BALTIMORE: A tempestuous three-game series between the Red Sox and Baltimore wound up with Matt Barnes being ejected for throwing a fastball behind the head of Orioles star Manny Machado in Boston’s 6-2 victory Sunday.
Barnes’ ejection was the latest facet of this tense rivalry between AL East contenders. His high, very inside pitch came two days after Machado took out Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia with a spikes-high slide.
Pedroia watched from the dugout for a second straight day with knee and ankle injuries. Machado apologized with a text message on Friday night, but that evidently wasn’t the end of it.
Mookie Betts and Hanley Ramirez homered on successive pitches in a four-run first inning, and Andrew Benintendi had a career-high five hits to help Boston avert a three-game sweep. Eduardo Rodriguez (1-1) pitched six effective innings for the win.
Machado ended up making the last out, hitting a two-out popup on a pitch from Craig Kimbrel, who got his seventh save.
Baltimore right-hander Kevin Gausman (1-2) allowed five runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Nationals 6 Mets 3: In New York: Daniel Murphy hit a grand slam against his former team, Max Scherzer pitched eight fiery innings and the Nationals earned their seventh straight victory.
Ryan Zimmerman added a two-run homer for the Nationals, who completed a three-game sweep of the short-handed Mets in the first series this season between the NL East rivals.
Missing slugger Yoenis Cespedes and two other injured starters, New York (8-11) has lost four in a row and eight of nine to fall 5 1/2 games behind the Nationals, who own the best record in the majors at 13-5.
Scherzer (3-1) struck out nine. Koda Glover got three outs for his second major league save.
Rangers 5 Royals 2: In Arlington, Texas, Yu Darvish pitched eight innings in his longest outing since elbow surgery two years ago and the Rangers scored the tying and go-ahead runs without a hit, completing a four-game sweep.
The Japanese right-hander retired 15 of 16 batters after giving up three consecutive hits in the third. Two of those were back-to-back drives from Mike Moustakas and Jorge Bonifacio, whose first big league homer came two innings after he singled for his first career hit.
Darvish (2-2) struck out eight as the Rangers finished their second four-game sweep of Kansas City in as many seasons. The Royals have lost five of six since a four-game winning streak.
Rockies 8 Giants 0: In Denver, Kyle Freeland scattered six hits over seven sharp innings, Gerardo Parra hit a two-run homer and the Rockies finished off their first three-game sweep of the Giants at Coors Field since 2002.
Freeland (2-1) mixed a wicked sinker with a two-seam fastball to get 12 groundouts and three strikeouts. The Denver native also shattered three bats on a day when the Giants changed their lineup to try to break out of a hitting funk. It didn’t work as they lost for the sixth time in seven games. At 6-13, they are off to their worst start since 1983.
Jeff Samardzija (0-4) remains winless after going 5 1/3 innings and surrendering seven runs.
Colorado leads the NL West with a 13-6 mark. It is tied for the second-best start in franchise history.
Jays 6 Angels 2: In Anaheim, California, Marcus Stroman pitched a seven-hitter for Toronto, and Devon Travis hit a go-ahead, two-run homer during a four-run eighth inning.
Stroman (2-2) survived a rocky ninth by inducing a game-ending double play in his third career complete game — and his second in 12 days.
Albert Pujols delivered a run-scoring single for the Angels in the third inning shortly after Toronto manager John Gibbons’ ejection. Los Angeles has lost 10 of 12 with an injury-plagued pitching staff.
Mariners 11 Athletics 1: In Oakland, California, Nelson Cruz homered and drove in five runs for Seattle, and Taylor Motter hit his first career grand slam.
Yovani Gallardo (1-2) pitched into the seventh for his first win with the Mariners, who ended a three-game losing streak and won for only the second time in 11 road games.
Oakland had won five in a row.
Reds 7 Cubs 5: In Cincinnatti, Bronson Arroyo pitched six innings of three-hit ball, and Cincinnati salvaged the finale of the weekend set.
The 40-year-old Arroyo (2-2) allowed Anthony Rizzo’s two-run homer — his third of the series — and struck out seven batters for the first time since May 13, 2014. The lanky right-hander has needed more than two years to recover from Tommy John surgery.
Raisel Iglesias gave up a pair of runs in the ninth before finishing off the Reds’ 3-7 homestand.
Patrick Kivlehan’s bases-loaded double highlighted a four-run sixth inning off John Lackey (1-3) and decided a matchup of up-in-years starters. The 38-year-old Lackey and Arroyo have combined for 793 starts in the majors.
Despite the loss, the defending World Series champions took two of three in the series and moved back into first place in the NL Central.
Barnes ejected, Boston beats Baltimore 6-2
Barnes ejected, Boston beats Baltimore 6-2
Barcelona blitz Athletic Bilbao 5-0 to book place in Super Cup Final
- In a breathtaking 16-minute spell, the Catalans turned uncertainty into complete control, racing into a four-goal lead before the interval
- Raphinha scores a brace with goals on either side of half-time
JEDDAH: It did not look like the easiest opening 20 minutes for Barcelona in Jeddah during their encounter with Athletic Bilbao. Yet in a breathtaking 16-minute spell, the Catalans turned uncertainty into complete control, racing into a four-goal lead before the interval.
More than 50,000 fans packed the Al-Inma Stadium in Jeddah to witness the spectacle, although the likes of Marcus Rashford and Lamine Yamal were rested, allowing opportunities for youngsters like Roony Bardghji and Fermin Lopez.
Lopez would emerge as one of the standout performers of the night. While his threat inside the box was evident, it was his creativity that truly shone in front of the Jeddawi crowd.
Barcelona broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute. A sweeping move from side to side ended with Raphinha finding Bardghji on the right, whose cutback was met by Lopez before being laid off for Ferran Torres to finish calmly for 1-0.
Just eight minutes later, an exquisite backheel from Pedri released Raphinha down the left flank once again, with his low cross this time finding López to double Barcelona’s advantage.
Lopez contributed to his third goal of the night minutes later, this time slipping Bardghji down the right. The Kuwaiti-born winger skipped past Adama Boiro before striking at goal, with Unai Simon mishandling the ball as it trickled over the line.
The Blaugrana showed no signs of slowing down. Raphina finally got on the scoresheet in emphatic fashion with a belter into the top corner in the 38th minute.
To the surprise of many, neither side made any changes at the break. That decision quickly proved costly for Bilbao, as Raphinha struck again early in the second half, once more exploiting space down the flanks to extend the lead to 5-0.
With the contest beyond reach, Athletic head coach Ernesto Valverde rang the changes, making five substitutions to give minutes to his squad.
Barcelona, meanwhile, eased off to conserve energy ahead of Sunday’s final. To the delight of the crowd, both Rashford and Yamal were introduced, with Yamal receiving a warm standing ovation upon his entrance in the 72nd minute.
The emphatic victory marks Barcelona’s second consecutive five-goal display in the Spanish Super Cup, following last year’s 5-2 triumph over Real Madrid in the final.
The second semi-final takes place on Thursday, as Real Madrid face Atlético Madrid, with the winner set to meet Barcelona in Sunday’s final.
