MLB
Carlos Carrasco picked up his first win for Cleveland since 2020 and Andrés Giménez had two RBIs to lead the Guardians to a 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Cleveland took three of four from Boston and improved to a Central Division-best 13-6. The Guardians are 10-3 on the road. After starting the season with seven wins in 10 road games, the Red Sox went 3-7 on their first homestand of the season. Carrasco allowed two hits in 5 2/3 innings. Emmanuel Clase pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save as the Guardians won three games in a series at Boston for the first time since 2000.
Ryan Pepiot allowed one run and three hits in six strong innings, Amed Rosario hit an RBI triple in Tampa Bay’s two-run first and the Rays split their four-game series with a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Pepiot struck out seven and walked three. Colin Poche, the third Rays reliever, worked out of a jam with two on and two outs in the ninth for his second save in three chances. Rosario extended his hitting streak to 10 games with his RBI triple. The Angels got within 2-1 in the sixth when Mike Trout scored on Miguel Sanó‘s sacrifice fly. Angels starter Griffin Canning allowed two runs and four hits over 5 1/3 innings.
Leody Taveras scored the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice in the eighth inning and added an RBI single in the ninth to lead the Texas Rangers to a 9-7 victory over the Detroit Tigers Thursday. Taveras doubled with one out, advanced to third on Marcus Semien’s fielder’s choice grounder and scored on Corey Seager’s grounder to break a 7-all tie. Taveras added an insurance run with a two-out hit in the ninth. Jose Leclerc (1-2) got the win for Texas, which won three out of four games in Detroit. Shelby Miller (3-2) took the loss for the second straight day.
Logan Webb retired 19 straight batters on his way to seven smooth innings and the San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 to open a four-game series. Webb struck out five and induced 13 groundball outs, allowing just two hits and a walk in a game that took only 2 hours, 12 minutes. Wilmer Flores had a pinch-hit, two-run double in the eighth and Mike Yastrzemski added a two-run single. LaMonte Wade Jr. delivered a sacrifice fly in the third. Jung Hoo Lee singled twice to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. San Francisco earned its first shutout of the season, while Arizona was blanked for the first time and fell to 1-6 in series openers.
Miami at Chi Cubs 7:40 p.m. (Postponed)
NBA
All four teams in the finals of the NBA play-in tournament on Friday night are dealing with injury issues. Chicago goes to Miami and then Sacramento plays at New Orleans. The winner of the Bulls-Heat game meets Boston in Round 1 and the Kings-Pelicans winner meets Oklahoma City. The Heat will be without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier for their game against the Bulls, who had guard Alex Caruso go down to a sprained ankle in Wednesday’s win over Atlanta. The Pelicans will be without Zion Williamson because of a hamstring injury.
General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. and the rest of Golden State’s front office staff had a feeling this season would wind up short of the ultimate goal. That’s the way the season went for Stephen Curry and Co. — losing big leads, making costly mistakes, repeatedly unable to deliver the big defensive stop when it mattered most. After the Warriors lost at Sacramento in the play-in tournament on Tuesday night, Dunleavy now has to try to improve the team while also fulfilling his stated goal of bringing veteran Klay Thompson back. The Warriors have won four titles in the past decade with their now-aging core of Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green.
NHL
There is no prohibitive favorite to win the Stanley Cup as the NHL playoffs begin this weekend. The Islanders will take on the Hurricanes tomorrow at 5 p.m. Carolina gets the slight edge after the Hurricanes won 16 of their final 21 games and look every bit like a team poised for a long run. Meanwhile, the Bruins face off against the Maple Leafs tomorrow/Saturday night at 8, and the Rangers battle the Capitals on Sunday afternoon at 3.
Tye Kartye tipped in a slap shot by Oliver Bjorkstrand for the tiebreaking goal with 2:40 remaining, and the Seattle Kraken beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 to wrap up the regular season for two teams that missed the playoffs. Brock Faber answered Yanni Gourde’s empty-netter with 1:46 left by scoring for the Wild on a 6-on-4 power play with 1:05 left and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury pulled. Kraken goalie Joey Daccord and the defense held up. Kirill Kaprizov scored his 46th goal for the Wild to finish with 96 points for the second-most in club history.
Nikita Chibrikov scored the game-winner in his NHL debut and Cole Perfetti added two goals as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 Thursday night in the regular-season finale for the playoff-bound teams. Gabe Vilardi also scored for the Jets, who won won two of the three games against the Canucks this season. Laurent Brossoit made 18 saves for his 15th win of the season in his 23rd game. Conor Garland had a goal and assist for the Canucks (50-23-9). Elias Lindholm added a power-play goal. Thatcher Demko stopped 22 of 25 shots in his second straight start in net for Vancouver after returning from a 14-game absence because of a knee injury.
