Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Munenori Kawasaki (centre) tries to tag out New York Yankees runner Ichiro Suzuki (right) at second base after he tagged out runner Chris Stewart in the fifth inning of their MLB American League baseball game at Yankee Stadium in New York, on Thursday. (Reuters)
Clayton Kershaw enhanced his Cy Young Award credentials with eight scoreless innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers scored five runs with two outs to beat the Miami Marlins 6-0.
Los Angeles took the four-game series 3-1, and have now won 45 of their past 55 games.
Kershaw (13-7) allowed five hits and three walks, striking out six. He leads the National League in ERA (1.72) and strikeouts (188) and his scoreless streak is at 16 innings.
‘‘I’ve seen him a lot better,’’ Miami manager Mike Redmond said. ‘’He looked like his command was not there with his fastball, but whenever we did get in a situation with a guy on, he executed his pitches and was able to keep us at bay.’’
Elsewhere, Vernon Wells had a controversial go-ahead RBI fielder’s choice with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning as the New York Yankees completed a four-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays with a 5-3 victory.
The Yankees were being shut out by Toronto starter J A Happ (3-3) through four innings before the bizarre sequence that resulted in their go-ahead run.
Wells appeared to have hit a sacrifice fly as centre fielder Rajai Davis made a sliding catch but umpires ruled Davis dropped the ball on the transfer and Wells was originally credited with a single before the call was changed to a fielder’s choice.
Davis threw to second base as Ichiro Suzuki advanced from first.
Suzuki avoided the tag by second baseman Munenori Kawasaki but Stewart returned to second thinking the catch had been made.
Stewart was called out trying to advance to third while Eduardo Nunez scored the go-ahead run before the play at second was made.
Right-hander Mat Latos allowed just one run through eight innings and Shin-Soo Choo scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the eighth to lift the Cincinnati Reds to a 2-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Cincinnati (73-55) took three of four in the series to increase their lead over Arizona to seven games for the National League’s second wild card spot.
Latos (13-4) struck out six and did not walk a batter in his 102 pitches.
Chris Herrmann had three hits and two RBIs to lift the Minnesota Twins to a 7-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
Ryan Doumit blasted a three-run home run for Minnesota, while Casey Fien (3-2) pitched one inning of scoreless relief to earn the victory.
Justin Verlander, who had a 9-0 record with a 1.67 ERA in his last 10 starts against the Twins, gave up six runs and 10 hits in seven innings for Detroit.
Brewers’ drug cheat Braun admits PED use
Disgraced slugger Ryan Braun admitted Thursday for the first time that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his 2011 Most Valuable Player season, including an illegal cream and a lozenge.
The Milwaukee Brewer player, who was suspended in late July for the remainder of the season after Major League Baseball’s probe of the Biogenesis clinic in Florida, apologised but said he justified the use to himself at the time because he was trying to heal from an injury.
“The products were a cream and a lozenge which I was told could help expedite my rehabilitation. It was a huge mistake for which I am deeply ashamed and I compounded the situation by not admitting my mistakes immediately,” Braun said in a rambling 944-word statement released by the Major League Baseball team.
Braun was previously hit with a 50-game suspension in late 2011 but he was able to get it overturned in February 2012.
He tested positive for elevated testosterone levels, but won the appeal on a technicality when he challenged how the test samples were stored.
At the time Braun vehemently denied using performance-enhancing drugs and he also used his notoriety to launch a public attack on the lab worker who handled the sample.