Tim Anderson hit a dramatic walk-off two-run homer to secure an 9-8 victory for the Chicago White Sox over the New York Yankees in MLB's Field of Dreams game in Iowa.
Trailing 8-7 at the bottom of the ninth inning, Anderson stepped up to deliver his 13th home run of the season into the surrounding corn fields. The seesawing contest saw eight home runs in a fitting display of hitting.
Jose Abreu hit the first MLB home run in Iowa with a moon shot into left-field at the bottom of the first inning.
Aaron Judge sent a ball into the corn at the top of the third inning with a three-run homer to give the Yankees the advantage.
Eloy Jimenez homered down the right-field line with a three-run shot to put the White Sox back on top.
The big hits continued with Seby Zavala flying a homer into right-field and Brett Gardner responding by homering in the sixth.
Judge homered again for the Yankees to bring it back to 7-6 at the top of the ninth, before Giancarlo Stanton put them ahead over left-field, only for Anderson's decisive blow from closer Zack Britton.
Shohei stars, Harper and Alonso homers
Shohei Ohtani came close to a second home run in consecutive games with a deep hit to center-field but impressed on the mound with five scoreless innings and six strikeouts in the Los Angeles Angels' 6-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
The match-up pitted MLB's leading home-run scorer Ohtani against second-placed Vladimir Guerrero Jr, who he kept relatively quiet, with only one hit from three at-bats.
Bryce Harper homered for the 21st time of the season, getting the Philadelphia Phillies off to a fast start in the first inning in a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Pete Alonso crushed a 358-foot walk-off solo home run to left-center field to clinch the New York Mets a 5-4 win over the Washington Nationals.
Indians routed in third straight loss
There is still plenty of time until the postseason but the Cleveland Indians' hopes of being part of it continue to slide after they suffered a third straight loss, going down 17-0 to the Oakland Athletics. The A's dined out at-bat, while the Indians only managed three hits for the game, slumping to their seventh loss from their past 10.
Pina slams in Brewers big win
After Corbin Burnes' record-equalling heroics on Wednesday, Manny Pina took the spotlight with a grand slam in the fifth inning opening up a 9-1 lead for the Milwaukee Brewers, who eventually won 17-4 over the Chicago Cubs. Pina finished the game with three hits, three runs and six RBI.
Thursday's results
New York Mets 4-1 Washington Nationals
St Louis Cardinals 7-6 Pittsburgh Pirates
Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland Athletics 17-0 Cleveland Indians
Milwaukee Brewers 17-4 Chicago Cubs
New York Mets 5-4 Washington Nationals
Detroit Tigers 6-4 Baltimore Orioles
Tampa Bay Rays 8-1 Boston Red Sox
Seattle Mariners 3-1 Texas Rangers
Cincinnati Reds 12-3 Atlanta Braves
Chicago White Sox 9-8 New York Yankees
Los Angeles Angels 6-3 Toronto Blue Jays
Arizona Diamondbacks 12-3 San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants 7-0 Colorado Rockies
Astros at Angels
The 68-46 Houston Astros make the trip west to face the Los Angeles Angels, who are 58-58, in a big American League West clash as sides jostle for position.
Panthers sign veteran WR Thielen to three-year deal
The Carolina Panthers have signed Adam Thielen to a three-year deal as they look to prepare a strong offense for their expected number one pick quarterback.
Thielen spent 10 years with his hometown team, the Minnesota Vikings, before being released in early March.
The 32-year-old was voted to two Pro Bowls in his time with Minnesota and was an All-Pro Second Team selection in 2017.
Starting all 17 games last season, Thielen finished with 70 catches for 716 yards and six touchdowns, though he was not used as often towards the end of the campaign, making just seven catches in the Vikings' final four games.
He had previously expressed a desire to play his entire career with the Vikings, but their offense has shifted towards younger players like T.J. Hockenson and K.J. Osborn to support All-Pro Justin Jefferson.
Overall, Thielen recorded 534 catches for 6,682 yards and 55 touchdowns in 135 appearances for Minnesota.
The Panthers will get the number one pick in the NFL Draft after trading wide receiver D.J. Moore to the Chicago Bears, with Thielen providing plenty of experience in his place, which should aid whichever young starting quarterback they presumably acquire in late April.
It continues a busy time for Carolina, who have also recently added running back Miles Sanders, tight end Hayden Hurst and backup quarterback Andy Dalton.
Jokic and Giannis record triple-doubles as Nuggets find form and Bucks claim 51st win
Nikola Jokic recorded his 28th triple-double of the season as the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets rediscovered some form with a 108-102 road victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.
The Nuggets had lost five of their past six games, but improved to 48-24 with the triumph, maintaining a sizeable buffer at the top of the West from the second-placed Sacramento Kings (43-27).
Serbian center Jokic starred with 22 points on nine-of-12 shooting with 17 rebounds and 10 assists, while Michael Porter scored a team-high 28 points with five-of-nine three-point attempts.
Jamal Murray added 25 points, nailing all four of his attempts from beyond the arc, and he posted 20 of his haul in the opening quarter as Denver got a fast start to lead 33-21 at the first break.
The Nuggets were coasting to victory with a 91-71 lead at three-quarter time before the Nets rallied in the fourth, with Porter settling the game with one of his five triples.
The defeat dents Brooklyn's aspirations to claim a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference, falling to 39-32, marginally ahead of the seventh-placed Miami Heat (39-34).
Mikal Bridges top scored for the home side with 23 points on eight-of-18 shooting from the field, while Nic Claxton chipped in 19 points and eight rebounds.
Giannis records triple-double in Bucks win
The Milwaukee Bucks stormed past the Toronto Raptors 118-111 on a 29-16 fourth-quarter charge as Giannis Antetokounmpo brought up his 33d career triple-double.
Antetokounmpo finished with 22 points on 100 per cent shooting from the field with 13 rebounds and 10 assists, while Brook Lopez added a team-high 26 points with Khris Middleton scoring 20.
Lopez scored 17 of his 26 points in the final period, including the first eight of the quarter, with the Bucks going on a game-changing 15-2 run. The NBA-best Bucks are now 51-20.
SGA leads OKC past Suns
Shai Gilgeous-Alezander scored 40 points, came up clutch down the stretch and garnered M-V-P chants as the Oklahoma City Thunder boosted their play-in hopes with a 124-120 win over the Phoenix Suns.
Gilgeous-Thunder hit two free throws with 10 seconds left to hold off the Suns, who had Devin Booker score 46 points, including 30 in the second half, having led 69-57 at half-time. Chris Paul scored 14 points with 13 assists.
OKC (35-36) have four wins from their past five games to stay in the play-in hunt, thanks in large part to Gilgeous-Alexander's perfect 11-of-11 free throws in the second half, while Luguentz Dort added 20 points.
Rybakina targeting consistency before setting sights on world number one
Elena Rybakina is targeting consistency and staying fit over becoming world number one, for now.
Rybakina defeated world number two Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (13-11) 6-4 on Sunday to clinch the Indian Wells Open title.
It brought up a fourth singles title of her career, her maiden WTA 1000 trophy and her first success since winning Wimbledon last year.
Rybakina overcame Iga Swiatek in the last four, making her the first player since Garbine Muguruza at the 2017 Western & Southern Open to beat the world number one and two in the semi-finals and final of a single tournament.
The Kazakh will rise to world number seven after her success in the Californian desert, but when asked if the top of the rankings was her next target, Rybakina told Amazon Prime: "I'll try but first of all I just want to have the consistency, the most important thing is to stay healthy because it's still the beginning of the year.
"If I continue like this I have all the chance to be higher in the top 10, we'll see how it's going to go."
She added: "It feels amazing. I didn't expect two sets, I thought it would be a three-set battle. It wasn't easy, it was a bit windy, I lost the two games, I was getting nervous, but I managed to sort it out."
The two games Rybakina referred to came in the second set, when she went from 5-2 up to 5-4 before regaining her composure.
Rybakina had also come out on top in an almighty tussle in the first-set tie-break, with Sabalenka unable to then rediscover her best form during the second set.
Sunday's success marked Rybakina's first victory over Sabalenka – who she lost to in the final of this season's Australian Open – in five attempts.
Though Sabalenka is not planning on losing another one, as the Belarusian comically interjected during Rybakina's post-match on-court interview.
"I'll make sure it was the last one," Sabalenka quipped after Rybakina had explained "it was the first time it went my way" in a meeting with the 24-year-old.
"It's been always a pleasure to play against you and always the toughest battle," Rybakina continued.
"Hopefully I'll be back next year to defend this result."
Sabalenka was courteous in defeat, saying: "First of all Elena I want to congratulate you and your team on another amazing week. Hopefully we'll play in many more finals, hopefully next time it'll go to me!"
However, she was already focusing on putting the defeat behind her, with the Miami Open next up.
"For me it's quite easy. I think it's gonna stay in my head until tomorrow, and tomorrow we are flying to Miami and I will forget this one," she told reporters.
"The thing is helping me to stay focused and to keep winning is just to focus on myself and focus on the game and focus on things what I have to do on court to keep winning.
"This one was tough, especially in the finals, it's always tough to lose. You're one step to the trophy and you lose it. This one is really tough. But she's a great player."
The last five WTA titles at Indian Wells have now been won by players yet to turn 24, while Rybakina became the 25th female player to win the title.
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