NHL:
Alex Ovechkin scored the go-ahead goal and Braden Holtby stopped 37 shots as the Washington Capitals beat the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2 to even the Stanley Cup final at a game apiece. The game was tied 1-1 until Ovechkin and Brooks Orpik scored 4:03 apart in the second period. Lars Eller had a goal and two assists for the Caps, who had been 0-5 all time in Cup final games. Game 3 is on Saturday at 8 p.m.
MLB:
The New York Yankees stayed within two games of the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox while keeping the Houston Astros one game ahead of Seattle in the AL West. Luis Severino struck out 11 and held Houston to four hits over seven innings of the Yankees' 5-3 win against the Astros. J.D. Martinez is tied for the major league lead with 18 homers after belting a tiebreaking, two-run shot in the sixth inning of the Red Sox's 6-4 victory over Toronto.
Brandon Nimmo and Adrian Gonzalez each drove in two runs, Jason Vargas pitched five scoreless innings and the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 4-1. It was a much-needed reprieve for the Mets, who had lost seven of nine and are 16-25 since starting the season 11-1.
The New York Mets have listed starting pitcher Steven Matz as day to day, hopeful he will not miss a turn in the rotation with a mild strain in his middle left finger. Manager Mickey Callaway said Matz isn't expected to go on the disabled list.
The Mets have hired two new public address announcers for Citi Field: Marysol Castro as the first woman to hold the job and a grandson of late ABC broadcaster Howard Cosell. Castro will start work at Thursday night's homestand opener against the Chicago Cubs. Colin Cosell will debut on Saturday night. Alex Anthony was the announcer from 2002-17. He made the move with the team from Shea Stadium to Citi Field.
The Washington Nationals have moved into first place in the NL East, a half-game ahead of Atlanta. Bryce Harper slammed his 18th homer and Max Scherzer struck out 12 while allowing just two hits over eight innings of the Nats' 2-0 shutout of Baltimore. Jason Vargas pitched five scoreless innings and Brandon Nimmo and Adrian Gonzalez each had two hits and two RBIs as the Mets downed the Braves, 4-1.
The Milwaukee Brewers pace the NL Central by 4 ½ games over the Cubs, and the Colorado Rockies are 1 ½ games ahead of second-place Arizona in the NL West. Christian Yelich homered and Orlando Arcia singled home the tiebreaking run while the Brewers scored twice in the seventh inning to beat St. Louis, 3-2. Brandon Crawford is batting .412 this month after going 2-for-5 with an RBI in San Francisco's 7-4 win over the Rockies.
Elsewhere in the majors:
— Houston still leads the AL West by one game over Seattle after Robinson Chirinos delivered a tiebreaking, two-run double and three RBIs to lead the Rangers past the Mariners, 7-6. Nomar Mazara knotted the game in the seventh with a two-run single and scored on the go-ahead double. M's starter James Paxton struck out five and gave up four hits over five innings before leaving with a 4-2 lead.
— The Indians picked up their fifth straight win as Corey Kluber scattered three hits over six shutout innings of a 9-1 rout of the White Sox. Melky Cabrera drove in three runs and Michael Brantley extended his MLB-high hitting streak to 19 games for Cleveland, which has scored 43 runs during its win streak. Jose Ramirez and Edwin Encarnacion connected for back-to-back homers in the fourth off Chris Volstad as the Indians opened a 9-0 lead.
— Cleveland stayed a 4 ½-game lead over Detroit in the AL Central after the Tigers scored five times in the sixth to beat the Angels, 6-1. Jose Igesias provided a two-run single in the rally after Los Angeles starter Shohei Ohtani left the game following a rain delay. Ohtani limited the Tigers to a run and three hits in five innings.
— Mike Moustakas homered, doubled and collected four RBIs in the first two innings while the Royals built a nine-run lead in an 11-8 victory against the Twins. Jorge Soler (soh-LEHR') went 4-for-5 with a home run as Kansas City dropped Minnesota 5 ½ games off the AL Central lead. Each Royal scored by the end of the second inning, and each had at least one hit.
— Nathan Eovaldi threw no-hit ball over six innings of the Rays' 6-0 shutout of the Athletics. Eovaldi faced one batter over the minimum in his first game since recovering from a second Tommy John surgery, but the no-hit bid ended on Jed Lowrie's one-out single off Wilmer Font in the seventh. Rob Refsnyder launched a three-run homer and Johnny Field went deep for Tampa Bay.
