The Kansas City Royals lost for the first time this season, ending baseball's best start in 13 years, as Ricardo Rodriguez pitched the Cleveland Indians to a 6-1 win.
The Royals were the first club to start 9-0 since the 1990 Cincinnati Reds.
PHOTO: AP
``I just hope everybody enjoyed it as much as I did,'' Kansas City manager Tony Pena said.
Rodriguez kept Kansas City from becoming the eighth team in history to open 10-0, and first since the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers started 13-0.
But he didn't make any friends along the way.
The Royals claim Rodriguez tried to show them up with several flamboyant gestures.
``Hopefully, he'll be around the next time we face them,'' outfielder Michael Tucker said. ``If that's how he wants to come into the league, fine. I'd like to see him do it when he has 20 wins. If he ever lasts that long.''
Milton Bradley had four hits, including his second homer for Cleveland -- and took a few verbal swipes at the Royals, too.
``We brought them down to earth a little, burst their bubble,'' Bradley said. ``They wanted to fight, so I tried to beat them with my bat and glove.''
Rodriguez (2-0) allowed one run and eight hits in seven innings, and rankled the Royals with his flashy attitude. When he struck out Tucker with the bases loaded to end the second, he pumped his fist wildly in celebration.
Devil Rays 2, Yankees 1
In New York, Toby Hall delivered a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, preventing New York from achieving the best start in the 100-year history of the franchise.
At 9-1, the Yankees had tied the best start ever, set by the 1988 team. No Yankees team has ever gone 10-1 at the start and Tampa Bay made sure it stayed that way.
red Sox 2, Orioles 0
In Boston, Derek Lowe and Tim Wakefield combined on a six-hitter and Nomar Garciaparra homered off Rodrigo Lopez (0-2) as Boston rebounded from a rough home opener.
Twins 9, Blue Jays 3
In Toronto, Matthew LeCroy hit a three-run home run and Michael Cuddyer had a solo shot as Minnesota completed a three-game sweep.
White Sox 3, Tigers 2
In Detroit, Bartolo Colon won for the first time with his new team and Chicago sent Detroit to its 10th loss in 11 games this season.
Angels 8, Athletics 2
In Anaheim, California, Anaheim snapped Barry Zito's 10-game winning streak in convincing fashion, scoring in each of the first four innings and getting home runs from Tim Salmon and Troy Glaus.
Mariners 4, Rangers 3, 13 innings
Phillies 13, Reds 1
The Philadelphia Phillies scored a team-record 13 runs in the fourth inning Sunday and thrashed the Cincinnati Reds 13-1.
Bobby Abreu and Jim Thome each scored twice and Ricky Ledee hit a three-run homer to finish the burst at Great American Ball Park.
Braves 7, Marlins 1
In Miami, Greg Maddux, off to the worst start in his career, earned his first win of the season by pitching the Atlanta Braves past the Florida Marlins.
Vinny Castilla homered and drove in five runs as the Braves stopped Florida's four-game winning streak.
Diamondbacks 9, Brewers 3
In Phoenix, Elmer Dessens became the first Arizona starter to win this year and rookie Robby Hammock drove in four runs with a homer and double as the Diamondbacks beat the Milwaukee Brewers.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
RSS