Rookie Cody Anderson took a bid for a perfect game into the seventh inning in his second major league start as the struggling Cleveland Indians snapped a three-game losing streak with a 7-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.
Anderson (1-0) did not allow a baserunner until Grady Sizemore homered against his old team on a 1-2 pitch with one out in the seventh. Evan Longoria followed with a single before the 24-year-old right-hander settled to retire the last four batters he faced.
Yan Gomes had three hits, including a solo homer in the eighth for the Indians, who limped into town after being shut out in both games of a doubleheader at Baltimore on Sunday. Michael Brantley also had three hits, including an RBI single, and Jason Kipnis drove in a run off rookie Nathan Karns (4-4) with one of his three hits.
Photo: AFP
RANGERS 8, ORIOLES 1
In Baltimore, Maryland, Mitch Moreland hit two of the Rangers’ four home runs off Bud Norris as Texas got another winning effort on the road from left-hander Wandy Rodriguez in a victory over Baltimore.
Moreland hit a solo shot in the second inning and a two-run drive in the fourth. It was his sixth career two-homer game, the first since May 2013.
Photo: AFP
Carlos Corporan and Shin-Soo Choo added solo homers to help Texas secure their second win in nine games. The four home runs tied a season high set on April 9 in Oakland.
Joey Gallo contributed a three-run triple for the Rangers, who had lost 11 of 12 to the Orioles — including six straight at Camden Yards.
The loss ended Baltimore’s four-game winning streak and dropped the Orioles to 18-9 last month, 10-2 at home.
Photo: AFP
ASTROS 6, ROYALS 1
In Houston, Texas, Chris Carter and Jose Altuve homered to back a solid start by rookie Lance McCullers as Houston beat Kansas City.
In a matchup of teams with the best records in the American League, Houston snapped Kansas City’s four-game winning streak. The Royals are 44-29 and the Astros are 45-34.
McCullers (4-2) allowed four hits and a run with six strikeouts in seven innings in his ninth major league start.
The Astros jumped on Joe Blanton (2-1) for five runs in the first three innings and Carter added a solo home run in the fifth to help them to the win.
ANGELS 4, YANKEES 1
In Anaheim, California, Mike Trout and C.J. Cron homered and Albert Pujols and Kole Calhoun added run-scoring doubles as Los Angeles beat New York for their fifth victory in seven games.
Trout hit his 20th homer of the season in the third inning against C.C. Sabathia (3-8). The reigning AL MVP also saved a couple of runs with two sprinting catches in center field on balls hit over his head by Chris Young.
C.J. Wilson (6-6) persevered through six eventful innings for his third victory in four starts as the Angels (40-37) moved three games above .500 for the first time since June 2.
Alex Rodriguez drove in a run and Brett Gardner had three hits for the Yankees, who have lost six of nine.
RED SOX 3, BLUE JAYS 1
In Toronto, Clay Buchholz pitched eight strong innings to win his third straight start and Xander Bogaerts drove in two runs as Boston beat Toronto.
Buchholz (6-6) improved to 10-3 with a 2.21 ERA in 15 career starts in Toronto as the Red Sox won back-to-back games for the first time since June 19.
The Blue Jays have scored a major league-leading 421 runs, but have totaled just four in their past three games.
Buchholz allowed one run and five hits in matching his longest outing of the season. He has won four straight decisions since losing at Minnesota on May 26.
Koji Uehara finished for his 17th save.
ATHLETICS 7, ROCKIES 1
In Oakland, California, Josh Reddick and Ike Davis hit two-run homers in the first inning to back seven scoreless innings from Kendall Graveman as Oakland snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Colorado.
Billy Butler also homered off David Hale (2-3) and scored three runs as power-starved Oakland matched their season high for homers. The power barrage helped the A’s bounce back after getting swept in a three-game series by Kansas City to open a 10-game homestand.
Graveman (5-4) was the beneficiary of the big night from the bats, shutting down Nolan Arenado and the Rockies for his latest strong start since returning from the minors.
REDS 11, TWINS 7
In Cincinnati, Ohio, Billy Hamilton scored three times in the first three innings to help Cincinnati open a huge lead as the Reds held on against Minnesota.
The Reds sent 10 batters to the plate for five runs and a 9-1 lead in the third inning, when Mike Pelfrey (5-5) failed to retire any of the four batters he faced. Pelfrey gave up eight runs — matching his season high — and nine hits, retiring only six of 17 batters.
Cincinnati’s Mike Leake let most of the lead slip away. Ten Twins batted during a six-run rally in the top of the fourth inning. Brian Dozier’s three-run homer off Leake cut it to 9-7.
Nate Adcock (1-1) got the victory with two scoreless innings in relief of Leake.
In other results, it was:
‧ Brewers 7, Phillies 4
‧ Diamondbacks 10, Dodgers 6
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS