The New York Yankees opened Major League Baseball’s newest and priciest ballpark with an embarrassing 10-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians on Thursday.
After an 85-year-run in a stadium that produced 26 World Series titles, New York saw their hitters fizzle and the bullpen come apart on a sunny afternoon.
Jhonny Peralta broke a seventh-inning tie with a two-run double off Jose Veras and Grady Sizemore hit a grand slam into the right-field seats off Damaso Marte. By the time Victor Martinez’s solo homer capped the nine-run burst, angry fans who paid up to US$2,625 for a ticket were taunting the Yankees and owner George Steinbrenner went indoors.
PHOTO: AP
C.C. Sabathia, who signed a US$161 million, seven-year contract, left after 122 pitches and five-and-two-third innings with the score at 1-1 in his first start against his former team. Cleveland’s Cliff Lee allowed one run and seven hits in six innings in a match-up of the last two American League Cy Young Award winners.
Jorge Posada hit the first home run in the new ballpark, but the Yankees stranded 10 runners in the first five innings.
WHITE SOX 3, RAYS 2
PHOTO: REUTERS
In St Petersburgh, Florida, John Danks pitched six strong innings and Jermaine Dye hit a two-run homer to lead Chicago past Tampa Bay.
Danks (1-0) limited the American League champions to two hits and had a shutout until Carlos Pena homered with one out in the sixth. Dioner Navarro had the other hit off the left-hander, a two-out single in the second inning.
Dye homered off Jeff Niemann (0-2) in the second. The White Sox wasted several opportunities to break the game open against the right-hander, including the sixth, when they loaded the bases with one out and failed to score.
BLUE JAYS 9, TWINS 2
In Minneapolis, Roy Halladay reared back and stifled the Twins again for seven dominant innings as Toronto breezed past Minnesota.
Lead-off man Marco Scutaro hustled home for a first-inning run off Francisco Liriano (0-3) and broke the game open with a two-run shot in a seven-run seventh highlighted by Kevin Millar’s fourth career grand slam. Halladay improved to 8-0 with a 2.77 ERA in his career against the Twins.
Toronto won three of four in the series and have taken 12 of the past 13 from Minnesota. Halladay (3-0) allowed eight hits and struck out eight without a walk. The right-hander allowed one run in the second inning via a fielder’s choice grounder.
ANGELS 5, MARINERS 1
In Seattle, Joe Saunders stopped Seattle’s early season joyride by allowing three hits and a run in seven innings and Mike Napoli hit a go-ahead, two-run single in a five-run sixth for Los Angeles.
Saunders’ silencing of a lineup missing Ken Griffey Jr for the third time this season dampened Seattle’s celebration of Ichiro Suzuki breaking the record for hits by a Japanese player.
The eight-time All-Star and Golden Glove outfielder broke the record of Isao Harimoto with a characteristically sharp single in the fourth, a one-hop smash into right field off Saunders (2-1) for his 3,086th hit. Harimoto, who played 23 seasons in Japan, smiled and flashed a thumbs-up sign from the box seats. Ichiro tipped his batting helmet to the cheering home crowd.
Seattle (7-3) tied their best start after 10 games in franchise history.
Cody Ross hit a three-run homer to snap out of an early slump as the Florida Marlins finished off their first three-game sweep in Atlanta with a 6-2 victory over the Braves in the National League on Thursday.
Ross finished with three hits and four RBIs after beginning the day with a .115 average, helping Florida get off to their best start in 12 years at 8-1.
The Marlins outscored the Braves 21-7 in the series.
Anibal Sanchez (1-0) gave up eight hits and two runs in six innings to give Kenshin Kawakami (1-1) his first loss. Kawakami allowed five hits and five runs, four earned, in six innings.
CARDINALS 7, CUBS 4
In Chicago, Chris Duncan atoned for some shoddy defense with a homer and three RBIs and Yadier Molina drove in the go-ahead run in a St Louis victory.
Duncan’s two-run homer in the fourth gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead — and made up for his infamously feeble fielding. Duncan dropped a routine fly to get pitcher Adam Wainwright in trouble in the sixth and failed to catch a pop-up that led to the Cubs’ first-inning run. Wainwright (2-0) labored through six innings, allowing four runs on six hits.
Milton Bradley, who had been on his best behavior since signing a US$30 million contract with Chicago, argued a called third strike as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded in the sixth inning and was ejected by umpire Larry Vanover.
ASTROS 6, PIRATES 3
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Lance Berkman’s go-ahead, three-run homer in the sixth inning helped Houston overcome an early two-run deficit.
Hunter Pence added a solo home run as the Astros won the final two games of the three-game series. Before that, they had lost five straight during a 1-6 start, their worst in 25 seasons.
DODGERS 7, GIANTS 2
In Los Angeles, Rafael Furcal hit a lead-off home run as Los Angeles beat San Francisco for their fifth straight win.
Eric Stults (2-0) allowed two runs and five hits, Casey Blake and pitch-hitter Doug Mientkiewicz each had two RBIs and Matt Kemp hit a run-scoring triple, helping send San Francisco to their sixth straight loss.
Three-time All-Star Barry Zito (0-2) had another rough start, allowing six runs over five-plus innings on four hits and four walks. He also hit two batters and struck out four.
NATIONALS 8, PHILLIES 2
In Washington, Adam Dunn hit one of Washington’s four homers and Shairon Martis threw six-and-a-third solid innings as Washington beat Philadelphia to avoid setting a club record for most consecutive losses to start a season. Washington are 1-7.
Martis (1-0) gave up two runs and five hits.
PADRES 6, METS 5
In New York, Chase Headley tied a career high with four hits as San Diego beat New York to win their first regular-season series at Citi Field.
Jake Peavy settled down after allowing Carlos Delgado’s long three-run homer in the first and surprising San Diego held on for their sixth win in seven games. Former Mets reliever Heath Bell pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save in five chances.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite