NHL-EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS-LIGHTNING/RANGERS
Lightning beat Rangers on late goal
NEW YORK (AP) — Ondrej Palat scored his second goal of the game with 1:50 remaining to break a tie and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night for a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference final.
Brandon Hagel added an empty-netter with 59 seconds to seal the two-time defending champioin Lightning’s third straight win, the first by a road team in this series.
Andrei Vasilevskiy had 24 saves and Mikhail Sergachev provided Tampa Bay’s first goal.
Ryan Lindgren scored for New York, which had won eight straight at home. Igor Shesterkin finished with 24 saves.
Game 6 is Saturday night in Tampa, Florida.
GOLF-SAUDI LEAGUE-PGA
PGA Tour says Saudi-paid players no longer eligible for tour
UNDATED (AP) — The PGA Tour says members who are playing in the Saudi-funded league in London are no longer eligible to play tour events.
Commissioner Jay Monahan has sent out a memo indicating the sanctions against Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and 15 other players. The memo went out a short time after the LIV Golf Invitational outside London began with a 48-player field. The decision includes the Presidents Cup. Monahan says even if players resigned their membership, they are not eligible as nonmembers to get sponsor exemptions to tournaments.
Johnson had already given up his PGA membership, but Mickelson is not ready to.
The USGA has said players can still play the U.S. Open next week.
PGA-CANADIAN OPEN
Clark leads in Toronto
TORONTO (AP) — Wyndham Clark started the week with a late charge to play his way into the U.S. Open in a qualifier, and then he stayed hot Thursday in the RBC Canadian Open for a 7-under 63 to take the first-round lead.
Clark opened with five birdies in nine holes and kept bogeys off his card at St. George’s Golf and Country Club for the third round of his PGA Tour career at 63 or lower.
Matt Fitzpatrick was a stroke back, and Doug Ghim and Harold Varner III followed at 65.
MLB-SCHEDULE
McClanahan wins 5th straight start, Rays sweep 3 from Cards
UNDATED (AP) — Shane McClanahan pitched eight superb innings to win his fifth consecutive start and the Tampa Bay Rays completed a three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals with a 2-1 victory.
McClanahan allowed one unearned run, two hits, walked one and struck out nine, The lefty, who leads the majors with 98 strikeouts, has given up just five runs over 40 innings in his last six starts. Ji-Man Choi homered for the Rays, who are a season-high 11 games over .500.
St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas had an eight-inning complete game, allowing three hits and striking out nine.
In other MLB action:
— Shohei Ohtani pitched seven stellar innings and hit a two-run homer, and the Los Angeles Angels snapped their 14-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Andrew Velazquez added a three-run homer in the sixth, but the Angels ended the longest skid in franchise history squarely on the shoulders of their matchless AL MVP, both on the mound and at the plate. Ohtani yielded four hits and a run while striking out six in a performance befitting an ace.
— Gerrit Cole gave up home runs to his first three batters and a career-high five in 2 1/3 innings but the New York Yankees rallied to beat the Minnesota Twins 10-7 behind two home runs from Joey Gallo. Cole left trailing 7-3, and the Yankees tied the score in the sixth when Aaron Hicks hit his second home run of the season, a two-run drive. DJ LeMahieu hit the 100th home run of his career, and the Yankees got their 16th comeback win.
— Andrés Giménez drove in the go-ahead run with a single in Cleveland’s four-run eighth inning, and the Guardians rallied for an 8-4 win over the Oakland Athletics, who dropped their ninth straight game. Giménez looped a single into left field off Lou Trivino as the Guardians moved back over .500 for the first time since May 9. Rookie Richie Palacios added a two-run single in the eighth, and another run scored on an Oakland throwing error.
— Carlos Santana and MJ Melendez homered, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 7-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Santana blasted a two-run homer deep to right, his third, breaking a fifth-inning tie as the Royals won consecutive games for the first time since May 17-18. Bobby Witt Jr.’s double set the table for Salvador Perez’s two-run single.
— Jazz Chisholm bunted for a single on the first pitch of Stephen Strasburg’s return to the mound from a one-year absence, stole second on the third pitch and the Marlins kept on going in a 7-4 win over the Washington Nationals. The 33-year-old right-hander, pitching on the 13th anniversary of Washington selecting him with the first overall pick in the amateur draft, allowing seven runs, eight hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings. Jesus Sanchez, homered, doubled and had three RBIs for Miami.
— Max Fried won his sixth straight decision by pitching six sharp innings and the Atlanta Braves earned their eighth consecutive victory, 3-1 over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Adam Duvall, Dansby Swanson and Travis d’Arnaud each drove in a run for the defending World Series champion Braves, whose winning streak is their longest since they took nine in a row last August. Atlanta has outscored opponents 55-21 during the streak.
