BALTIMORE (AP) β Major league owners have elected Rob Manfred as baseball’s next commissioner, replacing outgoing Bud Selig (SEE’-lihg) in January. Manfred is a labor lawyer who has worked for Major League Baseball since 1998. He beat out Boston Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner in the first contested vote for a new commissioner in 46 years.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) β The Royals still lead the American League Central by a half-game over Detroit after Kansas City scored five runs in the seventh inning to beat Oakland 7-3 on Thursday. The Athletics led 3-2 until Jarrod Dyson hit an RBI single and scored on Nori Aoki’s (NOHR’-ee ah-OH’-keez) two-run triple. Billy Butler capped the rally with a two-run single to secure the Royals’ 10th victory in 11 games.
DETROIT (AP) β Max Scherzer struck out 14 batters in eight shutout innings to pitch the Tigers past Pittsburgh 5-2, dropping the Pirates 2 Β½ games off the NL Central lead. Scherzer is 6-1 with a 1.78 ERA in his last 10 starts after limiting the Pirates to three hits. J.D. Martinez hit a solo homer and had two RBIs to help Scherzer become the American League’s first 14-game winner of the season.
CHICAGO (AP) β Mike Fiers struck out 14 while allowing three hits in six scoreless innings as Milwaukee downed the Cubs 6-2 in Chicago. Khris Davis and Mark Reynolds hit solo homers, and Scooter Gennett laced a two-run double to help the Brewers earn a split of the four-game series. The Brewers currently lead the NL Central by two games over the St. Louis Cardinals, who beat San Diego 4-3 on Jon Jay’s tiebreaking, two-run double in the bottom of the eighth.
ATLANTA (AP) β Drew Butera hit a two-run homer, Adrian Gonzalez had three RBIs and Dee Gordon scored four runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers outlasted the Braves 6-4 in Atlanta. Roberto Hernandez gave up a run and three hits in six innings to earn his first victory in two starts since being acquired from Philadelphia on Aug. 7. The NL West-leading Dodgers moved 5 1/2 games ahead of idle San Francisco and dropped the Braves six games behind NL East-leading Washington, who used two-run homers by Bryce Harper and Adam LaRoche to beat the New York Mets 4-1.
