STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS:
The New York Rangers couldn’t have picked a better time to finally beat the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh.
The Rangers are in the Eastern Conference finals after taking Game 7 of their second-round series with the Hurricanes, 6-2.
Chris Kreider scored twice and Igor Shesterkin stopped 36 shots to help the Rangers become the only road team to win a game in the series. Kreider and Adam Fox provided power-play goals to put the Blueshirts ahead, 2-0 eight minutes into the game. Ryan Strome, Filip Chytil and Andrew Copp also tallied for the Rangers, who will face the Lightning in the next round. Mika Zibanejad set up three goals.
Tony DeAngelo and Max Domi had third-period goals for the Hurricanes, who finished the game without goaltender Antti Raanta and forward Seth Jarvis because of injuries.
The Rangers host the Lightning in Game 1 of the conference finals on Wednesday.
MLB:
The New York Mets have the largest division lead in the majors, but they couldn’t string together four straight wins until Memorial Day.
Starling Marte and Nick Plummer each homered and finished with four RBIs as the Mets followed their weekend sweep of the Phillies by clobbering the Nationals, 13-5. Plummer was productive one night after hitting a game-tying homer in the ninth inning for his first major league hit.
Francisco Lindor had run-scoring singles in his first two at-bats, giving him RBIs in eight straight games.
Pete Alonso homered leading off the eighth for the Mets’ season-high 13th run, giving him 30 RBIs this month.
The outcome gives the Mets a 33-17 record and a 9 1/2-game lead over the second-place Braves in the NL East.
In other Memorial Day MLB action:
The Braves were 6-2 losers to the Diamondbacks as Pavin Smith belted a three-run homer and Ketel Marte delivered a two-run homer. Zac Gallen is 4-0 after allowing two runs and seven hits with six strikeouts over 5 2/3s. Austin Riley hit a solo homer for Atlanta.
The Pirates wasted a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning before scoring twice in the ninth to beat the Dodgers for the third time in four meetings this season, 6-5. Michael Perez singled in the tying run and pinch-runner Michael Chavis scored the go-ahead run on Freddie Freeman’s error. Tucupita Marcano slammed his first major league homer, a three-run blast that put Pittsburgh ahead, 3-0 in the second inning.
Luis Urias slammed a three-run homer in the seventh inning to break a 4-4 deadlock in the Brewers’ 7-6 win over the Cubs in Game 1 of a split doubleheader. Milwaukee put two runners on base off Daniel Norris with two out before Urias parked a shot into the basket in left field. The Cubs led 4-2 in the sixth before Tyrone Taylor’s two-run homer.
Tyrone Taylor also went deep in the nightcap to help Milwaukee secure a 3-1 victory and a twinbill sweep of the Cubs. Aaron Ashby fanned a career-high 12 while limiting Chicago to a run and five hits over six innings. Victor Caratini hit a tiebreaking home run in the fifth inning against his former team, and the Brewers won their third in a row while getting just three hits in the nightcap.
St. Louis knocked off the Padres, 6-3 as Nolan Gorman smacked a go-ahead, two-run homer to help Andre Pallante get his first win in 17 big league appearances. Pallante allowed one run and five hits over 3 1/3 innings of relief, recording a career-high five strikeouts and no walks. Paul Goldschmidt ran his hitting streak to 21 games by belting his fifth homer in seven games.
The Giants pulled out a 5-4 win over the Phillies on Curt Casali’s two-run homer in the 10th inning. Wilmer Flores and Evan Longoria also homered for the Giants, and Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos and Rhys Hoskins went deep for the Phillies. Philadelphia has dropped 11 of 15 to fall seven games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2017 season.
Pinch-hitter Yonathan Daza laced a three-run double and had four RBIs as the Rockies thumped the Marlins, 7-1. Garrett Hampson had a two-run triple and Brendan Rodgers singled in the bottom of the eighth inning to extend his career-long hitting streak to 17 games. Colorado starter Ryan Feltner got his first big-league win, going seven innings and allowing four hits.
Yordan Álvarez crushed a pair of tape-measure home runs and Framber Valdes was masterful in the Astros’ 5-1 win at Oakland. Álvarez belted a 469-foot drive and a 444-foot blast to give him 14 home runs this season. Valdes pitched a two-hitter in the majors’ seventh nine-inning complete game this season.
Eli White hit a homer and took one away as the Rangers knocked off the Rays, 9-5. The center fielder made a spectacular leaping catch to take away a three-run blast from Ji-Man Choi in the first inning and later hit a long home run. Jonah Heim also homered and Kole Calhoun drove in three runs for Texas.
Tyler Wells threw two-hit ball over six innings of the Orioles’ 10-0 rout of the Red Sox. Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías hit early homers and Anthony Santander added a three-run blast in the ninth to give Baltimore its third win in the five-game series. Rich Hill had gone 79 consecutive starts without allowing more than four runs before the Birds tagged him for six earned runs in four-plus innings.
Andrés Giménez hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning off rookie Collin Snider, sending the Guardians to a 7-3 win over the Royals. José Ramírez hit his 13th homer and drove in three more runs for Cleveland, raising his major league-leading total to 51 RBIs. Emmanuel Rivera homered for the Royals, who rallied in the eighth before falling to an AL-worst 16-31.
Jonathan Schoop joined exclusive company while finishing a homer shy of the cycle in the Tigers’ 7-5 downing of the Twins. Schoop joined Andruw Jones and Andrelton Simmons as the only players from Curaçao with 1,000 major league hits. Willy Castro had a pair of RBI singles for Detroit, which scored more than four runs for the first time since May 15.
