HORSE RACING-PREAKNESS
Derby winner American Pharoah rolls to Preakness win
BALTIMORE (AP) β It’s been 37 years since horse racing had a Triple Crown winner. That drought could come to an end at Belmont Park in three weeks.
American Pharoah has followed his Kentucky Derby victory with a winning run in a driving rain at the Preakness Stakes. American Pharoah started on the rail and jumped out in front at the quarter-mile mark with Victor Espinoza on board. He remained the pace-setter before taking off down the stretch for a seven-length victory over Tale of Verve. Divining Rod was third.
Longshot Mr. Z stayed with American Pharoah under sloppy conditions at Pimlico before the Bob Baffert-trained horse dominated the final 1/8th of a mile for his sixth straight win. Espinoza finished the race in clean silks despite the muddy track created by a downpour that began about 15 minutes before the race.
American Pharoah is the 14th horse to win both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes since Affirmed became the last Triple Crown winner in 1978.
HORSE RACING-PREAKNESS SUNDAY
Preakness could be moving
BALTIMORE (AP) β There could come a time in the next few years when the Preakness is held on a Sunday at Laurel Park.
Maryland Jockey Club general manager Sal Sinatra says the owners of Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park are considering moving the second jewel of the Triple Crown to Sunday to increase interest and attendance.
Sinatra says the change to Sunday could come as early as next year. A move to Laurel Park would likely occur later.
NHL PLAYOFFS-SCHEDULE
Rangers win opener
NEW YORK (AP) β The New York Rangers played yet another one-goal game this afternoon as they seek a second straight trip to the Stanley Cup finals.
This time, the star was Dominic Moore as he scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:25 remaining in the Rangers’ 2-1 victory over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. The game-winner came 30 seconds after Moore finished serving a tripping penalty that gave the Lightning their fourth power play.
Neither team scored until Derek Stepan (STEP’-ahn) beat Ben Bishop with 12.7 seconds left in the second period. The lead lasted until Andrej Palat (pah-LAHT’) scored a power-play goal at 6:47 of the final period.
The Rangers extended an NHL playoff record with their 15th consecutive one-goal game since last season. Seven of their nine victories in this postseason have been by 2-1 margins.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 23 shots for the Rangers, who host Game 2 on Monday.
HOCKEY-WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Russia, Canada reach title game
PRAGUE (AP) β Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 35 shots to lead Russia to a 4-0 win over the United States in the ice hockey world championship semifinal. NHL goal scoring champ Alex Ovechkin (oh-vehch-kihn) scored one of four third-period goals to propel the Russians into the title game against Canada. Ovechkin was playing in the tournament for the first time since Washington was eliminated in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Taylor Hall and Jason Spezza (SPEHT’-suh) scored in Canada’s 2-0 semifinal win over the Czech Republic. Mike Smith made 23 saves to boost Canada to the title game for the first time since 2009.
MLB-RESULTS
Peterson slams first major league homer
UNDATED (AP) β It’s been a while since the Chicago Cubs have been this good.
Jon Lester tossed seven innings and Kris Bryant sparked the Cubs’ offense in their sixth consecutive victory, 4-1 over Pittsburgh. The winning streak is the Cubbies’ longest in four years and puts them six games over .500 for the first time since Oct. 3, 2009.
Lester earned his fourth straight win by allowing nine hits but just one run while striking out seven. He was backed by Bryant, who was 2-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored.
Starlin Casto had two RBIs without the benefit of a hit.
Also in the majors:
β Washington beat San Diego 4-1 behind Max Scherzer, who allowed four hits while whiffing 11 in seven shutout innings. Yunel (YOO’-nehl) Escobar went 2-for-4 with an RBI single in the Nationals’ 14th victory in their last 18 games.
β Hunter Pence made his season debut and went 2-for-3 with three runs scored as San Francisco crushed Cincinnati 11-2. Brandon Belt and Gregor Blanco hit solo shots before Brandon Crawford launched a grand slam.
β Toronto built a 3-0 lead before Chris Carter hit a three-run homer, Evan Gattis added a two-run blast and Marwin Gonzalez had a solo shot in Houston’s 6-5 verdict over the Blue Jays. The Astros own the American League’s best record at 24-13 after Scott Feldman allowed three runs and struck out 10 in 6 2/3 innings.
β Matt Shoemaker fanned seven and limited Baltimore to a run and three hits in seven innings of the Angels’ 6-1 win against the Orioles. Mike Trout and David Freese (freez) hit solo shots for the Angels after the Birds carried a 1-0 lead into the seventh.
β Chase Headley hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the fifth before Alex Rodriguez added a solo shot in the ninth to push the New York Yankees past Kansas City 5-1. CC Sabathia (suh-BATH’-ee-uh) gave up a run and six hits in seven innings to help the Yanks end a four-game losing streak.
β Miguel Cabrera hit his 400th career home run and Jose Iglesias singled home the tiebreaking run in the 10th to lead Detroit over St. Louis 4-3. The Cardinals absorbed their fifth loss in seven games despite homers by Matt Carpenter and Peter Bourjos.
β Rookie Jace Peterson belted his first big league homer, a grand slam in a five-run second that pushed Atlanta past Miami 5-3. Alex Wood helped the Braves improve to 5-0 in Miami this year by picking off two baserunners and yielding just one earned run and seven hits in seven innings.
β Brian Dozier homered and Eduardo Escobar was 4-for-4 with an RBI single as Minnesota dumped Tampa Bay. Kurt Suzuki drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh after Rays reliever Kevin Jepsen made a wide throw to load the bases.
β The New York Mets’ five-game losing streak is over after No. 9 hitter Wilmer Flores belted a grand slam during a 10-run fourth that highlighted a 14-1 laugher against Milwaukee. Kevin Plawecki and Curtis Granderson added seventh-inning homers, and Jacob deGrom was 3-for-3 while holding the Brewers to one run in six innings.
β Jeff Francoeur (fran-KOOR’) homered and Chase Utley had two hits and two RBIs in Philadelphia’s 7-5 win against Arizona. Grady Sizemore was 4-for-5 and Jerome Williams gave up two earned runs in five innings as the Phillies picked up their season-high fourth straight win.
β Cleveland beat Texas 10-8 on a two-run homer by Jason Kipnis in the top of the ninth. Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall each had three of the Indians’ 14 hits.
β Nolan Arenado and Daniel Descalso hit two-run homers and Carlos Gonzalez added a solo blast in Colorado’s 7-1 rout of the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Jorge De La Rosa surrendered just two hits in 7 1/3 scoreless innings as the Rockies won for the second time in three games since an 11-game slide.
β Pablo Sandoval and David Ortiz ripped solo homers and Blake Swihart doubled home the tiebreaking run in Boston’s 4-2 verdict over Seattle. Brad Miller homered twice but couldn’t prevent Felix Hernandez from falling to 6-1.
β John Danks gave up two runs and only three hits in seven innings as the Chicago White Sox earned their fourth consecutive win, downing Oakland 4-3. Avisail Garcia singled home a pair of third-inning runs and Melky Cabrera added a tiebreaking single in the seventh before scoring on Jose Abreu’s double.
NASCAR-ALL-STAR RACE
Hamlin takes Alll-Star race
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) β Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin has given Joe Gibbs Racing its first victory in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race.
Hamlin used clean air and a strong final pit stop to beat Kevin Harvick and claim the $1 million prize at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He headed to pit road in sixth for the mandatory final pit stop, and his No. 11 team got him back on track in first.
Every driver in the 20-car field wanted to be out front for the final 10-lap sprint to the finish. NASCAR’s current rules package has shown that the leader, in clean air, is very difficult to pass.
Kurt Busch was third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth. Kyle Busch finished sixth in his first weekend of racing since suffering a broken right leg and broken left foot in a February crash at Daytona.
PGA-WELLS FARGO
Rory charging ahead
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) β Top-ranked Rory McIlroy flew up the leaderboard with a course-record 11-under 61 to take the lead at the PGA event in Charlotte. His 18-under total puts him four shots ahead of Webb Simpson, who shot a 68.
McElroy had five birdies in a front-nine 31 and birdied six of the first seven holes on the back. That gave him nine birdies in a 10-hole stretch.
McIlroy set the previous record of 62 at Quail Hollow in his 2010 victory, and Brendon de Jonge matched it last year.
He’s on pace to shatter the tournament record of 16 under set by Anthony Kim in 2008.
LPGA-KINGSMILL
Delacour overtakes Lee
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) β France’s Perrine Delacour (peh-REEN’ DEH’-lah-koor) is the leader through three rounds of the LPGA’s Kingsmill Championship in Williamsburg, Virginia.
The 21-year-old birdied three of the final five holes for a 4-under 67 that leaves her minus-11 for the tournament. She moved in front while Alison Lee carded a bogey and a double-bogey in her final three holes to fall one shot back.
Paula Creamer, So Yeon Ryu and Minjee Lee were 9 under.
CHAMPIONS TOUR-REGIONS TRADITION
Maggert takes lead
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) β Jeff Maggert birdied the final two holes in heavy rain for a 4-under 68 and sole possession of the lead after the third round of the Champions Tour’s Regions Tradition.
Maggert moved to 14 under, one shot in front of Kevin Sutherland, who shot a 69. Two-time champ Fred Funk posted a 67 and trails by four.
INDY 500-QUALIFYING
Rain postpones Indy qualifying
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) β Rain washed out the first qualifying session for the Indianapolis 500. The weather will force a double session on Sunday.
Each car will make one qualifying run, with the top 30 locked into the starting grid. The nine fastest qualifiers will take part in an afternoon shootout for the pole position.
TENNIS-ITALIAN OPEN
Federer to face Djokovic for Italian title
ROME (AP) β Roger Federer will renew his rivalry with Novak Djokovic (NOH’-vak JOH’-kuh-vich) in the Italian Open final on Sunday.
Federer dispatched Swiss countryman Stan Wawrinka (vah-VRINK’-ah) 6-4, 6-2 in less than an hour in the semifinals. Top-ranked Djokovic posted his 21st straight win by beating David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4.
