ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs plan to play Patrick Mahomes and the rest of their starters for the first half of their preseason game on Saturday night in Arizona. That's the same place where the Chiefs won the Super Bowl in February. Mahomes and the starters only played one series in their preseason opener in New Orleans. The Chiefs tend to use the second game as more of a dress rehearsal for the regular season, which is why coach Andy Reid plays his starters longer. He acknowledged the injury risk that comes with additional preseason snaps but said it's worthwhile to get ready for the speed of games that matter.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City Chiefs superfan known as “ChiefsAholic” and familiar for attending games dressed as a wolf in the NFL team’s gear has been indicted by a federal grand jury that accuses him of armed robbery and money laundering in a string of bank heists across four states. According to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, Xaviar Babudar robbed six banks and laundered the proceeds at casinos and sportsbooks. The 19-count indictment handed down Wednesday replaces and supplements a criminal complaint filed against Babudar in May. Babudar's attorney says he is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Julio Rodriguez had a career-high five hits to go with five RBIs, including a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth inning, as the Mariners rallied to beat Kansas City 6-4. Rodriguez's homer was his 20th of the season, to go with 30 stolen bases, making him just the fourth Seattle player ever to make the 20-30 club. Nelson Velazquez homered for the fourth time in seven games with Kansas City. Both teams made a series of baserunning blunders. Each team had a player thrown out at the plate, another was cut down on the basepaths, one was picked off first and Seattle had a runner called out after he started back to the dugout on a dropped fly ball.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Pete Alfonso hit a two-run homer, José Quintana won for the first time this season and the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2. Quintana (1-4) beat his former team by pitching into the seventh inning. He gave up three hits, including a homer in the seventh to Tyler O’Neill, and two runs. It was his first time facing the Cardinals since signing with the Mets as a free agent in the offseason. Tim Locastro led off the ninth with a pinch-hit home run, his first this season for New York. Trevor Gott pitched the ninth for his first save. He got Paul Goldschmidt looking with two on to end the game.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Austin Barnes hit a solo shot in the eighth inning, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers win their 11th in a row with a 1-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. The NL West-leading Dodgers swept the NL Central leaders, outscoring them 14-3 in three games. The Dodgers earned their 12th shutout of the season. Lance Lynn dueled Brewers starter Corbin Burnes although neither figured in the decision. Burnes gave up two hits in seven innings, struck out nine and walked two. Barnes hit his first homer since last September and he also singled for his first multi-hit game of the season.
UNDATED (AP) — Stanford has not given up on getting an invitation to join the Atlantic Coast Conference as its fellow Pac-4 members wait and hope to rebuild their plundered league. Leaders from Stanford, California, Oregon State and Washington State spoke Thursday and Stanford told its colleagues it had informed the ACC that it would be open to joining the conference at greatly reduced or even no media rights payout for several years, a person familiar with the discussions told AP. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the schools’ were not making their internal discussions public.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The reunions of quarterbacks with coordinators at new schools could provide an offensive spark at places like No. 4 Alabama and North Carolina State. The Wolfpack brought in Brennan Armstrong as Virginia's all-time passing leader. He had thrived in his final season under new Wolfpack offensive coordinator Robert Anae. At Alabama, coordinator Tommy Rees and quarterback Tyler Buchner are together after spending last season at Notre Dame. Other schools with new playcaller-coordinator reunions this season include Pittsburgh and Louisville. At N.C. State, Armstrong says he's trying to be a “bridge” for his Wolfpack teammates in learning the new scheme.
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. (AP) — Rory McIlroy and Brian Harman share the lead at the BMW Championship at rain-soaked Olympia Fields. McIlroy is using that to his advantage. He blasted away off the tee because he realized the rough wasn't necessarily the worst place to be. The greens are so soft it was at times easier to hit into them without spin. He also had a little magic on the 17th hole by going through trees and over a bunker and chipping in for birdie. Harman made two long birdies at the end. That includes a chip-in. Scottie Scheffler and Rickie Fowler were one back.
UNDATED (AP) — Maximizing player rest and limiting travel demands were again part of the NBA’s formula for the coming regular season. That's what the league indicated Thursday when announcing the schedule for 2023-24. Teams have an average of 14 instances of back-to-back games this season, up slightly from last year’s rate of 13.3 per team. But back-to-backs involving travel are down to 9.0 on average. The rate of those last season was 9.6 per team. No team will play the day before or after high-profile national television games, such as Christmas matchups and all ABC weekend matchups.
THURSDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
Final Washington 10 Boston 7
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Detroit at Cleveland 7:40 p.m. (Postponed)
Final Seattle 6 Kansas City 4
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final N.Y. Mets 4 St. Louis 2
Final Arizona 3 San Diego 1
Final L.A. Dodgers 1 Milwaukee 0
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PRESEASON
Final Cleveland 18 Philadelphia 18