Month: February 2020

Mohamed Salah has scored twice as Liverpool beat Southampton 4-0 to move 22 points clear in the English Premier League

Sheffield United has beaten Crystal Palace 1-0 to continue its surprisingly strong season in the English Premier League

Bournemouth moved out of the relegation zone after beating fellow struggler Aston Villa 2-1 in the English Premier League

West Ham has dropped into the relegation zone in the Premier League after squandering a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3 with fellow struggler Brighton

Theo Walcott has struck a last-minute winner as 10-man Everton came from two goals down to beat Watford 3-2 in the English Premier League

DENVER (AP) The at-bats in front of him were central to Daniel Murphy’s big night at the plate.

Charlie Blackmon homered to start a six-run inning, Murphy had four hits and 4 RBIs, and the Colorado Rockies hung on to beat San Diego 11-10 Saturday night in a game in which both the Padres’ Eric Hosmer and manager Andy Green were ejected.

”Traffic on the base paths, it really puts the opposing pitchers in adverse situations,” said Murphy, who came to the plate with runners on in four of his five plate appearances. ”There were great at bats in front of me. It was a great offensive performance and the pitching staff did enough to get us a win today.”

Tony Wolters had a pair of hits, drove in two runs and threw out a base runner on an attempted steal of second to help quell an eighth inning rally by the Padres. Trevor Story also doubled and singled and drove in a run. Manny Machado hit a three-run homer for San Diego.

”The game we won tonight, we were on the other side of those a few times in the middle of the summer, so it was good to hang on,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

Hosmer, upset over a check swing strike call in the Padres’ fifth inning, argued with third base ump Carlos Torres and was ejected. Green came out of the dugout and also had words with Torres before being thrown out.

”He threw me out because I told him, `That was terrible,”’ Hosmer said. ”We’re grown men competing at the highest level, so if that’s the reason why he’s going to throw me out, I guess that’s it.”

The Padres grabbed an early lead on Wil Myers’ two-run double in the first before Colorado took command on Murphy’s first run-scoring single in the second followed by their big third inning. They sent 10 men to the plate and took advantage of a pair of fielding errors by the Padres.

Trailing 11-5 in the eighth, the Padres put together a five-run inning capped by Machado’s homer off Bryan Shaw, his 30th of the season. Machado became the 18th Padres player to have 30 home runs and 20 doubles in a season and the first since Myers in 2017.

Peter Lambert (3-6) went five innings and allowed five runs on five hits in snapping a drought that saw him go 0-6 with a 7.79 ERA over 15 starts after winning the first two starts of his career, both against the Chicago Cubs, on June 6 and 11.

Jesus Tinoco picked up his first career save, getting the last four outs. He did not allow a hit.

Eric Lauer (8-9) went 2 1/3 innings and allowed six runs ? four earned ? in extending his struggles at Coors Field, where he fell to 0-4 with an 18.81 ERA.

”A lot of pitches in the middle of the plate,” Green said. ”I think he made some good pitches early in counts and then found himself in the middle of the plate. You don’t get too much movement here, nobody does. If you find yourself in the middle to a good offensive club, you get in trouble. That’s ultimately what we saw again today here.”

CAUGHT STEALING

Clinging to a one-run lead after San Diego’s five-run burst in the eighth, the Rockies got a tremendous throw from catcher Wolters to catch Travis Jankowski trying to steal second for the final out of the inning. Tinoco helped set up the throw by getting the pitch to Wolters quickly, allowing him to bounce up from his crouch and fire. ”I’ve never seen anyone get rid of the ball that fast,” Tinoco said through an interpreter. ”The minute I saw the ball in the air, I knew it was going to be an out because it was going so fast. I was already kind of walking off the mound and into the dugout.” Wolters has thrown out 19 baserunners this season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rockies: LHP Kyle Freeland (left groin strain) threw his third bullpen since suffering injury Aug. 20. He threw about 40 pitches, and the Rockies remain hopeful he may be able to return to the mound before the end of this season. ”From what I saw, he looked great,” Rockies manager Bud Black said before the game. ”(Threw) all his pitches with great effort and intensity. He’s getting closer to a game. There’s maybe a step or two to take care of, but he’s going to pitch. He wants to pitch.”

