Freddy Garcia allowed one hit in eight shutout innings for the second straight start and A.J. Pierzynski hit a grand slam on Tuesday to help the slumping Chicago White Sox beat Detroit 7-0.
The Tigers' lead in the American League Central dropped to a half-game over Minnesota, which beat Boston 7-3. The White Sox snapped a four-game losing streak and stayed within 4.5 games of the Twins in the wild-card standings.
Garcia retired 23 consecutive batters, walking Curtis Granderson to start the game and allowing a single to the next batter, Ivan Rodriguez. He walked Brandon Inge with two outs in the eighth.
PHOTO: AP
Twins 7, Red Sox 3
At Boston, Justin Morneau had a career-high five hits, Jason Bartlett and Torii Hunter homered for Minnesota's win over Boston.
Yankees 6, Blue Jays 3
At Toronto, Bobby Abreu hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning and Johnny Damon made a great catch that saved three runs as New York lowered its magic number for a ninth straight AL East title to one.
Athletics 7, Indians 3
At Oakland, California, Bobby Kielty hit his first career grand slam, Kirk Saarloos struck out a career-high 11 and Eric Chavez and Nick Swisher also homered for Oakland.
Orioles 5, Devil Rays 4
At St. Petersburg, Florida, Ramon Hernandez's RBI double highlighted a four-run fifth inning and Baltimore handed Tampa Bay its season-high ninth straight loss.
Angels 5, Royals 2
At Kansas City, Missouri, Robb Quinlan and Vladimir Guerrero homered to back Los Angeles rookie Joe Saunders.
Mariners 9, Rangers 7, 10 innings
At Arlington, Texas, Adam Jones had a pinch-hit, two-run single with two outs in the 10th as Seattle beat Texas.
Jeff Weaver threw six strong innings and the St. Louis Cardinals scored six runs in the seventh in a 12-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.
The Cardinals reduced their magic number for clinching the National League Central for a third straight season to six, but they also found out closer Jason Isringhausen will miss the rest of the season.
Phillies 4, Cubs 1
At Philadelphia, Jamie Moyer pitched seven solid innings and Abraham Nunez had a two-run single to lead Philadelphia past Chicago.
Mets 3, Marlins 2
At New York, Tom Glavine pitched eight sharp innings and New York, fielding a makeshift lineup a day after clinching the NL East, rallied to hand Florida its fourth straight loss.
Reds 5, Astros 4
At Houston, Chris Denorfia hit a two-run homer and Ryan Freel had a two-run double for Cincinnati to back a strong start from Aaron Harang.
Nationals 9, Braves 2
At Washington, rookie Beltran Perez allowed one hit over six innings to win his first major league start and Washington trounced Atlanta.
Rockies 12, Giants 4
At Denver, Matt Cain allowed consecutive third-inning homers to Garrett Atkins as San Francisco lost for the sixth time in eight games.
Padres 5, Diamondbacks 2
At San Diego, Trevor Hoffman earned his 476th career save, Mike Cameron hit a three-run homer and San Diego beat Arizona to regain the NL West lead.
Pirates 10, Dodgers 6
At Los Angeles, Jose Bautista hit a grand slam, Ian Snell pitched six strong innings and Pittsburgh dropped the Dodgers into second place in the NL West.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
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
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
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