Ohtani pitches Angels to victory
Yankees beat Royals to win another series
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Shohei Ohtani struck out nine while throwing 7⅔ innings of excellent six-hit ball in his seventh career start, and the Los Angeles Angels snapped their fivegame skid with a 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
Martin Maldonado homered and drove in two runs, and Zack Cozart drove in two more runs on sacrifice flies as the Angels wrapped up a disappointing 11-game homestand with only four victories — including both games started by Ohtani (4-1).
Los Angeles’ rookie two-way sensation had another strong outing in the longest start of his stateside career. Ohtani retired 12 straight Rays after yielding rookie Johnny Field’s homer leading off the third. Blake Parker pitched the ninth for his second save.
While Ohtani threw 110 pitches, reliever Sergio Romo started for Tampa Bay for the second consecutive day. He faced the Angels’ first six batters and got four outs while becoming the first pitcher in 38 years to last at least one inning in back-toback starts. The reliever gave way to Matt Andriese (1-2), who gave up two unearned runs in the fourth.
YANKEES 10, ROYALS 1: In Kansas City, Mo., Tyler Austin hit a pair of two-run homers, Sonny Gray (3-3) allowed four hits in eight innings and New York won its eighth consecutive series for the first time since 1998.
Miguel Andujar and Austin Romine added back-to-back homers in the ninth for the Yankees. RED SOX 5, ORIOLES 0: In Boston, J.D. Martinez had his first multihomer game for Boston and drove in three runs, and Andrew Benintendi had a two-run homer among his three hits. Boston is 6-1 against Baltimore this season.
Eduardo Rodriguez (4-1) scattered nine hits in 5⅔ innings. ATHLETICS 9, BLUE JAYS 2: In Toronto, Daniel Mengden (4-4) allowed two hits over seven shutout innings to win his second straight start as Oakland completed a four-game sweep.
Marcus Semien hit a two-run homer and had three RBIs.
Toronto designated hitter Kendrys Morales had two of Toronto’s four hits and made his first big league pitching appearance with a scoreless ninth.
CUBS 6, REDS 1: In Cincinnati, Yu Darvish (1-3) recovered from a shaky start for his first win with the Cubs, allowing one run and two hits in six innings.
In his second outing since coming off the disabled list Tuesday, the four-time AllStar overcame a 39-pitch first inning. It was Darvish’s first start with Chicago since signing a $126 million, six-year contract in the offseason.
CARDINALS 5, PHILLIES 1: In St. Louis, Jack Flaherty struck out a career-high 13 to earn his first major league win and Tyler O’Neill homered for the Cardinals.
Jordan Hicks got four outs to finish the two-hitter and threw the fastest pitch in the majors this season, according to Statcast — a 105 mph fastball to Odubel Herrera in the ninth. Hicks hit 105 mph twice and 104 three times against Herrera, the five fastest pitches in the big leagues this year. METS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 1: In New York, Amed Rosario hit his first two home runs of the season and pinch-hitter Asdrubal Cabrera connected for a go-ahead drive, leading Noah Syndergaard and the Mets over Arizona for a surprising sweep.
The Mets hadn’t won backto-back games in more than a month before rolling past the NL West leaders for their first three-game sweep at home since September 2016 vs. Minnesota. Arizona has lost four in a row and 10 of 11. BRAVES 10, MARLINS 9: In Atlanta, Dansby Swanson’s two-run single capped a sixrun ninth inning, and the NLleading Braves rallied to stun Miami.
Ronald Acuna Jr. drove in two runs in the seventh and another in the ninth as the Braves moved 11 games over .500 for the first time since July 5, 2014. DODGERS 7, NATIONALS 2: In Washington, Kike Hernandez and Yasiel Puig each hit two-run homers, and Los Angeles completed a threegame sweep of the Nationals.
Hernandez’s blast off Stephen Strasburg in the fifth inning put the Dodgers up 3-2. ASTROS 3, INDIANS 1: In Houston, Lance McCullers allowed one hit over seven innings and Brian McCann hit a two-run homer to lead Houston to a win over Cleveland. MARINERS 3, TIGERS 2 (12): In Seattle, Mitch Haniger hit a tying two-run homer in the ninth inning and Jean Segura’s RBI single in the 11th gave the Mariners the victory over Detroit. WHITE SOX 3, RANGERS 0: In Chicago, Reynaldo Lopez allowed only two hits in a career-high eight innings and the White Sox beat Texas for their first home series win this season. GIANTS 9, ROCKIES 5: In San Francisco, Brandon Belt snapped a seventh-inning tie with a three-run homer for the Giants. PADRES 8, PIRATES 5: In Pittsburgh, Freddy Galvis drove in the go-ahead run in a four-run ninth inning with San Diego’s second successful squeeze bunt of the game, and the Padres rallied for their third win of the four-game series. TWINS 3, BREWERS 1: In Minneapolis, Logan Morrison hit a two-run single, and four relievers worked 3⅓ scoreless innings to lift the Twins over Milwaukee.