KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Salvador Perez tied Johnny Bench’s record for homers in a season by a catcher with his 45th, but Chad Pinder’s two-run single spurred a third-inning rally and the Oakland Athletics held off the Kansas City Royals 7-2. Perez hit a two-run homer in the first inning, matching Bench’s total from 1970 for the most by a player who played at least 75% of his team’s games at catcher. Perez is tied with Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the major league lead in homers and also leads the bigs with 112 RBIs. Pinder delivered a two-out hit during a four-run third inning in which Oakland had seven runners reach base — with just two hits.
NEW YORK (AP) — On the morning of the trade deadline in late July, the St. Louis Cardinals were a .500 team sitting 7 1/2 games outside a playoff spot. Their next move? Trading for a pair of struggling starting pitchers in their late 30s: Jon Lester and J.A. Happ. That raised a lot of eyebrows, to put it mildly. But seven weeks later, look how high these Cardinals have climbed. Riding a top-notch defense and the ageless arm of 40-year-old Adam Wainwright atop a graybeard rotation, St. Louis has soared into postseason position with its recent surge. The confident Cardinals hold the second NL wild card by one game over San Diego heading into a pivotal series against the Padres this weekend.
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Third-ranked Oklahoma will host Nebraska this weekend in the first meeting between the two former rivals since 2010. The game comes 50 years after their famous Game of the Century on Thanksgiving Day in 1971. That was a 1-2 matchup won by the Cornhuskers. This game doesn't have that kind of impact and the programs play in different conferences now. Nebraska has struggled recently but has a chance to pull a monumental upset.
UNDATED (AP) — Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson are ready to face off again. This is the fourth straight season Baltimore and Kansas City are playing each other. Jackson has yet to beat Mahomes and the Chiefs. The Baltimore quarterback is 30-5 as a starter in the regular season against everybody else. The Ravens will be at home for Sunday night’s game, but Kansas City won 34-20 at Baltimore last year, and the Chiefs have 11 straight regular-season road victories overall. The Ravens are trying to avoid an 0-2 start after losing their opener for the first time since 2015.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — All-Pro safety Tyrann Mathieu was cleared the day before the Chiefs beat the Browns 33-29 at Arrowhead Stadium, and coach Andy Reid made the prudent decision to hold him out after missing nearly two weeks of practice. And while Mathieu would have loved to be on the field last weekend, he acknowledged that the coaching staff made the right decision. Mathieu has been practicing all week, though, and will be on the field when the Chiefs visit the Ravens for a Sunday night showcase.
An offside call gave Dustin Hopkins a second chance to hit a game-winning field goal on the final play of Washington's 30-29 win over the New York Giants. Hopkins missed on a 48-yard attempt, but the play was nullified by a penalty on Dexter Lawrence. Taylor Heinicke led the winning drive and finished with 336 yards passing and two touchdowns.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Dave Aranda should know how Kansas coach Lance Leipold must feel these days. He got thrown into a rebuilding job at a Division I school in the midst of a pandemic that has made just about everything a little more challenging. But the job that Aranda took on last season at Baylor may have been even easier than Leipold's situation at Kansas. He took over in the midst of spring football. And now, just five months later, he's ready to face the Bears in his first Big 12 game.
SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Mariners have been given the 2023 All-Star Game by Major League Baseball. The announcement was made inside the Space Needle with Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez looking on. Seattle’s first All-Star Game was in 1979 at the Kingdome, and it hosted again 22 years later in 2001 at Safeco Field.
THURSDAY SCORES
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final L.A. Angels 9 Chicago White Sox 3
Final Oakland 7 Kansas City 2
Final Baltimore 3 N.Y. Yankees 2
Final Tampa Bay 5 Detroit 2
Final Houston 12 Texas 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Colorado at Atlanta 12:20 p.m. (Postponed)
Final Cincinnati 1 Pittsburgh 0
Final San Diego 7 San Francisco 4
Final Philadelphia 17 Chicago Cubs 8
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Final Washington 30 N-Y Giants 29