NBA
Tyrese Maxey saved Philadelphia from elimination with seven points in the final 25 seconds of regulation, finished with 46 and led the 76ers to a 112-106 overtime victory over the New York Knicks in Game 5 of their first-round series. The 76ers trailed by six points with 28 seconds remaining in regulation before Maxey pulled out a comeback that evoked memories of Reggie Miller’s eight points in nine seconds for Indiana at Madison Square Garden in 1995. The All-Star guard converted a four-point play with 25 seconds remaining to cut it to two, and after Josh Hart’s free throw, pulled up from 35 feet to tie it at 97 with 8.1 seconds left. Game 6 is Thursday night at 9 in Philadelphia, with the Knicks holding a three games to two lead.
Elsewhere, Boston takes a 3-games-to 1 lead into game 5 tonight at home against Miami at 7:30 p.m.
Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points, Evan Mobley blocked Franz Wagner’s layup in the final seconds and the Cleveland Cavaliers survived a scare from Orlando, holding off Paolo Banchero and the Magic 104-103 in Game 5. Cleveland leads the series 3-2. Game 6 is Friday in Orlando. The Cavs, who were embarrassed by the Magic while dropping two games in Orlando last week, regrouped inside roaring Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. It took everything they had. After Mitchell missed a jumper with 15.7 seconds left, Wagner drove the left side from a potential game-tying layup but was denied at the rim with 6 seconds left by Mobley. Playing in just his fifth postseason game, the 21-year-old Banchero had 39 points and looked like a savvy veteran. He scored 16 in the fourth.
Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis each scored 29 points and the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks kept their season alive by routing the Indiana Pacers 115-92 in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Portis had the highest point total of his playoff career and added 10 rebounds to make amends two nights after he got ejected from a Game 4 loss. The Pacers still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Thursday in Indianapolis. The Bucks again were playing without injured stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
Kawhi Leonard will miss Game 5 of the Los Angeles Clippers’ tight first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night due to right knee inflammation. Leonard was ruled out by Clippers coach Tyronn Lue on Tuesday. The six-time All-Star will sit out for the third time in the series’ five games. Leonard missed Game 1 and Game 4 of the series after missing the final eight games of the regular season with right knee pain. Leonard returned to play in the second and third games of the series, but managed just 24 points in the two games while failing to make a 3-pointer.
NHL
Jack Drury scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Stefan Noesen cleaned up a fluky puck bounce off the boards for another 8 seconds later as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 6-3 . That clinched their first-round NHL playoff series in five games. The Hurricanes twice held two-goal leads and entered the final 20 minutes in a 3-3 tie. Teuvo Teravainen, Andrei Svechnikov, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Seth Jarvis also scored for Carolina. Mike Reilly, Brock Nelson and Casey Cizikas scored for the Islanders. Carolina next faces the New York Rangers.
Matthew Knies scored in less than three minutes into overtime off a feed from John Tavares and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 to stave off elimination in their first-round playoff matchup. Jake McCabe added a goal and Joseph Woll finished with 28 saves to help Toronto cut Boston’s lead in the series to 3-2. Ilya Lyubushkin, Max Domi, Mitch Marner had assists for the Maple Leafs, who outshot the Bruins 33-28. Trent Frederic scored for Boston. Jeremy Swayman finished with 31 saves. Game 6 is set for Thursday night at 8 in Toronto.
Mikko Rantanen scored his first two goals of the playoffs in the third period, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 6-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets that clinched their opening-round playoff series in five games. Rantanen, who had an assist, scored twice in a span of just under four minutes early in the third period to snap a 3-3 tie. Valeri Nichushkin, Yakov Trenin, Artturi Lehkonen and Josh Manson also scored for the Avalanche, who will play the winner of the series between Dallas and Vegas. Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey and Tyler Toffoli scored for the Jets.
Roman Josi and Alexandre Carrier scored and the Nashville Predators kept their season alive with a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series. Filip Forsberg assisted on both goals and Juuse Saros made 19 saves as the Predators narrowed their deficit in the best-of-seven matchup to 3-2. Nikita Zadorov scored for the Canucks and rookie goalie Arturs Silovs stopped 20 shots. The series returns to Nashville for Game 6 on Friday night.
MLB
DJ Stewart hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth inning to lift the New York Mets to a 4-2 win over the Chicago Cubs. Stewart had just three hits in his previous 23 at-bats before homering into the second deck in right field against Adbert Alzolay to give New York a 4-1 lead. Stewart gazed toward the home dugout before flipping his bat like a baton upon beginning his trot. Sean Reid-Foley tossed a hitless sixth for the win. Jorge López earned his second save after giving up a run in the ninth.
Dean Kremer pitched seven innings of two-run ball, Adley Rutschman extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the New York Yankees 4-2. Baltimore won the first two games of a four-game series between the AL East’s top teams and opened a one-game AL East lead, the largest this season for the defending division champion. Juan Soto hit a 447-foot homer and Austin Wells also had a solo drive for the Yankees, which has lost four of six and scored just two runs in the series.
Rookie Wilyer Abreu had a single, double and his first career triple, Cooper Criswell pitched five scoreless innings and the Boston Red Sox beat the San Francisco Giants 4-0 for their major league-leading sixth shutout. The Red Sox quickly ended Giants ace Logan Webb’s streak of 19 straight scoreless innings with an RBI single by Rob Refsnyder. Webb allowed four runs and nine hits with four strikeouts and three walks in 3 2/3 innings. Criswell (2-1) held the Giants to just two hits and struck out four.
Johan Rojas hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the ninth inning moments after Nick Castellanos’ tying shot, sending the Philadelphia Phillies to a 7-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. Trailing 5-4 with one out and nobody on base in the ninth, the Phillies avoided only their second back-to-back losses since March with three extra-base hits on five pitches from Angels closer Carlos Estévez. Luis Rengifo hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning for the Angels, who began another chapter of life without Mike Trout with an appropriately gut-wrenching defeat. Los Angeles has lost 10 of 12.
JJ Bleday hit a go-ahead home run with one out in the fifth and a two-run drive in the seventh for his first career multi-homer game, leading the Oakland Athletics past the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2. Mitch Spence struck out two over three scoreless innings for the win in relief of starter Alex Wood. The left-hander is still winless over four starts in Oakland since joining the club as a free agent Feb. 2 — and he is yet to pitch more than 5 2/3 innings having made seven 2024 starts. Connor Joe homered in the first and singled in the fifth for the Pirates.
Detroit Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty tied an American League record with seven straight strikeouts to open a game against St. Louis and finished with a career-high 14 in 6 2/3 innings before the Cardinals rallied in the ninth for a 2-1 win. Flaherty matched the record shared by Joe Cowley of the 1986 Chicago White Sox, Carlos Rodón of the 2016 White Sox, Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell in 2018 and Seattle’s Luis Castillo two years ago. Miami Marlins right-hander Pablo López set the major league record by striking out the first nine batters of a game in 2021.
Wenceel Pérez hit homers from both sides of the plate to help the Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-6 Tuesday night to split a doubleheader. The 24-year-old Dominican became the first rookie to clear the fences for the franchise hitting right and left-handed in the same game since Raúl Casanova in 1996. In the opener, Jack Flaherty tied an American League record with seven straight strikeouts to start a game and struck out a career-high 14 before St. Louis rallied against the bullpen with a two-run ninth inning to beat Detroit 2-1.
Jon Gray retired 22 of the last 23 batters he faced while limiting Washington to three singles over eight innings and the Texas Rangers won 7-1 to end the Nationals’ four-game winning streak. Josh Smith and Leody Taveras homered for the defending World Series champion Rangers. The 14-15 Nationals missed a chance to get over .500 for the first time since July 1, 2021. Gray struck out three without a walk, throwing 72 of his 98 pitches for strikes before rookie Cole Winn pitched the ninth. Washington starter MacKenzie Gore struck out seven, walked one and allowed two runs over five innings.
Willy Adames hit a three-run homer and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-2 in a game that included a nasty fight between the teams. The fracas ensued after Jose Siri and Brewers reliever Abner Uribe exchanged heated words near first base in the eighth inning. Uribe threw a punch at Siri, who then took a wild swing at the pitcher as both dugouts and bullpens emptied. The animosity between Siri and the Brewers had been building all night. Siri took a long look at his home run in the third off Freddy Peralta, who drilled Siri with a 3-0 fastball in the sixth. That led to Peralta and Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy getting ejected. Adames drove in four runs as the Brewers snapped their three-game skid.
Mitch Garver hit a two-run game-ending home run in the ninth inning to give the Seattle Mariners a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Braves. A game that was dominated by spectacular pitching from Atlanta starter Max Fried and Seattle starter Bryce Miller ended with Garver tossing his bat in front of home plate to celebrate the first walk-off home run of his career. Jorge Polanco led off the ninth inning with a single on the first pitch from A.J. Minter. Garver worked the count to 3-2 and hit a cutter left in the middle of the plate by Minter out to left field for his third homer of the season.
Michael Massey hit a two-run home run, Cole Ragans struck out nine in a season-high 6 2/3 innings, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 to snap a three-game losing streak. Bobby Witt Jr. reached base three times and drove in a run as the Royals improved to 17-11 in April. It’s the most victories Kansas City has had in a month since going 17-9 in June 2017. Ragans allowed one run and four hits to improve to 2-2. Righty John Schreiber got four outs and right-hander James McArthur finished for his seventh save in eight chances. José Berríos took the loss.
