INTERLEAGUE PLAY
A masterful Cliff Lee tossed his third consecutive complete-game shutout to steal top billing as the Philadelphia Phillies earned a 5-0 victory in their heavyweight match-up with the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.
In a potential World Series preview between two of the top teams in baseball, Lee was once again unstoppable and overshadowed Boston ace Josh Beckett with a two-hit performance that extended his streak of scoreless innings to 32.
Photo: AFP
The red-hot Lee struck out five and improved his record to 9-5 on the season, though the former Cy Young winner was not ready to celebrate prematurely.
Domonic Brown gave Philadelphia an early 2-0 lead with a home run in the second, and Shane Victorino also belted a two-run homer in the sixth to help seal the win for the Major League-leading Phillies (50-30).
Beckett (6-3) entered the night with the best ERA in the Major Leagues at 1.86, but his mark ballooned to 2.20 after allowing five runs in six innings. He had not pitched since June 15 because of a flu virus.
The Boston (45-33) offense, playing without injured Carl Crawford (hamstring) and benched -designated-hitter David Ortiz, did not record a hit against Lee until the sixth.
“When he gets the ball, I expect him to pitch like he can,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “You’ll see pitchers get into hot streaks and they can go a long time and pitch really good.”
Prior to the game, the Phillies announced they had placed closer Ryan Madson on the 15-day disabled list with a bruised right hand retroactive to June 19.
METS 14, TIGERS 3
In Detroit, Michigan, Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran hit grand slams in consecutive innings — after the Mets had gone nearly two years without one — as New York moved back above .500.
The Mets (40-39) have a winning record for the first time since they were 3-2 in early April.
New York had been without a grand slam since Angel Pagan hit one on Aug. 1, 2009, before Bay and Beltran cleared the bases in the fourth and fifth innings off Daniel Schlereth.
Jose Reyes went 4 for 4 with a double and a triple for the Mets.
YANKEES 12, BREWERS 2
In New York, Mark Teixeira homered and had four RBIs as the New York Yankees’ Nick Swisher hit a three-run homer to cap a five-run second inning.
From New York’s first -batted ball, when Nyjer Morgan got twisted up in center field and fell trying to catch Curtis Granderson’s fly, the Milwaukee Brewers never appeared to get comfortable in their first trip to Yankee Stadium since 1997.
Granderson was credited with a triple on the play that scored Brett Gardner for the first of seven runs against 2009 American League Cy Young pitching award winner Zack Greinke (7-3) in two innings.
In other interleague action, it was:
‧ Rays 4, Reds 3
‧ Pirates 7, Blue Jays 6
‧ Rangers 7, Astros 3
‧ Twins 6, Dodgers 4
‧ Rockies 3, White Sox 2 (13)
‧ Diamondbacks 6, Indians 4
‧ Athletics 1, Marlins 0
‧ Padres 4, Royals 2
‧ Angels 11, Nationals 5
‧ Braves 5, Mariners 4
In National League play, it was:
‧ Giants 13, Cubs 7, Game 1
‧ Giants 6, Cubs 3, Game 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