As heard on WHOW, Lucas Giolito lobbed an expletive-laced response in Donaldson's direction after the slugger appeared to yell ''Not sticky anymore'' after a first-inning homer, overshadowing Gavin Sheets' successful big league debut for the Chicago White Sox in a 7-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

Giolito heard what Donaldson said, and he was none too pleased.

The ace right-hander had something to say, too.

Giolito (6-5) pitched six-plus innings of three-run ball in his first win in a month. But it was his postgame message that will live on long after anything that happened in his 100th career start.

Giolito surrendered a two-run drive to Donaldson on his fifth pitch. Donaldson's apparent comment came as he rubbed his hands together while making his way to the Twins' dugout after his 12th homer.

Donaldson has been one of baseball's most outspoken sluggers when it comes to pitchers using sticky substances, something the league recently started cracking down on.

Sheets had two hits and two RBIs, helping Chicago increase its AL Central lead to 2 1/2 games over Cleveland. The White Sox had dropped seven of nine.

The Twins scored three times in the seventh, including RBI doubles by Nelson Cruz and Max Kepler, and then pulled within one on Jorge Polanco's run-scoring groundout in the ninth.

But Liam Hendriks earned his 21st save when he retired Alex Kirilloff on a fly ball to center, stranding a runner at third.

The Twins had won seven of nine overall. But they dropped to 1-6 against the White Sox this year.

Sheets, the son of former big league outfielder Larry Sheets, lined an opposite-field single to left in the second for his first hit. He tied it at 2 when he drove in a run with an infield out that went off the glove of Kenta Maeda (3-3) in the third.

The White Sox opened a 7-2 lead with four runs in the fifth. Sheets had a bloop RBI double, and Leury Garcia followed with a sacrifice fly. Danny Mendick and Tim Anderson capped the inning with run-scoring singles.

Maeda was charged with seven runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. He issued five walks, matching a career high, and struck out four.

Jorge Polanco was shaken up after he was caught stealing in the fifth, colliding with SS Anderson at second base. But Polanco stayed in the game.

Yoan Moncada was out of the starting lineup because of a ''barking'' right shoulder, manager Tony La Russa said. Evan Marshall departed with a forearm injury in the seventh.

Jake Lamb (strained right quadriceps) was placed on the 10-day injured list, and OF Billy Hamilton was reinstated from the IL. Hamilton had been sidelined by a strained right oblique. 

Bailey Ober (0-0, 4.64 ERA) and Dylan Cease (6-3, 3.81 ERA) pitch on Wednesday night. Ober made his big league debut against the White Sox on May 18, allowing four runs in four innings. Cease is 0-2 with a 9.18 ERA in four career starts versus the Twins.

Carlos Martinez ended a seven-start winless streak, Nolan Arenado broke a fifth-inning tie with a two-run homer, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2 Tuesday night for their first consecutive wins in two weeks.

Martinez (4-9) allowed one run, four hits and two walks in six innings. He had been 0-5 in seven starts since beating Colorado on May 8.

Adam Wainwright had been the only Cardinals starter with a win since John Gant's victory at the Chicago White Sox on May 26. Martinez improved to 4-1 with a 2.62 ERA in 14 appearances against the Diamondbacks.

Alex Reyes pitched two innings for his 19th save in 19 chances, finishing a six-hitter.

Arizona lost its third straight on the road since winning Saturday at San Diego to end a record 24-game road losing streak. The Diamondbacks are a major league-worst 22-59, including 10-35 away from home.

Caleb Smith (2-4) allowed two runs and four hits in five innings while striking out eight.

Arenado lined a 2-2 fastball just inside the left field foul pole for his team-leading 16th home run.

Smith appeared to have caught Tommy Edman leaving for second base too early for the final out of the fifth inning, but his throw caromed past first baseman Pavin Smith allowing Edman to advance to third and Arenado to bat.

Eduardo Escobar cut the deficit with an RBI single in the sixth, but Edman singled in a run in the bottom half.

Andrew Miller forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk to Smith in the seventh.

Riley Smith (1-3, 5.71 ERA) will be making his sixth start of the season and first since May 14 vs. Washington in Wednesday's series finale. LHP Kwang Hyun Kim (1-5, 3.98 ERA) will start for St. Louis. Kim allowed four runs and nine hits in five innings at Arizona on May 30 in his only career appearance against the Diamondbacks.

Brandon Woodruff pitched another gem and the Milwaukee Brewers made the most of their two hits, hanging on to edge the Chicago Cubs 2-1 Tuesday night for their season-high seventh straight win.

A day after battering Chicago 14-4, the Brewers extended their NL Central lead to five games. The second-place Cubs lost their fifth in a row.

Chicago had not dropped a game when allowing two hits or fewer since a 1-0 loss to the Dodgers on Aug. 4, 2013.

Milwaukee managed to win with just an RBI double by Christian Yelich in the first inning and an RBI single by Jace Peterson in the fourth. Both runs were walked aboard by Zach Davies (5-5), making his first start against his former team.

Woodruff (7-3) allowed one run on four hits in six innings, striking out eight and nudging his ERA down from 1.89 to 1.87. In four starts against Chicago this season, he is 2-0 with a 0.72 ERA, allowing two earned runs in 25 innings.

Brent Suter and Jake Cousins pitched the seventh, Brad Boxberger worked the eighth and Josh Hader finished for his 20th save in 20 opportunities.

Hader allowed a one-out single to Joc Pederson and walked Willson Contreras, but then struck out Javier Baez got pinch-hitter Jose Lobaton on a bouncer to first.

Davies gave up two runs on two hits with three walks in four innings. Davies won 43 games in his five seasons with Milwaukee, including a 17-9 record in 2017, before being traded to San Diego following the 2019 season.

Davies said he felt no extra pressure in facing the Brewers for the first time.

Chicago tied it in the fourth when Baez tripled and Patrick Wisdom delivered a one-out double. Jason Heyward walked, but Woodruff struck out Sergio Alcantara and got Eric Sogard on a pop-out.

The Cubs loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh but failed to capitalize. Cousins relieved with a runner on first and two outs and walked Contreras and hit Baez with a pitch, but then struck out Ian Happ.

Chicago, which stranded 12, also had runners on first and second with one out in the eighth when Sogard lined into an inning-ending double play.

Kris Bryant, bothered by a sore right side sustained while diving for a ball over the weekend against the Dodgers, was not in the lineup. 1B Anthony Rizzo, who left Saturday's game against Los Angeles with a tight lower back, also was out, but is improving, Ross said.

Aaron Ashby has been called up to start the series finale on Wednesday. RHP Jake Arrieta (5-8, 5:32 ERA) starts for the Cubs.

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid ran away in the voting to win his second Hart Trophy as NHL MVP on Tuesday.

McDavid became just the second unanimous Hart selection — joining Wayne Gretzky in 1982 — in receiving all 100 first-place votes from members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association.

McDavid doubled up on honors by also winning his third Ted Lindsay Award as the league’s most outstanding player, which is voted on by NHL players.

Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleury beat out Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy and Colorado’s Philipp Grubauer to win his first Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s goalie of the year.

New York Rangers’ Adam Fox won the Jack Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman, beating out Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman and Colorado’s Cale Makar.

Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year in becoming just the fourth rookie since 1993-94 to lead his team in scoring.

Houston Harding and Preston Johnson combined on a four-hitter and MSU capitalized on struggling Vanderbilt pitching in a 13-2 victory Tuesday night that forced a deciding third game in the College World Series finals.

The easy win allowed Bulldogs coach Chris Lemonis to hold back rested pitchers, including star reliever Landon Sims, for the winner-take-all Game 3 on Wednesday night.

The start in this one was delayed two hours because of rain, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of another pro-MSU crowd that included Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott in a pinstriped “State” baseball jersey and former NFL QB Jay Cutler and basketball coach Jerry Stackhouse representing Vandy.

Like Game 1, when Vanderbilt scored seven first-inning runs on its way to an 8-2 win, this one was over early as Mississippi State broke things open with a four-run third inning.

The Commodores issued a season-high 10 walks, including three in a row by 17-year-old starter Christian Little (3-2) that fueled Mississippi State’s big fourth inning.

The Bulldogs turned an error into a run in the first, and the decisive third inning started with shortstop Carter Young fielding Tanner Allen’s grounder but unable to get the ball out of his glove. It was scored a hit, but probably should have been an out — and was a sign of things to come.

Little’s three straight walks forced in a run and brought on reliever Patrick Reilly. Dubrule’s hard comebacker deflected off Reilly’s leg and scored two runs, and the Bulldogs got another on a bases-loaded wild pitch.

Mississippi State scored five times in the seventh to push its lead into double digits.

The Bulldogs finished with 14 hits, with light-hitting shortstop Lane Forsythe leading them with three hits out of the No. 9 spot after going 1 for 11 in his first five CWS games.

Johnson (4-0) allowed two hits and struck out seven in five innings of relief of Harding.

The all-SEC finals could come down to a pitching matchup between stars Kumar Rocker of Vanderbilt and Will Bednar of Mississippi State.

Rocker, the 2019 CWS Most Outstanding Player, is coming off four days’ rest. Bednar, who struck out 15 against Texas in his CWS debut June 20, would have three days’ rest since throwing 97 pitches in the bracket final against the Longhorns.

The Bulldogs (49-18) will be playing for their first championship.

The Commodores (49-17) will be going for their second straight national title and third since 2014 after the most lopsided loss in their 29 all-time CWS games.

Serena Williams’ 20th Wimbledon has ended abruptly.

Williams retired in the first set after she hurt her leg in an opening-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.

Williams slipped on the grass while hitting a forehand in the fifth game. She winced and began to walk gingerly, and after losing that game went to the locker room.

She returned, but with the score 3-all, her leg buckled during a rally and she crumpled to the court. Williams rose and cried as she walked to the net to concede.

A seven-time Wimbledon champion, Williams was again seeking a record-tying 24th major title. Her most recent came in early 2017.

The opener of a scheduled four-game series between the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox was postponed Monday because of rain.

The teams will play a doubleheader on July 19.

Barring future postponements, the doubleheader will be the seventh of the season for Chicago and fourth for Minnesota. The Twins had a game against Cleveland postponed on Saturday.

Chicago right-hander Lucas Giolito (5-5, 3.80 ERA) and Minnesota right-hander Kenta Maeda (3-2, 4.85), who were scheduled to pitch Monday, are now set for Tuesday.

The White Sox have lost seven of their last nine games, including two of three against Seattle over the weekend. The Twins have won seven of nine.

First-place Chicago leads Cleveland by 2 1/2 games in the AL Central and Minnesota by 11 1/2 games.

Hear tonight's action on WHOW.

Paul DeJong homered to cap a six-run burst in the seventh inning and the St. Louis Cardinals pulled away from the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-1 Monday night.

St. Louis had lost six of seven before beating the team with baseball's worst record. The Diamondbacks, who have won just once on the road since April 25, have lost 22 of 24 overall.

It was 1-all when Edmundo Sosa opened the St. Louis seventh with a double-off reliever Alex Young (2-6) and moved up on a sacrifice. Dylan Carlson hit a line drive just out of the reach of drawn-in second baseman Eduardo Escobar for a go-ahead single.

Paul Goldschmidt added an RBI single, Yadier Molina hit a two-run double with two outs and DeJong followed with a two-run homer.

Giovanny Gallegos (5-1), the fifth of seven Cardinal pitchers, went one inning.

Carlson hit an RBI triple in the third for 1-0 lead. Right fielder Pavin Smith tried to make a diving catch on the ball and it rolled to the wall for Carlson's third triple this season.

The Diamondbacks tied it when Josh Rojas homered in the fifth to chase Wade LeBlanc.

The 36-year-old LeBlanc pitched 4 1/3 innings in making his first National League start since 2013 when he was with Miami. He took the rotation spot of John Gant, who was moved to the bullpen.

Harrison Bader (right rib hairline fracture) is headed to Memphis for the next step of his rehab assignment. After playing at Low-A Palm Beach, Bader came back to St. Louis and had a re-evaluation Monday. Bader is likely to return sometime this week.

Carlos Martinez (3-9, 6.78), who has a five-game losing streak, is 3-1 with a 2.76 ERA in seven career starts against the Diamondbacks.

Martyl Reinsdorf, the wife of Chicago Bulls and White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, died Monday following a lengthy illness, the teams announced. She was 85.

The teams said she died at her home in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

A creator of Cloisonné jewelry, Martyl Reinsdorf designed five of the Bulls’ six NBA championship rings as well as the White Sox’s 2005 World Series ring. Known as “Grandma Martyl,” she also created and distributed more than 1 million coloring books, crayons, markers and toys to hospitals, orphanages and shelters around the world.

Willy Adames and Keston Hiura each hit a three-run homer during a 10-run outburst in the eighth that lifted the Brewers to a 14-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.

The Brewers hadn't scored that many runs in a single inning since getting 10 in the first in an 11-7 triumph at Washington on April 18, 2010. That particular 10-run outburst included a grand slam from Counsell, who was playing shortstop that day.

Avisail Garcia homered and drove in three runs for the Brewers. Jace Peterson went 3 for 4 and scored three runs. Hiura had two hits and four RBIs.

The Brewers extended their NL Central lead to four games by winning amid a raucous atmosphere at American Family Field, with Cubs fans appearing to make up over half the crowd of 30,251.

Ian Happ and Patrick Wisdom each hit a two-run homer for the Cubs, who have lost four straight.

That's when everything fell apart for the Cubs.

Jackie Bradley Jr. doubled home Peterson to break a 4-all tie and start the Brewers' eighth-inning flurry. Bradley's RBI double came after Ryan Tepera (0-2) issued consecutive one-out walks to Peterson and Hiura.

The Brewers poured it on from there.

Tyrone Taylor hit a sacrifice fly and Luis Urias delivered an RBI double that made it 7-4. After Trevor Megill replaced Tepera and intentionally walked Christian Yelich, Adames homered to left-center.

Peterson added an RBI double and Hiura connected against Megill later in the inning. By the time the inning was over, the Cubs had resorted to putting infielder Eric Sogard on the mound.

Milwaukee broke the game open after the Cubs left the bases loaded in the top half of the eighth against Devin Williams (5-1).

After retiring the first two Cubs batters, Williams allowed a double to Sogard and issued consecutive walks to Sergio Alcantara and Jose Lobaton.

Williams then fell behind 2-0 against pinch-hitter Rafael Ortega before getting him to ground to first on a 3-2 pitch.

The Cubs also left the bases loaded in the second and had the potential go-ahead run thrown out at third with one out in the seventh.

Chicago trailed 4-2 before Wisdom's pinch-hit homer off Brad Boxberger in the seventh.

Freddy Peralta pitched six effective innings for the Brewers, settling down after Happ's two-run shot in the first. He struck out eight and walked four.

Chicago's Kyle Hendricks allowed four runs in seven innings. When the Brewers scored twice in the bottom of the first, it ended Hendricks' streak of 15 consecutive scoreless innings.

Hendricks had won each of his last eight starts.

Anthony Rizzo rested after tightness on the left side of his lower back caused him to leave their game with the Los Angeles Dodgers a night earlier.

Zach Davies (5-4, 4.31 ERA) pitches for the Cubs and RHP Brandon Woodruff (6-3, 1.89) starts for the Brewers on Tuesday night.

The Vanderbilt Commodores rode a seven-run first inning to an 8-2 victory in Game 1 over Mississippi State in the College World Series finals to move within a win of a second straight national championship.

Mississippi State had the crowd. Vanderbilt had a big lead and Jack Leiter on the mound, and that was plenty Monday night.

The Commodores (49-16) scored their seven first-inning runs off Christian MacLeod and Chase Patrick after Mississippi State (48-18) had taken a 1-0 lead in the top half on Kamren James’ homer into the left-field bleachers.

McLeod struggled for a second straight CWS start and got only two outs. The redshirt freshman left-hander walked two of the first three batters and hit two in a row to bring in Vandy’s first run. CJ Rodriguez’s two-run single and Isaiah Thomas’ RBI double brought on Patrick. Jayson Gonzalez greeted him with a three-run homer.

McLeod (6-6) lasted only 1 1/3 innings against Virginia last Tuesday in what at the time was his shortest outing of the season.

Leiter (11-4), the national strikeouts leader and a projected top-five pick in the Major League Baseball draft next month, allowed two runs and three hits and fanned eight in six innings. Nick Maldonado pitched three innings of shutout relief for his ninth save.

The Commodores didn’t do much offensively after the first inning. Three MSU relievers held them hitless over the next five innings.

Vandy won the 2019 title and is trying to become the first back-to-back national champion since 2011, when South Carolina won the second of two straight. There was no CWS last year because of the pandemic.

The Commodores won two of three in the regular-season series against Mississippi State in Nashville.

They advanced to the finals without completing bracket play. North Carolina State was removed from the tournament early Saturday because of COVID-19 protocols and the winner-take-all bracket final matching those teams was declared a no-contest.

Since the best-of-three finals started in 2003, 11 of the 17 Game 1 winners have claimed the national title.

As heard on WHOW, Hector Santiago became the first player to be ejected as part of Major League Baseball's new foreign substance protocols when he was thrown out of the Seattle Mariners' 3-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

Santiago was checked by the umpires as he exited in the fifth inning. His glove was confiscated, and it was later announced that Santiago had been ejected.

Santiago, a 33-year-old left-hander who began his career with the White Sox, said what the umpires found was a combination of rosin and sweat. He had used rosin to stop the sweat from dripping on both his arms on a humid day in Chicago.

Major league umpires last week started regular checks of all pitchers for sticky substances used to get a better grip on the balls, but can also increase the spin of the balls and make hitting them more difficult.

Santiago could be suspended for 10 games, but there is an appeals process.

Taylor Trammell homered twice for Seattle, which improved to 10-2 in its last 12 games. Paul Sewald (5-2) got one out for the win, and Kendall Graveman worked the ninth for his seventh save.

The White Sox lost AL MVP Jose Abreu when he was hit on his left knee by a pitch in the sixth. The team announced the first baseman had a bruised left knee and X-rays were negative.

The teams played 2 1/2 innings Saturday before the game was postponed because of rain.

Trammell connected for his seventh homer in the fifth, and Ty France went deep against Keuchel in the sixth. Leury Garcia hit an RBI single in the fifth for Chicago, and Yasmani Grandal added a tying sacrifice fly in the sixth.

The Mariners went ahead to stay when Trammell hit a towering drive into the right-field bleachers with two out in the ninth against Liam Hendriks (3-2).

Grandal led off the bottom half with a base hit, but Jake Lamb flied out and Yermin Mercedes bounced into a double play.

The teams will play a seven-inning game for the series finale later Sunday.

Keuchel allowed six hits, struck out four and walked one in his first relief appearance since Aug. 6, 2013.

The AL Central-leading White Sox have dropped seven of eight.

Lucas Giolito (5-5, 3.80 ERA) starts Monday in the opener of a four-game set against Minnesota. RHP Kenta Maeda (3-2, 4.85 ERA) takes the mound for the Twins.

Max Kranick pitched five perfect innings in his major league debut before a 64-minute rain delay forced him from the game, and the Pittsburgh Pirates went on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-2 Sunday.

In a season in which there have already been a modern-day record seven no-hitters, Kranick (1-0) made a bid for perhaps the most unlikely premiere pitching performance of all-time.

The 23-year-old righty, who had never pitched above the High-A levels of the minors until this season, set down all 15 batters he faced against a Cardinals lineup that included All-Stars Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Yadier Molina.

Kranick struck out three and threw only 50 pitches, 36 for strikes. The Pirates led 7-0 when the rain forced a halt, ending the perfect-game bid by the 11th-round pick in the 2016 draft.

Duane Underwood Jr. relieved to begin the sixth. He quickly set the side down before giving up a leadoff double to Dylan Carlson to begin the seventh.

Kranick became the first pitcher since 1893 to leave after at least five innings with a perfect game intact in his MLB debut, the Elias Sports Bureau said. He did so in front of 18 friends and family members.

Gregory Polanco and Ben Gamel each hit solo homers for the Pirates, who won have won six of nine following a season-high 10-game losing streak. Bryan Reynolds drove in a pair of runs for Pittsburgh.

St. Louis, which had three hits, has lost six of seven.

Reynolds stretched his hitting streak to 12 games with run-scoring hits in the first and fourth innings. It is the longest active streak in the National League.

Pittsburgh scored three times in the first off Johan Oviedo (0-4), who allowed five runs on six hits over four innings.

Polanco and Gamel homered in the fifth off reliever Jake Woodford.

Adam Frazier had three hits and reached base four times for the Pirates.

The Cardinals have lost eight of 10.

Wade LeBlanc (0-1, 6.75) will take on RHP Jake Faria (0-0, 4.50) on Monday in the first of a three-game series against Arizona in St. Louis. LeBlanc, who was signed as a free agent on June 17, has gone six innings or more in five of 10 career starts against the Diamondbacks.

Clayton Kershaw racked up a season-high 13 strikeouts over eight dominant innings, and Zach McKinstry hit a grand slam in the second inning of Los Angeles' 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday night.

Kershaw wrapped up the eighth inning and left the mound to a standing ovation from the Dodger Stadium crowd after a performance measuring up to the best in his remarkable career.

Those wild cheers quickly turned to boos when umpires inspected him for foreign substances, but Kershaw only smiled and then waved his cap as the roar returned.

Cody Bellinger homered in his second straight game and drove in three runs in the Dodgers' third consecutive win over Chicago after four Cubs pitchers combined for a no-hitter in the series opener Thursday.

Kershaw (9-7) yielded four hits while flummoxing the Cubs with his slider, recording his highest strikeout total in a regular-season game since July 2017 and getting a season-high 26 swings and misses.

Kershaw and the Dodgers are surging forward again after a week that began with a few steps backward for the defending World Series champions.

Javier Baez hit his 18th homer for the Cubs, who haven't won a series at Dodger Stadium since 2014. Anthony Rizzo also left in the fourth with lower back tightness.

Kershaw lasted just one inning at Wrigley Field last month in the shortest start of his 14-year career, but the 33-year-old left-hander was spectacular in the rematch.

He didn't get into a three-ball count until the sixth, and he issued his only walk in the seventh. He matched his highest strikeout total since he struck out 13 Brewers to wrap up last fall's NL wild-card series on the way to his first World Series title.

McKinstry's first career grand slam was the Dodgers' first hit after they loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batsman against Adbert Alzolay (4-7).

Three batters and one inning-prolonging error later, Bellinger followed up Saturday's walk-off homer with a two-run shot off Alzolay, who yielded six runs on five hits over three innings in his third consecutive defeat.

Sergio Alcantara got into the Cubs' first three-ball count against Kershaw in the sixth, but Kershaw struck him out any way to set a new season-high.

Mookie Betts tripled and scored on Bellinger's sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Kyle Hendricks (10-4, 3.84 ERA) pitches Monday in Milwaukee to open a three-game set.

Harrison English won an eight-hole playoff — tied for the second-longest sudden death in PGA Tour history — to beat Kramer Hickok and win the Travelers Championship. English who shot a 5-under 65 to finish at 13 under and then rattled off seven pars in the playoff before holing a 16-foot birdie putt for the win. 

Both players birdied the final hole in regulation to force the playoff, which is second only to the 11-hole sudden death in the 1949 Motor City Open, when Lloyd Mangrum and Cary Middlecoff were declared co-winners by mutual agreement due to darkness. Four other events have reached an eighth sudden death hole.

The eight-hole playoff was a record for the tournament, which went seven holes in 1961 (Ted Kroll) and again in ’62 (Bob Goalby), when it was known as the Insurance City Open.

It was the second win this year and the fourth career victory for English, who finished third at the U.S. Open last week — and fourth in the pandemic-delayed U.S. Open in September. He won $1,368,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points, moving into second in the standings.

English sank a 28-footer on the 72nd hole to emerge from a three-way tie and finish at 13 under. Then he headed to the range to stay warm in case Hickock, who was minus-12 with two holes to play, could catch him.

The 29-year-old Texan, who had never won on the PGA Tour, couldn’t convert a 39-foot birdie putt on the 17th, but he knocked in a nine-footer for birdie on No. 18 to match English.

They played 18 again — twice — and parred it again — twice. On to No. 17, then 18, then 17, then 18, then 18 again: All pars. Hickok lipped out on two long birdie putts that would have won it; on the sixth playoff hole, English missed a seven-foot birdie putt to win.

The crowd at the 18th green chanted “Kramer!” and did the wave while it waited for the golfers to head back and forth to the tee. On the final trip down the 438-yard par 4 — their seventh of the day and 10th of the weekend — Hickok put his second shot 28 feet from the pin and two-putted.

English landed his approach 16 feet away and made birdie.

Hickok has never won on the PGA Tour. The second-place finish was his best ever, topping a tie for eighth in the 2018 Bermuda Championship that was his only other time in the top 10.

Four players were tied at 12 under after Bubba Watson bogeyed the 14th. But the three-time Travelers winner played the last five holes at six over to drop out of the chase.

Watson’s collapse left Hickok — his 54-hole co-leader —- on top at 12 under with English and Marc Leishman, who had finished his round with a 64 two hours earlier.

English finished the fourth round birdie-bogey-birdie, skipping after the ball and pumping his fist after the final hole of regulation. Hickok’s celebration was even more emphatic.

But there was still a playoff to come.

Leishman won the tournament in 2012, shooting a 62 on Sunday to come from six strokes behind and earn his first career victory on the tour. This year, he shot 64 in the final round and was the leader in the clubhouse for several hours at 12 under but settled for third.

With plenty of low scores Sunday and all of the leaders still on the course, he sensed it wasn’t enough.

Abraham Ancer (65) was fourth at minus-11. Kevin Kisner had his second 63 of the tournament — along with a 70 and a 74 — to tie for fifth at 10 under with Brooks Koepka (65) and three others.

A top-five finish would have moved Dustin Johnson back to the No. 1 spot in the world. But the defending champion shot 71 on Sunday to tied for 25th at 6 under.

There were 115 miles to the Pocono finish, Kyle Busch had a fried clutch, only one gear and had to rush his car chief out of the car. But he had a full tank of gas, so he hit it.

Busch came through in the clutch — even when he raced without one — and busted Hendrick Motorsports’ winning streak and denied the organization a shot at NASCAR history when he raced to his second victory of the season Sunday.

Busch stretched his fuel in his broken Toyota and outlasted late leaders William Byron and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin as they saw their shot at the checkered flag disappear over the final few laps when they ran out of gas.

Busch was on the brink of snapping Hendrick’s winning streak with a runner-up finish to Alex Bowman in Saturday’s Pocono twinbill opener. He couldn’t get the help he needed Saturday with the right push. But he got the critical pit road assist Sunday and then drove the final 46 laps on the 2 1/2-mile oval knowing another stop in the pits would end his race.

Busch raced without a care early and sang a few bars of “Fly Like An Eagle” over the radio. His 59th career Cup victory will go down as one of Busch’s greatest hits. NASCAR’s career wins leader in all series has 100 in Xfinity and 61 in Trucks.

Sorry Steve Miller, Busch said his karaoke song of choice is “The Real Slim Shady,” a fitting choice for the M&M’s driver.

Kyle Larson, whose blown tire on the last lap cost him a win Saturday, was second for Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick had won six straight Cup races, capped by Bowman’s third win over his last 10 races.

Hendrick was trying to become the first team since NASCAR’s modern era began in 1972 to win seven straight races.

Bowman started the streak in May at Dover and Chase Elliott followed the next week at Texas. Larson then ripped off three straight points victories at Charlotte, Sonoma and last week at Nashville — and squeezed in the $1 million All-Star race for four wins, total — all while Hendrick Motorsports became the winningest organization in NASCAR history.

Brad Keselowski was third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Bubba Wallace was fifth in his best finish of the season for Michael Jordan’s 23IX team.

Hamlin faded to 14th.

NASCAR heads to Road America in rural Wisconsin, one of the new road course events on the 2021 schedule.

The IHSA planning for a normal schedule when the new school year begins. That will include a full state tournament series for all sports and activities says IHSA executive director Craig Anderson. The new season begins Aug. 9.

The IHSA just completed its 2020/2021 modified schedule last Saturday.

Bryan Reynolds had a three-run homer among his three hits, Chad Kuhl pitched six strong innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates snapped a nine-game losing streak against the St. Louis Cardinals with an 8-2 victory Thursday night.

Adam Frazier and Phillip Evans also homered for Pittsburgh in its first win over St. Louis since Sept. 18, 2020.

Kuhl (2-4) allowed one run and three hits with two strikeouts and three walks in six innings to improve to 2-3 in 10 career starts against the Cardinals.

St. Louis has lost four in a row and 15 of its last 20 since June 2.

arlos Martinez (3-9) allowed five runs and five hits with seven walks, including one intentional, in five innings. He is 0-5 with a 13.73 ERA and 17 walks over 19 2/3 innings in five starts in June.

Reynolds' 13th home run of the season gave the Pirates a 5-1 lead. Reynolds has hit safely in nine straight games, going 17 for 36 (.486) in that span.

Frazier homered off Wade LeBlanc to give the Pirates a 6-1 lead in the sixth inning.

Evans' eighth-inning blast off LeBlanc was his fifth home run of the season and first career pinch-hit homer.

The first three Pirates reached base to start the game as Frazier walked, Ke'Bryan Hayes singled and Reynolds drove in Frazier with an RBI single.

Lars Nootbaar lined a single to center field in his first Busch Stadium at-bat to score Tyler O'Neill, cutting the St. Louis deficit to 2-1. Nootbaar made his major league debut Tuesday night in Detroit.

The Cubs' fearsome bullpen combined for the seventh no-hitter in the majors this year, matching the most in a season since 1900, as Chicago blanked the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0 Thursday night. The Dodgers drew eight walks, getting at least one from each opposing pitcher, but managed no other baserunners.

Zach avies (5-4) issued five walks while scrapping through six spotless innings against the defending World Series champions before being pulled for a pinch-hitter after 94 pitches.

But incredibly, the relievers remained blissfully oblivious to the stakes as Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and Craig Kimbrel went to the mound and preserved a zero they couldn't see, thanks to the position of the Dodger Stadium bullpen.

Tepera and Chafin each walked a batter during their inning on the mound, but Los Angeles couldn't capitalize.

Kimbrel then walked Chris Taylor leading off the ninth, but the ferocious closer struck out Cody Bellinger, Albert Pujols and Smith to finish the Cubs' 17th no-hitter since 1880.

Javier Baez homered in the first inning and Contreras added a two-run shot in the sixth for the Cubs, who happily celebrated the franchise's first no-hitter since last Sept. 13, when Alec Mills blanked Milwaukee.

Contreras was the constant in the combined no-no, and all four pitchers praised his work behind the plate.

Walker Buehler (7-1) took his first loss since Sept. 21, 2019, for the Dodgers despite throwing six innings of five-hit ball. Buehler made it through six innings for the 17th straight start, but lost his streak of 30 straight games overall without a defeat.

The Dodgers hadn't been no-hit since Aug. 30, 2015, when they were blanked in Chavez Ravine by the Cubs' Jake Arrieta - who is scheduled to pitch for Chicago on Friday night. It was the Dodgers' 20th no-hit loss, the most in major league history.

Davies bounced back sharply after yielding a career-high eight runs in his last start against Miami. Those eight runs matched the number he had allowed in his previous six starts combined, and he regained his excellent form at Dodger Stadium.

Davies walked two batters in the first before getting Pujols to ground out. He walked the leadoff batter in the third and fourth, but avoided any other trouble. The fifth inning was his first 1-2-3 frame.

The Dodgers probably got closest to a hit in the first inning when Taylor's line drive to center was caught by Rafael Ortega.

Tepera, Chicago's busiest reliever, walked Gavin Lux with two outs in the seventh, but Austin Barnes lined out to second.

Chafin walked Mookie Betts with one out, but Max Muncy hit a grounder right to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who stepped on the bag and threw to second for an easy double play.

Buehler took a no-hitter into the eighth inning last Saturday in Arizona, where he tied the Dodgers record for consecutive regular-season starts without a loss. He made it through six innings Thursday for the 15th time this season, but he still has never beaten the Cubs.

Baez followed his 17th homer by cupping his hand to his ear as he returned to the Chicago dugout, getting a loud chorus of jeers along with cheers from the Cubs' sizable fan contingent in Los Angeles. Buehler recovered and stayed out of trouble until the sixth, when Contreras took him deep.

Chicago added another run in the seventh when Jason Heyward singled and scored on a single by pinch-hitter Jake Marisnick, who was hitting for Davies.

Jonathan Schoop hit a solo homer and a two-run double to help the Tigers beat the skidding St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 Wednesday.

Schoop has hit 10 home runs this month, including one in an 8-2 win over the Cardinals on Tuesday night.

The Cardinals have lost five of six. Since leading the NL Central nearly a month ago, they have lost 16 of 22 games in large part because starting pitchers and hitters are struggling.

Matt Manning (1-1) allowed two runs on five hits and two walks over 5 2/3 innings. It was his second career start and first at Comerica Park, where his parents were among the fans in the stands that gave him a standing ovation.

Gregory Soto, Jose Cisnero and Michael Fulmer combined to pitch 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

John Gant (3-4) lasted just three-plus innings. He gave up three runs on two hits and four walks after entering the game leading the majors with 48 walks.

Gant's outing ended when Daz Cameron hit a tiebreaking, solo home run in the fourth inning.

Ryan Helsley followed and Schoop hit his 15th homer off the reliever in the fifth to put the Tigers ahead 4-2. They added extra runs to provide a cushion that didn't prove to be necessary.

The offensively challenged Cardinals scored a run in the second on Nolan Arenado's solo homer and went ahead 2-0 in the third on Tommy Edman's single.

Schoop tied it with a double in the bottom of the third.

St. Louis opens a seven-game homestand Thursday night against Pittsburgh.

Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run double and the Chicago White Sox stopped a five-game losing streak, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 Wednesday.

Leury Garcia added a home run as the AL Central leaders ended their longest skid of the season.

Chicago starter Dylan Cease (6-3) bounced back from a rough outing to work 5 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run while striking out seven.

Cease was tagged for seven runs in 3 1/3 innings in his previous start at Houston. That game was the first of Chicago's slump, and Cease was happy to be one to help end it on Wednesday.

Liam Hendricks pitched a perfect ninth for his 19th save of the season.

Grandal's tiebreaking hit came with two outs in the fifth inning and finished Pirates starter Chase De Jong (0-2).

Garcia led off the second with his first home run of the season, the first-pitch drive to right center.

Pittsburgh scored twice in the second after Cease made two errors in attempting to field a bunt by De Jong with Michael Perez on first base. Cease first dropped the ball and then threw it away, giving the Pirates runners at second and third.

Chicago outfielder Luis Gonzalez got his first big league hit with a second-inning double and scored on Tim Anderson's double.

Gonzalez made his first start as the White Sox navigate the absence of outfielder Adam Engel, who was placed on the injured list on Tuesday.

Adam Frazier had an RBI grounder and Ke'Bryan Hayes singled home a run that made it 2-all.

Frazier doubled and scored on a single by Hayes in the seventh.

Hayes, who had gone 2 for 13 over the first four games of the Pittsburgh homestand, finished 2 for 4 with a walk and two RBIs.

Carlos Rodon (6-20, 1.83 ERA) is scheduled to start a three-game series with the Mariners in Chicago on Friday. Rodon has allowed just one run in each of his three starts in June and has a 1.42 ERA this month.

Jeff Gordon will leave the Fox Sports booth to take a daily role at Hendrick Motorsports as vice chairman and the second-ranking team official to majority owner Rick Hendrick.

The announcement positions the four-time champion and Hall of Famer to one day succeed the 71-year-old Hendrick at the top of NASCAR’s winningest organization. Gordon will formally begin the executive management role at the start of 2022.

Gordon joined Hendrick Motorsports for the final Cup race of the 1992 season and launched one of the greatest careers in NASCAR history. He won 93 races — third on the all-time list — and four Cup titles before retiring in 2015. He joined the Fox Sports booth the next year but maintained an active role with the team as Hendrick’s only partner in the 13-time championship organization.

NCAA President Mark Emmert said the association is working on interim rules that will permit college athletes to earn money off their fame and celebrity by July and act as a bridge until there is a permanent solution.

In a memo sent to member schools and obtained by The Associated Press, Emmert acknowledged the current uncertainty across college sports as it moves toward allowing name, image and likeness compensation for athletes. The memo was first reported by The Athletic.

Six states — Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and New Mexico — have laws set to go into effect July 1 that would undercut existing NCAA rules and give athletes the opportunity to be paid by third parties for things such as sponsorship deals, online endorsements and personal appearances. Several other state laws could also go into effect in July.

The night of college baseball in Omaha ended in dramatic fashion, leaving one of the favorites of the tournament alive. It was an elimination game between Stanford and Vanderbilt, the latter considered one of the favorites heading into the College World Series along with Texas. Vanderbilt would survive with a 6-5 victory, but that score doesn't nearly do justice to how things unfolded Wednesday night. 

Stanford led pretty much the entire game. The Cardinal put up a run in the first inning and added one in the third and two in the fourth for a 4-0 lead. Vandy would get two back in the fourth, but then Stanford increased the lead to 5-2 with a run in the sixth. Vanderbilt would respond with a two-run rally in the sixth, but that still meant a 5-4 Stanford lead. 

That's what the scoreboard would show heading to the ninth as Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year Brendan Beck recorded the first two outs of the inning with relative ease. And then things got crazy. 

Javier Vaz drew a walk, working his way there after falling behind in the count. Spencer Jones pinch hit and grabbed an infield single by hitting it in the 5.5 gap. Stanford shortstop Adam Crampton attempted to make the play, but the throw was already a bit late and it got away from first baseman Nick Brueser. That allowed Vaz to advance to third base. Enrique Bradfield Jr. followed with a clean single to left and the game was tied with the winning run just 90 feet away at third base. 

And then, Beck uncorked a rare wild pitch at the worst possible time. 

The double-elimination bracket now has Vanderbilt (one loss so far) against N.C. State (zero losses) vying for a trip to the finals. They'll square off Friday and if Vanderbilt wins, they'll do it again Saturday. 

The bottom of the bracket has Virginia and Texas playing an elimination game Thursday for the chance to meet 2-0 Mississippi State Friday. 

Stanford joins Arizona and Tennessee as having been eliminated to this point. 

Kyle Hendricks dominated over six scoreless innings to win his eighth straight start, Kris Bryant homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians 7-1 Tuesday night to avoid a two-game sweep.

Willson Contreras and Patrick Wisdom also went deep, and the Cubs won for only the third time in nine games.

Hendricks (10-4) extended the best streak of his career and the longest by a Cubs pitcher since Jake Arrieta won nine consecutive starts to bridge the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

The right-hander scattered four hits and struck out five without a walk. He also tied Cleveland's Aaron Civale for the major league lead in wins.

Hendricks hasn't lost since Pittsburgh beat him on May 9. His ERA has plummeted from 6.23 to 3.84 in that span. And if there were any doubts about whether the Cubs had a true ace after trading Yu Darvish to San Diego in the offseason, Hendricks is doing what he can to erase them - whether he cares about that tag or not.

Bryant - who was 7 for 57 over the previous 17 games - made it 1-0 in the fourth when he connected against rookie Eli Morgan (0-2) for his first home run since June 4 at San Francisco. The drive to about the second row in center field ended a career-worst stretch of 48 at-bats without an extra-base hit.

The Cubs broke the game open with four in the sixth.

Joc Pederson chased Morgan with a two-run double with none out. Javier Baez - pulled the previous night by Ross because of a baserunning lapse - lined a ground-rule RBI double to left against Nick Sandlin. Contreras then singled in a run to make it 5-0. He and Wisdom added back-to-back solo homers in the eighth.

Cleveland, which had won six of eight, got its run in the top half on a forceout by Amed Rosario after loading the bases with none out.

Zach Davies (4-4, 4.66) looks to bounce back as the Cubs open a four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday. Davies was pounded for eight runs in a loss to Miami last week after delivering back-to-back scoreless outings in winning his previous two starts.

Pinch-hitter Erik Gonzalez's two-run single highlighted a four-run rally in the seventh inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the skidding Chicago White Sox 6-3 on Tuesday night.

A three-run homer by pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal in the top of the seventh put the White Sox ahead 3-2 after they were held scoreless on two hits through six innings.

But the Pirates answered in the bottom half against rookie reliever Garrett Crochet (2-4), who was charged with four runs without getting an out.

Gonzalez's hit put Pittsburgh ahead 5-3 and helped extend Chicago's losing streak to five games, the longest of the season for the AL Central leaders. The Pirates have won three of four since a 10-game losing streak.

The White Sox are rolling in the wrong direction. They were swept in a four-game series at Houston last weekend, getting outscored 27-8 by the Astros.

Frazier homered for the Pirates, and Bryan Reynolds had two hits and two RBIs.

David Bednar (1-1) got the last out of the seventh for his first major league win. Richard Rodriguez earned his ninth save in 11 tries with a 1-2-3 ninth as the Pirates won for the third time in four games.

Grandal's home run off starting pitcher Tyler Anderson was his 11th of the season and fourth as a pinch-hitter in his 10-year career. The lead didn't last long after Giolito was removed for a pinch-hitter later in the inning.

Gregory Polanco and Phillip Evans hit back-to-back singles to start the Pittsburgh seventh. Kevin Newman then beat out a bunt for a single and Polanco scored the tying run when third baseman Yoan Moncada made a wide throw to first for an error.

Gonzalez followed by grounding his go-ahead single into left field. Reynolds added an RBI single later in the inning to make it 6-3.

Anderson allowed three runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and one walk. In six innings, Giolito gave up two runs on four hits while striking out seven and walking two.

Giolito threw a no-hitter against the Pirates last season in Chicago.

Frazier helped the Pirates take a 2-0 lead. He hit a solo home run in the third and walked and scored on Reynolds' single in the sixth.

Dylan Cease (5-3, 3.99 ERA) is scheduled to face RHP Chase DeJong (0-1, 4.26) on Wednesday in the finale of the two-game series. Cease is 2-3 with a 6.89 ERA in seven road starts this season.

Jonathan Schoop and Jake Rogers each drove in three runs, leading the Detroit Tigers to an 8-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Schoop homered and Rogers hit a two-run double in Detroit's six-run fourth inning.

Tigers starter Tarik Skubal allowed two runs on four hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings. Kyle Funkhouser (1-0) was credited with the win after 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.

Johan Oviedo (0-3) took the loss, allowing six runs, two earned, on six hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings. His throwing error played a major role in Detroit's big inning.

With one out and Akil Baddoo on second, Nomar Mazara hit a grounder back to Oviedo. Oviedo threw to third, hoping to get Baddoo, but the throw was several feet behind Nolan Arenado. Baddoo scored easily and Mazara reached third before Lars Nootbaar retrieved the ball from the left-field corner.

Oviedo walked the next two hitters, loading the bases, and Jake Rogers hit a two-run double to left. Robbie Grossman struck out, and Schoop hit a 2-0 pitch over the Cardinals bullpen for a three-run homer.

Schoop is hitting .378 with 11 homers and 22 RBIs in his last 23 games.

Nootbaar's sacrifice fly made it 6-1 in the fifth, and Paul Goldschmidt chased Skubal with a two-out, two-run double.

Harold Castro's squeeze bunt put the Tigers ahead 7-3 in the bottom of the fifth, and Rogers followed with an RBI triple.

The teams finish a two-game series Wednesday afternoon with Manning (0-1, 3.60) making his second career start against John Gant (4-5, 3.50).

Newly selected Basketball Hall of Famer Ben Wallace tapped his fist on the table a few times, then clapped his hands and pointed one finger skyward.

After one of the worst seasons in franchise history, Detroit has something to celebrate.

The Pistons won the NBA draft lottery on Tuesday night, meaning they’ll have the No. 1 pick on July 29 — and, presumably, the chance to take Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham.

Houston — which basically had 50-50 odds of picking in the top four — got the No. 2 pick. Cleveland will pick No. 3 and Toronto will pick No. 4, after both of those franchises got some lottery luck to move up in the order.

Orlando will get the No. 5 and No. 8 selections, with Oklahoma City picking No. 6 and Golden State also with two lottery slots — No. 7, as part of a trade with Minnesota, and the Warriors’ own pick at No. 14.

The rest of the lottery results: Sacramento picks No. 9, New Orleans No. 10, Charlotte No. 11, San Antonio at No. 12, and Indiana at No. 13.

And form held through the first six picks that were unveiled. The No. 8 pick, which was slotted to Chicago, winds up with the Magic as part of the Nikola Vucevic trade from this season. That’s when the first significant buck-the-odds move happened, when Toronto’s 31.9% chance of cashing into a top-four slot delivered.

The Thunder will have three first-round picks, but none higher than No. 6. 

The consensus opinion has been that the No. 1 pick will be either a one-and-done college player — Cunningham, Southern California center Evan Mosley or Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs — or someone from the G-League development program like guard Jalen Green or forward Jonathan Kuminga.

The rest of the first round, for now, is slotted this way — Washington will pick 15th, followed by Oklahoma City, Memphis, Oklahoma City, New York, Atlanta, New York, the Los Angeles Lakers, then Houston at both No. 23 and No. 24, followed by the Los Angeles Clippers, Denver, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Utah.

The 11 university presidents and chancellors who oversee the College Football Playoff on Tuesday authorized a continued evaluation of a proposed 12-team playoff that, if adopted, could still be another five years away.

The move by the CFP board of managers was a necessary step to determine the feasibility of tripling the size of the playoff field.

The next step is a summer review phase that will “engage other important voices,” including athletes, campus leaders and coaches.

A short turnaround for the IHSA looking ahead to next season. Only a seven-week break as the modified calendar just wrapped up last Saturday. IHSA executive director Craig Anderson says member schools were able to handle adjustments and make things work this year.

The new IHSA season starts Aug. 9 and Anderson expects a normal year full of state tournament series for all sports.

Adam Wainwright struck out 11 and pitched a three-hitter in going the full seven innngs, sending the St. Louis Cardinals over the Atlanta Braves 9-1 Sunday in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.

Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer off Bryse Wilson in the first and Paul Goldschmidt added a three-run shot off Josh Tomlin in the fifth.

The 39-year-old Wainwright (5-5) didn't allow a hit until the fourth, when Freddie Freeman singled.

Wainwright struck out slugger Ronald Acuna Jr. with a runner at second to end the fifth and St. Louis leading 6-1. With his second complete game this season, Wainwright tied Justin Verlander for most overall among active pitchers.

Wainwright reversed a trend in which he was 1-2 with an 8.20 in four road starts this year. He also improved to 8-0 in 10 doubleheader starts.

Tommy Edman singled off Wilson (2-3) to begin the first and stole second base to set up Arenado, who snapped a 0-for-20 slump with his 13th homer. Tyler O'Neill doubled to start the fourth and scored on Yadier Molina's single.

Goldschmidt's 10th homer came on Tomlin's first pitch.

Dallas Keuchel lost in his first appearance against Houston, and Abraham Toro had a career-high four hits to lead the Astros over the Chicago White Sox 8-2 Sunday for their seventh straight win.

Keuchel (6-2) tied a season high by allowing six runs - three earned - in a season-low 2 2/3 innings as the AL Central leaders lost their season-high fourth straight.

He gave up seven hits and four walks, leaving after throwing 41 pitches in the third.

The 33-year-old left-hander had been 5-0 in eight starts since an April 30 defeat to Cleveland.

Toro, a 24-year-old who made his big league debut in August 2019, improved to 7 for 11 since he was brought up from the minors last week. He was 1 for 12 during an April callup and was hitting .352 with two homers and 11 RBIs in 17 games at Triple-A Sugar Land.

He hit an RBI infield single in the first and added three more singles before striking out.

Lance McCullers Jr. (4-1) gave up two runs and two hits in six innings and Carlos Correa homered for the Astros, on their longest winning streak since taking eight in a row from last Aug. 12-20.

McCullers won his third straight decision and has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his last eight starts.

Jake Lamb's two-run homer put the White Sox ahead in the second, but Houston took a 6-2 lead in the third, when Yordan Alvarez hit a two-run single, Taylor Jones had an RBI double, Keuchel walked Jose Altuve with the bases loaded and reliever Matt Foster walked Chas McCormick with the bases full.

Correa homered leading off the fourth, and Michael Brantley had an RBI single in the fifth.

Remember WHOW is your home for Chicago White Sox baseball. Our next broadcast is Tuesday, June 22, at 5:30pm against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Drew Smyly didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning, Ronald Acuna Jr. hit his 100th career homer and Atlanta earned a split of a day-night doubleheader with a 1-0 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday night.

Smyly  held the Cardinals hitless until Paul Goldschmidt reached on an infield single with two outs in the sixth. Second baseman Ozzie Albies fielded the ball in shallow right field and made a wide throw to first.

Closer Will Smith pitched the seventh of the shortened doubleheader under pandemic rules, earning his 13th save in 14 chances.

Acuna, playing in his 378th game, became the sixth-quickest to reach the milestone with a shot to left-center in the third inning off Kwang Hyun Kim (1-5). It was his 19th homer, second-most in the NL.

Before the sixth, Smyly allowed three baserunners - a walk of Tyler O'Neill in the second, Goldschmidt in the fourth and O'Neill again in the fourth. Luke Jackson, who entered the game with a 1.05 ERA, struck out O'Neill to end the sixth with runners on first and second.

Acuna hit his first homer in 10 games, snapping his longest drought of the season.

Kim allowed three hits and one run in four innings.

The Cardinals have dropped 14 of 20 after losing the second game.

Alec Mills and three relievers combined on a shutout and Chicago bounced back from two lopsided losses to beat Miami 2-0 Sunday and avoid a sweep.

Outscored 21-3 in the previous two days at Wrigley Field, the Cubs squeezed out the win despite managing just four hits. They also extended their season-high streak of scoring no more than three runs to eight games.

But Chicago came out on top thanks to a solid start by Mills (3-1) and a perfect performance by the bullpen.

Marlins rookie Zach Thompson (1-2) took the hard-luck loss after holding the held the Cubs to one unearned run over four no-hit innings.

Pinch-hitter Patrick Wisdom opened the fifth against Miami reliever Ross Detweiler by singling on the 15th pitch of the at-bat, hanging in after falling behind 0-2 and hitting nine foul balls to give himself more chances.

Wisdom later scored on Joc Pederson's single to make it 2-0. The Cubs came away with the win after dropping five of six to fall into a first-place tie with Milwaukee in the NL Central.

As heard on WHOW, Jose Altuve homered for the fourth time in three games, Michael Brantley and Abraham Toro also connected, and the Houston Astros beat the Chicago White Sox 10-2 on Thursday night.

Jose Urquidy (5-3) pitched seven strong innings to stifle Chicago's powerful lineup, backed by a three-run shot from Brantley and a career-best four RBIs by Toro. Houston won its fourth straight.

There were two on in the first when Brantley knocked his homer off Dylan Cease (5-3) into the seats in right field.

Toro, who entered without an RBI in six games this season, drove in two runs with a single during Houston's four-run fourth and hit a two-run shot that pushed the lead to 10-2 in the seventh.

Altuve homered off Matt Foster, a solo shot with one out in the sixth. The star second baseman hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning against Texas on Tuesday night before slugging two homers in a win over the Rangers on Wednesday night.

Cease yielded four hits and a season-high seven runs - six earned - in 3 1/3 innings to tie his shortest start of the season.

Cease settled down after Brantley's homer and retired his next nine batters before getting into trouble in the fourth. He walked Yuli Gurriel to start the inning before plunking Yordan Alvarez.

Carlos Correa's ground-rule double scored Gurriel to make it 4-0. Toro's single came next to put Houston up 6-0.

Toro stole second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Cease walked Jason Castro with one out to end his night. Zack Burdi took over, and Altuve scored Toro with a sacrifice fly.

Urquidy permitted four hits and two runs with five strikeouts. He retired 10 straight before Brian Goodwin opened the sixth with a double. Goodwin moved to third on a groundout by Tim Anderson for the second out and scored on a single by Adam Engel that made it 7-1.

Yoan Moncada walked, and a single by Jose Abreu scored another run to cut the lead to 7-2.

Carlos Rodon (6-2, 1.89 ERA) will oppose Luis Garcia (5-4, 2.98) when the series continues Friday night.

Without throwing a single pitch that reached 90 mph, Kyle Hendricks flummoxed the Mets for six innings Thursday night to win his career-best seventh straight start and lead the Chicago Cubs over the New York Mets 2-0.

Hendricks (9-4) combined on a two-hitter with Andrew Chafin (pitching on his 31st birthday), Ryan Tepera and Craig Kimbrel.

Kimbrel tied for the major league lead in saves with his 19th in 21 chances and matched Jeff Reardon for 10th place on the career list at 367.

Neither team got a hit after the fourth inning in the epitome of 2021 baseball, combining to go 0 for their final 34. The final 17 Mets made out in order, and the only one of the Cubs' last 17 to reach base got there on an error by shortstop Francisco Lindor.

Hendricks struck out seven and walked two, retiring his last eight batters after consecutive walks in the fourth.

He improved to 4-0 against the Mets, who had trouble adjusting to his relatively soft arsenal. The fastest of his 92 pitches was 89.3 mph; his 87.1 mph fastball average entering was 186th among 188 qualified pitchers, ahead of only Adam Cimber of Miami (86.9) and submarining Tyler Rogers of San Francisco (82.3), according to MLB Statcast.

Chicago pitched just its third shutout of the season but second in five games. The Cubs got a win despite hitting .138 (17 for 123) in the series with nine runs with eight walks and 49 strikeouts.

Stroman (6-5) gave up four hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts and one walk. He threw 25 split-changeups, a new pitch for him this season.

Stroman allowed a single to Kris Bryant with one out in the first, and Baez hit a hanging slider into the motorized 18-by-16-foot apple in the center field batter's eye that is raised to celebrate Mets home runs. Baez's 16th home run this season was his second of the series.

Bryant was back at third base and went 1 for 4 with two strikeouts, two nights after he was hit on the right hand by a Taijaun Walker pitch. Bryant's throwing hand was wrapped.

New York lost for only the third time in its last 17 home games and is 20-7 at Citi Field. The Mets were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

Zach Davies (4-3, 4.01) starts Friday's homestand opener against Miami.

Charlie Morton didn't allow a hit until the seventh inning and took a shutout into the eighth, lifting the Atlanta Braves over the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0.

Morton gave up his first hit when Paul Goldschmidt lined a single to left-center with one out, but the right-hander followed by getting Nolan Arenado to pop up and struck out Tyler O'Neill. He allowed singles to Matt Carpenter and pinch-hitter Jose Rondon in the eighth and was pulled with two outs.

Atlanta led 1-0 in the fifth on Guillermo Heredia's third homer. Ozzie Albies had an RBI triple in the sixth, and Abraham Almonte followed with an RBI double to make it 3-0.

Ronald Acuna Jr.'s sacrifice fly in the seventh pushed it to 4-0.

Luke Jackson struck out Tommy Edman to strand the runners after replacing Morton (6-3), who allowed three hits and no walks with seven strikeouts.

Morton and Cardinals starter John Gant didn't allow a hit early on, but they weren't perfect. Gant gave up a walk to Almonte to begin the second. Morton allowed two baserunners when he hit Carpenter with a pitch in the third and did the same to Dylan Carlson in the fourth.

Acuna singled to open the fourth, and Freddie Freeman followed with a single, but the inning ended when Austin Riley lined out to third.

Morton, who entered 2-12 with a 5.68 ERA in 18 career starts against St. Louis, avoided his tendency this season to allow a big inning. With his fastball topping out at 96 mph, the right-hander mixed in his curveball and cutter to strong effect. He threw 75 of 112 pitches for strikes and faced 27 batters.

Morton benefited from a strong play when Freeman jumped at first base to stab Edman's liner to end the sixth.

Acuna walked to begin the sixth, stole second, advanced on Freeman's groundout and scored on Albies' triple to left-center to make it 2-0. That chased Gant, who was replaced by Daniel Ponce de Leon. Almonte followed with his RBI double.

Gant (4-5) allowed four hits, three runs and two walks with four strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.

The three-time defending NL East champion Braves, who began the night 7 1/2 games back in the division, had dropped six of seven and were five games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2017 season.

The Cardinals entered three games back in the NL Central but had won three straight after losing nine of 10.

St. Louis RHP Carlos Martinez (3-7, 5.54) faces LHP Max Fried (3-4, 4.62) in the second game of a four-game series.

The Chicago Bears have submitted a bid to buy a spacious suburban horse racing track site, signaling a potential willingness to move out of downtown Soldier Field for a new stadium.

Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips announced Thursday the club wants to purchase the Arlington International Racecourse, an iconic horse track in the city of Arlington Heights. It's about 30 miles northwest of their current lakefront venue.

Soldier Field is the oldest NFL stadium in operation, having opened in 1924. The Bears have only played there regularly since 1971 when they moved out of Wrigley Field — the 1914-built home of the baseball Cubs on the city's north side — for more seating capacity. Arlington Heights was considered for a home by the Bears in the 1970s and again in the '80s, but they settled in the popular museum campus area directly south of downtown with its view of Lake Michigan.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot reiterated Thursday her commitment to keeping the Bears in the country's third-largest city, noting the team's stadium lease that runs through 2033.

Soldier Field, which underwent a $690 million renovation in 2002 that forced the Bears to play home games at the University of Illinois in Champaign, is owned by the Chicago Park District. The spaceship-shaped, glass-dominated addition of luxury areas and modern amenities was designed to preserve the stadium's famous Greek and Romanesque colonnades, but the clash of styles prompted widespread criticism.

The ability of the grass playing field to hold up through the colder and wetter months has also been the subject of complaints from players and coaches over the years. Soldier Field now has a capacity of 61,500 seats for Bears games, the smallest in the NFL.

The horse track, which opened in 1927, is on a 326-acre site and is currently owned by Churchill Downs, the organization that runs the Kentucky Derby. Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes said in a statement to the Daily Herald that the city welcomes the Bears' interest in the site.

The next-oldest stadium in the league behind Soldier Field is Green Bay's Lambeau Field, which opened in 1957. The home of the Packers has been renovated multiple times, with major projects completed in 2003 and 2015.

As heard on WHOW, the Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers fell to the Newark Norsemen by a score of 6-2 on Thursday afternoon at ISU Duffy Bass Field. Freshman Landon Smith takes the loss pitching 7 innings, giving up 9 hits on 6 runs, walking 1, striking out 3, one hit batter, and one balk. Jackson Fricke was 1 for 3 with 2 RBIs. Evan Cooper was 2 for 3, Drew Martin was 1 for 3, and Landon Smith was 2 for 3.

Jared Slivka takes the win for Newark pitching 7 innings, allowing 6 hits on 2 runs, walking 1, and striking out 3.

With the loss, Mt. Pulaski falls to 21-3 and finishes 4th place in the IHSA Class 1A State Tournament. Newark improves to 27-2 and finishes 3rd.

In a special sports presentation on WHOW, the Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers fell to the South Central Cougars 11-5 on Thursday afternoon at Duffy Bass Field in Normal. Evan Cooper takes the loss pitching 5 1/3 innings, allowing 13 hits on 7 runs, 2 walks, and striking out 4. Drew Martin went 1 for 3 with an RBI. 

Chase Dobson takes the win pitching 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits, walking 6, and striking out 11. He also went 3 for 3 with 2 RBIs.

South Central improves to 24-3 and will face Father McGivney Catholic of Glen Carbon at 7 pm for state finals. Mt. Pulaski falls to 21-2 and will play Newark for 3rd place at 4:20 pm first pitch.

You can hear the game live on the Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM /106.5 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, on the WHOW mobile app, and on Amazon Alexa.

This afternoon, the Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers boy's baseball team will be looking to make its first appearance in the state finals when they take on South Central from Illinois State's Duffy-Bass Field.

The Hilltoppers rolled Kewanee-Wethersfield 11-1 in five innings Monday in the ISU Supersectional.

South Central is MaxPreps No. 2 ranked team in Class 1A. 

The 1A state finals feature four of the ranking's top 10 teams, with South Central the top-ranked. The first game of the day, a 10 am start, pits No. 7 Newark opposite No. 5 Father McGivney Catholic of Glen Carbon.

The winner's of the two contests meet up for the State championship at 7 pm with the losers playing for third place at 4 pm.

Hear all of today's Mt. Pulaski boy's baseball action on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW and online at dewittdailynews.com, the WHOW mobile app and on Amazon Alexa.

Class 2A boy's state action for Friday:

At Illinois State University

Timothy Christian Elmhurst      10:00am
Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin

Normal U-High         1:00pm
Freeburg

Class 3A state semifinal action today:

At Wintrust Field Schaumburg

Prairie Ridge         10:00am
Washington

Burbank St. Laurence         1:00pm
Springfield

Yadier Molina grounded an RBI single down the third base line in the ninth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals edged the Miami Marlins 1-0 Wednesday to sweep the season series.

Molina's eighth career regular season walk-off hit came with one out and sent Miami to its fourth straight loss.

Paul Goldschmidt reached on an error by shortstop Jazz Chisholm Jr. to start the ninth. After Matt Carpenter walked with one out, Molina singled off Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara (4-6).

The Cardinals went 6-0 against Miami this year for their first season sweep over the Marlins. St. Louis won all three games at Busch Stadium in its final at-bat - Goldschmidt's solo homer in the ninth produced a 2-1 win Tuesday night.

Ryan Helsley (4-4) and Andrew Miller combined for two scoreless innings of relief.

Cardinals starter Johan Oviedo is still seeking his first major league win despite pitching a career-high seven scoreless innings. The right-hander allowed six hits, struck out four, walked none and 63 of his 87 pitches were strikes.

Alcantara pitched a team season-high 8 1/3 innings. He gave up six hits, struck out seven with one walk, and the one run he allowed was unearned.

Oviedo retired the first 10 batters he faced before giving up back-to-back singles to Jon Berti and Jesus Sanchez in the fourth. Goldschmidt made a strong throw home to Molina on a grounder by Jorge Alfaro to get Berti at the plate.

A throwing error and a botched fielder's choice by the Marlins defense put Alcantara into a jam in the fourth, but he got out of it by getting Edmundo Sosa to hit into a double play.

Alcantara finished at 108 pitches, 76 for strikes.

Marlins manager Don Mattingly didn't hesitate to send Alcantara back out for the ninth inning.

Yasmani Grandal hit a game-ending RBI single in the 10th inning and the Chicago White Sox beat Tampa Bay 8-7 on Wednesday, taking two of three from the Rays in a matchup of division leaders.

Jose Abreu hit his 12th homer of the season for the White Sox, who've won 10 of 13.

Yandy Diaz and Mike Zunino homered for the Rays, who won Monday night's opener but dropped the next two.

Abreu moved automatic runner Andrew Vaughn to third with a groundout and Grandal brought him home with a sharp liner to the right field wall off Pete Fairbanks (1-1).

Ryan Burr (1-0) worked a scoreless 10th for Chicago.

Lucas Giolito retired the first 10 Rays, mostly with easy flyouts and popups, before Randy Arozarena doubled in the fourth.

The White Sox gave Giolito a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the inning. Abreu sent Yarbrough's 1-2 delivery into the left field stands to score Vaughn, and Zack Collins added a two-run single.

Yarbrough gave up three more runs in the fifth. Tim Anderson scored from second when third baseman Diaz threw wide of first after fielding Brian Goodwin's sacrifice bunt. Yarbrough was charged with seven runs, five earned, on 10 hits and a walk in 6 1/3 innings.

Kevin Kiermaier doubled in two runs in the top of the fifth for the Rays, who got a solo shot from Diaz an inning later. Giolito left after six, giving up three earned runs on four hits while striking out seven and walking two.

Zunino added a two-run knock off reliever Codi Heuer in the seventh and Tampa Bay tied it in the eighth when Mike Brosseau came home on a fielder's choice and Manuel Margot doubled to score pinch-runner Brett Phillips. Both unearned runs were charged to Aaron Bummer.

Jacob deGrom was pulled from a second straight start with an arm injury, but the Mets stepped up to finish a three-hitter in a 6-3 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.

One start after being pulled from a gem against San Diego with flexor tendinitis in his right arm, deGrom went directly down the clubhouse tunnel after finishing the third against the Cubs.

DeGrom appeared to grimace after a third-inning pitch to Eric Sogard. He threw 51 pitches, the last a 99 mph fastball to strike out pitcher Robert Stock, his seventh straight strikeout victim and eighth punch-out out of nine hitters.

DeGrom also had an RBI single in the second on Wednesday, raising his average to .423. He has six RBIs compared to four earned runs allowed this year, and he could be among the frontrunners for NL MVP if he stays healthy.

Sean Reid-Foley (2-0) relieved deGrom and earned the win after allowing one run over two innings. Rizzo ended the bid for a combined perfect game or no-hitter by homering with one out in the fourth.

Kevin Pillar opened the scoring with an RBI double off Stock (0-1) in the second and homered in the fifth. Dominic Smith hit a one-out solo homer in the third and added a run-scoring grounder in the fourth immediately after Francisco Lindor drew a bases-loaded walk.

The Cubs stranded two runners each in the fourth and sixth against Reid-Foley and Aaron Loup before collecting two hits, including Rafael Ortega's two-run homer, off Drew Smith in the ninth.

Edwin Diaz entered and retired pinch-hitter Willson Contreras on a flyout to center for his 14th save.

Stock, who was recalled from Triple-A Iowa prior to the game, allowed five runs, four hits and six walks while striking out three in his first big league start.

As heard on WHOW, Dallas Keuchel pitched seven innings of crisp four-hit ball to win his fifth straight decision, leading the Chicago White Sox past the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 on Tuesday night.

Adam Engel hit a solo home run and Tim Anderson had three hits as the White Sox bounced back from a 5-2 loss on Monday in matchup of the teams with the two best records in the majors.

Danny Mendick drove in a run and set up another as Chicago won for the fifth time in six and ended Tampa Bay's four-game winning streak.

Keuchel (6-1) was sharp throughout this one, striking out five and walking one.

Aaron Bummer pitched a scoreless eighth and Liam Hendriks worked around two singles in the ninth for his 18th save.

The White Sox and Rays entered with the two lowest team ERAs in the AL, but Tampa Bay's rotation took a hit after an MRI showed ace Tyler Glasnow had a partial tear in an elbow ligament and a flexor strain. The right-hander said he won't have surgery for now, and instead will try to strengthen the area.

Mendick played second base in place of rookie Nick Madrigal, who underwent season-ending surgery earlier in the day to repair tears in his right hamstring.

Rays rookie Shane McClanahan (2-2) allowed two earned runs on seven hits in five innings. 

Mendick grounded a sharp single with two outs in the fourth to drive in Andrew Vaughn from second.

Leury Garcia scored from first when left fielder Randy Arozarena's throw skipped under catcher Francisco Mejia.

Engel led off the fifth with his third homer in seven games since coming off the injured list to make it 3-0.

Ryan Yarbrough (4-3. 3.63) against White Sox RHP Lucas Giolito (5-5, 3.81) in the series finale on Wednesday afternoon.

Paul Goldschmidt hit a game-ending homer in the ninth inning and drove in both St. Louis runs as the Cardinals beat the Miami Marlins 2-1 on Tuesday night.

St. Louis has won two in a row against the Marlins after dropping nine of 10 overall.

Miami lost its third straight.

Goldschmidt, who had a tying RBI single in the sixth, led off the ninth and fell behind 1-2 in the count before he drilled a 98 mph fastball from Yimi Garcia (3-5) to right-center field for his sixth career walk-off home run. The previous one also came against the Marlins in June 2019 to give St. Louis a 2-1 victory in 11 innings.

St. Louis won back-to-back games for the first time since May 28-29 against Arizona.

Alex Reyes (4-2) worked a scoreless ninth for the win.

Miami took a 1-0 lead on a run-scoring single by Adam Duvall in the third. He drove in Starling Marte, who walked to begin the inning

Goldschmidt tied the game with a two-out, two-strike hit in the sixth. Pinch-hitter Jose Rondon began the rally with a one-out single.

Miami starter Trevor Rogers allowed one run and three hits over six innings. He struck out six and walked one.

Rogers has held opponents to one run or none in eight of his 14 starts this season.

Kim was coming off a short stint on the 10-day injured list after he developed lower back stiffness while running the bases in his last start on June 4 against Cincinnati. It was his first quality start of the season.

St. Louis outfielder Tyler O'Neill stretched his career-best on-base streak to 21 games with a second-inning walk.

Johan Oviedo (0-2, 5.72 ERA) faces RHP Sandy Alcantara (4-5, 3.39) in the finale of the three-game set Wednesday afternoon. Oviedo will be making his first appearance against the Marlins. He allowed four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings of an 8-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Friday. Alcantara has allowed two runs or fewer in four of his last five starts.

Taijuan Walker struck out a career-high 12 and improved to 4-0 in six home starts, leading the New York Mets over the Chicago Cubs 3-2 on Tuesday night. Pete Alonso drove in three runs and center fielder Kevin Pillar and second baseman Luis Guillorme teamed on a thrilling relay to throw out Jake Marisnick at the plate in the ninth inning.

Walker has a 2.12 ERA, a big part of the NL East-leading Mets' success - especially at Citi Field, where New York is 6-0 in his outings and matched its best 25-game start at 19-6.

Walker (6-2) allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings, walked none for the third time and reached 96.5 mph. Walker had struck out 11 seven times previously, all before he had Tommy John surgery on April 25, 2018.

DeGrom had a 0.56 ERA heading into his start against the Cubs on Wednesday night but is just 3-2 in six home starts, plagued by a lack of run support.

Javier Baez put the Cubs ahead 2-0 in the third with his 15th home run, driving a sinker to the opposite field in right-center. Alonso hit a two-run single in the bottom half and a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Seth Lugo got six outs for his first save since returning on June 2 from elbow surgery, and the Mets (34-25) won for the fifth time in six games to move nine games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2019 season.

Chicago, tied with Milwaukee for the NL Central lead, lost its second straight to the Mets after winning seven in a row at Citi Field going back to 2018.

Sixteen consecutive batters made out before Willson Contreras' single with one out in the ninth.

Jake Marisnick pinch ran and Eric Sogard singled to right-center. As Pillar ran down the ball and threw toward Guillorme, Cubs third base coach Willie Harris made the questionable decision to send Marisnick. Guillorme caught the ball in short right, made a quick turn and fired a one-hop throw to catcher James McCann. Marisnick made a head-first slide, and McCann tagged him on the left shoulder.

Lugo walked Jayson Heyward, then fanned rookie Sergio Alcantara for the Cubs' season-high 15th strikeout.

Alec Mills (2-1) allowed three runs, five hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings. Cubs pitchers walked six, raising their total to 14 in the first two games of the series.

Cubs star Kris Bryant was hit by a pitch in the first inning and left in the middle of the second with what the team said was a bruised right hand. Bryant initially stayed in the game after he was hit by a first-pitch 93.4 mph sinker, then went to run at first base.

X-rays were negative.

Jacob DeGrom (6-2) takes a 22-inning scoreless streak and a 0.56 ERA, the lowest in major league history through 10 starts, into his outing Wednesday against the Cubs and RHP Robert Stock (0-3, 4.12 at Triple-A), who will be selected from Triple-A Iowa to make his first big league appearance since last September with Boston. DeGrom left his outing Friday against San Diego with right flexor tendinitis.

David Peterson pitched one-hit ball over six scoreless innings for his first win in two months, and the New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs at home for the first time in exactly four years with a 5-2 victory Monday night.

Dominic Smith homered for the Mets, who stopped Chicago's five-game winning streak in the opener of a four-game series between NL division leaders. 

Peterson (2-5) was 0-4 with a 6.32 ERA in his last nine starts, including 0-2 with a 9.88 ERA in his previous four appearances. But he allowed just a third-inning single to Eric Sogard - then picked him off second to end the inning - and a leadoff walk in the sixth to Sergio Alcantara.

The second-year lefty, who was 6-2 with a 3.44 ERA in 10 games (nine starts) as a rookie, struck out three in a tidy 73-pitch performance.

Smith, who was 2 for 3 with a walk, also ended a slump Monday. The left fielder, moved into the No. 3 spot in the lineup by manager Luis Rojas, walked in the first before breaking out of an 0-for-20 stretch in the fourth, when he singled for the Mets' first hit off Jake Arrieta.

Smith advanced to second when Billy McKinney drew a two-out walk and scored on James McCann's single. Kevin Pillar clipped McKinney, who was leading off third base, with a foul ball one pitch before hitting a two-run double to left-center.

Smith homered to center in the fifth to make it 4-0.

Pillar and Luis Guillorme drew back-to-back walks in the sixth before pinch-hitter Brandon Drury delivered an RBI single.

Anthony Rizzo and Patrick Wisdom hit back-to-back homers off reliever Trevor May in the seventh. 

Aaron Loup retired all four batters he faced before Edwin Diaz earned his 13th save by striking out the side in a perfect ninth.

Arrieta (5-7) allowed four runs on four hits and four walks in five innings. He struck out three.

Tyler O'Neill doubled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning and the slumping St. Louis Cardinals beat the Miami Marlins 4-2 on Monday night to halt a three-game slide.

Adam Wainwright tossed six effective innings and Paul Goldschmidt had two hits and an RBI as the Cardinals won for only the third time in 14 games.

Dylan Floro (2-4), the fifth Miami pitcher, began the eighth with a walk to Dylan Carlson before Goldschmidt singled. With one out, O'Neill hit his second double of the game to score Carlson, who had two singles.

Paul DeJong drove in Goldschmidt with a groundout to make it 4-2.

Giovanny Gallegos (4-1) pitched a hitless inning and Alex Reyes retired the side in the ninth for his 17th save.

Miami had won four of five.

The Cardinals tied it 2-all on an RBI single by Goldschmidt in the fifth when St. Louis knocked out 23-year-old rookie starter Braxton Garrett, who went 4 1/3 innings.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled with two outs in the third, scoring Jon Berti and Starling Marte, to give Miami a 2-1 lead. Wainwright loaded the bases on a single and two walks after retiring the first two batters.

Chisholm has reached base in 20 of the 22 games he's played since returning from the injured list May 16.

St. Louis scored its first run in the second on a single by Edmundo Sosa.

The 39-year-old Wainwright faced an opposing pitcher with fewer then 10 career appearances for the fourth straight start. He allowed two runs and four hits with six strikeouts, fanning Jorge Alfaro in the fourth for his 1,900th career punchout.

Austin Meadows, Brandon Lowe and Randy Arozarena homered, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 5-2 on Monday night for their fourth straight win.

Tampa Bay improved to 43-24, 1 1/2 games ahead of the White Sox for the best record in the majors. The Rays have won seven of eight.

Tampa Bay starter Tyler Glasnow left after four innings with right elbow inflammation. The 6-foot-8 right-hander allowed two runs on three hits, walked one and struck out six, throwing 40 of 53 pitches for strikes.

Tim Anderson had two hits and Brian Goodwin added an RBI single for the White Sox, whose four-game winning streak ended.

Four Tampa Bay relievers - Thompson, J.P. Feyereisen (3-2), Diego Castillo and Pete Fairbanks - followed with five scoreless innings of two-hit ball. Fairbanks pitched a perfect ninth for his third save.

The Rays' bullpen, which tossed seven no-hit innings in a win over Baltimore on Sunday, entered with an AL-best 3.05 ERA.

Lance Lynn (7-2) allowed three runs on six hits in six innings as he lost for the first time since April 15.

Lynn allowed as many as three runs for only the second time in 12 starts. 

Meadows and Lowe both went deep on 1-0 pitches against Lynn.

Meadows, who entered in a 1-for-17 slump, lofted Lynn's sinker deep to right in the first inning for his team-leading 15th homer.

Lowe turned on a cutter in the third, driving the ball just inside the right-field foul pole for his 12th homer and a 3-0 lead.

The White Sox cut it to 3-2 in the bottom half. Leury Garcia scored from third on a wild pitch. Anderson, who had doubled, came home on Goodwin's single.

Arozarena made it 4-2 in the eighth off Garrett Crochet with his second homer in two games. Brett Phillips drove in a run with an infield single in the ninth.

As heard on WHOW, the Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers defeated the Kewanee-Wethersfield Titans by a score of 11-1 Monday afternoon to win the IHSA Class 1A Supersectional at ISU.

Drew Martin takes the win pitching 5 innings, giving up 1 run on 3 hits, allowing 2 walks, and striking out 10. Jackson Fricke led the Hilltoppers at the plate going 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs. 

Coltin Quagliano takes the loss pitching 4 innings, allowing 7 runs on 7 hits, walking 3, striking out 5, and one hit batter.

With the win, Mt. Pulaski improves to 21-1 on the season and will Thursday in the State Tournament. Kewanee-Wethersfield ends the season 15-8.

Tune in Thursday, June 17, as Mt. Pulaski plays either Farina South Central or Goreville. You can hear the game live on the Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, on the WHOW mobile app, and on Amazon Alexa.

Class 2A Supersectional: 

Ottawa Marquette vs Normal University 2-9, F
St. Joseph-Ogden vs Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 1-4, F

Class 3A Supersectional:

Springfield vs Charleston 7-5, F
Geneseo vs Washington 2-7, F

Carlos Rodon took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and the Chicago White Sox completed a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers with a 4-1 win on Sunday.

Rodon (6-2) was going for his second no-hitter of the season. He took a perfect game into the ninth inning against the Cleveland Indians on April 14, hitting a batter with one out before finishing the no-no.

The Tigers didn't come close to a hit until Eric Haase's deep fly fell just past left fielder Andrew Vaughn's glove for a double with one out in the seventh.

Rodon finished the inning, allowing one run on one hit and two walks while striking out nine. Evan Marshall and Liam Hendriks completed the one-hitter, with Hendriks getting his AL-leading 17th save.

The last visiting pitcher to throw a no-hitter at Detroit was the Angels' Nolan Ryan on July 15, 1973.

The Tigers used six pitchers on a bullpen day, one day after using catcher Jake Rogers and infielder Harold Castro to pitch the final two innings of a 15-2 loss.

The White Sox took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on Jose Abreu's RBI single off Tyler Alexander (0-1), and Leury Garcia made it 2-0 in the fifth with a run-scoring double.

Buck Farmer, called up from Triple-A Toledo before the game, hit Danny Mendick with the bases loaded in the sixth, then walked Garcia to make it 4-0.

Haase took third on a wild pitch after his double and scored on Niko Goodrum's sacrifice fly.

The AL Central leaders return home on Monday to start a three-game series with the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays. Lance Lynn (7-1, 1.23 ERA) is scheduled to start the opener against Tampa Bay's Tyler Glasnow (5-2, 2.57).

The Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers boy's baseball team will look to punch its ticket to the State Finals this week when they take on Kewanee-Weathersfield this afternoon in Class 1A Supersectional action from Illinois State University.

The Hilltoppers held off Millford 6-4 Friday afternoon in Sectional Final action. Coach Joel Washko was very pleased with his team's performance Friday that allowed them to clinch the school's sectional championship.

As the Hilltoppers get set to travel to Duffy-Bass Field in Normal, Coach Washko believes his team's preparation needs to stay the same as they will travel for the first time during the postseason.

Game time this afternoon is 4 pm. Hear all the action on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

The winner advances to take on the winner of Farina South Central or Goreville also from ISU's Duffy-Bass Field Thursday afternoon for the State finals.

Class 2A Supersectional action today:

At Illinois Wesleyan

OttawaMarquette 6:00pm

Normal U-High

At Millikin

St. Joseph-Ogden 4:00pm

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin

Class 3A Supersectional action today:

At Millikin

Springfield 7:00pm

Charleston

At Geneseo

Geneseo 6:00pm

Washington

Zach Davies tossed two-hit ball into the seventh inning to outduel Carlos Martinez, and the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 on Sunday night to complete a three-game sweep.

The Cubs have won five straight and 15 of 20 to remain in a tie with the Milwaukee Brewers atop the NL Central. Chicago kept up its success at Wrigley Field, where it has won six in a row and nine of 10.

The teams combined for only six hits, four by the Cubs. Anthony Rizzo went 1 for 4 and recorded the game's only RBI.

St. Louis has dropped three straight and 11 of 13 to fall one game below .500 for the first time since April 23 at 32-33.

Davies (4-3) struck out six and walked two in 6 2/3 innings to win his second straight start.

The right-hander retired the first 13 batters he faced before Tyler O'Neill singled off the glove of third baseman Patrick Wisdom. O'Neill tried for a double when the ball rolled into foul territory, but Wisdom recovered to throw him out.

The Cardinals' only threat against Davies came in the seventh. Dylan Carlson led off with a double, but Davies responded by getting sluggers Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado to ground out.

Davies was pulled after walking O'Neill to put runners on first and second.

Ryan Tepera came on to get Yadier Molina to ground into a force play for the final out of the inning.

Tepera also worked a scoreless eighth and Craig Kimbrel struck out three in the ninth, working around a one-out walk, for his 18th save in 20 chances.

Martinez (3-7) allowed two unearned runs on four hits in seven innings to drop his third straight start. It was a dramatic turnaround from his previous two starts when the right-hander gave up a combined 15 runs in 4 2/3 innings, including 10 runs while getting just two outs on June 2 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Cubs scored twice in the third. Eric Sogard led off with a double, advanced to third on a groundout and scored when shortstop Paul DeJong misplayed a grounder by Joc Pederson for an error with two out. Two batters later, Pederson scored on a single by Rizzo.

Javier Baez was scratched from the original lineup because of a sore right thumb. He missed three games last week in San Diego because of the same thumb and seemed to aggravate it Saturday night after diving into the stands trying to catch a foul ball. He received treatment Sunday.

Adam Wainwright (4-5, 4.03 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game home series against Miami on Monday night. LHP Braxton Garrett (0-1, 6.43) goes for the Marlins.

Jake Arrieta (5-6, 4.97 ERA) pitches the opener of a four-game road series against the Mets. LHP David Peterson (1-5, 6.32) starts for New York.

Kyle Larson held off a hard-charging Brad Keselowski during the final 10-lap shootout at Texas on Sunday night, after a slippery three-wide pass for the lead, and pushed Hendrick Motorsports to its second consecutive win, and 10th overall, in the annual non-points race with a seven-figure prize.

Larson was back in the NASCAR All-Star race, and got another $1 million by winning it again.

Defending All-Star winner and reigning Cup champion Chase Elliott, who started the sixth and final segment of the 100-lap race out front, didn’t stay there long.

Larson pushed his teammate, then got in front on the outside through the fourth turn. They were three-wide before Keselowski pulled ahead briefly at the line, then Larson got ahead to stay for the last eight laps.

Larson has gone to Victory Lane three weekends in a row, and four times overall this season.

Keselowski said running second to Hendrick cars these days is somewhat of an accomplishment.

Larson was with Chip Ganassi Racing when he won the 2019 All-Star race. He missed last year’s big event at Bristol while serving a six-month suspension after using a racial slur during a live stream while in a virtual race during the pandemic. That nearly cost him his career, but Rick Hendrick gave him an opportunity this season to get back into the Cup Series.

Second in points with 10 races to go before the playoffs, Larson now only the eighth driver to be a two-time All-Star race winner.

Elliott finished third, ahead of Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman. William Byron, Aric Almirola, Kyle Bush and Kurt Busch rounded out the top 10 in the 21-car field.

Hendrick drivers Elliott, Byron and Larson started the final segment 1-2-3 — with Penske drivers Ryan Blaney, Keselowski and Joey Logano 4-6. Elliott had moved from third to first during the 30-lap fifth segment that included a required four-tire stop and $100,000 prize for his crew that had the fastest stop.

Byron won the fourth segment, and had the lowest cumulative finish through the first four 15-lap segments. Larson, Blaney and Bowman, another Hendrick driver, finished in front for the first three segments.

Texas is the third different track in three years for the All-Star race. Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted it 34 of the first 35 years before a move out of North Carolina last summer because of COVID-19 restrictions.

The All-Star race at Texas served as a sendoff and full-circle finish for old-school NASCAR promotor Eddie Gossage, the Texas Motor Speedway president working his last day for Speedway Motorsports.

Gossage, now 62, had considered stepping down for at least two years. He was chosen by Speedway Motorsports founder Bruton Smith to oversee the 1,500-acre complex since its groundbreaking in 1995, two years before the first Cup race at the track that included a big crash in the first turn of the first lap.

He was a young public relations director at Charlotte in 1992 when, during a news conference to promote NASCAR’s first nighttime All-Star race, one of his stunts literally set Smith’s hair on fire. When Smith threw the giant light switch rigged by Gossage to highlight the Charlotte speedway’s new lighting system, sparks flew.

Three decades after he thought he was headed for the unemployment line, Gossage is going out on his own terms. He planned to spend Monday at the pool with his three grandchildren.

North Carolina State, Texas, Tennessee and Arizona locked up spots in the College World Series on Sunday, with the Wolfpack knocking out No. 1 national seed Arkansas.

Two days after losing its NCAA super regional opener by 19 runs, Jose Torres hit a tiebreaking home run in the top of the ninth inning off SEC pitcher of the year Kevin Kopps and NC State beat the Razorbacks 3-2 in the deciding Game 3.

Tennessee defeated LSU 15-6 and Texas beat South Florida 12-4 to complete two-game sweeps, and Arizona won a three-game series with a 16-3 victory over Mississippi.

Virginia beat Dallas Baptist 4-0 and Notre Dame defeated Mississippi State 9-1 to force deciding third games Monday.

No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 9 Stanford were the first teams to claim spots in the CWS, which opens Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska.

Two CWS openers are set: NC State-Stanford and Arizona-Vanderbilt. Texas will play Notre Dame or Mississippi State and Tennessee faces Dallas Baptist or Virginia.

This marks the 21st straight NCAA Tournament the No. 1 seed will not win the national title. It’s the eighth time since the tournament went to its current format in 1999 that the top seed hasn’t reached the CWS.

Arkansas (51-13) had been the consensus No. 1 team in the polls most of the season, hadn’t lost a best-of-three series since May 2019 and swept the SEC regular-season and tournament championships.

But NC State (35-18), which lost 21-2 on Friday, held down the Razorbacks’ potent offense while winning two straight one-run games in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Two pitchers held the Hogs to four hits in a 6-5 win Saturday, and three pitchers combined to limit them to four hits again Sunday.

Torres homered in all three games for the Wolfpack, who opened 1-8 in Atlantic Coast Conference play and 4-9 overall. They made it to the ACC Tournament final and were a No. 2 regional seed in Ruston, Louisiana, where they swept three games by a combined 30-11.

No. 2 national seed Texas erased an early two-run deficit with four runs in the second inning and two more in the third to go up 6-2 against South Florida, and fans in Austin stood and chanted “OM-A-HA, OM-A-HA” before the Longhorns got the last out.

Texas (47-15), which will be making a record 37th CWS appearance, got a home run from Cam Williams and two doubles from Trey Faltine. South Florida was playing in its first super regional, advancing as a No. 4 regional seed.

No. 3 national seed Tennessee (50-16) will head to the CWS for the first time since 2005. 

After hitting no home runs in its 4-2 win Saturday, Tennessee continued its late-season power surge. Jake Rucker went deep twice, and the Vols matched their season-high with six homers, increasing their NCAA Tournament total to 16 in five games.

No. 5 Arizona (45-22), which will be in the CWS for the 18th time, scored seven runs off three pitchers in the fourth inning to break open its game. Ole Miss started its closer, Taylor Broadway, and he left after giving up Ryan Holgate’s homer and two singles to open the fourth.

The Wildcats’ 16 runs were the second-most allowed by Ole Miss in 115 all-time NCAA Tournament games.

Virginia’s Griff McGarry struck out 10 in seven innings and combined with Brandon Neeck and Kyle Whitten on the four-hit shutout in Columbia, South Carolina. The Cavaliers (34-25) scored all their runs in the eighth inning against the Patriots (41-17), with Zack Gelof leading off with a homer and Alex Tappen hitting a three-run homer.

David LaManna’s three-run homer in the fourth inning broke open the game for Notre Dame (34-12). Aidan Tyrell held host Mississippi State (44-16) to one run on five hits in 7 1/3 innings.

In a special sports presentation on WHOW, the Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers defeated the Milford Bearcats 6-4 Friday evening for an IHSA Class 1A Sectional title. Landon Smith took the win pitching a complete game, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits, walking one, and striking out 4. AJ Bailey went 2 for 4 with two runs scored. Drew Martin was 1 for 2 with two walks and a run scored. Lucas Kuhlman was 1 for 3 with an RBI triple.

Aiden Portwood takes the loss pitching 5 innings, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits, striking out 7, walking 2, and one hit batter. Tre Totheroh went 2 for 3 with an RBI triple.

With the win, the Hilltoppers improve to 20-1 on the season and clinch the Sectional title. Milford ends the season 15-7. 

Tune in Monday, June 14, as the Hilltoppers travel to ISU for Supersectionals at Duffy Bass Field. They will take on either Wethersfield or Illini Bluffs at 4 pm. You can hear the game live on the Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, on the WHOW mobile app, and on Amazon Alexa.

As heard on WHOW, the Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers defeated the St. Thomas More Sabers by a score 9-5 on Wednesday night in Class 1A high school boy's Sectional semifinal action. 

The Hilltoppers were led by Evan Cooper who took the win on the mound. Cooper pitched 7 innings let 9 hits, 5 runs, and 4 walks. He also was 1 for 2 batting. Jackson Fricke was 4 for 4 with 2 RBIs and Gavin Smith was 1 for 3 and an RBI.

The Sabers were led by Daniel Suits with the loss on the mound. Suits let 3 hits, 5 runs, and 1 walk.

With the win, the Hilltoppers improve to 19-1 overall and 7-0 in the conference. The Sabers finish their season 10-13 overall and 5-11 in the conference.

Tune in Friday, June 11th as the Hilltoppers go for a sectional title. 

You can hear the game live on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, at Amazon Alexa and on the WHOW mobile app.

Class 1A Boy's baseball sectional semifinal action Wednesday:

Kewanee Wethersfield 4

Delavan 3

Milford 5

Warrensburg-Latham 3

Louisville North Clay 3

Toledo Cumberland 0

Class 2A Boy's baseball sectional semifinal action Wednesday:

Maroa-Forsyth 2

Paris 3

Normal U-High 3

Macomb 2

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 10 F-5

Pana 0

St. Joseph-Ogden 7

Shelbyville 0

Class 3A boy's baseball sectional semifinal action Wednesday:

Champaign Central 5 F-8

Chatham-Glenwood 7

Springfield 7

Mahomet-Seymour 3

Washington 6

East Peoria 2

Class 1A girl's softball sectional championship action today:

Argenta-Oreana 4:30pm

Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond

Class 2A girl's softball sectional championship action today:

Normal U-High 4:30pm

Bloomington Central Catholic

Buffalo Tri-City 4:30pm

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin

Taylor Ridge Rockridge 4:30pm

Olympia

Class 3A girl's softball sectional championship action today:

Washington 4:30pm

Bloomington

Rochester 4:30pm

Chatham-Glenwood

As heard on WHOW, Randal Grichuk hit a long home run and Toronto took advantage of a season-high four errors by Chicago as well as a bases-loaded walk to beat the AL Central leaders 6-2 on Wednesday night.

Grichuk hit a 451-foot drive leading off the second. Toronto rookie Alek Manoah threw five solid innings in his third major league start and the Blue Jays won despite another strong outing by Lance Lynn.

The Sox were rolling along with Lance Lynn delivering another dominant start. Once he left the game, things turned around in a big way.

The bullpen stumbled. So did the defense, and the Blue Jays came away with the win.

Toronto scored three runs in the eighth and tacked on two more in the ninth.

Aaron Bummer (0-4) retired the first batter in the eighth before pinch-hitter Riley Adams reached on a wild pitch as he struck out. An infield single by Marcus Semien and a hit to right by Bo Bichette loaded the bases for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He walked to force in the tying run. Two more scored when shortstop Tim Anderson overthrew first trying to complete a double play on Teoscar Hernandez's grounder against Codi Heuer, giving the Blue Jays a 4-2 lead.

Toronto added a pair in the ninth, aided by more shaky defense.

Rowdy Tellez hit an RBI single and went to second on right fielder Adam Eaton's throwing error. Tellez came around when first baseman Jose Abreu missed a throw from second baseman Danny Mendick trying to turn a double play on Semien, making it 6-2.

Tyler Chatwood (1-2) got the win.

Manoah gave up two runs - one earned - and four hits. The 23-year-old right-hander struck out four and walked two.

Owner of baseball's second-best ERA, Lynn allowed four hits and did not walk a batter. He is 6-0 in eight starts since his lone loss of the season to Cleveland on April 15.

Nick Madrigal was helped off the field with a sore right hamstring after he tried to beat out a grounder to end the seventh. The White Sox said he will undergo more evaluations on Thursday. 

AL MVP Jose Abreu went down holding his left leg prior to his at-bat in the first. Plate umpire Erich Bacchus tried to toss the bat out of the way following Yoan Moncada's RBI single and hit Abreu, who was hurrying over to signal for Jake Lamb to slide.

The White Sox send out LHP Dallas Keuchel (4-1, 4.25 ERA) for the series finale, with LHP Hyun Jin Ryu (5-3, 3.23) pitching for Toronto. Keuchel is 4-0 in six career starts against Toronto. Ryu looks to bounce back after giving up seven runs during a 13-1 loss to Houston in Buffalo on Friday. Hear tonight's action on WHOW.

Sergio Alcantara also homered and Jake Arrieta threw five strong innings for the Cubs, who took two of three. The Cubs beat the Padres five times in six games in a 10-day stretch, including a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field last week.

The Cubs bounced back nicely from losing the first three of a four-game series at San Francisco, which leads the NL West.

Darvish (6-2) retired the first nine Cubs batters before Joc Pederson hit a towering home run to right-center field leading off the fourth to tie it at 1. It was Pederson's seventh.

Darvish pitched well but took the hard-luck loss when the Cubs scored the go-ahead run in the seventh on Anthony Rizzo's double-play ball. Darvish opened the inning by walking Ian Happ and allowing a single to right by Patrick Wisdom before Rizzo hit into a 4-6-3 double play to bring in Happ.

Darvish was traded from the Cubs to the Padres on Dec. 29, along with Victor Caratini, his personal catcher. Darvish finished second in the NL Cy Young Award voting in 2020 while with the Cubs.

Darvish allowed two runs and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked two.

Alcantara homered off Emilio Pagan with one out in the eighth, his first.

Arrieta allowed one run and four hits in five innings, struck out six and walked one. He finished strong, striking out the side in the fifth after allowing a leadoff single to former Cubs catcher Victor Caratini.

Arrieta allowed Manny Machado's RBI single in the third.

Rex Brothers (2-0) pitched a perfect sixth for the win. Craig Kimbrel, who was San Diego's closer in 2015, pitched a perfect ninth for his 15th save in 17 chances.

The Cubs haven't named a starter for Friday night's opener of a three-game home series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Adam Wainwright allowed two runs in seven innings, Tyler O'Neill homered twice and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cleveland Indians 8-2 Wednesday night to stop a six-game losing streak.

O'Neill hit a 451-foot, two-run homer in the third off Phil Maton and a solo homer in the seventh against Trevor Stephan, helping the Cardinals avoid what would have been their first seven-game skid since June 2017. O'Neill, who also had an infield single to keep the first inning alive, leads St. Louis with 15 homers and 32 RBIs.

Matt Carpenter drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double and Paul Goldschmidt had a solo homer for the Cardinals, who won for just the second time in their last 10 games.

Wainwright (4-5), at 39 the oldest active player in the National League, won for the second time in five starts. He also got his first hit of the season with a fourth-inning single to snap an 0-for-20 slump.

He fell behind 2-0 in the first on Eddie Rosario's RBI double and Harold Ramirez's sacrifice fly, then followed with six hitless innings, retiring 11 in a row at one stretch. He struck out six and walked none.

After leading for only 2 1/2 innings during its skid, the Cardinals ahead to stay with a four-run first.

Yadier Molina, who returned to the lineup from a bruised knee, drew two-out walk in a 10-pitch at-bat with the bases loaded. Carpenter, who entered hitting .177, followed with a bases-clearing double.

Paul DeJong (non-displaced rib fracture) went 0 for 5 in a doubleheader for Triple-A Memphis and was to return to St. Louis for an evaluation. St. Louis may activate him during a series starting Friday at the Chicago Cubs.

Johan Oviedo (0-2, 5.25) is to start the series opener at Wrigley Field.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love says he isn’t letting the uncertainty surrounding teammate Aaron Rodgers change his own offseason approach.

But the situation certainly does appear to be impacting the second-year pro’s workload.

As a rookie, Love didn’t play a single down and never participated in any preseason games due to the pandemic. With Rodgers sitting out Green Bay’s mandatory minicamp, the Packers now must prepare for the possibility Love could open the season as their starting quarterback.

Love has been considered Rodgers’ eventual successor ever since the Packers traded up four spots in last year’s draft to take the former Utah State quarterback with the 26th overall pick.

When ESPN reported just before this year’s draft that Rodgers doesn’t want to return to the Packers, it became apparent Love might need to take over as soon as this season.

Love has received much of the work with the first-team offense in the first couple of days of minicamp. Packers coach Matt LaFleur noted Tuesday that Love “needs every rep he can get right now” due to his inexperience.

The Packers signed former Jacksonville Jaguars starter Blake Bortles and Kurt Benkert over the last month to join Love. Tim Boyle, who backed up Rodgers last season, signed with the Detroit Lions.

Love has shown the ups and downs expected of a player this early in his career. He struggled Tuesday but performed much better Wednesday.

Maintaining focus is a difficult task for any young quarterback, but Love faces even more of a challenge because of the circumstances surrounding his arrival in Green Bay.

General manager Brian Gutekunst didn’t notify Rodgers beforehand that the Packers were going to select a quarterback in the first round. Rodgers said later the Packers’ decision caught him by surprise.

Both quarterbacks say there’s no issue between them.

Love said Wednesday that he and Rodgers have “got a good relationship.” Love said he spoke with Rodgers about a week before heading to Green Bay to begin offseason work, though he didn’t discuss the details of that conversation.

While it’s tough to measure Love’s progress because of his lack of experience, the Packers say they’ve noticed a difference. Quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy said Love is “light years ahead” of where he was a year ago.

All-Pro receiver Davante Adams said this week he’s praying that Rodgers comes back while also offering encouragement for Love. Adams wants to make sure each of Green Bay's quarterbacks is ready to go if one of them ends up having to take over.

Love is trying to prepare for any situation. That means he doesn’t have any time to worry about what anyone else is saying about Green Bay’s quarterback issues.

The Green Bay Packers have added a veteran presence at inside linebacker by signing De’Vondre Campbell.

The team announced the move Wednesday. Campbell comes to Green Bay after starting all 16 games for the Arizona Cardinals last season and posting 99 tackles, including 69 solos. Campbell, 27, previously spent four seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, who selected him out of Minnesota in the fourth round of the 2016 draft.

He recorded two sacks and seven tackles for loss last season.

Campbell has 462 total tackles, 25 tackles for loss, 7½ sacks and six forced fumbles in 75 career regular-season games. He has 70 career starts.

Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst had said after the draft there was a possibility the team could add a veteran inside linebacker. The Packers’ top returning players at linebacker include Krys Barnes and Kamal Martin, who are both entering their second seasons. The only inside linebacker they drafted this year was Boston College’s Isaiah McDuffie in the sixth round.

The Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers boy's baseball team will head to Sectional play today as they host Champaign St. Thomas More in a semifinal game today.

Off their 3-1 Monday over Decatur St. Teresa, the Hilltoppers enter play 18-1.

Game time is 4:30 pm.

Hear the action on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW, at dewittdailynews.com, at the WHOW mobile app and Amazon Alexa.

Boy's 1A Sectional semifinal action today:

Farina South Central 4:30pm

Bethany Okaw Valley

Milford 4:30pm

Warrensburg-Latham

Class 2A Sectional semifinal action today:

Maroa-Forsyth 4:30pm

Paris

Normal U-High 4:30pm

Macomb

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 4:30pm

Pana

St. Joseph-Ogden 4:30pm

Shelbyville

Class 3A Sectional semifinal action today:

Champaign Central 6:00pm

Chatham-Glenwood

Springfield 4:30pm

Mahomet-Seymour

Washington 7:00pm

East Peoria

Class 1A Girl's softball sectional semifinal action yesterday:

Argenta-Oreana 2

Arcola 1

Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond 1

Meridian 0

Class 2A Girl's softball sectional semifinal action yesterday:

Bloomington Central Catholic 4

Kankakee McNamara 2

Seneca 0

Normal U-High 3

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 15 F-4

Warsaw 0

Olympia 7

Kewanee 2

Tuscola 2

Paris 3

Zach Davies allowed just one hit in six scoreless innings, Anthony Rizzo homered and drove in four runs, and Patrick Wisdom went deep again for the Chicago Cubs as they defeated the San Diego Padres 7-1 Tuesday night.

Willson Contreras also homered for the Cubs, who are 4-1 against the Padres in a span of nine days. Chicago swept the Padres at Wrigley Field last week, when Wisdom homered three times - including twice in the first game. San Diego won the opener of this series 9-4 on Monday night.

Wisdom was chosen the NL player of the week on Monday after hitting six homers with nine RBIs. He has eight homers in 15 games since being promoted from Triple-A Iowa on May 25.

Davies (3-3) was brilliant in shutting down the Padres for six innings. He allowed just a single to Fernando Tatis Jr. in the fourth, struck out four and walked two. The right-hander pitched for San Diego in 2020 before being traded to Chicago on Dec. 29 in the deal that sent Yu Darvish to the Padres.

Davies improved to 5-0 in his career against San Diego.

The Padres had two walks and three lineouts in their first five plate appearances.

Contreras started the power display with a solo shot off Dinelson Lamet (1-1) with one out in the fourth, his 10th.

Rizzo's two-run double chased Lamet with no outs in the sixth and he was aboard for Wisdom's two-run homer to left off Miguel Diaz for a 5-0 lead. Lamet allowed singles to Joc Pederson and Kris Bryant ahead of Rizzo's double.

Rizzo homered to left-center off Nabil Crismatt with two outs in the seventh, two batters after Pederson beat the shift with an opposite-field double to left. It was Rizzo's first homer since May 2 at Cincinnati and his sixth this season.

Rizzo played 49 games with the Padres as a rookie in 2011 before being traded to Chicago the following offseason.

Lamet went a season-best five-plus innings, allowing four runs and four hits while striking out six and walking one.

The Cubs placed RHP Adbert Alzolay on the 10-day injured list with a blister on his right middle finger and recalled RHP Kohl Stewart from Triple-A Iowa. Also, RHP Alec Mills (lower back strain) was activated from the 10-day IL and RHP Cory Abbott was optioned to Iowa.

The three-game series concludes Wednesday with a marquee matchup between Cubs RHP Jake Arrieta (5-6, 5.26 ERA) and Darvish (6-1, 2.25), who finished second in NL Cy Young Award voting for Chicago in 2020.

As heard on WHOW, Andrew Vaughn homered in the seventh inning and connected for a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth, helping the Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Shut out by Robbie Ray for most of the game, Chicago got on the board on Vaughn's fifth homer of his rookie season and then broke it open with five runs in the eighth.

After Vaughn made it 2-1 with a bases-loaded flyball to deep center against Trent Thornton (1-2), Adam Eaton drove in Yermin Mercedes with a pinch-hit single. Leury Garcia added a two-run triple, and Tim Anderson capped the rally with a sac fly.

Garrett Crochet (2-2) got three outs for the win as the AL Central leaders moved a season-high 14 games over .500 at 37-23.

Toronto went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base in the opener of a seven-game trip, wasting a season-high 13 strikeouts by Ray.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached three times for Toronto on a single and two walks. Bo Bichette had two hits and a leaping grab on Jose Abreu's liner to shortstop in the fourth.

Ray carried a 1-0 lead into the seventh and fanned Yasmani Grandal for the first out. But Vaughn followed with a drive to right-center, chasing the left-hander after 102 pitches.

Chicago then loaded the bases on two walks and a single, but Rafael Dolis escaped the jam when he threw a called third strike past Yoan Moncada.

Ray allowed five hits and walked none in his first career appearance against the White Sox. He leads the Blue Jays with 82 strikeouts in 64 1/3 innings this season.

Toronto put at least two runners on in four of the first five innings, but Jonathan Davis' sacrifice fly in the second accounted for its only run against Carlos Rodon.

Teoscar Hernandez and Randal Grichuk struck out with runners at the corners in the first. Grichuk bounced into an inning-ending double play in the third. With two outs and runners on the corners in the fifth, Hernandez flied to center on a 3-0 pitch.

Rodon allowed six hits in five innings. He struck out eight and walked two.

Lance Lynn (7-1, 1.23 ERA) faces Blue Jays rookie Alek Manoah (1-0, 3.86) on Wednesday night. Lynn is looking for his fourth straight win, part of a terrific start in his first year with the White Sox. Manoah allowed four runs and four hits over 3 1/3 innings in his second career start Wednesday against Miami.

Jose Ramirez homered and drove in four runs, leading Shane Bieber and the Cleveland Indians over St. Louis 10-1 Tuesday night and sending the Cardinals to their sixth straight loss.

St. Louis' skid is its longest since a seven-game slide in June 2017. Cleveland has won four of six.

Bieber (7-3) gave up one run and five hits in six innings, striking out five. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner has won his past three decisions and hasn't permitted more than three runs in any of his 13 starts this year.

The Indians have won 26 consecutive games with Bieber on the mound when they have scored at least four runs.

Carlos Martinez (3-6) allowed five runs and seven hits, including Ramirez's three-run homer, in four innings. In his previous outing, he was tagged for 10 runs while getting just two outs against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Cesar Hernandez and Amed Rosario both singled to open the third to bring up Ramirez, who launched his 14th home run of the season to right field. He hit an 0-1 pitch an estimated 425 feet to give the Indians a 5-0 lead.

Ramirez also doubled and singled and has reached safely in each of his past 22 games.

The Indians added four more runs in the ninth. Eddie Rosario's third single of the game drove in two runs and Bradley Zimmer added a two-run single.

Hernandez drew a walk to start the game and came home on Amed Rosario's fourth triple of the year. Rosario scored on Ramirez's grounder to give Cleveland a 2-0 lead.

Bieber was cruising through two outs in the fourth when he surrendered two walks, hit a batter and gave up an RBI single to Edmundo Sosa before getting pinch-hitter John Nogowski to ground out to escape a bases-loaded jam.

Indians RHP J.C. Mejia (1-0, 0.00) gets his second start of the season after he went three innings, striking out two and allowing two hits in a 3-1 loss to Baltimore on June 4. He's only allowed three hits in eight innings this year.

Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright (3-5, 4.19) looks to bounce back from taking the loss in a 4-2 defeat to Cincinnati on June 3.

Manny Machado and Brian O'Grady each homered and had three RBIs to lead the San Diego Padres over the Chicago Cubs 9-4 on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series between National League contenders.

Machado hit a solo home run and two sacrifice flies. O'Grady, just recalled from the minors, had a two-run homer and an RBI single.

Ryan Weathers (3-2) lasted five innings for the win, giving up three runs and five hits while striking out four.

Chicago starter Adbert Alzolay (4-5) left in the fourth with a blister on his right middle finger after walking leadoff batter Tommy Pham, who reached base four times. An athletic trainer and manager David Ross came out to talk with Alzolay briefly before he headed for the dugout. He threw 82 pitches in three-plus innings, giving up four runs, five hits and five walks.

The Padres got single runs in the first and second against Alzolay, who worked out of jams in both innings. With the bases loaded and no outs in the first, the Padres managed only one run on Eric Hosmer's groundout. In the second they had runners at second and third with one out and scored on Machado's sacrifice fly.

But in the third, Alzolay was tagged by O'Grady's 407-foot homer to straightaway center that gave San Diego a 4-0 lead.

Weathers had a cushion but ran into problems in the fourth. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with no outs. Jake Marisnick then hit a slow roller that hugged the first-base line halfway to the bag. Weathers made an errant throw that hit Marisnick and bounded away. Two runs scored, and two batters later Sergio Alcantara hit a sacrifice fly to cut it to 4-3.

San Diego added two runs in the sixth on an RBI grounder by Pham that scored a sliding Victor Carantini on a play at the plate, and Machado's second sacrifice fly.

The Cubs trailed 6-4 after Ian Happ hit a solo homer to center in the seventh.

San Diego scored three insurance runs in the eighth. Machado hit a solo homer after first baseman Anthony Rizzo dropped his foul popup for an error. Later in the inning, Hosmer singled in Jake Cronenworth and scored on O'Grady's double.

Javier Baez (right hand soreness) is day-to-day and was available off the bench, according to Ross. Baez exited Sunday's game versus the Giants. Joc Pederson (back) came off the bench to pinch-hit.

Zach Davies (2-3, 4.94 ) starts Tuesday night against Dinelson Lamet (1-0, 2.50).

Tom Thibodeau was revealed Monday as the NBA’s Coach of the Year for 2020-21, as determined by a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the league. The Knicks went 41-31 this season, then fell to Atlanta in five games in the first round of the playoffs.

It was the closest balloting since this version of voting was introduced 19 years ago. Thibodeau got 43 first-place votes and finished with 351 total points, while Phoenix’s Monty Williams actually got more first-place votes — he got 45 — but finished with 340 points.

Thibodeau got the New York Knicks back to the playoffs, guiding the team to its second-best record in 20 years.

And in the eyes of the voters, that coaching job was the best in the NBA.

It was Thibodeau’s second time winning the award; he also got it in 2011, his first season with the Chicago Bulls. And another first-year turnaround in New York merited him the trophy for a second time.

Utah’s Quin Snyder was third and got 10 of the remaining 12 first-place votes. Philadelphia’s Doc Rivers was fourth, getting the other two first-place votes. Atlanta’s Nate McMillan was fifth, Brooklyn’s Steve Nash was sixth and Denver’s Michael Malone was seventh.

The Knicks were 41-31 this season, and that winning percentage of .569 is the eighth-lowest for any coach of the year winner since the award was first given out in 1963. But the job Thibodeau did in his first New York season was outstanding by any measure, guiding the Knicks to their first playoff berth since 2013 and their second-best record in the last 20 years.

On the TNT broadcast announcing the award, Thibodeau spoke of how he grew up a fan of the Knicks in the era that included Willis Reed and Walt Frazier, how his coaching style was influenced in part by others with deep ties to the Knicks — like Rivers and Jeff Van Gundy — and how the players on this New York team like Derrick Rose merited much credit as well. Rose was with Thibodeau when he won the award in Chicago a decade ago.

It’s the second major award for the Knicks this season, after Julius Randle won most improved player. Also previously announced was Utah’s Jordan Clarkson winning sixth man of the year.

The MVP, defensive player of the year and rookie of the year awards are yet to be announced.

Four more Southeastern Conference teams earned spots in the NCAA baseball tournament super regionals Monday night, while Stanford, Dallas Baptist and the upstart South Florida Bulls also continued their seasons.

No. 1 overall seed Arkansas broke open its game against Nebraska late, got another superb pitching performance from Kevin Kopps and won 6-2 in Fayetteville for its third straight regional title.

The SEC champion Razorbacks, who haven’t lost a three-game series since May 2019, won two of three against the Big Ten champion Cornhuskers in the regional.

No. 7 Mississippi State finished a 3-0 run through its regional in Starkville with a 6-5 win over Campbell, and No. 12 Ole Miss bounced back from a Sunday loss to Southern Mississippi to beat the Golden Eagles 12-9 in Oxford.

LSU, a No. 3 regional seed, pushed back coach Paul Mainieri’s retirement by at least another week, staving off elimination a fourth time with a 9-8 victory over No. 14 Oregon in Eugene.

