There is no margin for error in the top-heavy National League (NL) West, and the Los Angeles Dodgers kept the pace Monday with an impressive 9-4 win over the St Louis Cardinals.
Trevor Bauer surrendered three home runs in a game for the first time since July 13, 2019, but the defending World Series champions got enough timely hitting to prevail.
Chris Taylor led the way with three hits for Los Angeles, including the second of back-to-back home runs along with Gavin Lux to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
But the real highlight for Taylor came in the sixth, when he capped a remarkable 14-pitch at-bat against Genesis Cabrera with a three-run double that gave Los Angeles a 6-3 lead.
The Dodgers gained a game on the San Diego Padres with the win and sit two back of the rival San Francisco Giants for the division lead.
Rays finish May on fire
The Tampa Bay Rays may be sad to see May come to an end, as their 3-1 victory against the New York Yankees gave them a 35-20 record to finish the month after a 13-14 start to the season. According to Stats Perform, they are the first MLB team to be under .500 at the beginning of a month and at least 15 games over at the end since the Boston Braves did it in August of 1933.
Making his first start for the Chicago Cubs, Kohl Stewart shut down the powerful Padres line-up for five innings, allowing three hits and one unearned run, as the Cubs rolled to a 7-2 win that moved them past the Cardinals and into first place in the division.
The Houston Astros closed in on the Oakland Athletics in the American League (AL) West with an 11-2 pounding of the Boston Red Sox, the hitters backing a strong outing by Jose Uquidy.
Orioles come up empty again
The Baltimore Orioles took the Minnesota Twins to extra innings but fell once again, 3-2 in the 10th, for their 14th defeat in succession. On the plus side, the Orioles have a long way to go before matching their club-record losing streak of 21 in a row to open the 1988 season.
While the Arizona Diamondbacks managed to break their lengthy losing streak Sunday, a 6-2 defeat to the New York Mets on Monday gave them a 5-24 record in May as the month came to a close.
Two-way heroics for deGrom
Jacob deGrom was his usual dominant self on the mound against the woeful Diamondbacks, allowing two hits and striking out eight in six scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 0.71, but the Mets star also demonstrated his abilities at the plate with a run-scoring single. According to Stats Perform, deGrom is the only pitcher since ERA became an official stat in 1913 to have a sub-1.00 ERA and a batting average of at least .450 over any span of eight starts with a minimum of 10 plate appearances.
Monday's results
Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 New York Yankees
Minnesota Twins 3-2 Baltimore Orioles
Cincinnati Reds 11-1 Philadelphia Phillies
Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 Detroit Tigers
Chicago Cubs 7-2 San Diego Padres
Chicago White Sox 8-6 Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians 3-1 Chicago White Sox
San Francisco Giants 6-1 Los Angeles Angels
Houston Astros 11-2 Boston Red Sox
Seattle Mariners 6-5 Oakland Athletics
Atlanta Braves 5-3 Washington Nationals
Kansas City Royals 7-3 Pittsburgh Pirates
Los Angeles Dodgers 9-4 St Louis Cardinals
New York Mets 6-2 Arizona Diamondbacks
Rays at Yankees
Domingo German will get the ball for the New York Yankees (29-25) as they attempt to end a four-game losing streak against Tyler Glasnow and the seemingly unstoppable Tampa Bay Rays (35-20), who have won 16 of their last 17 games.
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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