KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. finished a double shy of the cycle as the Royals hit five homers to back a strong start by Brady Singer in a 11-0 rout of the Twins. The win allowed Kansas City to avoid getting swept by Minnesota to start a second consecutive season. Salvador Perez hit a three-run homer, Kyle Isbel and Maikel Garcia hit back-to-back homers in the second, and Nelson Velázquez also went deep for Kansas City. Singer allowed three hits and a walk over seven innings while striking out 10. Bailey Ober took the loss for Minnesota, getting just four outs while allowing eight runs on nine hits and a walk.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pinch-hitter Max Muncy hit a two-run homer to right field with one out in the eighth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 on Sunday. Teoscar Hernández had two hits and drove in two runs as the Dodgers took three of four in the series. St. Louis rookie Victor Scott II reached base three times and scored two runs while Paul Goldschmidt and Brendan Donovan both had two RBIs. Muncy then hit a slider over the wall in right-center off John King, who was called up from Triple A Memphis Sunday morning.
PHOENIX (AP) — Christian Walker hit a two-run homer, Brandon Pfaadt pitched five solid innings and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies 5-1 on Sunday. The D-backs won three of four games in the season-opening series for both teams. Arizona dominated the majority of the weekend, outscoring Colorado 32-14. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit an RBI single and Walker ripped his two-run homer to left in the first, lifting the Diamondbacks to a 3-0 lead. Gurriel continued a torrid start to the season; he has three homers, two doubles and 10 RBIs over four games.
DALLAS (AP) — Bruising big man DJ Burns Jr. scored a season-high 29 points, DJ Horne had 20 and 11th-seeded North Carolina State reached its first Final Four in four decades, beating Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke 76-64 in the South Region final. N.C. State is back in the national semifinals for the first time since the late Jim Valvano was sprinting around the court looking for someone to hug after winning the 1983 national title. The Wolfpack will play Zach Edey and Purdue in the national semifinals. Jared McCain scored 32 points for Duke, which fell short of its second Final Four in three seasons.
DETROIT (AP) — Purdue big man Zach Edey went for a career-high 40 points along with 16 rebounds and one big block to muscle the Boilermakers into the program’s first Final Four since 1980 with a 72-66 victory over Tennessee. The 7-foot-4 center and the Boilermakers eked out a back-and-forth thriller between the country’s top two players, edging out Tennessee’s All-American, Dalton Knecht, who finished with 37 points. Top-seeded Purdue set aside last year’s grand disappointment -- a first-round loss as a No. 1 seed -- to book the trip to Glendale, Arizona. On Saturday, the Boilermakers will play either Duke or North Carolina State in the national semifinal.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Tessa Johnson scored 15 points, Kamilla Cardoso added 12 and undefeated South Carolina advanced to the Final Four of the women’s NCAA Tournament with a 70-58 win over Oregon State. South Carolina made it to the national semifinals unbeaten for the second straight season. The Gamecocks lost to Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Final Four last year. This time, with an entirely new starting lineup, coach Dawn Staley has her group on the verge of the school’s third national championship. The Gamecocks are 36-0 and will play N.C. State on Friday night in Cleveland. Raegan Beers scored 16 points to lead the Beavers.
BOSTON (AP) — Alabama and the rest of the football fans in the Southeastern Conference are about to find out what Big East basketball is all about. The Crimson Tide have won 18 NCAA football championships but have never been to a men’s basketball Final Four. They will meet top-seeded UConn in the national semifinals on April 6. The Huskies have a chance to win back-to-back NCAA titles. That would make it six in 13 years for the Big East, the league that takes pride in its basketball pedigree even as football money upended the rest of college sports.
HOUSTON (AP) — Stephan Jaeger of Germany is a PGA Tour winner for the first time and headed to the Masters. His victory at the Houston Open ended Scottie Scheffler's bid for three straight victories. Scheffler had his chances right to the end. He had a 5-foot birdie putt to force a playoff and missed it left. Jaeger finished with nine straight pars and shot 67 to win on his 135th attempt on the PGA Tour. Scheffler tied for second with Tony Finau, Thomas Detry, Alejandro Tosti and Taylor Moore. Tosti was tied for the lead until a bogey on the 18th.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Denny Hamlin won the race off pit road with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. after a caution with two laps to go and won in overtime at Richmond Raceway. Truex dominated the second half of the NASCAR Cup Series race and seemed poised to hold off challenges by Joey Logano and Hamlin for the final two laps until Kyle Larson got nudged from behind on the front straightaway and skidded into the infield. Hamlin’s victory was his second this season, the fifth of his career and the 53rd of his career.
SATURDAY SCORES
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
NCAA Elite Eight
SOUTH
Final NC State 76 Duke 64
MIDWEST
Final Purdue 72 Tennessee 66
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Final Chicago Cubs 9 Texas 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final L.A. Angels 4 Baltimore 1
Final Toronto 9 Tampa Bay 2
Final Kansas City 11 Minnesota 0
Final Detroit 3 Chicago White Sox 2
Final N.Y. Yankees 4 Houston 3
Final Oakland 4 Cleveland 3
Final Boston 5 Seattle 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Philadelphia 5 Atlanta 4
Final Milwaukee 4 N.Y. Mets 1
Final Cincinnati 6 Washington 5
Final Pittsburgh 9 Miami 7
Final Arizona 5 Colorado 1
Final San Diego 13 San Francisco 4
Final L.A. Dodgers 5 St. Louis 4
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Denver 130 Cleveland 101
Final L.A. Lakers 116 Brooklyn 104
Final Philadelphia 135 Toronto 120
Final Miami 119 Washington 107
Final L.A. Clippers 130 Charlotte 118
Final Dallas 125 Houston 107
Final Chicago 109 Minnesota 101
Final Golden State 117 San Antonio 113
Final Oklahoma City 113 New York 112
Final Sacramento 127 Utah 106
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE