The Boston Red Sox have returned to the top of the American League (AL) East division.
Boston defeated Kansas City 7-1 Saturday as Martin Perez and three relievers shut down the Royals' hitters while J.D. Martinez and Bobby Dalbec each hit two-run homers for the Red Sox.
That win on the road coupled with the Tampa Bay Rays' 6-5 extra-inning loss at the Seattle Mariners later in the evening put the Red Sox alone atop the division for the first time since May 22.
The loss was Tampa Bay's season-high fifth in a row, and the third in that stretch to come via a walk-off win by their opponent, as Mitch Haniger's 10th-inning single scored J.P. Crawford for the victory.
Crawford had hit a grand slam in the second inning to give Seattle a 5-2 lead but Tampa Bay came back to tie it on solo homers from Mike Zunino, Manuel Margot and Brandon Lowe.
Tatis' replacement lifts Padres
After replacing the injured Fernando Tatis Jr. in the fifth inning, Kim Ha-seong hit a two-run homer in the eight to give the San Diego Padres a 7-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Padres manager Jayce Tingler said Tatis is day-to-day after hurting his left shoulder while diving for a ball hit by Tyler Naquin.
Walker Buehler struck out 11 and had a no-hitter through seven innings in a 9-3 Los Angeles Dodgers win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Orioles collapse despite long-ball heroics
The Baltimore Orioles' first six hits of Saturday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays were home runs -- a franchise first, according to Stats Perform -- but the O's still managed to lose 10-7 after the Blue Jays scored six in the ninth inning.
The Chicago Cubs managed only three hits in an 11-1 loss to the Miami Marlins as they fell into a share of the National League (NL) Central lead with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Adames lights up Rockies
The Brewers prevailed over the Colorado Rockies thanks in large part to Willy Adames, whose two-run homer in the ninth provided the winning margin in a 6-5 victory. Adames also had three doubles, becoming just the fifth player in club history to record at least four extra-base hits in a game.
Saturday's results
Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 Cleveland Indians
New York Mets 5-1 Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals 6-2 New York Mets
New York Yankees 7-5 Oakland Athletics
Toronto Blue Jays 10-7 Baltimore Orioles
Miami Marlins 11-1 Chicago Cubs
Minnesota Twins 3-2 Texas Rangers
Boston Red Sox 7-1 Kansas City Royals
Houston Astros 7-3 Chicago White Sox
Milwaukee Brewers 6-5 Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Angels 8-3 Detroit Tigers
Los Angeles Dodgers 9-3 Arizona Diamondbacks
Philadelphia Phillies 13-6 San Francisco Giants
San Diego Padres 7-5 Cincinnati Reds
Seattle Mariners 6-5 Tampa Bay Rays
Atlanta Braves-St Louis Cardinals (postponed)
White Sox at Astros
The Houston Astros (42-28) look for a four-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox (43-28) and their seventh win in a row as they send Lance McCullers Jr. to the mound against former team-mate Dallas Keuchel.
Ten Hag pays tribute Ferguson for defining Man Utd ethos after HOF induction
Erik ten Hag hailed Alex Ferguson as the defining personality in Manchester United's recent history following his induction into the Premier League Hall of Fame.
The league confirmed on Wednesday that Ferguson and his former rival Arsene Wenger are the first two inductees of 2023.
During a remarkable 27-year managerial stint at Old Trafford, Ferguson took standards to an altogether different level and he arguably remains the benchmark.
He took charge in 1986, six years before the foundation of the Premier League, and went on to win the competition 13 times – that is nine more than any other coach or manager.
United are waiting for their first Premier League title since Ferguson's retirement in 2013, and Ferguson's legacy still lauds over every manager who arrives at the club.
Ten Hag is the latest to try his luck and recognises the influence held by Ferguson, which is acting as a guide for the Dutchman as he looks to bring the glory days back to Old Trafford.
"You feel it every day because he left a legacy and Manchester United is Alex Ferguson," Ten Hag told the Premier League.
"He set the highest standards, the highest values, and brought the winning attitude. He built that in the club… and that is the standard that you must face if you want to play for Manchester United or work for Manchester United.
"First of all, he knew when to rebuild and reconstruct a new team because he did it over two decades and every time he was successful. He did it with a balance of homegrown players and bringing big stars in.
"He got the best out of it, like working with Eric Cantona, working with [Ruud] van Nistelrooy, [Robin] van Persie, Wayne Rooney.
"That is huge if you are able to handle those personalities, but also to let them play as a team. That was always one of his most important qualities – that the team is always above any individual. It's difficult to construct one winning team. He did it so many times!”
Ten Hag was spotted having dinner with Ferguson in February before United played host to Barcelona in the Europa League.
At the time he spoke of how "committed" Ferguson still was to the club with his desire to help those who came after him.
Now, he is hoping to make such meetings more of a regular occurrence, such is Ferguson's wealth of experience.
"His experience is huge, so with all the knowledge he can help you with, he can," Ten Hag added.
"I'm really pleased that he wants to share his knowledge with me. It's great to talk and learn from him, and I hope we can do it more often."
Rybakina wins 12th straight to reach Miami Open semi-finals, Pegula beats Potapova
Elena Rybakina is now two wins away from completing the rare 'Sunshine Double' after defeating Martina Trevisan 6-3 6-0 to reach the Miami Open semi-finals on Tuesday.
Only four women have ever claimed the Sunshine Double – which requires winning both the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open. Steffi Graf did it in both 1994 and 1996, Kim Clijsters did it in 2005, Victoria Azarenka accomplished the feat in 2016 and current world number one Iga Swiatek did it just 12 months ago.
Rybakina knocked off Swiatek and world number two Aryna Sabalenka in consecutive matches en route to the Indian Wells title, and she has now extended her winning streak to 12 with Tuesday's victory. Against Trevisan, Rybakina served another 10 aces compared to zero from the Italian.
In her fourth-round match the Kazakhstan representative became the first WTA player this season to post three consecutive matches with at least 10 aces, and with another she became the first woman since Serena Williams at the 2020 US Open to do so in four consecutive matches at the same tournament.
She needed just 27 minutes to race through the second set, and in the process she booked a semi-final against third seed Jessica Pegula.
America's top hope, Pegula had to come from behind against Russia's Anastasia Potapova in the 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-2) result, saving two match points in the deciding set to force the pivotal tiebreaker.
The match was delayed for hours due to persistent rain, and the contest lasted two hours and 38 minutes, meaning they did not finish up on court until nearly 1:30am local time.
While consistently making it deep into major tournaments, Pegula only has two WTA singles titles to her name, and only once since the end of 2019.
With one more win she can book her spot in the final, and a chance to claim her second WTA 1000 crown after breaking through at the 2022 Guadalajara Open.
Messi hopes the 'craziness never ends' after 100th international goal and wild celebrations
Lionel Messi hopes the "craziness never ends" after scoring his 100th goal and ninth hat-trick for his country amid Argentina's homecoming World Cup celebrations on Tuesday.
La Albiceleste routed Curacao 7-0 in Santiago del Estero, with Messi's 20th-minute opener bringing up his 100th international goal, joining only Cristiano Ronaldo (122) and Ali Daei (109) in achieving that feat.
Messi became the first world champion to score 100 international goals, and he showed no signs of stopping there with further first-half strikes for a treble, taking him to 102.
The milestone came as Argentina rounded out their first two games back in their homeland since December's World Cup triumph with wild celebrations, initially in Buenos Aires for Thursday's 2-0 win over Panama.
The players emulated their celebrations from Qatar after the Curacao game, hoisting the World Cup trophy again after it came down from the stadium roof and doing a lap of honour to greet the supporters.
Messi was also presented with a plaque by Argentine Football Association president Claudio Tapia to acknowledge his 100th goal.
"What a nice way to close these dates, impressive today all the people in Santiago del Estero," Messi wrote on Instagram.
"I wish we can continue to share together many moments like these and that this craziness never ends!!!"
Messi's achievement comes after netting 21 goals in his 14 games for Argentina, along with seven assists. That has taken him to 156 goal contributions, which is the most in international football.
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni added: "As for Lionel Messi, what I want is for him to be on the pitch and be happy."
He added: "These days were different to the previous friendlies because the players were allowed to be with their people.
"We felt that they had that desire to go out to contact the outside, although that meant that it was difficult to prepare these two games. But in the end we got them through by playing with intensity."
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