MAJOR LEAGUES
San Francisco pitcher Jake Peavy was in such dominant form that he even resumed after a rain delay of almost three hours and steered the Giants to an 8-2 win over Detroit in Friday’s key interleague clash of playoff aspirants.
The victory moved the Giants within two games of the National League West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, while the Tigers slipped two games behind American League Central leaders Kansas City, who prevailed in a defensive struggle against the New York Yankees.
Photo: AFP
New York missed an opportunity to make up some ground on runaway AL East leader Baltimore, who lost to Tampa Bay, while the key NL clash saw Milwaukee end a run of nine-successive defeats by beating St Louis, who had won their previous six.
San Francisco scored six runs in three innings and led 6-0 when a severe storm came through, delaying the game for 2 hours, 40 minutes. When play resumed, Peavy (4-4) surprisingly went back to the mound and did not give up any earned runs in his six innings.
Kansas City capitalized on Detroit’s defeat by beating the Yankees 1-0, with a superb performance by pitcher James Shields.
Two starts after putting in one of his worst outings this season against New York, Shields (13-7) showed his best by retiring his first 11 batters. It was one of his two 11-batter stretches of the game, and he induced 12 groundouts in 8-1/3 scoreless innings.
Nori Aoki’s run-scoring single in the third proved the winner as the Royals notched a fourth-straight win and moved 17 games over a .500 record for the first time in 25 years.
Baltimore remained 9.5 games ahead of New York atop the AL East after a 3-0 loss at Tampa Bay.
Rays’ starter Alex Cobb and two relievers combined for Tampa Bay’s AL-best 19th shutout this season.
Cobb did not get the decision, despite going seven innings and allowing two runs or less for the 11th consecutive start; a team record. He gave up only one walk and struck out six.
Reliever Brad Boxberger (4-1) pitched a perfect eighth to take the win.
Milwaukee finally got back on the winners’ list by beating St Louis 6-2, closing back within three games of the NL Central-leading Cardinals.
Los Angeles’ Kole Calhoun had three hits and scored four times, sliding into home for the go-ahead run in the 10th inning to give the Angels a 7-6 victory over Minnesota.
The Angels moved six games clear atop the AL West.
Washington’s Rafael Soriano blew another save, and an error by Bryce Harper on a routine fly ball in the 11th inning led to the go-ahead runs, giving Philadelphia a 9-8 win over the Nationals.
The Nationals stayed seven games clear atop the NL West because Atlanta lost 11-3 at Miami.
Houston’s Chris Carter hit his 36th homer of the season and drove in three runs against his former team to help the Astros beat slumping Oakland 4-3.
Los Angeles’ Dan Haren pitched well on two extra days of rest to steer the Dodgers to a 2-1 win over Arizona.
The game between Pittsburgh and the Chicago Cubs was suspended by rain with the game tied 3-3 in the top of the seventh inning and was to resume yesterday.
Cleveland’s David Murphy drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded single in the 10th inning to five the Indians a 2-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Boston’s Yoenis Cespedes had four hits, including a game-winning single that capped a three-run 10th inning, as the Red Sox rallied to beat Toronto 9-8.
New York’s Curtis Granderson and Travis d’Arnaud each hit three-run homers and drove in four runs, powering the Mets to a 14-5 thrashing of Cincinnati and a third-straight victory.
Seattle’s Kendrys Morales hit two of his team’s four homers as the Mariners beat Texas 7-5, handing the Rangers their seventh-straight loss only hours after manager Ron Washington resigned unexpectedly.
Colorado’s Tyler Matzek pitched his first career shutout, steering the Rockies to a 3-0 win against San Diego.
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