Three turnovers in the fourth quarter propelled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 20-10 victory against the New Orleans Saints in a frustrating game for Tom Brady.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion angrily tossed a tablet on the sidelines as both offences struggled to get going, with just a field goal apiece at the end of the third quarter.
A Jamel Dean interception proved to be the turning point though, setting up Brady for an 11-play drive, which was capped off by a 28-yard pass to Breshad Perriman.
Dean struck again in the following drive for the Saints, intercepting Jameis Winston in back-to-back possessions for the Saints and putting the Buccaneers in a solid position on the opposition 29-yard line.
Brady was unable to capitalise, the Buccaneers instead settling on a field goal to extend their lead. The visitors would hold firm despite Michael Thomas giving the Saints hope with a seven-yard touchdown reception.
Having suffered four consecutive regular season losses to the Saints since joining the Buccaneers, Brady's run came to an end, but it was not a vintage performance for the veteran, who completed 18 of 34 attempts for a total of 190 yards.
Tagovailoa shines in comeback victory
Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens had a fine start against the Miami Dolphins, Devin Duvernay taking the opening kick-off for a 103-yard return and Jackson having three touchdown passes in the first half, as well as a 79-yard rushing touchdown.
When Jackson completed a 75-yard touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman, he became the first quarterback in NFL history to have 75-yard passing and rushing touchdowns in the same game.
Trailing by 21 points heading into the fourth quarter, Tua Tagovailoa threw four touchdown passes to secure a remarkable 42-38 comeback victory – finishing the game with six touchdown passes and 469 yards, completing 36 of 50 attempts.
Jets stun Browns with huge comeback
Victory for the Cleveland Browns at home against the New Yorks Jets would have secured a 2-0 record to start a season for the first time since 1993, and Kevin Stefanski's side looked to be set for a historic win, leading by two scores heading into the final stages.
Nick Chubb had starred with three touchdowns, totalling 87 yards from 17 carries, putting the Browns on the brink, but the Jets responded valiantly to score two touchdowns inside the two-minute warning.
Joe Flacco combined with Corey Davis for a 66-yard touchdown, before the Jets then recovered an onside kick and pulled ahead through a Garrett Wilson touchdown catch to win 31-30.
George Kittle will be absent for the San Francisco 49ers for the second week in a row, having been ruled out of Sunday's division match-up against the Seattle Seahawks.
The Pro Bowl tight end missed the 49ers' shock Week 1 loss to the Chicago Bears with a groin injury but returned to practice on Friday, though he carried a questionable status.
Kittle has now been officially ruled as inactive for Week 2, marking the fourth consecutive season where he has missed multiple games.
After last week's loss to the Bears, the 49ers are 6-9 in games without Kittle during his career, including losses in six of their last seven without him.
San Francisco have lost four in a row to the Seahawks, who begun their season with a surprising victory against the Denver Broncos in Russell Wilson's return to Seattle.
Casper Ruud expects to be "a bit nervous" when he features alongside childhood heroes Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and the retiring Roger Federer at the Laver Cup.
Ruud is the world number two heading into the tournament, which sees Team Europe take on Team World in London, after his efforts at the US Open.
The Norwegian fell just short against Spanish teenage superstar Carlos Alcaraz in the final at Flushing Meadows.
Ruud featured at last year's Laver Cup, held in Boston, and this year is due to join up with the 'Big Four' of Djokovic, Nadal, Murray and Federer, who has announced his impending retirement at the age of 41. The quartet have won 66 grand slam titles between them.
While there are some doubts over whether Federer will be fit enough to play in his farewell tournament, with the action starting on Friday, Ruud is "honoured" to have the opportunity to play alongside his idols.
"It's going to be so special this year, having the biggest four tennis players in my childhood," Ruud said in an interview on the Laver Cup's official website.
"It's going to be an honour. [I'm] probably going to be a bit nervous when I'm out there playing in front of them, but I'll do my best and I'm very happy to be able to represent Europe in front of a crowd full of cheerful fans, and a European bench of legends."
Ruud has played six matches against the illustrious quartet who will now be team-mates, winning only once – against Murray in San Diego last year.
The 23-year-old has lost three times to Djokovic and once to Nadal – in the final of the French Open this season – while his sole meeting with Federer, back in 2019 at Roland Garros, went the way of the 20-time major champion.
