SEATTLE (AP) — Ty France homered for the second time in three games, Bryan Woo allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings for his first win, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2. The Mariners took two of three from the Royals and have won eight of their last nine series. Seattle will head out on a key 10-game road trip on the East Coast four games above .500 and leading the AL West. France hit a solo shot off Kansas City starter Alec Marsh in the fourth inning to give Seattle a 2-0 lead. France also homered on Monday in the series opener against the Royals. Marsh allowed just one earned run but suffered his first loss of the season.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels snapped their three-game skid with a 7-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Griffin Canning pitched six innings of one-run ball and Nolan Schanuel hit his first career leadoff homer. Willie Calhoun had three hits, including an RBI double during the Angels’ four-run first, while Zach Neto and Taylor Ward homered later in the Angels’ seventh win in 26 games. Paul Goldschmidt homered in the sixth inning for the Cardinals, whose three-game winning streak ended. St. Louis still hasn’t swept a series this season.
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco has received a 10-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball rules prohibiting foreign substances. Blanco was ejected from Tuesday night’s start against the Oakland Athletics. His penalty, which also included an undisclosed fine, was announced by MLB senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill. Houston general manager Dana Brown said Blanco will not appeal the suspension, which was set to begin Wednesday night against Oakland. Blanco was ejected at the start of the fourth inning Tuesday night after umpires found a foreign substance that first base ump Erich Bacchus said was “the stickiest stuff" he'd felt on a glove.
BOSTON (AP) — Jayson Tatum had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and the Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-98 on to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the third straight season. Al Horford added 22 points, 15 rebounds and six of Boston’s 19 3-pointers to post their third consecutive win of the series and earn a 4-1 win. The Cavaliers played shorthanded without star Donovan Mitchell (calf), center Jarrett Allen (rib) and key reserve Caris LeVert (knee). Cleveland stayed close and pulled within 88-85 early in the fourth. Boston then went on a 13-2 run to take a 101-87 lead. Evan Mobley scored a playoff career high 33 points. Marcus Morris Sr. had five 3-pointers and finished with 25 points.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Luka Doncic scored 31 points in a triple-double to help the Dallas Mavericks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-92 and take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series. He made 12 of 22 field goals and had 11 assists and 10 rebounds in Game 5 for his sixth career playoff triple-double. Derrick Jones Jr. scored 19 points and P.J. Washington added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Dallas. The Mavericks can advance to the Western Conference Finals with a win Saturday at home. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 30 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the top-seeded Thunder.
DALLAS (AP) — Colorado defenseman Cale Makar scored two goals, the second after Casey Mittelstadt’s go-ahead tally in the third period and the Avalanche beat top-seeded Dallas 5-3 in Game 5. The Avs snapped their three-game losing streak and extended the second-round Western Conference Series. Game 6 is Friday night in Colorado. Mittelstadt scored just 1:12 into the third period to make it 3-2. Maker added an unassisted goal about three minutes later. Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev had 23 saves. Stars goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 22 shots. Joe Pavelski had his first goal of these playoffs for the Stars. Miro Heiskanen and rookie Logan Stankoven scored the other Dallas goals, and Jason Robertson had two assists.
UNDATED (AP) — Rory McIlroy has all the momentum he could want heading into the PGA Championship as he tries to end a drought in the majors that has lasted a decade. He also has a major distraction. McIlroy is hopeful of ending a decade without a major in his return to Valhalla. But the distraction is a divorce from his wife of seven years. That petition was filed in Florida on Monday, right after he won at Quail Hollow and before flying up to Louisville for a major. McIlroy has a history of being able to separate personal life from work.
UNDATED (AP) — The NFL schedule has been released. That means the snark can begin. The league’s 32 teams all have social media teams working toward this day, trying to one-up each other on creative ways to announce their opponents. In many ways, the event is their Super Bowl, with teams planning the release well in advance. There were several entertaining entries in this year's batch. The New England Patriots channeled the 90s classic movie “Good Will Hunting." The Los Angeles Chargers had a video game theme from “The Sims.”
UNDATED (AP) — Even though the Super Bowl rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will not occur until almost the midpoint of the season, NFL fans will be treated to a pair of playoff rematches on the opening weekend. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs begin their quest for an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl title when they host the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5 in the Kickoff Game while the Los Angeles Rams are at the Detroit Lions in the Sunday night game on Sept. 8. The two playoff rematches on Week 1 are among nine on this year’s regular schedule, which was released by the league Wednesday night.
UNDATED (AP) — Netflix and the NFL announced a three-year deal for the streaming giant to carry games on Christmas Day. Netflix will have both games this year and at least one game in 2025 and ’26. Netflix announced during its upfront presentation to advertisers that it will have defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City at Pittsburgh followed by Baltimore at Houston. Netflix began airing NFL programming last year with the series “Quarterback.” A series on wide receivers will premiere this year. Netflix began airing live sports events last year, but it was exhibition events in golf and tennis. It is also scheduled to air the July 20 bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul and next year will start carrying World Wrestling Entertainment’s flagship show, “Raw.”
UNDATED (AP) — Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington has landed a second portal transfer in as many days, this time forward Jaylen Carey following him from James Madison to his new job. Byington was hired by Vanderbilt after coaching James Madison to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He added guard MJ Collins from Virginia Tech on Tuesday. Carey is a 6-foot-8 forward who played every game as a freshman for James Madison. That includes both NCAA Tournament games. Byington says he knows Carey can play in the Southeastern Conference as a physical presence who can play inside and also shoot 3s.
UNDATED (AP) — Oklahoma begins its quest for an unprecedented fourth consecutive national softball title on Friday. The Sooners open regional play against Cleveland State. The Sooners appear to have a shot. They have claimed the No. 2 overall seed and beat No. 1 seed Texas for the Big 12 Tournament title. Texas won the Big 12 regular season title and claimed the top overall seed for the first time. Reese Atwood was Big 12 Player of the Year after racking up a nation’s best 83 RBIs. She headlines a Texas squad that leads the nation with a .379 batting average.
WEDNESDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Final Miami 2 Detroit 0
Final Chicago White Sox 2 Washington 0
Final L.A. Angels 7 St. Louis 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Baltimore 3 Toronto 2
Final Seattle 4 Kansas City 2
Final Tampa Bay 4 Boston 3
Final Houston 3 Oakland 0
Final N.Y. Yankees 4 Minnesota 0
Final Texas 4 Cleveland 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Milwaukee 10 Pittsburgh 2
Final Arizona 2 Cincinnati 1
Final Colorado 8 San Diego 0
Final Philadelphia 10 N.Y. Mets 5
Final Chicago Cubs 7 Atlanta 1
Final San Francisco 4 L.A. Dodgers 1
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Final Boston 113 Cleveland 98
Final Dallas 104 Oklahoma City 92
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS