LOS ANGELES (AP) — Clayton Kershaw pitched six innings of five-hit ball in an outstanding duel with Max Scherzer, and the Los Angeles Dodgers swept three games from the Washington Nationals with a 3-0 victory. Rookie Zach McKinstry homered and drove in all three runs for the defending World Series champion Dodgers, who are off to a major league-best start of 8-2 despite playing this series without injured former MVP outfielders Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger. Scherzer was just as good as Kershaw, pitching six innings of three-hit ball with five strikeouts and a walk. Kenley Jansen pitched a flawless ninth for his second save.
BALTIMORE (AP) — J.D. Martinez came off the COVID-19 list and hit three home runs, powering the Boston Red Sox past the Baltimore Orioles 14-9 for their sixth straight win. Martinez got a chance at a record-tying fourth homer in the ninth inning and struck out swinging. He is the last of 18 major leaguers to homer four times in a game, doing it in September 2017 for Arizona. The 33-year-old Martinez was back in the lineup at Camden Yards one day after being placed on the COVID-19 injured list because of cold symptoms. He passed the required tests and went 4 for 6, driving in four runs and scoring four times.
BOSTON (AP) — T.J. Oshie scored one of his two goals in Washington’s three-goal first-period and former Bruins defenseman and captain Zdeno Chara played his first game in front of Boston’s fans in the Capitals’ 8-1 victory. The Bruins played a video tribute for Chara on the Jumbotron midway into the opening period with Washington already leading 2-0. Conor Sheary and Lars Eller each also scored twice, and Tom Wilson and Nic Dowd each had one of the season-high goals scored by the Capitals. Rookie Vitek Vanecek stopped 34 shots, but lost a chance for his second shutout when Craig Smith scored a power-play goal 3 minutes into the third.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Martin Truex Jr. won a stirring, laps-long duel for the lead with teammate Denny Hamlin in the delayed NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday night. Truex, who nudged Hamlin repeatedly in the turns and tried to get to his inside on the straightaways without success, finally made the pass with 15 laps to go, ducking underneath Hamlin coming out of the second turn. He sailed off to victory without another challenge as Hamlin and Chase Elliott battled the rest of the way for second. Truex won for the third time in the last four races on the 0.526-mile oval, and became the first repeat winner this season. Elliott held off Hamlin for second.
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