UP NEXT

Padres: RHP Cal Quantrill (6-6, 5.12 ERA), making his 17th start of the season, will be trying to break a string that has seen him give up eight earned run in three straight outings. He’s one of five pitchers since 1908 to have given up eight or more earned runs in in three consecutive starts. Before the skid, Quantrill’s second-half ERA stood at 1.79, fourth best in the majors.

Rockies: RHP Chi CHi Gonzalez (1-6, 6.56 ERA) is coming off his first win as a member of the Rockies in which he pitched six innings of one-run ball in beating St. Louis.

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ST. LOUIS (AP) Yasmani Grandal is making the most out of his consistent playing time.

Mike Moustakas and Grandal homered to help the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 on Saturday night.

Milwaukee moved four games behind St. Louis for the National League Central lead. The Brewers remained one game behind the Chicago Cubs for the second wild card spot. The Cubs, who beat Pittsburgh, cut the Cardinals’ division lead to three games.

”It’s two weeks left of intense baseball,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. ”Wins are really valuable.”

Only one of the two runs Brewers starter Jordan Lyles allowed was earned. He gave up six hits and struck out four over six innings.

”The curveball wasn’t doing anything special today,” Lyles said. ”We had to use all four pitches and (Grandal) did a nice job of noticing that and he kept putting down the right numbers.”

The Brewers won their eighth game out of their last nine and improved to 8-1 when Lyles (11-8) starts this season.

”He’s executing pitches,” Counsell said. ”There might be one mistake it doesn’t detract him ever, a ball in the middle, he keeps making pitches and the stuff works.”

Jay Jackson, Drew Pomeranz, Junior Guerra combined for a scoreless seventh and eighth inning. Josh Hader earned his 32nd save in 38 opportunities.

Grandal walked and scored on a fielder’s choice groundout by Eric Thames to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead in the sixth.

Grandal drove a Tyler Webb changeup 424 feet into the left-centerfield seats in the eighth to make it 5-2. Grandal’s 27th home run of the year tied his career high and his 73 RBIs is a career high for a season.

”Knowing I’d be in the lineup whether it’s a lefty or a righty is huge,” Grandal said. ”Being able to game-plan for those days, whether it’s a righty or a lefty and just being able to make adjustments throughout the year. Seeing what’s working, seeing what’s not working, how my swing is working, how they are pitching to me. In the past I just couldn’t quite do that.”

Grandal’s 10 homers from the right-side of the plate have helped fuel his surge. He had just 16 career home runs from the right side before this season.

”He’s carried us offensively in a lot of way in a good part of this stretch,” Counsell said.

Moustakas’ two-run home run in the fourth inning tied the game 2-2, snapping a 22-inning scoreless streak by Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty. It also broke a 32-inning scoreless streak for Cardinals starters at home spanning six games.

”He’s just been big in the middle of the lineup,” Counsell said of Moustakas. ”He’s had some huge games, some huge home runs, lots of big hits.”

Flaherty (10-8) needed 102 pitches to get through six innings. He gave up three runs on five hits and a pair of walks as St. Louis had its two-game winning streak snapped.

Flaherty matched a season-high 10 strikeouts and became the first Cardinals pitcher with more than 200 strikeouts in a season since Carlos Martinez (217 in 2017). Flaherty is the 19th different pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts this season which is the most in the Modern Era.

”I’d rather win,” Flaherty said when asked about the strikeout total.

Tommy Edman’s solo homer started a two-run Cardinals rally in the second. Harrison Bader followed with a single, moved to second on a Flaherty sacrifice and scored on a Yasmani Grandal throwing error while he was stealing third.

”He just did a good job of kind of changing his approach throughout the game,” Edman said of Lyles. ”He was going with more of the fastballs earlier and really went to that off speed stuff the second time through the lineup and kept us off balance.”

WELCOME BACK

Brewers second baseman Keston Hiura made his first appearance since Aug. 30, when he left in the fifth inning with a strained left hamstring. Hiura struck out in a pinch hitting appearance in the ninth.

