offtopic » RAYS 5, ASTROS 2

Super Bowl XLIX takes place on February 1st in Arizona and despite what Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin might want to believe Hakeem Butler Jersey , these are the two teams we thought would be here at the end. For the second year in a row the top seed in the AFC and NFC have advanced to play in the Super Bowl. The Seahawks are looking to become the first repeat champions since the team they’re playing achieved that feat in 2003 and 2004. The Seahawks are looking like the team of destiny after beating the Packers in one of the most unbelievable collapses in NFL history. After Russell Wilson threw his 4th interception with just over 5 minutes to play, the Seahawks had a 0.7% chance of winning per ESPN stats but managed to pull out the win in overtime after a series of inexplicable Packers blunders and a Jermaine Kearse redemption. The Seahawks bring their vaunted defense that finished the regular season number one in defensive DVOA, led by one of the best secondary’s ever in the NFL.On the other side, Tom Brady, who is playing in a record 6th Super Bowl leads the Patriots who blew out the Colts on the strength of their running game, stout defense and ability to throw deflated footballs. There will be no shortage of story lines going into this game, the media will be excited to have two weeks of Richard Sherman and Bill Belichick quotes. Adding fuel to the fire, earlier this week the NFL concluded an investigation and found that 11 of the 12 footballs the Patriots used in the AFC championship win were deflated to give Brady an advantage when throwing in the rough weather. The Patriots are not new to scandal but this story has taken away from what will be a great Super Bowl between two very evenly matched teams. With the best team from each conference playing and very little separating each other, this game will come down to which X-factors show up on gameday. Chris Sale pitched his latest Bronx gem, Rafael Devers went 5 for 5 with a first-inning grand slam and the Boston Red Sox held the New York Yankees to two hits during an 11-0 rout Saturday night to take back baseball’s best record.

Sale (8-4) allowed only Giancarlo Stanton’s clean single over seven innings, striking out 11. He has a 1.73 career ERA against the Yankees, best among pitchers with at least 10 starts against them since 1920. His ERA at Yankee Stadium is 1.86, second only to Seattle’s Felix Hernandez among pitchers with five starts.

Boston is a major league-leading 56-28, just ahead of the Yankees at 53-27. New York held the majors’ best mark by percentage points after winning Friday’s series opener 8-1.

Yankee Stadium hosted a season-high sellout of 47 Chris Lindstrom Jersey ,125, and the crowd gave starter Sonny Gray (5-6) an earful after he gave up six runs in 2 1/3 innings. The right-hander dropped to 0-4 with a 9.35 ERA against Boston since being acquired by New York from Oakland last season.

RANGERS 13, WHITE SOX 4

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Bartolo Colon overcame a sluggish start to earn his 245th major league win and match Dennis Martinez for the most by a pitcher from Latin America when Texas beat Chicago.

Joey Gallo and Ryan Rua homered for the Rangers, who won for the 11th time in 13 games and clinched their fifth consecutive series. Robinson Chirinos hit a three-run double in the fourth inning that put Texas ahead to stay.

The 45-year-old Colon (5-5) was done after Matt Davidson led off the sixth with a homer to center field that pulled the White Sox to 5-3.

Colon already had the most wins by a pitcher born in the Dominican Republic, having surpassed Hall of Famer Juan Marichal for that distinction with his 244th victory at Kansas City on June 18, six days before a loss at Minnesota. Colon won in his first start at home since June 6 to match Martinez, who is from Nicaragua.

White Sox lefty Carlos Rodon (1-3) allowed five runs in 5 1/3 innings.

GIANTS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 0

PHOENIX (AP) – Dereck Rodriguez blanked the Diamondbacks into the seventh inning and San Francisco made it two wins in a row at Arizona.

Brandon Crawford, Andrew McCutchen and Joe Panik homered on another rough night for Shelby Miller (0-2), who struggled in his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery.

Panik’s homer, off reliever Jimmie Sherfy in the eighth, was his first since April 3, a span of 162 at-bats.

Ty Blach and Cory Gearrin completed San Francisco’s 10th shutout of the season.

The Giants have won nine of 11 to pull into a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers for second in the NL West http://www.atlantafalconsteamonline.com/kaleb-mcgary-jersey , 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Diamondbacks. San Francisco can complete a three-game road sweep on Sunday.

Rodriguez (3-1), the son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan ”Pudge” Rodriguez, dominated in his sixth major league start. He allowed six hits in 6 1/3 innings, struck out five and walked two.

MARINERS 6, ROYALS 4

SEATTLE (AP) – Ryon Healy had four hits, including a homer, and drove in three runs to lead Seattle over Kansas City.

Felix Hernandez (8-6) gave up four consecutive hits, including a three-run homer by Mike Moustakas, to start the game. But the right-hander settled down to pitch four scoreless innings after that, helping the Mariners to a season-best sixth consecutive win.

Edwin Diaz worked a perfect ninth for his 31st save. The Mariners (53-31) are 22 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2003 season.

Jason Hammels (2-10) lost his fifth straight, allowing six runs and 13 hits in six innings.

PADRES 4, PIRATES 3

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Wil Myers homered, doubled and drove in three runs, and rookie Joey Lucchesi threw five scoreless innings to send San Diego past Pittsburgh.

The Padres had to hold on after closer Brad Hand allowed two runs in the ninth before earning his 23rd save. Hand gave up doubles by Elias Diaz and Austin Meadows Kendall Sheffield Jersey , and a triple by Gregory Polanco. The reliever then got Jordy Mercer to fly out to shallow right field, pinch-hitter Jose Osuna to foul out to right and struck out Starling Marte.

Myers, limited to 19 games this season due to injuries, homered off Trevor Williams (6-6) in the third, his second. Myers then chased the San Diegan with a two-run double to give the Padres a 4-0 lead in the fifth.

San Diego won for just the third time in 13 games.

Lucchesi (4-3) won for the first time since April 28. He was making his third start since missing five weeks with a strained right hip. The left-hander allowed one hit while striking out five and walking four.

BLUE JAYS 4, TIGERS 3

TORONTO (AP) – Justin Smoak led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run and Toronto handed Detroit its 11th straight loss.

Smoak connected against reliever Joe Jimenez (3-1) for his 11th homer of the season.

Seyunghwan Oh (4-2) worked one inning for the win. Randal Grichuk also homered for the Blue Jays, who have won 10 of 11 at home.

John Hicks hit a solo homer in the Detroit second off Sam Gaviglio and Nick Castellanos made it 3-0 with a two-run shot in the third, his 12th.

Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer to cap Toronto’s three-run fifth that tied the score.

RAYS 5, ASTROS 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Wilson Ramos drove in four runs in the first two innings against Justin Verlander, and Tampa Bay won for the seventh time in eight games.

Matt Duffy finished with three hits, including two in the first two innings, to help the Rays move to .500 (41-41) for the first time since June 1. Tampa Bay has held opponents to two runs or fewer in five straight games for only