KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — 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.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — 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.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pablo López left Tuesday’s start against the Kansas City Royals in the bottom of the fifth inning due to right hamstring tightness, according to the Minnesota Twins medical staff. López grabbed the back of his leg after walking Jonathan India. Manager Rocco Baldelli and trainer Nick Paparesta visited the mound and took López out after a short discussion. López threw 78 pitches in 4 2/3 innings, allowing an unearned run on three hits and a walk with six strikeouts. Cole Sands came on in relief for the Twins.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — 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.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — 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.
UNDATED (AP) — Florida is a unanimous No. 1 in the final Associated Press men’s college basketball poll of the 2024-25 season after winning the national championship. The Gators beat Houston 65-63 to clinch the program's third national title and first since 2007. Florida is atop the AP Top 25 for the first time since the end of the 2013-14 season. Houston, Duke, Auburn and Tennessee round out the top five.
NEW YORK (AP) — Florida’s comeback victory over Houston in Monday night’s NCAA title game was the most-watched championship game in six years. The Gators 65-63 victory averaged 18.1 million viewers on CBS according to early numbers from Nielsen, a 22% increase over last year’s game on TBS, TNT and truTV. The audience peaked at 21.1 million during the game’s final minutes. It is the first time since Virginia’s overtime victory over Texas Tech in 2019 that the championship game has averaged above 18 million. The CBS broadcast that year averaged 19.63 million. The three Final Four games averaged 16.4 million, its best audience in eight years and up 21% from 2024.
DETROIT (AP) — Some new details are emerging in the computer hacking case against a former Baltimore Ravens and University of Michigan assistant football coach. The U.S. Justice Department has told victims that thousands of intimate photographs were seized from Matt Weiss' electronic devices, and many showed victims who were naked. Some revealed sex acts. Weiss was indicted two weeks ago on charges of identity theft and unauthorized computer access. He's pleaded not guilty. Investigators say Weiss hacked into the accounts of more than 2,000 athletes across the country.
UNDATED (AP) — 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.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — 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.
CHICAGO (AP) — 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.
TUESDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Final Chicago Cubs 10 Texas 6
Final Arizona 4 Baltimore 3
Final Athletics 10 San Diego 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Detroit 5 N.Y. Yankees 0
Final Cleveland 1 Chicago White Sox 0
Final Toronto 6 Boston 1
Final L.A. Angels 4 Tampa Bay 3
Final Kansas City 2 Minnesota 1
Final Houston 2 Seattle 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final N.Y. Mets 10 Miami 5
Final St. Louis 5 Pittsburgh 3
Final Washington 8 L.A. Dodgers 2
Final Atlanta 7 Philadelphia 5
Final Milwaukee 7 Colorado 1
Final Cincinnati 1 San Francisco 0
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Cleveland 135 Chicago 113
Final Indiana 104 Washington 98
Final Orlando 119 Atlanta 112
Final Memphis 124 Charlotte 100
Final Brooklyn 119 New Orleans 114
Final OT Boston 119 New York 117
Final Milwaukee 110 Minnesota 103
Final Oklahoma City 136 L.A. Lakers 120
Final Golden State 133 Phoenix 95
Final L.A. Clippers 122 San Antonio 117
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Boston 7 New Jersey 2
Final Florida 3 Toronto 1
Final Buffalo 3 Carolina 0
Final Columbus 5 Ottawa 2
Final Pittsburgh 5 Chicago 0
Final Montreal 4 Detroit 1
Final OT Vancouver 6 Dallas 5
Final OT Nashville 7 N-Y Islanders 6
Final Utah 7 Seattle 1