— Orlando Arcia singled home the tiebreaking run while the Brewers scored twice in the seventh inning to beat St. Louis, 3-2. Christian Yelich (YEH'-lihch) had two RBIs for Milwaukee, including a game-tying homer a half-inning after Harrison Bader went deep during the Cardinals' two-run seventh. Redbirds hurler Alex Reyes pitched four scoreless innings in his return from Tommy John surgery, but the Brewers improved to 19-8 this month to set a team record for wins in May.
— The Pirates were 2-1 winners over the Cubs behind Joe Musgrove, who gave up seven hits and four walks but just one run over seven innings. Josh Harrison tied it with a first-inning homer and Gregory Polanco lifted a sacrifice fly in the second to help Pittsburgh end a four-game skid. The outcome gives Milwaukee a 4 ½-game lead over the second-place Cubs in the NL Central.
— Max Scherzer was terrific in the Nationals' 2-0 shutout of the Orioles, limiting the Birds to two hits while fanning 12 over eight innings. Bryce Harper belted his 18th homer to tie for the major league lead, and Juan Soto singled home Washington's other run. The Nats have won six straight and are 21-6 since an 11-16 start.
— Jason Vargas pitched two-hit ball over five scoreless innings as the Mets downed the Braves, 4-1 to earn a four-game split. Brandon Nimmo and Adrian Gonzalez each had two hits and two RBIs to back Vargas, who entered the game with a 10.62 ERA and was pitching on three days of rest. Julio Teheran was the hard-luck loser, allowing two runs over seven innings as the Braves fell a half-game behind the NL East-leading Nationals.
— The Diamondbacks failed to complete a three-game sweep as the Reds erased a 4-0 deficit in a 7-4 win at Phoenix. Adam Duvall tied it with a grand slam in the top of the fourth, two innings before Scott Schebler's two-run blast put the Reds ahead. Cincinnati closer Raisel Iglesias stranded two runners in the eighth and faced the tying run with nobody out in the ninth before retiring the DBacks' last three hitters for his ninth save.
— The Rockies' 7-4 loss to the Giants slashes Colorado's lead in the NL West to 1 ½ games over Arizona. Brandon Crawford is batting .412 this month after going 2-for-5 with an RBI for San Francisco. Buster Posey had two hits and two RBIs to support Greg Holland, who worked five innings and settled down following Nolan Arenado's three-run blast in the bottom of the first.
— Matt Kemp is batting .345 after going 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and four RBIs in the Dodgers' 8-2 drubbing of the Phillies. Max Muncy also homered and Ross Stripling struck out nine while limiting the Phils to a run and four hits over seven frames. Philadelphia is 1 ½ games behind the NL East-leading Nats.
— The Padres scored twice on an infield single and a throwing error in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Marlins, 3-2. Pinch-hitter Hunter Renfroe was credited with an RBI single that third baseman Miguel Rojas threw away for an error, allowing the winning run to score. The Marlins have lost a team-record 14 straight games started by Jose Urena, who had a 2-1 lead when he left after six innings.
NCAA:
The University of Connecticut has hired a former NFL coach to the men's basketball team who made national headlines for tripping a player. UConn announced Wednesday it has hired Sal Alosi as the team's director of human performance. Alosi was famously fined $35,000 and suspended from the New York Jets in 2010 after tripping a Miami Dophins player during a game.
Albany attackman Connor Fields was the epitome of selflessness during his lacrosse career with the Great Danes. Fields sprained the MCL in his right knee in late March. He hurt the knee again a month later and medical tests after the reinjury also revealed a torn ACL. Fields wanted to finish the season and the team elected not to reveal the extent of the injury. He led them to the national semifinals where they lost to eventual national champion Yale.
Shenendehowa alum Kevin Huerter, who plays for the University of Maryland, will be in the NBA draft on June 21st, foregoing his remaining college eligibility.
The NCAA has placed North Carolina Central on probation for two years because of certification errors that allowed ineligible athletes to compete. The school says the NCAA determined the errors involved 22 athletes in seven sports including football and men's basketball from 2012-15. School officials say N.C. Central must vacate victories in the sports in which ineligible athletes participated. They did not say how many wins would be vacated but did say they plan to appeal.
