TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Royals left-hander Noah Cameron took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his major league debut and Vinnie Pasquantino homered as Kansas City blanked the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0. Cameron shut out the Rays over 6 1/3 innings until Curtis Mead ended an 0-for-16 slump with a one-out single down the left-field line. Recalled from Triple-A Omaha prior to the start, Cameron allowed one hit and five walks while striking out three. He threw 79 pitches with 46 strikes. Carlos Estévez stranded two in the ninth for his ninth save. Bobby Witt Jr. had two hits, extending his hitting streak to 21 games.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Willson Contreras hit a three-run homer in the first inning of the second game, Pedro Pagés added a solo shot and the St. Louis Cardinals swept a day-night doubleheader from the Cincinnati Reds 6-0 and 9-1. Contreras and Pagés homered off 22-year-old right-hander Chase Petty, 22, who allowed nine runs, seven hits and two walks over 2 1/3 innings in his major league debut. Pagés homered on the 11th pitch of his at-bat and Jordan Walker added a two-run double in the third. St. Louis entered 2-12 on the road and matched its season wins total away from home.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man fell from the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park during Wednesday night’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. Players from both teams could be seen praying and McCutchen held a cross that hung from his neck while the fan was taken off the field.
ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons have been fined $250,000 and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has been fined $100,000 as the result of Ulbrich’s son participating in a prank call to Shedeur Sanders during the NFL draft. The NFL confirmed the fines for the roles by the Falcons and Ulbrich in failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information distributed to the club in advance of the NFL draft. The Falcons, who disclosed the role of Ulbrich’s 21-year-old son Jax in the prank call Friday as Sanders was waiting for his name to be called in the draft, said Wednesday they accept the discipline from the league.
UNDATED (AP) — North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick has defended girlfriend Jordon Hudson for interjecting during a CBS interviewer’s questions about their relationship and said she was “simply doing her job.” The six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach issued a statement through UNC on Wednesday. That followed an appearance on "CBS News Sunday Morning” to promote his upcoming book on his coaching life. In the interview, Hudson objected to a question about how the two had met. The 73-year-old Belichick said in his statement that the segment presents “selectively edited clips” to “suggest a false narrative" that the 24-year-old Hudson tried to control the interview.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rudy Gobert had playoff career highs of 27 points and 24 rebounds, Julius Randle added 23 points and the Minnesota Timberwolves advanced in the NBA playoffs with a 103-96 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of their first-round series. Anthony Edwards had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the sixth-seeded Wolves, who won three straight games to eliminate LeBron James and Luka Doncic from their first postseason together. Doncic had 28 points and nine assists while James added 22 points for the Lakers, who lost in the first round for the second straight postseason.
HOUSTON (AP) — Fred VanVleet scored 26 points, Amen Thompson added 25 and the Houston Rockets avoided elimination with a 131-116 rout of the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 of a first-round playoff series. Game 6 is Friday in San Francisco. Warriors coach Steve Kerr threw in the towel early with Wednesday night's game out of hand. A layup by VanVleet midway through the third quarter made it 93-64, and Kerr called timeout and cleared his bench. Dillon Brooks added 24 points on a night when all five Houston scored in double figures. Stephen Curry was held to 13 points for the Warriors and Jimmy Butler scored eight.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored, Logan Thompson made 28 saves and the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 5 of their first-round series to advance in the NHL playoffs. It’s the Capitals’ first series win since capturing the Stanley Cup in 2018, and they clinched at home for the first time since 2015. They face the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round with a spot in the Eastern Conference final at stake. The Capitals asserted their dominance in the East’s 1 versus 8 series, a year after getting swept as the underdog in it by the New York Rangers.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Eetu Luostarinen had a goal and three assists to lead the Florida Panthers to a 6-3 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning and advance Florida to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart also scored for Florida. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 26 saves as the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers defeated their in-state rival in five games in the first round for the second consecutive season. Panthers will play the winner of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, which Toronto currently leads 3-2.
WEDNESDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
NTERLEAGUE
Final Milwaukee 6 Chicago White Sox 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Detroit 7 Houston 4
Final Seattle 9 L.A. Angels 3
Final Cleveland 4 Minnesota 2
Final Kansas City 3 Tampa Bay 0
Final Baltimore 5 N.Y. Yankees 4
Final Toronto 7 Boston 6
Final Athletics 7 Texas 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final St. Louis 6 Cincinnati 0
Final Colorado 2 Atlanta 1
Final L.A. Dodgers 12 Miami 7
Final San Diego 5 San Francisco 3
Final St. Louis 9 Cincinnati 1
Final Philadelphia 7 Washington 2
Final Pittsburgh 4 Chicago Cubs 3
Final Arizona 4 N.Y. Mets 3
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Final Houston 131 Golden State 116
Final Minnesota 103 L.A. Lakers 96
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Washington 4 Montreal 1
Final Florida 6 Tampa Bay 3
Final Winnipeg 5 St. Louis 3