NEW YORK: Francisco Liriano pitched Pittsburgh out of a four-game slump yesterday as the Pirates blanked Oakland 5-0.
Liriano allowed just four hits over seven innings, and Pedro Alvarez had two RBIs to lead the offense, as Pittsburgh chased Oakland starter Tommy Milone after just 2 2/3 innings to get the home win and avoid a three-game sweep.
Despite the loss, the Athletics (54-38) kept their half-game lead in the American League West after Texas (53-38) lost 6-1 at Baltimore.
That was only part of the bad news for the Rangers as they also announced they had put Japanese ace Yu Darvish on the 15-day disabled list with a strained back.
Darvish, who was named to the AL’s All Star team, will not play in the game and will rest the ailment during the break.
He is 8-4 with a 3.02 ERA so far this season.
In Philadelphia, the Washington Nationals blasted four home runs off Cliff Lee in a 5-1 win over the Phillies.
Lee (10-3) had won his last eight decisions but ran into trouble in the fifth inning where Washington drilled two homers before adding two more in the sixth.
In Tampa Bay, the red-hot Rays scored a 4-3 over Minnesota in a 13-inning game that lasted nearly five hours.
Ben Zobrist delivered the game-winning single in the 13th inning to give Tampa Bay (52-40) their seventh straight victory.
The lengthy contest featured seven pitchers from each team and a total of 35 strikeouts.
The Twins (37-51) lost their fourth straight and have lost 10 of their last 11.
New York Yankees eager for Jeter’s impending return
NEW YORK: The New York Yankees sound nearly as impatient as Derek Jeter about when the captain will return to their lineup.
Although Jeter has played in only three games with Triple A Scranton/Wilkes Barre (Pennsylvania) in his rehab from a fractured ankle, the buzz in the Bronx is building that Jeter might join the offensively-challenged club before the four-day All-Star break, which begins on Monday.
“We don’t expect it to be a real long time,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi told reporters before yesterday’s game against the Kansas City Royals. “But I think you just have to take it day by day and see how he feels.”
The shortstop, whose 3,304 hits puts him 10th on Major League Baseball’s all-time hits list, has not played since fracturing his left ankle in the opening game of last October’s American League Championship Series against the Detroit Tigers.
He broke the ankle again this spring and had to restart the rehabilitation process.
Jeter is getting antsy about returning to the diamond at Yankee Stadium and the team is watching him very carefully.
“We’re judging him on a game by game basis,” Girardi said. “You have to trust the people that are seeing him. Derek would have had himself here last week.”
Anticipation, however, is growing.
“We are happy that Derek Jeter is coming back,” 26-year-old Dominican Eduardo Nunez, who is filling in for the shortstop, said in the locker room.
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