AP Sports Headlines for Sunday Morning
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Sonny Gray and four relievers combined on a four-hitter, Jose Miranda had an RBI single, Kyle Farmer drove in another run with a sacrifice fly and the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 2-0 to open with consecutive shutouts for the first time in franchise history. Gray allowed three hits and had a strikeout and four walks, all of which came in full-count situations. Relievers Jorge Alcala, Griffin Jax, Caleb Thielbar and Jorge Lopez held the Royals scoreless. Thielbar struck out three, and Lopez got his first save of the year. Miranda singled to center in the first to score Byron Buxton. Farmer came on as a pinch-hitter in the sixth and hit a sacrifice fly to center, also scoring Buxton.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jack Flaherty survived a career-high seven walks and a hit batter in throwing five no-hit innings, and the St. Louis Cardinals scored three unearned runs in the third on their way to a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays for their first win this season. Flaherty, bothered by shoulder issues that sidelined him most of last season, had only one clean inning but it was his final one. Facing the Blue Jays for the first time in his career, he fanned four. Toronto had three hits after getting 16 singles among an opening day, club record 19 hits.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — JXander Bogaerts hit a two-run homer and Matt Carpenter added a two-run double to back fellow newcomer Michael Wacha and lead the Padres to their first victory this season, 8-4 against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday. The Padres lost consecutive games to the Rockies before playing up to the high expectations they have after making a run to the NL Championship Series last season and then signing Bogaerts to a $280 million, 11-year deal.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Taiyanna Jackson had 17 points and career-high tying 21 rebounds — her fourth consecutive double-double and 23rd of the season — Zakiyah Franklin added 19 points and Kansas beat Columbia 66-59 to win the WNIT championship. The Jayhawks finished with their most wins since the 1997-98 team that also won 25 games and set a program record for home wins in a season with 19. Abbey Hsu led the Lions with 19 points and Kaitlyn Davis scored 13. Hsu finished the season with 606 points, two shy of the program record set by Camille Zimmerman in 2016-17. Columbia won a program-record 28 games this season, three more than its previous best set when the Lions went 25-7 last season.
HOUSTON (AP) — UConn doled out another drama-free basketball beatdown, getting 21 points and 10 rebounds from Adama Sanogo to dispatch Miami 72-59 and move one win from the school’s fifth national title. Jordan Hawkins overcame his stomach bug and scored 13 for the Huskies, who came into this most unexpected Final Four as the only team with any experience on college basketball’s final weekend. In the title game, the Huskies will face San Diego State, which became the first team to hit a buzzer beater while trailing in a Final Four game for a 72-71 victory over Florida Atlantic.
HOUSTON (AP) — Lamont Butler made a jumper at the buzzer, sending San Diego State to its first national championship game with a 72-71 win over fellow mid-major Florida Atlantic in the Final Four. With FAU leading by three, San Diego State’s Jaedon LeDee hit a short jumper to cut it to 71-70. After FAU’s Johnell Davis missed a contested layup, the Aztecs didn’t call timeout and got the ball to Butler. He worked the clock down and before hitting the shot that sent the Aztecs racing out onto the floor. San Diego State will face UConn in Monday’s championship game.
DALLAS (AP) — Caitlin Clark's 100th career game at Iowa will come in the national championship game. The Hawkeyes will be looking for their first title when they take on LSU on Sunday. She will be back next season. As a 21-year-old junior, she's not eligible for the WNBA draft.
Shaka Smart was voted the AP men's basketball coach of the year after leading Marquette to regular-season and Big East Tournament titles. He received 24 of 58 votes from a national panel to beat out Kansas State coach Jerome Tang, who had 13 votes, and Kelvin Sampson of Houston, who received 10. The voting began with the conclusion of the regular season and closed before the start of the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles were a No. 2 seed and lost in the second round to Michigan State. Smart is the second Marquette coach to win AP coach of the year after Al McGuire in 1971.
SATURDAY SCORES
MEN'S FINAL FOUR
Final (10)UConn 72 (16)Miami 59
Final (18)San Diego St. 72 (25)FAU 71
INTERLEAGUE
Final St. Louis 4 Toronto 1
Final Texas 16 Philadelphia 3
Final San Francisco 7 N.Y. Yankees 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Houston 6 Chicago White Sox 4
Final Minnesota 2 Kansas City 0
Final L.A. Angels 13 Oakland 1
Final Tampa Bay 12 Detroit 2
Final Boston 9 Baltimore 8
Final Cleveland 2 Seattle 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Milwaukee 3 Chicago Cubs 1
Final Atlanta 7 Washington 1
Final Cincinnati 6 Pittsburgh 2
Final N.Y. Mets 6 Miami 2
Final San Diego 8 Colorado 4
Final L.A. Dodgers 10 Arizona 1
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Miami 129 Dallas 122
Final New Orleans 122 L.A. Clippers 114
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Nashville 6 St. Louis 1
Final Boston 4 Pittsburgh 3
Final Florida 7 Columbus 0
Final Toronto 3 Ottawa 0
Final Tampa Bay 5 N-Y Islanders 0
Final Carolina 3 Montreal 0
Final Buffalo 6 Philadelphia 3
Final New Jersey 6 Chicago 3
Final Colorado 5 Dallas 2
Final Vegas 4 Minnesota 1
Final Los Angeles 3 Seattle 1
Final San Jose 7 Arizona 2
Final Edmonton 6 Anaheim 0