Kyle Bradish struck out 11 over seven no-hit innings in a dominant start that propelled the Baltimore Orioles to a 4-1 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday and a sweep of the four-game series.
Bradish walked four before being removed to start the bottom of the eighth inning after having thrown 103 pitches. The right-hander was making his fifth start since returning from an elbow injury that sidelined him for just over a month to begin the season.
Danny Coloumbe relieved Bradish and surrendered a lead-off homer to Danny Mendick, Chicago's only hit of the game.
Adley Rutschman went 2 for 4 for Baltimore and snapped a scoreless tie with a two-run homer off Chicago starter Garrett Crochet in the sixth inning.
Crochet also recorded 11 strikeouts and had only yielded one hit before Jordan Westburg singled in front of Rutschman's sixth homer of the season.
Colton Cowser extended the lead to 3-0 with a solo homer in the top of the eighth inning, and the Orioles tacked on another run in the ninth. Anthony Santander drew a walk before being removed for pinch-runner Cedric Mullins, who stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error before crossing the plate on James McCann's sacrifice fly.
Craig Kimbrel retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to earn his 12th save and close out the White Sox's fifth straight loss and ninth in 10 games.
Guardians finish sweep of Angels, run winning streak to nine
Ben Lively threw seven solid innings and the Cleveland Guardians held off a late comeback attempt from the Los Angeles Angels to earn a 5-4 victory and extend their winning streak to nine games.
Johnathan Rodriguez went 2 for 4 with a two-run double to help Cleveland to its longest winning streak since an American League-record 22-game run in 2017. The AL Central-leading Guardians also matched the best 53-game start in franchise history at 36-17, a feat they last accomplished during their last World Series appearance in 1995.
Lively (4-2) held the Angels to two runs on four hits while striking out five to win his third consecutive start. Emmanuel Clase worked a scoreless ninth to record his 17th save, the most in the majors this season.
Rodriguez also started a three-run sixth inning with a lead-off single that chased Los Angeles starter Reid Detmers with the game tied at 2-2. Adam Cimber replaced Detmers and issued a pair of walks to load the bases before hitting Tyler Freeman with a pitch to force in the go-ahead run.
Andres Gimenez followed with a run-scoring single before Jose Ramirez drew a bases-loaded walk against Matt Moore to extend the lead to 5-2.
The Angels put forth a two-out rally with Lively out of the game in the eighth, however. Nolan Schanuel began the comeback try with a double off Sam Hentges and scored on Luis Rengifo's single to cut the lead to 5-3. Taylor Ward then greeted reliever Scott Barlow with a single that brought in Rengifo and trimmed the margin to a run.
Barlow prevented further damage, though, before Clase protected the lead in the ninth to finish off the Guardians' sweep of the three-game series.
Rodriguez gave Cleveland a 2-0 edge with a two-out double off Detmers in the third inning. The Guardians had put two runners on when Detmers hit Gimenez with a pitch and walked Ramirez.
Detmers (3-5) was charged with three runs in five-plus innings and finished with eight strikeouts.
Rays rally to halt Royals' eight-game winning streak
Pinch-hitter Brandon Lowe came through with a go-ahead three-run triple in the seventh inning as the Tampa Bay Rays rallied for a 4-1 victory over Kansas City that stopped the Royals' eight-game winning streak.
The Rays trailed 1-0 before scoring four times in the seventh to end a six-game skid and prevent the up-and-coming Royals from sweeping the three-game series.
Tampa Bay appeared on its way to another defeat when former Ray Michael Wacha retired the game's first 15 hitters before having his perfect-game bid broken up in the sixth.
Wacha (4-5) ran into trouble in the seventh, though, as Harold Ramirez opened the Rays' half of the inning with a single and Isaac Paredes followed with a double to chase the Kansas City starter.
John Schreiber relieved Wacha and hit Randy Arozarena with a pitch to load the bases. Two batters later, Lowe drove a pitch into the right field corner to drive in all three runners and put the Rays ahead.
Lowe later scored Tampa Bay's final run on a Jose Siri single.
Bobby Witt went 2 for 5 and accounted for the Royals' lone run with a solo homer in the sixth inning. The star shortstop was thrown out at the plate by Arozarena when trying to score on a Salvador Perez single, however, to help halt a Kansas City rally attempt in the eighth.
The Royals also threatened in the ninth by loading the bases with two out, but Pete Fairbanks retired Witt on a groundout to end the game and pick up his fifth save.
Wacha was charged with two runs on three hits over six-plus innings. Rays starter Taj Bradley allowed just one hit and struck out six over five scoreless innings.
Sale, Skubal win MLB's Cy Young Awards
Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal and Atlanta Braves lefty Chris Sale were each named the winner of their respective league’s Cy Young Award on Wednesday.
The announcement was hardly a surprise after each ace won their league's pitching triple crown during the 2024 regular season.
This is the first Cy Young for both pitchers.
Skubal, who turned 28 on Wednesday, enjoyed a break-out year in his fourth full MLB season, and was a unanimous winner, receiving all 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The Kansas City Royals' Seth Lugo finished second and Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase finished third in the balloting, which was completed before the play-offs.
Sale received 26 of 30 first-place votes, while Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler finished second, ahead of Pittsburgh Pirates righty Paul Skenes, who was selected as the National League Rookie of the Year on Monday.
