INTERLEAGUE PLAY
Vicente Padilla won his pitching duel with Dan Haren to help the Texas Rangers snap a five-game losing streak with a gritty 2-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
The Rangers right-hander worked his way through seven innings to win his third successive decision, while Haren posted his first loss after eight straight victories in interleague play despite striking out eight and allowing a miserly four hits.
PHOTO: AP
“Having five losses in a row, getting the win is the best thing that could happen for us,” Padilla told reporters after lowering his ERA to 2.16 over his last four starts. “I’ve been working a lot and working hard, and it pays off.”
Taylor Teagarden and David Murphy made it 2-0 with RBI hits in the second and third innings respectively as the Rangers (38-32) kept pace in the American League West, where they are tied at the top with the Los Angeles Angels.
Felipe Lopez was 2-for-3 with an RBI single in the fifth for the D-Backs (30-42), who finished just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew led off the eighth with a double but Rangers reliever Frank Francisco got three straight outs before C.J. Wilson came on to close out the game in the ninth.
Haren lost for the first time since May 12, a span of seven starts, and fell to 11-3 in interleague competition where he has been almost unbeatable.
It was a much needed win for the Rangers, who have struggled offensively of late with slugger Josh Hamilton sidelined because of an abdominal injury.
Padilla delivered a timely performance that included 109 pitches and three strikeouts. He walked two batters while squeezing out of a few jams to limit the D-Backs to just one run.
BREWERS 4, TWINS 3
At Milwaukee, Jason Kendall hit a two-out double in the eighth inning to tie the game before scoring the winner on the same play in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
Twins starter Nick Blackburn (6-3) scattered nine hits through 7 2-3 innings and had a 3-2 lead when he allowed a single to J.J. Hardy. Kendall hit a ball off the wall in left-center and Brendan Harris’ relay throw to the plate skipped past catcher Joe Mauer. Blackburn, backing up the play, threw to third trying to get Kendall, but the ball sailed away from Joe Crede, allowing Kendall to score easily.
The Brewers, who had lost 10 of 14, snapped a season-high four-game losing streak.
ANGELS 11, ROCKIES 3
At Anaheim, California, Vladimir Guerrero ended a 28-game home run drought and had three RBIs, and Bobby Abreu drove in three runs with a homer and a double as the Angels beat Colorado.
Joe Saunders (8-4) allowed a run and four hits in six-plus innings, including a solo homer to Garrett Atkins leading off the seventh. He struck out six and walked one and improved to 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA in eight interleague starts.
In other interleague games it was:
• Giants 6, Athletics 3
• Mariners 4, Padres 3
• Red Sox 6, Nationals 4
• Tigers 5, Cubs 3
• White Sox 10, Dodgers 7
• Yankees 8, Braves 4
• Pirates 10, Indians 6
• Blue Jays 8, Reds 2
• Rays 7, Phillies 1
• Royals 4, Astros 3, 11 innings
• Marlins 5, Orioles 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, NEW YORK
Fernando Nieve pitched six scoreless innings to extend his improbable stint with the New York Mets, while recent callup Nick Evans hit a two-run homer in an 11-0 shutout of St Louis.
David Wright tied a career best with four hits and Ryan Church had three hits and two RBIs in his first start this season as the Mets’ cleanup hitter.
Evans had two of the Mets’ 16 hits.
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