Sports

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s 20-year-old phenom Roki Sasaki almost did it again. A week after pitching the first perfect game in Japanese professional baseball in 28 years, Sasaki delivered eight more perfect innings Sunday before being pulled after throwing 102 pitches. The game was tied 0-0 when Sasaki left, and his Lotte Marines wound up

By The Associated Press Freddie Freeman faces the Braves in Los Angeles for the first time since leaving the World Series champions for a $162 million, six-year deal with the Dodgers last month. The 2020 NL MVP is hitting .324 with four RBIs in nine games this season. The showdown is also a rematch of

By KEN POWTAK Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Boston expects to be without multiple unvaccinated players for an upcoming series at Toronto. Starting pitcher Tanner Houck told the Boston Globe on Sunday that he is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and won’t pitch during the four-game series beginning Monday, April

By ANDREW WAGNER Associated Press MILWAUKEE (AP) — Tyrone Taylor hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to give Milwaukee a cushion, and the Brewers outlasted Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5. Pujols hit his 681st career homer, a three-run shot in the third inning off Aaron Ashby that tied the game

By KEVIN COONEY Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Victor Olofsson and Tage Thompson each scored twice and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 on Sunday to sweep a weekend home-and-home series between the non-playoff teams. The Sabres won 4-3 on Saturday night in Buffalo. Anders Bjork had his first goal since Dec. 14,

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ismael Tajouri put Los Angeles FC ahead for good in a 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City. LAFC improved to 5-1-1 and Sporting KC dropped to 2-6-0.

By CHRIS TALBOTT Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Ty France hit a three-run homer, rookie starter Matt Brash took an odd no-hitter into the sixth inning, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Houston Astros 7-2 for a rare series victory against their AL West rivals. The Mariners won their third game in four days with

By RICHARD J. MARCUS Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) — Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett on Tuesday as he nears a return from the torn right ACL that ended his 2021 season. Atlanta said prior to a game at San Diego that Acuña would join Gwinnett at

By PETE IACOBELLI AP Sports Writer HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Jordan Spieth hit a 56-foot shot from a greenside bunker to 7 inches and beat Patrick Cantlay with the tap-in par putt on the first hole of a playoff Sunday in the RBC Heritage. Playing four groups ahead of Cantlay, Spieth birdied Harbour

By MICHAEL KELLY Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Seiya Suzuki hit his fourth home run, extending an impressive start to his major league career, and the Chicago Cubs defeated the Colorado Rockies 6-4. Willson Contreras also went deep for the Cubs. Nick Madrigal had three hits and Nico Hoerner drove in two runs. Suzuki is

By KYLE HIGHTOWER AP Sports Writer BOSTON (AP) — Jayson Tatum made a layup at the buzzer on a pass from Marcus Smart to give the Boston Celtics a dramatic 115-114 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in the Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. Tatum scored 16 of 31 points in the second half,

By ANDREW WAGNER Associated Press MILWAUKEE (AP) — Tyrone Taylor hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to give Milwaukee a cushion, and the Brewers outlasted Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5. Pujols hit his 681st career homer, a three-run shot in the third inning off Aaron Ashby that tied the game

By MATT CARLSON Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Randy Arozarena doubled twice and finished with three hits as the Tampa Bay Rays topped the Chicago White Sox 9-3 to stop a four-game slide. Manuel Margot also had three hits for the Rays, including a double. Kevin Kiermaier and Francisco Mejia each drove in two runs.

By TOM WITHERS AP Sports Writer CLEVELAND (AP) — Thairo Estrada drove in four runs, Alex Wood continued San Francisco’s superb starting pitching and the Giants completed a three-game sweep with an 8-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians in football-like weather. Estrada hit a two-run homer and Brandon Belt added a two-run shot as the

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Matt Polster scored the deciding goal in a 2-1 win for the New England Revolution over Charlotte. After the win, the Revolution are now 2-4-1, while Charlotte dropped to 3-5-0.