Federer helped to create the Laver Cup but did not play in the 2021 edition due to injury. He was, however, present to support Team Europe from the stands in Boston.
"I was playing the first match of the whole [2021] Laver Cup against [Reilly] Opelka," Ruud said. "It was the first time they showed Roger on the big screen in TD Garden in Boston, and the whole crowd erupted like I never heard before.
"I can only imagine what it will be like when he's on the team and when he will enter the court."
Federer announced the decision to bring the curtain down on his 24-year playing career on Thursday, having not competed since making the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year.
Jameis Winston started for the New Orleans Saints against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday despite having four fractures in his back.
The Saints were without star running back Alvin Kamara against their NFC South rivals due to a rib injury, but Winston was cleared to play.
The former Bucs quarterback was known to have a back injury, and the severe nature of the issue was reported ahead of kickoff.
FOX Sports' Jay Glazer revealed the four fractures, saying Winston was "dealing with an awful lot of pain" but had "no risk of further damage".
Winston was influential in the Saints' 27-26 Week 1 win over the Atlanta Falcons, throwing for 269 yards and two touchdowns.
Both scores and 213 yards came in the fourth quarter, with Winston the first Saints QB to have 200 fourth-quarter passing yards in a game since Drew Brees' 294, also against the Falcons, in Week 10 in 2008.
Robert MacIntyre landed his second DP World Tour title by beating Matt Fitzpatrick in a play-off finish to the Italian Open.
The 26-year-old, whose only previous Tour triumph came at the Cyprus Showdown in 2020, started the final round three shots behind overnight leader Fitzpatrick.
However, a remarkable 10 birdies for MacIntyre at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club saw him finish seven-under par on Sunday and 14-under overall, level with Fitzpatrick.
US Open winner Fitzpatrick, who was seeking a second title of the season, birdied the 18th hole to force a play-off in Rome.
Just one hole was required as the Englishman could only manage a par after a poor tee shot, whereas MacIntyre birdied to seal a surprise victory.
"This means everything," MacIntyre said. "I was down and out about two or three months ago – I didn't know what I was doing and didn't know where to go.
"But we spoke to the right people and I started working with Simon Shanks. I mean, I've hit two perfect golf shots into the last there. There's so much hard work gone into this."
Rory McIlroy had been expected to rival Fitzpatrick for the title, the Northern Irishman starting the day one shot behind, but he ended up finishing fourth.
He started the final round with a double-bogey on the first hole, before recovering with five birdies over the next 14 holes.
McIlroy was back within one shot of the lead at that point, but a bogey on the par-four 16th, when finding the water off the tee, effectively ended his chances.
Victor Perez capitalised to finish third at 13 under, with his final round of 66 bettered only by MacIntyre's 64.
Fabio Quartararo was left feeling "sore and burned" after crashing out of the Aragon Grand Prix – not helped by a second collision involving a scooter.
The MotoGP championship leader hit the rear of Marc Marquez on the exit of turn five on the opening lap in Sunday's action-packed race and slid along the asphalt.
Quartararo, who now has just one podium finish in his past five races, later revealed he was involved in another accident as he made his way to the Yamaha garage.
"After the crash a marshal hit the scooter. I had a second crash. It was quite fast actually," he told reporters. "Luckily I hadn't taken off my helmet.
"But the marshal just hit face to face with another scooter, quite fast. I didn't have any damage from that crash. Everything I have [injury-wise] is from the first crash.
"I'm feeling sore and burned. It's a shame because it's the first time I've felt good in Aragon in many years and crashing in the third corner was not the best."
Stuttering Quartararo's lead over Francesco Bagnaia now stands at just 10 points with five races of a gripping season left to go.
That gap could have been reduced to five points, but Bagnaia was overtaken by Enea Bastianini on turn seven of the final lap as his four-race winning streak came to an end.
"Our race was good; I did my best," Bagnaia said. "Enea did an incredible job. He was very competitive throughout the weekend and I knew he and Fabio were the fastest.
"Fabio unfortunately crashed on the first lap, but in any case I just tried to do my best.
"On the last lap I felt that I wasn't able to overtake Enea again, because I was already taking too many risks in the previous laps. So the 20 points are important."
