The Golden State Warriors have evened the NBA Finals at a game apiece as they try to capture their third straight title. The Warriors took control of Game 2 by opening the second half on an 18-0 run before completing a 109-104 victory over the Raptors in Toronto.
Klay Thompson had a team-high 25 points for Golden State before leaving the game with a tight left hamstring in the fourth quarter. The Raptors began to chip away shortly after Thompson’s departure, scoring 10 straight to get within two before Andre Iguodala's 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds left. Stephen Curry scored 23 points and Draymond Green was an assist shy of what would have been his fourth straight triple-double, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Warriors. Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard led all scorers with 34 points and grabbed 14 boards. Game 3 is Wednesday at Oakland.
Golden State remains without Kevin Durant, who hasn’t played since suffering a calf injury during Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Rockets. Coach Steve Kerr says it’s feasible Durant may need just one practice before returning to the lineup.
MLB
J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts belted solo homers to back David Price as the Red Sox knocked off the Yankees, 8-5 to avoid a three-game sweep. Price won at Yankee Stadium for the first time with Boston, allowing two runs and six hits over 6 2/3s. The Red Sox stopped a four-game losing streak and improved to 1-4 against the Yanks this season.
Merrill Kelly struck out a career-high 10 and Ketel led off the bottom of the first with a long home run in the Diamondbacks’ 7-1 rout of the Mets. Marte’s 482-blast tied Nomar Mazara of the Rangers for the longest in the majors this season. Marte finished with three RBIs and Eduardo Escobar smacked a two-run shot in the opening frame to help the DBacks hand the Mets the 17th loss in their last 21 road games.
The Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the Phillies by holding the NL East leaders to three hits in an 8-0 shutout. Rich Hill scattered three hits over seven innings, leaving the game with a 1-0 lead before Los Angeles erupted in the eighth. David Freese broke a scoreless tie with a seventh-inning homer and added an RBI single in the eighth before Joc Pederson’s two-run blast capped the Dodgers’ big rally.
The Nationals continued their mastery of the Reds as Max Scherzer fanned a season-high 15 while yielding just three hits over eight innings of a 4-1 win at Cincinnati. Anthony Rendon had three hits, including an RBI single in the first. Brian Dozier laced a two-run single with two out in the eighth to secure Washington’s 12th victory in its last 14 games versus the Reds.
Zach Davies provided a throwback performance on Sunday that reminded baseball fans when pitchers could work into the ninth inning without possessing their best stuff. Davies skirted in and out of trouble for eight-plus innings while scattering eight hits in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 4-2 win over the Pirates in Pittsburgh. He surrendered a leadoff double in each of his last three innings, yet the Bucs were unable to cash in. Davies struck out just three, but he also walked only one in improving to 6-0. Corbin Burnes inherited a two-on, one-out jam in the ninth before notching his second career save. Eric Thames provided a two-run homer and an RBI double to help Milwaukee stretch its lead in the NL Central to 1 ½ games over the Chicago Cubs.
The Cardinals are back in the division race and just 2 ½ behind Milwaukee after knocking off the Cubs, 2-1 to complete a three-game sweep. Adam Wainwright overcame a career-high seven walks to pitch eight shutout innings while outdueling Cole Hamels. Kolten Wong supplied two hits and a sacrifice fly for the Redbirds, who took a 2-0 lead on pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter’s RBI single in the eighth. St. Louis had just four hits in its fourth straight win. Chicago managed just three hits in losing for the sixth time in seven games.
The Rockies won their eighth in a row as Antonio Senzatela allowed four hits over six innings of a 5-1 victory against the Blue Jays. Nolan Arenado homered and singled while extending his hitting streak to 13 games. Raimel Tapia ran his hit streak to 12 games by going 1-for-4 Sunday against Toronto, which went 0-6 on its road trip.
Jorge Alfaro homered, doubled and drove in a career-high four runs for the Marlins in a 9-2 thumping of the Padres. Trevor Richards struck out eighth and held San Diego to one hit in five scoreless innings. Hunter Renfroe homered twice for San Diego and had three RBIs in a game delayed 28 minutse after a swarm of bees settled on a microphone on the netting near the home dugout.
Dansby Swanson was 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs in the Braves’ 7-4 verdict over the Tigers. Atlanta coughed up a 3-0 lead before Swanson drew a one-out walk and scored on Freddie Freeman’s tiebreaking double in a four-run eighth. Braves starter Julio Teheran pitched five scoreless innings and left with a 3-0 lead, but Detroit eventually tied it on back-to-back homers by Grayson Greiner and JaCoby Jones in the eighth.
The Giants crushed the Orioles, 8-1 as Brandon Crawford homered twice and Evan Longoria ended his 0-for-21 skid with a solo shot. Longoria also supplied a two-run double in his second three-hit game of the season. Jeff Samardzija allowed three hits and struck out six over six innings to help Bruce Bochy get within one victory of joining John McGraw as the only Giants managers with 1,000.
Minnesota beat Tampa Bay for the third straight day as Jake Odorizzi was reached for just three hits while striking out nine over six shutout innings of his eighth straight win, 9-7 over the Rays. Odorizzi left leading 7-0 and lowered his AL-leading ERA to 1.96. CJ Cron had three RBIs, and Jonathan Schoop and Jorge Polanco drove in two apiece as the Twins improved to a major league-best 40-18.
Rookie Myles Straw had three hits, three stolen bases and scored the go-ahead run on Michael Brantley's single in the 12th inning of the Astros’ 6-4 win at Oakland. Yuli Gurriel added a single in the 12th for his second RBI of the game to give the Astros their sixth sweep in their last nine series in Oakland. The A's were held to seven runs in the series and have dropped five straight since a 10-game winning streak.
Lucas Giolito has a seven-game winning streak after scattering five hits while working into the eighth inning of the White Sox’s 2-0 shutout of the Indians. Giolito struck out nine, walked none and extended his scoreless innings streak to 14 1/3. Tim Anderson accounted for the scoring with a fourth-inning homer and an eighth-inning double to help Chicago conclude a 6-1 homestand.
Adrian Sampson notched his first career win as a starter by fanning a career-high 11 over seven innings to pitch the Rangers past the Royals, 5-1. Nomar Mazara and Ronald Guzman drove in two runs apiece for Texas, which took three of four from Kansas City. Jorge Soler hit his career-high 15th home run in the sixth inning for the Royals.
Albert Pujols hit his 643rd career homer and drove in five runs as the Angels buried the Mariners, 13-3. Jose Suarez won in his major league debut by yielding three runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. Los Angeles rookie Luis Rengifo hit his first career home run.
In MLB news, former All-Star outfielder Jay Bruce has been traded to the Phillies by the Mariners in a deal that will cost Philadelphia just $2.75 million over the next 1½ seasons. The 32-year-old Bruce is hitting .212 with 14 homers and 28 RBIs. He has struck out 53 times in 184 at-bats. Philadelphia sent the Mariners minor league infielder Jake Scheiner, who will report to Class A Modesto.
The Brewers have placed struggling starter Jhoulys Chacin on the injured list with a strained lower back, paving the way for Jimmy Nelson's return to the majors. The team said it expects to recall Nelson on Wednesday and start him against Miami. The appearance will be Nelson's first in the majors since Sept. 8, 2017, when he partially tore his labrum and strained the rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder diving head-first into first base to beat out a single against the Cubs. Chacin fell to 3-7 with a 5.78 ERA by giving up seven runs in 2 2/3 innings in a loss to Pittsburgh on Friday.
Rangers slugger Joey Gallo has been placed on the 10-day injured list a day after leaving a game with a left oblique strain. Gallo began Sunday tied with three other players for second place in the American League with 17 home runs and was in first place in slugging percentage at .653.
Free agent pitchers Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel can sign starting Monday without their new teams having to forfeit amateur draft picks as compensation. Both turned down $17.9 million qualifying offers in November and are the last two marquee free agents still on the market.
FRENCH OPEN
Men’s second seed Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Roger Federer have advanced to the French Open quarterfinals with Sunday’s straight-sets victories. Both won by 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 scores, although Nadal faced a tougher test from Juan Ignacio Londero than Federer experienced against Leonardo Mayer. Nadal is seeking his 12th French Open championship, and Federer is gunning for his 21st Grand Slam title. Stan Wawrinka also reached the quarters by outlasting sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 8-6. No. 7 Kei Nishikori was up 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 against Benoit Paire when their match was suspended.
The women’s quarterfinals will include seventh seed Sloane Stephens after she coasted to a 6-4, 6-3 win against No. 19 Garbiñe Muguruza. Stephens was the runner-up at Roland Garros last year, losing to Simona Halep. The American next faces Johanna Konta, who was a 6-2, 6-4 winner against Donna Vekic. Petra Martic followed up her win over second-seeded Karolina Pliskova by rallying past Kaia Kanepi 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Martic now prepares for Marketa Vondrousova, who bulldozed her way to a 6-2, 6-0 rout of 12th seed Anastasija Sevastova.
NASCAR
Kyle Busch has pulled even with Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for ninth on the NASCAR Cup Series victory list by taking Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway. Busch had the dominant car down the stretch to earn his 55th Cup win and first in nearly two months. He took off on the final restart with nine laps left and cruised to the finish line for his 13th top-10 finish in 14 races this season. Brad Keselowski was second, followed by Erik Jones, Chase Elliott and Clint Bowyer.
INDYCAR
Scott Dixon has won the Detroit Grand Prix, giving the five-time champion his first win this year and the 45th of his career. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver finished nearly 2 seconds in front of rookie Marcus Ericsson, Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi. Indianapolis 500 champion Simon Pagenaud ended up 17th after colliding with Patricio O'Ward and Tony Kanaan on the opening lap.
PGA
Patrick Cantlay closed with an 8-under 64 to capture the PGA’s Memorial in comeback fashion. Cantlay began the round in a four-stroke hole before posting a two-shot win over Adam Scott. It was the lowest final round by a winner in tournament history, and it moved the 27-year-old Californian into the top 10 in the world. Martin Kaymer started with a two-shot lead as he sought his first victory in five years, but he never recovered from back-to-back bogeys on the back nine. Scott was the last player with a chance to catch Cantlay when he ran off three straight birdies to get within two shots.
Kevin Sutherland birdied the second hole of a playoff with Scott Parel to win the Principal Charity Classic in the third-largest comeback in PGA Tour Champions history. Sutherland overcame an eight-shot deficit in the final round, making eight back-nine birdies in a course-record 10-under 62 to match Parel at 17-under 199. The win comes two months after Sutherland outlasted Parel on the seventh extra hole in Mississippi.
LPGA
Jeongeun Lee6 shot a 1-under 70 to hold off third-round co-leader Celine Boutier and win the U.S. Women’s Open in Charleston, South Carolina. Lee6 was ahead by three after a birdie on the par-5 15th, but she took bogeys on the 16th and 18th to give Boutier a chance over the final two holes. Boutier missed a long birdie attempt on the 17th and put her approach to the par-4 18th in a bunker. Lee6 finished at 6-under 278 to claim the USGA's first $1 million women's winner check. Boutier fell into a tie for fifth at 3 under by carding a double bogey on the final hole for a 75.
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