AMERICAN LEAGUE
Cliff Lee became Cleveland’s first 20-game winner in 34 years, pitching a five-hitter for his second career shutout to lead the Indians to a 5-0 win over the Chicago White Sox in the American League on Monday.
Lee (20-2) is the first Indians pitcher to reach 20 wins since Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry went 21-13 in 1974. The left-hander’s milestone win — his ninth straight victory — came exactly one year to the day that he was recalled from the minor leagues.
PHOTO: AP
With a chance to join Perry as well as Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Bob Lemon in Cleveland’s record book as 20-game winners, Lee shut down the hard-hitting, Central-leading White Sox with ease. He gave up two singles to open the first and then retired 21 in row.
Choo Shin-soo had three hits and an RBI for Cleveland.
YANKEES 13, TIGERS 9
PHOTO: AP
At Detroit, Alex Rodriguez’s four RBIs helped New York build the huge cushion it needed in a win over Detroit.
Rodriguez sparked the scoring barrage with a two-run single in the first inning and added a RBI in each of the next two frames for the Yankees to take an 11-2 lead, but they were ahead by just two runs following five innings after giving up homers to Gary Sheffield, Miguel Cabrera and Brandon Inge.
Derek Jeter drove in one of two runs in the sixth, padding the lead to 13-9 in the makeup game after a matchup in May was rained out.
RED SOX 7, ORIOLES 4
At Boston, Dustin Pedroia’s two-run single capped a four-run sixth inning, Paul Byrd pitched seven efficient innings and Boston beat the struggling Baltimore.
The Red Sox pulled to five games behind the idle Rays. Boston increased its lead to three games in the wild card race. Baltimore, swept in a three-game series at Tampa Bay over the weekend when its pitchers allowed 34 runs, lost for the ninth time in 10 games.
Garrett Olson (8-7) gave up six runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Byrd (10-11), making his fourth start for Boston since being acquired for a player to be named or cash from Cleveland on Aug. 12, gave up four runs and seven hits. Javier Lopez worked a perfect eighth before Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 35th save.
MARINERS 12, RANGERS 6
At Arlington, Texas, Adrian Beltre hit for the cycle and had five hits to help Seattle win its fourth straight game, beating Texas.
Beltre became the fourth Mariners player to hit for the cycle with an RBI triple off Josh Rupe in the eighth.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, PHOENIX, Arizona
Stephen Drew became the first player to hit for the cycle in Chase Field, and newly acquired David Eckstein singled home the winning run to help the Arizona Diamondbacks rally past the St. Louis Cardinals 8-6 on Monday.
Adam Dunn, Chris Young and Mark Reynolds also homered for the slumping Diamondbacks, who overcame a poor start by Randy Johnson.
Batting leadoff, Drew singled in the first, tripled in the third and homered in the fifth against St. Louis starter Joel Pineiro. He hit a ground-rule double in the seventh against reliever Kyle McClellan (2-7) as the Chase Field crowd rose for a standing ovation.
DODGERS 5, PADRES 2
At Los Angeles, Greg Maddux tied Roger Clemens for eighth place on the career list with his 354th victory, leading the Los Angeles Dongers past San Diego.
Maddux (7-11) allowed two runs and six hits, struck out four and walked none.
Chris Young (4-5) gave up four runs and six hits in five innings after being activated from the disabled list.
The Dodgers took a 3-1 lead in the second on a bloop RBI double by Angel Berroa and a run-scoring single by Maddux — his 84th career RBI and third this season.
ASTROS 3, CUBS 0
At Chicago, Roy Oswalt allowed four hits and came within two outs of a shutout as Houston ran its National League winning streak to six games.
Chicago has lost three straight, all at home — its first three-game skid at Wrigley Field since August last year.
In other games it was:
• Mets 4, Brewers 2
• Nationals 7, Phillies 4
• Rockies 4, Giants 0
• Marlins 4, Braves 3
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