Grüße und Vorstellung » you really want to win

Jonathan Loaisiga pitched three-hit ball over five impressive innings to win his major league debut Jordy Nelson Jersey , and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-0 on Friday night.

Didi Gregorius homered off ex-Yankee Nathan Eovaldi, and Gary Sanchez broke out of a long slump with a three-run double in the eighth. Giancarlo Stanton had a sacrifice fly for New York, which improved the best record in the majors to 45-20.

Jonathan Holder, David Robertson, Dellin Betances and Adam Warren each worked an inning to finish the four-hitter.

Loaisiga (1-0) was called up from Double-A Trenton to fill in for injured starter Masahiro Tanaka. The 23-year-old righty, who walked only four batters in 45 minor league innings this year, struggled a little with his command, issuing four walks while striking out six.

Pitching against his former team, Eovaldi (1-2) allowed only two runs over the first seven innings until the Yankees chased him in the eighth. He was charged with five runs and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings during his first career outing against New York. He struck out five and walked one.

TWINS 6, INDIANS 3

CLEVELAND (AP) – Corey Kluber had a rare rocky performance, lasting just five innings and losing for the first time in seven starts as Kyle Gibson outpitched the Cy Young winner and Brian Dozier hit a two-run homer to lead Minnesota past Cleveland.

Kluber (10-3) allowed a homer on his fourth pitch of the game to Eddie Rosario and was pulled after throwing just 65 pitches by manager Terry Francona. It was the shortest outing this season for the All-Star, who came in 5-0 with a 0.76 ERA against AL Central teams and was riding several other impressive streaks.

Gibson (2-4) limited the Indians to one run and three hits in seven innings and got his first win since his season debut on March 31.

Yan Gomes homered in the ninth and the Indians closed to 6-3 before closer Fernando Rodney struck out Francisco Lindor with one on for his 15th save.

CUBS 13, CARDINALS 5

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Kris Bryant ended a 24-game homerless drought, the longest of his career, and Ian Happ and Kyle Schwarber also went deep as Chicago routed St. Louis.

Bryant drilled a two-run shot off an ineffective Michael Wacha for his first home run since May 14. The 2016 NL MVP capped a six-run fifth inning with an RBI single and added a sacrifice fly in the seventh. His four RBIs were a season high.

Jon Lester ran his scoreless streak to 17 innings before giving up a solo home run to Marcell Ozuna in the fourth as the Cubs won for the first time in four tries at Busch Stadium this season. Lester (8-2) allowed two runs in six innings to earn his fourth straight win.

Anthony Rizzo had three hits and Schwarber launched a three-run homer that traveled a projected 465 feet to straightaway center.

Wacha (8-2) gave up a career-high nine runs Blidi Wreh-Wilson Jersey , eight earned, in a season-low four-plus innings.

Matt Carpenter homered and drove in two runs, but the Cardinals lost their third consecutive game.

DODGERS 3, GIANTS 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Ross Stripling pitched four-hit ball over 6 1/3 innings, Enrique Hernandez and Matt Kemp went deep to give the Dodgers a major league-leading 32 homers this month, and Los Angeles beat rival San Francisco in their series opener.

The Dodgers improved to 10-2 in June while sending the Giants to a 17th loss in their last 23 road games.

Stripling (6-1) extended his career-best winning streak to six games and is 4-0 at home this season. The right-hander gave up a two-run homer to Pablo Sandoval and had six strikeouts with no walks.

Kenley Jansen earned his 16th save.

Derek Holland (4-7) gave up three runs – two earned – in five innings. He struck out seven.

Earlier in the day, Kemp was suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount for his involvement in a scuffle with Texas catcher Robinson Chirinos on Wednesday. Kemp appealed the punishment, so he’s allowed to play until the process is completed.

MARINERS 7, RED SOX 6

SEATTLE (AP) – Denard Span’s pinch-hit double in the eighth inning drove in two runs, leading Seattle over Boston.

Span, hitting for Guillermo Heredia with one out, hit a liner into the right-field corner after Ryon Healy walked and Ben Gamel singled.

Rob Whalen pitched four shutout innings of relief for the Mariners. Ryan Cook (1-0) earned the win with a scoreless eighth and Edwin Diaz earned his major league-leading 26th save.

Matt Barnes (0-2) took the loss.

Xander Bogaerts hit a three-run homer as part of a six-run third that gave Boston a 6-3 lead, but a spectacular defensive play by Seattle second baseman Dee Gordon on a hard-hit ball up the middle by Bogaerts that ended the sixth kept Boston from adding another run.

