<h2>Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press</h2>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Rich Hill pitched five scoreless innings in a smooth Minnesota debut and the Twins beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0. Eddie Rosario homered, Nelson Cruz had an RBI double and Alex Avila had an RBI single for the Twins. Taylor Rogers pitched a perfect ninth for his first save, and the Twins finished a two-game sweep to improve to 4-1. The 40-year-old Hill is currently the second-oldest player in the majors. He needed 68 pitches to pick up his first victory for the Twins. Minnesota signed him this winter with the assumption he'd be ready around midsummer after his recovery from elbow surgery.DETROIT (AP) — JaCoby Jones hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh inning, and Detroit's bullpen came through again in a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals. A night after pitching six scoreless innings in a win over the Royals, the Tigers' relievers blanked Kansas City for four. Detroit rallied from a 4-0 deficit thanks in large part to Jones, who doubled twice before connecting off Ian Kennedy for his third homer of the year. Jonathan Schoop also went deep for the Tigers. Bryan Garcia earned his first big league win, and Joe Jimenez worked the ninth for his fourth save.UNDATED (AP) — The top four teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences get byes into the traditional first round of the NHL playoffs. The Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers in the East and St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Golden Knights and Dallas Stars in the West will play separate round-robin tournaments to determine seeding. With the advantage of not facing elimination comes the dilemma: Play for the best seed or try to peak in time for a best-of-seven series. With the Stanley Cup at stake, it's a crucial balance coaches and players have to strike.MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas will have season-ending surgery to repair a tendon in his strained right forearm. Mikolas was supposed to start on Wednesday at Minnesota. Right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon will take the mound against the Twins instead. The 31-year-old Mikolas missed spring training with the injury, but he ramped up his activity after the virus shutdown and pitched four innings for the Cardinals in an exhibition game last week.UNDATED (AP) — The defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues and the Colorado Avalanche were navigating through some key injuries before the season was halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. But they were still the top two teams in the Western Conference. They return as strong Cup favorites and face each other in Edmonton to start a round-robin tournament to determine seeding. &nbsp;Back on the ice for the Blues will be Vladimir Tarasenko after missing most of the season following shoulder surgery. &nbsp;Back in action for the Avalanche are scorers Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovski and Matt Calvert along with goaltender Philipp Grubauer.<h2>Update on the latest sports</h2>MLB-SCHEDULEDodgers top Astros in 13UNDATED (AP) — The Dodgers and Astros kept their tempers in check just a night after a brushback pitch caused both benches to empty. This one lasted 13 innings as Edwin Rios belted a two-run homer to send the Dodgers past the Astros, 4-2. Los Angeles went ahead on an RBI double by Mookie Betts in the top of the 11th, but Carlos Correa's run-scoring single extended the game. Corey Seager also homered for the Dodgers.Before the game Major League Baseball announced that LA reliever Joe Kelly was hit with an eight-game suspension for brushing back Alex Bregman near the head and taunting Correa in Tuesday's game. The game marked the first time the teams had met since it was revealed Houston stole signs en route to a 2017 World Series title over the Dodgers. LA manager Dave Roberts was suspended for Wednesday's game and Astros manager Dusty Baker was fined.Kelly elected to appeal and can continue to play.Also around the majors:— Homers by D.J. LeMahieu (leh-MAY'-hyoo), Aaron Hicks and Aaron Judge powered the Yankees to a 9-3 rout of the Orioles. LeMahieu provided four of New York's eight hits to support Gerrit Cole, who won hits second straight start since signing with the Yankees last winter. Cole had a 7-1 lead until Dwight Smith's two-run homer ended his night in the seventh inning.— Adam Eaton delivered a go-ahead, RBI single in the 10th inning before the Nationals completed a tidy 4-0 win against the Blue Jays. Asdrubal (as-DROO'-bul) Cabrera added a bases-loaded triple to cap the scoring in a game in which Toronto was the home team in Washington. Max Scherzer received a no-decision after limiting the Jays to three hits while striking out 10 over 7 1/3 innings.— The White Sox also scored four times in their final at-bat, doing it in the ninth to beat the Indians, 4-0. Rookie Luis Robert hit a two-run single in the ninth as Chicago snapped a three-game losing streak and salvaged one game in the series. Cleveland closer Brad Hand was tagged for three runs after Kevin Plesac struck out a career-high 11 while scattering three hits.— Milwaukee's Brandon Woodruff allowed one hit and struck out 10 while working into the seventh inning of a 3-0 shutout of the Pirates. Woodruff retired 19 of 21 batters, allowing a swinging bunt single to Phil Evans in the first. Ben Gamel gave Woodruff all the support he would need with a third-inning two-run homer — The Reds outscored the Cubs, 12-7 as Mike Moustakas (moos-TAH'-kahs) and Nick Senzel homered in their returns from a COVID-19 scare. Nick Castellanos added a grand slam in helping Cincinnati halt a four-game slide. Sonny Gray extended his major league record to 35 consecutive starts allowing six hits or less, yielding up only Ian Happ's double and fanning 11 as he pitched into the seventh inning.— Freddie Freeman was productive in the Braves' 7-4 victory against the Rays, going 4-for-5 with a two-run homer and three RBIs. Freeman snapped a 4-4 tie with an RBI single in Atlanta's three-run sixth. Darren O'Day blew a lead but got the victory after Mike Soroka left with a 2-1 lead in the sixth.— The Red Sox ended a four-game losing streak by rallying against the Mets' shaky bullpen in a 6-5 win at New York. Mitch Moreland provided a tiebreaking, RBI single in the eighth before Christian Vazquez following his solo blast with a two-run single later in the inning. Brandon Workman allowed a ninth-inning run before getting Robinson Cano to line out with the bases loaded to end it.— The Twins were 3-0 winners over the Cardinals behind Rich Hill, who gave up just two hits over five innings. Four relievers completed the combined three-hitter in Minnesota's fourth victory in five games this season. Eddie Rosario smacked a solo homer for the Twins.— Mike Yastrzemski (yah-STREHM'-skee) homered twice, including a walk-off homer in the ninth inning to complete the Giants' comeback from a 6-2 deficit in a 7-6 triumph over the Padres. San Francisco tied it when Donovan Solano crushed a three-run homer in the eighth against his former team. Alex Dickerson also went deep and Solano finished with four RBIs.— The Rockies capped a 4-1 road trip as German (hehr-MAHN') Márquez struck out eight over six impressive innings of their 5-1 victory at Oakland. Charlie Blackmon delivered an insurance run with an RBI double in the eighth, then reached on an error in the ninth that led to a pair of runs. Garrett Hampson hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fourth to back Márquez.— Joey Gallo slammed a tying, two-run homer in the eighth before the Rangers scored three more times in the inning to beat the Diamondbacks, 7-4. The Rangers loaded the bases with two out after the homer before Elvis Andrus hit a two-run single and Nick Solak added an RBI single. Todd Frazier hit his first homer and had two doubles for the Rangers, whose five-run inning accounted for only one run fewer than it had scored combined in their first four games in the new $1.2 billion stadium with a retractable roof.— Dylan Moore hit a three-run homer and Kyle Seager had three RBIs in the Mariners' 10-7 defeat of the Angels. Seager's sacrifice fly broke a 7-7 deadlock in the seventh inning. Shohei Ohtani (shoh-hay oh-TAH'-nee) clubbed a three-run blast for Los Angeles, which also got home runs from Justin Upton and Brian Goodwin.— JaCoby Jones hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh inning to send the Tigers past the Royals, 5-4. Tigers relievers held Kansas City without a baserunner for four innings, one night after tossing six shutout innings. Jonathan Schoop (skohp) also homered after the Royals took a 4-0 lead. MLB-NEWSPhillies staffer tests positive for COVID-19UNDATED (AP) — Philadelphia Phillies general manager Matt Klentak says one team employee who works in the visiting clubhouse has tested positive for the coronavirus. But he says all Phillies players and on-field staff tested negative for a second straight day. The Phillies' four-game, home-and-home series against the New York Yankees was postponed this week following a coronavirus outbreak among the Miami Marlins, who played in Philadelphia last weekend. The Phillies are scheduled to host Toronto this weekend in a series that was supposed to be on the road but switched because the Blue Jays' temporary ballpark in Buffalo isn't ready. In other MLB news:— Nationals outfielder Juan Soto is still waiting to be cleared to play by the city government after getting the OK from Major League Baseball to return from the COVID-19 injured list. Manager Dave Martinez said the Nationals hope their 21-year-old slugger will be allowed to work out with the team starting Saturday and play in their first game after that, which is next Tuesday at home against the Mets.