Six Twins pitchers tame Tigers in shutout
Six Minnesota Twins pitchers combined to blank the Detroit Tigers on three hits in a 2-0 win in the third game of a four-game series on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Alex Kirilloff and Ryan Jeffers drove in runs for the Twins, who dropped the first two games of the series.
Detroit starter Joey Wentz (1-7) allowed two runs and two hits in six innings. He struck out a career-high nine batters and walked one while also throwing a career-high 107 pitches.
Both teams combined for just six hits in the game and neither had a base runner until Tigers third baseman Zack Short walked with two outs in the fifth.
Miguel Cabrera hit the next pitch into the left-field corner. Short tried to score from first but was thrown out at home on the relay. The Tigers challenged, but the call was upheld.
Wentz retired the first 13 batters before Royce Lewis walked with one out in the fifth. Willi Castro followed with the first base hit for Minnesota, a ground ball through the left side.
After a mound visit, Kirilloff grounded the next pitch into right field to score Lewis from second for a 1-0 lead.
With runners on the corners, Short made a diving backhand stop on a hard grounder by Jeffers and got the force out at second, but Castro scored from third on the play for a 2-0 lead.
INTERLEAGUE
Cubs 3, Orioles 2: Justin Steele returned from a forearm injury to allow two runs through five solid innings, Nico Hoerner delivered a two-run double and Mike Tauchman’s tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the fifth held up, as host Chicago beat Baltimore to win its season-high fifth straight.
AAmong MLB’s biggest surprises, Steele (7-2) pitched for the first time since May 31 against Tampa Bay, when he exited after three innings due to a left forearm strain. On Saturday, the left-hander yielded only Adley Rutschman’s 10th homer, with a man on, in the fifth, plus four other hits and a walk, while striking out four, through 74 pitches.
Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr. and Adbert Alzolay (fourth save) followed for four strong innings of relief, allowing a combined two hits and striking out five as the surging Cubs improved to 7-1 since losing four in a row. Baltimore, meanwhile, has totaled five runs through the first two of this set, and stranded nine runners while going 0for-5 with runners in scoring position on Saturday. Kyle Gibson (8-4) allowed all three Cubs’ runs, along with three hits and two walks, while striking out seven in six innings.
ELSEWHERE
Cardinals: St. Louis’ 2011 postseason hero David Freese has declined induction into the franchise’s Hall of Fame. The team announced Saturday that they have granted his request. Freese, 40, was elected to the hall’s Class of 2023 by fan voting last month along with Jose Oquendo and Max Lanier. Freese said his decision “weighs heavily” on him but that he did not feel deserving of the honor. “This is something that I have given an extreme amount of thought to, humbly, even before the voting process began. I am aware of the impact I had helping the team bring great memories to the city I grew up in, including the 11th championship, but this honor means more to me. Freese played third base for St. Louis from 2009-13, batting .286 with 44 home runs and 237 RBI in 466 games. He made the AllStar team in 2012 but is largely remembered for his heroics in October 2011.
AHe was named the Most Valuable Player of both the National League Championship Series win against the Milwaukee Brewers and the World Series triumph over the Texas Rangers. Freese batted
.545 with three homers and nine RBI in the six-game series against Milwaukee and .348 with one homer and seven RBI in the seven-game series against Texas. In Game 6 against the Rangers, the Cardinals were down to their final strike when he tied the game with a two-run triple. He won the game in the 11th inning with a walk-off home run.
Red Sox: Pitcher Tanner Houck went to a hospital for stitches and tests after he was hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of New York Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka on Friday. Houck went down to his knees after being struck in the fifth inning, and his right cheek had blood on it as the ball ricocheted toward third base for a single. Red Sox manager
AAlex Cora and team trainers came to the mound and escorted
Houck to the dugout. Houck walked off under his own power. After Boston’s 15-5 win, Cora said, “He was conscious the whole time, so that’s good. Obviously the cut. He’s in the hospital right now getting further tests. We’ll know more obviously at the end of the night, but we got lucky there.”
