INTERLEAGUE
Daniel Nava hit the first pitch he faced in the major leagues for a grand slam — only the second player to do it — leading the Boston Red Sox to their second straight rout of the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-2 Saturday.
Nava connected on a fastball from Joe Blanton (1-5) in the second inning, shortly after being called up from Triple-A Pawtucket. Kevin Kouzmanoff connected on the first pitch he saw Sept. 2, 2006, for Cleveland against Texas, according to STATS LLC.
Only four players in big league history have hit grand slams in their first at-bat.
Daisuke Matsuzaka was a late scratch and placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained forearm following his pregame bullpen warmup.
RAYS 6, MARLINS 5
In St Petersburg, Florida, Carlos Pena homered for the sixth consecutive game to help right-hander Matt Garza and Tampa Bay beat Florida.
Pena, emerging from a season-long slump, became the first player to homer in six straight games since Frank Thomas did it for Oakland in 2006.
Pena began the night batting .196 and connected off right-hander Ricky Nolasco (5-5) in the first inning for a 2-1 lead.
Carl Crawford and Sean Rodrgiuez also went deep for the Rays, who maintained baseball’s best record (40-22) and a one-game lead over the Yankees in the American League East.
YANKEES 9, ASTROS 3
At New York, Derek Jeter homered twice and Jorge Posada snapped out of a slump with his first grand slam in nearly six years as the Yankees beat Houston.
Javier Vazquez (6-5) pitched seven solid innings for his third straight win and fourth in five starts.
Jeter hit a leadoff shot and drove in four runs for the Yankees.
WHITE SOX 2, CUBS 1
At Chicago, Mark Buehrle pitched scoreless ball into the seventh inning and Paul Konerko drove in two runs as the White Sox beat the Cubs for their season-high fourth straight win.
Konerko delivered a run-scoring single in the first and another in the seventh after Juan Pierre stole second, avoiding the tag with a neat dive. Konerko is 20 for 42 in his last 12 games.
The Cubs got a run-scoring single from Ryan Theriot off Bobby Jenks with two outs in the ninth, but he struck out Chad Tracy for his 11th save in 12 chances.
ROCKIES 1, BLUE JAYS 0
At Denver, Jason Hammel pitched eight sharp innings and scored the only run as Colorado beat Toronto in a rare low-scoring game at Coors Field.
It was only the ninth 1-0 game at Denver since the ballpark opened in 1995. The previous one came last July 6 when the Rockies beat Washington.
Hammel (4-3) was masterful all night. He allowed just three hits, struck out six and walked three in his longest outing of the season.
METS 3, ORIOLES 1
At Baltimore, Hisanori Takahashi allowed one run in seven innings, and Jose Reyes and Jeff Francoeur homered as the Mets secured their first road-series win of the year.
Combined with their 5-1 win on Friday, the Mets have successive road victories for the first time since last July 25-26 in Houston. New York is now assured of winning the three-game series after going 0-7-2 away from home — its longest drought to start the season since 1983.
In other games it was:
• Indians 7, Nationals 1
• Giants 5, Athletics 4
• Tigers 4, Pirates 3, 10 innings
• Rangers 4, Brewers 3
• Angels 4, Dodgers 2
• Padres 7, Mariners 1
In the National League it was:
• Diamondbacks 7, Cardinals 2
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