AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
Wade Davis beat Zack Greinke in a scintillating pitchers’ duel, and Evan Longoria homered in the fourth inning to lift the Tampa Bay Rays over the Kansas City Royals 1-0 on Sunday.
Davis (3-1) allowed three hits, three walks and struck out five in seven innings during his latest matchup with an American League ace. He has faced the opposing team’s opening day starter — including New York Yankees lefty CC Sabathia and Boston’s Josh Beckett — in all five of his starts this year.
Greinke (0-3) gave up four hits in his 10th career complete game and first this season.
ORIOLES 3, RED SOX 2, 10 INNINGS
At Baltimore, Ty Wigginton doubled home the winning run in the 10th inning following a throwing error by Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon to give Baltimore its first three-game sweep of the Red Sox at home in 36 years.
Miguel Tejada had two hits and scored a run for the Orioles, whose three-game winning streak is a season high. The Orioles swept a four-game series from Boston at Camden Yards in 1998, but hadn’t swept a three-game set against the Red Sox in Baltimore since 1974.
Nick Markakis led off the 10th with a walk against Papelbon (1-2). Markakis went to second on an errant throw to first by the reliever, then scored without a throw when Wigginton doubled to left-center.
Jason Varitek and J.D. Drew homered for the Red Sox, who fell to 11-14. Josh Beckett allowed two runs in seven innings.
YANKEES 12, WHITE SOX 3
At New York, Mark Teixeira equaled a career high with four hits and Robinson Cano had a three-run homer, backing another dominant performance by Phil Hughes in New York’s rout of Chicago.
Teixeira continued his emergence from a slump last month with a two-run double and three singles.
Nick Swisher added a two-run shot and Brett Gardner hit a rare homer to help the Yankees take two of three in the series.
Hughes (3-0) limited the White Sox to four hits over seven scoreless innings. He struck out six while walking one.
Paul Konerko hit a long three-run homer in the ninth off Mark Melancon, his 12th.
TWINS 8, INDIANS 3
At Cleveland, Delmon Young and rookie Wilson Ramos each had four of Minnesota’s 20 hits as Minnesota got another strong start from Francisco Liriano to beat Cleveland.
Ramos became the first Twins player with four hits in his major league debut since Kirby Puckett on May 8, 1984. Young homered and tied a career high with his four hits.
Liriano (4-0) struck out nine over seven innings after early jitters led to his scoreless streak ending at 23 innings. He allowed three runs and eight hits, walking three.
Minnesota’s Jim Thome homered off David Huff (1-4) to break a 2-all tie in the fifth.
Orlando Hudson had a two-run homer for the Twins.
In other games it was:
• Tigers 5, Angels 1
• Blue Jays 9, Athletics 3
• Rangers 3, Mariners 1, 11 innings
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, PHILADELPHIA
Shane Victorino hit a grand slam off Johan Santana and Chase Utley had a two-run shot during Philadelphia’s nine-run fourth inning, helping the Phillies down the New York Mets 11-5 on Sunday.
Santana (3-2) allowed a career-worst 10 runs in 3 2/3 innings.
The two-time AL Cy Young pitching award winner allowed four homers — and one crucial bases-loaded walk.
Holding a 5-3 lead in the fourth, Santana issued a two-out walk to Phillies starter Jamie Moyer. Victorino followed with the grand slam and Utley went deep two batters later. Nine straight batters reached in the inning.
Placido Polanco and Ryan Howard also homered for the Phillies, who won two of three against New York.
David Wright hit a three-run homer in the first inning and Rod Barajas added a two-run shot in the fourth but Moyer (3-2) survived the shaky start to last six innings.
CARDINALS 6, REDS 0
At St Louis, Chris Carpenter allowed two hits over seven innings and Albert Pujols broke it open with a three-run double in the seventh to help St Louis wrap up a 6-1 homestand against Cincinnati.
David Freese homered for the third time in four games for St Louis, which took two of three for its seventh series win out of eight this season. The Cardinals are an National League-best 17-8.
Carpenter (4-0) outpitched Aaron Harang (1-4) for the second time this year in a rematch from opening day, striking out eight with three walks. He has won seven straight decisions over the Reds and 13 in a row with a 1.86 ERA against NL Central opponents dating to last season.
PADRES 8, BREWERS 0
At San Diego, a combined three-hitter by Jon Garland and two relievers gave San Diego its third shut out of Milwaukee in four games.
Scott Hairston and Kyle Blanks hit consecutive homers in the fifth for the NL West leaders, who outscored the Brewers 21-2 in taking three of four. San Diego won the first two games 9-0 and 3-0 before losing 2-1 on Saturday night.
ROCKIES 4, GIANTS 1
At San Francisco, Jhoulys Chacin allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings for his first major league win and Melvin Mora hit a two-run single as Colorado avoided a three-game sweep to San Francisco.
Paul Phillips drew a bases-loaded walk from Jonathan Sanchez (2-2) in the fourth to put Colorado ahead 1-0 and Ryan Spilborghs also singled home a run in the four-run fifth. The Rockies snapped their season-worst three-game losing streak.
DODGERS 9, PIRATES 3
At Los Angeles, Andre Ethier homered twice with four RBIs, Blake DeWitt had his first four-hit game in the majors and James Loney added a pair of run-scoring hits as Los Angeles downed Pittsburgh.
Hiroki Kuroda (3-1) allowed a run over eight innings, struck out three and walked one.
The two-time defending NL West champs have won three straight for the first time this season, following a five-game skid.
In other games it was:
• Cubs 10, Diamondbacks 5
• Braves 7, Astros 1
• Marlins 9, Nationals 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