Shohei Ohtani hammered his 43rd home run of the 2021 MLB season to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday.
The Japanese two-way star delivered the homer with the Angels leading 1-0 and runners on first and second at the bottom of the sixth inning.
Ohtani skied his three-run shot over center field from his first Kolby Allard pitch to set up with the win.
The homer was crushed with 107.2 mph exit velocity and travelled a projected 426 feet, per Statcast.
Ohtani now leads the MLB for home runs with 43, three ahead of in-form Kansas City Royals slugger Salvador Perez, with Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr third on 39.
The 27-year-old is homing in on history, with no Angels player ever ending a season top of the HR charts, while he may eclipse Troy Glaus' franchise record of 47 from 2000.
The win improves the Angels record to 67-68 but they are well back in fourth in the American League (AL) West and Wild Card race.
Perez hits homers 39 and 40
Ohtani may have padded his MLB home run lead, but Perez moved into second spot with his 39th and 40th blasts in the Royals' 10-7 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
Perez produced the home-run double despite a neck contusion which prevented him from catching.
Alex Verdugo walked it off for the depleted Boston Red Sox with a hit to deep right-field as they won 4-3 over the Cleveland Indians, with Rafael Devers homering earlier. The Red Sox are 79-59 and second in the AL Wild Card race.
Adrian Houser sent down the Milwaukee Brewers' first shut-out in seven years as they defeated the St Louis Cardinals 4-0. Houser had seven strikeouts and allowing only three hits.
Trea Turner and Corey Seager hit homers as the Los Angeles Dodgers won 6-1 over the San Francisco Giants to improve their Wild Card hopes, while Kyle Seager blasted the Seattle Mariners to a 8-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks to stay in the hunt.
The Toronto Blue Jays survived a late scare as the Oakland Athletics piled on five ninth-inning run to win 10-8 and boost their Wild Card aspirations.
Yankees almost held hitless
The New York Yankees had not been held hitless in a game since June 11 2003 but they appeared destined to end that run near the end of the seventh inning against the lowly Baltimore Orioles on Saturday. Gleyber Torres delivered a seventh-inning RBI single after 25 Yankees were held hitless. Joey Gallo then had an eighth-inning two-run homer but the Orioles won on Pedro Severino's sacrifice fly in a blow to the Yankees' Wild Card hopes.
Rays' rookie Wander keeps streak going
It seems like there is no stopping Tampa Bay Rays' rookie Wander Franco, after he extended his historic on-base streak to 34 games with an RBI single in his side's 11-4 win over the Minnesota Twins. Franco, who was absent on Friday due to a headache, had two runs with an RBI double on Saturday.
Saturday's results
New York Mets 11-9 Washington Nationals
Baltimore Orioles 4-3 New York Yankees
Chicago Cubs 7-6 Pittsburgh Pirates
Toronto Blue Jays 10-8 Oakland Athletics
Tampa Bay Rays 11-4 Minnesota Twins
Boston Red Sox 4-3 Cleveland Indians
Washington Nationals 4-3 New York Mets
Miami Marlins 3-2 Philadelphia Phillies
Milwaukee Brewers 4-0 St Louis Cardinals
Cincinnati Reds 7-4 Detroit Tigers
Chicago White Sox 10-7 Kansas City Royals
Seattle Mariners 8-5 Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies 7-6 Atlanta Braves
San Diego Padres 10-2 Houston Astros
Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1 San Francisco Giants
Los Angeles Angels 4-1 Texas Rangers
Dodgers at Giants
It is hard to look past the Giants and Dodgers meeting again in the third and final game of their series.
Kvitova defeats Cirstea to join Rybakina in the Miami Open final
Petra Kvitova is through to her 41st WTA singles final after defeating Sorana Cirstea 7-5 6-4 in Friday's Miami Open semi-final.
Kvitova, 33, already has 29 singles titles under her belt, including eight at the WTA 1000 level. Despite showing she can still compete with the best – making the final at the 2019 Dubai Championships, the 2020 Qatar Open and the 2022 Cincinnati Open, her last WTA 1000 victory came at the 2018 Madrid Open.
Against Romania's Cirstea – who came into the contest with nine wins from her past 10 matches – Czech veteran Kvitova was put on the back foot early as her serve was broken to go 5-2 down.
But she saved two set points, and used that momentum to ignite a run of seven consecutive games, taking the first set and the early break in the second as a result.
Kvitova did not allow Cirstea to produce a single break point opportunity in the second set, winning 75 per cent (21-of-28) of her total service points to slam the door shut.
With the win, Kvitova joined Chris Evert and Serena Williams as the only women to ever reach the Miami Open final after turning 33 years old, booking her place against the hottest talent on the tour – Elena Rybakina – in the decider.