Gresini rider Bastianini avenged his slim loss at the San Marino Grand Prix two weeks ago by finishing 0.042 seconds ahead of Bagnaia for his fourth victory of the season.
Bastianini, who started third on the grid, said: "It's almost like a dream. I made some mistakes during the race.
"But in the end I ended up approaching [Bagnaia] and on the last lap I had the opportunity to attack, and I managed to win."
Aleix Espargaro held off Jack Miller and Brad Binder to complete the podium, but fellow home favourite Marquez failed to finish in his first competitive race since May.
Marquez also ended Takaaki Nakagami's race and apologised to both the Japanese and Quartararo after the race.
"I lost the rear in turn three and Fabio made contact. When I engaged the holeshot device later in the lap, the bike locked and moved to the left," he said.
"I think that was because there was a piece of Fabio's bike in the rear. It was really unlucky and I want to apologise to both Taka and Fabio."
A commanding win over Gennady Golovkin has seen Canelo Alvarez finally put that rivalry to rest five years after the first bout.
The Mexican has achieved plenty during that five-year period, but the discussions around a trilogy bout with GGG were always present, and it was pretty clear that fight remained on the agenda.
Now, though, for the first time in half a decade, Canelo's future can be written without the inclusion of Golovkin. While the Kazakh was open to a fourth clash, Canelo's attention will be focused elsewhere.
With the chapter with Golovkin ending, however, there is some uncertainty. Avenging his defeat against Dmitry Bivol is top of Canelo's agenda, which he made clear after Saturday's triumph in Las Vegas.
"Of course, everybody knows. We'll see, we'll see what happens in that fight," he said post-fight.
"It's very important for my legacy, for me, for my country, for my family, for everything. I will beat him."
A rematch with the Russian may be a way off, however, with Bivol set to face Gilberto Ramirez in Abu Dhabi on November 5 and potentially having further opponents lined up beyond that fight, as Eddie Hearn explained.
"The fact is, to fight Canelo Alvarez, Bivol might have to fight [Joshua] Buatsi and Zurdo [Ramirez]," Hearn said, via DAZN. "That fight's not a definite because we can't just wait until May. It's impossible, and there's so much risk in those fights."
WBC, IBF and WBO light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev is also a possibility, with a unification bout likely to be appealing to Bivol if he can successfully defend his belts in November.
This may play into Canelo's hands, though, as he revealed after victory against Golovkin that he entered the fight with a wrist injury and could now take a year out to recover, with surgery on the cards.
"I need surgery. It was really bad, really bad. It's not broken, it's a meniscus, it's a wrist injury, not broken. It's ligaments, like a knee injury or something like that," he explained.
"I'm going to take the time my body needs. Last year I fought four times in 11 months, so that's why. But I need to take my time a little bit, maybe May, September, I need to take my time."
Canelo's absence may open the door for a rematch with Bivol late in 2023, while also having the potential to allow the middleweight division to develop, as there are few who could pose a meaningful challenge right now.
David Benavidez stands as the most likely challenger for Canelo's middleweight titles, unbeaten with 23 knockouts from 26 wins, while Jermall Charlo could be another contender – though he hasn't fought since 2021 and holds a title at 160 pounds.
Neither would be as appealing for Canelo as a rematch with Bivol, however, as he seeks revenge against only the second man to have beaten him in his professional career – the first being Floyd Mayweather in September 2013.
The growing trend of exhibition and celebrity boxing, where the likes of Jake Paul have made a wave, cannot be ruled out entirely for Canelo, but the 31-year-old would be unlikely to make such a move until he has had his shot at revenge against Bivol.
Francesco Bagnaia moved to within 10 points of MotoGP championship leader Fabio Quartararo on Sunday, despite finishing second to Enea Bastianini in a thrilling Aragon Grand Prix.
Ducati's Bagnaia was aiming to become the first rider since Marc Marquez in 2019 to win five races in a row and looked good value to achieve that heading into the final lap.
But in the latest tense battle between the pair, Gresini rider Bastianini took the lead from Bagnaia on turn seven to claim his fourth victory of the season.
Bagnaia had to settle for 20 points, which further increases the pressure on the faltering Quartararo, who crashed out early on and has just one podium finish in his past five races.
