The Chicago White Sox snapped a run of six straight losses to their crosstown rival Chicago Cubs with a 10-3 win in Major League Baseball interleague play on Friday.
Nick Swisher’s grand slam capped a seven-run third inning for the southside team against Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster.
The Cubs, who swept the White Sox at Wrigley Field last weekend, had won nine of the previous 10 meetings between the Chicago teams.
PHOTO: EPA
Former closer Dempster, who is 9-0 at home but 0-3 on the road, lasted only 2 1-3 innings, giving up seven hits in his shortest outing since joining the rotation this season.
Twins 7, Brewers 6
In Minneapolis, Minnesota edged Milwaukee to record its 10th straight win.
Catcher Joe Mauer sent an 0-2 pitch over the center-field wall for a solo shot in the eighth inning that put the Twins in front to stay.
Minnesota’s winning streak had come exclusively in interleague play, and lifted it to within half a game of the American League Central lead.
Red Sox 6, Astros 1
In Houston, pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka limited Houston to two hits in five scoreless innings as Boston won its first ever regular-season game in the Texan city.
The win kept the Red Sox half a game ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East.
Boston won despite its bullpen giving up its first run for 12 innings.
Rays 10, Pirates 5
In Pittsburgh, streaking Tampa Bay quickly opened a seven-run lead to cruise to victory over Pittsburgh.
Evan Longoria and Eric Hinske both hit three-run homers off the Pirates’ Jimmy Barthmaier in his major league debut.
In a matchup of two of the majors’ worst teams over the past decade, the much-improved Rays showed the Pirates their blueprint for rebuilding, with plenty of fast-progressing hitters who can hit for power. The Rays are a franchise-best 17 games over .500 after winning four in a row.
Barthmaier gave up seven runs in 2 1-3 innings and was in trouble from the start.
Dodgers 6, Angels 0
In Los Angeles, pitcher Park Chan-ho shut out the Angels over his six innings as the Dodgers won the all-LA showdown.
Park gave up only four hits, struck out seven and did not walk a batter.
Andre Ethier hit a three-run homer for the Dodgers.
Rangers 8, Phillies 7
In Arlington, Texas, Milton Bradley hit a tiebreaking homer as Texas edged slumping Philadelphia.
Rangers first baseman Chris Davis homered in his first major league start.
Bradley, starting for only the second time in nine games since a left quadriceps strain, hit a solo shot in the fifth to snap a 6-6 tie.
Philadelphia’s lead in the National League East is down to one game after an eighth loss in nine games.
Mets 15, Yankees 6 (first game) Yankees 9, Mets 0 (second game)
In New York, the Mets won at Yankee Stadium and the Yankees won at Shea Stadium in an unusual double header, as the teams crossed from the Bronx to Queens between games.
Carlos Delgado dominated the day game, setting a Mets record with nine RBIs and a grand slam.
After both teams got police escorts for rush-hour bus trips across New York, Sidney Ponson pitched a gem in his return to the Yankees to shut down the Mets in the night game.
Royals 7, Cardinals 2
In Kansas City, Missouri, the home team notched its 11th win in 12 games by downing St. Louis.
Alex Gordon drove in four runs with a homer and a bases-loaded double for the Royals.
Gordon’s solo shot put the Royals on top 5-0 in the fifth en route to a sixth straight win — their longest streak since the opening of the 2003 season.
The Royals improved to 13-3 in interleague play, best in the majors.
Marlins 3, Diamondbacks 1
In Miami, Ricky Nolasco pitched eight effective innings to steer Florida past Arizona in the day’s only all-NL clash.
Cody Ross homered for the Marlins, who have beaten the Diamondbacks in all four games this season.
Nolasco struck out nine and gave up just one run.
The Diamondbacks fell to 1-6 to on their nine-game road trip.
Braves 4, Blue Jays 0
In Toronto, Jair Jurrjens put on a superb pitching display to guide Atlanta to a win over Toronto.
Jurrjens pitched a career-long eight innings, allowing just three hits — all singles — and didn’t allow a runner to reach second base.
Mark Teixeira his a two-run homer for the Braves, who posted just their 12th road victory of the season, the lowest total in baseball, while Toronto was blanked for the sixth time this season.
Athletics 4, Giants 1
In Oakland, California, the home team extended its winning streak over Bay Area rival San Francisco to seven games.
Dana Eveland pitched his second-longest outing of the year, going 7 1-3 innings and allowing one or fewer earned runs for the seventh time in his 16 starts.
Jack Hannahan drove in two runs for the A’s , who not only own the longest streak in Bay Area battles, but also have won 10 of their past 11 to close in on the AL West lead.
The A’s tied it in the bottom of the fourth on Hannahan’s RBI single, then took the lead in the sixth.
Indians 6, Reds 0
In Cleveland, C.C. Sabathia struck out 11 batters over eight innings as Cleveland sank Ohio state rival Cincinnati.
It was the Indians first win over the Reds in four meetings this season.
Sabathia struck out his hero Ken Griffey three times, and became the first Indians pitcher since 2000 to fan 10 or more in three consecutive starts.
Nationals 4, Orioles 2
In Washington, pinch-hitter Kory Casto doubled in the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning as Washington downed neighbor Baltimore.
The game attracted a crowd of 35,830 — the largest at the new US$611 million Nationals Stadium since opening night.
Tigers 7, Rockies 1
In Detroit, Eddie Bonine limited Colorado to five hits over eight innings to lift Detroit over Colorado in his third major league start.
The Tigers have won three straight and a further victory Saturday would put them at .500 for the first time all season.
The defending NL champion Rockies have lost five straight, scoring only 11 runs in their past five contests.
Mariners 5, Padres 2
In San Diego, Seattle stranded a franchise-record 18 baserunners, yet still beat San Diego.
Mariners pitcher Jarrod Washburn won for the first time in eight starts.
The Mariners have the worst record in the majors, while the Padres — after losing six straight — are tied for the second-worst.
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
STAR IN DOUBT: After partially dislocating his shoulder in a feetfirst slide into second base, the status of Japanese slugger Ohtani is uncertain for Game 3 as he undergoes tests Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Saturday walked back to his dugout and made the slightest tip of his cap to cheering fans. He left Japan for moments like this, an opportunity to put the Los Angeles Dodgers in control of the World Series. Yamamoto allowed one hit over 6-1/3 innings and Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night as Los Angeles beat the New York Yankees 4-2 for a 2-0 Series lead. However, the Dodgers head to New York uncertain whether Shohei Ohtani can play after their biggest star partially dislocated his left shoulder on a slide at second base. “We’re going to get
Three-time reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto on Saturday led a Japanese podium sweep at Skate Canada, locking up a second straight Canadian women’s title despite two falls in her free skate. Sakamoto, who led 19-year-old American Alysa Liu after the short program, looked a little tight during her jazzy free skate, falling on a Salchow jump and again on a triple flip while fighting to hang on to a few other moves. Her second-best free skate score of 126.24 was enough for gold in the second Grand Prix event of the season in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She finished with 201.21 points, well ahead
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on Monday combined for 63 points as the Phoenix Suns sent LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers tumbling to their first defeat of the season. Booker bagged 33 points and Durant 30 to give the Suns a thrilling 109-105 win at Phoenix’s Footprint Center, avenging the Lakers’ 123-116 win over the Suns in Los Angeles on Friday last week. The Lakers arrived in Phoenix buoyed by an impressive 3-0 start to the campaign under new head coach J.J. Redick. They looked poised to keep that run going after making a blistering start, sprinting into an early 26-8
RSS