NBA
Kristaps Porzingis has a dislocated tendon in his lower left leg but hasn’t been ruled out for Game 3 of the NBA Finals for the Boston Celtics against the Dallas Mavericks. The team says the injury to Porzingis occurred in the third quarter of Boston’s 105-98 victory in Game 2. It's unrelated to the right calf strain that sidelined the 7-foot-2 Latvian for 10 consecutive playoff games. The team calls the injury rare and says Porzingis’ availability is day-to-day. Boston takes a 2-0 series lead into Game 3 at 8:30 tonight in Dallas.
There have been two versions of Jayson Tatum so far in the NBA Finals. Tatum is shooting a dismal 12 for 38 from the field, just 31.6%. That's the worst percentage by far of any starter in the series between his Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks. But Tatum is also second in the finals in total rebounds, leads the series in assists and, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, is currently favored to win the NBA Finals MVP award. Add them up, and the Celtics seem completely satisfied what they’re seeing from Tatum, as usual.
MLB
Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 25th home run with a 436-foot, two-run drive into the fountain behind the center-field seats, and the New York Yankees routed the Kansas City Royals 10-1 for their 11th win in 14 games. Giancarlo Stanton followed Judge with a 446-foot shot and Austin Wells hit a three-run homer. Judge hit his 21st homer in his last 41 games and also singled in New York’s first run. He raised his average to .309 and is hitting .419 with 44 RBIs in his last 35 games after batting .197 through May 2.
Tim Anderson returned from the bereavement list and produced his first two-hit game in three weeks, sparking the Miami Marlins to a 4-2 win over the New York Mets. The 2019 AL batting champion, who entered hitting .188 this season, had an RBI single in the second inning before singling and scoring in the fifth when Bryan De La Cruz doubled off the glove of Harrison Bader in deep center field. Jazz Chisholm Jr. scored the go-ahead run two batters later, when Jake Burger hit a hard smash and reached on a two-out throwing error by Mets third baseman Mark Vientos. Jesús Luzardo allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings for the win, and Tanner Scott earned the first six-out save of his career. Tylor Megill took the loss.
Kyle Schwarber homered on the first pitch of the game and added another solo shot in the fifth inning to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Zack Wheeler allowed three hits in seven innings for his eighth straight win. Phillies pitchers retired 14 straight batters before David Hamilton singled with one out in the ninth, but José Alvarado retired the next two batters for his 12th save. Bryson Stott also had two hits for the Phillies. They scored a pair of unearned runs when Boston first baseman Dominic Smith dropped an easy toss that should have ended the fourth inning.
Connor Joe and Oneil Cruz drove in ninth-inning runs, lifting the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Colin Holderman (2-0) gave up two hits but no runs in the eighth and David Bednar earned his 14th save by pitching the ninth despite giving up a leadoff home run to the Cardinals' Nolan Gorman. Both starters were splendid and neither gave up a run. The Cardinals' Miles Mikolas gave up one hit over seven innings, striking out six and walking one. He took a no-hitter into the seventh. Pittsburgh rookie Paul Skenes pitched 6 1/3 innings. He allowed five hits with eight strikeouts.
Jorge Mateo hit a three-run homer in his first plate appearance after returning to the lineup, and Albert Suarez allowed four hits in 5 1/3 innings to lead the Baltimore Orioles to their fifth straight win, 4-0 over the Atlanta Braves. Mateo was reinstated from the concussion injured list and played for the first time since he was hit in the head by teammate Cedric Mullins’ bat in a freak accident at the on-deck circle in a June 2 game. He hit a drive into the Baltimore bullpen in the second inning off Max Fried.
Brandon Lowe capped Tampa Bay’s four-run ninth inning with a three-run homer, lifting the Rays to a 5-2 victory over the struggling Chicago Cubs. Richie Palacios started the rally with a leadoff double against Héctor Neris. Ben Rortvedt reached on a one-out walk before José Caballero’s RBI single tied it at 2. Yandy Díaz then struck out swinging before Lowe drove a full-count pitch deep to right-center for his third homer of the season. Chris Devenski worked a scoreless ninth for the win.
Lane Thomas hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning and the Washington Nationals beat the Detroit Tigers 5-4 on Tuesday night. Andrew Chafin struck out C.J. Abrams to start the 10th, but Jacob Young took third and Abrams reached first when the pitch sailed past Tigers catcher Jake Rogers. Kyle Finnegan, who got the last out of the ninth, pitched a perfect 10th to get the win. Nationals starter Mitchell Parker allowed four unearned runs in 4 2/3 innings. Tigers starter Kenta Maeda allowed one run on one hit in four innings.