Aleix Espargaro held off Jack Miller and Brad Binder, who had earlier climbed from 10th to third, to complete the podium with an impressive performance on home soil
The first big twist arrived on the first lap when Quartararo hit the rear of Marc Marquez, competing for the first time since May, and was unable to continue.
Takaaki Nakagami was fortunate to avoid serious injury soon after when unintentionally struck by Marquez, who was forced to retire in a disappointing return to action.
Further up the grid, Bagnaia and Bastianini engaged in another battle and, unlike in San Marino last week, it was the latter who came out on top on this occasion.
Having temporarily taken the lead a little earlier before gifting it straight back, Bastianini made a sensational move on Bagnaia late on to win the race.
The battle for third was just as entertaining, with Espargaro making his move on Binder with two laps to go to move within 17 points of leader and reigning champion Quartararo.
Roger Federer will make a "last-moment decision" on his participation in next week's Laver Cup, according to fitness coach Pierre Paganini.
The 20-time grand slam champion announced on Thursday he will retire from top-level tennis after the tournament at London's O2 Arena.
However, Federer has not competed since Wimbledon 2021, after which he underwent a third knee operation.
And Paganini has cast doubt over whether the Swiss will be able to link up with the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafal Nadal and Andy Murray in what is supposed to be his farewell event.
"This will probably be a last-moment decision," Paganini told Bilk. "He's practised at a level in order to determine exactly if playing is a good idea or not."
Federer is bringing down the curtain on a remarkable career that saw him win 103 ATP Tour-level titles – only Jimmy Connors (109) boasts more in the Open Era.
Among an array of other notable achievements, the 41-year-old spent a record 750 weeks in the top 10 of the men's singles rankings.
But Paganini says it "became clear a return to the Tour would be impossible" around July as injury problems took their toll on the all-time great.
In a more positive update, fellow coach Severin Luthi indicated Federer is on course to be fit to play at least some part in the Laver Cup.
"His aim is to play something, though whether it's singles or doubles we'll have to see," Luthi told Blick. "His aim is still to play at the Laver Cup – definitely.
"We train for three hours in the morning, then another two hours in the afternoon. He trained last week and is training again this week."
Shohei Ohtani further strengthened his MVP case after pitching seven scoreless innings, driving in one run and scoring another as the Los Angeles Angels claimed a 2-1 win over the Seattle Mariners.
The second straight victory for the Angels over the Mariners dropped the latter in the Wild Card standings, and bolstered their star man's case against the New York Yankees' Aaron Judge AL MVP.
Getting on base twice in three at-bats, Ohtani drove in his 89th run of the season. He also lowered his ERA to 2.43.
"I've said it before: He's the most valuable player of our game right now," interim Angels manager Phil Nevin said. "Until somebody can come in and do the things he does on both sides, I don't see it going any other way.
"I love Aaron Judge like a son, but I'll continue to say it: [Ohtani] can take over a baseball game like nobody can."
Ohtani was more modest in his own assessment however, adding: "I don't like to self-critique myself in any way. One thing I could say is, overall, balance-wise, I'm having a better season this year than I had last year."
The two-time All-Star's performance dropped the Mariners two games behind Toronto Blue Jays and a half game off the Tampa Bay Rays, leaving them five ahead of the Baltimore Orioles in the final Wild Card spot. The Angels improved to 63-82 in another disappointing year.
George Kittle's status for the San Francisco 49ers' Week 2 clash with the Seattle Seahawks is up in the air, with conflicting reports over whether he will play.
Pro Bowl tight end Kittle missed the 49ers' shock Week 1 loss to the Chicago Bears with a groin injury.
Kittle returned to practice on Friday, but ESPN's Adam Schefter reported he is not expected to play as the 49ers look to avoid an 0-2 start in Trey Lance's first season as the starting quarterback.
However, NFL Media's Ian Rapoport labelled Kittle as a "game-time decision". According to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo, Kittle is pushing to play despite the 49ers preparing to once again be without him.
The highlight of the early window of games is the NFC South clash between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints.
Tampa Bay will be without one wide receiver as Chris Godwin misses out because of a hamstring injury, but Mike Evans (calf) is expected to play. Veteran Julio Jones (knee) is questionable and the Bucs reportedly do not expect to know if he will be available until pre-game warm-ups.
