Alex Rodriguez drove in two runs, Andy Pettitte breezed through eight innings and the New York Yankees won their ninth straight game, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-1 in interleague baseball on Thursday.
Pettitte (4-4) gave up a run and four hits. He retired 10 straight batters in the middle innings and kept out of trouble -- Arizona was hitless in its only two at-bats with runners in scoring position and 0-for-13 in the series.
Rodriguez drew a bases-loaded walk in the first inning, doubled home a run in the third and added two singles. He has 21 RBIs in his last nine games and 68 RBIs overall.
PHOTO: AP
Hideki Matsui drove in three runs.
Doug Davis (4-8) took the loss.
Angels 9, Reds 7
At Cincinnati, Vladimir Guerrero's bases-loaded single in the seventh inning helped Los Angeles move to 42-25, the best start in franchise history.
Bartolo Colon (6-2) got the win despite trailing when he left the game after the sixth.
Promising rookie Homer Bailey turned a 5-3 lead over to the bullpen after walking the first two batters in the seventh. Gary Majewski (0-1) walked Orlando Cabrera to force in a run, then gave up Guerrero's two-run single. Casey Kotchman and Jose Molina added RBI singles off Mike Stanton to complete the decisive rally.
Francisco Rodriguez earned his American League-leading 21st save in 22 chances.
Brewers 6, Tigers 5
At Detroit, Ben Sheets became the second pitcher in Milwaukee history with 1,000 career strikeouts, helping the Brewers win a road series for the first time since late April.
Sheets (7-3) struck out seven, giving him 1,003 since his major league debut in 2001. Teddy Higuera has the franchise record with 1,081 strikeouts from 1985 to 1994.
Sheets gave up three runs, eight hits and three walks over five-and-two-thirds innings.
Francisco Cordero yielded two singles to start the ninth inning and Magglio Ordonez hit a double off the right-center wall to pull Detroit within two runs. Sean Casey's RBI groundout made it 6-5, before Cordero struck out Craig Monroe and Mike Rabelo for his major league-leading 24th save.
Chad Durbin (5-3) lasted three-and-two-thirds innings, allowed eight hits and gave up two runs.
Padres 7, Devil Rays 1
At St. Petersburg, Florida, Justin Germano won his fifth straight decision, helping first-place San Diego remain atop the National League West Division.
Germano (5-0) allowed three hits in six innings, walked one and struck out four. The 24-year-old rookie right-hander, who has a 2.36 ERA, was supported by an unearned run in the first and six more runs in the last two innings.
Germano and Heath Bell limited Tampa Bay to a double and two singles until Jonny Gomes homered off Doug Brocail with one out in the eighth.
Cubs 5, Mariners 4
At Chicago, Cesar Izturis hit a two-run double in the eighth as Chicago denied Jeff Weaver his first victory for Seattle.
Weaver, winless in six decisions with a 12.46 ERA entering the game, gave up 10 hits in six strong innings and was staked to a 4-3 lead heading into the eighth.
But reliever Brandon Morrow (3-1) conceded Izturis' liner down the left field line which put the Cubs ahead.
Bob Howry (3-3) got the final four outs for the win.
Athletics 6, Astros 5
At Houston, Jason Kendall hit the go-ahead RBI single in the 11th inning to help Oakland win for the 10th time in 12 games.
Back-to-back singles by Bobby Crosby and pinch hitter Kurt Suzuki set up the game-winner, a line drive to left field off Brian Moehler (0-2). It was the first major league hit for Suzuki, who was called up from Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday.
Santiago Casilla pitched a perfect 11th for his second save in two tries. He hasn't allowed a run in eight appearances since joining the team from Triple-A on June 3. Alan Embree (1-0) got the win after pitching two scoreless innings.
Rangers 6, Pirates 0
At Pittsburgh, Kameron Loe threw eight shutout innings and Gerald Laird, Jerry Hairston, Jr and Travis Metcalf homered for Texas, which snapped a three-game losing streak.
Loe (2-6), called up from Triple-A Oklahoma, allowed five hits and three walks with a career-high seven strikeouts. Loe, who had never gone deeper than seven innings in an outing, did not permit a Pirate to reach third base.
Metcalf's first major league hit was a home run to left to lead off the sixth off Pittsburgh starter Tom Gorzelanny (6-4).
Nationals 3, Orioles 1
At Baltimore, Ryan Zimmerman singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning to back Jason Simontacchi's best start of the season and Washington completed a three-game sweep of slumping Baltimore.
Ryan Langerhans and Felipe Lopez also drove in runs for the Nationals, who have won five of six. It was Washington's second sweep of the season, its first on the road since June last year in Milwaukee.
Simontacchi (4-4) allowed one run, nine hits and four walks in seven-plus innings. Chad Cordero worked a perfect ninth for his 10th save.
Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie allowed one run and four hits in seven innings. The rookie has a 1.71 ERA in nine starts this season, but is 2-1 with six no-decisions in those games.
Rockies 7, Red Sox 1
At Boston, Garrett Atkins went 3-for-5 with a grand slam, Kaz Matsui added three hits and Boston's Josh Beckett lost for the first time this season.
Beckett (9-1) allowed six runs and 10 hits with a walk and a strikeout in five innings and left trailing 6-0.
Colorado is 6-1-0 in its last seven games and has won a franchise-record four straight series on the road.
Jeff Francis (6-5) pitched five shutout innings, allowing seven hits and two walks while striking out two.
The Rockies outscored the Red Sox 20-5 in winning two out of three in Boston.
Indians 3, Marlins 2
At Miami, Jason Stanford carried a shutout into the seventh inning in his first game in the majors since April 2004 and Cleveland held on for the win.
Stanford (1-0) allowed six hits and one run while striking out seven in six-plus innings for his second major league win -- the other was Sept. 26, 2003. He retired 10 straight at one point, capping his return from elbow reconstruction surgery three years ago.
Victor Martinez hit a home run, doubled and scored twice and Casey Blake singled in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to 23 games for Cleveland.
Joe Borowski pitched out of trouble for his 19th save in 21 chances.
Marlins starter Dontrelle Willis (7-6) allowed two runs and eight hits in seven innings while striking out eight.
Twins 3, Braves 2
At Minneapolis, Mike Redmond capped a three-run rally in the ninth inning with an RBI single for Minnesota against Atlanta closer Bob Wickman, ruining a strong start by Tim Hudson.
Hudson dominated for seven innings and Rafael Soriano recorded the last two outs in the eighth.
But the Twins hit a bunch of bouncers to scrape together a wild rally in the ninth inning against Wickman (1-2).
Johan Santana avoided his third straight defeat, but has still only received more than three runs of support in four of his 14 starts this year. Santana struck out nine batters and gave up only five hits in seven innings.
Royals 17, Cardinals 8
At Kansas City, Missouri, Mark Teahen had two triples and five RBIs, Tony Pena Jr had four hits and Kansas City got its first series win at home against St. Louis in six years.
Thirteen batters went to the plate in the eight-run second inning and 10 batted in the six-run fourth for Kansas City.
The Royals have averaged 9.57 runs in their seven wins this month. In six losses, they average 1.5 runs.
David DeJesus and Emil Brown both had three RBIs and Alex Gordon homered for the second night in a row.
Kip Wells (2-11), who leads the majors in losses, was charged with six runs on three hits and four walks in 1 1-3 innings.
Royals starter Scott Elarton was almost equally ineffective, lasting only two-plus innings and allowing six runs and five hits with three walks. Reliever Zack Greinke (4-4) pitched four innings and gave up a run and four hits for the win.
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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