The New York Yankees and Detroit both tightened their American League (AL) division races with victories over the leaders on Thursday, while Oakland widened its gap atop the AL West.
The Yankees moved within 1.5 games of Toronto by beating the Blue Jays for the 16th consecutive time, Detroit crept back within half a game of Kansas City by ending the Royals’ 10-game winning streak and Oakland padded its lead out to six games with victory over Boston.
New York’s David Phelps pitched seven strong innings to guide the Yankees to a 6-4 win over Toronto.
Phelps (3-4) yielded two runs and struck out seven.
Carlos Beltran drove in two runs for New York, which swept a three-game home series for the first time this season.
Oakland’s Scott Kazmir pitched seven innings to win his fourth straight start and steer the Athletics to a 4-2 win over Boston.
Kazmir (9-2) extended his streak to 18-1/3 innings without allowing an earned run before giving up a two-run homer in the sixth. He struck out eight and did not walk a batter.
Yoenis Cespedes hit his 14th home run of the season, blasting a solo shot off Jake Peavy (1-5) in the third.
Detroit’s Anibal Sanchez also pitched seven sharp innings as the Tigers beat Kansas City 2-1.
Sanchez (4-2) kept the Royals’ offense quiet, even though he failed to strike out a batter.
J.D. Martinez hit a tiebreaking homer in the fourth for the Tigers, who avoided a four-game sweep.
Cleveland’s Nick Swisher provided the storybook ending by hitting a Grand Slam with two outs in the 10th inning to give the Indians a 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
Swisher had gone zero for four with three strikeouts before his game-winning swipe to cap an improbable comeback after Albert Pujols’ two-run single put the Angels ahead in the top of the inning.
Michael Bourn drew a leadoff walk and took third on Jason Kipnis’ one-out double.
Another walk loaded the bases and LA changed pitchers, bringing on Ernesto Frieri.
Frieri got the second out, but then saw Swisher blast a shot over right-field.
Milwaukee’s Yovani Gallardo outpitched Chase Anderson in seven strong innings to lead the Brewers to a 4-1 win over Arizona.
Gallardo (5-4) held Arizona to one run over seven innings for his 86th career win, tying Ben Sheets for fifth on Milwaukee’s all-time list. Gallardo improved to 7-0 in 10 career starts against Arizona.
Carlos Gomez extended his hitting streak to 15 games for Milwaukee.
Atlanta’s Gavin Floyd, recently returned from Tommy John surgery, pitched six scoreless innings before leaving with a broken elbow, the latest setback for an injury-riddled Braves’ rotation and one that dampened a 3-0 victory over Washington.
Floyd (2-2) needed only 64 pitches to get through six innings, walking one and striking out six to outduel Jordan Zimmerman (5-4).
Chris Johnson drove in all three wins for Atlanta, which moved within half a game of the Nationals atop the NL East as the division rivals opened a four-game series.
Justin Wilson (2-0) retired the Reds in order in the top of the 12th.
Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard homered and drove in three runs, sparking the Phillies to a 4-1 victory over St. Louis.
Pittsburgh’s Russell Martin drew a bases-loaded walk from Tony Cingrani with two outs in the 12th inning to give the Pirates a 4-3 win over Cincinnati and avoid a three-game sweep.
New York’s Zack Wheeler tossed his first shutout to guide the Mets to a 1-0 win over Miami.
San Diego rookie Jesse Hahn pitched seven strong innings as the Padres rallied for the second-straight day over Seattle and won 4-1.
Minnesota’s Joe Mauer drove in two runs, including the go-ahead double in the eighth inning, to push the Twins past the Chicago White Sox 4-2.
Tampa Bay’s Chris Archer pitched 6-2/3 innings to steer the Rays to a 5-0 win over Houston.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set