Running back Leonard Fournette (hamstring) is set to play, but left tackle Donovan Smith is doubtful with an elbow injury.
For the Saints, running back Alvin Kamara is likely to miss out due to a rib injury, but his backup Mark Ingram (ankle) is expected to play, as is quarterback Jameis Winston (back).
In the Sunday night game, the Green Bay Packers are set to welcome back wide receiver Allen Lazard (ankle) for their encounter with the Bears at Lambeau Field.
The New England Patriots are hoping to avoid starting the season 0-2 when they visit the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, and Bill Belichick's team could be in line for a piece of unwanted history should they fail to perform against their AFC rivals.
New England suffered a 20-7 loss the Miami Dolphins in Week 1, Mac Jones and the offense struggling to get anything going as the Patriots' quarterback battled back spasms.
Should they lose by double digits again at Acrisure Stadium, it would mark the first time they have started a season with double-digit losses since losing three straight by that margin to begin the 1969 season.
The bad news for New England is that since Mike Tomlin became Steelers head coach in 2007, nine of the 10 games between Pittsburgh and the Patriots have been decided by at least a touchdown, with the average margin of victory being 14.7 points.
The good news? The Patriots have won seven of those matchups.
Yet the Patriots are hardly in an ideal situation to continue their dominance over the Steelers.
Jones has battled illness this week but is set to play in Pittsburgh. Yet, going against a defense that picked off Joe Burrow four times in the Steelers' season-opening win over the Cincinnati Bengals – their 25th overtime victory since the extra period was implemented in 1974, the third-most in the NFL – he picked a particularly bad week to miss practice time.
The Steelers are without star edge rusher T.J. Watt because of the torn pectoral muscle he suffered in Week 1 but avoiding leaving Pittsburgh having done something no Patriots team has done for 53 years promises to be a difficult challenge for Jones and New England.
Canelo Alvarez confirmed he has his sights set on a rematch with Dmitry Bivol after convincingly handling the third fight of his trilogy against Gennadiy Golovkin on Saturday.
Alvarez took a unanimous decision on the scorecards, although two judges had things much closer than it looked to the naked eye, scoring it seven rounds to five for the Mexican, while the third judge had it eight-to-four.
In one of the most highly anticipated trilogies of this generation, the 40-year-old Golovkin had noticeably lost a step compared to the version of himself that arguably won both of the first two fights, although the first was scored as a draw and he lost a controversial majority decision in the second.
Alvarez is still very much in his prime at 32 years old, and he was physically dominant, boasting a clear speed advantage with his hands and his footwork as he seemingly took each of the first eight rounds without much trouble.
From that point on Alvarez took his foot off the pedal, coasting through the championship rounds while avoiding any dangerous exchanges as he was convinced he had already done enough to bank the decision.
Speaking after his win, Alvarez thanked Golovkin for his part in what will go down as some of the richest fights since the end of the Floyd Mayweather era, with the two competitors splitting a guaranteed $65million for Saturday's outing, and that is before adding in their pay-per-view cuts.
"Thank you so much my friend, thank you Golovkin," he said. "We gave the fans three good fights – thank you for everything.
"Thank you all so much for your support. I've gone through some very difficult things in my life, and the only thing you can do is try to continue moving forward.
"I've gone through difficult times recently with my defeat, and I've actually shown that defeats are great, because it enables you to come back and show humility.
"[Golovkin] is a really good fighter – he's a great fighter, and that's why we're here. I'm glad to share the ring with him, and I'm going to keep moving forward to keep my legacy going strong."
His recent defeat against Bivol was the only loss of Alvarez's career other than his defeat against Floyd Mayweather when he was just 23 years old back in 2013.
After starting his championship-level career at super welterweight (154lbs), Alvarez has continued to rise through the weight classes in search of more world titles.
He jumped up to middleweight (160lbs) in 2015 to defeat Miguel Cotto, before going up again to super middleweight (168lbs) – where he remains now – to dethrone Rocky Fielding in 2018.
In 2019 he made the decision to push things even further, challenging Sergey Kovalev for the light heavyweight title (175lbs), where he struggled with the significant size disadvantage, but came from behind to score a knockout win in the 11th round.
