Delle Donne sets record, Mystics beat Sky 100-86
Aces top Mercury, clinch No. 4 seed
WASHINGTON, Sept 9, (AP): Elena Delle Donne scored 25 points, making WNBA history along the way, and the regular-season champions Washington Mystics raced past the Chicago Sky 100-86.
She became the first player in WNBA history to shoot over 50% from the field (220 of 427), 40% from 3-point range (52 of 121) and 90% from the foul line (114 of 117). Her free throw percent of 97.4 is a record for a player with at least 100 attempts.
The Mystics (26-8), who lost to Seattle in the finals last year), have a double-bye into the semifinals and home court advantage throughout the playoffs. The Sky (20-14) are the No. 5 seed and play No. 8 Phoenix at home on Wednesday in the single-elimination opening round of the playoffs.
Chicago’s Courtney Vandersloot had six assists to become the first player in league history to reach 300 in a season, which she did exactly, and the first player to average at least nine assists a game for a season (9.1).
In Phoenix, Liz Cambage had 21 points and A’ja Wilson scored eight of her 20 points in the final three-plus minutes to help the Aces beat the Mercury, clinching the No. 4 seed in the playoffs for Las Vegas.
scoring total in WNBA history.
In Los Angeles, Riquna Williams hit four 3-pointers and finished with 15 points to help the Sparks beat Minnesota, ruining the Lynx’s chance of hosting a playoff game in the first round.
The Sparks (22-12) have a firstround bye in the playoffs, which begin on Wednesday and will host the worst remaining seed in the second round.
The Lynx (18-16), who had a fivegame win streak snapped, will be the No. 7 seed because of their loss and Seattle’s win over Dallas. Minnesota has lost three in a row against the Storm overall and four straight in Seattle.
Napheesa Collier led Minnesota with 16 points and career-high tying 11 rebounds.
In Indianapolis, Kelsey Mitchell hit a WNBA regular season record nine 3-pointers, scoring 38 points to help the Fever beat the Sun.
The second-year guard had 30 points in the first half and broke the mark of eight held by five different players. She equaled the nine 3s that Kristi Toliver hit in the 2017 playoffs. The Fever (13-21) finished the season on a highnote winning their last three games. They have the second best chance to get the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery.
The Sun (2311), locked into the No. 2 seed and a double-bye in the playoffs, played their starters less than half the game.
Rookie Teaira McCowan added 17 points and nine rebounds. She finished with 304 rebounds on the season, breaking Erlana Larkins’ 2014 franchise record by one.
Delle Donne
In Atlanta, Tina Charles scored 14 points, Amanda Zahui B. added a double-double and the Liberty topped the Dream.
The Liberty (10-24) had an 18-11 advantage in the third quarter to stretch a 44-38 halftime lead to 63-49 and was never seriously challenged by the Dream (8-26).
Atlanta gave a ceremonial start to injured forward Angel McCoughtry, who has been sidelined for the season while recovering from a knee injury she suffered last year. They took her out right after the tip.
Tinoco (0-2) took the loss. Craig Stammen (8-7), the fifth pitcher deployed by the Padres, struck out two in the top of the 10th inning.
In Los Angeles, Matt Beaty and Corey Seager hit home runs, while Kenta Maeda pitched four strong innings of relief as Los Angeles earned a shutout victory to avoid being swept by visiting San Francisco.
Beaty hit his ninth homer of the season, while Seager delivered his 14th.
The game was the last on the bench at Dodger Stadium for Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who is retiring at the end of the season. He finished his career 107-108 in the Dodgers’ home park, the most victories all time by a visiting manager.
In Boston, Gleyber Torres and Mike Tauchman each slugged two-run home runs to power visiting New York past Boston.
Torres had three hits and four RBIs, and Aaron Judge also went deep as the Yankees set a club record for homers in a season at 268, surpassing the 267 they hit last year. New York won for the 11th time in its last 15 games and will seek a series victory in the finale of the four-game set Monday.
In Miami, Sandy Alcantara pitched a four-hit shutout and every position player had at least one hit as Miami avoided a sweep by beating visiting Kansas City.
Alcantara (5-12) didn’t allow a leadoff batter to reach until the eighth inning, when he got out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam with a double-play grounder to shortstop. He struck out eight and walked two while throwing 102 pitches.
In Oakland, Sean Manaea held Detroit to one run on two hits in seven innings, leading Oakland to a victory at home.
Manaea, making just his second start of the season and first at home in more than a year, struck out 10 and walked two for his first win since Aug. 24, 2018. Manaea (1-0) had shoulder surgery last September, and it took the left-hander almost a full calendar year to return to a major league mound.
