The Toronto Blue Jays beat Kansas City 7-1 in a match-up of the two lowest-scoring teams in the American League on Friday, inflicting the Royals’ fifth straight loss.
Starting pitcher Roy Halladay threw his majors-leading fifth complete game to record the win.
The light-hitting Marco Scutaro connected for two-run singles in his first two at-bats, matching a career high with four RBIs.
PHOTO: AP
Yankees 13, Mariners 2
In New York, Andy Pettitte struck out nine batters to win for the first time in more than a month as New York beat Seattle.
Shelley Duncan hit a go-ahead, three-run homer and the Yankees put together an eight-run fifth inning to blow the game open.
Mariners manager John McLaren was ejected in the second inning, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi was missing, too, due to a one-game suspension after a similar confrontation with an umpire the previous day.
Rays 2, Orioles 0
In St. Petersburg, Florida, pitcher Matt Garza took a four-hitter into the eighth inning as Tampa Bay shut down Baltimore.
Carl Crawford snapped a scoreless tie with a fifth-inning single for the Rays.
The Orioles have been shut out two of the past three games and were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. They’ve been outscored 12-1 during a three-game losing streak and haven’t homered in 28-and-one-third innings.
Twins 9, Tigers 4
In Detroit, Kevin Slowey pitched seven shutout innings as Minnesota upset Detroit.
The Tigers, last in the Central Division after a slow start, scored 30 runs in a three-game sweep of Seattle, but Slowey pushed them back into a slump.
Slowey gave up four hits and three walks in six innings for his first win this season after four losses.
Angels 3, White Sox 1
In Chicago, Los Angeles brought an end to Chicago’s eight-game winning streak.
Angels starter Joe Saunders took a shutout into the ninth inning and Torii Hunter homered in the fifth for the visitors.
Saunders recorded his eighth win, and is emerging as a star after splitting the past two seasons between the majors and minors. He has needed just 10 starts to match last year’s win total and moved into a tie with Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka for the AL lead in victories.
Rangers 13, Indians 9
In Cleveland, the home side lost its seventh in a row and lost pitcher Fausto Carmona to injury against Texas.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit his first career grand slam and the Rangers got seven runs in the third inning when Carmona was replaced after straining his left hip on a fielding play. He will be assessed on a day-to-day basis.
Athletics 8, Red Sox 3
In Oakland, California, Boston’s seven-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of Oakland.
Veteran slugger Frank Thomas hit a two-run homer to stake pitcher Rich Harden to an early lead and Mark Ellis added a three-run shot.
Harden didn’t allow a hit until the fourth on the way to winning back-to-back starts.
Thomas hit the first pitch he saw in the third for his seventh home run, then Ellis hit his fourth homer of the year in the third.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
Carlos Zambrano had four hits to go with a stellar seven innings on the mound and Reed Johnson hit a three-run home run and two doubles as the Chicago Cubs drubbed the Pittsburgh Pirates again 12-3 on Friday.
The Cubs, who lead the National League Central, are 9-1 against their division rival this season.
Zambrano (7-1) gave up two runs and six hits, and his four-hit game was the first by a Cubs pitcher since Lew Burdette on July 23, 1964. His 4-for-5 elevated his average to .343, which is higher than any Pirates starting position player.
Zach Duke (2-3) was lifted after allowing 10 of the Cubs’ 18 hits and five runs.
Diamondbacks 11, Braves 1
At Atlanta, Doug Davis gave up only one run in seven innings and Arizona used a five-run first inning to roll past Atlanta.
Davis (2-1) was strong in his first major league start since April 8, giving up five hits. Doctors removed Davis’ cancerous thyroid gland on April 10 and declared him cancer-free this month.
Stephen Drew and Eric Byrnes hit homers and Chris Snyder added a two-run double in Arizona’s five-run first inning. Conor Jackson, Chris Young and Mark Reynolds also hit homers.
Atlanta’s Jo-Jo Reyes (2-2) gave up six hits and eight runs, seven earned, in five innings.
Giants 8, Marlins 2
At Miami, Barry Zito earned his first win of the season after eight straight losses, Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand hit consecutive home runs, and Jose Castillo also connected to help San Francisco win a third consecutive game.
Zito (1-8) allowed one run and three hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked four for his first victory since Sept.
30. He avoided becoming the first starter in franchise history to begin a season 0-9.
The 2002 AL Cy Young Award winner, Zito has been a bust in San Francisco since signing a US$126 million, seven-year contract before last season.
Scott Olsen (4-2) allowed seven runs and eight hits in his shortest outing of the season for Florida.
Nationals 5, Brewers 1
At Washington, Milwaukee shortstop J.J. Hardy’s error was turned into four unearned runs in the sixth inning to give Brian Sanches a win in his Washington debut.
The Nationals sent six men to the plate after Hardy bobbled Cristian Guzman’s routine double-play bouncer in the sixth inning, breaking a 1-1 tie and making a hard-luck loser out of Brewers starter Jeff Suppan (2-4).
Sanches (1-0), promoted earlier in the day from Triple-A Columbus, struck out the side while allowing one hit in the sixth.
His one inning of work was enough to earn him his second major league victory — the first came last year with Philadelphia.
Astros 4, Phillies 3
At Houston, Jose Valverde earned a save after getting struck in the face with a line drive and Hunter Pence hit two homers for Houston.
Valverde earned his 15th save in 18 chances after Pedro Feliz smacked a liner off his face. The closer allowed four hits and two runs in an eventful ninth, before Shane Victorino flew out to center with runners on second and third to end it.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set