KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. hit a home run and scored three times to lead the Kansas City Royals over the Milwaukee Brewers 6-4. Both starting pitchers struggled out of the gate Wednesday but settled down and limited the damage. The Royals’ Brady Singer allowed one run on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out four. Joe Ross allowed three runs on three hits in five-plus innings, walking two and striking out two. James McArthur picked up his eighth save after blowing his last two chances.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals game has been rained out. The teams will instead play at 5:15 p.m. on Aug. 5 in St. Louis. The Mets were looking to sweep the series on Wednesday. The last time they swept the Cardinals was in April 2007 to open that season. New York won the series’ first two games 4-3 and 7-5. It’s the team’s first series win since April 19-21 at the Dodgers. The Mets were looking for their first road series sweep of the season.
NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson returned from a right foot injury to score 24 of his 29 points in the second half, leading the New York Knicks to a 130-121 victory over the Indiana Pacers for a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. On the anniversary of Willis Reed’s dramatic emergence from the locker room before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to lead the Knicks to their first title, Brunson sent the Madison Square Garden crowd into a frenzy when he came out to warm up at halftime after missing the entire second quarter while the Pacers surged ahead to a double-figure lead. The Knicks moved halfway to their first Eastern Conference finals appearance since 2000.
UNDATED (AP) — Nikola Jokic did it all again. And the NBA MVP trophy is his again. The Denver Nuggets star from Serbia was announced Wednesday night as the league’s Most Valuable Player. It's his third time winning the award in the past four seasons, a feat that just six other players in NBA history have accomplished. Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists. Others averaged more in each category, but he was the only player to rank in the NBA’s top 10 in points, rebounds and assists per game this season.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Conor Garland broke a tie with 5:34 left and the Vancouver Canucks overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the second-round playoff series. Garland took a short pass from Dakota Joshua, faked a slap shot at the right circle and slipped a wrist shot between goalie Stuart Skinner’s legs from a sharp angle for Vancouver’s second goal in 39 seconds and third in 4:48. Game 2 is Friday night in Vancouver. Elias Lindholm got the comeback started with 2:59 left in the second period. J.T. Miller cut it to 4-3 at 9:38 of the third, and Nikita Zadorov tied it with 6:13 remaining.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Aleksander Barkov had two goals and two assists, Sam Reinhart added four assists and the Florida Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 6-1 on Wednesday night to tie the second-round series at a game apiece. Brandon Montour had a goal and two assists for Florida, which also got goals from Steven Lorentz, Gustav Forsling and Eetu Luostarinen. The Panthers chased Bruins starter Jeremy Swayman early in the third period after four straight goals, then added two more against Linus Ullmark. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 14 saves for the Panthers. The five-goal margin matched Florida’s biggest ever in a playoff game, tying the mark set against Tampa Bay in another 6-1 win on April 29. Charlie Coyle had the goal for the Bruins.
UNDATED (AP) — Two Republican congressmen have introduced a bill that would provide the NCAA, college conferences and member schools with federal protection from legal challenges that undercut their ability to govern college sports. The Protect the Ball Act is sponsored by Reps. Russell Fry of South Carolina and Barry Moore of Alabama. The bill is intended to provide legal safe harbor for the entities that run college sports, which has been under siege from antitrust lawsuits. Fry and Moore are members of the House Judiciary Committee. The NCAA and power conferences are considering a settlement in an antitrust case that could cost billions in damages.
UNDATED (AP) — Colleges and universities are having a difficult time hiring, recruiting and retaining members of their athletic training staffs because of a number of below-market conditions, a survey shows. The survey, by the National Athletics Trainers’ Association and the American College of Sports Medicine, of 1,120 athletic trainers at all collegiate levels identified four areas of most common concern: compensation, organizational culture, burnout and increased work responsibility, according to a joint statement. Among the findings, more than 50% of athletic trainers were caring for more than 100 student-athletes and 65% had been given additional responsibilities without a pay increase.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Athletic departments across the country are trying to figure out the best way to manage the name, image and likeness landscape when it comes to athletes earning endorsement money. Michigan is the 18th school to hire a NIL general manager in a partnership with Altius Sports Partners. It will give the company more than $250,000 a year Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel says it’s the right time to bring in a company that has had three years to develop strategies and NIL connections.
UNDATED (AP) — A settlement being discussed in an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA and major college conferences could cost billions and pave the way for a new compensation model for college athletes. An agreement has not been finalized and questions about how exactly a new system would work remain unanswered. It is also unclear if new rules could withstand further legal scrutiny, but it appears college sports is heading down a revolutionary path with at least some schools directly paying athletes to participate. How much could be heading their way, who gets paid and who and what could stand in the way?
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has agreed to plead guilty to bank and tax fraud in a sports betting case. Prosecutors alleged Ippei Mizuhara stole nearly $17 million from the Japanese baseball player to pay off debts. Mizuhara’s scheduled arraignment Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles was postponed earlier Tuesday. The scandal shocked baseball fans from the U.S. to Japan when the news broke in March. Mizuhara was initially charged with one count of bank fraud. Authorities say there was no evidence that Ohtani was involved in or aware of Mizuhara’s gambling, and the player is cooperating with investigators.
CLIFTON, N.J. (AP) — Nelly Korda will try to become the first woman to win six consecutive LPGA Tour starts when play begins in the 72-hole Cognizant Founders Cup on Thursday at the Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey. The 25-year-old is coming into the event after taking two weeks off following a three-stroke win in The Chevron Championship in Texas. Korda's streak ties her with Hall of Famers Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) and Nancy Lopez (1978) for most consecutive LPGA tournament wins. Byron Nelson holds golf’s all-time record with 11 straight wins in 1945. Korda missed the cut in this event last year.
UNDATED (AP) — Tiger Woods is the only player on a five-member subcommittee that will be negotiating with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf. Woods is on the PGA Tour Enterprise transaction subcommittee. That group is involved in day-to-day dealings with the Public Investment Fund as the Saudi group tries to become a minority investor. It caps a busy day of tour governance. It started with Rory McIlroy losing the inside track on rejoining the board. Commissioner Jay Monahan says McIlroy's voice remains important. He says the decision was based more on following the proper process for a player joining the board.
UNDATED (AP) — Travis Kelce continues to work in the NFL off season. The Super Bowl winner has booked a role on a new horror drama series called “Grotesquerie” for FX. Fellow cast member Niecy Nash posted a series of Instagram stories Tuesday of her and Kelce on set. In one video, the show's creator, Ryan Murphy, embraces Kelce and says, “You were wonderful.” This is the second TV job for Kelce in recent months. He wrapped production as host of the new game show “Are You Smarter than a Celebrity?” for Prime Video. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is dating music superstar Taylor Swift who starts the European leg of her world tour in Paris on Thursday.
WEDNESDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Final L.A. Angels 5 Pittsburgh 4
Final Toronto 5 Philadelphia 3
Final Kansas City 6 Milwaukee 4
Final Atlanta 5 Boston 0
Final Baltimore 7 Washington 6
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Cleveland 5 Detroit 4
Final Oakland 9 Texas 4
Final Chicago White Sox 4 Tampa Bay 1
Final N.Y. Yankees 9 Houston 4
Final Minnesota 6 Seattle 3
Final Texas 12 Oakland 11
NATIONAL LEAGUE
N-Y Mets at St. Louis 5:15 p.m. (Postponed)
Final San Diego 3 Chicago Cubs 0
Final L.A. Dodgers 3 Miami 1
Final Arizona 4 Cincinnati 3
Final San Francisco 8 Colorado 6
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Final New York 130 Indiana 121
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Florida 6 Boston 1