MLB
Former major league relief pitcher Octavio Dotel was among the dead after a roof collapsed at a nightclub in his native Dominican Republic where he was attending a merengue concert. Dotel pitched for 13 major league teams in a 15-year career and won a world championship with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was 51. Dotel signed with the New York Mets in 1993 as an amateur free agent and made his major league debut in 1999. He turned into a reliable and at times dominant reliever while appearing in 758 games from 1999-2013.
Pete Alonso drove in four runs, Francisco Lindor hit a leadoff homer and the New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins 10-5 for their sixth consecutive victory. Clay Holmes struck out a career-high 10 in 5 1/3 innings for his first win with the Mets and second as a major league starter. Brandon Nimmo broke a fifth-inning tie with a two-run double, and Starling Marte blooped a two-run single. Juan Soto had two singles and scored twice, including on Alonso’s wind-aided, pop-fly double that eluded Kyle Stowers in shallow right field. The temperature at first pitch, moved up three hours Monday to 4:10 p.m. because of a harsh weather forecast, was 43 degrees at blustery Citi Field.
Tarik Skubal allowed four hits over six innings, Spencer Torkelson hit the first of three homers in the fourth inning off Carlos Carrasco and the Detroit Tigers extended their winning streak to five, beating the Yankees 5-0 and dealing New York its first shutout loss this season. Skubal struck out six and walked none, Brant Hurter finished a six-hitter for his second save in a game that took 2 hours, 4 minutes. Zach McKinstry and Dillon Dingler added consecutive homers in the fourth against Carrasco and Kerry Carpenter homered off Ryan Yarbrough in the fifth. New York has lost three straight games.
George Springer homered through a cold and gusting wind to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a 6-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Easton Lucas pitched another 5 1/3 scoreless innings to maintain a perfect 0.00 ERA. Lucas (2-0) shut Boston down on three hits and a walk, striking out eight.The game-time temperature was 35 degrees, with gusts of up to 33 mph blowing in from left that made it feel like 19 degrees. According to Baseball Reference, it was the third-coldest temperature at first pitch at Fenway since records began being reliably kept in 1998.
Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran said he went public about his 2022 suicide attempt to “reach those who feel alone.” Duran said that he tried to kill himself after struggling early in his baseball career. In a statement released through the team on Tuesday, Duran said: “Talking about this wasn’t easy, but it felt important.” Duran said he was hard on himself after shuttling back and forth to the minors in his first two seasons. He described an attempt at suicide in the Netflix series “The Clubhouse: A Year With the Red Sox.”
Dansby Swanson lined a tiebreaking two-run single in Chicago’s four-run eighth inning, and the Cubs beat the Texas Rangers 10-6 on another frigid night. The Cubs blew a 6-3 lead before taking advantage of two errors in the eighth and closing out their seventh win in eight games. They had the bases loaded when Swanson singled to right against Chris Martin. Pete Crow-Armstrong added a two-run single against Hoby Milner on a 35-degree night.
Merrill Kelly pitched into the seventh inning after a shaky start, Corbin Carroll homered and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3. Carroll hit a solo homer off Charlie Morton and Josh Naylor added a two-run double to help the Diamondbacks end a three-game losing streak. Kelly allowed three runs and four hits. Justin Martinez worked around a hit batter in the ninth for his second save. Coming off a shaky start against the Yankees, Kelly gave up Cedric Mullins’ two-run single in the first inning. The right-hander settled in after that, retiring 12 straight hitters before third baseman Eugenio Suárez’s error with two outs in the fifth inning.
Dylan Cease gave up a career-worst nine earned runs, and JJ Bleday and Gio Urshela had three RBIs each as the Athletics rode a six-run first inning to beat the San Diego Padres 10-4 on for their first win in five games at their temporary Sutter Health Park home. Cease gave up six runs in the first and allowed nine runs and nine hits in four innings. San Diego put center fielder Jackson Merrill on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain before the game, then saw Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth leave after appearing to get hurt on swings.