Arkansas, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and LSU joined Vanderbilt and Tennessee in the super regionals.

Stanford also advanced with an 11-8 win over UC Irvine. Virginia’s game against No. 11 Old Dominion was postponed until Tuesday because of rain.

Dallas Baptist and South Florida were the feel-good stories of the day.

The Patriots, the No. 3 regional seed in Fort Worth, Texas, lost two starters to injuries over the weekend and were beaten by Oregon State on a walk-off homer Sunday.

They were down five runs midway through Monday’s rematch before Andrew Benefield hit a go-ahead grand slam and the Patriots went on to win 8-5 and advance to its second super regional, and first since 2011. The Patriots (40-16) play Virginia or Old Dominion in the next round.

South Florida beat South Alabama 6-4 in Gainesville, Florida, to become the first No. 4 regional seed to make the super regionals since Davidson in 2017.

The Bulls have won nine of their last 11 games and now have a regional title for the first time in 14 NCAA appearances.

Stanford (36-15) jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first inning against UC Irvine. Tim Tawa hit a two-run homer to start the scoring, and the Cardinal went on to secure a trip to No. 8 Texas Tech.

Arkansas, which lost 5-3 to Nebraska on Sunday, loaded the bases on three walks with two outs in the eighth and scored the go-ahead run on Jake Bunz’s wild pitch. Then pinch-hitter Charlie Welch hit a three-run homer to make it a four-run game.

The Razorbacks (49-11) will host North Carolina State (33-17) this weekend.

Mississippi State (43-15) is in its fifth straight super regional, the longest active streak, and will host No. 10 Notre Dame (33-11).

Ole Miss (44-20) got another big game from Tim Elko, who hit a grand slam and hit another of the Rebels’ five homers. The Rebels meet No. 5 national seed Arizona (43-15) in super regionals.

LSU (38-23) scored the go-ahead run against Oregon when Ducks closer Kolby Somers balked with a runner on third. Gavin Dugas homered twice and Landon Marceaux worked out of trouble in the ninth to send the Tigers to an all-SEC super regional at No. 3 Tennessee.

Evan Foster hit a tie-breaking two run double in the fifth inning and pitched seven innings of 3-run ball as Maroa-Forsyth rallied past Monticello 5-3 in a high school baseball Regional title game from Forsyth on Monday afternoon.

Foster finished with three runs batted in, his first created controversial chaos. With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning, Foster lined a single to center field. Monticello center fielder Tristan Foran’s throw went up the third base line and catcher Thomas Swartz collided with Kadin Mauer who was coming home from second. 

Swartz and Mauer collided at the plate. Mauer would be called out after the play was immediately ruled dead and the umpires conferred for a few minutes. Mauer was also ejected from the game on the play. 

Joey Sprinkle broke a two-all tie in the fifth inning but the Trojans answered in the bottom of the sixth with their decisive three runs. 

Jacob Trusner was 2-for-3 with two doubles for Monticello. Cole Smith finished 2-for-3 with an RBI triple.

Luke Teschke allowed three runs in 4 ? innings and Dawlton Chupp took the loss in relief.

Foster allowed three runs, seven hits, issued zero walks and struck out nine.

The Trojans improve to 15-4 overall and Monticello finishes its season 14-6.

As heard on WHOW, the Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers defeated the Decatur St. Teresa Bulldogs 3-1 Monday afternoon in IHSA Class 1A Regional Championship action. Senior Drew Martin takes the win for the Hilltoppers, pitching 6 innings, allowing 2 hits, one run, 3 walks, striking out 10, and 5 hit batters. Martin was also 2-4. Landon Smith went 1-3 with a double and an RBI. Gavin Smith was 2 for 3.

For the Bulldogs, Matthew Brummer takes the loss pitching 5 1/3 innings, allowing 6 hits, 3 runs, 5 walks, and striking out 7. Korky Golladay went 1 for 1.

With the win, Mt. Pulaski improves to 18-1 and gets the Regional title. St. Teresa finishes the year 10-12. Mt. Pulaski will play either South Fork or Champaign St. Thomas More Wednesday.

The Monticello Sages and Mt. Pulaski boy's baseball teams will go for Regional titles this afternoon.

Monticello overcame a slow start at Unity Friday night as Joey Sprinkle hit two home runs to lead the Sages to 12-2 victory at Unity High School in Class 2A Regional semifinal action. Monticello now travels to take on the Regional's top-seed, Maroa-Forsyth this afternoon. 

Monticello outlasted the Trojans in 10 innings, 5-4 in mid-May. 

Hear today's action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

Lucas Kuhlman drove in four runs leading the Hilltoppers past Argenta-Oreana 18-0 in Class 1A Regional semifinal action from Mt. Pulaski. 

The Hilltoppers advance to host Decatur St. Teresa this afternoon at 4:30 pm. Hear today's action on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW and online at dewittdailynews.com, the WHOW mobile app and at Amazon Alexa.

Class 2A Regional championship action today

At Eureka

Eureka 4:30pm

Bloomington Central Catholic

At Normal U-High

Normal U-High 4:30pm

Illinois Valley Central

At Paris

Paris 4:30pm

Tuscola

At Quincy Notre Dame

Quincy Notre Dame 4:30pm

Williamsville

At Shelbyville

Shelbyville 4:30pm

Olympia

At Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 4:30pm

Pleasant Plains

At St. Joseph

St. Joseph-Ogden 4:30pm

Fithian-Oakwood

Class 1A Regional championship matchups

At Carrollton

Central A & M 4:30pm

Carrollton

At Champaign St. Thomas More

Catlin-Salt Fork 7:00pm

Champaign St. Thomas More

At Delavan

Peoria Christian 4:30pm

Delavan

At LeRoy

LeRoy 4:30pm

Warrensburg-Latham

At Bethany

Bethany-Okaw Valley 4:30pm

Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond

Patrick Wisdom hit a pair of home runs and drove in three runs in helping the Chicago Cubs avoid a four-game sweep with a 4-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.

Kyle Hendricks (7-4) won his fifth straight start, allowing three runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out five in earning his first win over San Francisco in five career starts.

Hendricks allowed just one hit after the second inning.

Craig Kimbrel struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 14th save in 16 chances.

Johnny Cueto (4-2) gave up four runs - three earned - and six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked two, his most since three in his first start this season.

Chicago took a 4-3 lead with an unearned run in the fifth after Hendricks led off with a double for his first hit this season. A single and walk loaded the bases for Javier Baez, who hit a grounder to shortstop Maurico Dubon. Catcher Buster Posey dropped the throw home for an error that allowed the go-ahead run.

San Francisco scored all its runs in the first two innings. LaMonte Wade Jr. hit his first career leadoff home run. Posey and Donovan Solano also drove in runs.

Baez left the game early with right thumb soreness.

Adbert Alzolay (4-4) opens a three-game series in San Diego on Monday night.

As heard on WHOW, Tony La Russa moved past John McGraw into sole possession of second on baseball's manager wins list, directing the Chicago White Sox to a 3-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

It was win No. 2,764 for La Russa, who was hired by Chicago in October for his first managerial job since he led St. Louis to the World Series championship in 2011. It has been a bit of a bumpy ride so far, but the 76-year-old Hall of Famer has the White Sox on top of the AL Central.

La Russa watched as Chicago won for the 10th time in 14 games. Dylan Cease (4-2) struck out 10 in seven sparkling innings, and Tim Anderson had two hits and two RBIs.

Detroit right-hander Jose Urena (2-5) allowed three runs and six hits in five innings in his first big league start since May 26. He had been sidelined by a strained right forearm.

The Tigers finished with five hits. They dropped three of four in the series.

Chicago scored each of its runs in the second. Andrew Vaughn singled in Adam Eaton and scored on Anderson's two-run single with two outs.

That was more than enough for Cease, who allowed five hits and walked one. The right-hander improved to 7-0 with a 1.91 ERA against the Tigers, becoming the first White Sox pitcher to win his first seven career starts against a single opponent since Mark Buehrle versus Texas from 2001-2005, according to Elias Sports.

Cease got some help from Engel, who robbed Niko Goodrum of a homer with a leaping catch at the center-field wall in the fifth. It was Engel's first game of the season after he was sidelined by a right hamstring injury.

Aaron Bummer got three outs before Liam Hendriks worked the ninth for his 15th save.

Following an off day, LHP Carlos Rodon (5-2, 1.98 ERA) starts Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series against Toronto. LHP Robbie Ray takes the mound for the visiting Blue Jays.

Jesse Winker hit a tiebreaking home run off Alex Reyes in the ninth inning for his second three-homer game this season, and the Cincinnati Reds completed their first four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in 21 years with an 8-7 victory on Sunday.

Winker had six RBIs, hitting a two-run homer in the first, a three-run homer in the second off John Gant and the go-ahead drive against Reyes (3-2). Winker has 17 homers, tied for the NL lead. He also homered three times against Milwaukee on May 21.

Eugenio Suarez added a two-run double for the Reds, who led 7-0 by the third inning en route to their first four-game sweep at St. Louis since May 4-7, 1990.

Tyler O'Neill had a two-run homer in a seven-run sixth for the Cardinals, who have lost five straight for the first time since Aug. 3-7, 2018. St. Louis has lost seven of its last eight.

St. Louis threatened in the ninth when Paul Goldschmidt singled leading off and Nolan Arenado doubled off Sims.

Tyler O'Neill popped out and Edmundo Sosa struck out. Jose Rondon took a 2-2 pitch that plate umpire Dan Iassogna decided was just outside, then flailed at a slider that bounced well outside of the plate and skipped away from catcher Tyler Barnhardt, who threw to first for the final out.

Goldschmidt and Arenado combined to go 7 for 9, and the rest of the Cardinals were 7 for 30.

Heath Hembree (1-1) struck out two in a perfect eighth inning, and Sims got his sixth save in seven chances.

Reds starter Wade Miley allowed four hits in five scoreless innings, tied a season-high with eight strikeouts and left with a 7-0 lead.

Cincinnati's Nick Castellanos went 0 for 5, ending his career-best 21-game hitting streak, the longest in the major leagues this season.

O'Neill's 13th homer started the rally in the sixth against Michael Feliz. Pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter greeted Brad Brach with a two-run double, Tommy Edman hit a run-scoring infield single and Arenado hit a tying, two-run single against Tejay Antone,

Paul DeJong continues a rehab stint at Triple-A Memphis. He is working his way back from a left rib fracture and has not played on the major league level since May 12.

Yadier Molina was held out of the lineup after taking a foul ball off his left knee Saturday. St. Louis manager Mike Shildt said it doesn't look like an IL situation.

Carlos Martinez (3-5, 5.83) will face Cleveland RHP Shane Bieber (6-3, 3.08) on Tuesday. Martinez allowed 10 runs over two-thirds of an inning Wednesday in a 14-3 loss to the Dodgers, the shortest start of his big league career.

Kyle Larson beat teammate Chase Elliott in overtime to win his second consecutive race, third of the season, and help Hendrick Motorsports continue its month of dominance.

Hendrick drivers have won four straight races and Larson’s Coca-Cola 600 win a week ago at Charlotte Motor Speedway made Rick Hendrick the winningest owner in NASCAR history.

The Hendrick group is on such a roll that maybe only two-time defending winner Martin Truex Jr. was considered a real threat to stop the streak Sunday, when NASCAR returned to California for the first time since 2019 because of the pandemic.

But reigning Cup champion Elliott was the favorite. He is, after all, the current king of the road with six victories on road courses including a victory over Larson two weeks ago in the rain-shortened debut at Circuit of the Americas in Texas.

Instead the win went to Larson. And even though it was in overtime, it wasn’t close as Elliott remained winless at Sonoma in five starts.

Larson, who had led just 11 laps in six previous combined races at Sonoma, won all three stages and led a race-high 58 of the 92 laps. The eighth caution sent the race to overtime for a two-race sprint shootout, but he easily cleared Elliott on the restart and pulled away to tie Truex with a Cup high three wins each this season.

Hendrick’s four drivers have combined for seven wins this season and Bowman at ninth Sunday gave them three in the top 10.

Elliott finished second as Hendrick tied Carl Kiekhaefer in 1956 with four consecutive 1-2 finishes.

Sonoma welcomed roughly 15,000 fans — the first time in 714 days spectators have been permitted at the raceway — for NASCAR’s first trip to California since the start of the pandemic. 

NASCAR runs its annual All-Star event Sunday night at Texas Motor Speedway for the first time in race history.

Thousands of fans surrounded the 18th hole, with tournament founder Jack Nicklaus sitting behind the green as he waited to greet the winner. Patrick Cantlay had a firm grip on the crystal trophy, just like he did two years ago the last time spectators roamed Muirfield Village.

It even rained, though not for very long.

But so much about Cantlay’s playoff victory Sunday over Collin Morikawa made this Memorial unlike any of the previous 45 editions.

This was as much about who won as who didn’t even play.

Cantlay, like everyone else at Muirfield Village, felt horrible than Jon Rahm went from tying tournament records — a 54-hole score of 18-under par and a six-shot lead — to being notified of a positive COVID-19 test that knocked him out of the final round.

Cantlay walked off the 18th green Saturday evening facing a six-shot deficit and trying to figure out how low he would have to go in the final round to even have a chance. Morikawa had finished in the group ahead. He was in the clubhouse when his girlfriend sent a text to tell him what happened to Rahm.

Padraig Harrington suffered a fate similar to Rahm. He had a five-shot lead in the Benson & Hedges International Open on the European Tour in 2000 when the club asked for scorecards of the winner to post in the clubhouse. That’s when it was discovered Harrington never signed his card in the first round. The penalty was disqualification.

This felt out-of-the-blue because no one had tested positive during a tournament on the PGA Tour in 10 months. Branden Grace was one birdie out of the lead (modified Stableford scoring) after 36 holes in the Barracuda Championship when he tested positive and had to withdraw.

Rahm had been in the contact tracing program from having come in contact with someone who was COVID-19 positive, meaning he had to test every day to be able to play. Every test since Monday was negative until Saturday after the rain-delayed second round.

His 64 on Saturday was among the best rounds in Memorial history, nearly nine shots better than the average score. Rahm was the defending champion. He is No. 3 in the world.

And then he was gone.

Nicklaus also wondered how much his absence would weigh on the players left to contend, though that wasn’t a problem for either. This was out of their hands. All they could do was play.

Morikawa struggled to hit greens early, and then it cost him late. Cantlay missed six putts from 10 feet or closer — three for par, three for birdie — and thought it would cost him.

The tournament without Rahm did not lack for drama.

Morikawa had a one-shot lead with two holes to play when Cantlay poured in a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to catch him. Both hit poor tee shots on the 18th and made par, each posting a 1-under 71 to finish at 13-under 275.

Rahm reached 13 under on the 11th hole Saturday. What would have happened? Cantlay said a 71 mostly likely wouldn’t have done the trick if Rahm were still playing. But he wasn’t.

On the 18th in the playoff, Morikawa missed the green from the fairway. Cantlay gouged an 8-iron from the deep rough into the bunker. He blasted out to 12 feet and made the par putt, a winner when Morikawa chipped to 6 feet and missed his putt for par.

It took Cantlay to his fourth career victory, his second at the Memorial, and another handshake with Nicklaus off the 18th green. This was satisfying. It was special. And it was different.

Seven teams closed out their regionals in the NCAA baseball tournament Sunday and moved one step closer to the College World Series.

But No. 1 national seed Arkansas, trying for a third straight appearance in super regionals, was forced into a winner-take-all game Monday night against Nebraska after losing 5-3 to the Cornhuskers.

Eight other regionals also will go to a second final, including LSU-Oregon. The Tigers beat the Ducks 4-1 to extend the career of active coaching wins leader Paul Mainieri for at least another day.

Mississippi State will play Campbell in the final in the weather-delayed regional at Starkville and would have to lose twice to be denied a fifth straight appearance in supers.

Teams advancing were No. 2 Texas (45-15), No. 3 Tennessee (48-16), No. 4 Vanderbilt (43-15), No. 5 Arizona (43-15), No. 8 Texas Tech (39-15), No. 10 Notre Dame (33-11) and No. 13 East Carolina (44-15).

Vanderbilt, the reigning national champion, beat Georgia Tech 14-11 in 11 innings. Isaiah Thomas’ grand slam in the top half broke a 9-all tie. Tech had tied it in the bottom of the ninth on Drew Compton’s two-out homer.

Notre Dame’s 14-2 win over Central Michigan capped a three-game run in which it hit 15 home runs, scored 50 runs and batted .404.

Carter Putz homered twice, including a grand slam, and Niko Kavadas went deep for the fifth time in the regional to lead the Irish to the supers for the first time since 2002, also the last time they reached the CWS.

Kavadas said he and his teammates are still upset they weren’t a top-eight national seed. The top eight play at home in the super regionals if they win their regionals. Kavadas said the snub provides fuel for what he assumes will be a series at Mississippi State.

Texas is in the super regionals for the second time since 2018 — there was no tournament last year because of COVID-19. The Longhorns beat Fairfield 12-2 behind Pete Hansen’s 13 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings

Fairfield, the small Jesuit university in Connecticut, earned national attention with its 27-0 start, and it entered the national tournament 37-3. With the Stags coming from the lightly regarded Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and having lost twice in their league tournament, there was some question whether they would be selected to the 64-team field.

The Stags were a No. 3 regional seed and blew a two-run ninth-inning lead in losing to Arizona State on Friday. The Stags beat Southern on Saturday, then knocked out the Sun Devils with a 9-7 win after erasing an early five-run deficit to reach the final.

Nebraska, which lost 5-1 to Arkansas on Friday, beat NJIT 18-4 on Sunday afternoon to set up the rematch with the Razorbacks. Griffin Everitt’s two-run single broke a 3-all tie in the fifth, and closer Spencer Schwellenbach pitched 4 2/3 innings of one-hit shutout ball.

LSU held Oregon without a hit over the final six innings, and Dylan Fontenot worked out of trouble in the ninth inning to preserve LSU’s win.

Joey Sprinkle’s first of two home runs broke a 2-all tie in the fifth and sophomore Jack Buckalew overcame some shaky defense early and went the distance in a 12-2 Regional semifinal victory over Tolono Unity in Class 2A boy’s high school baseball Regional semifinal action Friday from Tolono.

Hitting with one out in the fifth, Sprinkle sent a deep fly to right that looked at first like it would be playable for Gavin Moore in but thanks to a warm, southwest wind Friday, Sprinkle’s fly cleared the right field fence by a foot and put Monticello up for good.

Sprinkle would homer again in the seventh, propelling the Sages to a six-run inning that broke things open.

Buckalew started slow Friday, walking Dillon Rutledge to start the game. After Blake Kimball sacrificed  Rutledge to second, an uncharacteristic throwing error put runners at the corners and only one out. 