Maryland's Kevin Huerter says he is forgoing his final two seasons of college eligibility and staying in the NBA draft. He had a strong showing at the pre-draft combine in Chicago earlier this month and some subsequent workouts and interviews with NBA clubs. The 6-foot-7 wing averaged 14.8 points on 50 percent shooting for the Terrapins this past season, shooting 42 percent from 3-point range.
Boston College guard Ky Bowman will return to school for his junior year after deciding to withdraw from the NBA draft. Bowman is the Atlantic Coast Conference's top returning scorer, averaging 17.6 points per game last year, when he was an honorable mention for the all-ACC team.
The scheduled auction of the Rhode Island home of five-time world boxing champion Vinny Paz has been canceled. The auction of the Warwick home was scheduled for Wednesday but the website of Sullivan & Sullivan Auctioneers says it has been canceled. No reason was given. The auction was announced earlier this month following a foreclosure.
NBA:
Game 1 of the NBA finals starts tonight. The Golden State Warriors will face the Cleveland Cavaliers in Oakland at 9 p.m. It’s the fourth year in a row that the two teams will meet in the finals.
The Boston Celtics say forward Gordon Hayward had surgery to remove a plate and screws in his broken left leg and will be ready to start next season. The team says the plate and screws implanted in his leg and ankle were removed because they were irritating his tendons. He is scheduled to resume basketball activities in six to eight weeks and be ready for training camp.
The Philadelphia 76ers have started an investigation into tweets linked in a report to team president Bryan Colangelo that criticized Sixers players Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz, among other NBA figures. A report by The Ringer said the burner accounts also took aim at former Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie, Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri and former Sixers players Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel. The website asked the team about five Twitter accounts it suspected Colangelo was operating. Colangelo said in a statement he used one of the accounts to monitor the NBA industry and other current events, but he was "not familiar with any of the other accounts" brought to his attention and he didn't know who was "behind them or what their motives may be in using them."
In other NBA news:
— Steve Clifford is the new coach of the Magic, returning to a franchise that's missed the playoffs in each of the last six years. Clifford spent the last five years as coach of the Hornets before getting fired at the end of this season.
— A player who just finished his rookie season with the Hawks has been arrested on a drunken driving charge in Oregon. Police in Eugene say 22-year-old Tyler Dorsey was charged with driving under the influence of intoxicants, driving without lights and having an open alcoholic beverage container.
— The mother of a G League basketball player who died in March after collapsing on the court during a game has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the NBA and the Pistons of negligence. Zeke Upshaw played for the Grand Rapids Drive, a G League affiliate of the Pistons. He collapsed during a game March 24 and died two days later. The lawsuit alleges that medical personnel failed to attempt lifesaving measures in a timely fashion.
MLS:
Teal Bunbury scored on a penalty kick in the 88th minute as the New England Revolution tied Atlanta United 1-1. New England has one win in its last five games _ with two straight draws. Atlanta had won four straight on the road.
Tennis:
Women's top seed Simona Halep and men's No. 2 Alexander Zverev struggled on Wednesday before winning their French Open matches. Halep needed three sets to advance to the second round of the French Open, posting a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over American Alison Riske. Zverev needed five sets to take his second-round match, falling behind a set before earning a 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 win against Dusan Lajovic. Second seed Caroline Wozniacki lost just one game to advance to the women's third round with fourth seed Elina Svitolina, eighth seed Petra Kvitova, No. 10 Sloane Stephens and No. 13 Madison Keys. Men's No. 4 Grigor Dmitrov advanced to the third round by beating American Jared Donaldson, 10-8 in the fifth set. Eighth seed David Goffin, No. 10 Pablo Carreno-Busta and No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut also won their second-round matches, but No. 12 seed Sam Querrey was beaten by Gilles Simon in straight sets.
Boxing:
Three-division world champion Vasyl Lomachenko has undergone surgery to fix a torn labrum in his right shoulder. The two-time Olympic gold medalist from Ukraine hopes to return to the ring later this year, according to his promoter. Serena and Venus Williams have won their first Grand Slam doubles match in nearly two years. The sisters moved into the second round of the French Open by coming back for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over the 14th-seeded Japanese pairing of Shuko Aoyama and Miyu Kato.
©2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
