Jorge Mateo had a career-high five hits on Friday, one of them off Taiwan’s Yu Chang on the mound as a position player, while Adley Rutschman and Cedric Mullins each homered off the Tropicana Field catwalk as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 10-3.
Rougned Odor had four of the Orioles’ season-most 19 hits as Baltimore won for the eighth time in 10 games and moved into an American League wild-card spot, a half-game ahead of the Rays.
“Definitely one of our better offensive nights, the way we kept up those innings with the two-strike, two-out innings,” manager Brandon Hyde said. We “got a bunch of hits up and down the lineup.”
Photo: Dave Nelson-USA TODAY
Mullins and Anthony Santander had three hits apiece for Baltimore. Austin Voth (3-1) took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and won his second straight start.
“We’ve kind of caught fire and we’re just keeping with it,” said Voth, who was claimed off waivers from the Washington Nationals on June 7.
“It doesn’t feel like we’re cooling off or anything like that. We’re rolling,” he added.
Photo: AFP
By the time Jose Siri got the Rays’ first hit leading off the sixth, the Orioles had a 7-0 lead. Randy Arozarena followed with his 14th homer for Tampa Bay.
“We’ve got to somehow find a way to get out of this,” Rays manger Kevin Cash said. “It’s not coming easy for anybody.”
Rutschman homered in the first off Corey Kluber (7-7), a blast that would have traveled an estimated 133.8m if not for the catwalk. Mullins’ 10th homer came in the eighth inning off Jimmy Yacabonis.
Photo: CNA
Mateo, who drove in two runs and scored twice, also contributed a fine defensive play at shortstop in the fourth, barely throwing out Brandon Lowe on a toss from his gloved hand.
“I’m very satisfied with that performance. It shows my hard work is paying off,” Mateo said. “To go out there and do that, I feel really good about it and I want to come back tomorrow and do it all over again.”
Rays second baseman Chang pitched for the Rays in the ninth inning, giving up one run on three hits. His velocity ranged from a low of 59.5kph to a high of 72.4kph.
“It was definitely a little weird and uncomfortable hitting off a position player, but I’m happy I got that fifth hit off of him,” Mateo said.
The Taiwanese infielder made his major-league pitching debut on Saturday last week when he was pulled off third base in the bottom of the eighth to preserve the Rays’ bullpen in their 9-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
LIN
Taiwanese infielder Lin Tzu-wei has been released by the New York Mets, but is to stay in the US to wait for further opportunities, his agency Bros Sports Marketing said on Friday.
Lin signed a minor-league contract with the Mets in March and was in and out of the injured list during the season, tallying 14 hits, including two homers over 28 games in the Triple-A, where he recorded a batting average of 0.152 for the Syracuse Mets.
The Syracuse Mets are a minor-league team in the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets, who on Friday lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1.
Lin, who is currently a free agent, would remain in the US and await opportunities, Bros Sports Marketing said.
Lin played for the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins in the majors from 2017 to last year, making 102 appearances in which he knocked out 43 hits, including one homer, over 193 at-bats for a batting average of 2.23.
TATIS
San Diego Padres dynamo Fernando Tatis Jr, one of the brightest, freshest stars in all of MLB, was suspended for 80 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance and will not play this season.
Tatis tested positive for Clostebol, an anabolic steroid.
Tatis said he accidentally took a medication to treat ringworm that contained the banned substance.
The penalty imposed by the MLB was effective immediately, meaning the All-Star shortstop — who had been out the entire season because of a broken wrist, but was expected to return to the playoff contenders next week — cannot play in the majors until next year.
Tatis will miss the remaining 48 regular-season games this year. Any post-season games the Padres play would count toward the 80 that Tatis must sit out, and he will serve the rest of the suspension at the start of next season.
“Shocked everybody,” Padres star Manny Machado said after a 10-5 win over Washington.
The suspension would prevent Tatis from playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic in March next year, the league said.
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Angels 0, Twins 4
‧ Astros 7, Athletics 5
‧ Blue Jays 0, Guardians 8
‧ Cardinals 3, Brewers 1
‧ Giants 5, Pirates 3
‧ Marlins 3, Braves 4
‧ Rangers 2, Mariners 6
‧ Red Sox 3, Yankees 2 (10i)
‧ Rockies 5, Diamondbacks 3
‧ Royals 3, Dodgers 8
‧ White Sox 2, Tigers 0
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite