MAJOR LEAGUES
Joe Nathan held on through another rocky ninth inning for his 13th save a day after blowing one, helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics 5-4 on Thursday for a split of the four-game series between division leaders.
“If Joe’s on you’re going to have quick outs. He’s been one of the best closers, he had an unbelievable year last year,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “If he’s on, he’ll get quick outs. It just wasn’t today.”
On the other side, Oakland’s Jim Johnson — last year’s American League saves leader — walked off the mound to boos from the home crowd after allowing two runs in the seventh.
“I’m throwing pretty good pitches, I just feel like I’m in a little bit of bad luck,” he said.
Miguel Cabrera hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fifth to back Rick Porcello’s eighth victory.
Porcello (8-2) overcame a career-high six walks, three shy of his season total coming into Thursday’s start. Nathan allowed Josh Donaldson’s leadoff double, an RBI infield single by Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick’s run-scoring double before pinch-hitter Jed Lowrie grounded out to end the game.
Toronto’s nine-game winning streak ended with an 8-6 loss at home, with Omar Infante hitting a two-run single in the 10th inning and the Royals overcoming two home runs by Edwin Encarnacion — his 15th and 16th of the month.
Encarnacion matched a major league record with his fifth multihomer game in a month. Albert Belle did it in September 1995 and Harmon Killebrew in May 1959.
Texas won their second straight four-game series on the round, with Leonys Martin doubling twice and scoring three times in a 5-4 win over the Twins.
The Angels had a 7-5 win over the Mariners, with Erick Aybar hitting a three-run homer, while Houston extended their winning streak to six with a 3-1 result against the Orioles.
The Boston Red Sox won their fourth straight after a 10-game skid.
In the National League, Michael Morse homered and drove in three runs to lift the San Francisco Giants to a 6-5 win over St Louis. The Diamondbacks beat the Reds 4-0. The Pirates won 6-3 at Dodgers Stadium.
In Philadelphia, Chris Young hit a two-run homer and Zack Wheeler struck out nine in 6-1/3 innings to lead the Mets to a 4-1 win over the Phillies.
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