NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Derek Carr threw a touchdown pass in his New Orleans preseason debut and rookie Blake Grupe kicked a 31-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Saints to a 26-24 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Chiefs star QB Patrick Mahomes started but took just five snaps before Kansas City’s first drive ended with a failed fourth-and-1 play on a direct snap to reserve tight end Blake Bell. Carr looked comfortable taking his first live snaps in his new offense, completing six of eight passes for 70 yards on the game’s opening drive. Carr connected with Keith Kirkwood for a 4-yard touchdown.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Raiders rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell completed 15 of 18 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown and Las Vegas beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-7 on Sunday in the preseason opener for both teams. O’Connell is third on the depth chart behind starter Jimmy Garoppolo and veteran Brian Hoyer. The Raiders drafted O’Connell in the fourth round this year out of Purdue. He outplayed 49ers counterparts Trey Lance and Sam Darnold. They are competing to back up starter Brock Purdy.
UNDATED (AP) — It's not easy picking a preseason Top 25. Take it from voters in The Associated Press poll. The 62 writers and broadcasters judge teams' bodies of work in the regular season. Preseason voting is a guessing game. Voters interviewed said some of the biggest factors they consider are whether a team has a returning quarterback, how many other starters are back, transfer portal additions and subtractions and the way a team finished the previous season. This year's preseason poll will be released Monday at noon Eastern.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Julio UrÃas matched his career high with 12 strikeouts over seven innings of four-hit ball, and Miguel Rojas homered and drove in four runs in the Dodgers’ season-high eighth consecutive victory, 8-3 over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday. Mookie Betts broke it open with a two-run double in the sixth for the Dodgers, who have won 12 of 13 to surge 8 1/2 games ahead of San Francisco in the race for their 10th division title in 11 seasons.
HOUSTON (AP) — Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani will skip his next scheduled pitching start Wednesday at Texas after telling manager Phil Nevin he was feeling some arm fatigue. Nevin says Ohtani isn't injured and will return to the rotation during a series at home against the Reds that begins Aug. 21. The right-hander is 10-5 with a 3.17 ERA in 22 starts this season. He is hitting .305 with an American League-leading 40 homers and 83 RBIs.
MALAGA, Spain (AP) — The U.S. World Cup basketball team got its first big test of the summer Sunday, and a perfect shooting night from Jalen Brunson helped ensure the Americans passed. Brunson was 9 for 9 from the field on the way to a team-best 21 points, Jaren Jackson Jr. added 14 and the U.S. pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Spain 98-88 in a pre-World Cup exhibition between tournament favorites. Spain is the No. 1-ranked team in the world according to FIBA; the U.S. is No. 2. The U.S. improved to 3-0 in its pre-World Cup tour with two games left before arriving in Manila for the tournament.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Lucas Glover is on a roll. One week after a clutch win just to get into the FedEx Cup playoffs, Glover beat Patrick Cantlay in a playoff at the St. Jude Championship. He was looking at an early end to his season two weeks ago. Now Glover is up to No. 4 in the FedEx Cup and assured a spot in the Tour Championship. He made one clutch putt after another to stay in the game and shot 69. Cantlay shot a 64. But in the playoff, Cantlay's tee shot found the water. Glover won it with a par.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Michael McDowell raced to his second NASCAR crown jewel victory Sunday, dominating the Brickyard 200 — and putting himself in the playoffs for the second time in three years. The 38-year-old Arizona driver who has made more than 450 career starts beat Chase Elliott across the yard of bricks by 0.937 seconds in the road-course race that had only one yellow flag. Pole winner Daniel Suarez was third as the regular season winds down. McDowell, also the 2021 Daytona 500 winner, gave Front Row Motorsports its fourth victory. McDowell a career-best 54 laps in the 82-lap race.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Children are heading back to classes and fall sports practices, and four more states are expecting their K-12 schools to keep transgender girls off their girls sports teams. Kansas, North Dakota and Wyoming had new laws restricting transgender athletes in place before classes resumed, and a Missouri law takes effect at the end of this month. That brings the number of states with restrictions to 23. The restrictions have been imposed since 2020, and most are aimed at transgender girls. Almost all say other students and their parents can sue schools that don’t enforce the restrictions. Principals and schools are expected to be the enforcers.
SUNDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
Final Minnesota 3 Philadelphia 0
Final Toronto 11 Chicago Cubs 4
Final Washington 8 Oakland 7
Final Miami 8 N.Y. Yankees 7
Final Milwaukee 7 Chicago White Sox 3
Final San Francisco 3 Texas 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Boston 6 Detroit 3
Final Cleveland 9 Tampa Bay 2
Final L.A. Angels 2 Houston 1
Final Baltimore 5 Seattle 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Pittsburgh 4 Cincinnati 2
Final L.A. Dodgers 8 Colorado 3
Final Arizona 5 San Diego 4
Final Cincinnati 6 Pittsburgh 5
Final N.Y. Mets 7 Atlanta 6
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PRESEASON
Final New Orleans 26 Kansas City 24
Final Las Vegas 34 San Francisco 7