AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, NEW YORK
Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria hit consecutive home runs on Wednesday to give the Tampa Bay Rays a 7-2 win over the New York Yankees after a long rain delay took some of the luster out of a key September game.
Dan Johnson hit his third homer against New York in a week as the Rays’ bullpen outpitched the New York relievers to help Tampa Bay pull within one-and-a-half games of the Yankees in the American League East in a game that ended at 12:34am. Tampa Bay improved to 9-8 in the season series — the first tiebreaker should the teams be equal after 162 games — with one game to go.
The finale of the four-game set for Thursday is highlighted by the anticipated rematch of Cy Young pitching award candidates CC Sabathia and David Price after they went zero for zero for eight innings on Sept. 13 in Florida.
RANGERS 2, ANGELS 1, 12 INNS
In Anaheim, California, Jeff Francoeur doubled to lead off the 12th inning and eventually scored on Jeff Mathis’ passed ball as Texas trimmed its magic number for clinching the AL West to four.
Mathis’ mistake on an easily catchable pitch by Matt Palmer (1-2) ended an eight-inning scoreless drought for the Rangers, who extended their division lead over Oakland to eight games heading into a four-game series at the Coliseum.
Texas can clinch its first AL West title since 1999 with two wins over the Athletics. Its magic number dropped earlier on Wednesday with Oakland’s 4-3 loss to the White Sox.
MARINERS 6, BLUE JAYS 3
In Toronto, Jose Lopez hit three home runs and Michael Saunders added a two-run drive as Seattle beat Toronto.
Lopez hit a solo shot off Kyle Drabek (0-2) in the second inning, led off the sixth with a drive against reliever Brian Tallet and connected off reliever Shawn Camp in the eighth. It was his first multihomer game of the season and fourth of his career.
In other AL games, it was:
• Red Sox 6, Orioles 1
• Twins 5, Indians 1
• Tigers 4, Royals 2
• White Sox 4, Athletics 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, PHILADELPHIA
Roy Oswalt and two relief pitchers allowed just one hit as National League East-leading Philadelphia beat Atlanta 1-0 on Wednesday for the Phillies’ 10th straight win that increased their lead over the Braves to six games.
Raul Ibanez hit an RBI double with two outs in the eighth inning for the only run, helping the two-time NL champions reduce their magic number for clinching their fourth straight division title to four. It was the Phillies’ first home sweep over the Braves since 2001.
Oswalt allowed the hit — a clean double by Martin Prado in the fourth — and walked one in seven innings.
Atlanta began the day with a one-game lead over San Diego in the wild-card race.
PADRES 3, DODGERS 1
In Los Angeles, Miguel Tejada hit his 300th career home run as San Diego reclaimed first place from San Francisco in the topsy-turvy NL West race.
The Giants lost to the Chicago Cubs 2-0, giving the Padres a half-game lead as they returned to the top of the standings for the first time since last Saturday. It was the third time the division lead changed hands since the Padres lost at St Louis to fall out of first on Sept. 16.
Tim Stauffer (5-4) allowed one run and three hits in six innings, struck out five and walked two.
In other NL action, it was:
• Cubs 2, Giants 0
• Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 4
• Brewers 13, Reds 1
• Pirates 11, Cardinals 6
• Nationals 4, Astros 3
• Marlins 7, Mets 5
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