KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-run homer to give Michael Wacha all the support he needed as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Chicago White Sox 2-1. It was the third straight quality start for Wacha who allowed just three hits in seven innings, walked one and struck out five. The Royals won for the 14th time in their last 16 games and lead the majors with 18 quality starts. The White Sox got a run in the ninth off Carlos Estevez on a single by Luis Robert, but left the tying run stranded at third. Jonathan Cannon (2-4) took the loss, allowing two runs and nine hits in six innings.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Sonny Gray pitched seven innings of two-hit ball, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the slumping Pittsburgh Pirates 5-0 for their fifth straight victory. Gray struck out eight and walked one in his first win since April 14. The right-hander went 0-1 with a 5.51 ERA in his previous three starts. The Cardinals returned to .500 at 18-18, including a 15-6 record at home. They are 4-2 against the Pirates this year after finishing a three-game sweep. Masyn Winn hit two RBI doubles. Lars Nootbaar had three hits, and Victor Scott II scored all the way from first twice. The Pirates have lost seven in a row and 10 of 11 overall.
BOSTON (AP) — Mikal Bridges scored all of his 14 points in the fourth quarter before making his second straight game-clinching steal, and the New York Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit again to beat the Boston Celtics 91-90 on Wednesday night for a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Jalen Brunson scored 17 points for New York and made two free throws with 12.7 seconds left for a 91-90 lead. Jayson Tatum then couldn’t get to the rim and Bridges moved in to bat the ball away and recover it. Josh Hart had 23 points and Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 21 points and 17 rebounds for the Knicks, who will host Game 3 on Saturday.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled past the Denver Nuggets 149-106 in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series. Oklahoma City set an NBA playoff record for first-half points with 87 on its way to evening the series at a win apiece. The Thunder tied the record for points in any half of a playoff game. Milwaukee had 87 in the second half against Denver on April 23, 1978. Nikola Jokic, who had 42 points and 22 rebounds in Game 1, had 17 points and eight rebounds on Wednesday before fouling out.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Golden State Warriors are planning to play without Stephen Curry for at least the next three games of their second-round series against Minnesota. An MRI on Wednesday confirmed a mild strain of the star guard’s left hamstring. The Warriors said Curry would be sidelined at least a week after the injury forced him out early in the second quarter of the Game 1 win. He had 13 points in 13 minutes to help Golden State take home-court advantage away from the Timberwolves. Game 2 is Thursday. The earliest return for Curry appears to be Game 5 on May 14.
UNDATED (AP) — Attorneys handling the $2.8 billion NCAA settlement are proposing a massive do-over when it comes to roster limits. They want schools to offer athletes who lost their spots a chance to be on teams without counting against the new caps for as long as they have eligibility. Those players can be invited back to compete for roster spots or go to new schools. The proposal would also give this exemption to high school recruits who were promised spots that were later rescinded and would last for as long as those players are eligible in college.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah quarterback Cam Rising says he's giving up playing football because of his struggle to recover from a hand injury early last season. Rising says in a social media post that he's been advised by two orthopedic surgeons that he'll never be able to return to playing football. He says that while he'll seek a third opinion and proceed with recommended surgery and reheb, he “will be forced to medically retire from the game." Rising played parts of four seasons at Utah between 2020 and 2024. The 2022 season was his best. The Ventura, California, native passed for 3,034 yards and 26 touchdowns in leading the Utes to a Rose Bowl berth.
UNDATED (AP) — Pending approval, the $2.8 billion House settlement will allow schools to share revenue with athletes directly for use of their name, image and likeness. That could secure generational wealth for some but not others, and replacing scholarship caps with roster limitations is expected to leave walk-ons, partial scholarship earners, nonrevenue sport athletes and high school recruits at risk. There are deep concerns about the potential impact on sports that feed the U.S. Olympic teams. Some athletes say they have little knowledge of what's happening now, much less what's ahead.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers have run out of patience with wide receiver George Pickens. The team has agreed on a trade that sends the talented but mercurial 24-year-old to the Dallas Cowboys. The Steelers will get a third-round pick in the 2026 draft and a fifth-rounder in 2027. The Cowboys get a sixth-round choice in two years. Pickens has spent his first three seasons in the NFL being equal parts productive and petulant, mixing highlight-reel catches with bouts of immaturity along the way. Pickens joins a Cowboys offense that could use another downfield threat to pair with star CeeDee Lamb.
TORONTO (AP) — Mitch Marner scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series. Max Pacioretty and Max Domi each had a goal and an assist, William Nylander also scored and Morgan Rielly added two assists for the Maple Leafs. Joseph Woll had 25 saves in place of the injured Anthony Stolarz. Anton Lundell had a goal and an assist, and Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand also scored for the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 16 saves. The best-of-seven matchup between Atlantic Division heavyweights now shifts to South Florida, with Game 3 set for Friday.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Mikko Rantanen had a natural hat trick in the second period, Jake Oettinger stopped 30 shots and the Dallas Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the second-round series. Nino Niederreiter and Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets, who had won four in a row at Canada Life Centre. Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves. Scheifele returned after sustaining an upper-body injury in Game 5 in the first round against St. Louis. Dallas forward Jason Robertson was back after injuring a knee in the final game of the regular season. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night in Winnipeg.
The NHL team in Salt Lake City is now known as the Utah Mammoth. Owners Ryan and Ashley Smith unveiled the franchise’s permanent name Wednesday after more than a year of fan input and voting. Mammoth replaces the inaugural season placeholder name Utah Hockey Club, which was also one of the three finalists, along with Outlaws. Yeti was taken out of consideration when the cooler company bearing that name could not come to a copyright agreement with Utah ownership. The Mammoth are maintaining the same black, light blue and white color scheme and the road jerseys with UTAH diagonally down the front.
WEDNESDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Final Cleveland 8 Washington 6
Final Houston 9 Milwaukee 1
Final Philadelphia 7 Tampa Bay 0
Final N.Y. Yankees 4 San Diego 3
Final Detroit 8 Colorado 6
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Seattle 6 Athletics 5
Final Boston 6 Texas 4
Final Kansas City 2 Chicago White Sox 1
Final Minnesota 5 Baltimore 2
Final L.A. Angels 5 Toronto 4
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final St. Louis 5 Pittsburgh 0
Final San Francisco 3 Chicago Cubs 1
Final N.Y. Mets 7 Arizona 1
Final L.A. Dodgers 10 Miami 1
Final Cincinnati 4 Atlanta 3
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Final New York 91 Boston 90
Final Oklahoma City 149 Denver 106
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Toronto 4 Florida 3
Final Dallas 3 Winnipeg 2