OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Freddy Fermin homered twice and Bobby Witt Jr. hit the go-ahead homer in the eighth inning as the Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2 to avoid a three-game sweep. Fermin also singled for his first three-hit game of the season. Witt homered off Oakland reliever Vinny Nittoli to break a 2-2 tie in the eighth. Zack Gelof homered for the third straight game, but Oakland failed to sweep Kansas City for the first time since 2016. The Royals haven’t been swept this year.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Brendan Donovan hit a two-run homer and a double and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the San Francisco Giants 6-5 in the Negro Leagues tribute game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The 114-year-old Rickwood Field is the oldest professional ballpark in the U.S. and former home to late baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays and the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues. Andre Pallante pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and three runs in the win. He walked three and struck out five. Ryan Helsley got the final three outs for his 24th save.
NEW YORK (AP) — Cedric Mullins hit a two-run homer to spark a six-run second inning, Gunnar Henderson reached base four times and the Baltimore Orioles knocked out rookie pitcher Luis Gil early in a 17-5 rout of the New York Yankees. The Orioles improved to 5-2 against the Yankees and set a major league record by winning their 22nd straight series against an AL East opponent. Henderson extended the majors’ longest active on-base streak to 27 games and his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games. Anthony Santander hit a three-run homer as the Orioles moved to within a half-game of first-place New York. Austin Hays also homered for Baltimore. New York's Gleyber Torres hit a solo homer before exiting with a groin injury. Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 27th homer.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Fans came out to celebrate Willie Mays and other Negro Leaguers in several events and festivities around the historic Rickwood Field. Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, hosted its first Major League Baseball game between the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. The game, which MLB called “A Tribute to the Negro Leagues,” was meant to honor the legacy of Mays and other Black baseball greats who left an enduring mark on the sport. The celebration started hours before the game and continued into the pregame ceremony.
UNDATED (AP) — The NCAA has presented a plan to Division I conference commissioners that would expand the lucrative men’s and women’s basketball tournaments by four or eight teams alongside an option to leave each field at 68 teams. If approved, the NCAA would keep its 64-team bracket but would add play-in games involving the 10 through 12 seeds. The earliest the NCAA Tournament could expand would be the 2025-26 season and more meetings are scheduled. The men’s tournament last expanded in 2011 when it went from 64 to 68 teams. The women’s tournament matched that in 2022.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — JJ Redick is being hired as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, a person with knowledge of the decision tells The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Lakers hadn’t yet publicly announced the decision to hire the former NBA shooting guard for his first coaching job. The 39-year-old Redick is an extraordinary choice by the Lakers, who hired a 15-year veteran with absolutely no coaching experience to lead a franchise with 17 NBA titles, one of the biggest brand names in world sports — and LeBron James, the top scorer in league history.
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Connor McDavid put the Edmonton Oilers on his back to keep the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers going by doing something no other player in NHL history has at this stage of the season. McDavid became the first player to have back-to-back four-point games in the final. Wayne Gretzky is the only other player to have two four-point games at any point in the same final. McDavid with his heroics has emerged as the front-runner to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, even if the Oilers lose Game 6 on home ice Friday night.
UNDATED (AP) — Facing upheaval on the way in college athletics, a handful of administrators and athletes from smaller schools have been working on a new model of governance. The hope by members of the Football Championship Subdivision and Division I-AAA is to give their athletes more of a say and essentially treat them more like students than employees. It is also a way to be proactive and potentially head off future lawsuits. The plans are still in the discussion stage.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — On a night for doubling up at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, Lilly King left with another big prize. An engagement ring. Ryan Murphy, Regan Smith, Kate Douglass and King all claimed a second individual event at the Paris Games with their performances in the temporary pool at Lucas Oil Stadium. But the most dramatic moment came just off the deck. King’s boyfriend, former Indiana University swimmer James Wells, pulled out a ring, dropped to a knee and asked her to marry him. She said yes with a kiss and a big hug. Murphy won the 200-meter backstroke, Regan Smith touched first in the 200 butterfly and Douglass claimed the top spot in the 200 breaststroke. King finished second to Douglass to earn another race in Paris after winning the 100 breast.
CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim share a birthday and they will be fighting for the lead in the second round at the Travelers Championship. Kim shot an 8-under-par 62 on Thursday in the first round at the TPC River Highlands. That gave him a two-stroke lead in the final limited field, no-cut signature event on the PGA Tour schedule. Scheffler is the world's No. 1 ranked player. He was tied for sixth, three shots back. Kim turns 22 on Friday and Scheffler is exactly six years older. They marked the occasion for the second year in a row by heading about 30 miles south to New Haven for pizza.
THURSDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Cleveland 6 Seattle 3
Final Tampa Bay 7 Minnesota 6
Final Houston 5 Chicago White Sox 3
Final Kansas City 3 Oakland 2
Final Baltimore 17 N.Y. Yankees 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Arizona 5 Washington 2
Final L.A. Dodgers 5 Colorado 3
Final St. Louis 6 San Francisco 5