Justin Verlander struck out 10 batters, including the 2,000th of his career, to help the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 6-3 on Wednesday, while Chicago pitcher Travis Wood delivered on the mound then at the plate to lead the Cubs to a 13-inning victory over Milwaukee.
Verlander (3-4) allowed six hits and three runs over 7-1/3 innings while matching his season high in strikeouts. He joined Mickey Lolich as the two pitchers in franchise history with 2,000 career strikeouts.
“Personal accomplishments are nice, but what I take the most pride in is being out there every fifth game,” Verlander said. “Numbers come with time.”
Photo: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY
Wood ended a Brewers rally with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 12th inning. Then, an inning later, he forced in the go-ahead run after drawing a two-out walk in a 2-1 victory.
With the Cubs out of position players, manager Joe Maddon had Wood hit with two outs after the Brewers intentionally walked Miguel Montero to load the bases. Wood drew the walk when Carlos Torres missed on a 3-1 cutter, forcing Ben Zobrist home with the go-ahead run.
“When he came in the game, I said: ‘Understand one thing: If you get out of this, you’re getting an at-bat.’ So, that kind of jacked him up,” Maddon said. “That’s just how we operate.”
In New York, Daniel Murphy drove in two runs against his former team as the Washington Nationals beat the Mets 7-1 to hold on to first place in the NL East, while Brett Gardner hit a two-run homer as the Yankees beat the Diamondbacks 4-2 in Arizona.
Hunter Pence hit a two-run homer to lead San Francisco to its seventh straight win with a 4-2 victory over San Diego, while Jackie Bradley Jr and Mookie Betts homered as Boston beat Kansas City to salvage a split of their day-night doubleheader.
The Royals won the opener 3-2 behind a strong performance by Ian Kennedy and their bullpen, but the Red Sox rebounded to win Game 2 5-2.
Adam Wainwright had his best start of the season and Matt Holliday had a two-run double as St Louis ended the Colorado Rockies’ five-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory, while Mike Trout homered as the Angels broke the game open with five runs in the fifth inning to beat the Dodgers 8-1 in the Freeway Series.
Colby Rasmus and Jason Castro each had solo home runs as Houston beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 and Francisco Lindor’s lead off homer in the 12th inning gave the Cleveland Indians an 8-7 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Atlanta beat Pittsburgh 3-1 to hand Brian Snitker his first victory as interim manager and Mark Trumbo and Matt Wieters hit back-to-back homers for the Orioles in their 5-2 victory over the Mariners.
Kevin Kiermaier hit a two-run homer as Tampa Bay beat Toronto 6-3 to complete a three-game sweep. Khris Davis hit his fourth home run in two games as Oakland completed a three-game sweep of Texas with a 8-1 thrashing and Tyler Goeddel hit his first career homer as Philadelphia beat Miami 4-2.
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