WNBA
Sabrina Ionescu scored 20 points and the New York Liberty beat the Seattle Storm 74-63 on Monday night, improving to 4-0 for the first time in 17 years. Breanna Stewart added 16 points and 11 rebounds for New York (4-0), which last won its first four games to start a season in 2007. The Liberty, who are coming off an appearance in the WNBA Finals last season, won their first five contests that year before struggling to a 16-18 mark. Jewell Loyd led Seattle (1-3) with 13 points and nine rebounds.
Tyasha Harris scored 13 of Connecticut’s final 18 points Monday night, including two free throws with 10.9 seconds left, and the Sun kept the Indiana Fever and rookie Caitlin Clark winless through four games with an 88-84 victory Monday night. Harris finished with 16 points and three 3-pointers for the Sun’s second win in a week over the Fever and Clark, who returned in the second half after missing the final 5 1/2 minutes of the first half with an apparent left ankle injury. She returned after warming up with her teammates to start the second half and finished with 17 points.
NBA
The Indiana Pacers are in Boston for game one against the Celtics tonight at 8.
NHL
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist as Edmonton scored three times in the second period and held on to beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference final. Zach Hyman and Cody Ceci also scored, and Evan Bouchard had two assists for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner finished with 15 saves. Edmonton, back in the conference finals for the second time in three years, will next face Dallas with Game 1 of that series on Thursday night.
MLB
Ty France hit a go-ahead RBI single in Seattle’s four-run ninth inning against reliever Clay Holmes, and the Mariners rallied to beat the New York Yankees 5-4. The Mariners ended New York’s seven-game winning streak with the big inning against Holmes (1-1), who blew his second save in 15 chances. Luke Raley hit an infield single to Gleyber Torres and Julio Rodriguez scored on the second baseman’s error. Mitch Haniger followed with an RBI single and Dominic Canzone had a tying sacrifice fly. France followed by grounding a 2-0 sinker to right field for a 5-4 lead. Eduardo Bazardo (1-0) allowed an RBI single to Jon Berti in the bottom of the eighth that pushed New York’s lead to 4-1 before Seattle got its second win in 23 games when trailing through eight.
Ben Lively had another solid start, David Fry drove in two runs and the Guardians won their fourth straight, 3-1 over the New York Mets to ruin Francisco Lindor’s homecoming. Lindor, who spent six seasons with Cleveland, went 0 for 4 in his first game at Progressive Field since being traded to New York in 2021. The four-time All-Star shortstop is batting .193. Lively allowed just one run in 5 2/3 innings before first-year manager Stephen Vogt turned things over to his bullpen. Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase worked the ninth for his 14th save.
Rafael Devers set a team record by homering in his sixth consecutive game, Tanner Houck allowed two hits over seven innings, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-0. Devers had shared the Boston mark of a five-game homer streak with six others, including Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx. Houck allowed a third-inning single to Yandy Díaz and an infield hit to Josh Lowe in the seventh. Ceddanne Rafaela also homered for the Red Sox, who returned to .500 at 24-24. Justin Slaten completed a three-hitter as Boston improved to 6-22 at Tampa Bay since the start of the 2021 season.
Luis García Jr. homered and drove in three runs, Eddie Rosario also had three RBIs and the Washington Nationals snapped a five-game slide with a 12-3 victory over the struggling Minnesota Twins. Jesse Winker hit a solo shot and Jacob Young delivered a two-run single during a four-run fifth inning off Twins starter Pablo López to help Washington hand Minnesota its seventh straight defeat in the opener of a three-game series. Mitchell Parker allowed three runs in six innings in his longest outing since the rookie threw seven in a 2-0 win over Houston on April 21. Minnesota’s Carlos Correa hit a two-run homer in the sixth.