Josh Naylor hit his 17th homer and Tyler Freeman made two impressive defensive plays, helping the Cleveland Guardians beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 in the opener of the Ohio Cup series. Steven Kwan hit a two-run double for AL Central-leading Cleveland, which earned its third consecutive win. Triston McKenzie pitched 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball, and Emmanuel Clase worked a shaky ninth for his 20th save. The Guardians went ahead to stay with three runs in the third inning against Nick Martinez. Kwan hit a two-run double and scored on Naylor’s single.
Ezequiel Tovar hit a three-run homer, Cal Quantrill kept his strong run going with six scoreless innings and the Colorado Rockies held on to beat the Minnesota Twins 5-4. Quantrill, who’s allowed more than two runs just once in his last eight starts, gave up three hits and walked one, while striking out five batters. Twins reliever Caleb Thielbar didn't retire a batter, surrendered a walk and three hits, including Tovar's 11th homer of the season.
Yusei Kikuchi and four Toronto Blue Jays relievers combined to shut out the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0 on Tuesday night. Kikuchi (4-5) gave up three hits in five innings, walked four and struck out five to record consecutive wins for the first time since April. Closer Yimi Garcia got four outs to record his fifth save in six tries. George Springer, Spencer Horwitz and Danny Jansen had run-scoring hits for Toronto. Carlos Rodriguez became the eighth Brewers player to make their major league debut this season. The 22-year-old righthander also became the 12th different pitcher to make a start for Milwaukee through 67 games.
Ronel Blanco had eight strikeouts in six innings, Mauricio Dubon scored twice and the Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1. Blanco allowed one run on three hits and became the first pitcher in Astros history to go undefeated in his first nine career road starts, improving to 6-0 away from home. His eight strikeouts tied a season high.
Kyle Higashioka homered leading off the ninth inning and the San Diego Padres beat the Oakland Athletics 4-3. Fernando Tatis Jr. extended his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games, but Jurickson Profar, who entered second in the big leagues in batting and first in the NL in on-base percentage, hurt himself swinging at a pitch leading off the eighth. Profar was replaced by pinch-hitter David Peralta, who flied out to center. The Padres loaded the bases with two outs before Merrill Jackson flied out to left.
Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Jason Heyward homered in a seven-run sixth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers routed the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers 15-2. Will Smith blasted a three-run shot in the first, giving the Dodgers a lead they never relinquished. Their 15 runs were a season high. James Paxton earned the win after allowing one run and two hits over six innings. Rangers reliever Grant Anderson got battered in the sixth, giving up four homers and seven runs in two-thirds of an inning. Former Dodger Corey Seager sat out the series opener with a lingering hamstring issue.
Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer as part of a three-hit night, Corbin Carroll, Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. all added three more hits and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Angels 9-4 for their third straight win. Grichuk finished a single short of the cycle, while Carroll was a homer shy of the feat. Moreno hit two doubles and had two RBIs. No Diamondbacks player has hit for the cycle since Aaron Hill on June 29, 2012. Los Angeles' Taylor Ward had a solo homer and a double.
Cal Raleigh hit a go-ahead two-run double in the seventh inning and the Seattle Mariners earned a 4-3 comeback win over the Chicago White Sox. It was the second consecutive night that Raleigh drove in the winning run, after he hit a walk-off grand slam against Chicago on Monday. Andrew Vaughn and Paul DeJong hit back-to-back homers in the third to put Chicago up 3-1. Trent Thornton went 1 2/3 innings for the win, and Ryne Stanek pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
WNBA
Brittney Sykes scored 18 points in her first game since May 17, Ariel Atkins also had 18 points and the Washington Mystics won their first game of the season, beating the Atlanta Dream 87-68. Washington avoided tying the longest losing streak in franchise history with the 2012 team dropping 13 games in a row. Sykes, who had missed the past 10 games due to an ankle injury, went 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Rhyne Howard scored 16 points, Aerial Powers added 13 and Tina Charles had 12 points and nine rebounds for Atlanta.