Nolan Jones drew a bases-loaded walk from Mike Clevinger in the ninth inning, and the Cleveland Guardians won their home opener 1-0 over the Chicago White Sox. It was the first 1-0 game that ended with a walk-off walk since the Los Angeles Dodgers beat San Diego on May 1, 2009. Carlos Santana reached on an infield single off first baseman Andrew Vaughn’s glove starting the ninth for his second hit of the game. Kyle Manzardo and Jhonkensy Noel walked, Jones hit a 3-1 pitch just to the foul side of the right-field pole, then took a fastball low.
Luis Rengifo hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning and the Los Angeles Angels rallied to beat Tampa Bay 4-3, extending the Rays’ losing streak to five in the opener of a 13-game homestand. Kenley Jansen allowed singles to Jake Mangum and Taylor Walls starting the ninth but escaped a second-and-third, no-outs jam for his third save. Yandy Díaz grounded into a forceout at the plate, and Jansen struck out Brandon Lowe and José Caballero to seal the Angels’ third straight win. MLB has the Rays playing 19 of their first 22 games at home in an attempt to lessen the impact of summer storms.
Cole Ragans struck out 11 in six crisp innings, and the Kansas City Royals beat the sloppy Minnesota Twins 2-1. Kansas City won for the fourth time in five games despite managing just two unearned runs and three hits. Bobby Witt Jr. scored the go-ahead run on Vinnie Pasquantino’s soft grounder in the eighth. Witt reached when he went all the way to third on a throwing error on Griffin Jax. Ragans was charged with one run and four hits. John Schreiber escaped a jam in the eighth, and Daniel Lynch IV got one out for his first save.
Victor Caratini hit the winning RBI single in the top of the 12th inning, as the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1. Caratini came into the game as a pinch hitter in the 10th and struck out, but against reliever Jesse Hahn (0-1), took a curveball the opposite way that plated Brendan Rodgers, who advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Chas McCormick. Seattle’s Luke Raley tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with a run-scoring single. Houston, despite going 3 for 15 with runners in scoring position, have a shot to win the series on Wednesday.
Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes was knocked around a bit by the St. Louis Cardinals, allowing a career-high five runs in a 5-3 loss at frigid PNC Park. Skenes (1-1), who was electric in his first two starts this season, was spotty this time around. The 22-year-old reigning National League Rookie of the Year allowed six hits with a walk and seven strikeouts as his ERA more than doubled from 1.46 to 3.44. Victor Scott II had two hits, including a two-run triple off Skenes in the third. Brendan Donovan also had two hits in St. Louis, which won for only the second time in eight games.
James Wood homered twice and matched a career high with five RBIs, leading the Washington Nationals over the Dodgers 8-2 for their fourth consecutive victory and their first home series win over Los Angeles since 2014. Los Angeles lost four of five following an 8-0 start. Shohei Ohtani was 1 for 5 with a ninth-inning single. Wood hit a two-run homer off Justin Wrobleski in the first, drew a bases-loaded walk in a three-run second and hit another two-run shot in the fourth for an 8-0 lead.
Brice Turang, Christian Yelich and William Contreras hit seventh-inning home runs, Jackson Churio doubled and tripled, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Colorado Rockies 7-1. Freddy Peralta (1-1) struck out six in five solid innings for Milwaukee, which has won six of seven after starting the season with four straight losses. The Brewers’ win spoiled the major league debut of Colorado outfielder Zac Veen. Veen was called up from Triple-A Albuquerque, hit seventh and started in right field. He hit a bunt single in the sixth inning. The Brewers jumped ahead with a four-run third inning against Kyle Freeland (0-2) that included three straight RBI singles.
