American LeagueMariano Rivera earned his 400th save, escaping two jams and getting six outs to preserve the New York Yankees' 6-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run homer, and Derek Jeter connected for the first time in two months, giving New York an early lead against Freddy Garcia (10-6).
Jaret Wright (6-5) got into the sixth inning and sent the Yankees to their first series sweep of the White Sox since May 2002.
PHOTO: AP
Rivera became the fourth major league pitcher to reach 400 saves. He has 21 this season.
The World Series champion White Sox have dropped five of six to the Boston Red Sox and Yankees.
Twins 5, Indians 2
At Minneapolis, Carlos Silva threw six smooth innings, Rondell White hit his first home run of the season in his first game back from the disabled list, and Minnesota defeated Cleveland.
Luis Castillo and Michael Cuddyer also homered and Jason Tyner drove in two runs for the Twins, who won the last three of the four-game series. Tyner has five RBIs and six hits in 12 at-bats since being called up.
Orioles 4, Rangers 0
At Baltimore, Miguel Tejada and Nick Markakis homered, Melvin Mora had three hits, and Rodrigo Lopez led a strong pitching performance that carried Baltimore past suddenly punchless Texas.
Lopez (6-10) gave up five hits and a walk in 5 2-3 innings to earn his first win in four starts since June 23. Texas has gone 23 straight innings without scoring an earned run.
Royals 9, Tigers 6
At Detroit, Joey Gathright drove in four runs, Scott Elarton pitched six effective innings and Kansas City beat Detroit for the first time this season.
Emil Brown also drove in two runs for Kansas City, which had lost 11 straight games against Detroit this year. The Tigers' 10-game home winning streak was also snapped.
Marcus Thames homered twice and drove in five runs, and Carlos Guillen hit a home run for the Tigers, who own Major League Baseball's best record at 62-30.
Blue Jays 4, Mariners 3, 11 innings
At Toronto, Frank Catalanotto singled in the winning run in the 11th inning to lift Toronto over Seattle.
Toronto, which also beat Seattle in 14 innings on Saturday, improved to 5-0 in extra innings this season despite a rare blown save by closer B.J. Ryan.
The winning rally came against George Sherrill (2-2). Scott Downs (4-0) pitched two innings for the victory.
Athletics 8, Red Sox 1
At Boston, Joe Blanton held Boston to five hits in seven innings and Mark Kotsay went 4-for-5 with three RBIs to lead Oakland over Boston.
The A's took three of four from Boston.
Blanton (9-8) allowed just Alex Gonzalez's solo homer in the fifth.
Kyle Snyder (1-1), making his second start for Boston since being claimed on waivers last month, cruised through four shutout innings but couldn't make it out of the fifth -- allowing five runs and eight hits.
National League
AP, CINCINNATI
Rich Aurilia's pinch-hit, bases-loaded single in the bottom of the eighth inning rallied the Cincinnati Reds over Colorado 6-4 on Sunday and a four-game sweep of the fading Rockies.
Aurilia's two-run single off Jose Mesa (0-3) sparked the Reds' second straight late comeback against Colorado's rickety bullpen, the Rockies' main problem during their recent slide.
They have lost a season-high seven straight. Colorado hadn't been swept in a four-game series in Cincinnati since 1993. The Rockies are 2-11 in four seasons at Great American Ball Park, where they've lost nine in a row.
Todd Coffey (4-4) pitched the eighth to get the win. New closer Eddie Guardado gave up Clint Barmes' solo homer in the ninth but earned his third save in the series.
Marlins 9, Astros 3
At Miami, Hanley Ramirez and Wes Helms each homered and drove in three runs to help Florida beat Houston.
Jeremy Hermida and Mike Jacobs also homered for the Marlins, who salvaged a split of the four-game series. Scott Olsen (7-4) allowed three runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings to get his first win since June 16.
Cardinals 11, Dodgers 3
At St. Louis, Albert Pujols was 4-for-5 with three RBIs and St. Louis beat up on All-Star starter Brad Penny and Los Angeles.
Anthony Reyes (2-3) worked five solid innings and fellow rookie Chris Duncan had his second straight three-hit game for the Cardinals, who swept a four-game series from the Dodgers for the first time since winning a pair of doubleheaders on July 7-8, 1987.
St. Louis has won seven in a row, the team's best streak since a nine-game run in 2004.
Nationals 8, Pirates 4, 11 innings
At Pittsburgh, Nick Johnson drove in two runs with a tiebreaking double in the 11th inning and Washington avoided a second consecutive series sweep by rallying against Pittsburgh.
Washington ended a five-game losing streak by scoring four runs -- one earned -- off Roberto Hernandez (0-3) in the 11th.
The Nationals came back from a 3-0 deficit on Alfonso Soriano's 29th homer and pinch-hitter Alex Escobar's tying two-run drive as starter Livan Hernandez and five relievers held the Pirates to a run over the last 10 innings. Soriano has five homers in 10 games.
Braves 10, Padres 5
At San Diego, Chipper Jones hit a two-run homer to give him an extra-base hit in 14 straight games, tying a 79-year-old big league record, and Atlanta roughed up Jake Peavy and completed a three-game sweep of NL West-leading San Diego.
Phillies 6, Giants 2
At San Francisco, Brett Myers allowed Barry Bonds' 721st homer while pitching seven solid innings in his first start back from a leave of absence, and Philadelphia rallied for four runs in the eighth inning.
Myers (6-3) allowed five hits and struck out seven, looking sharp after sitting out nearly three weeks while facing assault charges for allegedly hitting his wife.
David Bell hit a tying homer in the seventh and added a run-scoring triple in the eighth for the Phillies, who took two of three from San Francisco to win consecutive series for the first time since May.
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