World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Washington Nationals with a 3-0 shutout on Sunday as Clayton Kershaw outduelled Max Scherzer in a pitching showdown.
In his first home start as a World Series winner, Dodgers ace Kershaw struck out six batters over six scoreless innings without a walk against the struggling Nationals, while Zach McKinstry drove in all three runs.
Kershaw – a future Hall of Famer and three-time National League (NL) Cy Young Award winner – has now allowed just one run across his last two starts, striking out 14 over 13 innings.
Scherzer – also a three-time NL Cy Young winner and World Series champion – pitched six innings of three-hit ball with five strikeouts and a walk.
"Max has obviously had an unbelievable run with what he's done over there in Washington. I have a ton of respect for him and everything he's done in this game," Kershaw said after the Dodgers improved to 8-2 for the season.
"You try not to attack it any differently. You always try to put up zeroes on the board. But after we got that early run there, you try and make it stand as best you can, knowing that Max probably isn't going to give up many himself. [We're] fortunate today that it worked out."
The Philadelphia Phillies, meanwhile, snapped the Atlanta Braves' four-game winning streak following a narrow 7-6 victory.
Didi Gregorius fuelled the Phillies with a three-run home in a four-run fourth inning, while he had the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth.
It was a controversial finish after Alec Bohm managed a double off Will Smith at the start of the ninth before advancing to third on a bunt and scoring to make it 7-6.
Bohm was initially called safe following Marcell Ozuna's throw, and the decision was upheld, despite replays appearing to show the former's foot missing the plate as the Phillies avoided a sweep.
Debutant Odor lifts Yankees
Rougned Odor – acquired from the Texas Rangers – capped his New York Yankees debut with a go-ahead single at the top of the 10th inning in an 8-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. According to Stats Perform, it was the fourth time since 1974 a player's first hit with the Yankees delivered the game-winning RBI in extra innings, following Chase Headley (2014), Alfonso Soriano (1999) and Alex Johnson (1974).
The Seattle Mariners rallied past the Minnesota Twins 8-6. Seattle came back from being six-plus runs down and won for the first time since 2016.
De Leon and Reds put to the sword
It was a rough outing for Jose De Leon and the Cincinnati Reds, who were blanked 7-0 by the Arizona Diamondbacks. De Leon allowed six runs over a little more than four innings, walking three and fiving up eight hits, including two home runs.
Martinez delivers a masterclass
Boston Red Sox star J.D. Martinez already has 12 extra-base hits in eight games this season. It is the most by any player in their first eight games of a campaign in American League (AL) history. The Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 14-9 on the back of his three homers.
Sunday's results
Boston Red Sox 14-9 Baltimore Orioles
Pittsburgh Pirates 7-1 Chicago Cubs
Cleveland Indians 5-2 Detroit Tigers
New York Yankees 8-4 Tampa Bay Rays
Kansas City Royals 4-3 Chicago White Sox
Seattle Mariners 8-6 Minnesota Twins
Milwaukee Brewers 9-3 St Louis Cardinals
San Diego Padres 2-0 Texas Rangers
Arizona Diamondbacks 7-0 Cincinnati Reds
San Francisco Giants 4-0 Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 Washington Nationals
Philadelphia Phillies 7-6 Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins 0-0 New York Mets (suspended, to resume August 31)
Los Angeles Angels-Toronto Blue Jays (postponed)
Yankees at Blue Jays
After their series finale against the Angels was postponed, the Blue Jays will welcome AL East rivals the Yankees to Dunedin for Monday's series opener.
MLB: Ohtani has career-high 3 doubles in Dodgers' 20-hit attack
Shohei Ohtani had a career-high three doubles and the Los Angeles Dodgers collected 20 hits in an 11-2 rout of the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.
Ohtani went 3 for 6 with RBI doubles in the eighth and ninth innings. He leads the majors in batting average (.371), slugging (.695), OPS (1.128), extra-base hits (21) and doubles (14).
Mookie Betts and Will Smith each had four hits and rookie Andy Pages homered as the Dodgers won their third straight following a three-game skid.
Landon Knack earned his first win in his second career start, allowing two runs and three hits in six innings. He retired his last 13 batters and struck out five.
Nick Senzel homered for the Nationals, who didn’t have a baserunner after the second inning.
Trout hits MLB-leading 10th home run in loss
Mike Trout became the first player in the majors to reach 10 home runs this season, but Gunnar Henderson had three hits and three RBIs as the Baltimore Orioles held off the Los Angeles Angels, 6-5.
Trout got the Angels on the board with a solo shot off starter Dean Kremer in the sixth inning. This is the third time in the past seven seasons that Trout has been the first in MLB to reach double digits in homers.
Los Angeles rallied back from a 6-0 deficit and had the tying run on first in the ninth, but Jo Adell was caught stealing to end the game.
