GOLF-MASTERS
A little tighter leaderboard
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) β Jordan Spieth (speeth) continues to rewrite the Masters record book to stay atop the leaderboard at Augusta National.
Spieth fired a 2-under 70 that leaves him 16-under 200, the lowest 54-hole score in Masters history. He topped the 201 total registered by Raymond Floyd in 1976 and matched by Tiger Woods in 1997. But Spieth is just four shots ahead of Justin Rose despite the record-setting performance.
Speith’s lead would have been larger without a double bogey on 17. Rose is within striking distance following a 5-under 67 that included birdies on five of his last six holes.
Phil Mickelson shot a 67, leaving him five strokes back. Charley Hoffman is alone in fourth, six strokes back and four ahead of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Kevin Streelman, Kevin Na and Dustin Johnson.
NFL- BROWNS-MANZIEL
AP Source: Manziel out of rehab
CLEVELAND (AP) β A person familiar with the situation says Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel (man-ZEHL’) has been released from a rehab facility.
Manziel entered the undisclosed clinic Jan. 28 for treatment of an unspecified problem. The 2012 Heisman Trophy winner had been allowed to leave for short periods over the past month. The Browns expect Manziel to participate in their offseason program, which begins April 20.
MLB-SCHEDULE
Red Sox top Yanks again
UNDATED (AP) β Brock Holt was the only position player who didn’t get into the Boston Red Sox’s 19-inning win over the New York Yankees on Friday, so he was fresh enough to lead the Bosox’s 8-4 win over the Bombers this afternoon.
Holt had four of the Red Sox’s nine hits, collecting three singles before his three-run double put Boston ahead 8-1 in the eighth.
Dustin Pedroia (peh-DROY’-uh) and Daniel Nava each had two RBIs, and Joe Kelly held the Yanks to one hit in seven innings
In other major league games:
β New Padres ace James Shields limited San Francisco to a run and three hits in seven innings of San Diego’s 10-2 pounding of the Giants. World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner was tagged for five runs and 10 hits in just three innings.
β Mike Moustakas (moos-TAH’-kahs) and Salvador Perez homered off Jered Weaver during a five-run fourth inning that pushed Kansas City past the Los Angeles Angels 6-4, leaving the Royals 5-0.
β Colorado has its first loss after Chris Coghlan, Mike Olt and Starlin Castro powered the Chicago Cubs past the Rockies 9-5.
β Paul Goldschmidt smacked a two-run homer and Archie Bradley held the Los Angeles Dodgers to one hit in six innings of Arizona’s 6-0 shutout.
β Jonathan Schoop (skohp) belted a grand slam and Ubaldo Jimenez (oo-BAHL’-doh hih-MEH’-nehz) gave up just one hit in seven innings of Baltimore’s 7-1 rout of Toronto.
β Freddie Freeman hit a solo homer and Julio Teheran gave up one earned run in six innings as Atlanta downed the New York Mets 5-3 to improve to 5-0.
β Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh 6-0 as Jean Segura hit a two-run homer and Hector Gomez added a two-run single to back Jimmy Nelson seven innings.
β Odubel Herrera hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the 10th to give Philadelphia a 3-2 win over Washington.
β Ian Kinsler was 4-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored as Detroit beat Cleveland 9-6.
β Tampa Bay beat Miami 2-0 as Tim Beckham hit his first career homer and Chris Archer limited the Marlins to one hit and one walk in seven innings.
β Matt Adams homered and Michael Wacha (WAH’-kah) allowed a run and five hits in 6 1/3 innings to lead St. Louis past Cincinnati 4-1, the Reds’ first loss of the season.
β Pinch-hitter J.B. Shuck singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning to give the Chicago White Sox their first win of the season, 5-4 over Minnesota.
β Nelson Cruz hit a three-run homer and Brad Miller doubled home the go-ahead run as the Mariners beat Oakland 5-4 in 11 innings.
β Yovani Gallardo (yoh-VAH’-nee gy-AHR’-doh) struck out seven and allowed two runs and eight hits over 5 2/3s as Texas whipped Houston 6-2.
MLB-RANGERS
More injury woes for Texas
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) β The Texas Rangers have placed pitcher Derek Holland on the 60-day disabled list with a shoulder injury.
Holland was able to go just one inning in the home opener because of a shoulder injury. Holland felt tightness on his last pitch of warmups Friday and was able to only throw nine pitches against the Astros.
The Rangers have also placed outfielder Ryan Rua (ROO’-ah) on the 15-day DL with a right ankle sprain.
MLB-METS
The Mets lose another pitcher
ATLANTA (AP) β New York Mets relief pitcher Jenrry Mejia (HEHN’-ree meh-HEE’-uh) has been suspended 80 games by Major League Baseball after testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance Stanozolol. This is the fourth penalty for a positive Stanozolol test reported by MLB in less than a month, following Minnesota pitcher Ervin Santana, Seattle hurler David Rollins and Atlanta pitcher Arodys Vizcaino (viz-ky-EE’-noh).
Mejia began the season as New York’s closer, but he was placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with posterior elbow inflammation.
NHL-SCHEDULE
Senators cap post-season push with win
UNDATED (AP) β The Ottawa Senators were 20-22-9 and 14 points out of a playoff berth on Feb. 10. Two months later, they are in the Stanley Cup playoffs as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Senators completed their dramatic playoff charge with a 3-1 win at Philadelphia. Mark Stone scored twice and Andrew Hammond stopped 34 shots to help the Senators end up 23-4-4 in their final 31 games.
Stone and Hammond were Ottawa’s catalysts down the stretch. Stone is a Calder Trophy candidate after registering 14 goals and 35 points in the Senators’ last 31 contests. Hammond was sensational following his callup in mid-February, going 20-1-2 with a 1.79 goals-against average.
Ottawa’s opponent in the conference quarterfinals will be the Montreal Canadiens.
The eighth and final East playoff berth goes to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who got two goals from Brandon Sutter in a 2-0 shutout of Buffalo. Marc-Andre Fleury turned back 28 shots for his league-leading 10th shutout of the season.
Pittsburgh will take on the New York Rangers in the conference quarterfinals.
Elsewhere on ice:
β Alex Galchenyuk (gahl-CHEHN’-yuhk) and David Desharnais (day-ahr-NAY’) scored shootout goals to give Montreal a 4-3 victory over Toronto, the Atlantic Division title and the second seed in the East. Desharnais, Tomas Plekanec (pleh-KAH’-nehts) and Jacob De La Rose scored the Canadiens’ regulation goals.
β Kevin Hayes and Dominic Moore each had a goal and an assist as the Rangers downed Washington 4-2. The Blueshirts finish the regular season with team records of 52 wins and 113 points.
β Anaheim secured the top seed in the West as Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist in the Ducks’ 2-1 triumph at Arizona. Frederik Andersen stopped 22 shots in the Ducks’ playoff tuneup for the Jets.
β The New York Islanders blew leads of 3-1 and 4-3 in the third period before losing 5-4 to Columbus in a shootout. Cam Atkinson and Alexander Wennberg each scored once in regulation and once in the shootout as the Blue Jackets finished 12-0-1 in their last 13 games. The loss means the fourth-seeded Capitals will have home-ice advantage for their conference quarterfinal series with the Isles.
β Jori Lehtera (YOHR’-ee leh-TEHR’-uh) scored twice and Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist as St. Louis knocked off Minnesota 4-2. The two teams will square off in the Western Conference quarterfinals.
β Jarome Iginla’s (ih-GIHN’-luhz) second power-play goal of the night was the tiebreaker with 34 seconds left in Colorado’s 3-2 verdict over Chicago. It was the Blackhawks’ last game before heading to Nashville for the start of their Western Conference quarterfinal series with the Predators.
β Petr Mrazek (muh-RA’-zehk) stopped 35 shots and Landon Ferraro scored 48 seconds into Detroit’s 2-0 shutout of Carolina. The Red Wings will travel to Florida to open their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
β The Lightning pulled out a 3-2 win over Boston on Victor Hedman’s shootout goal. Jonathan Marchessault (MAHR’-sheh-soh) had a goal and an assist for the winners.
β Lee Stempniak (STEHMP’-nee-ak) provided a goal and an assist while Winnipeg scored four times in the third period of a 5-1 victory against Calgary. The Flames head to the Western Conference playoffs as the sixth seed and will open the playoffs against Vancouver.
