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.
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
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