Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer and Kansas City’s bullpen allowed one run over 7 1/3 innings as the Royals moved into a tie for the AL Central lead with a 6-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night.
The Royals, who lost 106 games last season, improved to a league-best 23-13 since the All-Star break, when they trailed the Guardians by seven games.
Cleveland had been sitting alone in first place in the division since April 14 before dropping the first three games in this series. The Guardians have lost nine of 12 and are 17-21 since the break.
DeJong connected in the second inning off Gavin Williams, and the Royals tacked on three runs in the seventh on RBI singles by Maikel Garcia and Michael Massey, to go along with a wild pitch.
James McArthur struck out four in two innings, and the Royals' bullpen closed with five perfect innings in the combined three-hitter.
Royals starter Michael Lorenzen was forced to leave in the second inning after straining his left hamstring while covering first base.
Urias lifts Orioles over Dodgers
Ramon Urias hit a go-ahead two-run homer and Baltimore’s bullpen worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings in the Orioles’ 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ryan O’Hearn also went deep for the Orioles, who moved within one game of the AL East-leading Yankees.
Cole Irvin allowed two runs and five hits over 4 1/3 innings before Matt Bowman retired all five batters he faced.
Cionel Perez pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings and Yennier Cano got the next two outs – both on strikeouts - before Seranthony Dominguez earned his sixth save by getting Chris Taylor to fly out with two runners on.
Urias took former teammate Jack Flaherty deep in the fifth after Jackson Holliday’s one-out single to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead.
Miguel Rojas had a sacrifice fly and Teoscar Hernandez singled home a run for the Dodgers, who had won six of seven.
Nola shuts down Astros
Aaron Nola pitched seven stellar innings and was backed by Nick Casellanos’ three-run homer as the Philadelphia Phillies won their fourth straight, 5-0 over the Houston Astros.
Nola ended a seven-start winless streak, a span that included five no-decisions and two losses. The right-hander allowed four hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
He notched his 56th career win at Citizens Bank Park, tying him with former Phillies ace Cole Hamels for most in the 21 seasons at the ballpark.
Philadelphia has won eight of 13 games and maintained its healthy lead in the NL East.
Nola had the run support he needed after the Phillies scored four times off Justin Verlander in the third inning.
Trea Turner poked a single to right that scored Austin Hays, who opened with a leadoff double. A night after his RBI single in the 10th inning off Houston closer Josh Hader won the game, Bryce Harper sliced a single to left that set the stage for Castellanos. Castellanos hit a curveball into the left field seats for his 18th homer of the year and a 4-0 lead.
AL West-leading Houston has lost four of five.
Jannik Sinner survived an early scare in the US Open first round after overcoming Mackenzie McDonald on Tuesday.
The Italian managed a 2-6 6-2 6-1 6-2 victory over the world number 140, having looked well off the pace in the opening set.
McDonald's fellow American Alex Michelsen awaits in the second round for Sinner, who triumphed in his first major match since an independent tribunal cleared any wrongdoing from positive tests for banned substances.
The world number one may have been impacted by those ongoing off the court and was slow to get going, dropping his serve three times en route to a first-set concession.
Sinner held off seven break-point opportunities from the home favourite in that opener, and improved from then on, losing on his serve just once in the second set.
The 23-year-old never looked back from that second-set clincher, easing to victory in just under two-and-a-half hours.
Data Debrief: Super Sinner flying
Sinner, who won his maiden major trophy at the Australian Open in January, is now 49-5 for the season after an impressive 2024.
That run includes lifting a third ATP Masters 1000 crown in Cincinnati last week, where he overcame his next opponent Michelsen in the pair's only ATP Tour meeting to date.
Naomi Osaka secured a long-awaited victory over a top-10 opponent after dispatching Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open on Tuesday.
World number 88 Osaka scored a 6-3 6-2 victory against Ostapenko for her first top-10 win in four-and-a-half years.
Osaka has now won 23 of her 28 matches at the US Open, at an 82% win ratio, which only Bianca Andreescu (86%) can better among current players with 10 or more main-draw matches at the tournament.
The four-time major winner was reduced to tears after downing the 10th seed in New York.
"I was trying not to cry when I was walking out too," Osaka said in her on-court interview. "I remember last year I was watching Coco [Gauff] play and I so badly wanted to step on these courts again and I didn't know if I could.
"I didn't know athletically, physically if I was able to. Just to win this match and just to be in this atmosphere means so much to me, so thank you."
Osaka, who won 39 of her 50 service points and held her serve throughout, needed three match points to move into the second round.
"I mean it was stressful, she was hitting some really good shots and I just told myself like, keep going, keep fighting for every point and maybe you'll have an opportunity," she added.
"Eventually I did but then I looked up and then I saw so many faces so I was like, woah."
The unseeded Karolina Muchova awaits on Thursday for the Japanese star after her first-round triumph.
Iga Swiatek moved into the US Open second round after holding off a spirited Kamilla Rakhimova for a straight-sets win on Tuesday.
Lucky loser Rakhimova came close to forcing a decider, but the world number one rallied to win 6-4 7-6 (8-6) in just under two hours.
The early stages of the match suggested it would be a one-sided rout as Swiatek got two early breaks to race into a 4-0 lead, but Rakhimova clawed it back to 4-3 before the Pole dug in to take the set.
A similar story followed in the second set, though the world number 104 was unable to close out the victory after edging in front at 5-4, with Swiatek forcing a tie-break.
Swiatek then saved a triple set point from 6-3 down, winning the final five points to avoid an early upset and set up a meeting with either Daria Saville or Ena Shibahara in the next round.
Data Debrief: Swiatek tries her luck
It could have been a much different story for Swiatek had Rakhimova been able to hold her nerve in the tie-break, but as such, the 2022 winner stays in the tournament.
She is now the fifth-youngest player in the Open Era to win the first round in 20 consecutive women's singles grand slam events.
Meanwhile, only Serena Williams (93) and Venus Williams (94) have made 80 women's singles grand slam wins in fewer matches than Swiatek (97) this century.
Williams have replaced Logan Sargeant with Franco Colapinto for the last nine races of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
Sargeant was already set to leave Williams at the end of the season, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz set to take his seat for 2025.
However, his second season in F1 has been cut short, following a huge crash in the final practice session at the Dutch Grand Prix on Saturday.
In 36 races, Sargeant earned one point for Williams, compared to team-mate Alex Albon, who scored 31 points during that period.
Colapinto will make his competitive debut at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, having previously driven for Williams in practice at the British GP earlier this year.
"It is an honour to be making my Formula 1 debut with Williams – this is what dreams are made of," Colapinto said.
"The team has such amazing history and a mission to get back to the front, which I can't wait to be part of.
"Coming into F1 mid-season will be an enormous learning curve, but I am up for the challenge, and I'm fully focused on working as hard as I can with Alex and the team to make it a success."
The Kansas City Chiefs have agreed a contract with JuJu Smith-Schuster to return to the team for the 2024 season.
Smith-Schuster spent the 2022 season with the Chiefs and was the leading wide receiver in their Super Bowl-winning team, catching 78 passes for 933 yards and three touchdowns.
He spent 2023 with the New England Patriots after joining from the Chiefs but was released from his three-year contract earlier this month after struggling to replicate that form. He finished the season having caught 29 passes for 260 yards and one touchdown.
Prior to his first spell in Kansas City, Smith-Schuster spent five years with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him in the second round of the 2017 draft.
At wide receiver, the Chiefs also added Marquise Brown and drafted Xavier Worthy, though the former dislocated his shoulder in their first preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Chiefs will kick-off the new NFL season on September 5 against the Baltimore Ravens at Arrowhead.
Aryna Sabalenka made light work of Priscilla Hon to kick-start her US Open campaign in confident fashion on Sunday.
Sabalenka, who reached the final last year before losing out to Coco Gauff, did not face one break point in the first set and recovered from an indifferent start to the second to stroll into the second round with a 6-3 6-3 victory.
The Belarusian has won the last 12 sets she has played following on from her victory at the Cincinnati Masters, and this was her 40th Tour-level win this year.
Sabalenka will face Italy's Lucia Bronzetti in the second round on Wednesday.