— Max Muncy broke open the game with a three-run homer in the sixth inning after White Sox manager Tony La Russa ordered an intentional walk to Trea Turner with a 1-2 count, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Chicago 11-9. Muncy had five RBIs in his return after missing 11 games with left elbow inflammation. Los Angeles trailed 4-0 before a six-run fifth and was ahead 6-5 when Freddie Freeman hit an RBI single in the sixth off Bennett Sousa.
— Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Odúbel Herrera homered as interim manager Rob Thomson and the streaking Philadelphia Phillies won their season-high seventh straight game, beating the sagging Milwaukee Brewers 8-3. The NL Central-leading Brewers lost their season-worst sixth in a row. Didi Gregorius singled, tripled, doubled and drove in a run for Philadelphia.
— Yonathan Daza looped a tiebreaking single into right field, capping a three-run fourth inning fueled by three errors, and the Colorado Rockies rallied past San Francisco 4-2 Thursday to take two of three from the Giants. San Francisco made a season-high four errors, including a pair in the fourth by second baseman Thairo Estrada. Charlie Blackmon, had three hits for the Rockies, who are 3-6 against the Giants this season.
— Josh Rojas hit a go-ahead single during a four-run rally in the ninth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-4, earning a split in the four-game series. The Diamondbacks went into the ninth trailing 3-1, but got help from reliever Tony Santillan’s wild tosses. The blown lead by the Reds wasted a solid pitching performance by starter Tyler Mahle, who allowed one run and four hits with a season-high 10 strikeouts over six innings.
MLB-CUBS-CONTRERAS
Cubs, Contreras avoid arbitration, agree to $9.625 million contract
UNDATED (AP) — Catcher Willson Contreras and the Chicago Cubs avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to a one-year contract for $9.625 million. The agreement is at the midpoint between the $10.25 million the 30-year-old Contreras had asked for and the $9 million the Cubs had offered when figures were exchanged.
Contreras hit .237 with 21 homers and 57 RBIs in 128 games last season. He led National League catchers in assists for the third time. The two-time All-Star is batting .277 with 10 homers and 23 RBIs this season.
In other baseball news:
— Catcher Gary Sánchez and the Minnesota Twins have agreed to a $9 million, one-year contract. The deal avoids an arbitration hearing that had been scheduled for next week. The agreement was at the midpoint of the $9.5 million Sánchez had asked for and the $8.5 million offered by the Twins. Sánchez hit .204 with 23 homers and 54 RBIs last year for the New York Yankees. They traded him to the Twins in March. Sánchez has a .224 batting average, seven homers and 27 RBIs this season.
— Pitcher Lucas Sims lost to the Cincinnati Reds in salary arbitration and will get $1.2 million instead of his $1.6 million request, leaving clubs with a 7-3 advantage in decisions. Sims was 5-3 with a 4.40 ERA and seven saves in 10 chances last season. He has been sidelined by a back injury for much of this season. Aaron Judge, Max Fried, Jacob Stallings, Jesse Winker and Nicky Lopez remain scheduled for hearings.
NFL-COMMANDERS-VIRGINIA
State lawmakers table measure aimed at luring Commanders to Virginia
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia General Assembly is tabling for the year legislation intended to lure the Washington Commanders to Virginia. That’s according to a top state lawmaker who sponsored one version of the legislation.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw said in a brief interview that there were too many issues to be resolved and controversies surrounding the NFL team for the legislation to proceed. He says it could be reintroduced next year.
The team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The development came a day after an assistant coach for the team issued an apology for a comparison he made on social media between the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
TENNIS-WIMBLEDON-PRIZE MONEY
Wimbledon record prize money at full-capacity tournament
LONDON (AP) — Wimbledon will offer a record total of $50.5 million in player compensation but the singles champions will receive less than the pre-pandemic amount. The All England Club says prize money excluding per diems totals a record $48.8 million. The men’s and women’s singles winners will each earn $2.5 million, 14.9% less than in 2019.
The overall prize money is an 11% increase over last year, when capacity was reduced because of coronavirus restrictions, and a 5.4% increase over 2019.
The oldest Grand Slam tournament begins June 27 and organizers highlighted plans for the grass-court competition to be at full capacity for the first time in three years.
WORLD-RUSSIAN CHAMPION
Russian champion bashes IOC leaders, shows sympathy for Ukrainians
UNDATED (AP) —Olympic champion high jumper Maria Lasitskene has lashed out at the leaders of the IOC and World Athletics while expressing sympathy for her Ukrainian competitors in a heartfelt open letter.
Lasitskene will likely be kept out of the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, next month because of a World Athletics decision to bar all Russians in wake of the country’s war against Ukraine.
The 29-year-old has never lost a major international competition. She has been among the few Russians allowed in international events in recent years despite the suspension of the country’s track and field federation due to the long-running doping scandal in that country.
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