KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. homered during a five-run rally in the seventh inning, leading Brady Singer and the Kansas City Royals over the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3. Arizona starter Zac Gallen extended his shutout streak to 27 1/3 innings, leaving after the sixth with a 1-0 lead. He gave up three hits, walked three and struck out six. The Royals broke loose in the seventh against the Arizona bullpen. Kansas City finished with seven hits, snapping an eight-game streak of six hits or less. Christian Walker hit his career-high 30th homer for Arizona, which has dropped four of five.
CHICAGO (AP) — Zach McKinstry homered and drove in three runs, helping the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1. Nico Hoerner had three hits for Chicago, and Yan Gomes added two RBIs. Rowan Wick got five outs for the win, leading a solid performance by the Cubs bullpen. Lars Nootbaar homered for NL Central-leading St. Louis, and Corey Dickerson went 4 for 4. The Cardinals dropped to 17-5 in August. Chicago and St. Louis split the first four games of their unusual five-game set. The series finale is Thursday afternoon.
DENVER (AP) — Martín Pérez threw six scoreless innings and Nathaniel Lowe homered and drove in five runs, helping the Texas Rangers pound José Ureña and the Colorado Rockies 16-4 on Wednesday. Mark Mathias had a bases-clearing double, Adolis García extended his hitting streak to 21 games with an RBI single and Lowe had a run-scoring single in a seven-run second inning. Texas posted its highest-scoring game since 2019 in winning for the fourth time in five games and improving to 6-4 under interim manager Tony Beasley.
NEW YORK (AP) — Every Major League Baseball team will play each other in the same season for the first time next year as the sport switches to its first balanced schedule since 2000. As a result of the format switch agreed to in the March lockout settlement, high-profile games between division rivals such as Yankees-Red Sox, Dodgers-Giants and Cubs-Cardinals will be reduced from 19 and intradivision games will drop from 47% to 32%. A team will host all of the other 29 clubs at least once every two seasons. The season opens March 30 with all teams scheduled.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson, who helped the Kansas City Chiefs to their first Super Bowl title, died Wednesday. The MVP of the Chiefs’ victory over the Vikings in January 1970 had been in declining health for years. He entered hospice care on Aug. 12. “Lenny the Cool” went into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1987. He also was inducted as a broadcaster in 2012. Dawson spent several decades working on local TV and radio broadcasts while also doing color analysis for NBC and hosting HBO's iconic "Inside the NFL.” The Chiefs intend to honor him during their preseason finale against Green Bay on Thursday night. Len Dawson was 87.
UNDATED (AP) — Twenty-five years since Hal Mumme unleashed the groundbreaking Air Raid offense on the Southeastern Conference it has become pervasive throughout football. But outside of Mike Leach, Mumme's protege and Air Raid Godfather, most coaches are running an evolved form of the offense, with more running plays, more varied formations and an assortment of motions and misdirection. Air Raid principles and concepts can be found in just about every modern passing game from NFL to high school. But at the highest levels of the sport, it's hard to find anyone actually running the Air Raid.
ATLANTA (AP) — The PGA Tour is making its boldest response yet to the rival Saudi-funded league. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has announced a plan for the best players to commit to a 20-tournament schedule starting next year. That means they will be competing against one another up to 17 times and maybe more. That involves elevating four additional tournaments that will offer $20 million or more to go along with the tournaments already announced. Monahan says top players will be determined by a new Player Impact Program criteria. The PIP will double in money to $100 million.
ATLANTA (AP) — The FedEx Cup and it's up for grabs. Well, sort of. Scottie Scheffler is the No. 1 seed and starts with a two-shot advantage. The Masters champ can't remember the last time someone had to give him strokes. In this case, that someone is Patrick Cantlay. Such is the nature of the FedEx Cup finale at the Tour Championship. The guys at the bottom start 10 shots behind. The good news for Scheffler is the last two No. 1 seeds have won the FedEx Cup. And no one more than five back at the start has gone on to win.
ATLANTA (AP) — Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are bringing their own version of team golf to the PGA Tour. Woods and McIlroy are part of a new media group called TMRW (pronounced “tomorrow”) Sports. Former Golf Channel president Mike McCarley is the CEO. The first project is called TGL. It's a tech-infused golf league that will feature six teams of three players for matches on Monday night. The broadcast partner hasn't been announced. It will be played in a custom-built arena. The long shots will be using a simulator. The short shots will be live. The 18-hole matches take two hours.
UNDATED (AP) — The 2021 season was filled with surprising contenders and conference champions. Another season with that much volatility seems unlikely. Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma get back to their league championship games. A first-year coach leads his team to the Pac-12 title. And, yet again, Georgia and Alabama decide the Southeastern Conference.
WEDNESDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
Final Detroit 6 San Francisco 1
Final Oakland 3 Miami 2
Final Texas 16 Colorado 4
Final Washington 3 Seattle 1
Final Cleveland 7 San Diego 0
Final Kansas City 5 Arizona 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Toronto 3 Boston 2
Final Chicago White Sox 5 Baltimore 3
Final Houston 5 Minnesota 3
Final Tampa Bay 4 L.A. Angels 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Atlanta 14 Pittsburgh 2
Final Philadelphia 7 Cincinnati 5
Final Chicago Cubs 7 St. Louis 1
Final L.A. Dodgers 12 Milwaukee 6