Jonathon Papelbon recovered from his first blown save of the season Friday to get the win and Trot Nixon went 4-for-4 with a three-run homer as the Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 4-3.
Mike Lowell's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth gave the Red Sox the lead after Papelbon (1-1) allowed the Rangers to tie it in the top of the inning. It was the rookie's first blown save after recording 20 in a row since taking over the closer's role.
Coco Crisp went 3-for-4 with a double for the Red Sox, who played their first home game this month. Boston went 4-5 on its recent road trip.
Michael Young hit a two-run homer for the AL West-leading Rangers.
Francisco Cordero (5-4) took the loss for Texas.
Royals 4, Devil Rays 2
At Kansas City, Missouri, Mark Redman pitched eight strong innings and Reggie Sanders hit a tie-breaking two-run double in the eighth inning to lift Kansas City over Tampa Bay.
Redman (2-4) scattered nine hits in the first three innings before retiring the last 13 batters he faced. He struck out four and walked one. Redman has won back-to-back starts for the first time since May 14-20, 2005.
Ambiorix Burgos worked the ninth to pick his eighth save in 14 opportunities.
Devil Rays starter Mark Hendrickson (3-7) had held the Royals to just four singles in the first seven innings.
Blue Jays 10, Tigers 5
At Toronto, Vernon Wells hit a go-ahead, two-run double as part of an eight-run eighth inning and the Blue Jays rallied past Detroit.
Down 5-2 in the eighth, Toronto sent 12 batters to the plate.
Pinch-hitter Shea Hillenbrand led off the inning with a homer off Fernando Rodney.
Aaron Hill followed with a single and Rodney walked Alex Rios before Reed Johnson loaded the bases with a single off Todd Jones (0-4).
Jason Frasor (2-1) pitched 1 2-3 innings for the victory.
White Sox 5, Indians 4
At Chicago, Jermaine Dye hit a solo homer and drove in the go-ahead run with a two-run single off Rafael Betancourt in the eighth inning to lead Chicago over Cleveland.
After taking two of three from AL Central leader Detroit, the White Sox appeared headed toward a loss until Dye lined a 1-2 pitch to center to drive in Jim Thome and Paul Konerko with the tying and go-ahead runs.
The hit made a winner of Matt Thornton (1-1), who pitched two-thirds of an inning. Bobby Jenks allowed first and second in the ninth before retiring Aaron Boone on a grounder for his 18th save in 19 opportunities.
Cleveland's Cliff Lee allowed four runs and five hits in a season-high 7 2-3 innings. He retired 15 of 16 batters before Dye hit his 19th homer with two outs in the sixth -- a solo shot that made it 4-3.
Athletics 6, Yankees 5
At New York, Frank Thomas hit one of Oakland's three homers off a struggling Randy Johnson, and the Athletics held off New York after a long rain delay.
Bobby Kielty and light-hitting Antonio Perez also connected, sending the A's to their seventh victory in nine games. Mike Rouse had three hits, a stolen base and scored twice in his major league debut as Oakland roughed up Johnson (7-5) with a depleted lineup that was missing injured infielders Eric Chavez and Bobby Crosby.
Dan Haren (5-5) beat The Big Unit at Yankee Stadium for the second time in less than a month, improving to 3-0 with a 2.76 ERA in five career starts against New York.
Mariners 4, Angels 1
At Anaheim, California, Seattle's Jarrod Washburn beat his former Angels teammates for the second time this year, and Raul Ibanez homered.
Coming off his worst start of the season, Washburn (4-7) went six innings and held the Los Angeles to one run. He scattered six hits, walked one and struck out four.
The Mariners' left-hander had given up seven runs in 4 1-3 innings of a 9-4 loss to Kansas City last Sunday, his shortest outing of the year.
J.J. Putz pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 11 chances.
Kelvim Escobar (5-7) lost his fifth start in a row, again getting little offensive support.
Twins 7, Orioles 5, 12 innings
At Minneapolis, Justin Morneau's second homer of the game, a two-run walkoff shot with two outs in the 12th inning gave Minnesota a win over Baltimore.
Morneau also hit a three-run homer, giving him five RBIs for the game. His 437-foot off Bruce Chen (0-6) came on a 2-0 pitch after Nick Punto singled with two outs.
It was Morneau's third multihomer game this season.
Joe Nathan (4-0) pitched two innings for the victory.
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