MAJOR LEAGUES
Detroit pitcher Max Scherzer became the first man to begin a season 12-0 in 27 years as the Tigers took down the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 on Friday.
Miguel Cabrera also starred in the win, belting two home runs in a four-for-four display, but Scherzer stole the show by striking out nine and claiming another win.
Photo: Reuters
The 28-year-old becomes Major League Baseball’s first 12-0 starter since Roger Clemens opened the 1986 season with 14 straight wins for the Boston Red Sox.
The win moved the Tigers to 43-35, maintaining their place at the top of the American League Central, while the Rays dropped to 41-39 to sit fourth in the tight AL East.
Elsewhere, the Atlanta Braves won the battle of National League division leaders, shutting out the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-0.
Julio Teheran struck out 10 over six innings, allowing just four hits and one walk, and Andrelton Simmons homered to push the East leading Braves (46-34) past the West pace-setters, who fell to 42-37.
Washington left it late but rallied past the New York Mets for a 6-4 win.
Ryan Zimmerman tied the game with a three-run double in the eighth before Ian Desmond drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth to improve the Nationals to 40-39 and drop the Mets to 32-44.
Baltimore’s Nate McLouth broke a tie with a solo homer in the seventh to give the Orioles (45-36) a 4-3 win over the New York Yankees (42-37).
Pittsburgh’s (49-30) winning streak extended to seven games with a 10-3 triumph over the Milwaukee Brewers (32-46).
Michael Cuddyer hammered a two-run homer to lift his hitting streak to 25 games and help Colorado (40-41) to a 4-1 result over the San Francisco Giants (38-41).
The Cleveland Indians took care of the Chicago White Sox 19-10 in the first game of a double-header before backing up to win the night game 9-8, thanks to a four-run ninth inning.
The two wins pushed the Indians to 42-38 while the White Sox fell to 32-45.
Oakland were 6-1 winners over St Louis as the A’s rode Bartolo Colon’s eighth straight win to move half a game behind Texas in the AL West at 47-34, leaving the Cardinals a game behind Pittsburgh at 48-31.
Finally, the Los Angeles Dodgers (36-43) were embarrassed on home turf, falling 16-1 to Philadelphia (39-42), who pounded out 21 hits.
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
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