AMERICAN LEAGUE
A.J. Burnett pitched six innings without giving up a hit before his offense broke open a close game in the New York Yankees’ 7-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday.
Burnett (2-0), who joined the Yankees as a free agent from Toronto, kept the American League champions scoreless until the seventh, when the Rays had three consecutive singles to score their two runs. The right-hander struck out nine and walked one.
PHOTO: AFP
“He was pretty solid for eight innings,” Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria, who was struck out twice by Burnett, told reporters. “It’s tough as a hitter to give in and tip your hat to a guy, but give credit where credit is due.”
New York’s Mark Teixeira broke the 2-2 deadlock with a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the eighth before the Yankees scored four runs in the ninth, with Derek Jeter hitting a two-out three-run homer.
Nick Swisher also homered for the Yankees, who lost to the Rays 15-5 on Monday.
Tampa Bay did not have a hit until Carl Crawford led off the seventh with the first of three consecutive singles. Carlos Pena, with the third single, made it a 2-1 game and Pat Burrell followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the score.
Burnett, who pitched a no-hitter in 2001, admitted he had been hoping for another.
“Everybody was thinking about it, even me,” Burnett said. “I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t. I was putting the ball where I wanted to. It definitely could have happened, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
ATHLETICS 6, RED SOX 5, 12 INNINGS
At Oakland, California, Boston starter Daisuke Matsuzaka was withdrawn after just one inning of the Red Sox’s loss to the Oakland Athletics, with arm fatigue blamed for his concession of five runs on five hits.
The Japanese right-hander faced 10 batters in the shortest start of his career and allowed four singles, a double and two walks, Major League Baseball’s official Web site, mlb.com, said.
He was unable to strike out a batter in the 43-pitch outing and although Boston (2-6) fought back to tie the game, the visitors were edged out in the 12th inning.
Matsuzaka’s last performance was also below par when he pitched five-and-a-third innings in last Thursday’s 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay, giving up nine hits and four runs in that game.
The Japanese ace started three games in his country’s World Baseball Classic victory last month and was named MVP for the tournament.
In Tuesday’s other games it was:
• Mariners 3, Angels 2, 10 innings
• Twins 3, Blue Jays 2, 11 innings
• Royals 9, Indians 3
• Orioles 7, Rangers 5, 10 innings
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Dan Uggla drove in three runs and Chris Volstad and two relievers combined on a four-hitter as the Florida Marlins beat the Atlanta Braves 5-1 on Tuesday night.
The Marlins are a major league-best 6-1 — all against NL East opponents — for their best start since opening 8-1 in 1997, when they won the World Series.
Volstad (2-0) gave up three hits and one run in seven innings. He struck out four and walked two while lowering his ERA to 1.50. He has allowed only five hits in 12 innings.
Uggla drove in two runs with a third-inning single off Javier Vazquez (0-1), who struck out 12 in six innings.
Kelly Johnson led off the fourth with his third homer for Atlanta’s first hit off Volstad. Leo Nunez and Matt Lindstrom each pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Volstad.
D’BACKS 7, CARDINALS 6, 10 INNINGS
At Phoenix, Eric Byrnes broke out of a slump with a two-out RBI single in the 10th inning that gave Arizona a victory over St Louis.
Long after the Cardinals lost starting pitcher Chris Carpenter to a ribcage injury, Byrnes, who had one hit in his first 17 at-bats, lined the first delivery from Brad Thompson (0-1) into left field to score Justin Upton, who had snapped out of an 0-for-15 slide with a single and reached third with two outs.
REDS 6, BREWERS 1
At Milwaukee, Bronson Arroyo allowed four hits in six-plus innings, leading Cincinnati to a convincing win.
Arroyo (2-0) was bothered by a flare-up of carpal tunnel syndrome during spring training and didn’t look particularly sharp in winning his first outing of the season. But this time he gave up his only run on a homer by J.J. Hardy.
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