raul Mondesi each hit an RBI single.
Vicente Padilla (0-2) struggled in his second straight rocky start since opening the season on the disabled list.
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