Andrew Miller limited the Arizona Diamondbacks to five hits in seven innings as the Florida Marlins won 4-0 to complete a three-game sweep in a showdown of first-place National League teams on Thursday.
The series was the most impressive yet by the Marlins. The team with MLB’s lowest payroll built its improbable NL East lead with the help of a weak early schedule, but there was nothing fluky about the way they dispatched NL West leader Arizona.
Miller (4-3) had a career-high nine strikeouts, walked one and allowed only one runner to reach second base. Miller had an ERA of 9.12 on May 1, but it’s down to 5.33, and he has won four of his past five decisions.
PHOTO: AP
The Diamondbacks arrived in Miami with the best record in the big leagues, but they totaled only 17 hits in the three games and were outscored 10-3. The shutout was the first against them this season.
The Marlins, last in the majors in fielding, committed no errors in the series and repeatedly came through with clutch hits.
Wes Helms drove in two runs with a pinch-hit double to chase Dan Haren, and Jorge Cantu also drove in two runs. Haren (5-3) allowed eight hits and four runs in 6 1-3 innings.
Braves 4, Mets 2
At Atlanta, Chipper Jones’ single drove in the go-ahead run during a three-run seventh inning against Johan Santana, and Atlanta beat New York behind Tim Hudson to complete its first four-game sweep of the Mets in five years.
Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado homered on consecutive pitches from Hudson in the second inning. But Santana (5-3) couldn’t hold the 2-0 lead while giving up a career-high 12 hits and four runs, three earned, in seven innings.
In other games it was:
• Pirates 8, Brewers 4
• Phillies 7, Astros 5
• Padres 8, Reds 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, BOSTON
J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell hit grand slams to help Daisuke Matsuzaka remain unbeaten as the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 11-8 to sweep their seven-game homestand in the American League on Thursday.
Drew and Lowell were the first Red Sox to hit slams in the same game at Fenway Park since Tony Armas and Bill Buckner on Aug. 7, 1984. The last time Boston had two slams in a game was when the switch-hitting Bill Mueller hit both — one from each side — at Texas on July 29, 2003.
Matsuzaka (8-0) gave up three runs on six hits, walked six, struck out seven and threw two wild pitches while becoming the AL’s first eight-game winner.
Brian Bannister (4-6), who allowed seven runs on 12 hits, couldn’t work his daytime magic against the hot Red Sox.
Rangers 8, Twins 7, 10 innings
At Minneapolis, Josh Hamilton hit a two-out homer in the 10th inning to lift Texas.
Hamilton’s drive into the left-field seats against Brian Bass gave him 12 homers, matching Chicago’s Carlos Quentin for the AL lead. Hamilton went 2-for-4 and moved past Minnesota’s Joe Mauer for the best average in the league, .335. He has 53 RBIs, too, by far the most in the majors.
Joaquin Benoit (3-1) loaded the bases in the eighth and surrendered a two-run single to Justin Morneau that tied the game at 7, but he settled down for a scoreless ninth and the victory.
Tigers 9, Mariners 2
At Detroit, Brandon Inge and Matt Joyce homered, and Detroit scored 30 runs in a sweep of Seattle.
Jeremy Bonderman (3-4) won for the first time in four May starts, allowing two runs and eight hits with two walks in six innings.
Miguel Batista (3-6) gave up five runs — four earned — on seven hits in three innings.
In other games it was:
• White Sox 3, Indians 1
• Blue Jays 4, Angels 3
• Yankees 2, Orioles 1
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