MAJOR LEAGUES
Ryu Hyun-jin came close to making the Los Angeles Dodgers the first team in major league history to claim consecutive no-hitters on Monday as his side held on to beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3.
The South Korean left-hander took a perfect game into the eighth inning a day after teammate Josh Beckett won 6-0 in Philadelphia.
Photo: AFP
The Reds hit only three balls out of the infield before Todd Frazier’s leadoff double down the left-field line on an 0-1 pitch in the eighth. That followed a three-run seventh by the Dodgers in which Ryu ran the bases and scored.
Cincinnati scored three times in the eighth, but right fielder Yasiel Puig made a key defensive play when he cut off Billy Hamilton’s two-run double in the gap. The relay home held Skip Schumaker at third before Kenley Jansen struck out Brandon Phillips with the bases loaded to preserve a 4-3 lead.
“Of course it was in the back of my mind,” Ryu said through a translator, explaining that he had never carried a no-hit bid that deep. “It wasn’t until the seventh that I thought it could happen.”
Ryu (5-2) was charged with three runs and three hits in 7-1/3 innings, improving to 6-0 in six career starts against the Reds. He struck out seven and walked none as he won for the first time at Dodger Stadium this season.
“He was great through seven,” backup catcher Drew Butera said. “When guys see a pitcher a third time, they’re a little more confident. He still made some good pitches; they just found some holes.”
In Atlanta, George, David Ortiz homered and drove in four runs as the Boston Red Sox ended their 10-game skid by rallying from a five-run deficit to defeat the Braves 8-6.
The defending World Series champions trailed 6-1 after the fourth inning of their interleague matchup, with starter Clay Buchholz walking a career-high eight in only three-plus innings.
However, Ortiz tied it by hitting a three-run homer off Ervin Santana in the fifth. To chants of “Papi, Papi” from the Red Sox fans at the Braves’ Turner Field, the World Series MVP then gave the visitors the lead with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly off Ian Thomas (1-2) in the seventh.
In St Louis, Missouri, the Yankees beat the Cardinals 6-4, with Brian Roberts hitting a tiebreaking single in a three-run 12th inning.
Pinch-hitter Alfonso Soriano and Brendan Ryan added an RBI each for the Yankees, who took the opener of a three-game interleague series for their third straight win.
A standing-room crowd of 47,311 — the third-largest ever at Busch Stadium — came to see rivals making only their second appearance in St Louis since losing to the Cardinals in the 1964 World Series.
Also on Monday, Jonathan Schoop hit two home runs and Nick Hundley singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning to lift Baltimore to a 7-6 win over the Brewers in an interleague contest.
The Cubs beat the Giants 8-4, with Jeff Samardzija striking out a season-high 10 for his first win since August last year, the Pirates rallied to beat the Mets 5-3 in New York, the Diamondbacks outclassed the Padres 7-5 and the Marlins edged the Nationals 3-2.
Meanwhile, the Phillies rebounded from their loss to the Dodgers on Sunday to beat the Rockies 9-0, while American League East-leaders the Blue Jays won for the 12th time in 14 games with a 10-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, helped by Edwin Encarnacion’s 13th home run of the month.
Elsewhere, the Athletics ended a four-game skid with a 10-0 rout of the Tigers, the Astros won their third straight 9-2 at Kansas City, the Mariners beat the Angels 5-1, the White Sox outplayed Cleveland 6-2 and the Rangers were 7-2 victors over the Twins.
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