Kansas City Royals Jarrod Dyson beats the tag by Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Munenori Kawasaki as he steals second in the seventh inning during the Royals’ win in their MLB American League baseball game in Kansas City, Missouri on Sunday. (Reuters)
AFP/New York
Boston righthander Clay Buchholz took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and struck out 11 as the Red Sox blanked the Tampa Bay Rays 5-0 on Sunday at Fenway Park.
Buchholz had issued just four walks before surrendering a leadoff single to Kelly Johnson in the top of the eighth. He gave up one more hit before completing the inning.
It was the third consecutive superb effort to start the season for Buchholz, who has surrendered just one run over 14 innings.
Dustin Pedroia went three-for-four with a run scored to pace the Red Sox offence.
The Rays had three hits in the game and have scored just four runs over their past four contests. Tampa Bay has now lost five of the last six games.
Alex Cobb pitched 6 2/3 innings for Tampa Bay, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out six Red Sox batters.
Meanwhile, Paul Konerko hit a two-run homer and Jake Peavy struck out 11 in seven innings as visiting Chicago ended a five-game losing streak.
Peavy (2-1) allowed one run and five hits and didn’t walk a batter as the White Sox salvaged the finale of the three-game series and won for the first time away from home. Matt Thornton worked the eighth and Addison Reed pitched the ninth for his fourth save.
Michael Bourn went 3-for-4 and hit Peavy’s first pitch of the afternoon over the right-field fence for Cleveland’s lone run.
Raul Ibanez homered and rookie Brandon Maurer tossed six solid innings for his first major-league win as host Seattle edged Texas in the series finale.
Maurer (1-2) allowed three runs (two earned) after giving up 12 over 6 2/3 innings in his first two starts while Tom Wilhelmsen worked a perfect ninth for his fifth save.
Ibanez put Seattle ahead 2-1 with a solo homer in the fourth off Texas starter Nick Tepesch (1-1), who gave up four runs on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings. Tepesch escaped further damage when the Mariners stranded runners on the corners on Dustin Ackley’s groundout to second.
Texas, which scored first on Mitch Moreland’s run-scoring double in the second, took back the lead in the fifth when Elvis Andrus scored on Lance Berkman’s RBI single and Chris Gentry scored on a passed ball.
Seattle evened the series at two games apiece after pulling ahead in the sixth when Kyle Seager sparked a one-out rally with a double off Tepesch. Jesus Montero and Ackley followed with back-to-back RBI singles, helping the Mariners improve to 2-3 in one-run games.
Nix, who replaced Halladay at the plate with one out, crushed a fastball from Jon Rauch (0-2) into the second deck of the right-field stands to give Philadelphia a 2-1 lead. Halladay (1-2) needed only 87 pitches to get through eight innings, allowing a run on five hits in his longest outing in 12 starts.