Cincinnati Reds’ Miguel Cairo (43) celebrates his two-run home run with Joey Votto during the sixth inning of play against the Toronto Blue Jays in their interleague MLB baseball game at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio on Sunday
Reuters/Seattle
Jason Vargas outdueled ace Cole Hamels with a scintillating pitching performance as the Seattle Mariners took down the major league-best Philadelphia Phillies 2-0 on Sunday. Vargas had six strikeouts and allowed just three hits in a complete game that denied Hamels of a major league-leading 10th win of the season, and the Mariners topped the Phillies for the second time in three games of their interleague series. The two defeats are the only losses in the last 10 games for Philadelphia (45-28). “This is a big wake up call for fans that aren’t quite into it yet,” Seattle shortstop Brendan Ryan told reporters. “I don’t know what you’re waiting for now. Two of three from the best team in baseball—I mean, that’s enough for me.” Seattle outlasted the left-hander Hamels with an RBI single from Justin Smoak in the sixth inning and a run-scoring single by Adam Kennedy in the seventh where Hamels was relieved after 6-1/3 innings. Vargas, who needed only 119 pitches for the win, was visited on the mound by manager Eric Wedge after allowing a two-out single in the ninth. “That was the first time I had the manager come out in the ninth and leave me in,” said Vargas, who got the next batter to fly out for the game’s final out. “It’s a nice feeling that he has that confidence in me to leave me out there to finish my game.” The Mariners’ (37-35) latest triumph pulled the team within a half-game of the American League West-leading Texas Rangers who lost to Atlanta on Sunday.  Division-leading  Indians fire hitting coach CLEVELAND: The first-place Cleveland Indians fired their hitting coach on Sunday following a recent offensive slump that has loosened their grip atop the American League Central division, the team said on Sunday. Jon Nunnally, who was named hitting coach before the 2010 Major League Baseball (MLB) season, will be replaced by Bruce Fields, the team said in a statement. Fields is in his sixth season in the Indians organisation, having been a minor league hitting co-ordinator since 2007.