Dusty Baker wins 2,000th career game
HOUSTON — Just call him Mr. 2,000. Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker won his 2,000th game Tuesday night, becoming the 12th manager in major league history to reach the milestone and the first Black man to do it.
The benchmark victory came in Houston’s 4-0 win over the Seattle Mariners and comes more than 29 years after he collected his first win on April 9, 1993, in San Francisco’s 2-1 victory over St. Louis.
Before Tuesday’s game, while still sitting at 1,999 wins, Baker was asked what it would mean to him to reach 2,000.
“You can’t look back because you have work to do going forward,” Baker said. “And you can’t gloat about what you’ve done until after your career is over with. Then when your career is over with, then you assess the entire situation. But while you’re in it, you don’t have time to do that.”
But the 72-year-old Baker did acknowledge that being the first Black manager to reach 2,000 wins makes the achievement more meaningful.
“It means extra,” he said. “It means extra to the culture. It means extra to society. It means extra to my race, and it means extra hopefully for others to get an opportunity (so) I’m not the last.”
RED SOX 4, ANGELS 0
BOSTON — Rafael Devers homered, Michael Wacha pitched into the sixth inning and the Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-0 on Tuesday night.
J.D. Martinez added a solo homer in the eighth to help seal it for Boston, which held the slumping Angels to three hits in its second shutout of the season.
The Red Sox got nine hits and ended a two-game skid in their first game at home since struggling through a 3-7 road trip.
“We hit the ball hard again. We were hunting pitches in the zone,” manager Alex Cora said. “We got pitches. We put good swings on them. It was a good
beginning. We played good defense and it’s good to win the first one of the series.”
Noah Syndergaard (2-1) had a solid start for Los Angeles, throwing 100 pitches on a chilly night and holding the Red Sox to three runs and eight hits over seven innings. But the Angels didn’t give him any run support, squandering the few chances they had by grounding into three double plays.
RANGERS 6, PHILLIES 4
PHILADELPHIA — Mitch Garver and Jonah Heim homered and Zach Reks snapped a tie game with a twoRBI double.
WHITE SOX 3, CUBS 1
CHICAGO — Tim Anderson homered and José Abreu made two nice plays at first baseon a rainy, chilly night at Wrigley Field.
ROYALS 7, CARDINALS 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bobby Witt Jr. hit his first major league home run and Brad Keller pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning to end their team’s four-game losing streak.
YANKEES 9, BLUE JAYS 1
TORONTO — Aaron Judge homered and drove in three runs, Jameson Taillon allowed one run in six innings, and New York extended its winning streak to 11 games.
DIAMONDBACKS 5, MARLINS 4
MIAMI — Christian Walker had a home run, double and three RBIs, and Arizona held on to beat Miami.
BREWERS 6, REDS 3
MILWAUKEE — Brandon Woodruff struck out 12 to tie his career high and Willy Adames hit a three-run homer to lead Milwaukee.
METS 5-3, BRAVES 4-0
NEW YORK — Carlos Carrasco dodged trouble for eight innings, Pete Alonso homered against Kyle Wright on an off night for Atlanta’s breakout right-hander and New York completed a doubleheader sweep.
Alonso had two RBI singles in the opener as the Mets pounced early against Charlie Morton, and New York’s bullpen closed out a five-hitter to beat the Braves 5-4.