Houston Astros’ Gerrit Cole throws against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning of a baseball game on Sept
8 in Houston. (AP)
The Tigers (42-100) became the first team to reach 100 losses this season, and are 2-7 in September. They hadn’t lost 100 games since the 2003 season.
In Chicago, Jose Abreu and Danny Mendick each homered and four Chicago pitchers limited visiting Los Angeles to five hits.
With Mike Trout out because of a sore big toe on his right foot, the Angels scored their only run of the game on Shohei Ohtani’s RBI single in the first inning off White Sox starter Dylan Cease.
Cease lasted only 3-1/3 innings, but Chicago got scoreless outings from relievers Josh Osich (2-2/3 innings), Aaron Bummer (two innings) and Alex Colome (one inning).
In Milwaukee, pinch hitter Tyler Austin’s three-run homer highlighted a five-run fourth inning as Milwaukee recorded a series victory over visiting Chicago.
Ryan Braun added an RBI double in the fourth inning, and Eric Thames homered to lead off the sixth inning for the Brewers, who won the final three contests of the four-game set to move within two games of Chicago for the second wild card in the National League.
In Minneapolis, Francisco Lindor and Carlos Santana each homered and Mike Clevinger extended his winning streak to 10 games as Cleveland beat Minnesota in the rubber game of their three-game series.
Lindor also doubled and stole a base, Jason Kipnis went 3-for-4 with a run scored and Franmil Reyes had two hits and two RBIs for Cleveland.
Clevinger (11-2) has not lost in his last 13 starts, since he was beaten June
Milwaukee Brewers’ Hernan Perez hits an RBI-single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs on Sept 8 in Milwaukee. (AP)
28 at Baltimore. He allowed two runs and four hits over 6-1/3 innings, striking out seven and walking two. Brad Hand pitched a scoreless ninth for his 34th save.
In Pittsburgh, right-hander Jack Flaherty struck out 10 in eight scoreless innings to lead visiting St Louis to a win over Pittsburgh.
Flaherty (10-7) allowed five hits and walked one, and he has been strong as the Cardinals look to lock down the National League Central title. The eight shutout innings matched a career best he set in his previous start against San Francisco.
Paul Goldschmidt had an RBI double and Harrison Bader an RBI single for St Louis, which took two of three in the weekend series.
In Cincinnati, Eugenio Suarez homered twice and pinch hitter Michael Lorenzen delivered a walk-off double
Los Angeles Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun (56) catches a single hit by Chicago White Sox’s James McCann
during the seventh inning of a baseball game on Sept 8 in Chicago. (AP)
with one out in the ninth inning as host Cincinnati broke Arizona’s five-game winning streak.
Suarez gave the Reds a 2-1 lead with his two-run homer in the third inning, and he tied the game at 3 with a one-out homer in the eighth inning off reliever Jimmie Sherfy. Suarez has 44 homers and leads the majors with 24 homers since the All-Star break.
In New York, Phil Gosselin’s pinchhit RBI single in the sixth inning gave Philadelphia the lead for good in a marathon win over host New York.
By winning the final two games of the three-game series, the Phillies moved within two games of the Chicago Cubs for the second National League wild-card spot while dealing a blow to the Mets’ postseason aspirations.
The game lasted four hours and 29 minutes – one minute shy of the longest nine-inning game in NL history. The two teams combined to use 16 pitchers – eight apiece.
In St Petersburg, Florida, righthander Tyler Glasnow made a successful return from a nearly four-month absence and Avisail Garcia supported him and five Tampa Bay relievers with two doubles and a home run, lifting the Rays to a win over visiting Toronto.
Austin Meadows also homered for the Rays, his 28th of the season, as Tampa Bay completed a four-game sweep with a fifth straight win overall.
Glasnow, out with a forearm strain since May 10, pitched the first two innings of the win, allowing a two-run homer to Randal Grichuk in the second inning but no other hits. He struck out five and walked two in his 41-pitch cameo.
In Baltimore, Ronald Guzman and Rougned Odor both homered, Nick Solak drove in four runs, and Mike Minor threw eight strong innings as visiting Texas defeated Baltimore.
This victory completed a Texas sweep of the four-game weekend series, and the Rangers won six of the seven games they played against the Orioles this year. It marked the first time Texas has swept a four-game series in Baltimore since 1972.
Texas twice scored three runs in an inning and got runs in five of the first six frames to turn the game into a rout. The Rangers forced Baltimore starter Asher Wojciechowski out after only two innings.
In Atlanta, Max Scherzer pitched six strong innings and Yan Gomes hit a pair of home runs to help visiting Washington end its four-game losing streak with a win over Atlanta.
Scherzer (10-5) allowed only one run on two hits, two walks and struck out nine. Gomes hit a solo home run in the second inning and added another solo shot in the seventh, giving him nine this season. He went 2-for-5 and sparked the team’s 17-hit attack.