β Alex Edler had two assists before netting the game-winner at 2:29 of overtime to give the Canucks a 6-5 win over Edmonton. The Oilers led until Jannik Hansen and Sven Baertschi (BAHR’-chee) scored in the first half of the third period.
β Jamie Benn won the Art Ross trophy by scoring three times and collecting four points in the Dallas Stars’ 4-1 victory over Nashville. Benn trailed the scoring race by one point to Islanders center John Taveras before producing a goal and an assist in the game’s final 2:05.
β Third-period goals by Brayden McNabb, Marian Gaborik (GAB’-uh-rihk) and Andy Andreoff (an-DRAY’-ahf) gave Los Angeles a 4-1 win over San Jose, capping disappointing seasons for the Kings and Sharks.
β Florida beat New Jersey 3-2 on Jaromir Jagr’s (YAH’-roh-meer YAH’-gurz) goal with 7:37 remaining.
NBA-SCHEDULE
Rose blooming for Bulls…Heat on brink of elimination
UNDATED (AP) β Derrick Rose had his best game since returning from a two-month absence caused by knee surgery.
Rose poured in 22 points and had eight assists in 28 minutes as the Chicago Bulls beat Philadelphia 114-107. He also had six rebounds in his third game back.
Pau Gasol had 24 points and 13 rebounds as the Bulls stayed tied with Toronto for third place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference with two games remaining for both teams.
Also in the NBA:
β Trevor Booker scored a career-high 36 points and Utah killed Portland’s shot at earning home-court advantage in the conference quarterfinals by topping the Trail Blazers 111-105. Rodney added 21 points, including a tiebreaking jumper after the Jazz coughed up a 15-point lead.
β The Los Angeles Clippers picked up their fifth straight win as J.J. Redick and Blake Griffin scored 18 points apiece in a 94-86 victory against Memphis. The loss puts the Grizzlies, Clippers and San Antonio in a virtual tie for second in the West, a half-game ahead of Houston.
β Stephen (STEH’-fehn) Curry hit five more 3-pointers and had 34 points and seven assists to lead Golden State over Minnesota 110-101. Klay Thompson contributed 23 points to the Warriors’ 14th victory in 16 games.
β Lou Williams scored 29 points and DeMar DeRozan added 24 to lead Toronto’s 107-104 triumph at Miami. Dwyane (dwayn) Wade scored 30 points for the Heat, whose tragic number for playoff elimination is one with two games remaining.
β Cole Aldrich had a career-high 19 points as New York downed Orlando 80-79, a game that had the lowest-scoring quarter in NBA history. The teams combined to score only 15 points in the second quarter, breaking the mark of 18.
NASCAR-DUCK COMMANDER 500
Johnson earns fifth Texas win
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) β Jimmie Johnson continues to have success at Texas Motor Speedway.
Johnson has five Sprint Cup victories at the track after leading for 128 of 334 laps in the Duck Commander 500. He also won there in November.
Series points leader Kevin Harvick was second. He’s either won or been the runner-up in nine of his last 10 races.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third, followed by Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski.
INDYCAR
Qualifying rained out
AVONDALE, La. (AP) β Rain washed out qualifying for Sunday’s inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana. That means the starting grid for this race will be the order of finish in the season-opening event at St. Petersburg, Florida, two weeks ago. Juan Pablo Montoya has the pole, followed by Will Power and Tony Kanaan (kah-NAHN’).
FORMULA ONE-CHINESE GRAND PRIX
Hamilton wins
SHANGHAI (AP) β Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes back on top in Formula One, leading nearly the entire race Sunday to capture his fourth Chinese Grand Prix.
Mercedes made sure there would be no repeat of Ferrari’s surprising win two weeks ago at Malaysia, as it conserved its tires wisely to withstand a challenge by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and easily secure the top two spots on the podium.
Hamilton’s teammate, Nico Rosberg, finished second and Vettel was third.
The race came to an anticlimactic conclusion after Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso car stopped on the track toward the end and the drivers completed the remaining two laps behind the safety car.
It was the 35th win of Hamilton’s career, and his 13th in the past 21 races dating back to last season.
