Yu Darvish on Friday delivered a stellar pitching performance and San Diego’s sluggers smacked four home runs to power the Padres over the New York Mets 7-1 as the MLB playoffs began.
Manny Machado, Josh Bell, Jurickson Profar and Trent Grisham blasted homers off devastated Mets ace Max Scherzer to give San Diego a 1-0 lead in MLB’s best-of-three wildcard round of an expanded playoff system that features six clubs each from the American and National leagues.
“We trust the guys around us,” Bell said. “This organization has done a good job building.”
Photo: AFP
Darvish, a 36-year-old Japanese right-hander, scattered six hits and allowed only one run over seven innings, striking out four batters without issuing a walk.
Scherzer was the first MLB playoff starter since 1939 to surrender seven runs and four homers.
In other series openers, the Cleveland Guardians edged the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1, while the Philadelphia Phillies, in the playoffs for the first time since 2011, scored six runs in the ninth inning to beat the St Louis Cardinals 6-3 and the Seattle Mariners, in the playoffs for the first time since 2001, blanked the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0.
Photo: AFP
Cleveland or Tampa Bay are to advance to an AL division series matchup against the New York Yankees, while the Houston Astros await the Seattle-Toronto winner.
The Atlanta Braves — trying to become the first back-to-back World Series champions since the Yankees won three from 1998 to 2000 — and the Los Angeles Dodgers have first-round NL byes.
The Braves are to meet Philadelphia or St Louis, while the Dodgers, whose 111 season triumphs led the MLB, face San Diego or the Mets.
In New York, Bell launched a two-run homer in the first inning and Grishman followed with a solo blast in the second for a 3-0 Padres lead.
In the fifth, South Korean Kim Ha-seong singled, took third on Austin Nola’s double and both scored Profar’s homer to right field.
Scherzer was removed after Machado added a solo home run two batters later, but the damage had been done, although the Mets avoided a shutout on Eduardo Escobar’s fifth-inning homer.
In Cleveland, Jose Ramirez smacked a two-run homer in the sixth to lift the Guardians after the Rays seized a 1-0 lead on Dominican outfielder Jose Siri’s solo homer.
Ramirez, a Dominican third baseman, delivered the decisive runs off a change-up pitch from Tampa Bay left-hander Shane McClanahan.
“That was my plan, just look for that change-up,” Ramirez said. “He got me twice with the same pitch. It’s a really good pitch. It really resembles a fastball.”
“I was just sitting on that pitch and trying not to do too much, just put it on the opposing side of the field, and I was able to get a good contact,” he said.
In Toronto, the visiting Mariners took the lead in the first inning on a run-scoring double by Eugenio Suarez and Cal Raleigh’s two-run homer. Venezuelan Suarez plated a final run in the fifth on a fielder’s choice.
Dominican right-hander Luis Castillo pitched 7-1/3 shutout innings for Seattle, allowing six hits while striking out five.
“He was unbelievable,” Suarez said. “I know how hard he’s working. He made really good pitches.”
It was only the second shutout the Mariners have effected in their playoffs history.
In St Louis, Juan Yepez smashed a two-run homer in the seventh to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead and they moved within two outs of victory.
St Louis relief pitcher Ryan Helsley allowed a single and walked two batters to load the bases before hitting Alec Bohm with a pitch to force in a run.
Cardinals reliever Andre Pallante entered and surrendered a single to Jean Segura that drove in two runs and put the Phillies ahead to stay.
“It feels awesome,” Segura said. “It feels amazing. We just keep fighting. It’s huge for us. It means a lot.”
The Phillies padded the lead with runs off a fielder’s choice, single and sacrifice fly for a 6-2 edge.
St Louis answered on Nolan Gorman’s run-scoring single with two out in the ninth, but potential tying run Yadier Molina struck out to end the game.
Taiwan won a back-and-forth match at the Unions Cup in Singapore yesterday, but the hosts claimed the trophy due to a better points differential over the tournament. Singapore’s players celebrated with the cup, despite losing a match in which they seized the lead three times, but ultimately fell to a 19-16 defeat. Their points advantage was due to their strong opening game against the other team in the competition, Thailand, who they beat 30-8 on Saturday last week. Taiwan narrowly lost to Thailand on Tuesday and went into yesterday’s match facing a steep challenge. They responded well, opening the game with sustained pressure
An “outstanding” 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died of cardiac arrest after collapsing on court during a tournament in Indonesia, officials said yesterday. Zhang Zhijie was playing a match late Sunday against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The score was 11-11 in the first game when Zhang fell to the floor between points. The teenager received treatment at the venue and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, but passed away later that night after repeated efforts to resuscitate him failed. “Medical conclusions ... indicated that the victim experienced sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesman for
A buzz of excitement crackled through the hushed arena as the rider gripped the reins of her stuffed steed. Welcome to the strangely exacting world of hobby-horsing, the Finnish sport guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Immaculately coiffed equestrians leap athletically over fences just like in horse jumping, going as fast as they can against the clock straddling their stick steeds. Things are more stately in the dressage, with riders trotting their stick horses with intricately decorated stuffed heads before the discerning eyes of the judges. About 260 riders from 22 countries — most women and girls aged 10 to 20 —
Taiwan’s men’s national basketball team is set to upgrade its depth in the paint after signing Brandon Gilbeck of the P.League+’s Formosa Dreamers to a naturalized player’s contract. The 27-year-old big man from the US landed in Taoyuan early on Monday, where he was welcomed by Chinese Taipei Basketball Association deputy secretary-general Chang Cheng-chung. The two signed the deal, which still has to be approved by the Sports Administration and the Ministry of the Interior. Chang said he is confident that “the proceedings would go smoothly.” If approved, Gilbeck would become the third naturalized basketball player in Taiwan, following the New Taipei Kings’ Quincy