HOUSTON (AP) — Jordan Montgomery shut down the Houston Astros and Leody Taveras homered as the Texas Rangers did just enough against Justin Verlander to get a 2-0 win in the opener of the AL Championship Series Sunday night. Montgomery threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings and Taveras made it 2-0 with his solo homer in the fifth inning. Rookie Evan Carter helped in the win, too. The 21-year-old doubled and scored in the second and made two nifty defensive plays. The Rangers, who are in the ALCS for the first time since back-to-back appearances in 2010-11, improved to 6-0 this postseason after sweeping the Rays in the Wild Card Series and the Orioles in the ALDS.
UNDATED (AP) — Washington has moved up to No. 5 in The Associated Press college football poll, the Huskies' best ranking in six years, after a thrilling victory against Oregon. And unbeaten Air Force is ranked for the first time since 2019. The top four teams in the country were unchanged after No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Florida State all won Saturday in blowout fashion. Washington got two first-place votes and jumped two spots past No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 Penn State. That gave the Huskies their best ranking since reaching No. 5 on Oct. 8, 2017.
Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson topped the list of statistical achievements in college football this past week. He had a national season-high five rushing touchdowns against Texas Tech. Notre Dame's Xavier Watts became the second player since at least 2000 to have two interceptions, a fumble return for a touchdown and a forced fumble. Watts did it against Southern California. Houston has had a 100-yard kick return three straight years after Matthew Golden went the distance against West Virginia. Elic Ayomanor's 294 receiving yards against Colorado are most since Ohio State's Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 347 against Utah in the 2022 Rose Bowl.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Breece Hall ran for an 8-yard touchdown with 1:46 remaining, one play after Tony Adams intercepted Jalen Hurts, and the New York Jets held on to shock the previously undefeated Philadelphia Eagles 20-14 for their first win against them. The Jets appeared on their way to falling to 0-13 in their history against the Eagles, but Hurts’ third interception of the game — and the fourth turnover by Philadelphia — was returned by Adams 45 yards to put New York into immediate scoring position. Hall’s run shook MetLife Stadium as the Jets fans went wild and Zach Wilson connected with Randall Cobb on a 2-point conversion. The defense shut down the Eagles one more time to seal the win.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Rookie Jake Moody missed a 41-yard field goal with six seconds left as San Francisco was stunned 19-17 by the Cleveland Browns, who ended the 49ers’ regular-season winning streak at 15 and handed quarterback Brock Purdy his first loss as an NFL starter. Dustin Hopkins kicked four field goals — the last with 1:40 left — for the Browns, who pulled off the upset without quarterback Deshaun Watson. He missed his second straight game with a bruised right shoulder. P.J. Walker came off Cleveland’s practice squad and outplayed Purdy, who had won his first 10 starts. The 23-year-old drove the 49ers into field-goal range, but Moody was wide right on his attempt.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kyle Larson edged Christopher Bell at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway finish line to become the first driver locked into NASCAR’s championship race. The 2021 Cup champion earned the first of four spots in the Nov. 5 title-deciding finale with his win Sunday. A win in any of the three playoff races this round earns an automatic berth into the championship finale. The remaining slots are filled based on the points standings. Bell, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Christopher Buescher are the four drivers below the cutline. The win capped a week for Larson in which he began his preparations for next year’s Indianapolis 500. Larson plans to run both the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 next May and on Thursday completed the rookie orientation program at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A total of 55,646 fans turned out in Iowa City for the “Crossover at Kinnick” women's basketball exhibition between DePaul and Iowa. Returning national player of the year Caitlin Clark had a triple-double of 34 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder came up with the idea to play an outdoor game in the football stadium with the hope of setting an all-time women's basketball attendance record. The crowd nearly the doubled the previous record of 29,619 set by Connecticut and Oklahoma in the 2002 NCAA championship game at San Antonio’s Alamodome.
UNDATED (AP) — Cricket is an Olympic sport again. Flag football gets in for the first time. Five sports have been finally added to the 2028 Los Angeles Games by the International Olympic Committee. Baseball-softball, lacrosse and squash have also been included on the program. All five cleared a final hurdle Monday from the Olympic body’s full membership. The slate of sports was proposed by Los Angeles officials one week ago and recommended by the IOC executive board on Friday. Cricket has been elevated to Olympic status for the first time since 1900 in one of the hotpots of the sport, Mumbai, where the IOC is holding annual meetings while India hosts the sport’s World Cup.
SUNDAY SCORES
AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Texas 2 Houston 0
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Final Baltimore 24 Tennessee 16
Final Cincinnati 17 Seattle 13
Final Cleveland 19 San Francisco 17
Final Houston 20 New Orleans 13
Final Jacksonville 37 Indianapolis 20
Final Miami 42 Carolina 21
Final Minnesota 19 Chicago 13
Final Washington 24 Atlanta 16
Final Las Vegas 21 New England 17
Final Detroit 20 Tampa Bay 6
Final L.A. Rams 26 Arizona 9
Final N-Y Jets 20 Philadelphia 14
Final Buffalo 14 N-Y Giants 9