MAJOR LEAGUES
Taiwan’s Wang Chien-ming was replaced by the Toronto Blue Jays after pitching only three innings in which the Blue Jays trailed the Houston Astros by five runs in their American League game in Houston, Texas on Saturday.
Wang struck out one and kept the Astros scoreless through the first inning, but gave up three hits, including two doubles and one single, in the second inning as Houston took a 3-0 lead.
Photo: AFP
In the third inning, Wang walked one and was hit for a two-run homer, while the Blue Jays remained scoreless.
He did not come back in the fourth, and the Blue Jays ended up losing 8-5 to the Astros, the seventh straight loss for the Toronto team since Aug. 18.
Jason Castro homered twice and drove in three runs, while Taiwanese pitcher Lo Chia-jen closed out the game for the Astros.
Photo: Reuters
Wang, who was assigned to the minor leagues last month, is one of two pitchers recently brought up from the team’s Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said before the game that this would be a one-time stint for Wang as the team has several players on the disabled list.
Also in the American League, Coco Crisp hit a tiebreaking home run leading off the ninth inning and Jarrod Parker earned his eighth straight win as the Oakland Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-1.
In Cleveland, Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis hit two-run homers, Zach McAllister won his third straight start and the Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins 7-2.
The win moved the Indians into third place in the crowded American League wild-card race.
David Price outpitched CC Sabathia as the Tampa Bay Rays rallied to beat the New York Yankees 4-2 to hang on to first place in the AL East and rookie Josh Phegley singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Chicago White Sox to a 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers.
In the National League, Zack Cozart hit a tiebreaking two-run shot, powering the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and in St Louis, Rookie Shelby Miller worked seven innings of three-hit ball, Matt Carpenter and Carlos Beltran each homered and the St Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves 6-2.
At Philadelphia, Adam Eaton hit a go-ahead double in the 18th inning as the Arizona Diamondbacks outlasted the Philadelphia Phillies 12-7 in a record-setting, marathon game for both clubs.
The teams combined to use 20 pitchers in a contest that ended at 2:12am and took 7 hours, 6 minutes.
The Phillies began the 18th with outfielder Casper Wells (0-1) on the mound. After retiring the first two batters, Wells walked Tony Campana to start Arizona’s five-run frame. With Campana running, Eaton lined a double to left-center to put Arizona in front 8-7.
In other NL games, the Miami Marlins beat the Colorado Rockies 3-0, the Chicago Cubs edged the San Diego Padres 3-2 and the San Francisco Giants downed the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3.
Meanwhile, Jon Lester pitched three-hit ball into the eighth inning as the Boston Red Sox beat Los Angeles 4-2 in Interleague action, ending the Dodgers’ four-game winning streak.
The Red Sox got to rookie Ryu Hyun-jin (12-5) right away. With one out in the first, Ryu hit Shane Victorino with a pitch before Dustin Pedroia reached on an infield single to second. Victorino scored on Mike Napoli’s RBI single.
Jonny Gomes followed with his 11th homer on Ryu’s next pitch, scoring Pedroia and Napoli to make it 4-0. Ryu struck out Stephen Drew and Will Middlebrooks to end the inning.
The Dodgers trailed 4-2 on Adrian Gonzalez’s RBI double off Craig Breslow with two outs in the eighth. After Breslow walked Hanley Ramirez to put the tying runs at first and second, Koji Uehara ended the inning by striking out A.J. Ellis.
Lester (12-7) gave up one run in 7 1/3 innings, struck out six and walked four as the Red Sox won at Dodger Stadium for the first time in five games.
Uehara got the final four outs to earn his 13th save in 16 chances to leave the Red Sox behind Tampa Bay on percentage for first in the AL East.
In other Interleague games, the Detroit Tigers beat the New York Mets 3-0 and the Washington Nationals thrashed the Kansas City Royals 7-2.
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