— The Indians have placed starting catcher Roberto Pérez on the 10-day injured list with a sore throwing shoulder. Pérez hurt his right shoulder while making an off-balance throw in Friday's season opener. A Gold Glove winner in 2019, Pérez has played since but the shoulder has continued to bother him.— Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas (MY'-koh-las) will have season-ending surgery to repair a tendon in his strained right forearm. The 31-year-old missed spring training with the injury, but he ramped up his activity after the virus shutdown and pitched four innings for the Cardinals in an exhibition game last week. — Nick Markakis (mahr-KAY'-kihs) is returning to the Braves, three weeks after announcing he was opting out of the season due to his concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. The veteran outfielder said he changed his mind about sitting out after watching his teammates play the first five games. The 36-year-old Markakis says he has the full support of his family, including his three children, in his decision to return.— The Astros have acquired right-hander Hector Velázquez from the Orioles for a player to be named. The deal comes after the AL champion Astros learned that reigning Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander will be out a while with a strained forearm. Velázquez went 1-4 with a 5.43 ERA with Boston last year before coming to the Orioles via a waiver claim in March.— Former National League batting champion and four-time All-Star Jose Reyes has formally retired, two years after playing his final major league game. Reyes hit .283 with 145 homers, 719 RBIs and 517 stolen bases.— Former Red Sox manager John McNamara has died at age 88. McNamara managed Boston to within one strike of a World Series victory in 1986 before an unprecedented collapse on the field extended the team's championship drought into the new millennium. He was 1,167–1,242 over parts of 19 seasons while managing six big league clubs.NBA-NEWSDavis, Williamson ready for re-opening nightLAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson are ready for re-opening night. Davis practiced Wednesday for the first time since getting poked in an eye during the Los Angeles Lakers' scrimmage opener last week. He said the plan is for him to play when the Lakers face the Los Angeles Clippers in the first seeding game for both teams on Thursday. The Pelicans said Williamson will be a game-time decision for New Orleans' Thursday opener against Utah. Williamson missed nearly two weeks because he left for a family emergency and then had to quarantine for four days upon his return.NFL-NEWSTua gets green lightUNDATED (AP) — The Dolphins say rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (TOO'-ah tuhng-ah-vy-LOH'-ah) passed his physical when he reported to training camp. He will practice without restrictions as he begins his bid to overtake veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick for the starting job. The all-clear will allow Tagovailoa to practice for the first time since a career-threatening hip injury ended his Alabama career in mid-November. In other NFL news:— Chiefs running back Damien Williams is opting out of playing the upcoming season. Williams' strong postseason helped Kansas City to its first Super Bowl championship in 50 years.— Veteran cornerback Maurice Canady and undrafted rookie receiver Stephen Guidry have opted out of playing for the Dallas Cowboys this season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Canady signed a one-year contract with the Cowboys after splitting the 2019 season between the Jets and Baltimore. The Ravens drafted Canady in the sixth round in 2016.— A person familiar with the situation says Patriots linebacker Dont'a Hightower has decided to opt out of the 2020 season. Two other people told the AP that starting right tackle Marcus Cannon and fullback Danny Vitale have also chosen to sit out the season, citing health concerns.— The Falcons have placed fullback Keith Smith and safety Jamal Carter on the team's reserve/COVID-19 list.— The Eagles have placed three-time Pro Bowl right tackle Lane Johnson, linebacker Nathan Gerry, and tackle Jordan Mailata on the reserve/COVID-19 list. — Giants left tackle Nate Solder has opted out of the 2020 NFL season because of the coronavirus pandemic. He cited his son's ongoing fight with cancer, the recent birth of a baby boy and his own history with cancer for his decision.