Max Kepler drove in the tiebreaking run in the ninth inning for the second straight game, this time hitting a sacrifice fly, and the Minnesota Twins won their ninth in a row, 6-5 over the Chicago White Sox. Chicago’s Andrew Benintendi homered leading off the eighth to tie it at 5 after Minnesota scored twice in the top half. But the Twins pulled it out in the ninth. Byron Buxton walked and took third on Manuel Margot’s single. Kepler then put Minnesota on top with a sacrifice fly to center. Jhoan Duran pitched around a leadoff single by Tommy Pham in the bottom half and picked up the save.
Pinch-hitter Victor Caratini’s two-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning and Josh Hader’s first two-inning outing since 2019 lifted the Houston Astros over the Cleveland Guardians 10-9. Houston trailed by 1 after pinch-hitter David Fry’s RBI double off Josh Hader with two outs in the top of the inning. Caratini homered to right-center field off Hunter Gaddis to give the Astros a season-high three-game winning streak. They swept a two-game series over the Rockies in Mexico City last weekend.
Dane Myers hit a game-winning single in the 10th inning as the Miami Marlins overcame a five-run deficit and beat Colorado 7-6, making the Rockies the first team since 1900 to trail in each of its first 29 games. Miami bounced back from a 5-0 first-inning deficit by scoring five times in the ninth, then rallied from down 6-5 in the 10th and ended a seven-game losing streak. The Rockies had lost Sunday and joined the 1910 St. Louis Browns as the only teams to trail in each of their first 28 games.
Yu Darvish earned his first win of the season, pitching five shutout innings after coming off the injured list, and Manny Machado hit a three-run double as the San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-4 to halt a five-game slide. Darvish was in command throughout his outing, giving up three hits and no walks while striking out three. Reds manager David Bell was ejected after the seventh following a heated exchange with plate umpire Cory Blaser. The Padres scored four times in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead. Machado’s bases-loaded double came off starter Nick Martinez, who pitched for the Padres the past two seasons. San Diego’s first run came in the third when Jake Cronenworth singled in Fernando Tatis Jr., who doubled.
Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages both hit two-run doubles in a big fifth inning, Will Smith added a solo homer and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-4. Pages finished with three RBIs, the second time he had that many in 12 career games. The 23-year-old rookie pushed his hitting streak to seven games and is batting .298 with an .846 OPS since his big league debut on April 16. Shohei Ohtani had two singles, a walk and an RBI. The Dodgers have won seven of eight. The D-backs have dropped four of five.
Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout will have surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, sidelining the three-time AL MVP indefinitely. The Angels believe Trout will be able to return this season, general manager Perry Minasian said while announcing the injury Tuesday. Trout is batting .220 with a major league-leading 10 homers, 14 RBIs and six stolen bases, but he will be sidelined by a major injury for the fourth consecutive season. Trout had an MRI after playing in the Angels’ 6-5 victory over Philadelphia on Monday. Trout’s latest injury is another major blow to the Angels, who lost Shohei Ohtani to free agency in the offseason.
Punches were thrown when a brawl broke out between the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers. The fracas ensued after Jose Siri grounded out against Brewers pitcher Abner Uribe leading off the eighth inning. Uribe and Siri exchanged words near first base and things quickly became heated. With an umpire standing between them trying to keep the peace, Uribe threw a punch at Siri, who then took a wild swing at the reliever as both dugouts and bullpens emptied quickly. The animosity between Siri and the Brewers had been building all night. He took a long look at his home run in the third off Freddy Peralta, who drilled Siri with a 3-0 fastball in the sixth. That led to Peralta and Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy getting ejected.
A swarm of bees created quite a baseball buzzkill in the desert. The start of Tuesday night’s game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks was delayed nearly two hours after a bee colony swarmed the top of the protective netting behind home plate. It took more than an hour before a beekeeper arrived and was scissor-lifted to the swarm. He safely removed the bees and pumped his fist to the cheering crowd as he lowered back to the field. The game was delayed nearly 90 minutes and the players were given an extra 30 minutes to loosen back up before first pitch.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Vinícius Júnior has scored twice for Real Madrid to draw 2-2 at Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal. The Brazil forward opened the scoring against the run of play in the 24th minute, and equalized with a coolly taken penalty in the 83rd after Leroy Sané and Harry Kane had scored for Bayern. Kane’s goal, another penalty, was the England forward’s 43rd goal in 43 games for Bayern this season. The return leg is in Madrid on May 8. The winners of the two-leg semifinal will play either Borussia Dortmund or Paris Saint-Germain in the final in London on June 1.
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