AMERICAN LEAGUE
The Texas Rangers beat Los Angeles 11-7 on Friday to increase their lead over the Angels in the American League West Division to three games.
Slumping Nelson Cruz, who had been demoted to No. 7 in the batting order for the first time this season, had two long homers among his four hits and six RBIs.
Photo: AFP
He put the Rangers ahead for good with a two-run double in the second. Cruz then opened the fourth with a 452 foot (137.8m) drive to center field off Angels starter Dan Haren (13-7).
Rangers starter Derek Holland (12-5) allowed one run over 6-2/3 innings with six strikeouts to improve to 6-1 in his past 10 starts.
Athletics 15, Red Sox 5
Photo: Reuters
In Boston, Scott Sizemore and Josh Willingham each hit two-run homers during a six-run fourth inning that powered Oakland over Boston.
The defeat denied veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield his 200th career win, and prevented Boston improving their one-game lead over New York in the AL East Division.
Wakefield (6-6), making his sixth try to become the 108th pitcher to reach 200 wins, gave up eight runs. He is 0-3 with a 4.97 ERA during the six games in which he has tried to reach 200.
Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez (11-11) gave up seven hits, striking out five in 5-2/3 innings.
Rays 6, Blue Jays 1
In Toronto, James Shields pitched his major league-leading 10th complete game of the season, steering Tampa Bay to victory over Toronto.
Shields (12-10) allowed just one run and one walk while striking out 12, and snapped a personal four-game road losing streak.
Evan Longoria hit a pair of solo home runs, while Desmond Jennings added a two-run shot and John Jaso also went deep for the Rays, who crept within 7.5 games of New York, who hold the playoff wild card.
All three Rays homers came off Toronto rookie Henderson Alvarez (0-2), who allowed four runs in six innings.
Orioles 12, Yankees 5
In Baltimore, the hosts marked the death of former pitching great Mike Flanagan by beating New York.
It was Baltimore’s first home game since Flanagan took his own life on Wednesday. Moments before the first pitch, there was a moment of silence in honor of the 1979 Cy Young winner, who died at age 59.
Flanagan’s No. 46 was displayed on the scoreboard throughout the game.
For the rest of the season, the Orioles will wear a black circular patch on their jersey sleeves with the word “FLANNY” written in white.
Mark Reynolds and J.J. Hardy homered in a six-run second inning against struggling Yankees starter A.J. Burnett.
Matt Wieters also connected for the last-place Orioles, whose five-game winning run matches a season high.
In other AL play, it was:
‧ Tigers 8, Twins 1
‧ White Sox 4, Mariners 2
‧ Indians 2, Royals 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, PHILADELPHIA
Florida’s John Buck hit a Grand Slam to lift the Marlins to a 6-5 win over the National League-leading Philadelphia Phillies on Friday.
Greg Dobbs added four hits, including two doubles, to give the Marlins their first win in Philadelphia in six attempts.
Florida starter Clay Hensley (2-5) allowed three hits in 5-2/3 innings to take the win.
Phillies starter Roy Oswalt (6-8) matched his career worst by allowing 12 hits while striking out only two over 5-2/3 innings.
Mets 6, Braves 0
In New York, Chris Capuano pitched the game of his life, tossing a shutout and striking out a career-high 13 as New York beat Atlanta.
It was the Mets’ last game before taking a break because of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Irene. New flood gates were put in place outside Citi Field as a precaution against tide surges, and the scheduled Braves-Mets games for yesterday and today were postponed to a doubleheader on Sept. 8.
It was the first time this season that New York had won the opening game of a home stand, having lost all 10 previous openers to stints at Citi Field.
In other NL play, it was:
‧ Brewers 5, Cubs 2
‧ Diamondbacks 5, Padres 0
‧ Cardinals 5, Pirates 4
‧ Dodgers 6, Rockies 1
‧ Giants 2, Astros 1
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