Henderson homered for the second straight game and added a two-run single in Baltimore’s four-run sixth. He is 9 for 20 in the past five games and 18 for 40 with five home runs and 11 RBIs in his last 10 games, helping the Orioles win eight.
Kremer struck out 10 over 5 2/3 innings and allowed two runs and three hits for his first win of the season.
Surging Braves win in 10 innings
Michael Harris II doubled home Ronald Acuna Jr. in the 10th inning and the red-hot Atlanta Braves topped the Miami Marlins, 4-3, after blowing a two-run lead in the ninth.
The Marlins scored twice in the ninth off Braves closer Raisel Iglesias to tie it but failed to score in the top of the 10th.
Harris led off the bottom half with a single to center to score the winning run and send Atlanta to its ninth win in 10 games.
Harris went 3 for 5 and Marcell Ozuna had three hits and two RBIs, giving him an MLB-best 29.
The Marlins were swept for the third time this season and dropped to an NL-worst 6-20.
Liverpool line up Feyenoord coach Slot as Klopp replacement
Arne Slot appears to be at the front of the queue to replace Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager.
Klopp confirmed in January that he would be leaving the Reds at the end of the season.
Xabi Alonso, who has led Bayer Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title, was swiftly established as a leading candidate to take the helm at Anfield, where he starred as a player for the Reds between 2004 and 2009.
The 42-year-old, however, is staying put in Germany, and Liverpool's search for Klopp's successor has taken them to Feyenoord's door.
Slot has been previously linked to jobs in the Premier League. Leeds United wanted to appoint him last season before their relegation to the Championship, while he was targeted by Tottenham before they appointed Ange Postecoglou.
The Dutchman intimated when linked with Spurs: "A normal next step would be to go abroad and I've always said that the best league in the world is the Premier League."
Ideally, Liverpool will be aiming for a coach who can come close to replicating Klopp's style of play, and in particular has a flair for working with and developing young players.
Slot has enjoyed fantastic success in Rotterdam. He became Feyenoord head coach in December 2022, after leaving AZ, and went on to win the Eredivisie title in 2022-23, having reached the Europa League final in the previous season.
The 45-year-old has a 64.4 per cent win record from 146 games in charge, winning 94, drawing 29 and losing just 23.
His Feyenoord team have scored 329 goals, an average of 2.2 per match, conceding 147 in return. Slot's points per game is a hugely impressive 2.13.
Feyenoord are, though, set to relinquish their Eredivisie crown, as they trail leaders PSV by nine points. They have, however, won the KNVB Cup this term.
As there is no break clause in the Dutchman's contract, it has been reported that a compensation fee in the region of €10million (£8.5m) could prise him away from Feyenoord.
Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorim is another coach who has been heavily linked with the Liverpool job, albeit he is reportedly in talks with West Ham.
MLB: Guardians win fifth straight, improve majors' best record to 17-6
Tyler Freeman and Bryan Rocchio delivered RBIs in the seventh inning and Jose Ramirez homered to lift the Cleveland Guardians to their fifth straight victory, 4-1 over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.
The Guardians improved the majors’ best record to 17-6, matching their best start through 23 games. Cleveland also was 17-6 in 1999 and 1966.
Ben Lively allowed one run and five hits over 6 1/3 innings in his Progressive Field debut. He walked one and struck out seven.
Scott Barlow and Hunter Gaddis got the next five outs before Emmanuel Clase struck out the side in the ninth for his seventh save.
Tanner Houck, who threw a three-hit shutout against Cleveland last week, held the Guardians scoreless through six innings before Freeman singled home Will Brennan and Rocchio’s sacrifice fly in the seventh put Cleveland ahead.
Rob Refsnyder had three hits as Boston had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Fried dominates Marlins
Max Fried pitched a three-hitter for Atlanta’s first complete game since 2022 and Adam Duvall belted a two-run homer as the surging Braves blanked the Miami Marlins for the second straight night, 5-0.
Fried didn’t walk anyone and struck out six, needing just 92 pitches to become the first Braves pitcher to complete nine innings since Bryce Elder in an 8-0 win over Washington on Sept. 26, 2022.
Fried notched his fourth career shutout and fifth career complete game as Atlanta won its eighth in nine games.
The Marlins have gone 20 innings without scoring a run and dropped to 6-19.
Duvall’s second home run of the season capped a three-run sixth and extended the lead to 5-0.
Cubs keep Astros reeling
Mike Tauchman hit his first two home runs of the season and the Chicago Cubs scored five first-inning runs in a 7-2 win over the Houston Astros, who dropped 10 games under .500 for the first time since 2016.
Cody Bellinger had a two-run blast in the first inning off J.P. France and Tauchman capped the fast start with a three-run shot. He added a solo home run in the eighth.
Houston has lost three straight and six of seven and, at 7-17, is 10 games under .500 for the first time since an 18-28 start in 2016.
Jordan Wicks limited the Astros to two runs and five hits over a season-best six innings with no walks and four strikeouts.
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