Russell Martin broke a tie with a three-run triple in a nine-run seventh inning as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 13-10 by overcoming an 8-1 deficit on Friday night.
The Blue Jays won their ninth straight game and scored at least six runs for the eighth time in that stretch.
The Red Sox suffered their fourth consecutive loss, one of the most disheartening in a season in which they are a season-worst eight games under .500 (27-35) and in last place in the AL East. They had a chance to tie it in the ninth when they loaded the bases after Xander Bogaerts singled in a run. However, with two outs, Mike Napoli took a called third strike.
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Brett Cecil gave up an RBI double in the ninth to Rusney Castillo, but got his third save.
Steve Delabar (2-0) pitched a perfect sixth. Junichi Tazawa (0-2) took the loss.
CARDINALS 4, ROYALS 0
In St Louis, Missouri, Jaime Garcia pitched eight innings of four-hit ball and helped himself with an RBI single for St Louis, which ended Kansas City’s four-game winning streak with a victory in the opener of a high-profile weekend interleague series.
Jon Jay snapped a two-for-24 slump this month with a two-out RBI triple in the second off Yordano Ventura (3-6), and Garcia followed with his 12th career RBI on an opposite-field single to left.
The Cardinals are 40-21 overall and 23-7 at home, both major league bests. They got a huge outing from Garcia (2-3), so far a success story off thoracic outlet surgery.
Ventura lasted just three innings for the second straight start, removed as a precaution due to weakness in his pitching hand. In those two starts, he has allowed six earned runs.
DIAMONDBACKS 1, GIANTS 0
In San Francisco, Chase Anderson lost his no-hit bid when he got hit on the right calf by Buster Posey’s sharp comebacker with one out in the seventh inning as Arizona beat San Francisco to snap a four-game skid.
Anderson grimaced in pain after the ball ricocheted off his leg and rolled toward the third-base line, leaving the Diamondbacks with no play on Posey’s infield single, but the right-hander finished the inning and outpitched World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner (7-3) as the Giants lost their sixth straight home game.
Backed by Ender Inciarte’s second-inning RBI single, Anderson (2-1) snapped a three-start winless stretch. He gave way to Daniel Hudson in the eighth.
Brad Ziegler worked a perfect ninth for his seventh save. Arizona did not allow a runner past second and held on while outhitting San Francisco 11-2.
METS 5, BRAVES 3
In New York, Bartolo Colon moved into a tie for the major league lead with his ninth win, while Wilmer Flores and John Mayberry Jr homered as New York held on to beat Atlanta.
The 42-year-old Colon (9-4) gave up two runs and six hits in six effective innings as he matched Seattle’s Felix Hernandez, who was roughed up at Houston, and Pittsburgh’s Gerrit Cole for most victories in baseball.
Jeurys Familia, whose availability for the game was uncertain because he was awaiting the birth of his child, loaded the bases with one out in the ninth before getting Nick Markakis to ground into a double play for his 18th save.
Michael Cuddyer followed up his game-winning hit on Thursday against San Francisco with an RBI double in the seventh as New York beat Atlanta for a fifth straight time after losing the first two games between the teams this year.
In other MLB action, it was:
‧ Astros 10, Mariners 0
‧ Orioles 11, Yankees 3
‧ Reds 5, Cubs 4, 10 inns
‧ Rangers 6, Twins 2
‧ Rays 7, White Sox 5
‧ Brewers 8, Nationals 4
‧ Tigers 4, Indians 0
‧ Marlins 5, Rockies 1
‧ Dodgers 4, Padres 3
‧ Angels 5, Athletics 4
‧ Pirates 1, Phillies 0, 13 inns
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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