MAJOR LEAGUES
St Louis pitcher Shelby Miller was hit by a line drive on just the second pitch of the game and the Cardinals spiraled to a 13-4 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.
The Dodgers maintained their five-game lead in the National League West division while the Cardinals dropped further off the pace in the NL Central, three games behind leaders Pittsburgh.
Photo: Reuters
Among other key results, Detroit edged Cleveland in 14 innings to notch an 11th straight win and build their American League Central lead, while Jay Bruce’s bat and arm saw Cincinnati record a narrow win over Oakland.
Atlanta stretched their win streak to 13 and their NL East lead to 15-1/2 games by completing a sweep of Washington, Martin Prado powered Arizona to a tight victory over Tampa Bay, while Texas moved virtually level with Oakland atop the AL West by beating the Los Angeles Angels 10-3.
Many fans were still to take their seats in St Louis when Carl Crawford’s line-drive hit Miller near the right elbow and rebounded into left field for a double. Miller suffered only a cut and bruising, but his replacements struggled.
Andre Ethier and Skip Schumaker each had three hits and a season-best four RBIs and Crawford had a season-best four hits and a walk. The Dodgers had 18 hits to top their previous season best by one.
Detroit’s Prince Fielder hit a two-run double in the 14th inning to give the Tigers a 6-5 win over Cleveland.
After the Tigers put two runners on base against Bryan Shaw (2-3), Fielder lined his double off Marc Rzepczynski into the gap as the Tigers beat the Indians for the 11th time in 12 games.
Cincinnati’s Jay Bruce hit a two-run homer and threw out a runner at the plate, helping the Reds get a 6-5 win over Oakland. Bruce also had a run-scoring grounder in the first.
Arizona’s Martin Prado hit a two-run single in the eighth inning and also had a two-run homer, helping the Diamondbacks rally for a 9-8 victory over Tampa Bay.
Atlanta’s Jason Heyward singled and Justin Upton doubled in a three-run eighth inning which lifted the Braves to a 6-3 win over Washington.
In other games it was:
‧ Orioles 10, Padres 3
‧ Pirates 4, Marlins 2
‧ Red Sox 7, Astros 5
‧ Royals 5, Twins 2
‧ Mariners 9, Blue Jays 7
‧ Mets 5, Rockies 0
‧ Cubs 5, Phillies 2
‧ White Sox 6, Yankees 5
‧ Brewers 6, Giants 1
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