Michael Siani hit his first career home run and drove in four runs, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-3 on Monday night. Sonny Gray gave up three runs, just one earned, in 5 2/3 innings as the Cardinals won for the sixth time in their last eight games. Gray allowed three hits, walked two and struck out six. JoJo Romero pitched a scoreless seventh and John King and Andrew Kittredge combined for a scoreless eighth, before Ryan Helsley earned his 14th save. Dean Kremer lasted just four innings as the Orioles lost their fourth game in their last seven. Kremer allowed five runs on six hits, walked three and struck out two.
Bo Bichette had three doubles among his four hits, José Berríos pitched six solid innings to snap a four-start winless streak, and the Toronto Blue Jays won consecutive games for the first time in more than three weeks by beating the struggling Chicago White Sox 9-3. Daulton Varsho and Danny Jansen each hit a two-run home run and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached base three times and drove in a run as Toronto won back-to-back games Monday for the first time since home wins over the Dodgers and Kansas City on April 28 and 29.
Michael Massey and Salvador Perez homered as the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 8-3 for their fourth straight win. Massey had a leadoff homer in the second inning for the first long ball given up this season by Tigers starter Reese Olson after 48 1/3 innings. In his next at-bat, Massey stunned Olson with a liner off his right hip while Vinnie Pasquantino scored on catcher Jake Rogers’ throwing error for a 2-0 Royals lead. Perez led off the sixth with his ninth homer as the Royals greeted reliever Joey Wentz with five consecutive hits. Seven straight batters reached safely while Kansas City scored six runs to build an 8-1 lead. Michael Wacha allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings to win his third straight start. Chris Stratton recorded four outs for his third save.
Nolan Schanuel and Logan O’Hoppe both hit three-run homers and Jo Adell added a solo shot as the Los Angeles Angels jumped on Framber Valdez for seven runs in the fifth inning to power them to a 9-7 win over the Houston Astros Monday night. Zach Neto homered in the sixth inning to give the Angels a season-high four home runs as they won for the fourth time in five games. They trailed by 5 with two on and one out in the fifth when Schanuel homered to right field to cut the lead to 6-4. There were two on again with two outs when O’Hoppe connected to put Los Angeles up 7-6.
Chris Sale allowed only five hits in seven innings to continue his strong run and the Atlanta Braves snapped their season-worst, four-game losing streak by beating the San Diego Padres 3-0 to split a doubleheader. Sale recorded nine strikeouts without a walk. He has allowed no runs in three consecutive starts, a streak covering 20 innings. Marcell Ozuna hit homers in each game. Manny Machado’s two-run double in the eighth gave San Diego the lead in the first game and the Padres rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Braves 6-5.
Josh Bell singled with the bases loaded in the 10th inning to give the Miami Marlins a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night. Christian Bethancourt’s sacrifice bunt against reliever Mitch White advanced automatic runner Vidal Brujan to third. Jazz Chisholm Jr. was intentionally walked and stole second. Bryan De La Cruz drew an intentional walk before Bell hit a grounder to right field that scored Brujan. Tanner Scott (4-4) allowed a leadoff walk to Christian Yelich in the top of the 10th. Joey Ortiz’s sacrifice bunt advanced courtesy runner Brice Turang and Yelich before Scott struck out Willy Adames and retired Gary Sánchez on a flyout to medium center.
Freddie Freeman’s grand slam keyed a six-run third inning, Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a strong start and the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to four with a 6-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks Monday night. Freeman’s blast off Slade Cecconi was part of an onslaught where the first six Dodgers got aboard and scored in the third. Kiké Hernández and Will Smith also went deep in the frame. Yamamoto allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out eight in 6 1/3 innings. Arizona’s Ketel Marte extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a single in the first inning.
Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Austin Maddox has been arrested in Florida as part of an underage sex sting. Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters announced a total of 27 arrests Monday as part of a multi-agency operation that ran late last month. An arrest report says the 33-year-old Maddox began communicating with an undercover agent pretending to be an underage girl on April 28. Officials say he expressed his intent to have sex with the girl even after she told him that she was 14. His attorney says he intends to fight the allegations.
