MLB

MLB: Sale beats Yankees as surging Braves pound Rodon

By Sports Desk June 22, 2024

Chris Sale became the third in the majors to reach 10 wins and Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson and Austin Riley homered off Carlos Rodon as the surging Atlanta Braves rolled to an 8-1 rout of the New York Yankees on Friday night.

Sale allowed one hit and one run over five innings with three walks and eight strikeouts to join Philadelphia’s Ranger Suarez and Kansas City’s Seth Lugo as 10-game winners.

Four relievers finished up the three-hitter.

The Braves built a 2-0 lead on Rodon’s first two pitches as Jarred Kelenic singled before Albies homered to left.

Riley added his seventh home run later in the inning for a 3-0 lead. He finished 2 for 3 with two walks and has 12 hits in his last 22 at-bats, including four homers and four doubles.

Kelenic singled home a run in the second and Ramon Laureano doubled home another run in the third. Olson’s two-run blast in the fourth made it 7-1 and an error by left fielder Jahmai Jones allowed the eighth run to score.

Atlanta has won four in a row and seven of its last eight games.

Rodon, who also was bidding for his 10th victory, was tagged for season highs of eight runs and 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings. He lost his second straight start following a personal seven-game winning streak.

The Yankees have lost three straight and five of six after winning 12 of 15.

Ohtani homers against former team in loss

Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run homer in his first game against his former team, but Taylor Ward singled home the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning to lift the Los Angeles Angels to a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Nolan Schanuel sacrificed automatic runner Jo Adell to third to open the 10th. Evan Phillips then retired Luis Rengifo on a groundout with Adell holding, but Ward followed with a single to left to give the Angels their first lead of the game.

Ohtani’s two-run blast off reliever Matt Moore in the fifth opened the scoring. It was his National League-leading 22nd homer of the season and seventh in the last 11 games.

He finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two walks in his first game against the Angels, the team he spent his first six major league seasons with before signing a 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December.

The Angels tied it in the next inning when Zach Neto was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and an RBI groundout from Mickey Moniak.  

Mets hammer Imanaga, Cubs

J.D. Martinez, Francisco Alvarez and Brandon Nimmo homered against Shota Imanaga to power the New York Mets to an 11-1 drubbing of the Chicago Cubs.

Francisco Lindor had three hits and two runs and Jose Iglesias added four hits and three RBIs to help the Mets win for the eighth time in nine games.

They are 12-3 in their last 15 games and averaging 6.6 runs during that stretch.

Imanaga was roughed up for 10 runs and 11 hits in three-plus innings after he pitched seven innings of three-hit ball in a 1-0 win over the Mets on May 1. His ERA ballooned from 1.89 to 2.96 following the shortest outing of his rookie season.

Jose Quintana allowed one unearned run and four hits over 6 1/3 innings while striking out eight in his second straight win.

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