Bivol was his second crack at light heavyweight, and it went very similar to his first try, except this time he could not find a fight-changing blow through 12 rounds of impressive action from the bigger, longer, stronger Bivol.
Despite what was a surprisingly convincing loss, Alvarez made it clear he is determined to avenge the defeat, putting emphasis on the legacy he hopes to leave.
"It's very important for my legacy, for me," he said. "For my pride, for my country, for my family, for everything.
"It's very important... I will beat him."
The final fight of the trilogy between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin failed to live up to the hype as the Mexican star controlled the contest from bell-to-bell for a convincing unanimous decision triumph.
After a draw in their first matchup – which most fight fans feel should have been a win for Golovkin – and another controversial majority decision win for Alvarez in the rematch, this was a decisive end to the rivalry even if the scorecards ended up close.
Two of the three judges scored the bout 115-113 for Alvarez, meaning they had him winning seven rounds to five, although there was a strong argument that Alvarez comfortably won the first eight rounds of the fight before coasting to the finish.
It was a disappointing showing for the 40-year-old Golovkin, who was once one of the most feared power punchers in the sport and arguably the better boxer for the first two fights of the trilogy, but he failed to ever threaten the 32-year-old Alvarez, who was noticeably faster with both his hands and his feet.
The loss moves Golovkin's record to 42-2-1 – with both of his losses and his draw coming against Alvarez – having entered the rivalry at a perfect 37-0.
For Alvarez, he is now 58-2-2, bouncing back from his second career loss in his last fight when he tried to jump up multiple weight classes and collect another world title, ultimately being outpointed by the much larger Dmitry Bivol.
Alvarez made a guaranteed $45million for Saturday's finale to the trilogy, and that will likely climb over $60m once his cut of the pay-per-views are factored in. Golovkin, on the 'B-side' of the draw, will pocket $20m guaranteed plus a smaller share of the pay-per-view buys.
Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies will miss at least the rest of the regular season after the two-time All-Star broke his right pinky finger sliding head-first into second base in the fourth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night.
The two-time Silver Slugger Award winner just returned from the 60-day injured list on Friday after missing 81 games due to a fractured left foot, which he suffered on June 13 against the Washington Nationals.
"I hate it for him because my heart breaks for him," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. "After everything he went through to get back here and then have that happen, God it's horrible for him. He was having so much fun, being the old Oz, playing ball. What he loves to do."
Albies is batting .247 with eight home runs and 35 RBIs in 64 games this season for the defending World Series champion Braves, who beat Philadelphia 4-3 to remain one game behind the first-place New York Mets in the NL East.
Atlanta is a lock to make the playoffs as they own a 10-and-a-half-game lead over the Phillies for the top wild card spot in the NL.
Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies will miss at least the rest of the regular season after the two-time All-Star broke his right pinky finger sliding head-first into second base in the fourth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night.
The two-time Silver Slugger Award winner just returned from the 60-day injured list on Friday after missing 81 games due to a fractured left foot, which he suffered on June 13 against the Washington Nationals.
"I hate it for him because my heart breaks for him," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. "After everything he went through to get back here and then have that happen, God it's horrible for him. He was having so much fun, being the old Oz, playing ball. What he loves to do."
Albies is batting .247 with eight home runs and 35 RBIs in 64 games this season for the defending World Series champion Braves, who beat Philadelphia 4-3 to remain one game behind the first-place New York Mets in the NL East.
Atlanta is a lock to make the playoffs as they own a 10-and-a-half-game lead over the Phillies for the top wild card spot in the NL.
Three home runs in the first inning ended up being not enough for the Houston Astros as they went down 8-5 at home against the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.
After Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez hit three home runs on Friday, he followed it up with another one less than 24 hours later, giving him six from his past six games.
But Alvarez was not one of the Astros to go deep in the first inning, with Aledmys Diaz, Kyle Tucker and Trey Mancini all taking turns hitting balls over the fence to jump out to a 4-1 lead before registering their third out.
From that point on, Athletics starting pitcher Cole Irvin tightened the screws, holding the Astros scoreless through the next six innings to allow his side a chance to fight back.
Oakland showed some power of their own in the middle frames, with Chad Pinder hitting a 348-foot wall-scraper to right field, before Seth Brown was much more convincing with his three-run, 432-foot launch in the fifth inning.
