MAJOR LEAGUES
Milwaukee beat St Louis in extra innings for the second straight night on Tuesday, when Lyle Overbay’s 11th-inning single delivering a 5-4 win that lifted the Brewers a remarkable 6.5 games clear atop the National League Central Division after just 27 games.
Milwaukee’s Khris Davis, who hit the go-ahead triple that sealed his side’s victory on Monday, started the winning comeback on Tuesday with a leadoff double in the 11th off Kevin Siegrist (0-1), and Overbay drove him home for the winner.
The win put the Brewers at a major leagues-best 20-7 — two more victories than the previous franchise best for an opening month — and 11-1 on the road.
Carlos Gomez homered and pitcher Kyle Lohse had a two-run single for Milwaukee, who shrugged off the absence of four regular starters and improved to 4-1 in extra-inning games, with the Cardinals at 0-3.
In other games, Oakland also beat their nearest division rivals in Texas to open a two-game lead after Derek Norris drove in three runs with a pair of doubles to help the Athletics beat the Rangers 9-3.
The A’s went ahead to stay on Norris’ two-run double in the first inning off Martin Perez (4-1), who pitched 26 consecutive scoreless innings over his previous three starts.
Oakland starter Scott Kazmir (4-0) tied for the American League lead in wins. He needed 95 pitches to labor through five innings, but left with a 9-3 lead.
Elsewhere, Miami starter Jose Fernandez pitched eight scoreless innings as the Marlins opened a homestand with a 9-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.
Fernandez (4-1) was dominant against the NL East leaders for the second time in a week, lowering his season ERA to 1.59 and striking out eight, while Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer for the Marlins.
San Francisco’s pitching was just as dominant in their shutout win over San Diego on Tuesday, in which Angel Pagan hit a leadoff homer to set the Giants on their way to a 6-0 win.
Buster Posey connected two batters later to give the hosts an ideal start, while Giants’ starter Yusmeiro Petit (2-1) went six innings without giving up a hit until the fourth as he filled in for Matt Cain, who was sidelined after dropping a knife in the clubhouse kitchen before the game and cutting his finger as he tried to catch it.
Also on Tuesday, New York’s Jonathon Niese pitched seven steady innings on a rainy night to steer the Mets to a 6-1 win over Philadelphia.
Rain delayed the start of the game by 1 hour, 28 minutes, and temperatures were low, but the weather seemed to hardly affect Niese (2-2), who struck out five and walked one.
Daniel Murphy had three hits for the Mets, who at 15-11 are four games over a .500 record for the first time since 2012.
In Chicago, Detroit’s Bryan Holaday bunted home Austin Jackson with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Tigers a 4-3 win over the White Sox.
Jackson lined a long drive off Ronald Belisario and reached third on a fielding error by Dayan Viciedo, before scoring on Holaday’s surprise bunt down the first base line.
Detroit’s Joba Chamberlain (1-1) worked one inning of relief to take the win and Joe Nathan earned his fifth save.
In New York, Seattle’s Robinson Cano drove in a run and scored another despite boos of home fans in his return to Yankee Stadium, helping the Mariners to a 6-3 win over the hosts.
Cano began his first game in the Bronx since joining Seattle last winter for US$240 million with a wink at Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia (3-3).
Seattle starter Chris Young (1-0) gave up a second-inning homer to Teixeira and not much else in 5-2/3 innings to earn his first win since 2012.
In the day’s other games, Kansas City’s Salvador Perez homered and drove in four runs to help the Royals rally to a 10-7 win over Toronto, while Colorado’s Drew Stubbs homered off Arizona closer Addison Reed in the ninth inning to give the Rockies a 5-4 win and Boston’s Shane Victorino had four hits and his first two RBIs of the season as the Red Sox defeated Tampa Bay 7-4.
Elsewhere in the MLB, Los Angeles’ Howie Kendrick had a two-run single in his first game batting in the leadoff spot this season as the Angels downed Cleveland 6-4, Washington’s Adam LaRoche hit a tying double in the eighth and a go-ahead single in the ninth to lift the Nationals to a 4-3 win over Houston, and Cincinnati beat the Chicago Cubs 3-2 in a game delayed three times by rain that saw Billy Hamilton hit his first career homer.
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