Rybakina has won her past 13 matches, and is looking to become the fifth woman to ever complete the Sunshine Double after eliminating both world number one Iga Swiatek and world number two Aryna Sabalenka to lift the Indian Wells Open title.
Philadelphia Union v Sporting Kansas City: Preview and prediction
Jim Curtin has promised supporters they will see the Philadelphia Union of old in Saturday's showdown with Sporting Kansas City at Subaru Park.
The Union finished top of the Eastern Conference last season en route to losing the MLS Cup final to Los Angeles FC, but they have made a sluggish start to the 2023 campaign.
Philly have lost three of their opening five matches, including back-to-back defeats against a struggling CF Montreal side and Orlando City in their past two outings.
But with winless Sporting up next this weekend, Curtin is hoping to see a response from his players.
"I think the group will have a good response against Kansas City," Curtin said ahead of Union's first home match against Sporting since the MLS is Back quarter-finals in 2020.
"Win, lose or draw we want to put on a good display to our fans and show that we are still a very good team that had a bad outing last game.
"We have players returning and have had a couple of days with them, so we should be pretty much full strength going into the Kansas match."
Sporting have themselves made a slower-than-expected start to the season, having taken just two points from their first five games.
Like Philadelphia, they enter the game on the back of successive defeats, but experienced head coach Peter Vermes knows how quickly things can change.
"It's easy to think negative things, saying what players can't do, but it's amazing how fast a team can turn that, then you ask 'well how did they do that?'," he said.
"A lot of it is to do with plugging away, keep fighting. I've said it before: we've got a good group here and we'll get there."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Philadelphia Union – Andre Blake
Philadelphia's defeats to Montreal and Orlando came in the absence of Blake, whom Curtin this week described as "the best goalkeeper that our league has".
Joe Bendik conceded five goals across those two matches, but Curtin is hopeful Blake will be back between the sticks on Saturday.
Sporting Kansas City – Erik Thommy
Two goals scored in five games is a hugely underwhelming return for Sporting, even more so when you consider they have had 76 shots this term – only Philadelphia have had as many.
Thommy has been heavily involved in an attacking sense, but he has yet to score this campaign and that quite simply has to change if Sporting are to turn things around.
MATCH PREDICTION – PHILADELPHIA WIN
Philadelphia have clearly lacked the consistency of last season so far in 2023, having lost two MLS games in a row for the first time since September 2021.
The defeat to Orlando last weekend brought an end to the Union's 13-match winning streak on home soil, which was the second-longest run of any side in league history.
But Sporting have really struggled so far, with this only the second time they have gone winless in their first five games, and this seems a good chance for Philly to kick-start their season.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Philadelphia Union - 62.1 per cent
Sporting KC - 14.8 per cent
Draw - 23.1 per cent
Titans edge IPL season opener as Gaikwad's knock proves fruitless
Ruturaj Gaikwad's stunning knock was not enough as Chennai Super Kings suffered a five-wicket loss to reigning Indian Premier League champions Gujarat Titans in Friday's thrilling season opener.
Gaikwad scored 92 from 50 balls at Narendra Modi Stadium, tallying up the third-highest score in an IPL season opener, after Brendon McCullum's 158 in 2008 and Rohit Sharma's 98 in 2015.
The Super Kings reached 178-7 from their 20 overs, with captain MS Dhoni hitting an unbeaten 14 from seven balls in the closing stages of their innings.
Titans debutant Kane Williamson suffered a knee injury while fielding and was unable to bat, but Gujarat made a strong start, reaching 37 from the first 23 deliveries before Wriddhiman Saha succumbed to Rajvardhan Hangargekar (3-36).
Shubman Gill (63) expertly anchored the innings, though Chennai looked well placed to push on for victory when Tushar Deshpande dismissed the opener in the 15th over, following on from Sai Sudharsan and Hardik Pandya losing their wickets.
Their chances of victory looked greater still when the dangerous Vijay Shankar (27 from 21) was brilliantly caught out by Mitchell Santner, leaving the Titans requiring 30 from 18 balls.
Yet an expensive over from Deepak Chahar saw Rashid Khan add 10 runs in the space of two deliveries, and similar slackness from Hangargekar enabled Rahul Tewatia to seal victory.
Gaikwad and Gill the stars of the show
Gaikwad's exceptional 92 came at a strike rate of 184. His knock included nine sixes, with a further four shots hitting the rope.
Gill, though, provided the steady pair of hands needed to help push the Titans to victory. His 63 came at a S/R of 175, the second-highest in IPL history (minimum 25 runs).
Ton up for Shami
It was the Super Kings' death bowling that let them down, and they will rue an opportunity missed to claim their first win over the Titans.
The champions' bowlers did not perform brilliantly either, but Mohammed Shami's 2-29 saw him move onto 101 IPL wickets. He is the 15th Indian and 19th bowler overall to reach that milestone.
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