Guardians: Cleveland Guardians designated catcher Mike Zunino for assignment prior to Friday night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Zunino, 32, joined the Guardians in the offseason but struggled mightily. He batted .177 with three homers and 11 RBI in 42 games. Zunino, a former star at the University of Florida, has a .199 career batting average with 149 homers and 372 RBI in 892 games with the Seattle, Tampa Bay and the Guardians.
Dodgers: Los Angeles saw a pair of players depart during Friday’s game against San Francisco as left fielder David Peralta was removed in the second inning and third baseman Chris Taylor left in the fourth. Peralta was injured while beating out an infield single in the second inning. He stepped awkwardly on the bag with his left foot, stayed in the game temporarily but was replaced in the lineup by James Outman in the third inning. Taylor, who was dealing with right knee pain, was replaced by pinch hitter Michael Busch.
Yankees: New York left-hander Carlos Rodon will make three rehab starts in the minor leagues before being activated, starting Tuesday at Double-A Somerset, manager Aaron Boone said Friday. Rodon signed with the Yankees as a free agent in December — a six-year, $162 million contract — but has yet to make his debut with the club due to a left forearm muscle strain.
AAATampa Bay Baltimore New York Toronto Boston
Minnesota Cleveland Chicago Detroit Kansas City
Texas Houston
Los Angeles Seattle Oakland
Atlanta Miami Philadelphia New York Washington
Milwaukee Cincinnati Pittsburgh Chicago
St. Louis
Arizona
Los Angeles San Francisco San Diego Colorado 51 43 39 39 35 36 32 30 29 18 42 39 40 34 19 44 39 36 33 27 36 35 34 33 27 42 39 37 33 29 22 27 31 32 35 35 37 41 40 51 27 31 32 34 53 26 31 34 36 41 34 35 35 37 43 28 31 32 36 43
N.Y. Yankees (Schmidt 2-6) at Boston (TBD), 1:35, 1st
Detroit (TBD) at Minnesota (Varland 3-2), 2:10
L.A. Angels (Anderson 3-1) at Kansas City (Greinke 1-6), 2:10
Toronto (Bassitt 7-5) at Texas (Gray 6-2), 2:35
Chicago White Sox (Lynn 4-7) at Seattle (Miller 4-3), 4:10
N.Y. Yankees (Severino 0-1) at Boston (Paxton 2-1), 7:10, 2nd
Colorado (Anderson 0-0) at Atlanta (Morton 5-6), 1:35
St. Louis (Liberatore 1-2) at N.Y. Mets (Carrasco 2-3), 1:40
Pittsburgh (Ortiz 1-3) at Milwaukee (Peralta 5-6), 2:10
San Francisco (Webb 5-6) at L.A. Dodgers (Gonsolin 4-1), 4:10
Baltimore (Kremer 7-3) at Chicago Cubs (Taillon 2-4), 1:05
Cincinnati (Weaver 1-2) at Houston (Blanco 1-0), 2:10
Philadelphia (Wheeler 5-4) at Oakland (Harris 2-0), 4:07
Cleveland (Bibee 2-2) at Arizona (Davies 1-2), 4:10
Tampa Bay (TBD) at San Diego (Musgrove 4-2), 4:10
Minnesota 2, Detroit 0 Toronto at Texas
Chicago White Sox at Seattle L.A. Angels at Kansas City N.Y. Yankees at Boston, ppd.
Milwaukee 5, Pittsburgh 0 Colorado at Atlanta
St. Louis at N.Y. Mets
San Francisco at L.A. Dodgers
Chi. Cubs 3, Baltimore 2 Philadelphia at Oakland Cincinnati at Houston Tampa Bay at San Diego Cleveland at Arizona .699 .614 .557 .549 .500
.507 .464 .423 .420 .261
.609 .557 .556 .500 .264 .629 .557 .514 .478 .397
.514 .500 .493 .471 .386
.600 .557 .536 .478 .403
— 61⁄2 101⁄2 11 141⁄2
— 3 6 6 17
— 31⁄2 31⁄2 71⁄2 241⁄2
— 5 8 101⁄2 16
— 1 11⁄2 3 9
— 3 41⁄2 81⁄2 14