MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Simeon Woods Richardson earned his first win in eight starts, Jose Miranda knocked in two runs and the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 . Minnesota, winners of six of their last seven games, got two hits apiece from Manuel Margot, Byron Buxton and Carlos Santana. Jhoan Duran allowed the first two hitters he faced in the ninth to reach base, but helped by Christian Vázquez throwing out a runner trying to steal second, he didn’t allow a run and earned his eighth save. Cole Ragans (4-4) struggled early for Kansas City but got through five innings. He allowed nine hits and struck out seven.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer, Kyle Gibson pitched six sparkling innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-1. Iván Herrera had three hits for St. Louis, which improved to 11-3 in its last 14 games. Gibson was charged with one run and two hits. The right-hander struck out six and walked two. Cincinnati had won a season-high four consecutive games. Will Benson led off the sixth with his eighth homer for the Reds’ first hit of the night.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Corey Seager homered for the seventh time in as many games, putting the Texas Rangers ahead with his three-run shot in their 4-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The homer Tuesday night came off Brandon Pfaadt in the rematch of last year's World Series. It was the World Series MVP’s 12th homer overall, extending his hitting streak to a season-best 11 games and his on-base streak to 21 games. Andrew Heaney worked 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for the win after Nathan Eovaldi was activated from the injured list. David Robertson worked a perfect eighth before Kirby Yates pitched the ninth for his eighth save.
NEW YORK (AP) — Josh Gibson became Major League Baseball’s career leader with a .372 batting average, surpassing Ty Cobb’s .367, when records of the Negro Leagues for more than 2,300 players were incorporated after a three-year research project. Gibson’s .466 average for the 1943 Homestead Grays became the season standard, followed by Charlie “Chino” Smith’s .451 for the 1929 New York Lincoln Giants. They overtook the .440 by Hugh Duffy for the National League’s Boston team in 1894. Gibson also became the career leader in slugging percentage at .718 and OPS at 1.177, moving ahead of Babe Ruth in each statistic.
DALLAS (AP) — Karl-Anthony Towns scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half and the Minnesota Timberwolves held off the Dallas Mavericks 105-100 to avoid a sweep in the Western Conference finals. Anthony Edwards had 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. The Wolves stayed alive in their first trip to the conference finals in 20 years, and just the second in the franchise’s 35 seasons. Now third-seeded Minnesota heads home for Game 5 on Thursday night to see if it can make the series even more interesting against No. 5 seed Dallas. Luka Doncic had 28 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in his sixth triple-double of these playoffs. But he and co-star Kyrie Irving were just 13 of 39 from the field.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sam Reinhart scored a power-play goal 1:12 into overtime, and the Florida Panthers topped the New York Rangers 3-2 to even the Eastern Conference Final at two games apiece. It was the third straight OT game in the series — and the first time Florida got a win in those matchups. Blake Wheeler, playing his first game for the Rangers since mid-February, was called for hooking Aleksander Barkov 59 seconds into the extra session. And it didn’t take long for the Panthers to cash in, with Barkov setting up Reinhart in front. Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe also scored for Florida. Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière scored for the Rangers.
UNDATED (AP) — Scholarships are not going away in college athletics. But how many there are and which sports they will apply to in coming years are among the many questions stemming from a mammoth antitrust settlement and athlete revenue-sharing plan proposed by the NCAA and its five largest conferences. Nearly $2.8 billion in damages over 10 years must come from somewhere. Schools are scrambling to find out how much more money will be necessary to compensate athletes in sports like baseball and softball, many who previously only got a fragment of what their classmates who play football or basketball received.
UNDATED (AP) — The NCAA baseball tournament opens Friday with play in 16 double-elimination regionals. There are a number of storylines to follow. Tennessee is the No. 1 national seed. There hasn't been a No. 1 seed win the championship since Miami in 1999. High Point, Niagara and Northern Kentucky are making their first appearances in the Division I tournament. UC Santa Barbara comes in as the hottest team in the nation with 14 straight wins. Since the tournament went to its current format, an average of just under 11 of the 16 regional hosts have advanced to super regionals.
HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans have agreed with wide receiver Nico Collins on a three-year extension worth a maximum of $75 million with $52 million guaranteed. The Athletic first reported the deal. Agent Drew Rosenhaus confirmed the terms he helped negotiate with Ryan Matha and Jason Rosenhaus to The Associated Press after sharing a social media post that detailed specifics of Collins’ extension. Collins is coming off his best season yet. He caught 80 passes for 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns and helping Houston win the AFC South with rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett says he stepped away from football last year to address his mental health. Bennett now says he feels recharged and ready to play again. The two-time national champion at Georgia is participating in the Rams’ organized team activities. Bennett was a fourth-round pick by the Rams after winning his second title with the Bulldogs. He participated in Los Angeles’ team activities and played extensively in the preseason while competing to be Matthew Stafford’s backup. But Bennett left the Rams before the regular season began, and he didn’t return to the team in 2023.
DESTIN, Fla. (AP) — Southeastern Conference football coaches are bracing for the impact of a potential downsizing of rosters around the NCAA, but they’re united in support of the walk-ons. They convened at the league’s spring meetings with potential roster caps among the issues on their minds following a settlement agreement involving the NCAA and the five biggest conferences. How that ultimately shakes out won’t be clear for months, but Texas A&M coach Mike Elko was especially adamant against the prospect of football rosters being limited to as few as 85 players, which would eliminate walk-ons.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Stewart-Haas Racing will close its NASCAR teams at the end of the 2024 season. The announcement comes after nearly a year of rumors that the four-car Cup Series team was looking to sell its charters and either scale back or exit the series completely. Gene Haas founded the team in 2002 and landed Stewart as a co-owner ahead of the 2009 season. Stewart in his debut season gave the team its first Cup Series victory and its first Cup title in 2011. Kevin Harvick added a second championship in 2014. The move also affects a two-car Xfinity Series team.
TUESDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Pittsburgh at Detroit 12:40 p.m. (Postponed)
Final Texas 4 Arizona 2
Final Cleveland 13 Colorado 7
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Boston 8 Baltimore 3
Final Oakland 3 Tampa Bay 0
Final Minnesota 4 Kansas City 2
Final Toronto 7 Chicago White Sox 2
Final Seattle 4 Houston 2
Final L.A. Angels 4 N.Y. Yankees 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final L.A. Dodgers 5 N.Y. Mets 2
Final St. Louis 7 Cincinnati 1
Final Atlanta 2 Washington 0
Final L.A. Dodgers 3 N.Y. Mets 0
Final Chicago Cubs 6 Milwaukee 3
Final San Diego 4 Miami 0
Final San Francisco 1 Philadelphia 0
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Final Minnesota 105 Dallas 100
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS