Johnny Damon homered and doubled twice to help Mike Mussina win his third straight start in the New York Yankees’ 6-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.
One day after co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said he was “disappointed with the way the season has gone,” the Yankees (16-16) rapped out 13 hits and beat Seattle for the second consecutive day following a three-game sweep by the Detroit Tigers in New York.
Damon scored three times and Mussina (4-3) outpitched Felix Hernandez (2-2), 17 years his junior, for his 254th win.
PHOTO: AP
Blue Jays 5, White Sox 2
In Toronto, Vernon Wells drove in three runs and Marco Scutaro homered to lead the Blue Jays.
Jesse Litsch (4-1) gave up two runs and five hits in 7 1-3 innings for Toronto, which has won three straight after losing eight of nine. Wells went 3-for-5 with three singles.
Chicago’s Jermaine Dye ended an 0-for-15 skid with a solo home run in the seventh, snapping a streak of 24 2-3 consecutive scoreless innings by Blue Jays pitchers.
John Danks (2-3) gave up two runs and seven hits in 4 2-3 innings for the White Sox, who have lost a season-high four.
Angels 3, Orioles 1
At Anaheim, California, Jon Garland pitched three-hit ball for eight innings, Gary Matthews Jr. drove in two runs and the Angels won with slumping slugger Vladimir Guerrero on the bench.
Only four Orioles reached base against Garland (4-3), who allowed one run and retired 18 of his last 19 batters. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th save.
Los Angeles pulled ahead 2-1 with a pair of runs in the seventh against Daniel Cabrera (2-1).
AP, PHOENIX, ARIZONA
Brandon Webb became the majors’ first seven-game winner, Augie Ojeda drove in a career-high six runs and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Mets 10-4 Saturday.
Webb (7-0) matched Randy Johnson in 2000 for the fastest start by a Diamondbacks pitcher.
On the day he was selected NL pitcher of the month for April, Webb went six innings, allowing a season-high four runs. He gave up five hits, walked two and struck out three.
Mike Pelfrey (2-2) gave up five runs and nine hits in five innings with four walks and a strikeout.
Cubs 9, Cardinals 3
At St. Louis, Ted Lilly (2-4) worked seven solid innings, recorded his 1,000th strikeout and added his second career extra-base hit to lead Chicago.
Mike Fontenot hit a three-run homer and had a career-best four RBIs for Chicago, which finished with 12 hits and won for only the third time in nine games. Geovany Soto had a two-run double in a six-run fourth.
Kyle Lohse (3-1) faced 10 batters in the fourth and allowed eight runs overall in six-plus innings.
Albert Pujols hit his sixth homer for St. Louis and has reached base in all 31 games, two shy of his career-best start in 2005.
Nationals 9, Pirates 8
At Washington, Cristian Guzman tied a career high with six RBIs, including a tiebreaking three-run double in the sixth inning, and the Washington Nationals held off the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-8 on Saturday.
Guzman went 4-for-5 and scored two runs for the Nationals, who have won five of six. He also had six RBIs on June 24, 2001, for Minnesota at Detroit.
Guzman got Washington off to a fast start with a two-run homer off Paul Maholm (2-3) in the first inning. Jose Bautista homered and drove in three runs for the Pirates.
Washington pushed across four runs in the sixth inning to take a 9-5 lead.
Jesus Colome (1-1) got five outs and Jon Rauch worked the ninth for his seventh save in nine opportunities.
Maholm, who pitched a two-hitter in his last start April 27, gave up seven runs and 10 hits in five-plus innings.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite