SPORTS DIGEST

BASEBALL

Cody Bellinger launched himself into the record books with his 14th home run of the season as the Los Angeles Dodgers fought from behind to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-6. The fourth-inning homer moved him into a tie for the most home runs before 1 May, matching the record set by Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich this year, Albert Pujols in 2006 and Alex Rodriguez in 2007. Bellinger also had three RBIS to help the Dodgers come back from 5-1 down after the second inning, with a runscoring single by Max Muncy in the seventh giving them a 6-5 lead.

MLB results: Arizona Diamondbacks 5 Chicago Cubs 6 (15 Innings), Atlanta Braves 8 Colorado Rockies 7, Boston Red Sox 2 Tampa Bay Rays 5, Chicago White Sox 4 Detroit Tigers 1, Houston Astros 4 Cleveland Indians 1, Kansas City Royals 3 LA Angels 7, Los Angeles Dodgers 7 Pittsburgh Pirates 6, Minnesota Twins 4 Baltimore Orioles 1, New York Mets 5 Milwaukee Brewers 2, Philadelphia Phillies 5 Miami Marlins 1, San Francisco Giants 5 New York Yankees 11, Seattle Mariners 1 Texas Rangers 14, St Louis Cardinals 5 Cincinnati Reds 2, Toronto Blue Jays 5 Oakland Athletics 4 (11 Innings), Washington Nationals 7 San Diego Padres 6 (11 Innings).

BASKETBALL

Kevin Durant outplayed James Harden as the Golden State Warriors edged the Houston Rockets 104-100 in their highlyanticipated Western Conference semifinals opener. The reigning champions are meeting Houston in the play-offs for the fourth time in five years and began this year’s series with a back-and-forth game which went down to the wire. Durant led the way with 35 points, while Stephen Curry added 18 and sealed the victory with a three-pointer with 24 seconds left on the clock. The Rockets had the chance to tie the game just before the buzzer, but Harden missed. The Boston Celtics managed a more emphatic win against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first game of their Eastern Conference semi-final series, recording a 112-90 victory. Boston dominated from the off, building a 15-point lead in the first half which increased to as much as 26 in the second. Kyrie Irving finished with 26 points and Al Horford added another 20 as the Celtics limited the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo to just 22 points.

GOLF

Official World Ranking: 1 Dustin Johnson (USA) 9.61pts ave, 2 Justin Rose (Eng) 8.90, 3 Brooks Koepka (USA) 8.86, 4 Rory Mcilroy (Nirl) 8.13, 5 Justin Thomas (USA) 7.74, 6 Tiger Woods (USA) 7.60, 7 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 7.07, 8 Bryson Dechambeau (USA) 7.03, 9 Xander Schauffele (USA) 6.32, 10 Rickie Fowler (USA) 5.80, 11 Jon Rahm (Spa) 5.76, 12 Matt Kuchar (USA) 5.38, 13 Paul Casey (Eng) 5.25, 14 Jason Day (Aus) 5.05, 15 Tony Finau (USA) 5.00, 16 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 4.83, 17 Patrick Cantlay (USA) 4.56, 18 Bubba Watson (USA) 4.55, 19 Patrick Reed (USA) 4.19, 20 Webb Simpson (USA) 4.08. Women’s World Rankings: 1 Jin Young Ko (Kor) 7.38pts, 2 Minjee Lee (Aus) 6.86, 3 Sung Hyun Park (Kor) 6.60, 4 Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 6.14, 5 Nasa Hataoka (Jpn) 5.49, 6 Inbee Park (Kor) 5.22, 7 Brooke M. Henderson (Can) 5.11, 8 Lexi Thompson (USA) 4.94, 9 So Yeon Ryu (Kor) 4.75, 10 Carlota Ciganda (Spa) 4.73, 11 Nelly Korda (USA) 4.72, 12 Jessica Korda (USA) 4.36, 13 Danielle Kang (USA) 4.18, 14 Amy Yang (Kor) 4.11, 15 Sei Young Kim (Kor) 4.00, 16 Eun-hee Ji (Kor) 3.98, 17 Lydia Ko (Nzl) 3.71, 18 Jiyai Shin (Kor) 3.62, 19 Georgia Hall (Eng) 3.56, 20 Jeongeun Lee (Kor) 3.54.

TENNIS

ATP Champions Rankings:1 Novak Djokovic (Ser) 11160pts, 2 Rafael Nadal (Spa) 7765, 3 Alexander Zverev (Ger) 5770, 4 Roger Federer (Swi) 5590, 5 Dominic Thiem (Aut) 5085, 6 Kevin Anderson (Rsa) 4115, 7 Kei Nishikori (Jpn) 3780, 8 Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) 3225, 9 John Isner (USA) 3085, 10 Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre) 3030, 11 Marin Cilic (Cro) 2845, 12 Fabio Fognini (Ita) 2840, 13 Karen Khachanov (Rus) 2685, 14 Daniil Medvedev (Rus) 2625, 15 Borna Coric (Cro) 2525, 16 Milos Raonic (Can) 2050, 17 Nikoloz Basilashvili (Geo) 1930, 18 Gael Monfils (Fra) 1875, 19 Marco Cecchinato (Ita) 1830, 20 Denis Shapovalov (Can) 1820.

WTA Rankings: 1 Naomi Osaka (Jpn) 6151pts, 2 Petra Kvitova (Cze) 6015, 3 Simona Halep (Rom) 5682, 4 Angelique Kerber (Ger) 5220, 5 Karolina Pliskova (Cze) 5111, 6 Elina Svitolina (Ukr) 4921, 7 Kiki Bertens (Ned) 4765, 8 Sloane Stephens (USA) 4386, 9 Ashleigh Barty (Aus) 4275, 10 Aryna Sabalenka (Blr) 3520, 11 Serena Williams (USA) 3461, 12 Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 3362, 13 Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) 3185, 14 Madison Keys (USA) 2965, 15 Anett Kontaveit (Est) 2965, 16 Qiang Wang (Chn) 2812, 17 Julia Goerges (Ger) 2630, 18 Elise Mertens (Bel) 2580, 19 Belinda Bencic (Swi) 2540, 20 Garbine Muguruza (Spa) 2525