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.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
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