MAJOR LEAGUES
Los Angeles pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin stretched his road scoreless streak to 26 innings as the Dodgers beat San Francisco 2-1 on Thursday to move level with the Giants at the top of the National League West standings.
It was a bad day for the National League’s divisional leaders, as Atlanta and Milwaukee also lost; the Braves in a one-run game against the Philadelphia Phillies and the Brewers suffering a one-sided defeat at the Pittsburgh Pirates, while the Washington Nationals were shut out at home by the St Louis Cardinals.
Photo: AFP
Dodgers hurler Ryu (3-1) struck out three and walked one on a season-high 112 pitches in seven innings. Closer Kenley Jansen gave up a two-out RBI singles in the ninth, but held on for the save.
Yasiel Puig returned to the Los Angeles lineup and went one for four with a strikeout. He dropped a routine fly ball in right early on, but recovered to throw out Brandon Belt at second. He also made a couple of impressive catches.
Giants starter Madison Bumgarner (2-1) allowed six hits in 4-1/3 laborious innings that required 99 pitches.
St Louis’ Adam Wainwright shone on the mound and at the plate as the Cardinals beat Washington 8-0.
Wainwright (3-1) pitched his seventh career shutout with eight strikeouts, and also hit a double and single.
St Louis benefited from four errors in beating Washington for the eighth straight time dating back to the 2012 National League Division Series.
Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen hit his first homer of the season and drove in three runs as the Pirates overwhelmed Milwaukee in the closing innings and triumphed 11-2.
Josh Harrison hit a two-run shot as a pinch hitter which started Pittsburgh’s nine-run outburst over the seventh and eighth innings that was capped by Pedro Alvarez’s three-run shot.
McCutchen, last year’s National League Most Valuable Player, hit a two-run homer in the first inning, ending a streak of 56 at-bats without a homer.
Philadephia and Atlanta staged another intense defensive battle, but this time the Phillies came out on top, edging the Braves 1-0 to reverse the score of the previous day.
The sole run came from Ben Revere’s RBI single with two outs in the eighth.
A.J. Burnett pitched seven scoreless innings, while Antonio Bastardo and Jonathan Papelbon finished off the four-hitter.
New York’s C.C. Sabathia pitched seven innings for a rare win at Tropicana Field, leading the Yankees past the Tampa Bay Rays 10-2.
Sabathia (2-2) allowed only the two runs to improve to 2-7 in 12 starts at Tropicana Field since joining the Yankees in 2009.
Rays starter David Price (2-1) entered with a 6-1 head-to-head record against Sabathia, but gave up six runs in five innings as Tampa Bay slumped to a fourth straight defeat.
Texas’ stand-in third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff delivered again, doubling twice and scoring two runs as the Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners 8-6.
Kouzmanoff is hitting .414 since being called up from the minors eight days previously when starting third baseman Adrian Beltre suffered a thigh strain.
Choo Shin-soo homered for Texas and J.P. Arencibia had a pair of RBI groundouts.
The Minnesota Twins overcame freezing conditions to win both games of a home double-header against the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-0 and 9-5.
At the start of the first game the temperature was just below zero, making it the coldest start for an outdoor game in Twins history.
Colorado’s Franklin Morales (1-1) allowed four hits in six innings to guide the Rockies to a 4-1 win over the San Diego Padres.
Boston’s Jon Lester pitched eight sharp innings to steer the Red Sox past the Chicago White Sox 3-1.
Detroit’s Ian Kinsler homered and drove in four runs as the Tigers held on for a 7-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
The Kansas City Royals completed a road sweep of the Houston Astros, with James Shields striking out 12 in eight innings.
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