MAJOR LEAGUES
Tampa Bay’s pitchers shut down Baltimore to win 8-0 on Saturday, giving their Rays their fifth straight win over the Orioles and moving above them in the American League East division.
In other key games, Cincinnati broke out of their slump to beat league-leading St Louis, San Francisco piled on six runs in the fourth inning to beat Arizona and Atlanta’s dominant pitching was again to the fore in a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Photo: AFP
Boston and the Los Angeles Angels won a game each in their double-header, the struggling Chicago White Sox came good with a win over in-form Oakland and Detroit hung on to beat Cleveland, widening their division lead.
Tampa Bay’s Jeremy Hellickson (4-2) pitched six scoreless innings and combined with his bullpen to retire the last 15 Baltimore batters.
Taking up where they left off in allowing just two hits in a 2-1 victory in the opener of the three-game series, the Rays pitchers limited the Orioles to four singles.
Tampa Bay broke the game open with five runs in the fifth inning — three on Luke Scott’s bases-loaded double.
Cincinnati’s Mat Latos turned in seven solid innings as the Reds beat the St Louis Cardinals 4-2 to end a run of three straight losses.
Latos (6-0), who also got the decision in Cincinnati’s last win over St Louis, allowed two runs with no walks and five strikeouts against a Cardinals team that went into the game leading the National League in hitting.
Devin Mesoraco homered and drove in two runs, while Jay Bruce also homered as the Reds scored more than two runs against St Louis for the first time in seven games between the teams.
San Francisco’s Buster Posey capped a six-run fourth inning with a homer and had three RBIs as the Giants pounded the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-5.
Madison Bumgarner (5-4) pitched five effective innings to end a run of four straight losses and added a sacrifice bunt in the fourth.
The Giants gave him some rare run support, too, scoring two more runs than in the previous six games combined.
Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt matched Luis Gonzalez’s 2002 team record with an RBI in his eighth straight game.
Atlanta’s Kris Medlen pitched 6-2/3 scoreless innings and hit his first major league home run in the Braves’ 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Medlen (3-6) struck out six and allowed only one runner as far as third.
Dan Uggla also homered for the Braves.
Boston’s David Ortiz rebounded from a rough first game with a two-run homer and three RBIs to earn the Red Sox a split of the double-headers against Los Angeles, winning 7-2 after the Angels took the opener 9-5.
The victory snapped Boston’s nine-game losing streak against Los Angeles.
In the night game, Boston starter Clay Buchholz (9-0) gave up two runs and one walk more than 6-2/3 innings to match Arizona’s Patrick Corbin as the majors’ only unbeaten pitcher with at least nine wins, but he left in the seventh with what the team called “neck tightness.”
In the first game, Mark Trumbo and Erick Aybar each drove in two runs as the Angels set a team-record sixth straight win at Fenway Park.
Mike Trout added a pair of doubles high off the Green Monster and collected three hits for the Angels.
Chicago’s John Danks pitched three-hit ball over eight innings for his first victory in more than a year, guiding the White Sox to a 4-1 win over the Oakland Athletics.
Danks (1-2) struck out six and walked one as Chicago notched only their second win in 12 games.
The result also represented a form reversal for the Athletics, who came in with an 18-3 record in their previous 21 games.
Detroit’s Prince Fielder hit a bases-clearing double in the second inning to lay the foundation for the Tigers’ 6-4 win over the Cleveland Indians.
The American League Central-leading Tigers extended their division lead over the Indians to 4.5 games.
Detroit starter Rick Porcello (3-3) gave up one earned run while striking out seven over six innings.
Toronto’s Rajai Davis hit an RBI single in the 18th inning to give the Blue Jays a 4-3 win over the Texas Rangers in a game that matched the longest in club history for both teams.
New York starter Andy Pettitte allowed three hits over 7-1/3 innings to earn his 250th career victory, leading the Yankees to a 3-1 win over the Seattle Mariners.
San Diego’s Kyle Blanks hit a two-run homer off the foul screen which helped the Padres to a 4-2 win over the Colorado Rockies.
Pittsburgh’s A.J. Burnett pitched into the ninth inning go steer the Pirates to a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs.
Minnesota’s Ryan Doumit singled in the go-ahead run in the 11th inning as the Twins edged the Washington Nationals 4-3 in their interleague clash.
Milwaukee’s Jean Segura homered and Jonathan Lucroy hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the sixth inning, lifting the Brewers to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Kansas City’s Ervin Santana pitched seven snappy innings and finally got some run support as the Royals downed the Houston Astros 7-2.
Miami’s Adeiny Hechavarria hit an RBI single in the 20th inning as the Marlins outlasted the New York Mets 2-1 in the longest major league game for three years.
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