KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Denny Hamlin bumped Kyle Larson off the lead heading onto the backstretch of the final lap Sunday, giving him a clear path to the finish line at Kansas Speedway and ending his streak of 33 races in the NASCAR Cup Series without a victory. Hamlin went to the front on the record 38th lead change of a chaotic race at Kansas for his fourth victory at the track and the 400th win for Joe Gibbs Racing. William Byron spent more than 50 laps riding around two laps down before rallying onto the lead lap, and even fighting for the lead down the stretch. He finished in third. Bubba Wallace was fourth and Ross Chastain fifth. Chastain got into a brawl on pit road with Noah Gragson after the race and had to be separated.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Salvador Perez homered and the Kansas City Royals defeated the Oakland Athletics 5-1 on to avoid being swept in the series between teams with the worst records in the major leagues. Kansas City (9-26) lost two of three to the A’s (8-27) and dropped to 1-10 in series this season. Perez went 3 for 4 with a 462-foot home run over the left-field fountains and scored three times. Maikel Garcia scored Perez with an RBI single, giving the Royals a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Nick Pratto hit a two-run double in the eighth to highlight a three-run inning.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Paul Goldschmidt homered three times, Brendan Donovan hit a three-run drive and the St. Louis Cardinals stopped an eight-game losing streak with a 12-6 win over the Detroit Tigers. Goldschmidt, had four hits and four RBIs in his third three-homer game, the first since March 29, 2019, against Milwaukee. Lars Nootbaar added a two-run single to cap off a seven-run sixth inning for the Cardinals, who had been on their longest skid in 16 years. Jake Rogers hit a grand slam for the Tigers, whose five-game winning steak was stopped.
NEW YORK (AP) — There are too many Ls and not nearly enough Ws lately for the Mets, who fell under .500 for the first time since early April as Brenton Doyle’s first big league home run capped a seven-run fifth inning in the Colorado Rockies’ 13-6 win. The Mets are 3-11 since opening 14-7. New York didn’t spend a day under .500 last season on its way to winning 101 games, second-most in franchise history, and their only time with a losing record this year had been at 3-4.
PHOENIX (AP) — Devin Booker had 36 points and 12 assists, Kevin Durant also had 36 points and the Phoenix Suns beat the Denver Nuggets 129-124 to even their Western Conference semifinal playoff series at two games apiece. Backup guard Landry Shamet made four crucial 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to keep the Suns ahead. Denver lost despite a huge game from MVP runner-up Nikola Jokic, who poured in 53 points. The Suns took a 98-92 lead into the fourth quarter after a scoring flurry from Booker, who had 17 points in the third. Phoenix wouldn’t trail in the fourth. The series returns to Denver for Game 5 on Tuesday.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — James Harden hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 18 seconds left in overtime and scored 42 points to help the Philadelphia 76ers stave off a wild Boston Celtics comeback in a 116-115 victory on Sunday that evened their playoff series at 2-2. Marcus Smart’s potential winner was a tick too late and the Celtics now head home for Tuesday’s Game 5. Joel Embiid had 34 points and 13 rebounds. Harden added nine assists and eight rebounds. Jayson Tatum struggled to score early but finished with 24 points, 18 rebounds, six assists and four blocks.
PHOENIX (AP) — Denver Nuggets All-Star center Nikola Jokic was assessed a technical foul in the second quarter after an altercation with Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia on Sunday. Late in the second quarter, Suns guard Josh Okogie crashed into the seats while trying to save a loose ball. He landed in a group of fans that included Ishbia, who grabbed the basketball. Jokic was trying to get the basketball quickly — apparently so the Nuggets could start their offensive possession — which he tried to take the ball away from Ishbia. There were a few minutes of confusion as officials sorted out the weird scene, and then Jokic was assessed a technical foul.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sam Reinhart scored 3:02 into overtime and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series. Reinhart dumped the puck off the boards behind the net to set up his game-winner, taking a pass back from Anton Lundell and scoring to give Florida its first 3-0 series lead in 27 years. Anthony Duclair and Carter Verhaeghe scored for Florida. Sam Lafferty and Erik Gustafsson scored for Toronto.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Max Verstappen used an easy Sunday drive to keep Red Bull undefeated on the season as the reigning two-time Formula One champion drove from ninth to the victory at the Miami Grand Prix. Red Bull has won all five races so far this season, and teammate Sergio Perez’s second-place finish in Miami was the fourth 1-2 finish for Red Bull this year. Verstappen has three wins this season, while Perez, the pole sitter in Miami, has two victories. The win was the 38th of his career for Verstappen, who tied Sebastian Vettel for most victories for Red Bull. At this pace, he’ll smash Vettel’s record by the end of what many critics are already complaining is a boring Red Bull-dominated season.
SEATTLE (AP) — Jordan Eberle sparked a five-goal outburst in the second period with his fourth goal of the playoffs, Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves and the Seattle Kraken beat the Dallas Stars 7-2 to take a 2-1 series lead in their Western Conference semifinal. Eberle's goal was just the start for Seattle. Alex Wennberg doubled the lead 1:26 after Eberle’s goal; Carson Soucy became Seattle’s 16th different goal scorer this postseason, beating Oettinger five-hole at 6:30; and Matty Beniers made it 4-0 at 8:22. Eeli Tolvanen, Yanni Gourde and Justin Schultz also scored for Seattle. Mason Marchment and Jani Hakanpää scored for Dallas. Stars goalie Jake Oettinger was pulled after allowing five goals on 17 shots through two periods.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jack Hughes scored two goals, set up two more and had a near fight as the New Jersey Devils began the task of digging out of another hole with a 8-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Sunday. Timo Meier, Nico Hischier and Damon Severson added their first goals of playoffs and Vitek Vanecek returned to the net and made 26 saves in helping New Jersey cut its deficit in the best-of-seven series to 2-1. The eight goals were the most for the Devils in a playoff game since they beat Washington 10-4 on April 22, 1988.
UNDATED (AP) — Vida Blue, a hard-throwing left-hander who became one of baseball’s biggest draws in the early 1970s and helped lead the brash Oakland Athletics to three straight World Series titles before his career was derailed by drug problems, has died. He was 73. The A’s said Blue died Saturday of medical complications stemming from cancer. Blue was voted the 1971 American League Cy Young Award and MVP after going 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA. He finished 209-161 with a 3.27 ERA and 2,175 strikeouts over 17 seasons. He was 22 when he won MVP, the youngest to win the award.
SUNDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
Final Atlanta 3 Baltimore 2
Final Philadelphia 6 Boston 1
Final Toronto 10 Pittsburgh 1
Final St. Louis 12 Detroit 6
Final Chicago White Sox 17 Cincinnati 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Cleveland 2 Minnesota 0
Final Kansas City 5 Oakland 1
Final Tampa Bay 8 N.Y. Yankees 7
Final Seattle 3 Houston 1
Final Texas 16 L.A. Angels 8
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Colorado 13 N.Y. Mets 6
Final Miami 5 Chicago Cubs 4
Final Milwaukee 7 San Francisco 3
Final Washington 9 Arizona 8
Final L.A. Dodgers 5 San Diego 2
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Final OT Philadelphia 116 Boston 115
Final Phoenix 129 Denver 124
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final New Jersey 8 Carolina 4
Final OT Florida 3 Toronto 2
Final Seattle 7 Dallas 2
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