MAJOR LEAGUES
Sonny Gray allowed just three hits in his first career complete game on Monday, as the Oakland Athletics beat Texas 4-0 in Rangers ace pitcher Yu Darvish’s shortest outing yet in the major leagues.
Gray (4-1) allowed only three singles while striking out six batters. Texas got only one runner to third base against the right-hander, who threw two wild pitches in the sixth after Robinson Chirinos singled.
Photo: AFP
Darvish (1-1) was gone after 3-1/3 innings, pulled after walking No. 9 batter Eric Sogard for the second time. The Japanese is winless his past nine home starts.
Josh Donaldson had a two-run single in the third and the A’s made it 4-0 an inning later when Josh Reddick had an RBI triple before coming home on Daric Barton’s sacrifice fly.
Also in the American League, Alejandro de Aza hit a two-run homer, while Adam Eaton and Marcus Semien had two-run doubles to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
White Sox slugger Jose Abreu, who was named AL coplayer of the week earlier in the day, went two-for-four with a walk and an RBI, his 32nd overall.
The win moved the White Sox (14-13) above .500 by taking three of four from Tampa and marked Chicago’s third series win this season.
Andre Rienzo (2-0) allowed five hits and three runs — two earned — in six innings to get the win.
In the day’s other AL game, the Los Angeles Angels downed the Cleveland Indians 6-3, with Mike Trout hitting a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning and Raul Ibanez adding a two-run triple.
In National League play on Monday, Khris Davis was struck out four times before coming through with a run-scoring triple in the 12th inning to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-3 win over the St Louis Cardinals.
Davis drove in Jonathan Lucroy, who doubled off Seth Maness (0-2) to start the inning, and Mark Reynolds then drove in Davis with a sacrifice fly. Davis, who finished 1 for 6, struck out in the second, fifth, sixth and 10th innings.
Zach Duke (2-0) picked up the win with two innings of scoreless relief, while Francisco Rodriguez recorded his 12th save in as many opportunities by getting Jhonny Peralta to fly out with two on to end the game.
Allen Craig and Matt Holliday homered for St Louis.
In Phoenix, Troy Tulowitzki homered, hit two doubles and drove in three runs to lead the big-hitting Colorado Rockies to an 8-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Tulowitzki led off the sixth inning with his sixth homer, before Justin Morneau added a two-run shot later in the inning to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.
Nolan Arenado had one of Colorado’s six doubles to stretch his hitting streak to a baseball-best 18 games and the Rockies had 12 hits overall.
Gerardo Parra homered for Arizona.
In other NL action, Rene Rivera hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the fifth to follow his two-run double for a career-high five RBIs, single-handedly backing Tyson Ross in the San Diego Padres’ 6-4 victory against the San Francisco Giants.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
RSS