Rookie Cody Anderson took a bid for a perfect game into the seventh inning in his second major league start as the struggling Cleveland Indians snapped a three-game losing streak with a 7-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.
Anderson (1-0) did not allow a baserunner until Grady Sizemore homered against his old team on a 1-2 pitch with one out in the seventh. Evan Longoria followed with a single before the 24-year-old right-hander settled to retire the last four batters he faced.
Yan Gomes had three hits, including a solo homer in the eighth for the Indians, who limped into town after being shut out in both games of a doubleheader at Baltimore on Sunday. Michael Brantley also had three hits, including an RBI single, and Jason Kipnis drove in a run off rookie Nathan Karns (4-4) with one of his three hits.
Photo: AFP
RANGERS 8, ORIOLES 1
In Baltimore, Maryland, Mitch Moreland hit two of the Rangers’ four home runs off Bud Norris as Texas got another winning effort on the road from left-hander Wandy Rodriguez in a victory over Baltimore.
Moreland hit a solo shot in the second inning and a two-run drive in the fourth. It was his sixth career two-homer game, the first since May 2013.
Photo: AFP
Carlos Corporan and Shin-Soo Choo added solo homers to help Texas secure their second win in nine games. The four home runs tied a season high set on April 9 in Oakland.
Joey Gallo contributed a three-run triple for the Rangers, who had lost 11 of 12 to the Orioles — including six straight at Camden Yards.
The loss ended Baltimore’s four-game winning streak and dropped the Orioles to 18-9 last month, 10-2 at home.
Photo: AFP
ASTROS 6, ROYALS 1
In Houston, Texas, Chris Carter and Jose Altuve homered to back a solid start by rookie Lance McCullers as Houston beat Kansas City.
In a matchup of teams with the best records in the American League, Houston snapped Kansas City’s four-game winning streak. The Royals are 44-29 and the Astros are 45-34.
McCullers (4-2) allowed four hits and a run with six strikeouts in seven innings in his ninth major league start.
The Astros jumped on Joe Blanton (2-1) for five runs in the first three innings and Carter added a solo home run in the fifth to help them to the win.
ANGELS 4, YANKEES 1
In Anaheim, California, Mike Trout and C.J. Cron homered and Albert Pujols and Kole Calhoun added run-scoring doubles as Los Angeles beat New York for their fifth victory in seven games.
Trout hit his 20th homer of the season in the third inning against C.C. Sabathia (3-8). The reigning AL MVP also saved a couple of runs with two sprinting catches in center field on balls hit over his head by Chris Young.
C.J. Wilson (6-6) persevered through six eventful innings for his third victory in four starts as the Angels (40-37) moved three games above .500 for the first time since June 2.
Alex Rodriguez drove in a run and Brett Gardner had three hits for the Yankees, who have lost six of nine.
RED SOX 3, BLUE JAYS 1
In Toronto, Clay Buchholz pitched eight strong innings to win his third straight start and Xander Bogaerts drove in two runs as Boston beat Toronto.
Buchholz (6-6) improved to 10-3 with a 2.21 ERA in 15 career starts in Toronto as the Red Sox won back-to-back games for the first time since June 19.
The Blue Jays have scored a major league-leading 421 runs, but have totaled just four in their past three games.
Buchholz allowed one run and five hits in matching his longest outing of the season. He has won four straight decisions since losing at Minnesota on May 26.
Koji Uehara finished for his 17th save.
ATHLETICS 7, ROCKIES 1
In Oakland, California, Josh Reddick and Ike Davis hit two-run homers in the first inning to back seven scoreless innings from Kendall Graveman as Oakland snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Colorado.
Billy Butler also homered off David Hale (2-3) and scored three runs as power-starved Oakland matched their season high for homers. The power barrage helped the A’s bounce back after getting swept in a three-game series by Kansas City to open a 10-game homestand.
Graveman (5-4) was the beneficiary of the big night from the bats, shutting down Nolan Arenado and the Rockies for his latest strong start since returning from the minors.
REDS 11, TWINS 7
In Cincinnati, Ohio, Billy Hamilton scored three times in the first three innings to help Cincinnati open a huge lead as the Reds held on against Minnesota.
The Reds sent 10 batters to the plate for five runs and a 9-1 lead in the third inning, when Mike Pelfrey (5-5) failed to retire any of the four batters he faced. Pelfrey gave up eight runs — matching his season high — and nine hits, retiring only six of 17 batters.
Cincinnati’s Mike Leake let most of the lead slip away. Ten Twins batted during a six-run rally in the top of the fourth inning. Brian Dozier’s three-run homer off Leake cut it to 9-7.
Nate Adcock (1-1) got the victory with two scoreless innings in relief of Leake.
In other results, it was:
‧ Brewers 7, Phillies 4
‧ Diamondbacks 10, Dodgers 6
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
Olympic bronze medalist Lee Meng-yuan has become the first Taiwanese athlete to top the International Shooting Sport Federation’s (ISSF) men’s skeet world rankings, while top Taiwanese shooters won golds in each of yesterday’s finals in Taoyuan. Lee’s 6,610 points put him ahead of fellow men’s skeet medalists from the Paris Olympics Americans Vincent Hancock and Conner Prince. Lee on Monday said that he was surprised by the result, although he had expected his ranking to rise after the Games, which was also the first time a Taiwanese athlete had competed in men’s skeet. Despite topping the rankings, Lee said he believed Hancock, who