ANGELS 8, ATHLETICS 4

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Ian Kinsler homered and drew a bases-loaded walk Maxx Williams Jersey , Mike Trout had three hits and a sacrifice fly, and injury-plagued Los Angeles beat Oakland to snap a four-game skid.

Tyler Skaggs (6-4) struck out eight over seven strong innings, allowing no earned runs and seven hits with one walk. He improved to 3-0 with a 0.45 ERA in June.

The Angels placed four more players on the disabled list, bringing their total to a franchise-record 15 at one time and leaving just 12 members of the opening day roster active.

Jose Briceno and Jose Miguel Fernandez had RBI singles in the third as Los Angeles bounced back with a big offensive night after having lost four straight following a six-game winning streak. The Angels avoided matching their longest skid of the season.

Oakland starter Chris Bassitt (0-2) was done after four innings after he allowed six runs – only two earned on a s The Stanley Cup Final is a block party for the Washington Capitals.

For all of Evgeny Kuznetsov’s points on offense and Braden Holtby’s saves in net, the Capitals are one win away from blocking their way to the Cup. They’ve gotten in front of almost a third of the Vegas Golden Knights’ shots, blocking with enough smarts and precision to take a 3-1 series lead into Game 5 Thursday.

”There’s more to blocking shots than just going out there and trying to get hit,” Holtby said. ”We’re doing a great job of creating the right layers, guys going out there strategically to know which lane I’m picking for sight lines and they’re taking away the other half and making big blocks.”

Washington is blocking in quantity and quality in the final, 86 total, in limiting Vegas to 124 shots on Holtby – many of which he’s seeing and stopping . Even star captain Alex Ovechkin is blocking shots as he gets closer to tasting his first championship.

”You see `O’ jumping in front of shots, it makes everyone on the team want to do the same,” winger Devante Smith-Pelly said.

Blocking shots is a team-wide commitment right now and comes from a season’s worth of skaters, goaltending coach Scott Murray, Holtby and Philipp Grubauer getting on the same page. The goalies have worked on making sure they can see past blocks to give players the confidence to get in front of pucks.

And in return, Capitals players study opponents’ tendencies and consciously decide when to try to block a shot and not so Holtby isn’t at a disadvantage.

”You obviously don’t want to cross in front of him Montee Ball Jersey ,” center Jay Beagle said. ”You don’t want to become a screen. So if you miss the block, which happens, guys are good at shooting pucks and stuff, you want it still so from your standpoint you didn’t hinder Holts’ view.”

Defensemen have an understanding of which half of the net is their responsibility and which half is Holtby’s. Forwards closer to the blue line have to react quickly, take the right angle and get to the shooter.

”If guys have time and space, they’re going to be able to sift one through,” Smith-Pelly said. ”For the forwards, it’s just going out there pretty hard and just getting in the way.”

The amount of shots the Capitals have blocked through four games seems to be getting in the Golden Knights’ heads. They’re struggling to get quality shots through and resorting to settling for lower-danger scoring chances.

”If you’re going to take shots, make sure they pay a price for blocking those shots,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. ”Shoot it harder.”

Capitals coach Barry Trotz doesn’t want his players thinking too much about blocking shots or hesitating. He doesn’t care much about Ovechkin’s blocking form or the philosophy of shot-blocking as long as it keeps the puck out of the net.

”If you’re positionally sound, if you’re in shot lanes, block the shot,” Trotz said. ”It’s all about will.”

And that will can turn into skill. Washington has been comfortable and confident enough in the final to push the puck up ice quickly, and a well-timed block shot can set the table for an odd-man rush.

”The less shots they have, the more opportunities we’re gonna have in offensive zone Anthony Averett Jersey ,” defenseman Dmitry Orlov said. ”Sometimes when you block it, you get quicker pass and you jump on the rush and you got 3-on-2 or 4-on-3.”

The Golden Knights by this point are well-aware of that. But they don’t really have a solution.

”You just have to – I don’t know – defensemen, puck fake, maybe move around, or maybe look for a guy off to the side, or put it off the end wall,” forward Alex Tuch said. ”There are a bunch of different plays that could happen and when they’re blocking shots they’re getting momentum from it, and if they’re blocking shots and having odd-man rushes that’s even worse. ”

In addition to a suffocating neutral-zone trap that’s not easy to play but has frustrated opponents for four rounds, the Capitals have embraced a shot-blocking-when-it-matters mentality.

”It’s not exactly fun, but you got to do if you really want to win,” Smith-Pelly said. ”Everyone is on board with doing those things.”

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