The Milwaukee Brewers acquired Quinn Priester on Monday to bolster their injury-riddled staff, and the right-hander will get into the rotation on Thursday against the Colorado Rockies. With Nelson Cortes landing on the injured list on Sunday, it left Freddy Peralta as the only healthy starter from Milwaukee’s projected five-man rotation less that two weeks into 2025. Priester, 24, went 3-6 with a 4.71 ERA while making seven starts in 11 combined appearances with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Red Sox last season. He started one game this season for Worcester, Boston’s Triple-A affiliate.
NBA
Trendon Watford scored 22 points, Drew Timme had 16 points and nine rebounds off the bench and the Brooklyn Nets beat the New Orleans Pelicans 119-114 on Tuesday night to snap a five-game home losing streak. Dariq Whitehead scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half for Brooklyn (26-53). Tosan Evbuomwan and Nic Claxton each scored 13, Maxwell Lewis had 12 and Tyson Etienne 11. Reece Beekman had a career-high 10 assists with just one turnover. Antonio Reeves and Karlo Matkovic each scored 17 for New Orleans.
Kristaps Porzingis made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in overtime after Jayson Tatum’s 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds remaining forced the extra period, and the Boston Celtics completed a season sweep of the New York Knicks with a 119-117 victory Tuesday night. Porzingis matched his season high with 34 points on his 30-footer. Tatum added 32 points as the Celtics extended their road winning streak to nine and improved to 33-7 away from Boston. They had routed the Knicks by 23, 27 and 13 in the three previous meetings, but needed to fight beyond 48 minutes for this one. Karl-Anthony Towns had 34 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks.
Kenny Atkinson thought during training camp that realistic goals for the Cleveland Cavaliers would be 50 wins and a top-three seed in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers surpassed those goals awhile ago to the point where Atkinson is planning for a possible championship run. Cleveland wrapped up the top seed in the East with its 135-113 victory over the Chicago Bulls. It is the fourth time in franchise history they will go into the playoffs with the conference’s best record. The last time was 2016 when the Cavaliers won their first NBA title and delivered Cleveland its first professional sports championship in 52 years.
Pascal Siakam scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds, Tyrese Haliburton had 22 points and the Indiana Pacers won their fifth straight game, 104-98 over the Washington Wizards. Bennedict Mathurin had 17 for the Pacers who pulled away late for the win. Justin Champagnie had 20 points and 13 rebounds for Washington, while Alex Sarr had 20 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks as Washington lost its third in a row and for the sixth time in its last seven games. The Wizards scored just 13 second-quarter points but game was still tied at 48-48 at the half.
Paolo Banchero had 33 points and 10 rebounds and the Orlando Magic beat the Atlanta Hawks 119-112, taking command of the four-team play-in tournament race in the Eastern Conference. Franz Wagner scored 22 points for the Magic, while Wendell Carter Jr. added 17 points, nine rebounds and six steals and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 15 points. Onyeka Okongwu matched his career high with 30 points for the Hawks and added 14 rebounds and three steals. Trae Young scored 28 points and had 10 assists for Atlanta.
Memphis starting guard Jaylen Wells broke his right wrist on a hard fall on his arm and head from a midair collision at the end of a fast-break dunk during a victory over Charlotte. The injury likely ends the rookie’s season right before the Grizzlies go into the playoffs. Wells was down for eight minutes before being lifted by medical personnel onto a stretcher with his head strapped in to restrict motion and taken to a hospital. Wells was at the rim when he was inadvertently undercut from behind. The contact caused Wells to lose his balance in the air.
Regular-season defeats don’t get much more brutal than the one the Minnesota Timberwolves suffered Tuesday. The wide-open nature of the Western Conference playoff race doesn’t give them much time to stew over what went wrong. Minnesota blew a 24-point lead by getting outscored 39-8 in the final 10 minutes of a stunning 110-103 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks that snapped a five-game winning streak. The Timberwolves started the game in a four-way tie for fifth place in the West. They're now alone in eighth place.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 42 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder ran away from the Los Angeles Lakers 136-120 after Luka Doncic was ejected. Doncic scored 23 points before being ejected in the fourth quarter following his second technical of the game. The Thunder outscored the Lakers 29-12 the rest of the way. Jalen Williams added 26 points for the Thunder, who bounced back from a 126-99 loss to the Lakers on Sunday. LeBron James scored 28 points and Austin Reaves added 24 for the Lakers.