— Guard Drew Forbes and tackle Drake Dorbeck are the first two Browns players who have chosen to opt out for the 2020 NFL season because of the coronavirus. — General manager John Lynch has agreed to a new five-year contract with the 49ers that will keep him locked up through the 2024 season. The new deal for Lynch comes about six weeks after coach Kyle Shanahan replaced his original six-year deal signed in 2017 with a new six-year contract that takes him through 2025. Lynch was named executive of the year last season by the Pro Football Writers Association of America for helping the Niners reach the Super Bowl last season. PGA-US OPEN-NO FANSUS Open without qualifying now will be played without fansUNDATED (AP) — The USGA says no fans will be allowed for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in New York Sept. 17-20 because of health and safety concerns about COVID-19. The U.S. Open already has been moved from its traditional Father's Day finish. The pandemic caused the cancellation of more than 100 qualifiers .VIRUS OUTBREAK-COLLEGE SPORTSBig West Conference postpones fall sportsUNDATED (AP) — The Big West Conference is postponing all fall sports through the end of the calendar year.The conference will determine later if conducting fall sports in the spring would be feasible. The decision does not impact basketball, which is scheduled to begin on Nov. 10. The Division I conference has 11 members, with all but one based in California.In other news related to the COVID-19 pandemic:— Austin's public health authority said the city was "caught a little off guard" by the recent announcement by Texas that the school planned to allow 50% stadium capacity at Longhorns football games this fall. Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott spoke with county commissioners Tuesday, and said it's hard to imagine allowing a crowd of any size watch a game. Texas is scheduled to host South Florida on Sept. 5 and the Big 12 has held out hope it can play a 12-game regular season. The state of Texas has seen record numbers of new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the month of July.— Notre Dame will play in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season as part of a plan to play 10 league games and start the week of Sept. 7, alterations brought on by the pandemic. The ACC's university presidents approved the plan for an 11-game schedule, including one nonconference game, and for pushing back the league championship game from Dec. 5 to either Dec. 12 or 19. Notre Dame will play in a football conference for the first time in the 133-year history of the program if the season is played.— The NCAA is allowing all major college football teams to begin their seasons as early as Aug. 29. The association confirmed that the football oversight committee had requested a blanket waiver to permit any school to push up the start of its season to the so-called Week Zero.NHL-BLACKHAWKSBlackhawks ban Native American headdresses at home gamesCHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks are banning headdresses at home games as part of their pledge to honor the Native American community. The NHL team says it consulted with Native American partners to establish new policies and initiatives. The Blackhawks will further integrate Native American culture and storytelling into game presentation and community involvement. COLLEGE BASKETBALL-SOUTH CAROLINALawson staying at SCCOLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina's top scorer and rebounder AJ Lawson has announced that he is withdrawing from the NBA and returning to school for his junior season. The 6-foot-6 guard from Toronto started all 31 games last year, averaging team highs with 13.4 points and 3.7 rebounds. Lawson put his name in the draft pool in April without hiring an agent, giving him the option to return. COLLEGE BASKETBALL-OBIT-HENSONFormer Illinois, New Mexico St coach Lou Henson dies at 88HAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Former New Mexico and Illinois men's basketball coach Lou Henson died Sunday at age 88 and was buried on Wednesday. Henson took New Mexico State and Illinois to the Final Four during a 21-year career that included nearly 800 victories and a feud with fellow Big Ten coach Bob Knight. Henson left the game as the winningest coach at both Illinois and New Mexico State, and still ranks fifth all-time among Big Ten coaches with 214 conference wins and 423 total. AUSTRALIA-ABUSE COMPLAINTSGymnastics Australia asks human rights group to probe abuseMELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Complaints by at least 20 former Australian gymnasts about physical and mental abuse during their careers has prompted Gymnastics Australia to ask a human rights group to investigate. The gymnasts include Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medalists but the identities of the athletes were not disclosed. They recently spoke of a toxic culture within the sport and have used social media platforms to detail fat-shaming and other forms of abuse. The Australian Human Rights Commission will examine the sport's culture and practices in Australia.

Thursday Sports Headlines