Clayton Kershaw could not inspire the Los Angeles Dodgers to victory going down 6-4 to the freewheeling Atlanta Braves in MLB on Saturday.
Kershaw has an exceptional record against the Braves and, in the main, he continued that with nine strikeouts, giving up only eight hits, five earned, across his 95-pitch effort.
But the Braves have been free scoring this year and for the 33rd game this season they scored five or more runs, with Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna Jr touching down in a five-run third inning which flipped the game.
It was the first time since 2016 that Kershaw has given up a five-run inning.
Leading 5-4 in the seventh inning, Abraham Almonte hit a home run to give the Braves the lead they would not surrender.
Rays win again, Dalbec hits 453-footer
Manuel Margot is ominously beginning to find some form for the Tampa Bay Rays as they won 3-0 against the struggling Texas Rangers.
The Rays claimed their 18th win from their past 22 games, with Margot hitting his fifth home run of the season.
Bobby Dalbec smashed a 453-foot home run, the longest by a Boston Red Sox player at Yankees Stadium since records commenced as they won 7-3.
For the Yankees, Gleyber Torres continues to find his groove with a home run.
Jacob de Grom had 11 strikeouts across seven innings as the New York Mets silenced Fernando Tatis Jr and the San Diego Padres in a 4-0 victory.
Jose Peraza hit a solo home run, while Francisco Lindor regained some touch with a homer of his own.
Shohei Ohtani backed up his 10 strikeouts on Friday with a first-inning home run in the Los Angeles Angels' 12-5 triumph over the Seattle Mariners.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Kevin Gausman had 10 strikeouts as his side won 4-3 over the Chicago Cubs.
Gausman has had a sensational season for the Giants, coming in at 6-0 and with a 1.40 ERA, setting up the win across his seven pitching innings.
Fumbly Giants
The Giants got nervy in the ninth inning against the Cubs with some comical errors in the field, including two fumbles by Mauricio Dubon and a collision. At least they managed to hold on.
Number 18 for Guerrero
Vladimir Guerrero Jr moved clear at the top of the charts with a league-high 18th home run in the Toronto Blue Jays' 6-2 win over the Houston Astros. He also leads MLB in a range of statistics, including RBI, with 47.
Saturday's results
Detroit Tigers 4-3 Chicago White Sox
Cincinnati Reds 5-2 St Louis Cardinals
Toronto Blue Jays 6-2 Houston Astros
Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 Washington Nationals
Cleveland Indians 10-4 Baltimore Orioles
Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 Texas Rangers
Pittsburgh Pirates 8-7 Miami Marlins
Minnesota Twins 5-4 Kansas City Royals
Milwaukee Brewers 7-5 Arizona Diamondbacks
San Francisco Giants 4-3 Chicago Cubs
Boston Red Sox 7-3 New York Yankees
Atlanta Braves 6-4 Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland Athletics 6-3 Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Angels 12-5 Seattle Mariners
New York Mets 4-0 San Diego Padres
Mets at Padres
The New York Mets round out their road series against the San Diego Padres.
Yankees slugger Judge goes back on injured list
The New York Yankees will be without slugger Aaron Judge for at least the next 10 days, with the superstar going back on the injured list with a contusion and sprained ligament in his right big toe.
An MRI on Tuesday showed Judge has no break or fracture in his toe, but a sprain will keep him sidelined until at least mid-June.
The 2022 AL MVP sustained the injury while making a highlight-reel catch against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday. He knocked open the door of the visiting bullpen while making the catch and slammed his toe against the concrete at the bottom of the wall.
This is the second time this season that Judge will spend time on the injured list after a right hip strain forced him to miss two weeks in late April/early May.
Judge is putting together another stellar season, batting .291 with an AL-best 19 home runs and 40 RBIs in 49 games.
Blue Jays send struggling Alek Manoah to minors
The 2022 season could not have gone much better for Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Alek Manoah.
The 2023 season, meanwhile, could not have started much worse for the struggling right-hander.
The Blue Jays sent Manoah to the rookie-level Florida Complex League on Tuesday, one day after he managed to get just one out in an 11-4 loss to the Houston Astros.
The 25-year-old has been a major disappointment this season after finishing third in AL Cy Young Award balloting in 2022 and earning a selection to the All-Star Game.
Through 58 innings and 13 starts this year, Manoah has surrendered 45 runs - 10 fewer runs than he permitted all of 2022 in 196 2/3 innings.
He's 1-7 with a 6.36 ERA this year after going 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA in 31 starts last season. As a rookie in 2021, he was 9-2 with a 3.22 ERA in 20 starts.
Among the 96 players in the majors with at least 50 innings pitched this season, Manoah's ERA is the ninth highest while his 1.90 WHIP is second worst.
This is after he compiled the fourth-lowest ERA and 10th-lowest WHIP (0.99), among all qualifying MLB pitchers in 2022.
His latest outing was the shortest out of 64 career starts.
Manoah faced nine Astros and got just one out, allowing six runs and seven hits - including a grand slam - while walking one.
He'll now be working at one of the lowest minor league levels.
Reds call up highly touted prospect Elly De La Cruz
The future is now for the Cincinnati Reds.
Elly De La Cruz will make his highly anticipated major league debut after the Reds called up the touted prospect ahead of Tuesday's series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
With the lethal combination of power and speed, the 21-year-old shortstop is ranked as Baseball America's third-best prospect, and has been crushing the ball in the minors.
In 38 games this season for Triple-A Louisville, Cruz slashed .297/.398/.633 with 12 home runs, 11 doubles and 11 stolen bases. He's also driven in 36 runs and scored 38.
This came after he hit .304 with 28 homers and stole 47 bases in 120 games last year for Class A Dayton and Double-A Chattanooga.
Signed as a teenager by Cincinnati out of the Dominican Republic, the tall middle infielder has drawn comparisons to Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz.
De La Cruz joins a Reds team that has won three in a row to improve to 27-33, and is surprisingly in the mix in the pedestrian NL Central, sitting 5 /1/2 games behind the first-place Pirates.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