Stephen Curry scored 25 points, Brandin Podziemski added 22 and the Golden State Warriors coasted past the Phoenix Suns 133-95 to gain ground in a crowded Western Conference playoff race. The Warriors are trying to secure one of the top six seeds in the West, which would keep them out of the play-in tournament. Golden State is currently tied with the Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies at 47-32 for the fourth through sixth spots. Golden State jumped to a 69-43 lead by halftime. Curry had 19 points before the break while Podziemski added 17. Devin Booker led the Suns with 21 points.
The Los Angeles Clippers surged into fourth place in the Western Conference with a 122-117 victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Ivica Zubac had 24 points and 20 rebounds, Norman Powell added 25 points and James Harden had 21 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds. The Clippers have won five straight, and they hold the tiebreaker edge over Denver, Memphis and Golden State with all three teams sitting at 47-32 with three games to play. Kawhi Leonard sat out to rest his perpetually balky right knee. Harrison Barnes scored 24 points for the Spurs, who have lost eight of nine.
Michael Malone, who coached the Denver Nuggets to the NBA title in 2023 and has led the team to eight consecutive winning seasons, was fired in a stunning move that comes with less than a week in the regular season. General manager Calvin Booth is also out. His contract won't be renewed. The Nuggets said David Adelman will become the coach for the remainder of the season. They are 47-32 this season with three games left but have dropped four consecutive games and are in a logjam of teams fighting for home-court advantage in Round 1 of the playoffs.
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Fedor Svechkov scored 1:56 into overtime and the Nashville Predators rallied from two goals down late in the third period to beat the New York Islanders 7-6 and snap a six-game losing streak. Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assists, Filip Forsberg added a goal and an assist, and Ryan O’Reilly and Michael McCarron also scored for Nashville. Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei each had three assists. and Justus Annunen finished with 16 saves. Simon Holmstrom had two goals and two assists, Maxim Tsyplakov added a goal and an assist, and Anders Lee, Kyle Palmieri and Scott Mayfield also scored for New York, which snapped a two-game win streak.
The Buffalo Sabres were officially eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoffs contention for the 14th straight season on Tuesday night. The Sabres extended their playoff drought, which is the longest in NHL history and ties them with the NFL’s New York Jets for the longest current run of seasons since qualifying for the postseason. The Sabres beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Tuesday night to keep a shred of hope alive, but the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 win at home against the Detroit Red Wings left them 11 points behind with five games remaining.
David Pastrnak scored and added two assists to reach the 100-point mark and Jeremy Swayman made 20 saves as the Boston Bruins routed the New Jersey Devils 7-2 on Tuesday. Michael Callahan, Jakub Lauko, Casey Mittelstadt, Morgan Geekie, Fraser Minten and Cole Koepke also scored for the Bruins, who won for only the second time in their last 13 games. Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier scored for New Jersey, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.
Eetu Luostarinen scored about a minute into the third period, and the Florida Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Tuesday night and helping the reigning Stanley Cup champions snap a five-game losing streak. Gustav Forsling also scored for Florida, which got 17 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Carter Verhaeghe sealed it with an empty-net goal with 46.9 seconds left. John Tavares scored his 37th goal of the season for Tampa Bay, which saw its four-game winning streak snapped.
Josh Anderson scored the winner with 9:12 remaining in the third period and Sam Montembeault made 35 saves as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight win. Cole Caufield – with his team-leading 37th – also scored while Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki added empty-netters for Montreal, which strengthened its position in the playoff picture. Dylan Larkin scored for Detroit and Cam Talbot stopped 17 shots. The Red Wings failed to earn a point for the first time in five games.