MLB:
The Brewers have placed right-handed starter Brandon Woodruff on the 15-day injured list with a right high ankle sprain.
The two-time All-Star suffered the injury in his previous start, allowing two runs over four innings of a loss at St. Louis on Friday.
Woodruff is off to his worst start since becoming a fixture in Milwaukee’s rotation three years ago, opening 5-3 with a 4.74 ERA.
Elsewhere in the majors:
The White Sox have put right-handers Dylan Cease and Kendall Graveman on the restricted list ahead of a three-game series at Toronto. The Canadian government requires a person must have received a second vaccine dose — or one dose of Johnson & Johnson — at least 14 days prior to entering the country. Players who go on the restricted list because they are not vaccinated against COVID-19 are not paid and do not accrue major-league service time.
Royals veteran Zack Greinke has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a strained right forearm. The 38-year-old Greinke complained of tightness in his arm after surrendering three homers in four innings of Sunday’s 7-3 loss to the Twins. Greinke is 0-4 with 5.05 ERA this season.
Twins shortstop Carlos Correa tested positive for COVID-19 before Monday’s loss to the Tigers. Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli said Correa had not been feeling well but doesn’t have significant symptoms. Correa is hitting .279 with a .751 OPS in his first season with the Twins.
Cubs rookie outfielder Seiya Suzuki has landed on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left ring finger. Suzuki was injured while jamming his hand on the bag while stealing second in Thursday’s game against the Reds. Chicago also cut reliever Robert Gsellman and selected the contract of left-hander Brandon Hughes from Triple-A Iowa.
Rangers utilityman Brad Miller was put on the 10-day injured list with a right hip impingement. Miller was removed from Sunday’s game at Oakland with tightness in his hip in the fifth inning. He hit his seventh homer earlier in the game and his batting .228 with 23 RBIs in 41 games.
Kody Clemens has reached the majors. The 26-year-old son of seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens has been brought up by the Tigers. Clemens was hitting .283 with eight homers and 31 RBIs in 45 games as a utility infielder at Triple-A Toledo.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler stood just outside the third base dugout at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park for the national anthem on Monday, taking a break on Memorial Day from his protest against the direction of the nation. Kapler began his protest on Friday over “the lack of delivery of the promise of what our national anthem represents” following the shootings at a Texas elementary school.
NFL:
Arizona Cardinals defensive back Jeff Gladney has died in a car crash in Dallas. He was 25.
Gladney played at TCU and was a 2020 first-round draft pick of the Minnesota Vikings. He was released before the 2021 season after being charged with assaulting a woman.
The Cardinals signed Gladney in March after he was found not guilty in Dallas County, Texas.
FRENCH OPEN:
Iga Swiatek finally dropped a set on Monday, but the top women’s seed still advanced to the French Open quarterfinals.
Swiatek had won 20 consecutive sets before dropping a first set tiebreak to Zheng Qinwen of China. She lost just two games after that and took the last two sets, 6-0, 6-2 for her 32nd straight match victory.
Swiatek’s quarterfinal opponent will be 11th-seeded Jessica Pegula of the United States. Pegula made it to the quarterfinals for the first time by coming back to beat Irina-Camelia Begu 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Pegula is one of three Americans in the women’s quarters, along with Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens.
In other action at Roland Garros:
Veronika Kudermetova reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Madison Keys, ending the chances of four American women reaching the last eight at the French Open for the first time in two decades.
Daria Kasatkina was a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Camila Giorgi to earn the right to take on Kudermetova in the quarterfinals. Kasatkina won points on 68% of her first serves and fought off six break points while breaking Giorgi four times.
Marin Cilic pulled off the biggest stunner in the men’s bracket on Monday, dispatching second-seed Daniil Medvedev, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. Cilic broke serve five times and prevented Medvedev from earning his second straight berth in the French Open quarterfinals.
Danish teenager Holger Rune has eliminated 2021 French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach his first major quarterfinal in his Roland Garros debut. The 40th-ranked Rune beat fourth-seeded Tsitsipas 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Tsitsipas is the first member of the top eight seeds to leave the men’s bracket.
Rune will face Casper Ruud, who reached the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career by beating Hubert Hurkacz 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The eighth-seeded Ruud is the first man from Norway to get to the round of eight at the French Open.
Andrey Rublev is into the quarterfinals for the second time in three years after his fourth-round opponent, 11th-seeded Jannik Sinner, stopped playing because of a problem with his left leg. The seventh-seeded Rublev was leading 1-6, 6-4, 2-0 when Sinner retired.
MEN’S LACROSSE:
Maryland is the NCAA champion in men’s lacrosse for the fourth time after completing the first undefeated season since Virginia in 2006.
Anthony DeMaio scored four first-half goals for his fifth hat trick in his last six games, allowing the Terrapins to carry a 7-2 lead into the second half of a 9-7 win over Cornell. Logan McNaney made 17 saves to be named the NCAA Tournament’s most outstanding player.
The Terps went 18-0 this season and are 33-1 over the last two years, with the lone loss coming against Virginia in last year’s title game.
CHELSEA SALE:
Roman Abramovich has completed the sale of the British soccer team Chelsea to a consortium fronted by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly.
The $3.2 billion sale price is the highest ever for a sports team.
Abramovich owned the team for 19 years and was forced to sell the club after being sanctioned over his links to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine.
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