INTERLEAGUE
AP AND REUTERS, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Tim Wakefield tied a franchise record for most games started and threw six shutout innings to lead the Boston Red Sox past the Atlanta Braves 1-0 on Saturday.
PHOTO: AFP
Wakefield allowed just three hits, striking out one and walking one, in his 382nd start for the Red Sox, which equaled Roger Clemens for most career starts in a Boston uniform.
“Just to be mentioned with the names that I’m mentioned with is pretty cool,” Wakefield told reporters. “It’s a testament to not only longevity and perseverance, but also the organization for keeping me around and giving me a chance to still pitch in a Red Sox uniform.”
The 42-year-old Wakefield (10-3) shows little sign of slowing down. He became the American League’s (AL) third 10-game winner, allowing just three singles against the struggling Braves.
“It feels really good to have 10 wins before the All-Star break,” Wakefield said.
Boston manager Terry Francona had nothing but praise for the veteran pitcher.
“He continues to pitch his rear end off,” Francona said. “He just keeps going out there and doing what he’s supposed to do. It’s fun to watch. I’m proud of him.”
Mark Kotsay drove in the lone run of the game with a sixth inning single off loser Javier Vazquez (5-7), who allowed just one run on six hits over 7-2/3 innings with eight strikeouts.
“We’ve got to keep our heads up and keep battling,” Vazquez said. “The guys are going to come out of this.”
The Braves have now lost four straight games to slip to a season-worst six games under the .500 mark at 34-40.
Boston (46-28) has the best record in the AL and second best mark in the majors and have held the Braves to just one run in the first two games of this series.
Manny Delcarmen got four outs and Justin Masterson two outs before Jonathan Papelbon pitched a scoreless ninth for his 131st career save, leaving him just one behind Bob Stanley for the team record.
PHILLIES 10, BLUE JAYS 0
At Toronto, J.A. Happ pitched a five-hit shutout, Jayson Werth homered twice and Philadelphia whitewashed Toronto.
In the first complete game of his career, Happ (5-0) won for the first time in four starts, helping the Phillies snap a three-game losing streak.
Werth’s two-run drive into the Bell Center upper deck was the first there in five years.
CARDINALS 5, TWINS 3
At St Louis, Albert Pujols hit a pair of two-run homers, helping St Louis pound Minnesota’s 10-game winner Kevin Slowey.
Pujols leads the majors with 28 homers and 74 RBIs after his 29th career multi-homer game, and sixth this season. Both homers came off Slowey (10-3). Pujols’ second long ball put the Cardinals ahead 5-3 in the third and helped see off Slowey, who matched his shortest outing of the season.
ANGELS 2, DIAMONDBACKS 1
At Phoenix, Mike Napoli hit a tiebreaking home run in the top of the ninth inning to lift Los Angeles over Arizona.
Napoli hit a one-out, 0-1 pitch from Chad Qualls (1-1) 130m to center field to give the Angels their fourth straight win and 11th in the last 14.
Los Angeles also improved their major league-best record in interleague play this season to 13-4. Arizona have lost four straight.
WHITE SOX 8, CUBS 7
At Chicago, Gordon Beckham singled in the winning run with two outs in the ninth and Scott Podsednik homered while tying a career high with four hits to lift the White Sox over the Cubs.
Bobby Jenks (2-2) retired the Cubs in the ninth before the White Sox pulled it out in the bottom half.
YANKEES 5, METS 0
At New York, A.J. Burnett combined with two relievers on a one-hitter and Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada hit opposite-field homers as the Yankees rolled past the Mets again.
Alex Cora got the Mets’ only hit, a single leading off the sixth.
The Mets have been outscored 14-1 and outhit 22-4 in the first two games.
Burnett (6-4) struck out a season-high 10 in seven innings. Tim Redding (1-3) took the loss.
ASTROS 8, TIGERS 1
At Houston, rookie Felipe Paulino pitched seven solid innings and Houston used a five-run third to pull away from Detroit and win the series.
Paulino (2-4) came off the disabled list for the start. It’s his first win as a starter after getting his other victory this season as a reliever.
Detroit starter Alfredo Figaro (1-1) lost his second major league start.
PIRATES 6, ROYALS 2
At Pittsburgh, Delwyn Young homered and drove in a career-high four runs to lead Pittsburgh to a fourth straight win.
Paul Maholm (5-4) allowed only two runs in seven innings and Jack Wilson and Adam LaRoche each had two hits and an RBI for Pittsburgh.
Willie Bloomquist had two hits and scored twice, and Billy Butler had two RBI singles for the Royals, who got an effective start from Bruce Chen (0-1), making his first major league appearance in more than two years.
ORIOLES 6, NATIONALS 3
At Baltimore, Nolan Reimold hit a three-run homer, Gregg Zaun and Aubrey Huff had solo shots, and Baltimore received a strong performance from their bullpen in a victory over Washington.
After Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie (6-7) allowed three runs in five shaky innings, four Baltimore relievers limited the Nationals to three hits the rest of the way.
REDS 7, INDIANS 3
At Cleveland, Homer Bailey pitched five innings for his first major league win in nearly two years and Jay Bruce hit his 18th home run for Cincinnati to beat Cleveland.
Bailey (1-0) was recalled from Triple-A to make his second start of the year and won for the first time since September 2007.
Indians starter Tomo Ohka (0-2) needed 27 pitches to record an out in the second inning. By then, the Reds had a 4-0 lead.
RAYS 3, MARLINS 2
At St Petersburg, Florida, Carlos Pena hit his AL-leading 23rd home run and Willy Aybar broke a ninth-inning tie with a pinch-hit sacrifice fly, giving Tampa Bay a victory over Florida.
Jason Bartlett singled off Burke Badenhop (5-3) with one out in the ninth, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored easily on Aybar’s fly ball to center field, as the Rays won their fourth straight.
Brett Carroll homered for Florida.
PADRES 7, RANGERS 3
At Arloington, Texas, rookie Kyle Blanks drove in three runs as San Diego had a season-high 16 hits while ending Texas’ three-win streak.
Blanks had the first RBI of his career with a double in the second.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
BREWERS 7, GIANTS 6
At Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Prince Fielder hit a three-run homer in the sixth and knocked in the winning run as Milwaukee rallied with three runs in the ninth for a wild win.
After Corey Hart’s RBI single, J.J. Hardy slapped a shot off the glove off second baseman Juan Uribe.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB