The Tampa Bay Rays extended their MLB-best winning streak after outlasting the Toronto Blue Jays 14-8 thanks to a monster 11th inning.
Tampa Bay celebrated an 11th consecutive victory following a seven-run 11th inning at TD Ballpark in Dunedin on Monday.
Francisco Mejia hit a tie-breaking, two-run single during the Rays' outburst in the 11th as Tampa Bay moved within one victory of the franchise record for successive wins.
The Rays raced out to a five-run lead in the opening inning behind Joey Wendle's grand slam before the Blue Jays rallied via Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien homers in the eighth and 10th innings respectively.
Guerrero hit two of Toronto's five home runs as the Blue Jays sensation now leads MLB in on-base slugging percentage (1.104), while he level with Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuna for the most major homers this season (15).
The Rays now top the American League (AL) East by a half-game ahead of the idle Boston Red Sox.
Woodruff lifts Brewers
Brandon Woodruff starred as the Milwaukee Brewers held off the high-flying San Diego Padres 5-3. Woodruff – who leads the way in ERA (1.41) – dazzled over seven innings at American Family Field, where the Brewers ace allowed three singles and no walks while striking out eight batters. His performance helped snap San Diego's nine-game winning streak.
The AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox ended a three-game skid thanks to a 5-1 win over the St Louis Cardinals. Lance Lynn held the Cardinals hitless for 5.1 innings, while Andrew Vaughn launched a two-run homer in the sixth inning to put the White Sox ahead.
Adam Duvall's three-run homer ignited the Miami Marlins, who accounted for the Philadelphia Phillies 9-6.
Slumping Jays
The Blue Jays have now lost six consecutive games following a four-game sweep at the hands of AL East rivals the Rays, who are five and a half games clear of Toronto atop the standings.
Kelenic's star continues to rise
Jarred Kelenic produced another memorable moment. The Seattle Mariners prospect hit a towering solo home run in the fifth inning of his team's 4-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics – his second career homer.
Monday's results
Tampa Bay Rays 14-8 Toronto Blue Jays
Miami Marlins 9-6 Philadelphia Phillies
Cleveland Indians 6-5 Detroit Tigers
Colorado Rockies 3-2 New York Mets
Minnesota Twins 8-3 Baltimore Orioles
Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 San Diego Padres
Chicago White Sox 5-1 St Louis Cardinals
Seattle Mariners 4-2 Oakland Athletics
Dodgers at Astros
World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers (29-18) – riding a seven-game winning streak – open their series against the Houston Astros (26-21) on Tuesday. It will be a battle of the aces as Clayton Kershaw takes to the mound, while Zack Greinke starts for the Astros, who have lost three in a row.
Like father, like son – Shaqueel van Persie makes Youth League debut
Robin van Persie handed a UEFA Youth League debut to his son Shaqueel for Feyenoord on Tuesday.
Van Persie, the former Arsenal and Manchester United star, is now coaching Feyenoord's Under-18s team and the Under-19s team.
And while taking charge of the latter side in the Youth League, Van Persie handed his son Shaqueel his debut in the competition as a 56th-minute substitute against Atletico Madrid.
Van Persie junior could not help his father's team avoid defeat, however, with Iker Luque scoring the only goal of the game in the 81st minute.
Shaqueel the real deal?
Shaqueel van Persie made his European debut five years and 104 days after his father last played in a European match for Feyenoord, where he finished his career.
The 17-year-old, who was born during Van Persie's stint at Arsenal, began his youth career with Manchester City before moving to Feyenoord in 2017, a year before his father joined the same club.
He has already represented the Netherlands at Under-16 and Under-17 level.
LeBron James shrugs off minutes milestone after suffering heaviest career defeat
No player in NBA history has spent more minutes on the court than LeBron James, but the latest record means nothing to the Los Angeles Lakers star.
That is because it came in what was James' heaviest career defeat – a 138-94 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.
In his 21-year NBA career, James' previous worst loss came by 42 points in a 136-94 reverse to the Indiana Pacers in February 2019.
As Joel Embiid racked up 30 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the Sixers' rout, James accumulated another 30 minutes on the court.
That took his career total, across both regular season and postseason games, to 66,319 minutes in his career, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 66,297 minutes.
But the record was of little solace to the 38-year-old, who told reporters: "That doesn't mean much to me."
Asked about what the Lakers need to do to ensure heavy defeats do not become a common occurrence, James said: "What needs to change in order for that not to happen again? Um, a lot.
"I don't know how a team [should respond]. I can only speak for myself, and I don't like it."
James' teammate Anthony Davis said: "Feel like we just weren't together. A lot of quick shots, one-pass shots, no-pass shots.
"They started making a lot of shots. And when their lead kind of opened up a little bit – 15, 20, 25 – I think we all tried to be the hero to make the team come back instead of just sticking with it.
"We've got to look at it, embrace it, own it. Guys don't take it personally for whatever's said in the film, and then move on from it."
It was a bad day for both Los Angeles teams, with the Clippers also losing.
They went down 104-113 to a Denver Nuggets team that was shorn of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon.
Former Laker Russell Westbrook became embroiled in a debate with a fan.
"I mean, it's unfortunate," Westbrook said.
"Fans think they can say whatever they want. I'm not going to say [what was said] now because it's not appropriate, but I'm just protecting myself.
"It's just unfortunate fans think they can get away with saying anything and, personally, I won't allow it. I've [taken] a lot of people saying anything and getting away with it, but I won't stand for it."
Travis Kelce makes NFL history in Chiefs comeback win
Travis Kelce made NFL history as the Kansas City Chiefs recorded an entertaining victory in Week 12.
The Chiefs fought back from 14-0 behind to win 31-17 at the Las Vegas Raiders, improving their 2023 record to 8-3.
Kelce hauled in six catches for 91 yards to help launch the comeback, with Rashee Rice adding eight receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown.
Sunday's game saw Kelce become the fastest tight end to reach 11,000 receiving yards in NFL history, achieving the feat in 154 games.
The 34-year-old only needed 15 yards to reach the landmark and comfortably passed that in Las Vegas, taking his career total up to 11,076.
Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez held the previous fastest mark after hitting 11,000 after 191 games.
Kelce is only the fourth tight end ever to reach the total. He still has a while to go to catch Gonzalez (15,127) in yardage, but is moving ever closer to Jason Witten (13.036) and Antonio Gates (11,841) in the TE standings.
"We went down 14 points, and it's a tough thing to come back from that," said Chiefs coach Andy Reid.
"Our guys battled back, and I'm proud of them for that."
A prime-time matchup against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field is up next for the Chiefs, who are top of the AFC West as they look to repeat as Super Bowl champions. The Denver Broncos (6-5) are their closest challengers in the division.
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