AMERICAN LEAGUE
Texas pitcher Yu Darvish held Detroit scoreless into the seventh inning as the Rangers beat the Tigers 10-3 on Thursday to notch their seventh straight win.
Darvish (2-0) showed impressive poise in the opener of a four-game set at Comerica Park, allowing one run over 6-1/3 innings in his toughest test since moving over from Japan.
Mike Napoli homered for the fourth straight game as Texas won a reprise of last year’s AL Championship Series.
The Rangers are 6-0 on the road, equaling a team record set in 1989.
Detroit starter Adam Wilk (0-2) gave up 10 hits in four-plus innings.
RAYS 9, BLUE JAYS 4
In Toronto, Evan Longoria hit a two-run homer as Tampa Bay ended a 10-game road trip on a high, beating Toronto.
Longoria went 3-for-4 with a season-high four RBIs and reached base four times as the Rays tagged Henderson Alvarez (0-1) for a career-worst six earned runs in 6-1/3 innings.
Desmond Jennings added a solo shot for the Rays.
Tampa Bay starter Jeremy Hellickson (2-0) gave up two earned runs in 5-2/3 innings.
YANKEES 7, TWINS 6
In New York, Curtis Granderson hit three home runs in the first four innings and matched a career high with five hits, powering New York to a tight win over Minnesota.
Granderson homered in each of his first three at-bats, driving in four runs, and helped Yankees starter Phil Hughes (1-2) take the win despite giving up four runs in the first inning.
Granderson got two chances to tie the major league record of four homers in a game. In the sixth, he singled and in the eighth, he hit a dribbler down the first base line.
Granderson became player to hit three homers in a game this year. His first two came off starter Anthony Swarzak (0-3).
Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth for his third save of the season and record 606th of his career.
In other AL action, it was:
‧ Orioles 5, White Sox 3
‧ Indians 2, Mariners 1
‧ Athletics 4, Angels 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN
Los Angeles’ Matt Kemp hit his seventh home run of the season as the Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 on Thursday and avoided a three-game sweep.
Andre Ethier and Juan Rivera added RBI singles, while third baseman Jerry Hairston Jr made two big late-inning defensive plays for the Dodgers.
Los Angeles starter Aaron Harang (1-1) went six innings and Javy Guerra pitched a scoreless ninth, his sixth save in seven opportunities this season.
ASTROS 11, NATIONALS 4
In Washington, Houston set a franchise record by hitting three triples in the first inning, scoring five runs in the frame to set up a win over Washington.
The Astros had a season-high 17 hits, with Brian Bogusevic and Jason Castro getting three each, and ended a four-game skid.
Starter Bud Norris (1-0) pitched six innings for the win and helped himself with a two-run single.
The Nationals entered with a major league-leading 1.92 ERA, but they allowed more runs and hits than they had in any of their first 13 games.
Nationals starter Edwin Jackson (1-1) gave up five runs in five innings.
In other NL action, it was:
‧ Reds 6, Cardinals 3
‧ Marlins 5, Cubs 3
‧ Braves 10, Diamondbacks 2
‧ Phillies 2, Padres 0
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