KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Óscar González hit a two-run double in the 10th inning and the Cleveland Guardians snapped a five-game losing streak, beating the Kansas City Royals 6-5 to regain sole possession of the AL Central lead. Cleveland moved a game ahead of Minnesota, which lost 5-2 to the New York Yankees. The third-place Chicago White Sox are one game behind the Twins. Josh Naylor homered for the Guardians, and Andrés Giménez scored twice. Emmanuel Clase earned his 31st save in 33 opportunities. Drew Waters hit his first major league home run for Kansas City, and Salvador Perez’s one-out RBI double in the eighth tied it at 4.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jack Flaherty pitched five effective innings for St. Louis in his first big league game since late June, but the NL Central-leading Cardinals had their four-game winning streak stopped in a 6-0 loss to Joey Meneses and the Washington Nationals. Meneses got three hits and fellow rookie C.J. Abrams had four to back five shutout innings from Aníbal Sánchez. Washington, which has the worst record in the majors, has won three in a row. Flaherty returned from the injured list after being sidelined by a right shoulder issue. In his first start since June 26, he allowed one run on six hits and a walk. He struck out six. The 26-year-old Flaherty went 9-2 last season. He’s been out for most of this year. Sánchez gave up just two hits.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Pitching in mop-up duty for the Detroit Tigers, Kody Clemens fanned reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani for his first major league strikeout. The rookie utility player — and son of seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens — caught Ohtani looking late in Monday night’s 10-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. Clemens froze the two-way phenom with a 68 mph pitch on the outside corner and gave an exuberant strike three call on the mound. Grinning ear to ear, the 26-year-old Clemens tossed the souvenir ball into the dugout for safe keeping and is hoping to get it signed by Ohtani during the final two days of the series. Ohtani hit two home runs earlier in the game.
NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 54th home run, connecting for the third straight day and sending the New York Yankees over the Minnesota Twins 5-2. Judge has homered in five of his last seven games for the AL East leaders. He snapped a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning when he hit a 3-1 slider from Trevor Megill into the second deck in left. The All-Star slugger reached 54 homers in his 131st game. He is on pace to hit 65 homers, four more than Roger Maris’ AL record in 1961. Judge also doubled. His latest home run came after Gary Sánchez hit a 473-foot, two-run homer into the left field bleachers off Jameson Taillon in the fifth that tied it at 2.
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech quarterback Tyler Shough will miss significant time again after re-injuring his non-throwing shoulder. Shough got hurt after starting the season-opening victory. He missed the final eight games of the 2021 season with a broken left collarbone. Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire said Monday that he expects Shough to be out three to six weeks. The quarterback has an examination scheduled for Wednesday, and surgery is a possibility. Texas Tech’s depth chart for Saturday’s home game against 24th-ranked Houston lists Donovan Smith as the starting quarterback, ahead of Behren Morton.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Quinn Ewers had quite the debut as Texas quarterback, even if it was a little rough around the edges. The freshman threw his first interception before his first completion. He recovered nicely to throw for 225 yards and two touchdowns in a 52-10 victory over Louisiana-Monroe. But there were a handful of missed deep balls and at some point, campus parking services towed away his car. Next up is No. 1 Alabama, and a Crimson Tide defense that will be even tougher than the campus parking enforcers.
ATLANTA (AP) — DJ Uiagalelei threw for one touchdown and ran for another, overcoming a sluggish start in the season opener to lead No. 4 Clemson to a 41-10 victory over Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets kept it closer than expected much of the way. But they couldn’t overcome two blocked punts, both of which led to short TD runs by Will Shipley. Uiagalelei pulled off the play of the game, avoiding a sack to flip a lateral to Shipley for a first down. Uiagalelei capped the drive with a 9-yard TD run that finally finished off the Yellow Jackets.
DENVER (AP) — Russell Wilson will take his first snap in a game for the Broncos when Denver opens the regular season Monday night in their quarterback's Seattle homecoming. New Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett is the latest NFL head coach to downplay the preseason. Hackett kept Wilson and most of his other starters on the sideline for the entire preseason. The Packers did that last year and the Rams have been doing it for years. The Broncos acknowledge this could mean they get off to a slow start, but they insist the strategy will pay off later in the season.
MONDAY SCORES
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final N.Y. Yankees 5 Minnesota 2
Final Toronto 7 Baltimore 3
Final Tampa Bay 4 Boston 3
Final Toronto 8 Baltimore 4
Final Chicago White Sox 3 Seattle 2
Final Houston 1 Texas 0
Final Cleveland 6 Kansas City 5
Final L.A. Angels 10 Detroit 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
N-Y Mets at Pittsburgh 12:35 p.m. (Postponed)
Final Washington 6 St. Louis 0
Final Milwaukee 6 Colorado 4
Final Arizona 5 San Diego 0
Final San Francisco 7 L.A. Dodgers 4
TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Final (4)Clemson 41 Georgia Tech 10