Erik Karlsson scored his 200th career goal to help the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-0. Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang also scored for Pittsburgh, which lost 3-1 at Chicago on Sunday. Kevin Hayes added two goals in the third period. Tristan Jarry made 26 saves in his second shutout of the season and No. 21 for his career. The 34-year-old Karlsson made it 2-0 with his 11th goal of the season 4:45 into the second. He became the 23rd defenseman in NHL history to reach 200 goals.
Josh Anderson scored the winner with 9:12 remaining in the third period and Sam Montembeault made 35 saves as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight win. Cole Caufield – with his team-leading 37th – also scored while Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki added empty-netters for Montreal, which strengthened its position in the playoff picture. Dylan Larkin scored for Detroit and Cam Talbot stopped 17 shots. The Red Wings failed to earn a point for the first time in five games.
Kiefer Sherwood set an NHL record three weeks ago by accumulating the most hits in a season. He helped the Vancouver Cancuks made history on Tuesday night with a big comeback in the final minute of regulation. Sherwood scored with 1:16 left in overtime after the Canucks became the first NHL team to score three times in the final minute of regulation – all 6-on-5 scores – as Vancouver rallied to stun the Dallas Stars 6-5.
Mikhail Sergachev scored a goal and had two assists to help power the Utah Hockey Club to a 7-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night. Dylan Guenther led Utah with three assists and Karel Vejmelka made 18 stops. Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley each had a goal and an assist. Seven different players scored goals for Utah, who generated 41 shots on goal. Jared McCann tallied Seattle’s lone goal. Joey Daccord had 22 saves before being replaced by Victor Ostman after two periods. The Kraken’s three-game winning streak was snapped.
Charlie Coyle scored the only goal in the shootout to help the Colorado Avalanche rally for a 3-2 win over the short-handed Vegas Golden Knights. Coyle beat Akira Schmid with a shot into the top corner. Scott Wedgewood had 19 saves through overtime, and stopped all three Vegas shots in the shootout. Trailing 2-0 in the second, Colorado tied it up courtesy of a power-play goal from Valeri Nichushkin that was ruled no-goal but overturned on review, and a score from Jimmy Vesey. It was the 23rd comeback win of the season by Colorado, and assured the Avalanche will finish no worse than third in the Central Division. Nathan MacKinnon recorded an assist in extending his home point streak to 26 games. William Karlsson scored for the Golden Knights, while Brayden McNabb added another.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Former Northwestern University football players are finalizing an agreement with the school to settle lawsuits alleging hazing and abuse on the team that led to longtime coach Pat Fitzgerald’s firing. The private university in suburban Chicago has been reeling from the scandal that engulfed the athletic department. Former football players filed the first lawsuits in 2023, alleging sexual abuse and racial discrimination on the team. Details of the proposed settlement weren’t made public this week. Court documents say those are being finalized. Fitzgerald has filed his own lawsuit against the school. His attorneys say there is no evidence he was aware of hazing.
GOLF
Rory McIlroy is back for either more heartache or a green jacket that will allow him to take his place in golf history. And to think he was 21 when the Masters looked like it would be the first major he won. Now it's the only one keeping him from a career Grand Slam. McIlroy has been chasing the final leg of the slam for 11 years. He knows what's at stake. And he is at peace with the idea that the more he cares, the worse it hurts when he doesn't win. He says he's willing to accept that.
Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are getting a rare chance to compete against all the best players. That's where the world of golf is at the moment with the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf unable to come to any kind of agreement. The Masters is the first time in nine months Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are playing for a major prize against Rahm and DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka and Cameron Smith. Rahm says it doesn't make the Masters any more special. DeChambeau says his dream hasn't changed. He wants to win a Masters green jacket.
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