American League Chicago built a 15-game lead in the division on Aug. 1, then saw it dwindle to 1.5 games as Cleveland closed. The White Sox survived a shaky ninth inning to win their AL-best 96th game and will start the playoffs at home next week. "First of all, I feel proud of my players," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We went through a lot, a lot of tough times." PHOTO: AP Carl Everett's two-run triple in the first off Jason Grilli (1-1) helped the White Sox win their second straight and fifth in seven games. Garcia (14-8) allowed two runs and eight hits in seven-plus innings. Detroit's first two batters reached in the ninth before Bobby Jenks got three outs for his fourth save. Yankees 8, Orioles 4 At Baltimore, Aaron Small took a one-hitter into the seventh inning to improve to 10-0, and New York got homers from Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui to keep its lead over Boston in the AL East at one game. The longtime rivals play three times at Fenway Park this weekend, and two wins would give New York their eight straight AL East title. Alex Rodriguez had two hits and scored twice for the Yankees, who built an 8-0 lead in winning for the 15th time in 18 games. Small gave up two runs and four hits in 6 2-3 innings, striking out four and walking five. Javy Lopez homered for the third time in three games and Jay Gibbons also connected for the Orioles, who have lost 11 of 12. Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4 At Boston, David Ortiz tied the game in the eighth inning with his 47th homer, then singled home the winning run in the ninth as Boston rallied from a 4-1 deficit. The Red Sox enter their season-ending three-game series with the Yankees at Fenway Park trailing New York by one game in the AL East. Rookie Jonathan Papelbon (3-1) pitched 2 2-3 scoreless innings for the win, and Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer in the sixth that cut the deficit to 4-3. Ortiz homered off Vinnie Chulk leading off the eighth, and Miguel Batista (5-8) allowed a one-out single in the ninth to Johnny Damon, who stole second. Edgar Renteria walked, and Ortiz lined a 3-2 pitch into the shortstop hole as Damon easily scored. Indians 6, Devil Rays 0 At Cleveland, C.C. Sabathia pitched eight shutout innings, Travis Hafner homered and Cleveland snapped a three-game losing streak to stay tied with Boston in the AL wild-card race. Sabathia (15-10) allowed five hits and improved to 9-1 in his last 11 starts as the Indians ended Tampa Bay's five-game winning streak at Jacobs Field. He walked two and struck out nine. Hafner and Ronnie Belliard hit two-run homers in the first off Casey Fossum (8-12) and Jhonny Peralta hit a solo shot in the third. Peralta's homer gave the Indians 50 in September, tying a club mark set in 1950 and 1997. Angels 7, Athletics 1 At Oakland, California, Bartolo Colon (21-8) gave up one run and five hits in five innings, becoming the Angels' winningest pitcher since Nolan Ryan went 22-16 in 1974. Colon pitched on three days' rest to get on schedule for starting Los Angeles' playoff opener Tuesday. Jose Molina homered and drove in three runs, and Robb Quinlan also homered for the AL West champions. Barry Zito (14-13) gave up six runs and eight hits in seven innings. Oakland has lost four of five. Mariners 4, Rangers 3 At Seattle, Richie Sexson had three hits and two RBIs for Seattle, which drew 19,781 fans -- the first crowd under 20,000 in the 5-year history of Safeco Field. Ryan Franklin (8-15) gave up three runs and six hits in six innings and Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth for his 35th save. Kenny Rogers (14-8) gave up nine hits and three earned runs in six innings in what was likely his last start for Texas. David Dellucci hit a solo homer for Texas, and Mark Teixeira had a two-run double. National League AP, HOUSTON, TEXAS Charles Gipson was cut down at home plate for the final out following Luke Scott's double into the right-center gap, and Chicago beat Houston 3-2 on Thursday as the Astros' National League wild-card lead was cut to two games. Derrek Lee gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead in the sixth with his 46th homer, and Chicago was still up one entering the ninth. Gipson, a pinch runner, was on first with one out when Scott hit the drive that center fielder Corey Patterson cut off. Patterson threw to second baseman Jose Macias, who made a perfect relay to catcher Henry Blanco, well ahead of Gipson. Houston, which won 11 of its previous 14 games, missed a chance to clinch no worse than a tie for the wild card. The Astros (87-72) still have a commanding position over Philadelphia (85-74) with three games to go. Philadelphia, which was off Thursday, begins a series on Friday at Washington. Houston finishes the regular season at home against the Cubs. Glendon Rusch (9-8) won his fourth straight decision over five September starts for the Cubs. Dempster got his 32nd save. Wandy Rodriguez (10-10) gave up three runs and five hits over seven innings. He is 1-4 in September, his only losing month this season. Mets 11, Rockies 0 At New York, David Wright hit two homers, Mike Piazza added another and Tom Glavine pitched a two-hitter for New York. The victory was the 81st of the season for the Mets, clinching a .500 finish in Willie Randolph's first year as manager. Piazza connected in the fifth against Sunny Kim (6-3) after Wright hit his first, a two-run shot. Glavine (13-13) allowed two singles, struck out 11 and walked two in the second complete game in his last three starts. Wright's 25th and 26th homers gave him 100 RBIs for the season. Padres 1, Giants 0, 11 innings At San Diego, Brian Lawrence allowed three hits over nine innings and Damian Jackson drove in the winning run with his fourth hit, a one-out single in the bottom of the 11th as San Diego blanked San Francisco. The Padres improved to 80-79. They need to win two of three against Los Angeles this weekend to finish with a winning record. No division winner has finished a non-strike year with a losing record. David Ross had a bunt single leading off the 11th against Jeremy Accardo (1-5). He advanced on a groundout and Jackson then singled down the left-field line. A day after clinching the NL West, Padres manager Bruce Bochy rested all his regulars. Giants manager Felipe Alou played only four regulars, and Barry Bonds got the night off. Reliever Scott Cassidy (1-1) pitched two perfect innings for the win. Diamondbacks 3, Dodgers 2 At Los Angeles, Alex Cintron drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning and Arizona's Dustin Nippert allowed one hit over five innings to beat Los Angeles for his first major league victory. Nippert (1-0) struck out six and walked five in his third big league start, allowing one run on a fourth-inning RBI single by Jayson Werth. The Diamondbacks won the season series 13-5 after going 3-16 against Los Angeles last season. They were 8-1 at Dodger Stadium, becoming the first team to beat the Dodgers eight times in Los Angeles in the same year. Brandon Lyon pitched the ninth for his 14th save, allowing Dioner Navarro's third homer. Left-hander Odalis Perez, making his second start since Aug. 17, and limited to four innings before the game by Dodgers manager Jim Tracy, allowed one hit and retired 12 of the 14 batters he faced before rookie Franquelis Osoria (0-3) took over.Japan's Tadahito Iquchi of the White Sox celebrates in the locker room after Chicago defeated the Tigers 4-2 in Detroit to clinch the AL Central on Thursday.
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