MAJOR LEAGUES
Cleveland veteran Jason Giambi belted a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Indians a stunning 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the American League (AL) wild-card battle.
Tampa Bay beat the New York Yankees and Texas defeated Houston to also keep pace in the wild-card race, while Detroit clinched their place in the playoffs by downing Minnesota, though Cleveland’s win meant the Tigers have not yet sealed the AL Central crown.
In the National League (NL), St Louis edged closer to securing the Central title by beating Washington. Pittsburgh moved ahead of Cincinnati in the NL wild-card fight by overcoming the Chicago Cubs, while the Reds lost to the New York Mets.
Giambi drove a pitch from Addison Reed (5-4) beyond right field to save the Indians from a potentially devastating loss.
Giambi’s shot bailed out controversial Cleveland closer Chris Perez, who had given up two homers in the top of the ninth.
As he rounded third base, the 42-year-old Giambi slowed down before being engulfed by his teammates as the Indians celebrated their 13th straight win over Chicago.
The win kept the Indians’ hold on the second wild card, behind Tampa Bay and ahead of Texas.
Tampa Bay beat New York 7-0, pushing the Yankees to the brink of missing the playoffs for only the second time in 19 years.
Rays starter Matt Moore (16-4) somehow managed to avoid giving up a run in five unconvincing innings in which he gave up three hits, six walks and three wild pitches.
Tampa Bay jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning to set up a fifth-straight win.
The Yankees are five games off the second wild card and will be eliminated if they lost yesterday and Cleveland won.
Texas stayed in the wild-card race with a 3-2 win over Houston, who have lost 11 straight.
Adrian Beltre homered at home for the first time in more than a month as the Rangers stayed one game behind Cleveland.
Beltre’s 29th homer of the season snapped a 2-2 tie with one out in the sixth inning.
The Astros lost their 107th game of the season, matching an unwanted franchise record from last season.
In the National League, St Louis beat Washington 2-0 to open a two-game lead in the Central.
Cardinals rookie Michael Wacha was on track for a no-hitter when he gave up an infield single to Ryan Zimmerman with two outs in the ninth inning.
Making his ninth career start, Wacha (4-1) came about as close as possible to finishing off the third no-hitter in the majors this season. Instead, he became the third pitcher to have a bid broken up with one out to go.
Zimmerman hit a chopper just over Wacha’s glove — the pitcher said he thought it nicked his mitt — and the ball bounced slowly toward shortstop. A charging Pete Kozma grabbed it with his bare hand and whipped a throw to first that was a little wide, pulling Matt Adams off the bag just as Zimmerman arrived.
Pittsburgh took over the wild-card lead by beating the Chicago Cubs 8-2, moving a game clear of Cincinnati.
Gerrit Cole (10-7) threw six strong innings, giving up two runs, to win his fourth-straight start.
One night after clinching their first postseason spot in 21 years, Cole and the Pirates showed few signs of a letdown. Cole also hit a two-run single during Pittsburgh’s three-run second inning.
Cincinnati’s hopes of getting back to the top of the Central took a major blow with a 4-2 home defeat at the hands of the New York Mets.
Daniel Murphy hit a three-run homer off Mike Leake (14-7), whose streak of 210-2/3 scoreless innings got shattered early. Leake gave up four runs in only 1-2/3 innings, matching the shortest start of his career.
Toronto eliminated Baltimore from the playoff hunt, using two clutch RBI singles by Mark De-Rosa to beat the Orioles 3-2 in 10 innings.
Seattle’s Justin Smoak hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning as the Mariners beat Kansas City 4-0, putting the Royals’ postseason hopes in serious jeopardy.
Los Angeles’ Jason Vargas earned his second shutout of the season, leading the Angels to a 3-0 victory over Oakland.
Atlanta’s Andrelton Simmons hit a game-ending RBI single with two outs in the ninth, lifting the Braves to a 3-2 victory against Milwaukee.
Philadelphia’s Darin Ruf and Kevin Frandsen each drove in a run in the first inning, as the Phillies won 2-1 to hand Miami their 100th loss of the season.
Arizona’s Didi Gregorius tripled home the tiebreaking run in the 12th inning to lift the Diamondbacks over the Padres 2-1.
Los Angeles’ Ryu Hyun-jin and two relievers combined on a five-hitter that sent the Dodgers past San Francisco 2-1.
Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon hit his first career leadoff homer to set up the Rockies’ 8-3 win over Boston.
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