Nneka Ogwumike scored a season-high 26 points against her former team, Jewell Loyd added 21 points and the Seattle Storm beat the Los Angeles Sparks 95-79 on Tuesday night. Seattle scored on four straight possessions down the stretch to seal it. Skylar Diggins-Smith finished with 19 points, five rebounds and six assists for Seattle. Sami Whitcomb made three 3-pointers to finish with nine points. Li Yueru scored a career-high 18 points for Los Angeles. Dearica Hamby had 16 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, and Aari McDonald added 15 points off the bench.
Alanna Smith scored 18 points, Kayla McBride had 16 points and eight assists, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Las Vegas Aces 100-86. All five starters for Minnesota scored in double figures. Bridget Carleton and Courtney Williams each scored 15 points, and Napheesa Collier had 14 points. Las Vegas lost for the third straight game to fall to 5-5 — its worst 10-game start to a season since 2018. A’ja Wilson led Las Vegas with 28 points to extend her WNBA record by scoring at least 20 points in 15 straight games.
NHL
As the Edmonton Oilers boarded their flight back to Alberta for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday, the Florida Panthers remained in South Florida. They’ll fly out Wednesday, which gives them an extra day’s rest before a six-plus hour flight 2,543 miles to the other side of the continent. It helps that the NHL gave the teams two days of rest between Games 2 and 3, given this is the furthest distance between two teams in a final in NHL history. The series resumes with Game 3 in Edmonton on Thursday.
GOLF
Jon Rahm has withdrawn from the U.S. Open with a foot injury. Rahm says in a social media post that he has consulted doctors and it was best for the long run that he not play this week at Pinehurst No. 2. Rahm had to withdraw last week at a LIV event in Houston with an infection between the end toes on his left foot. He was hopeful antibiotics would help heal the infection and let him play. The U.S. Open begins Thursday morning at 6:45. Rahm told Spanish media he was worried about compensations to his swing if he tried to adjust for the injured foot.
Rory McIlroy showed up at the last major amid news he had filed for divorce. And then Tuesday at the next major came news McIlroy and wife Erica are staying together. McIlroy and his wife filed a voluntary notice of dismissal of their divorce proceedings on Tuesday in Palm Beach County, Florida. McIlroy says in a statement to The Guardian that they have realized their best future is as a family together. He says he's thankful they have resolved their differences and look forward to a new start.
Scottie Scheffler arrives at the U.S. Open with his peers in awe of what he's doing. Scheffler just won the Memorial. It's his fifth win of the year, all of them big tournaments against the best fields. No one has won that much before the U.S. Open since Tom Watson. How did he get this good? Scheffler has a collection of sweaty old caps he keeps in a gym. He's accumulated them since he was a teenager. And they remind him of all the hours he spent in the sun working on his game to reach No. 1 in golf.
Tiger Woods has never gone this long without seeing a major championship course he has played before. He last played Pinehurst No. 2 in a U.S. Open 19 years ago. So much has changed about the Donald Ross course. It now has Bermuda greens instead of bent. And the rough as been replaced by sandscapes. So much has changed about Woods, too. He's now 48 with a battered body. He hasn't won since the fall of 2020 and hasn't finished closer than 10 shots of a tournament winner in about three years. This is his first U.S. Open since 2020.
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Six years ago, Ilkay Gündogan’s place on the German national team was in question over a photograph with Turkey’s president. Now he’s the team captain. When Gündogan leads the German national team out against Scotland in the European Championship opener Friday, he will be its first captain of Turkish heritage at a major tournament. While Gündogan had to choose which country to represent on the field, fans can support both. The Turkish national team is also counting on enthusiastic support as it aims to get past the group stage for the first time since 2008.
CRICKET
The United States national cricket team already made a dent in the hierarchy of the game by beating Pakistan last week at the Twenty20 World Cup. The team’s next game is set for Wednesday against India outside New York at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium. The Americans aren’t expected to win that one, but neither were they expected to beat Pakistan. The U.S. team has a good chance to advance to the quarterfinal round at the tournament with another match against Ireland still to come on Friday. Pakistan needs to beat Ireland on Sunday to have a chance of advancing.
COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
The College World Series opens Friday at Charles Schwab Field and, for the first time since the event expanded to eight teams in 1950, only two conferences will be represented on the college game’s biggest stage. The Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference have combined to send the most teams to the CWS over the last decade, including this year. Their exclusivity in the 2024 field hints at an even greater concentration of power in the sport as college athletics move into an era where players, already able to move around freely, can make more money than ever.
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