A double in the seventh inning gave Brown his fourth RBI, making it 7-5, with Alvarez's eighth-inning shot proving to be just a consolation.
It was Alvarez's 37th home run of the season, leaving him alone in third place league-wide, although he is still 20 home runs off leader Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees.
Woodruff dominates the Yankees
Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff put on a show at home against the New York Yankees, striking out 10 batters in eight innings on the way to a 4-1 win.
Woodruff allowed just one run – a solo home run to Josh Donaldson in the fourth inning – as only six Yankees reached base in the contest, with five hits and one walk.
With the bat, the majority of the damage was done by rising star Willy Adames, who became the second shortstop in the majors to hit 30 home runs this season with his three-run shot in the third inning. The other shortstop to hit 30 homers is Corey Seager, who was recently rewarded with a massive 10-year, $325million contract extension by the Texas Rangers.
Acuna carries the Braves
Ronald Acuna Jr drove in all four of the Atlanta Braves' runs in their 4-3 home win against the Philadelphia Phillies.
After two scoreless innings to begin the contest, Acuna broke the deadlock with a two-run, 427-foot bomb over the right-field wall, and then drove in another two runs with his next at-bat in the fourth inning when he doubled with two runners on base.
Both sides received solid starting pitching performances, with Philly opting to ride their ace Aaron Nola deep into the game, letting him pitch seven full innings, while the Braves pulled Jake Odorizzi after allowing just one run in four-and-two-thirds innings, although he threw only seven fewer pitches than Nola's 99.
Justin Lower shot a three-under 69 in his third round at the Fortinet Championship to earn a one-stroke lead heading into Sunday's final trip around Silverado Resort.
Lower led by two strokes after the opening round, before a Friday 71 allowed both Max Homa and Danny Willett to overtake him. With Homa and Willett both shooting even-par 72s on Saturday, Lower capitalised and re-established his position at the head of the field at 13 under.
Kicking off his second PGA Tour season after collecting two top-10 finishes in his first campaign, Lower's 69 was the best score from the leading quartet, with five birdies and two bogeys.
Homa and Willett will enter Sunday's play trailing by one at 12 under, with South Korea's An Byeong-hun alone in fourth at 11 under.
The tie for fifth at 10 under includes Matt Kuchar, Paul Haley II, Adam Svensson, and one of the two players to shoot the round of the day, Davis Thompson, who posted eight birdies and one bogey for his seven-under 65.
Australian Harrison Endycott was the only other player to shoot 65, and with it he climbed 50 places up to a tie for ninth at nine under.
Joining Endycott in rounding out the top-10 is rising talent Sahith Theegala, while Rickie Fowler is one shot further back at eight under.
It was a day to forget for major champion Hideki Matsuyama, with only one player shooting worse than his three-over 75.
Cameron Smith is three strokes clear of the field heading into the final round at LIV Golf Chicago, following up his opening 66 with a strong four-under 68 to sit at 10 under.
Smith, the reigning Open and Players champion, finished one stroke off the winner at his debut LIV event in Boston, and now has put himself in the box seat for his first win on the controversial tour.
He posted five birdies and one bogey during his second trip around Rich Harvest Farms, with only one player shooting better than his 68 on Saturday.
That player was Peter Uihlein, who climbed up to a tie for second at seven under with his 66, with seven birdies and one bogey.
Uihlein is tied with round-one leader Dustin Johnson, who followed up his blistering 63 with a disappointing two-over 74, and one shot further back in a tie for fourth is Laurie Canter and Charl Schwartzel and six under.
Rounding out the top-10, Crushers GC teammates Bryson DeChambeau and Charles Howell III are tied for sixth at five under along with Lee Westwood, and Smith's Punch GC teammate Matt Jones is part of the group tied for ninth at four under.
Smith and Jones have Punch GC one stroke off the lead in the team standings, trailing only Johnson's 4 Aces GC, who have won the last three events in a row. Johnson is doing most of the heavy lifting as captain, with his teammates Patrick Reed at one under, Talor Gooch at two over and Pat Perez at three over.
After a two-under opening round, Phil Mickelson went two over on Saturday to head into the final round at even par.
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