DALLAS (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs’ player Rashee Rice’s attorney says the wide receiver was the driver of one of two speeding sports cars who left after causing a chain-reaction crash on a Dallas highway over the weekend. Attorney and state Sen. Royce West says Thursday that the reason Rice left Saturday’s crash was under investigation and he declined to elaborate. West spoke at a news conference without Rice. West said that Rice was driving the Lamborghini sport utility vehicle that was involved in the crash. He also said the other speeding sports car belongs to Rice, but no information has been released on the driver.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Nelson Velázquez and MJ Melendez each homered and drove in two runs, leading Seth Lugo and the Kansas City Royals to a 10-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Right fielder Hunter Renfroe threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the sixth inning before Kansas City broke it open with eight runs in the seventh. Velázquez knocked in the first two runs of the game with a single and a homer. Lugo allowed one run and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings for his first win with the Royals. Michael Soroka gave up two runs over six innings in his second start for the White Sox.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nolan Gorman hit a go-ahead two-run double in the seventh inning and the St. Louis Cardinals won their home opener, 8-5 over the winless Miami Marlins, who are off to the worst start in the 33-year history of the franchise. Jake Burger hit a pair of homers for Miami, which fell to 0-8. That's the worst start in the majors since Atlanta and Minnesota each lost their first nine games in 2016. The Marlins are the only winless team in baseball after the New York Mets got their first win Thursday, beating Detroit.
NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Alonso launched a tying homer leading off the ninth inning, Tyrone Taylor lined a game-winning single and the New York Mets — after going 13 innings without a hit — rallied past the Detroit Tigers 2-1 for their first victory of the season and a doubleheader split. Harrison Bader’s bloop single to start the eighth was New York’s first hit in the second game. But the Mets finally broke through in the ninth to give Carlos Mendoza his first win as a major league manager. They avoided opening 0-6 for the first time since their second season in 1963. Detroit lost for the first time following a 5-0 start. New York blew a three-run lead in the opener and fell 6-3 in 11 innings.
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Athletics will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor league park near Sacramento until their planned new stadium in Las Vegas is built. The A’s announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland. The A’s announced their intention last April to move to Las Vegas. The decision angered the fans in Oakland and the team’s previously low attendance dropped precipitously with the club drawing a league-low 832,352 fans to the outdated Coliseum last season.
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The Final Four delivers the last entry in college basketball’s heartwarming yearbook. It's the annual assortment of legendary longshots, coaches looking for hugs and magic oozing from every corner of the bracket. The only problem with the 2024 version is that UConn doesn’t believe in magic. The only thing that has come close to stopping the Huskies on their march to a second straight title has been an uncooperative airliner. Dan Hurley and his players finally arrived in Phoenix at 3:15 a.m. Thursday after a nightmare combo of mechanical issues and bad weather left them hanging in the terminal for hours.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Caitlin Clark is capping off her illustrious college career with another record breaking season. The NCAA Division I career scoring leader set numerous records helping Iowa reach the Final Four for a second consecutive season. Clark was honored Thursday as The Associated Press women’s basketball Player of the Year. She received 34 votes from the 36-member national media panel that votes on the AP Top 25 each week. Cameron Brink of Stanford received the other vote.
UNDATED (AP) — New Oklahoma State basketball coach Steve Lutz embraces the expectations that come with leading a program that has won two national titles and featured Hall of Fame coaches Henry Iba and Eddie Sutton. The Cowboys have reached six Final Fours, but none since 2004. The 51-year-old Lutz looks to carry the banner as Oklahoma State tries to recapture its past glory. Lutz takes over for Mike Boynton, who was fired after going 119-109 in seven seasons, including a 12-20 mark this past season. Lutz was an assistant under Purdue’s Matt Painter and Creighton’s Greg McDermott. After that, he spent two years as head coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and a year at Western Kentucky, compiling a 69-35 overall record and reaching the NCAA Tournament all three years.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eric Musselman of Arkansas has been hired as Southern California men’s basketball coach. It's the first major hire by new athletic director Jennifer Cohen. He replaces Andy Enfield, who left for the same job at SMU on Monday. The 59-year-old Musselman will be introduced at a news conference on Friday. He spent the last five years at Arkansas, where he led the Razorbacks to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including the Elite Eight twice. Musselman was 111-59 overall in Fayetteville. He's had other college and NBA coaching stints.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Akshay Bhatia has opened with a 63 to build a three-shot lead in the Valero Texas Open. The 22-year-old Bhatia played bogey-free at the TPC San Antonio. He hit the ball so well that only two of his nine birdies were longer than 10 feet. He leads by three over Justin Lower and Brendon Todd. Rory McIlroy also played bogey-free. He just didn't make many birdies. McIlroy shot a 69 in his final tournament before the Masters. For Jordan Spieth, it was another wild ride. He followed a double bogey with a hole-in-one and rallied late to salvage a 73.
THURSDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Final Detroit 6 N.Y. Mets 3
Final N.Y. Mets 2 Detroit 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Cleveland 4 Minnesota 2
Final Kansas City 10 Chicago White Sox 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Pittsburgh 7 Washington 4
Final St. Louis 8 Miami 5
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Philadelphia 109 Miami 105
Final Dallas 109 Atlanta 95
Final New York 120 Sacramento 109
Final Golden State 133 Houston 110
Final L.A. Clippers 102 Denver 100
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Florida 6 Ottawa 0
Final Boston 4 Carolina 1
Final N-Y Islanders 4 Columbus 2
Final Pittsburgh 4 Washington 1
Final Tampa Bay 7 Montreal 4
Final Colorado 5 Minnesota 2
Final Nashville 6 St. Louis 3
Final Winnipeg 5 Calgary 2
Final Los Angeles 2 San Jose 1