Sabathia pitches Yanks over Red Sox
NEW YORK » CC Sabathia won his fifth straight start to beat Rick Porcello in a matchup of Cy Young Award winners, and Chris Carter drove in four runs with a three-run homer and an RBI single that led the New York Yankees over the Boston Red Sox 8-0 Wednesday night.
Sabathia (7-2), who had last won five in a row in April 2012, allowed five hits in eight innings, his longest outing since April 2015. He walked none and struck out five — four of them looking.
The left-hander has a 1.11 ERA during his streak, and all five wins followed losses by Masahiro Tanaka, who had supplanted Sabathia as New York’s ace. Sabathia was removed after 95 pitches, denying him a chance for his first shutout since 2011.
Didi Gregorius hit a go-ahead home run starting the third and Carter homered for the second straight day, his sixth this season. Carter’s fourth-inning drive followed Starlin Castro’s leadoff triple and an RBI single by Gary Sanchez, dropped from second to sixth in the batting order. DODGERS 2, NATIONALS 1 » Clayton Kershaw outdueled Stephen Strasburg with seven sharp innings, helping Los Angeles edge the Washington.
Kershaw (8-2) allowed three hits and struck out nine in his first win since May 17. Pedro Baez got two outs before Kenley Jansen finished for his 10th save. BLUE JAYS 7, ATHLETICS 5 » Josh Donaldson hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the 10th inning against his former club, helping the Blue Jays avoid a sweep.
Frankie Montas (1-1) plunked Kevin Pillar before Donaldson hit a drive over the wall in left-center. Justin Smoak added a two-out drive to center for his second homer of the game. ROCKIES 8, INDIANS 1 » Kyle Freeland pitched 6.1 effective innings, Nolan Arenado drove in three runs and the Rockies earned their fourth straight win.
Charlie Blackmon added two RBIs for the Rockies, who lead the NL with 38 wins. Ian Desmond had three hits and scored two runs. REDS 6, CARDINALS 4 » St. Louis kept Scooter Gennett in check a day after his four-homer game, but Patrick Kivlehan had a pinch three-run shot that sparked Cincinnati to a victory, extending the Cardinals’ longest losing streak in four years.
The Cardinals have dropped six in a row. They let a 4-1 lead slip away when Kivlehan and Joey Votto homered during a five-run seventh inning.
Using the same tan bat that produced five hits the previous night, Gennett grounded into a double play his first time up against Lance Lynn, ending his homer streak. He also struck out, hit into another double play and singled as part of the Reds’ rally. TIGERS 4, ANGELS 0 » Buck Farmer outlasted Alex Meyer in an unexpected pitchers’ duel, and Justin Upton hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to help Detroit beat Los Angeles. RAYS 3, WHITE SOX 1 » Jacob Faria took a three-hitter into the seventh inning of his major league debut for Tampa Bay, which beat Chicago.
Norris denies claim he physically abused ex-fiance
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. » Tampa Bay catcher Derek Norris denies a claim by his ex-fiance that he was physically and emotionally abusive to her during their relationship and that he will cooperate with Major League Baseball’s investigation of the matter.
Kristen Eck told the Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday that she left Norris last June, about eight months after a 2015 incident in which Eck said the player put her in a “choke-hold” and grabbed her hair and arms after she confronted Norris about talking to another woman.
Norris said in a statement that he wants to be “absolutely clear that abuse of any form, is completely unacceptable.”