MAJOR LEAGUES
Kansas City’s James Shields pitched seven scoreless innings to lead the Royals to a 3-0 win at Detroit on Wednesday, reopening a one-game lead over the Tigers atop the tightly contested American League (AL) Central.
With the regular season reaching its business end, there were other key results around the majors: Atlanta beat National League (NL) East leader Washington to keep up their wild-card push, the Los Angeles Dodgers downed San Diego to maintain a handy break atop the NL West, and St Louis’ lead in the NL Central was pared back by defeat against Cincinnati.
Kansas City’s Shields (14-7) gave up a single leading off the first, but then picked off the runner at first base and then retired every other batter he faced until the seventh inning. The Tigers put two men on base in that inning, but Shields worked out of the jam.
Rick Porcello (15-11) pitched well for the Tigers, but Kansas City scored twice in the fourth on RBI singles by Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain. Alcides Escobar added a sacrifice fly in the ninth.
Atlanta avoided a three-game sweep at Washington by winning 6-2, with Aaron Harang in fine form on the mound.
The Braves snapped a three-game losing streak as Harang (11-10) held the NL East leaders to one unearned run over seven innings.
Justin Upton’s RBI single in the sixth broke a 1-1 tie and he added a two-run double during a three-run seventh.
Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg (11-11) allowed seven hits in six innings as Washington’s divisional lead over the Braves was trimmed to a still dominant eight games, while Atlanta remained within 1.5 games of the last wild-card berth.
The Dodgers beat San Diego 4-0 to stay 2.5 games clear atop the NL West, with Dan Haren pitching seven scoreless innings.
Haren (13-10) became the fourth Dodgers pitcher to reach 13 wins this season, along with Clayton Kershaw, Ryu Hyun-jin and Zack Greinke. It is the first time in 19 years the team have had four starters reach 13 wins.
Carl Crawford had a season-high four hits, including three doubles, for L.A., while Hanley Ramirez and Juan Uribe added RBI singles.
Cincinnati’s Alfredo Simon shook off a rough start to last seven innings and also drove in the go-ahead run with his second double of the game, leading the Reds to a 4-2 victory over St Louis.
Simon (14-10) notched only his second win since the All-Star break, while Ryan Ludwick hit a solo homer for the Reds.
The Cardinals lost consecutive games for the first time this month and saw their NL Central lead cut back to 3.5 games over Pittsburgh.
Chicago’s Avisail Garcia drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the eighth inning, lifting the White Sox to a 2-1 victory over struggling Oakland.
The Athletics looked set for a win after Jeff Samardzija threw seven scoreless innings, but the bullpen blew a lead for the third time in four games.
Oakland’s pursuit of the AL West title is all but over and their hold on a wild-card spot is shaky.
Milwaukee rookie Matt Clark hit his first career home run as the Brewers took a much-needed win against Miami.
Brewers starter Wily Peralta (16-10) gave up one earned run in 6-2/3 innings to help Milwaukee snap a four-game losing streak and win for just the second time in their past 15 games.
They remained 1.5 games behind Pittsburgh for the second wild-card spot.
New York’s Mark Teixeira made up for his mistake in the field amid a four-run Tampa Bay first inning by hitting a go-ahead triple in the fifth and the Yankees rallied to beat the Rays 8-5.
Los Angeles’ Albert Pujols ran out his first triple in more than four years to open the scoring and the Angels went on to beat Texas 8-1.
Houston’s Jose Altuve had two hits and an RBI as the Astros further damaged Seattle’s playoff hopes by beating the Mariners 5-2.
Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen hit the first inside-the-park home run of his career as the Pirates downed Philadelphia 6-3 to protect their lead in the wild-card race.
Toronto’s Drew Hutchison matched his career-high with 10 strikeouts in 6-1/3 innings, guiding the Blue Jays to an 11-1 rout of the Chicago Cubs.
San Francisco’s four pitchers combined on a shutout, guiding the Giants to a 5-0 defeat of Arizona.
New York pitcher Rafael Montero earned his first major league win as the suddenly surging Mets beat Colorado 2-0 to make it seven wins from eight games.
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