Blake Coleman scored his 30th goal and MacKenzie Weegar netted his 20th as the Calgary Flames beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1 on Thursday night in the season-ending game for both teams. Adam Klapka posted his first NHL goal and Oliver Kylington, and Kevin Rooney also scored for Calgary. Dustin Wolf had 16 saves and lost his shutout bid with nine seconds left in the game. Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which finished with the worst record in the NHL.
Valeri Nichushkin scored twice, Nathan MacKinnon added two assists to break the franchise’s single-season points mark and the Colorado Avalanche cruise into the playoffs behind a 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers. MacKinnon wrapped up the regular season with 140 points (51 goals, 89 assists) to top Peter Stastny’s franchise record of 139 points set in 1981-82 when the club was in Quebec. The speedy MacKinnon couldn’t catch Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov in the race for the Art Ross Trophy, which goes to the leading points scorer. Kucherov wound up with 144 points. Mikko Rantanen, Josh Manson and Zach Parise also scored for Colorado. Dylan Holloway had a power-play goal for the playoff-bound Oilers who rested several starters including Connor McDavid.
Frank Vatrano scored three goals and the Anaheim Ducks finished their season on a high note, defeating the playoff-bound Vegas Golden Knights 4-1. Vegas’ three-game winning streak ended and the loss knocked the Golden Knights out of third place in the Pacific Division and into the second Western Conference wild card when Los Angeles earned a point by getting to overtime against Chicago. The defending Stanley Cup champions will face top seed Dallas in the first round, while the Kings play Edmonton. Vatrano’s goals gave him 37 for the season, a career high. It was his third hat trick this season and the sixth of his career.
The Los Angeles Kings earned a playoff rematch with Edmonton by jumping into third place in the Pacific Division with a 5-4 overtime victory against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Kings took a two-goal lead into the third period, but promptly blew it when Chicago scored three times in five minutes. But the Kings finally evened it when Viktor Arvidsson scored his second goal of the night with goalie Cam Talbot pulled for an extra attacker. With third place secured by the single point for reaching overtime, Adrian Kempe then won the game with an unassisted goal just six seconds into OT.
NFL
The 2024 NFL draft has the potential to set a record for most players on offense selected in the first round. No draft has seen more than 19 players on offense chosen in the first round. That happened three times, most recently in 2009. Many draft experts are predicting more than 20 offensive players will go in the first round and some have up to 25. The AP’s final mock draft had 22 going in the first round, including 10 offensive linemen, six wide receivers, five quarterbacks and one tight end. Only once in the past 57 years have the first seven picks all been offensive players. That happened in 2021.
NCAA
Utah and Florida clinched the remaining two spots at the NCAA women’s gymnastics championship on Thursday night, denying No. 1 overall seed Oklahoma a chance at a three-peat. Utah took the lead on the first rotation after posting a season-high 49.6375 on the beam — with a 9.950 from Abby Paulson and Malie O’Keefe. Jaylene Gilstrap and O’Keefe also posted 9.950 on the floor to keep Utah in front. The Utes finished with 197.9375 points, while the Gators had 197.8750 for the fifth-highest score in program history at the championships. Defending champion Oklahoma suffered from five falls to place third with 196.6625, followed by Alabama (196.4125). Fifth-seeded Utah and No. 4 Florida join No. 2 LSU and No. 3 California in Saturday’s finals.
SOCCER
Israel's national amputee soccer team is heading to France for the 2024 European Amputee Football Championships in June. The team lineup includes two Israeli soldiers who were seriously wounded and lost limbs during the war in Gaza sparked when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7. Another team member was wounded in the militants' attack on the Tribe of Nova music festival. Amputee soccer teams have six field players who are missing lower limbs and a goalkeeper with a missing upper extremity. Sixteen teams, mostly from Europe, will participate in the competition.
CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP
Nelly Korda, who is looking to tie an LPGA Tour record with her fifth straight win, shot a 4-under 68 in the opening round of the Chevron Championship. That leaves her two shots behind leader Lauren Coughlin in the year’s first major. The top-ranked Korda is seeking her second major after winning the Women’s PGA Championship in 2021. She could join Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA events. The 31-year-old Coughlin has never won on the LPGA Tour and shot a bogey-free 66.
MASTERS
Scottie Scheffler is wiped out from his emotional Masters win and he's already back to work. He hit a shank. He was annoyed by mud balls. He still managed a 69 and trails J.T. Poston by six shots after the first round of the RBC Heritage. Poston ran off six birdies over seven holes for his great start. He leads Collin Morikawa and Seamus Power by two shots. Masters runner-up Ludvig Aberg is another shot behind. Scheffler didn't have much time to prepare and says he was giving himself some grace for not playing at his typical level.
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