TRAINING ROOM

Brewers: RHP Brandon Woodruff (left oblique strain) threw a 25-pitch bullpen in what the team hopes is a final tune-up before being activated from the Injured List. C Manny Pina (concussion) is almost ready to resume catching activities soon.

UP NEXT

Brewers: RHP Chase Anderson (6-4, 4.57 ERA) gets the start in the finale of the three-game series against St. Louis on Sunday. He is 1-1 with a 2.67 ERA in six career starts at Busch Stadium.

Cardinals: RHP Michael Wacha (6-7, 4.97 ERA) will seek to pick up his first win since July 19. He was held Milwaukee to two or less runs in each of his last five starts against them.

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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) The Oakland Athletics maintained their half-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the race for the American League’s first wild card on Saturday night despite losing their No. 1 starter in the second inning thanks to what manager Bob Melvin called their ”relentless offense.”

Mark Canha’s two-run home run off the left-field foul pole broke a fifth-inning tie as the A’s beat the Texas Rangers 8-6 on Saturday night.

The A’s scored all their runs on homers. Matt Chapman (three-run homer in the third inning), Josh Phegley (two-run homer in the fourth) and Matt Olson (solo in the sixth). Oakland’s 242 home runs are one short of the franchise record set in 1996.

”Not a surprise that we keep coming back,” Melvin said.

Oakland has won 10 of its last 12 games.

Ryan Buchter (1-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and was one of six A’s relievers after Mike Fiers left following 1 2/3 innings because of right-arm nerve irritation, which Fiers said has bothered him on occasion this season and last season. Liam Hendriks pitched a scoreless ninth for his 22nd save in 27 opportunities.

Mike Minor (13-9) lost for the first time since Aug. 27, allowing a season-high seven earned runs in five innings. Minor entered the game third in the AL in ERA at 3.08.

”It was not typical Mike,” Texas manager Chris Woodward said.

Rougned Odor hit a two-run homer in the second. He leads the Rangers with 27 homers and 81 RBIs while hitting .207.

With two outs and no one on base for Texas in the second inning, Danny Santana singled and advanced on a balk when Fiers turned his shoulders toward first base before throwing to the base. Manager Bob Melvin and trainer Nick Paparesta then visited Fiers, who threw some warmup pitches and was left in. The next delivery was a wild pitch that sent Santana to third base. Odor hit Fiers’ next pitch, an 89-mph cut fastball on which he said his hand went numb, for a two-run homer to right field. Fiers walked Delino DeShields and was then removed.

”It’s kind of scary,” Fiers said. ”You try to just pitch through it. But if you start altering your delivery, could cause something else happening.”

Fiers was coming off the worst of his 184 major league starts, allowing nine runs in one inning on Monday at Houston, which followed a career-long 12-game winning streak from May 7 to Aug. 27.

Phegley’s homer sailed just over the outstretched glove of Nomar Mazara at the right-field wall to give the A’s a 5-3 lead. The Rangers tied the score in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI groundout by DeShields and a single by Shin-Soo Choo.

Chapman has 33 home runs, a franchise record for third basemen.

HAIR-RAISING EPISODE

Fiers took the mound with half of his beard shaved off, the result of wanting to loosen up his teammates late in a long season. They searched the Internet for funny beards before the game, found ”cattail,” and Fiers did the rest.

”They didn’t think I’d go out there and pitch with it,” he said.

After the game, he was clean shaven.

”Got hurt,” Fiers said. ”Can’t continue that.”

NOT ON THE SAME PAGE

Rangers starting catcher Jeff Mathis left in the second inning with a low back strain and was replaced by rookie Jose Trevino. Minor said he and Trevino, who caught his previous two wins, struggled to agree on pitch selection.

”Maybe the scouting report, going over it before the game with Mathis and not (Trevino) and the mid-game change,” Minor said. ”He was trying to gather all the information. And when he went out there, he didn’t really know it as well as Mathis would.”

UP NEXT

Texas will throw a bullpen game in Sunday’s series finale beginning with RHP Jonathan Hernandez (1-0, 1.93). A’s LHP Sean Manaea (1-0, 0.75) will make his third start since being reinstated from the 60-day injured list on Sept. 1 following surgery on his pitching shoulder last September. He held Detroit to one run in seven innings last Sunday.

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