Dodgers’ 12-game win streak ends; Singer, Royals blank LA
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Brady Singer pitched six dominant innings and the Kansas City Royals ended the Dodgers’ 12-game winning streak, blanking Los Angeles 4-0 Sunday.
A day after hitting six home runs in a romp, the Dodgers were held to just two hits.
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The Dodgers were trying to match their longest winning streak since moving to Los Angeles, having won 13 straight in both 1962 and 1965. The franchise record is 15 in a row set in 1924 while the team played in Brooklyn — the club moved to West Coast for the 1958 season.
“I mean, we knew we weren’t going to win every game,” star first baseman Freddie Freeman said.
“We don’t like getting shut out as an offense, just plain and simple. We still won the series, so you have to look at it like that sometimes,” he said.
Singer (6-4) pitched one-hit ball against the team with the best record in the majors. He struck out seven and walked three.
“Singer thrives on these opportunities and we do need that stopper to step up and so something special,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “I don’t think you can imagine that Brady was going to execute the way he did today. It was a thing of beauty and couldn’t have been at a better time.”
The 26-year old right-hander felt all his pitches were working.
“It was a good outing, I think I stayed on the attack all day and all three pitches had good life,” Singer said. “The fastball had good life, the changeups that I threw really helped me throughout the whole entire time.”
Royals relievers Amir Garrett and Dylan Coleman kept the Dodgers scoreless and Scott Barlow got four outs for his 19th save.
Vinnie Pasquantino homered among his three hits and drove in two runs. He connected in the eighth inning for his fourth home run and seventh RBI of an 11-game homestand.
“It is just constant adjustments,” Pasquantino said. “I’m not going to say anything clicked this week, but it is one of those things where you just keep going, pushing forward and it worked out today.”
Tyler Anderson (12-2) gave up three runs in six innings.
Chris Taylor singled in the Dodgers fifth and Mookie Betts doubled in the eighth. It was the fewest hits for Los Angeles since April 19 and the first time being shut out since June 27.
Wacha makes short work of Yankees, Boston wins in 2:15
BOSTON (AP) — Michael Wacha and the last-place Red Sox made short work of the AL East-leading New York Yankees.
Pitching for the first time in almost seven weeks, Wacha returned from a shoulder injury to limit New York to a pair of singles in seven innings, and Boston beat the Yankees 3-0 on Sunday night.
It all lasted 2 hours, 15 minutes — tying for the shortest game between the two teams since 1994.
“I feel like I work better that way,” said Wacha, who took a perfect game into the fifth inning. “That’s the mentality that I was facing: Get back in the dugout as quick as possible and let the guys keep getting a crack at their guy.”
Rafael Devers homered, and Tommy Pham had three hits for the Red Sox, who took two of three from New York — their first win in a multigame series against a division foe in 13 tries.
Officially, Boston is credited with a “series” win when it beat the Orioles in a one-game visit on Thursday. But manager Alex Cora was hesitant to count that one.
“Finally we won against the East,” he said with a smirk. “Or, that’s two in a row. Sorry.”
New York has lost nine of its last 11 games but still has a double-digit lead in the division; the Red Sox are seventh in the race for the AL’s three wild-card spots.
Activated from the injured list earlier in the day and pitching for the first time since June 28, Wacha (7-1) allowed one walk and struck out nine — including Aaron Judge twice.
Ryan Brasier pitched a perfect eighth and Garrett Whitlock pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his fourth save, striking out Judge to end a nine-pitch at-bat and then getting Josh Donaldson on a slow bouncer that second baseman Christian Arroyo bare-handed to make the throw to first and end it.
Jameson Taillon (11-3) allowed three runs on six hits, striking out four to pick up his first loss since July 5.
The Red Sox and Yankees on national television often runs over four hours. But the teams finished in 2:15 on Aug. 3, 2018; they hadn’t played a shorter game since a 2:13 matchup in 1994.
