ST. LOUIS (AP) — Luis Castillo earned his first victory since April 7, and rookies Tyler Stephenson and Jonathan India homered as the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Friday night. Castillo picked up his first quality start and win since his second start of the season. Castillo snapped a seven-start losing streak against the Cardinals. The Reds have won four of their last five games. The Cardinals have lost five of their last six.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Whit Merrifield capped a nine-run first inning with a three-run homer and the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 14-5 for their fifth straight win. Merrifield started the big burst with a leadoff single and his home run ended the evening for Twins starter Matt Shoemaker. Kansas City made it 13-0 in the second. All nine Royals in batting order had already scored with no outs in the inning. Brad Keller got his third straight win. Minnesota lost its fourth in a row. Jorge Polanco, Miguel Sano and Nick Gordon homered for the Twins.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Red Sox acquired outfielder Freddy Valdez from the New York Mets, and left-handers Luis De La Rosa and Grant Gambrell from Kansas City to complete the three-team trade that sent outfielder outfielder Andrew Benintendi to the Royals on Feb. 10. Valdez and De La Rosa have not appeared in a game this season. Valdez, 19, was the Mets’ Dominican summer league player of the year in 2019. De La Rosa, 18, was pitcher of the year that summer for one of the Royals' DSL teams. Gambrell, 23, was a third-round pick of the Royals in the 2019 amateur draft.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — James Madison has done it again. A day after stunning top-seeded Oklahoma, the Dukes beat No. 5 Oklahoma State 2-1 on Friday night in the Women’s College World Series. The unseeded Dukes are one win from the best-of-three championship series. Odicci Alexander pitched complete game victories in both upsets. She threw 129 pitches against Oklahoma, then 95 more against Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State will play Arizona or Florida State in an elimination game on Saturday night.
UNDATED (AP) — South Florida posted the biggest upset on the first day of the NCAA baseball tournament. The Bulls knocked off the Florida Gators as the bottom seed in the Gainesville Regional. Four of the seven No. 3 regional seeds that played early Friday also won. Arkansas and Texas won their openers in the double-elimination regionals. They are the top two national seeds. No. 3 national seed Tennessee got a ninth-inning grand slam from Drew Gilbert to post a 9-8 walk-off win over No. 4 regional seed Wright State.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Southeastern Conference and the Big East eliminated their intraconference transfer policies Thursday, allowing athletes to transfer within the leagues without losing a year of eligibility.The decisions were made in each conference by university presidents and chancellors. The changes take effect immediately and are in line with the trend throughout college sports to allow more freedom for athletes who switch schools. Athlete transfers in all Big East-sponsored sports will be governed by NCAA legislation. The SEC’s change will more closely align the conference with NCAA rules. A new NCAA policy passed in April allows athletes in all sports to transfer once and be eligible to play immediately.
DALLAS (AP) — Kawhi Leonard tied his playoff career high with 45 points and the Los Angeles Clippers forced a Game 7 with a 104-97 win at Dallas. Leonard scored eight straight LA points, including back-to-back 3-pointers for a 98-90 lead with 1:41 remaining. The Clippers trailed for long stretches before going in front for good with six minutes left on a jumper by Paul George, who had 20 points and 13 rebounds.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Boston Red Sox were winners in the first of their 19 meetings with the New York Yankees this season. Rafael Devers banged out a three-run homer in the first inning and Nathan Eovaldi won his third straight start as the Red Sox earned a 5-2 victory in the Bronx. Marwin González added a two-run double to help the Sox end an 11-game losing streak in the Bronx since June 2019.
ATLANTA (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers erupted for eight runs in the fifth inning of a 9-5 win over the Atlanta Braves. Chris Taylor capped the huge rally with a three-run double that gave Los Angeles an 8-1 lead. Pitcher Julio Urias drove in a fifth-inning run with a bunt single for the Dodgers, who won easily despite collecting just four hits, all in the fifth.
FRIDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
Final Oakland 9 Colorado 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Boston 5 N.Y. Yankees 2
Final Baltimore 3 Cleveland 1
Final Houston 13 Toronto 1
Final Texas 5 Tampa Bay 4
Final Kansas City 14 Minnesota 5
Final Chicago White Sox 9 Detroit 8
Final L.A. Angels 3 Seattle 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Washington 2 Philadelphia 1
Final Pittsburgh 9 Miami 2
Final Milwaukee 5 Arizona 1
Final L.A. Dodgers 9 Atlanta 5
Final Cincinnati 6 St. Louis 4
Final San Francisco 8 Chicago Cubs 5
Final San Diego 2 N.Y. Mets 0
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Final L.A. Clippers 104 Dallas 97
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Montreal 1 Winnipeg 0
Final Vegas 3 Colorado 2