Lightning rout Canadiens, take 3-0 lead in Cup Final
Johnson scores twice, Vasilevskiy stops 32 shots MLB Results/Standings
WASHINGTON, July 3, (AP): Mookie Betts hit a go-ahead single during a nine-run rally in the seventh inning after Washington ace Max Scherzer departed, and the Los Angeles Dodgers surged past the Nationals 10-5 for their seventh straight win.
The Nationals lost slugger Kyle Schwarber in the second inning when he grabbed at his hamstring after a single. He hit a franchise-record 16 home runs in June.
Julio Urías (10-3) allowed one earned run in six innings.
Scherzer also allowed one earned run in six innings and struck out eight. Left-handed reliever Sam Clay (0-1) found trouble when he replaced Scherzer. Chris Taylor hit a leadoff double, a dribbler by pinch-hitter Albert Pujols scored him, and Austin Barnes was hit by a pitch.
Angels 8, Orioles 7
In Anaheim, California, Shohei Ohtani went deep twice to reach 30 homers this season and then scored the winning run on Jared Walsh’s two-out single in the ninth inning that lifted Los Angeles over Baltimore.
Ohtani drew a walk from Paul Fry (2-3) with one out and swiped second for his 12th stolen base of the year.
The two-way sensation is the first player in AL history to reach 30 homers and 10 steals in his team’s first 81 games of a season, according to STATS. The only NL players to do it are Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa (1998) and St. Louis star Albert Pujols (2009).
BASEBALL
Ohtani, elected to the All-Star Game for the first time Thursday and selected AL Player of the Month for June earlier Friday, leads the majors in home runs. He has 13 in the past 15 games.
Ohtani also set an Angels record for most homers by the All-Star break and surpassed Babe Ruth’s 1919 mark of most round trippers by a player with at least 10 games pitched in a season.
Anthony Rendon had three hits and José Iglesias homered and drove in two runs for the Angels, who have won four of five. Raisel Iglesias (5-3) pitched 1 2/3 innings and helped anchor a Los Angeles bullpen that allowed only one run in 6 1/3 innings after starter Griffin Canning struggled.
Trey Mancini and Domingo Leyba homered for the Orioles, who had won three in a row. Anthony Santander drove in three runs.
Braves 1, Marlins 0
In Atlanta, Miami starter Pablo López was ejected after plunking Ronald Acuña Jr. with his first pitch, leading to the only run in Atlanta’s victory.
The Braves got just two hits and still won their third in a row.
The Marlins have a history of hitting Acuña. Miami pitcher José Ureña was tossed after nailing the star slugger with his first pitch in 2018, and López didn’t last any longer.
López (4-5) was ejected for hitting Acuña in the back of the left arm and manager Don Mattingly soon was ejected, too, for arguing on his pitcher’s behalf. They stayed on the field for a couple of minutes after they were tossed to plead their case with umpires.
Acuña advanced to third on Freddie Freeman’s single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ozzie Albies, the NL leader with 59 RBIs.
Miami pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. was tossed by crew chief Dan Iassogna for arguing about López’s ejection after Freeman’s hit.
Drew Smyly (6-3) won his careerbest fourth straight start.
Will Smith converted a shaky 17th save in 19 chances. The bases were loaded when Jon Berti popped up and pinch-hitter Sandy León flied out to end it.
Red Sox 3, Athletics 2, 10 Innings In Oakland, California, Kiké Hernández drove in the go-ahead run with a broken-bat single in the 10th inning and then made a tremendous defensive play to throw out a runner at home plate from center field as Boston held off Oakland for its eighth straight win.
Hernández got the decisive hit off Lou Trivino (3-3). The A’s had runners at the corners with no outs in the bottom of the 10th against Adam Ottavino when Hernández charged in for a running catch of Sean Murphy’s fly to shallow center and fired a strong throw to get Seth Brown sliding into home.
Ottavino finished it off for his sixth save.
The Red Sox won after closer Matt Barnes (4-2) allowed Elvis Andrus’ tying home run leading off the ninth, his fourth blown save in 21 chances.
Jed Lowrie homered for the A’s, who have lost three of four.
Phillies 4, Padres 3, 10 Innings
In Philadelphia, Brad Miller doubled with one out in the 10th inning to lift Philadelphia over San Diego.
The Phillies blew a 3-0 lead in the ninth inning - their 22nd blown save of the season and eighth in nine games.
Jose Alvarado got the final out of the eighth in relief of Zack Wheeler but allowed three of the first four batters to reach in the ninth, including an RBI double by Fernando Tatis Jr. Ranger Suarez (4-2) allowed a two-run double to Jurickson Profar.
Suarez was better in the 10th, retiring all three batters. That set up Miller, who drove a slider from Austin Adams (2-2) deep to right-center to score Andrew McCutchen.
Wheeler pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings.
Brewers 7, Pirates 2
In Pittsburgh, Adrian Houser scattered four hits over 6 2/3 innings and Milwaukee extended its win streak to 10 games.
Houser (5-5) allowed one run, struck out five and walked two in his longest outing since last August.
Willy Adames had three hits for the Brewers, and his 13th home run of the season in the first inning off JT Brubaker (4-8) gave Milwaukee a lead it never came close to relinquishing.
Pittsburgh has dropped five straight, scoring all of six runs in the process.
Blue Jays 11, Rays 1
In Buffalo, N.Y., Alek Manoah, back from a five-game suspension, struck out a career-high 10 over seven innings of three-hit ball for Toronto.
George Springer, Marcus Semien and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered for Toronto, which has won nine of 12.
Manoah (2-0) allowed only Francisco Mejía’s bloop double with one out in the sixth and then clean singles by Wander Franco and Joey Wendle in the seventh.
Tampa Bay starter Luis Patiño (1-2) was tagged for six runs in the first two innings. The Rays dropped their fourth straight.
Reds 2, Cubs 1
In Cincinnati, Joey Votto hit a tworun double in the sixth inning and Cincinnati handed Chicago its seventh straight loss.
The Reds’ Sonny Gray struck out eight in five innings in his first big league start since June 8. He had been sidelined by a strained right groin.
Josh Osich (1-0) got one out for the win, and Heath Hembree worked the ninth for his second save.
MONTREAL, July 3, (AP): Victor Hedman wants nothing to do with talk about how the Tampa Bay Lightning can secure their place in NHL playoff lore by becoming the second team in 22 years to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.
Putting last season’s title in the past, Hedman and the Lightning are focused solely on finishing the job this year.
ICE HOCKEY
“Obviously, what we did in the bubble last year was very special, and you want to relive that moment,” Hedman said, referring to the Lightning beating Dallas in six games in the final played in Edmonton, Alberta. “But at the end of the day, we’re not there yet. We need to win one more game. ... And we’re not satisfied until that’s done.”
The quick-strike Lightning took one major step closer with a resounding 6-3 rout of the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Tampa Bay caught the Canadiens flatfooted by scoring twice in the opening minutes of each of the first two periods
The Cubs wasted a solid start by Alec Mills (3-2), who breezed through the first five innings.
White Sox 8, Tigers 2
In Detroit, Andrew Vaughn homered and made two key defensive plays in left field as Chicago defeated Detroit for its fifth straight victory.
Lance Lynn (8-3) allowed one run on four hits and five walks in six innings, striking out nine.
Chicago, which leads the AL Central, has won nine of 11 against the Tigers this season - including five in a row.
Astros 6, Indians 3
In Cleveland, Carlos Correa sparked a four-run third inning with an RBI double and Houston beat injury-riddled Cleveland for the second straight night.
The Astros came to town having lost five of six but have looked like the team that won 11 in a row before that rough patch. to take a 3-0 series lead. Game 4 is Monday night in Montreal.
Tampa Bay is in position to join Pittsburgh (2016 and ’17) and also has an opportunity to complete the first sweep in the final since Detroit beat Washington in 1998.
The Indians, who have lost six of seven, added third baseman José Ramírez to their injury list that gets longer each day. He was scratched
In showing how much depth the Lightning have, Tyler Johnson led the way by scoring twice in his second game since moving up from the fourth to the second line to fill in for injured forward Alex Killorn.
Rather than allow Montreal to build
shortly before the game because of a sore left elbow.
Royals 7, Twins 4
In Kansas City, Mo., Salvador Perez off the momentum it generated in a 3-1 loss in Game 2, in which Tampa Bay won despite being outshot 43-23, the Lightning took it to the Canadiens. Tampa Bay has scored the opening goal in all three games and has yet to trail in the series.
“We didn’t want to sit back, especially in the neutral zone,” Johnson said. “I think a lot of it is just our team wanting to be on the attack, and kind of being close. We’re just trying to go for it.”
Hedman and Nikita Kurcherov each had a goal and assist. Jan Rutta and Blake Coleman, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Lightning, who also won the Cup in 2004. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots
The Canadiens face elimination for the second time this postseason after rallying from a 3-1 first-round series deficit to beat Toronto.
A 3-0 hole is even more daunting. In NHL playoff history, only four teams have rallied to win a series after losing the the first three games, with Toronto the only one to do so in the final in beating Detroit to win the Cup in 1942. The Los Angeles Kings were the last team to overcome a 3-0 series deficit by beating San Jose in a 2014 first-round series.
Phillip Danault and Corey Perry also scored for a Montreal team that felt disrespected in making its deepest playoff run since winning its 24th Cup.
went deep hours after being selected for the All-Star Home Run Derby, and Hanser Alberto added a tiebreaking two-run shot for Kansas City against Minnesota.
The Royals bullpen took over for Brady Singer after three innings and allowed one run the rest of the way in ending a nine-game skid. Richard Lovelady (1-0) got his first major league win with two scoreless innings, and Scott Barlow handled the ninth for his third save before a crowd of 31,824, the largest of the season at Kauffman Stadium.
Cardinals 9, Rockies 3, 10 Innings
In Denver, Harrison Bader hit his first career grand slam to cap a six-run 10th inning and St. Louis rallied past Colorado.
Pinch-hitter José Rondón lined a tying single with two outs in the ninth for the Cardinals, and Yadier Molina hit a go-ahead single in the 10th.
Elías Díaz homered in his fourth consecutive game for the Rockies, whose four-game winning streak was snapped.
Giants 11, Diamondbacks 4
In Phoenix, Alex Dickerson and LaMonte Wade Jr. homered, and San Francisco stopped a four-game slide by pounding Arizona.
The Giants broke it open with Thairo Estrada’s two-out grand slam in the ninth inning against J.B. Bukauskas. Estrada also had an RBI double in the fifth.
Halfway through its schedule, surprising San Francisco has baseball’s best record at 51-30. The Giants lead the Los Angeles Dodgers by a halfgame in the NL West.
Mariners 5, Rangers 4, 10 Innings
In Seattle, Jake Fraley’s one-out single in the 10th inning scored Jake Bauers with the winning run, and Seattle improved to 10-1 in extra innings by beating Texas.
Nearly 4 1/2 hours after the first pitch, Fraley chopped a grounder off reliever Taylor Hearn (2-3) into right field and set off another celebration for the Mariners. Seattle improved to 19-7 in one-run games and has won 13 straight overall at home against the Rangers.