CINCINNATI (AP) — Dairon Blanco hit his third home run in two days and started a rally with a bunt single as the Kansas City Royals beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-1 on Sunday to complete a series sweep. Blanco, an outfielder, had just 64 at-bats coming into the series, before helping the Royals outscore the Reds 28-3. The 31-year old from Cuba drove in seven runs on Saturday with two home runs, including a grand slam. On Sunday, he started a two-run third inning against 10-game winner Andrew Abbott with a bunt single.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit his National League-leading 39th home run and Clayton Kershaw tossed six shutout innings to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Miguel Rojas and Gavin Lux had three hits apiece as the NL West leaders won for the seventh time in 10 games. Lars Nootbaar provided a pinch-hit homer in the eighth for the Cardinals, who have lost six of seven. Ohtani drilled a first-pitch offering from Sonny Gray over the wall in the fifth to break a scoreless tie. Rojas added a run-scoring single later in the inning. Kershaw allowed four hits and struck out two. The three-time Cy Young Award winner made his fifth major league start since undergoing shoulder surgery in November.
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Parker Meadows set off fireworks with a 10th-inning single that brought hundreds of Little Leaguers to their feet and scored Zach McKinstry on a headfirst slide to give the Detroit Tigers a 3-2 win over the New York Yankees in the Major League Baseball Little League Classic. Jace Jung tied it 1-all when he ripped an RBI single off Yankees closer Clay Holmes with two outs in the ninth inning to score Colt Keith, who hit a one-out double. DJ LeMahieu’s run-scoring single in the top of the 10th gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead, only for McKinstry to make it 2-all with an RBI single in the bottom half.
DENVER (AP) — Rookie Bo Nix led Denver on scoring drives on both of his possessions on Sunday when the Broncos beat Green Bay 27-2. The Packers sat 31 players including all of their regular starters. Nix threw a touchdown pass to Tim Patrick and would have had another one had he not stepped over the line of scrimmage while firing a 14-yard pass to Javonte Williams. Jarrett Stidham replaced Nix with Denver ahead 10-0 in the second quarter and ran for a 9-yard TD that made it 17-0 at halftime.
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce says Gardner Minshew will be the team's starting quarterback going into the season. Minshew beat out Aidan O’Connell. Pierce said Minshew’s experience and his handling of the offense gave him the edge. Minshew is in his sixth season. He nearly led the Indianapolis Colts to the playoffs last season. The Raiders host the San Francisco 49ers on Friday in their final preseason game.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Hideki Matsuyama has won the FedEx St. Jude Championship just like everyone expected. No one expected a wild finish like Sunday at the TPC Southwind. Matsuyama lost a five-shot lead in a matter of four holes on the back nine. He suddenly was trailing. And then he birdied the last two holes to win by two shots with a 70. Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland tied for second. Nick Dunlap also felt like a winner. He was in contention to win, and then he was in danger of not being among the top 50 who advanced to next week.
NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Tyson says he is feeling good and has resumed training after a health scare forced the postponement of his boxing match against Jake Paul. The 58-year-old former heavyweight champion and the former YouTube star will now meet Nov. 15 in Arlington, Texas. They had been set to meet in July before Tyson became nauseous and dizzy on a flight. His representatives said that was related to an ulcer problem. Tyson says he has been training for two or three weeks for the bout that will stream on Netflix.
SUNDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Final Milwaukee 2 Cleveland 0
Final Kansas City 8 Cincinnati 1
Final Seattle 10 Pittsburgh 3
Final Toronto 1 Chicago Cubs 0
Final Tampa Bay 8 Arizona 7
Final Atlanta 3 L.A. Angels 1
Final San Francisco 4 Oakland 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Houston 2 Chicago White Sox 0
Final Baltimore 4 Boston 2
Final Texas 6 Minnesota 5
Final Detroit 3 N.Y. Yankees 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Miami 3 N.Y. Mets 2
Final Washington 6 Philadelphia 4
Final L.A. Dodgers 2 St. Louis 1
Final Colorado 3 San Diego 2
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PRESEASON
Final Denver 27 Green Bay 2