The 35-year-old Sale has come close to winning the award before, finishing as runner-up to Cleveland's Corey Kluber in 2017, with five other top-five finishes in voting since his first full season in the majors in 2011.
Since the inception of the Cy Young Award in 1956, there have been 16 pitchers to win his league's pitching crown. And now, every one of them has also won that year's Cy Young.
Skubal and Sale each won an MLB-best 18 games, while Skubal led all pitchers with 228 strikeouts – three more than Sale. Sale's ERA of 2.38 was just a tick better than Skubal's 2.39.
Both were dominant down the stretch in leading their teams to the play-offs, with Sale permitting two earned runs or fewer in each of his final 18 regular-season starts, though he was unable to pitch in the season final or the Braves' NL Wild-Card series loss to the San Diego Padres because of a back injury.
Skubal posted a 1.94 ERA in his final nine outings, and then threw 13 shutout innings in his first two play-off starts in helping the Tigers surprisingly reach the American League Division Series. He ended up going 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA in three post-season starts.
Skubal became the fifth Tiger to win the Cy Young trophy – and first since Max Scherzer in 2017 – and Sale is the fifth Brave to earn the award – and first since Hall of Famer Tom Glavine in 1998.
Despite several close calls in Cy Young voting for Sale, he has dealt with injuries for the past five seasons, and was limited to a total of 151 innings over the past three years for the Boston Red Sox.
In his first season with the Braves, however, he threw 177 2/3 innings and was awarded the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award last Thursday.
Dodgers erase 5-run deficit, beat Yankees to win World Series
The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second World Series championship in five seasons, overcoming a five-run deficit with the help of three Yankees defensive miscues and rallying on sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts in the eighth inning to beat New York 7-6 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning, Alex Verdugo’s RBI single chased Jack Flaherty in the second and Giancarlo Stanton’s third-inning homer against Ryan Brasier built a 5-0 Yankees lead.
But errors by Judge in center and Anthony Volpe at shortstop, combined with pitcher Gerrit Cole failing to cover first on Betts' grounder, helped Los Angeles score five unearned runs in the fifth.
After Stanton’s sixth-inning sacrifice fly put the Yankees back ahead 6-5, the Dodgers loaded the bases against loser Tommy Kahnle in the eighth before the sacrifice flies off Luke Weaver.
Winner Blake Treinen escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the bottom half by retiring Stanton on a flyout and striking out Anthony Rizzo.
Walker Buehler, making his first relief appearance since his rookie season in 2018, pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers’ record-setting $700 million signing and baseball’s first 50-homer, 50-steal player, went 2 for 19 with no RBIs and had one single after separating his shoulder during a stolen base attempt in Game 2.
Freddie Freeman hit a two-run single to tie the Series record of 12 RBIs, set by Bobby Richardson over seven games in 1960. With the Dodgers one out from losing Friday’s opener, Freeman hit a game-ending grand slam reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s homer off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in 1988’s Game 1 that sparked Los Angeles to the title.
The Dodgers earned their eighth championship and seventh since leaving Brooklyn for Los Angeles - their first in a non-shortened season since 1988. They won a neutral-site World Series against Tampa Bay in 2020 after a 60-game regular season and couldn’t have a parade because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Volpe hits grand slam as Yankees avoid World Series sweep
Anthony Volpe hit a grand slam and New York’s bullpen tossed five scoreless innings as the Yankees avoided a World Series sweep with an 11-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.
Freddie Freeman homered for his sixth straight Series game, hitting a two-run drive in the first inning for the second straight night and again stunning the Yankee Stadium crowd.
Game 5 is Wednesday night, with the Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and the Dodgers’ Jack Flaherty meeting in a rematch of Game 1.
Twenty-one of the previous 24 teams to take 3-0 Series leads went on to sweeps, all but the 1910 Philadelphia Athletics against the Chicago Cubs, the 1937 Yankees against the New York Giants and the 1970 Baltimore Orioles against the Cincinnati Reds. All three of those Series ended in five games.
Seeking to become the first team to overcome a 3-0 Series deficit, New York surged ahead 5-2 on Alex Verdugo’s RBI grounder in the second and Volpe’s drive against Daniel Hudson in the third. Volpe turned on a first-pitch slider at the knees and drove it into the left-field seats.
Volpe came across with New York's first run when he walked after falling behind 0-2 in the count in the second inning. He also doubled and stole two bases.
Austin Wells and Gleyber Torres added homers for the Yankees, who broke open the game with a five-run eighth. New York had scored just seven runs in the first three games.
Los Angeles closed within 6-4 in a two-run fifth that included Will Smith's homer off starter Luis Gil and an RBI grounder by Freeman. Despite a sprained right ankle, Freeman beat a relay to avoid an inning-ending double play on what originally was ruled an out but was reversed in a video review.
Wells hit a second-deck homer in the sixth against Landon Knack, and Verdugo added another run-scoring grounder in the eighth ahead of Torres' three-run homer off Brent Honeywell.
Tim Hill, winning pitcher Clay Holmes, Mark Leiter Jr., Luke Weaver and Tim Mayza strung together five innings of one-hit relief with seven strikeouts, and the Yankees avoided what would have been their first losing Series sweep since 1976.
New York's Aaron Judge drove in his first run of the Series with an RBI single in the eighth and is 2 for 15 in the four games. Dodgers sensation Shohei Ohtani also is 2 for 15 after going 1 for 4 with a single, his first hit since partially separating his left shoulder in Game 2.
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