KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Luis Robert homered and drove in four runs as the Chicago White Sox rallied past the Kansas City Royals 7-4 to win the five-game series. Robert delivered a pair of RBI singles before hitting a two-run homer into the left field stands in the eighth. His sixth home run of the season capped Chicago’s sixth come-from-behind win. Pinch-hitter Adam Engel gave the White Sox their first lead with an RBI single in the seventh off Gabe Speier that broke a 4-all tie. Tim Anderson had two hits, two walks and two RBIs, recording his 10th multi-hit outing in his last 18 games for the White Sox. Chicago took three of five from the Royals, when the White Sox also won three of five.
NEW YORK (AP) — Hours after the Mets learned Max Scherzer will join fellow ace Jacob deGrom on the injured list, Pete Alonso kept New York rolling with a two-run homer in the 10th inning for a 7-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Paul Goldschmidt tied the score 5-all with two outs in the ninth off Mets closer Edwin Díaz with his fourth RBI of the game. Albert Pujols hit a run-scoring double play grounder in the 10th of the Cardinals’ first-extra inning game this year. With the automatic runner on second, Alonso drove the second pitch from Giovanny Gallegos into the left field second deck for his third career game-ending home run. It was the 10th home run of the season for Alonso, who leads the major leagues with 36 RBIs.
NEW YORK (AP) — The hurting St. Louis Cardinals are bringing up their second- and third-ranked prospects for their major league debuts. Nolan Gorman will start at second base in Friday’s series opener at Pittsburgh and Matthew Liberatore will be on the mound for Saturday’s game against the Pirates. Gorman, selected with the 19th overall pick in the 2018 amateur draft, is hitting .308 with 15 homers and 23 RBIs at Triple-A Memphis. Liberatore, the 17th overall pick in the 2018 amateur draft, is 3-3 with a 3.83 ERA in seven starts at Memphis.
UNDATED (AP) — The Southeastern Conference spring meetings will be held in person for the first time since 2019 in a little less than two weeks. It is unlikely two of the SEC’s superstar coaches will be chumming around Destin, Florida, together. Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher called Nick Saban a “narcissist” on Thursday after the Alabama coach accused the rival Aggies of using name, image and likeness deals to land their top-ranked recruiting classes. Saban apologized a few hours later but generally stuck to his stance and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey followed soon after with a public reprimand for both. So much for a quiet offseason.
MIAMI (AP) — Marcus Smart was a rebound shy of a triple-double, finishing with 24 points and 12 assists as the Boston Celtics hammered the Heat, 127-102 in Miami to even the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals at a game apiece. Smart also was 5 of 12 from downtown as the Celtics drained 20 of their 40 3-point attempts. Jayson Tatum had a team-high 27 points for Boston, which led by 25 at halftime.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Ross Colton scored with just 3.8 seconds left in regulation, giving the Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 victory and a two-games-to-none lead in their Stanley Cup second-round series with the Florida Panthers. Tampa Bay had just killed off a penalty to Steven Stamkos when Colton scored right in front of Sergei Bobrovsky. The penalty kill also left Florida 0-for-25 on the power play this postseason.
DENVER (AP) — The St. Louis Blues have also knotted their Stanley Cup second-round series at a game apiece as David Perron scored twice, including the game-winner in a 4-1 victory at Colorado. Perron’s power-play goal put St. Louis ahead, 2-0 with 34 seconds remaining in the second period. He also delivered the insurance goal midway through the third period after Gabriel Landeskog netted a power-play goal to draw the Avalanche within 2-1.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Rory McIlroy blasted his driver over trees and into fairways, setting up some of his seven birdies that carried him to a 5-under 65 and a one-stroke lead through one round of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa. This was McIlroy’s lowest start to par since a 5-under 66 when he won the PGA at Valhalla in 2014, the last of his four majors. Will Zalatoris and Tom Hoge are at 4 under, one shot ahead of Matt Kuchar, Justin Thomas and Abraham Ancer.
THURSDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
Final Cincinnati 4 Cleveland 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Baltimore 9 N.Y. Yankees 6
Final Chicago White Sox 7 Kansas City 4
Final Boston 12 Seattle 6
Final Houston 5 Texas 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final San Diego 2 Philadelphia 0
Final N.Y. Mets 7 St. Louis 6
Final Arizona 3 Chicago Cubs 1
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Final Boston 127 Miami 102
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Tampa Bay 2 Florida 1
Final St. Louis 4 Colorado 1