NFL
Minnesota Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson was absent on Monday when the Vikings held their first of 10 allowable organized team activities, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the club was not making details public. Jefferson's absence comes as the Vikings are working to sign him to a contract extension. Tuesday's on-field drills were scheduled to be open to reporters. The spring practices are voluntary. Only minicamp is mandatory.
NBA
LeBron James will turn 40 in December. Stephen Curry is 36. Kevin Durant will turn 36 and Jimmy Butler will turn 35 by the time training camps start in the fall. They have been stars of the playoffs for years, players who come up biggest at the biggest times. But not this year. The next wave isn’t waiting its turn anymore. The NBA's final four is Boston, Dallas, Indiana and Minnesota. And the best players on those teams — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for the Celtics, Luka Doncic for the Mavericks, Tyrese Haliburton for the Pacers and Anthony Edwards for the Timberwolves — are all 27 or younger. Their time is now.
So much about the journey the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers have taken to the Eastern Conference finals has been about who – they haven’t had to face to get to here. Top-seeded Boston didn't face Jimmy Butler in the first round against Miami, or a healthy Donovan Mitchell in the second round against Cleveland. The sixth-seeded Pacers beat Milwaukee without Giannis Antetokounmpo and then outlasted the injury-ravaged New York Knicks, who lost star Jalen Brunson in Game 7. But neither Boston nor Indiana is focused on the narratives surrounding the paths they took to get to this point. They’re here. And it’s now Finals or bust for both.
SOCCER
After the celebrations come the questions. A fourth straight Premier League title for Manchester City marks an unprecedented period of dominance by one team in English soccer. A sixth in seven seasons underlines City’s superiority in a league that is widely regarded as the most competitive in the sport. But does City’s pre-eminence mean England’s top division is in danger of becoming a turn-off for billions of fans around the world? City’s run of success bares comparison to the likes of Germany where Bayern Munich had turned the Bundesliga into a one-horse race until its 11-year winning streak was ended by Bayer Leverkusen this season. The German league is not as popular as England’s top flight and a lack of competition could be a reason why.
INDY 500
Colton Herta and Andretti Global showed some speed in the penultimate Indianapolis 500 practice session as cars reverted to race setups after qualifying. It was a positive development for Honda, which had watched Chevrolet sweep the front row with Team Penske and nail down the first nine spots on the starting grid. The practice was the last until Friday, when teams get on the track for one last shakedown before Sunday's race. The conditions might be wildly different by then. It was hot and sunny Monday, but cooler temperatures and possibly some rain are due to arrive later in the week.
NCAA
University presidents around the country are scheduled to meet this week to vote on whether to accept a proposed settlement of an antitrust lawsuit that would cost the NCAA nearly $3 billion. The deal would also create a landmark revenue-sharing system with college athletes. The terms of the agreement have met some pushback from the Division I conferences that do not compete in major college football. They say they are being asked to bear an undue financial burden on the damages portion of the settlement. Attorneys for the defendants in House vs. NCAA gave college sports leaders until Thursday to agree.
GOLF
A Kentucky court is postponing pro golfer Scottie Scheffler’s appearance on charges he injured a police officer and disobeyed commands during the PGA Championship. Scheffler was handcuffed and taken to jail outside the Valhalla Golf Club on Friday. He was due in court Tuesday, two days after finishing in the top ten. Now a judge is postponing the court date until June 3. Scheffler faces four charges, including felony assault over injuries a Louisville police officer suffered. Scheffler’s attorney, Steve Romines, says the situation is a misunderstanding and the golfer never disobeyed any officer’s orders.
NASCAR
The most compelling part of Sunday night’s All-Star Race wasn’t on the racetrack at North Wilkesboro Speedway but rather in the infield afterward. Ricky Stenhouse confronted Kyle Busch after the race face-to-face, then after a brief exchange threw a right hook at the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet setting off a brief melee that involved several members of each driver’s crew and Stenhouse’s father following a race that was dominated by pole sitter Joey Logano. The antics potentially could result in a suspension for Stenhouse.
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