Day in the majors
Cardinals stay stingy
One of the biggest surprises of the young baseball season has to be the collective performance of the Cardinals’ rotation.
On Sunday, Kyle Lohse, who was billed as an innings-eater for a needy rotation when St. Louis signed him in mid-March, allowed four hits in seven innings of a 3-0 victory over the Nationals, completing a three-game sweep over the weekend.
Despite beginning the season with Joel Pineiro, Mark Mulder, Matt Clement and Chris Carpenter on the DL, the Cardinals’ rotation has allowed four runs in 37 2/3 innings, an 0.96 ERA.
In all, the Cardinals have nine players on the DL, the most in the major leagues. Pineiro could be ready by the end of next week, Mulder next month, Clement in mid-May and Carpenter in July.
Rick Ankiel hit his third home run for St. Louis, which has won five straight since losing on opening day and is off to its best start since winning seven of eight to start 2000.
Red Sox head home at last
Frank Thomas hit his 11th career grand slam, and Vernon Wells added a two-run homer, lifting Toronto to a 7-4 win over Boston on Sunday, completing a three-game sweep of the Red Sox, the World Series champions.
Boston failed to get a boost from Josh Beckett’s first start of the season and went 3-4 on its opening three-nation trip, a journey of nearly 16,000 miles. The Red Sox are in the AL East cellar for the first time since April 10, 2005, when they were 2-4.
“It’s probably the best thing for us right now,” Boston’s Kevin Youkilis said. “A lot of us are tired. We’re ready to go home. All these different countries, different currencies, I’m kind of sick of it.”
The Red Sox split two games against the Athletics in Tokyo and swept two in Oakland before arriving in Canada. They open the home portion of their schedule Tuesday at Fenway Park against the struggling Tigers.
Tigers drop sixth straight
Even the Lions win more than this.
Detroit completed a perfectly awful home stand, losing a 13-2 rout to the White Sox. So the team with a $138 million payroll is winless after six games.
Joe Crede had four hits and three RBIs for the White Sox, and Mark Buehrle threw seven solid innings for the win. Detroit’s Justin Verlander was pounded for nine runs — four of them earned — in 5 2/3 innings.
| Star News Services
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