KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Brent Rooker and Ramón Laureano hit back-to-back homers, Ryan Noda drove in three runs and the Oakland Athletics outslugged the Kansas City Royals 12-8 in a matchup between the bottom two teams in baseball. Kyle Muller became the first A’s starter to earn a win in 33 games this year. The drought was the longest to begin a season in MLB history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Rooker, Noda, Esteury Ruiz and Tony Kemp each had three of Oakland’s 17 hits, a season high. Ruiz and Noda both scored three times as the A’s improved to 7-26 with only their second victory by more than one run. Nick Pratto homered for the Royals, who dropped to 2-15 at home.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Riley Greene hit a two-run double in the seventh inning and Javier Báez added a two-run homer, leading the Detroit Tigers to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the reeling St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis fell to 0 for 11 in series openers this season. St. Louis lost its seventh straight game and is 3-14 in its last 17 games. The Cardinals are 5-12 at home this season and have lost 11 of 14 games at Busch Stadium. Matthew Boyd (2-1) pitched six innings with six strikeouts and no walks. He gave up three runs on five hits.
NEW YORK (AP) — Kodai Senga pitched six innings of two-hit ball after a long layoff and the New York Mets beat the Colorado Rockies 1-0 on Friday night to avoid falling under .500 for the second time this year. Brandon Nimmo homered and made a diving catch in center field after committing a costly baserunning blunder Thursday in Detroit. Colorado had its four-game winning streak snapped and was blanked for the second time this season in a game that took just 2 hours, 10 minutes.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Oakland Athletics broadcaster Glen Kuiper has apologized after uttering what sounded like a racial slur while describing a trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. In a pregame segment on NBC Sports California before the A’s played the Kansas City Royals. Kuiper talked about a trip to the museum with colleague Dallas Braden. Kuiper seemingly mispronounced the word “negro,” making it sound instead like a slur. Later in the game, Kuiper apologized on the air without getting into specifics. The A’s later issued a statement, calling the language used by Kuiper “unacceptable” and saying the team would “address the situation.”
PHOENIX (AP) — Devin Booker scored 47 points, Kevin Durant added 39 and the Phoenix Suns beat the Nuggets 121-114 to cut Denver’s lead to 2-1 in their Western Conference semifinal series. Booker — who came into the game averaging 35.4 points in these playoffs — had another massive offensive effort, shooting 20 of 25 from the field, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Durant shot just 12 of 31 from the field, but made 14 of 16 free throws. Denver’s Nikola Jokic finished with 30 points, 17 assists and 17 rebounds. The Suns will try to even the series in Game 4 on Sunday in Phoenix.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, Jaylen Brown had 23 and the Boston Celtics spoiled Joel Embiid’s MVP coronation, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 114-102 Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series. Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia. Embiid had 30 points and 13 rebounds in his second game back from a sprained right knee. Embiid accepted his MVP trophy before the game.
MIAMI (AP) — Miami and New York are wondering who will be able to play. Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers are wondering which team will land the next punch. A pair of Game 3s await as the NBA’s conference semifinals continue Saturday. The Knicks visit the Heat. The Warriors visit the Lakers. Both series are knotted at a game apiece. Both have followed the same script. The road team stole home-court advantage by winning Game 1. Those victories went to Miami and the Lakers. The home team then answered with wins in Game 2 to even the series.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored twice in a roughly 2 1/2-minute span during Carolina’s four-goal second period that helped the Hurricanes beat the New Jersey Devils 6-1 on Friday night. That gave the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series. Jordan Staal and Martin Necas also scored in the decisive second period. Jordan Martinook and Stefan Noesen added clinching third-period goals. Frederik Andersen finished with 28 saves for Carolina. Miles Wood scored for New Jersey, which saw goaltender Akira Schmid chased early for the second straight game. The Devils will host Game 3 in the best-of-seven series on Sunday.
UNDATED (AP) — Alabama fired its baseball coach in what appears to be the first gambling-related scandal in college sports since a Supreme Court decision paved the way for state to legalize wagering five years ago. The NCAA still prohibits athletes and athletic department employees from gambling. And college conferences and schools have been monitoring for improprieties even before legal wagering became widespread. Is this an ominous sign for college sports or an example of the benefits of regulation?
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Frankie Muniz has long been known for his starring role on the Fox sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle.” But these days, the 37-year-old actor-turned race car driving is finding himself up front. Muniz is leading the ARCA Series, one of the lower rungs on the NASCAR feeder system, through the first three races in his first full season. His goal is to reach the Cup Series eventually, but he harbors no misconceptions about just how difficult it will be to climb that ladder. The next step in his crash course in stock car racing comes Saturday when the series races at Kansas Speedway.
FRIDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
Final Toronto 4 Pittsburgh 0
Final Chicago White Sox 5 Cincinnati 4
Final Boston 5 Philadelphia 3
Final Baltimore 9 Atlanta 4
Final Detroit 5 St. Louis 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Tampa Bay 5 N.Y. Yankees 4
Final Minnesota 2 Cleveland 0
Final Oakland 12 Kansas City 8
Final Houston 6 Seattle 4
Final L.A. Angels 5 Texas 4
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Chicago Cubs 4 Miami 1
Final N.Y. Mets 1 Colorado 0
Final Arizona 3 Washington 1
Final San Diego 5 L.A. Dodgers 2
Final San Francisco 6 Milwaukee 4
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Final Boston 114 Philadelphia 102
Final Phoenix 121 Denver 114
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Carolina 6 New Jersey 1