George Springer on Thursday hit two two-run home runs as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 8-5 to complete a four-game sweep and take sole possession of the American League East lead.
Addison Barger had a solo homer among his three hits for Toronto.
New York slugger Aaron Judge drew his 23rd intentional walk in the eighth inning, matching Mickey Mantle’s 1957 team record.
Photo: John E. Sokolowski / Imagn Images
Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt left after three innings because of tightness in his forearm. Schmidt allowed three runs and four hits.
Jasson Dominguez had four hits for New York, but the Yankees were swept for the second time this season after they lost all three against the Boston Red Sox from June 13 to 15.
New York moved to 10-16 against AL East opponents after Thursday’s loss.
Photo: Arianna Grainey / Imagn Images
Chris Bassitt (8-4) struck out nine in 5-2/3 innings, improving to 4-0 in five career home starts against the Yankees. Jeff Hoffman finished for his 21st save in 25 chances.
Springer went three for four with four RBIs and scored three times. The homers were his 14th and 15th of the season.
Barger and Nathan Lukes each had three hits and two RBIs as Toronto won for the 11th time in 16 and jumped one game ahead of New York.
Photo: AP
New York’s Trent Grisham homered in his return to the starting lineup, his 16th of the season.
In Phoenix, Arizona, Robbie Ray threw his first complete game since 2017, while Rafael Devers had three RBIs as the San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-2.
The teams split the four-game series, with the Giants winning the final two.
Ray (9-3) retired the first 12 batters before Eugenio Suarez led off the fifth inning with his 27th homer of the season to cut San Francisco’s lead to 4-1. The veteran left-hander needed 102 pitches to navigate his nine innings, giving up three hits, including two solo homers, walking one and striking out seven.
Ray pitched for the Diamondbacks from 2015 to 2020 before being traded to Toronto. He won the AL Cy Young with the Blue Jays in 2021.
The Giants led for almost the entire night, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Heliot Ramos hit a run-scoring double and Jung Hoo Lee added a sacrifice fly. Mike Yastrzemski and Willy Adames both had three hits.
Ramos and Andrew Knizner added two hits.
Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt (8-6) gave up four runs on six hits and two walks over six innings. The right-hander struck out eight.
Ketel Marte added a solo homer in the ninth inning for his 19th homer of the season.
In Los Angeles, Dustin May pitched into the eighth inning for the first time in his career as the Dodgers finished off a three-game sweep with a 6-2 victory over the visiting Chicago White Sox.
Freddie Freeman had two doubles and three RBIs, while Michael Conforto and Mookie Betts each hit a home run as the Dodgers won for the ninth time in 10 games.
May (5-5) retired the first 16 batters he faced and matched a season high with nine strikeouts over seven-plus innings. He allowed two runs on four hits and a walk.
Brooks Baldwin spoiled May’s shutout bid with a two-run homer in the eighth inning.
Aaron Civale (1-5) allowed five runs, two earned, on five hits over five innings.
Elsewhere on Thursday, it was:
‧ Braves 1, Angels 5
‧ Cubs 1, Guardians 0 (10i)
‧ Mariners 2, Royals 3
‧ Marlins 4, Twins 1
‧ Mets 3, Brewers 2
‧ Nationals 11, Tigers 7
‧ Rockies 7, Astros 6
Wilyer Abreu watched the ball leave the park and tossed his bat high in the air. His Venezuela teammates streamed out of the dugout in celebration. The comeback was on and the win over the reigning World Baseball Classic (WBC) champion Japan was within reach. Japan, their 11-game WBC winning streak on the line, held a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of Saturday’s thrilling quarter-final matchup when Abreu put his team ahead with the biggest swing of the game: a three-run shot off Hiromi Itoh that sent the loanDepot Park crowd into a passionate roar and helped seize Venezuela’s 8-5
A BREATHLESS BATTLE: France clinched the championship in a vicious back-and-forth match with England, denying Ireland the title by just a few points France won back-to-back Six Nations titles after beating England 48-46 on a last-second penalty-kick by Thomas Ramos in a thriller for the ages on Saturday. England scored their seventh try in the 77th minute and converted for 46-45. If the score held for a few more minutes, Ireland would have been crowned the champion. But France pressed yet again with 14 men, lost possession, regained it, and earned two simultaneous penalties after the fulltime siren. Captain Antoine Dupont debated with referee Nika Amashukeli where the penalty spots were. Ramos, who did not miss a goal-kick all night, finally lined up his seventh
Home runs are greeted with a celebratory shot of espresso and the donning of an Armani jacket. Victories are marked with bottles of red wine while the soaring voice of opera singer Andrea Bocelli echoes through the locker room. Welcome to baseball, Italian-style. Written off as 80-1 underdogs before the World Baseball Classic started, Italy’s fairytale tournament has carried them all the way to today’s (Taipei time) semi-finals in Miami against Venezuela. On Saturday, Italy — who scored a stunning upset of a star-studded US lineup during the pool phase — kept their unbeaten campaign alive with a nail-biting 8-6
Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1’s second-youngest race winner with a composed drive to victory for Mercedes in an eventful Chinese Grand Prix yesterday. The 19-year-old Italian was the youngest pole position starter and briefly lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari at the start, but retook it soon after and was in control after that. “We did it! We did it!” Antonelli shouted to his team on the radio amid laughs and whoops. It was another 1-2 finish for Mercedes to start the season as Antonelli’s teammate George Russell came through a battle with both Ferraris to finish second. Lewis Hamilton was
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