Data debrief: Sabalenka keeps up hard-court form
This was Sabalenka's 24th WTA-level victory on hard courts this year.
Only two players have recorded more victories on the surface in 2024 - Emma Navarro (26) and world number one Iga Swiatek (25).
Novak Djokovic was not at his best to start his US Open title defence, but still eased beyond Radu Albot in straight sets.
Djokovic, who is hunting his first grand slam title of the year on the back of claiming Olympic gold in Paris, won 6-2 6-2 6-4 on Sunday.
However, Djokovic was not at his best, making 40 unforced errors and 10 double faults.
"I wanted to kick start the tournament in the right way and I think I did," Djokovic told ESPN.
"Some ups and downs which I think is normal, getting the rust off your shoulders coming off a different surface and the Olympic Games.
"I haven't played on hard courts for six months, so I'm still finding that groove, finding the tempo on the court."
Next up for Djokovic, who would claim his 100th Tour-level title should he triumph in New York, is his compatriot Laslo Djere, who defeated Jan-Lennard Struff.
Data Debrief: Djokovic equals Federer
Only the great Jimmy Connors (98) has won more US Open singles matches than Djokovic, who claimed his 89th victory at Flushing Meadows to match Roger Federer's tally.
This was also Djokovic's 78th win at Arthur Ashe Stadium, a competition record for a male player.
Salvador Perez drove in a career-high six runs on a pair of homers, including a grand slam, as the Kansas City Royals moved within a game of the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central with Monday's 9-4 victory that capped a doubleheader sweep.
The surging Royals, winners of nine of their last 12 games, won the opener by a 4-3 score on Bobby Witt Jr.'s tie-breaking solo homer in the eighth inning.
Kansas City trailed 3-0 early in the nightcap but battled back to take a 5-4 lead on Perez's first homer of the game, a solo blast off Cleveland starter Logan Allen in the fifth inning. The All-Star catcher put the contest out of reach an inning later with a grand slam off Tim Herrin that marked his 17th career multi-homer outing, tied with Hall of Famer George Brett for the most in Royals' history.
Perez, who went 3 for 3 in the opener, also knocked in a run with a third-inning groundout that plated Maikel Garcia, who led off with a single and took third on a double by Witt.
Garcia and MJ Melendez each had three hits for Kansas City in the second game, while Paul DeJong went 2 for 4 with a solo homer.
The scuffling Guardians lost for the eighth time in 11 games despite three doubles and an RBI from Jose Ramirez in the nightcap. Daniel Schneemann had two hits for Cleveland, including a solo homer.
Cleveland is now 0-8 in doubleheader games this season.
In the opener, Witt drove a pitch from reliever Hunter Gaddis into the left field seats to give the Royals a 4-3 edge in the top of the eighth inning. John Schreiber and Lucas Erceg protected the one-run lead from there, with Schreiber earning the win and Erceg recording his eighth save with a scoreless ninth.
The Royals had taken a 3-2 lead on Melendez's three-run homer in the fourth inning, but the Guardians pulled even when Ramirez doubled in the seventh and later scored on Josh Naylor's single.
Jansen makes history, plays for the Blue Jays and Red Sox in same game
Danny Jansen became the first player in MLB history to appear for both teams in the same game when the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox completed a previously suspended contest.
Jansen was a member of the Blue Jays when a June 26 matchup with the Red Sox was suspended in the second inning due to rain. He was traded to Boston on July 27 and inserted into the Red Sox's lineup when the game resumed Monday to accomplish the unprecedented feat.
The catcher's old team got the better of his current one, however, as Toronto posted a 4-1 win in the suspended game before dealing the reeling Red Sox a 7-3 defeat in Monday's regularly scheduled contest.
George Springer homered in both games, including a three-run shot in the fifth inning that erased a 1-0 deficit for Toronto in the nightcap.
Springer followed a double by Leo Jimenez and a walk to Steward Berroa with an opposite-field blast off Brad Keller to give the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead. Toronto scored twice more in the fifth on an RBI single from Addison Barger and a run-scoring double by Ernie Clement.
The big inning helped Jose Berrios (13-9) win his fourth straight start after the Toronto hurler held the Red Sox to three runs - two earned - and struck out six over 7 2/3 effective innings. Brendon Little relieved Berrios and tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his first major league save.
Toronto has now won five straight in addition to the suspended game, while Boston has dropped four in a row along with the makeup game and is now five games out of a play-off spot in the AL.
Jarren Duran also homered in both games for Boston. The All-Star outfielder accounted for the Red Sox's lone run in the suspended game with a solo homer, then went 3 for 4 with a two-run shot in the follow-up meeting.
Springer's solo homer off Nick Pivetta in the suspended game snapped a scoreless tie in the seventh inning, and the Blue Jays scored three more times in the eighth on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s two-run double and an RBI double from Barger.
Pivetta (4-5) took the loss despite striking out 10 in six innings. The Boston right-hander allowed three runs - two earned - and just four hits.
Harper's hit in 10th puts Phillies over Astros
Bryce Harper's run-scoring single off Josh Hader in the 10th inning lifted the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-2 comeback win over the Houston Astros in the opener of a three-game interleague series between division leaders.
After Philadelphia center fielder Johan Rojas made a diving catch with a runner at third to keep the game at 2-2 in the top of the 10th, Harper stepped to the plate with runners at first and second in the bottom of the inning and sent a ground ball through the infield. Kyle Schwarber beat the throw home from Houston right fielder Ben Gamel to score the deciding run and give the National League East-leading Phillies their third straight win.
Philadelphia trailed 2-0 after four innings, but closed the gap on Brandon Marsh's solo homer in the fifth and tied it in the sixth when Harper doubled and later scored on a Nick Castellanos single.
The Astros had gone ahead with two runs in the fourth. Victor Caratini drew a walk against Philadelphia ace Zack Wheeler and Gamel followed with a single, and both runners came home when Shay Whitcomb delivered a two-out double to left.
That was the only rough inning for Wheeler, who permitted two runs and struck out six over six frames.
Ronel Blanco worked 5 2/3 innings for Houston and also surrendered two runs while striking out five.
The Astros lost for the fifth time in seven games and had their lead atop the AL West shrink to 3 1/2 games after the second-place Seattle Mariners recorded a 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.
Jerod Mayo is yet to name the New England Patriots' starting quarterback for the season but says Drake Maye has closed the gap to Jacoby Brissett.
Rookie Maye has impressed in preseason so far, racking up 66 snaps and going 21-of-34 for 192 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He also added seven rushes for 32 yards and one touchdown.
Meanwhile, Brissett, who has struggled with a shoulder injury, started all three games, playing 27 snaps and finishing 5-of-14 for 36 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
Despite losing two of their three games, including a defeat to the Washington Commanders in their final outing on Sunday, Mayo has been pleased with the form shown by his quarterbacks, especially Maye.
"I would say at this current point, Drake has outplayed Jacoby," Mayo said on Monday in his weekly appearance on WEEI's 'The Greg Hill Show'.
"Now in saying that, we have to take in the full body of work, going all the way back to the spring and beginning of training camp. And we'll see where we end up.
"It's Drake becoming more comfortable with the scheme and more comfortable with the players around him. I don't know how the story ends with Drake's rookie season, but all possibilities are open."
Mayo is set to tell the Patriots who will be playing as the quarterback on Tuesday in their season opener against the Cleveland Browns.
The coach has kept a close eye on his two options throughout the offseason, explaining how everything he has seen over the last few months has played a part in his decision.
"It starts in practice and also in the game, where Drake has played better," Mayo told reporters later on Monday.
"In saying that, everyone wants to know who the starter is going to be. There are multiple factors that have to go into this decision.
"One is the total body of work, whether we're talking about the spring or the entirety of training camp. And I would also say, oftentimes we forget about the overall experience that a guy like Jacoby has, which will also be weighted in the decision we have to make in the near future.
"I'm happy with the way those guys are battling it out. Hopefully, over the next couple days, we can name a starter and get the season rolling."
Dominic Thiem's grand slam career ended in the first round of the US Open in a straight-sets defeat to Ben Shelton on Monday.
Thiem won his sole major at Flushing Meadows in 2020, coming from two sets down to beat Alexander Zverev with no crowd present due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In what turned out to be his final appearance at a grand slam, Shelton cruised to a 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory, before the American led the crowd in a standing ovation for Thiem.
The Austrian has struggled with a wrist injury in recent years, and announced in May that he would be retiring at the end of the 2024 tour.
Thiem was the first Austrian player in the Open Era to receive a wildcard for the men's singles at the US Open, and the first to receive wildcards to multiple grand slam events after last year’s Australian Open
"It's actually a really important moment for me because I had my greatest success of my career here on this court, in a weird 2020 in very strange and different circumstances," Thiem told the crowd.
"I'm super happy that I got the chance to play my last US Open and I can spend some time with you guys, just to say thank you and to make the time up from what we missed four years ago."
Elsewhere, fourth seed Zverev, Andrey Rublev and 2022 finalist Casper Ruud were among the winners in the first round in New York.
Defending champion Coco Gauff stormed into the second round of the US Open with a comfortable straight-sets win over Varvara Gracheva on Monday.
The 20-year-old only needed 67 minutes to see off the Frenchwoman 6-2 6-0 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Gracheva started brightly, serving to love in the first game and twice came close to breaking Gauff's serve in the second before the American finally found her footing.
Gauff got two breaks shortly after, going on a three-game winning run to take the first set.
She was in cruise control in the second though, comfortably seeing off Gracheva without dropping a game as she set up a second-round meeting with Tatiana Maria.
Elsewhere, Olympic gold medallist Qinwen Zheng had to come from behind to beat Amanda Anisimova.
After losing the first set, the seventh seed rallied to win 4-6 6-4 6-2, gaining control of the match in the decider to book a place in the next round.
Data Debrief: Gauff sends out statement
Gauff won her first grand slam title at Flushing Meadows last year, becoming the first American teenager to win the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999.
And she is now the youngest player to register eight consecutive wins at the tournament since Maria Sharapova who won nine between 2006-07.
Gauff is also the youngest player to secure 15 women's singles wins at the US Open since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.
CeeDee Lamb will begin the 2024 NFL season with a new contract.
The Dallas Cowboys signed the superstar to a four-year, $136million contract extension on Monday, according to multiple sources.
As part of the deal, he receives a $38million signing bonus - the largest ever for a wide receiver - and $100million in guaranteed money.
With an average annual value of $34million, he becomes the second-highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, totalling just less than the $35million Justin Jefferson received from the Minnesota Vikings in early June.
Heading into the final year of his rookie contract after being selected 17th overall in the 2020 NFL draft, Lamb had been holding out of training camp while seeking a new contract.
The 25-year-old has emerged as one of the league's top receivers, leading the NFL with a Cowboys franchise-record 135 receptions in 2023. His 1,749 receiving yards were also the most in a single season in team history and were 50 fewer than the Miami Dolphins' Tyreek Hill for the most in the NFL last year, while his 12 touchdown catches ranked third.
He was named an All-Pro for the first time this past season and finished third in Offensive Player of the Year voting.
In 66 career games in four seasons, the three-time Pro Bowler has 395 receptions, 5,145 receiving yards and 32 touchdowns. Only Jefferson (5,899), Michael Thomas (5,512) and Randy Moss (5,396) have more receiving yards through their first four pro seasons.
Dallas finished 12-5 last season to capture the NFC East crown, but again failed to advance to the conference championship, suffering a 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round of the play-offs.
The Cowboys, who haven't reached the NFC title game since winning the Super Bowl in the 1995 season, open this season on the road against the Cleveland Browns on September 8.
Novak Djokovic is hoping his Olympics success will spur him to US Open glory despite not playing since the Paris Games.
Djokovic became just the second player in the Open Era to win all four grand slams, the gold medal at the Olympics and the ATP Tour Finals after Andre Agassi.
The Serb triumphed at Flushing Meadows last year, winning his 24th major title, but one year on, is still waiting for the win that would take him clear of Margaret Court as the outright record holder.
He came close at Wimbledon but lost the final in straight sets to Carlos Alcaraz, who he then beat to claim his elusive gold medal earlier this month.
Djokovic, the number two seed for the tournament, will begin against Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot on Monday, and he believes his recent success will serve as the perfect springboard for a similar outcome in New York.
"I hope to never recover from that [Olympic triumph] because it's the best set of feelings that I ever had as an athlete," he told Eurosport.
"On the court but also off, when we went back to celebrate with our people, all of the Serbian Olympians that managed to win a medal.
"It was a very unique moment for me. I'll never forget it, and I'll try to use it as a great confidence boost for what's coming up in New York in the next few weeks."
At 87.1%, Djokovic holds the second-best win percentage at the US Open in the Open Era of players to have featured in at least 30 matches at the event, after Sampras (88.8%).
And the 37-year-old will be hoping that is a good omen as he aims to win a joint-record fifth title at the tournament.
Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have split the major trophies between them so far in 2024, while the last time Djokovic failed to win a single grand slam in a calendar year was in 2017.
Djokovic has not competed in the hard-court swing so far, instead choosing to recover, having struggled with a knee injury since the French Open in May, but he is sure that break will help his performance.
"I haven't had much time to recover or much time to train," he added. "I tried to get the most out of the few weeks that I had.
"I had more than all the other guys that played the tournaments, but that was a conscious decision that I made not to have any lead-up tournaments to the US Open because I just felt that the calendar is too congested this year with the Olympics.
"I needed my break, short but sweet, celebration, family quality time and then, of course, [I] started my training and trying to build my body, build my form for the start of the tournament."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has blamed the Silver Arrows' struggles at the Dutch Grand Prix on an upgrade to the floor of the team's car.
Mercedes enjoyed a mid-season resurgence, triumphing at three of the last four races prior to the summer break, following a difficult start to the year.
Lewis Hamilton was victorious at the British and Belgian grands prix after team-mate George Russell triumphed in Austria, but neither driver was competitive in Zandvoort when the season resumed on Sunday.
Russell finished seventh and Hamilton was one place further back after qualifying in 12th, as McLaren's Lando Norris claimed a dominant win to close the gap to drivers' championship leader Max Verstappen.
Mercedes used a new floor for the race after abandoning the planned change at Spa, and Wolff admits the team may have got things wrong.
"I think these cars are a surprise-box. We've had six podiums in a row and that doesn't look like the car three weeks ago that was first and second," he told Sky Sports.
"You can't really end up with a result like this without any major factor playing in, and that's something we need to analyse in the next few days before Monza.
"Was it because we put something on the car that didn't help? Did we engineer something into the car that wasn't good?
"Then how do you justify these swings of performance? Sometimes we looked really good this weekend and then obviously today, in terms of degradation, that was not very impressive.
"Was it a setup? Was it the track? What is it that we got wrong? Was it the floor that we put on the car? Was it all of this together?
"So, hopefully we can sort it out until Monza and become competitive again. But the swing in performance from P1-P2 and P7-P8, there's a biggie in there. It's not something that was simply a setup decision in my opinion."
Keegan Bradley was in disbelief after putting himself in FedEx Cup contention by winning his second BMW Championship title on Sunday.
Bradley, who was appointed as the United States' 2025 Ryder Cup captain last month, edged out Adam Scott to claim a one-shot victory at the event near Denver.
Scott pulled level with Bradley at the start of his final round but later bogeyed three straight holes as the American won his seventh PGA Tour title.
Bradley, who also won the 2018 tournament by beating Justin Rose in a play-off, now sits fourth in the FedEx Cup standings, behind Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama.
Following his victory, the 38-year-old set his sights on another triumph at next week's Tour Championship in Atlanta, having only just squeezed into the 50-player field at Castle Pines.
"Oh, man, it just shows why you've got to grind it out every week because you never know how fast it can switch," Bradley said.
"Now I go to Atlanta with a chance to win the FedEx Cup. I can't believe it. I'm so excited.
"I'm in a bit of a state of shock because there was a time a week ago about this time that I didn't think I was going to be coming here.
"I had to have a lot of magical things happen for me to just play in this tournament, and when I got here, I was so grateful just to be here.
"I played with a real sense of calm all week, which is not the norm for me"
Aaron Judge hit two more home runs to become the fifth player in MLB history with three seasons of 50 or more, and the New York Yankees went deep five times in all en route to a 10-3 rout of the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.
Judge connected on a two-run homer in the first inning to join Babe Ruth (four times), Mark McGwire (four), Sammy Sosa (four) and Alex Rodriguez (three) as the only players with three 50-homer seasons. The American League MVP front-runner added a solo shot in the seventh, one of three consecutive homers that helped the Yankees earn their fourth win in five games and extend their lead to 1 1/2 games over the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East.
Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres also homered for New York. All three finished with two hits, with Torres driving in four runs on the day and Soto two.
Judge's 50th homer came with Torres aboard and erased an early 1-0 deficit after Colorado scratched home a run in the top of the first. Charlie Blackmon led off the game with a walk against Marcus Stroman, advanced to third on an Ezequiel Tovar single and an error, and scored on Brenton Doyle's fielder's choice grounder.
The Yankees extended the lead to 4-1 in the second inning with four consecutive two-out singles off Colorado starter Austin Gomber, including run-scoring hits by Torres and Soto.
Drew Romo singled in Jake Cave in the fourth to allow the Rockies to close the gap, and they got within 4-3 an inning later when Doyle drew a walk against Stroman and came home on Ryan McMahon's two-out double.
The Yankees pulled away in the seventh, however, when Soto, Judge and Stanton all homered in succession off reliever Jeff Criswell.
Judge's blast was his seventh homer in six games and put him on pace for 63, one ahead of the AL-record 62 he hit during his 2022 MVP season.
Torres pushed the margin to 10-3 in the eighth when he followed singles by Alex Verdugo and DJ LeMahieu with his 11th homer of the season.
Stroman (9-6) received the win after striking out five and allowing three runs in five innings. Gomber (4-9) lasted six innings while surrendering four runs.
Bregman, Diaz homers help Astros earn split with Orioles
The Orioles lost ground to the Yankees in the AL East race with a 6-3 defeat to the Houston Astros, who were boosted by back-to-back home runs from Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz in the seventh inning that snapped a tie game.
Bregman's two-out shot off Burch Smith broke a 3-3 deadlock, and Diaz took the Baltimore reliever deep on the very next pitch to give the AL West leaders a two-run advantage.
Zach Dezenzo added a two-run double to help Houston earn a split of this key four-game series. Dezenzo, Bregman and Mauricio Dubon all finished with two hits.
The Orioles managed just two hits on the night, though one was Ramon Urias' three-run homer that tied the game in the fifth inning.
Houston had gone up early by scoring three times in the fourth inning, all with two out. Jeremy Pena began the rally with a single and then raced all the way from first on Victor Caratini's base hit to account for the game's first run.
After Ben Gamel followed with a single, Dezenzo extended the margin to 3-0 with a double off Baltimore starter Dean Kremer.
Houston's Yusei Kukuchi didn't allow a hit until Eloy Jimenez's lead-off single in the bottom of the fifth, but the left-hander later walked Emmanuel Rivera to set the stage for Urias' game-tying homer on a 1-2 pitch.
Bregman and Diaz's power displays would put the Astros back in front in the seventh, and Houston scratched home another run in the eighth. Gamel walked before advancing to third on a Dezenzo single and an error by Urias, then scored on a sacrifice fly from Jake Meyers.
The Orioles put the lead-off man on in the ninth when Gunnar Henderson drew a walk off Josh Hader, but the veteran closer later got a game-ending double play to seal the win and notch his 28th save.
Kikuchi yielded just two hits despite surrendering three runs in 5 2/3 innings. Kremer struck out five while permitting three runs in six innings.
Diamondbacks finish sweep of Red Sox, extend win streak to six
Eugenio Suarez's go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning lifted the surging Arizona Diamondbacks to their sixth straight win, a 7-5 comeback victory over the fading Boston Red Sox.
Suarez went 4 for 4 to cap a huge series in which the third baseman drove in 10 runs to help the Diamondbacks to a three-game sweep. Geraldo Perodomo added a solo homer while knocking in a pair of runs in the finale.
With his team trailing 4-3 in the sixth, Suarez followed Pavin Smith's single and a walk to Adrian Del Castillo with a drive over the Green Monster in left field off Boston starter Tanner Houck that put Arizona ahead.
Perdomo provided some insurance with a solo homer in the top of the ninth. Justin Martinez gave up Tyler O'Neill's solo shot in the bottom of the inning that brought Boston within 7-5, but retired the next three men he faced to record his sixth save.
The Red Sox fell to 6-11 over their last 17 games despite building a 4-0 lead after four innings, with Triston Casas quickly putting them ahead with a solo homer off Merrill Kellly in the first.
Casas and Wilyer Abreu singled in the fourth to put two on for Rafael Devers, who crushed Kelly's pitch over the center field wall for his 200th career homer.
Houck (8-9) held the Diamondbacks scoreless through four innings but ran into trouble in the fifth, as he walked two batters around a Suarez single to load the bases with none out.
Arizona proceeded to manufacture two runs on a Perdomo groundout and Corbin Carroll's sacrifice fly, and another on Jake McCarthy's RBI single which cut the lead to 4-3.
Kelly moved to 4-0 on the season despite permitting four runs with five strikeouts in six innings. Houck was tagged for six runs on seven hits and walked four over six innings.
Carlos Alcaraz insists his recent ankle concern is nothing serious and that he will "be at 100%" for this year's US Open.
The Spaniard is seeking his second triumph at Flushing Meadows, where he was victorious two years ago, as well as a third major of the season following his success at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Although, there were briefly question marks over Alcaraz's participation in the year's final slam after he pulled out of practice on Friday with an ankle injury.
Nevertheless, he said the reason for not continuing the session was precautionary above anything else.
"After a few hours after finishing my practice, I have not felt anything and everything is fine and under control," said Alcaraz, who begins his campaign against Li Tu on Wednesday "I think it is not going to be anything serious.
"We will take care of it in the next few days and we will be extra cautious. I think it was just a scary moment, but I am sure I will be at 100%."
Alcaraz also reflected on his Olympic gold medal match against Novak Djokovic earlier this month, in which the Serb avenged his Wimbledon showpiece defeat to complete a career golden slam.
The Spaniard admitted it was a defeat that hurt, but made him more determined to go the extra step in four years' time.
"It was one of the most important finals of my career, my life," he said. "I know the Olympic Games is every four years, so I don't know if I'm going to have another chance to win the gold. I'm going fight for it, for sure, at the next Olympic Games.
"It was a difficult moment [for me to] deal with, losing the gold medal in a really close match when I had opportunities, but in front of me, I had a really good player that day.
"[Djokovic] was fighting for the same thing as me and he deserved it, and days after the Olympics, I realised that I won the silver medal. It was a great achievement for me."
Max Verstappen insists he and Red Bull have "no need to panic" despite seeing his Formula One winless streak stretch to five races at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Drivers' Championship leader was forced to settle for a second-place finish at Zandvoort behind Lando Norris, who closed the gap in the standings to 70 points.
Verstappen, who had won his home race in each of the past three seasons, began his 200th F1 race second on the grid with Norris in pole, but swiftly overtook the Briton with a fast start.
However, the Dutchman was unable to prevent Norris' response, and he felt a lack of grip on the tyres were impacting his performance.
Verstappen conceded he was lacking confidence in the speed of his car, and was subsequently focused on securing second place.
"You always try to do better," he said. "We had a good start, we tried everything we could today, but throughout the race, I think it was quite clear that we were not quick enough, so I tried to be second.
"I know that we have good starts, so I was quite confident that we would have another one, and luckily it was like that.
"I was just doing my own race, looking after the tyres, I tried to do the best I could. But, at one point, nothing was turning or responding anymore. Once [Lando] passed, I just focused on doing my race, tried to bring it to the end in second.
"I think this weekend was just a bad weekend in general, so we need to understand that. But the last few races, they haven't really been fantastic. So that, I think in a sense, was already a bit alarming.
"But we know that we don't need to panic. We are just trying to improve the situation, and that's what we are working on. But F1 is very complicated."
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