Tyler Hensch singled home Rutledge, then a routine flyball to shallow right field was dropped and the Rockets tacked on another run to make it 2-0.

But Buckalew came back to strike out the final two batters of the inning and rolled from there.

The sophomore set down 15 or 16 batters - the only base runner was Rutledge who was hit by a pitch in the second - before Hensch just missed a home run and doubled off the top of the center field fence with one out in the sixth inning. 

Buckalew struck out 11 in seven innings, allowing two hits and walking two.

Monticello was able to get to Hensch, who was almost equally as effective as Buckalew most of the afternoon, in the third when Biniam (bin-E-um) Leinhart (linn-heart) walked to start the inning and took second after catcher Brock Suding had trouble getting the ball out of his mitt. 

Tristan Foran, trying to sacrifice Leinhart to third, bunted up the third base line and beat out the throw to first, but Leinhart caught everyone off guard and sprinted home and slid across the plate without a throw to put the Sages on the board. 

But the hustle paid off again, when Edmondson grounded out to third, Foran, who stole second, broke from second on the throw across, the ensuing throw back across the diamond to third bounced in front of his headfirst slide, third baseman Damian Knoll couldn’t handle the short-hop and the ball ended up at the fence allowing Foran to easily cross the plate and tie the game at two. 

After Sprinkle’s big fly in the fifth, the Sages chased Hensch in the sixth when Andrew Rudolph drew a one-out walk, Hunter Williams singled to start the inning. 

Kimball replaced Hensch and Leinhart greeted the junior with a base hit to center field. A good throw from Rutledge kept Rudolph at third and loaded the bases for Foran, who roped a line drive into the right-center field gap, scoring all three runners. Foran was thrown out at third trying to stretch the double to a triple, but the three runs made it 6-2 Sages.

Sprinkle’s second home run of the game was a no-doubter punctuated by the junior’s bat flip as he watched the ball fly over the scoreboard in left.

Jared Lockmiller, Williams, and Edmondson added RBI hits later in the six-run seventh.

Sprinkle finished 2-for-5, Foran finished 2-for-4 and was hit by a pitch. Sophomore Jacob Trusner, who hit a home run in one of the Sages' two victories of Unity last week, continued his hot streaks with a 2-for-3 afternoon and walked twice. Leinhart finished 1-for-3 with a walk.

Monticello improves to 14-5 overall and has won ten in a row and has won 12 of their last 14. They’ll go for a Regional final Monday afternoon opposite Maroa-Forsyth in Forsyth. Hear the action starting at 4:30 pm on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.

As heard on WHOW, the Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers defeated the Argenta-Oreana Bombers by a score of 18-0 on Friday night. The Hilltoppers were led by Evan Cooper with the win on the mound. Cooper pitched 3 innings, let 4 hits, 0 runs, and 2 walks. Lucas Kuhlman was 2 for 2 batting with 4 RBIs. Drew Martin was 1 for 1 batting, with an RBI, and a homerun. 

The Bombers' Brock Lyerly took the loss on the mound. Lyerly let go of 5 hits, 10 runs, and 4 walks. Zach Kohler was 2 for 2 batting. 

With the win, the Hilltoppers improve to 17-1 overall and 7-0 in the conference. The Bombers fall to 4-13 overall to end their season. 

Tune in Monday June 7th as Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers moves on. You can hear the game live on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, at Amazon Alexa and on the WHOW mobile app.

Sydnee Evan was great in the circle tossing a complete game and the Blue Ridge Lady Knights used a five-run fourth inning to double up Lexington 6-3 in high school girl's softball Class 2A Regional semifinal action Thursday in Farmer City.  

Evan fanned 7 and walked none. Ashlyn Voyles started the five-run inning with an RBI double and Lexi Young broke it open with a 3 run double. 

Blue Ridge improves to 13-5 overall and advances to the Regional Championship at Meridian this afternoon at 4:30. 

Class 1A Regional softball scores from Thursday:

Arcola 3

Armstrong 1

Argenta-Oreana 3

Central A & M 1

Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond) 15

Champaign St. Thomas More 0

Meridian 2

Heyworth 1

Villa Grove 15

Okaw Valley 2

Class 2A Regional softball action from Thursday:

Bismarck-Henning 3

Tri-Valley 2

Bloomington Central Catholic 10

Watseka 0

Brimfield 3

Illinois Valley Central 5

Normal U-High 3

Paxton-Buckley-Loda 0

Pontiac 12

Prairie Central 5

Robinson 2 F-8

Shelbyville 6

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 11

Carlinville 0

St. Joseph-Ogden 16 F-4

Georgetown-Ridge Farm 1

Olympia 15 F-4

Spring Valley Hall 0

Unity 1

Westville 0

Tremont 10

El Paso-Gridley 0

Class 3A Regional Softball Action Thursday:

Mahomet-Seymour 0

Canton 4

Champaign Centennial 0

Urbana 5

Chatham-Glenwood 14

Taylorville 0

East Peoria 0

Bloomington 1

Metamora 17

Peoria Notre Dame 1

Mt. Zion 11

Rantoul 1

Rochester 18

Springfield Southeast 0

Washington 12 F-5

Dunlap 0

Class 4A Regional Softball action from Thursday:

Pekin 5

Normal Community 0

Class 3A Boy's Baseball Regional action Thursday:

Jacksonville 6

Rochester 3

Mattoon 1

Effingham 0

Washington 6

Metamora 2

As heard on WHOW, Yoan Moncada and Jake Lamb supplied the early power. Yasmani Grandal and Tim Anderson delivered late.

Lance Lynn came through with another solid start, and Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa moved into position to make a jump on baseball's career wins list.

Moncada and Lamb hit two of Chicago's four home runs, La Russa closed in on John McGraw for second place and the White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 4-1 on Thursday night.

Moncada and Lamb connected in the first two innings as Chicago grabbed a 2-0 lead. Grandal made it 3-1 with a 457-foot drive to right-center against Casey Mize.

Anderson added a solo shot in the eighth off Daniel Norris.

La Russa picked up career victory No. 2,762 to move within one of McGraw, and the White Sox won for the eighth time in 11 games.

Lynn (7-1) went six innings, allowing one run and four hits. The right-hander threw 89 pitches in improving to 6-0 in his past seven starts.

Aaron Bummer and Evan Marshall each worked an inning. Liam Hendriks came on in the ninth for his American League-leading 14th save in 16 chances, and the White Sox got their 12th win in 13 games against Detroit.

Willi Castro homered leading off the fifth, but the Tigers came up short after winning four of five. Mize (3-4) gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings.

Moncada, who entered on a 10-for-19 tear, gave the White Sox a 1-0 lead with two outs in the first. He drove a 1-2 splitter down and around the outside edge the opposite way into the left-field bullpen for his fifth home run.

Lynn got out of a bases-loaded jam in the second when he struck out Jake Rogers after giving up a two-out single to Niko Goodrum and walking the next two batters.

Lamb made it 2-0 in the bottom half when he crushed a long, two-out drive to right for his fourth homer.

The Tigers cut it to 2-1 when Castro drove the first pitch of the fifth beyond the right-field bullpen.

The four-game series continues with LHP Dallas Keuchel (4-1, 4.53 ERA) starting for Chicago and RHP Spencer Turnbull (4-2, 2.93) going for Detroit. Both pitchers are 3-0 in their past four starts, though Keuchel's ERA in that span is 5.82 while Turnbull's is 1.67. Turnbull pitched a no-hitter in Seattle last month.

Jesse Winker hit a two-run homer, Vladimir Gutierrez earned his first career win and the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Thursday night.

Gutierrez (1-1) pitched five innings of two-run ball, settling down nicely after a shaky start. He allowed three hits, struck out three and walked three in his second big league game.

Tejay Antone followed Gutierrez with two scoreless innings, and Lucas Sims got six outs for his fourth save.

St. Louis got two in the first on RBI singles by Tyler O'Neill and Yadier Molina. O'Neill extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games.

But Cincinnati went ahead to stay on Winker's 14th homer in the second, a drive to right against Adam Wainwright that traveled an estimated 425 feet.

Winker finished with three hits, and Nick Castellanos extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a first-inning single. Tucker Barnhart added an RBI double in the eighth.

Barnhart helped thwart a Cardinals rally in the ninth by pouncing on a Jose Rondon bunt and starting a 2-5-3 double play. After Paul Goldschmidt walked, putting runners on first and second, Tommy Edman struck out to end the game.

Wainwright (3-5) permitted three runs and eight hits in seven innings. He hit a career-high three batters, including Tyler Naquin with the bases loaded in the first.

The Cardinals lost for the fourth time in five games.

Wainwright got some help from his defense in the fifth when Dylan Carlson, Tommy Edman and Molina executed a perfect 8-4-2 putout on Tyler Stephenson as he tried to score on a Naquin double.

Reds right-hander Luis Castillo (1-8, 7.22 ERA) starts Friday night against Cardinals left-hander Kwang Hyun Kim (1-3, 3.65 ERA). Castillo is seeking his first win since April 7. Kim is making his fourth career start against Cincinnati after winning his first three outings.

Brandon Crawford homered and drove in four runs, Anthony DeSclafani pitched six solid innings and hit an RBI double, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs 7-2 on Thursday night.

Buster Posey and Alex Dickerson added two hits apiece to help the Giants win the opener of a four-game series between two of the hottest teams in the National League.

San Francisco has won seven of nine to improve to an NL-best 35-21.

Joc Pederson hit his fifth home run for the Cubs, who had won nine of 10 before losing in their first trip to the West Coast since 2019.

Crawford had an RBI single off starter Zach Davies in the second, then broke a 2-all tie with a three-run shot on a 3-0 pitch from reliever Rex Brothers in the fifth. Posey singled and Wilmer Flores walked before Crawford's sixth go-ahead home run this season.

A three-time Gold Glove winner at shortstop, Crawford also made a handful of defensive gems, including a barehand grab on Kris Bryant's roller in the third.

DeSclafani (5-2) allowed four hits and two runs with four strikeouts for his first win at home since April 26. He left after striking out the side in the sixth including Pederson, who was booed loudly by the Oracle Park crowd after repeatedly stepping out of the box.

Jarlin Garcia retired six batters and Zack Littell set down three to complete the five-hitter.

Pederson's fourth career home run off DeSclafani landed in McCovey Cove and put Chicago ahead 2-1 in the third.

DeSclafani tied it in the fourth with a double that sailed over Bryant in right field and one-hopped the wall. It came after a two-out fielding error by shortstop Javier Baez.

Davies (2-3) lost for the first time since April 16, allowing eight hits and four runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Jake Arrieta (5-5, 4.41 ERA) pitches for the Cubs on Friday having lost four of his previous six starts. Arrieta has allowed a home run in each of his last three visits to Oracle Park. The Giants had not announced a starter.

WHOW The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM and its many online platforms including dewittdailynews.com, the WHOW mobile and Amazon Alexa will be broadcasting postseason games for the Mt. Pulaski boy’s baseball team. 

The Hilltoppers, led by Coach Joel Washko, rolled through the postseason 16-1 overall and are MaxPreps' sixth-ranked team in Class 1A.

Mt. Pulaski hosts Argenta-Oreana in Regional semifinal action Friday afternoon starting at 4:30 pm.

WHOW’s Jared White will have the call Friday in Mt. Pulaski. 

The Hilltoppers suffered their first defeat at the hands of Fithian-Oakwood, 4-2. Mt. Pulaski beat the Bombers 4-1 back on May 12. 

Again, hear all the postseason action for the Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW and online at dewittdailynews.com, at the WHOW mobile app and at Amazon Alexa.

Marina Rohman threw seven scoreless innings and Maroa-Forsyth blanked Monticello 4-0 in semifinal Regional girl’s softball action Thursday in Forsyth.

Rohman worked out of trouble in the first, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings for the shutout. 

The Lady Sages best scoring chance came in the third when Addison Wallace walked with one out then Hannah Ubinger reached on an error when she tried to sacrifice Wallace up a base. The ensuing throw to first went high allowing Wallace to move up to third and the throw to third allowed Ubinger to take second.

But Mackenzie Daniels popped out to second and Lizzie Stiverson grounded out to end the threat.

After a long at-bat with Avery Oberheim in the second inning, Ella Mann roped a double to centerfield to score Payton Roberts who doubled to lead off the inning. 

Mann brought home the Lady Trojans' second run in the fourth inning with a groundout to shortstop. Jaden Corley doubled to start the inning. Roberts singled and took second on a throw home that kept Corley at second base, setting up first and second with nobody out. 

Zoey Clark fouled out to catcher Josie Nelson before Mann’s RBI groundout. Stiverson perhaps saved two runs scoring on the Mann groundout diving to her left and made a heads-up play to throw to first instead of try for the throw home. 

Oberheim looked like she was on her way out of trouble but Reese Tirpak singled to left setting up first and third with two outs. Kaylee Yost blooped a two-strike single to shallow right field to score both base runners, making the score the final 4-0. 

Corley, Roberts, and Mann all finished 2-for-3 for the Lady Trojans.

Stiverson finished 2-for-3 for the Lady Sages. The Lady Sages finish the season 15-15 overall.

Maroa-Forsyth travels to Tuscola for the Regional title tomorrow (Friday) afternoon.

In a game heard on WHOW, the Clinton Lady Maroons fell to the Tuscola Lady Warriors by a score of 4-0 on Thursday afternoon. B-Rok Designs Player of the Game Ashley Armstrong pitched 6 innings, gave up 4 runs, struck out 3, walked 1, and gave up 9 hits. Armstrong was 2 for 3 at the plate.

For Tuscola, senior Kaitlyn Reifsteck pitched 7 innings with no runs allowed, 2 hits allowed, struck out 13, and zero walks. Kendyl Ring was 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs, and 2 runs scored.

With the loss, the Lady Maroons end the season 3-14. Tuscola improves to 22-0 and host the Maroa-Forsyth Lady Trojans tomorrow, June 4 for the IHSA Class 2A Softball Regional Championship.

Clinton First Team All Central Illinois Conference lineman Cordell Workman has been selected to the annual Shriner's All-Star football game later this month.

The 6-foot-3 senior will be on the 'red' team paired with Monticello First Team All Illini Prairie Conference star Chris Brown.

Other selections on the 'Red Team' from area schools include Maroa-Forsyth's Wade Jostes and Bryson Boes, as well as Jackson Cook from Warrensburg-Latham.

Tuscola's Grant Hardwick and Hunter Hargrave were selected to the 'Blue team', as well as Villa Grove's Carson Howard. 

Other notable selections to the game were Brian Becker from Champaign Central, Jatron Bevly and Devin Hale from Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, Anthony Brown from Springfield High, Austin Bush and Hunter Dees from Chatham-Glenwood, Mitchell Gore from Dunlap, Drake Hawkins from Pekin High, Drew London and Ashton Summers from Mt. Zion, Timmy Malinowski from Washington, Tyler Rapp from Williamsville, Jonathan Thurman from Normal West, Matt Wagner from Bloomington Central Catholic, Kamden Wollard from IVC, Isaiah Chatman from GCMS, Jacob DuRocher from Rochester, Clay Hubble from Mahomet-Seymour, and Kaden King and Josh Woodrey from Prairie Central. 

The 47th Annual Illinois High School All-Star Football Game will be held at Tucci Stadium in Bloomington on Saturday, June 19th with kick-off at 11 am.

Savannah Clifton had four hits and Heidi Humble hit a two-run home run as Clinton rallied late to get past Fithian-Oakwood 9-6 in high school girl's softball Class 2A regional quarterfinal action Wednesday in Oakwood. 

Clifton doubled finishing the afternoon 4-for-4. 

Trailing 4-3 heading into the sixth inning, the Lady Maroons rallied for four runs and tacked on another two in the seventh. Brooke Reeves, Ashley Armstrong and Shay Mills each had two hits. Humble, Mills and Morgan Fortune each drove in a pair of runs. 

Armstrong went seven innings in circle for the Lady Maroons allowing six runs, four were earned, with zero walks, eight hits and struck out eight.

The Lady Maroons are 3-10 overall and travel to Tuscola this afternoon for a Regional semifinal matchup. Hear today's action on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, at Amazon Alexa and on the WHOW mobile app.

Connor Durham struck out 14 in seven complete innings as Argenta-Oreana shut down Blue Ridge 4-1 in Class 2A boy's baseball Regional quarterfinal action Wednesday in Argenta. 

Durham allowed a run on three hits with two walks in addition to his 14 strikeouts. Dirk Buhlig recorded the only RBI for the Bombers as the Knights committed three errors behind Dylan Kelley who allowed four runs, two were earned. Kelley allowed four hits, walked two and struck out one.

Cole Stephens, Victor Reynolds, and Kelley each went 1-for-3 for the Knights

Cooper Heckwine, Landon Lawson, and Zach Kohler each had hits for Argenta-Oreana.

The Bombers advance to take on Mt. Pulaski tomorrow afternoon in Regional semifinal action from Forsyth. 

The Knights finish their season 4-12 overall.

Class 1A Girl's softball regional quarterfinal action from Wednesday:

Broadlands-Heritage 5 F-5

Champaign St. Thomas More 15

Delavan 21

Springfield Calvary 6

Heyworth 14

Mt. Pulaski 0

Decatur St. Teresa 3

Central A & M 4

Class 2A girl's softball regional quarterfinal action Wednesday:

Georgetown-Ridge Farm 6

Cerro Gordo 1

Dee-Mack 5

El Paso-Gridley 10

Pana 6

Sullivan 0

Paxton-Buckley-Loda 3

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 2

Williamsville 10 (Semifinal Action)

Riverton 0

Class 3A girl's softball regional action from Wednesday:

Limestone 0 F-5

Bloomington 6

Champaign Centennial 18

Decatur Eisenhower 0

East Peoria 12

Morton 0

Galesburg 5

Peoria Notre Dame 8

Mahomet-Seymour 9

Lincoln 1

Taylorville 22

Springfield Lanphier 3

Springfield 10

Jacksonville0

Urbana 5

Champaign Central 0

Washington 14 F-5

Peoria Richwoods 1

Class 1A Boy's baseball Regional action from Wednesday:

Ridgeview 3

Lexington 4

Heyworth 15

Cerro Gordo 1

Pleasant Hill 0

Central A & M 10

Class 2A boy's baseball Regional action from Wednesday:

G.C.M.S. 10

Sullivan 0

As heard on WHOW, the Clinton Maroons fell to the Tri-Valley Vikings 5-4 on Wednesday night in Class 2A boy's baseball regional quarterfinal action from Downs. 

The Maroons were led by the B-Roc Designs Player of the Game Wes Harrold who was 2 for 3 with a run scored. Mason Walker was 2 for 4 with an RBI. Walker took the loss on the mound, giving up 1 hit, 1 run, and 2 walks.

The Vikings were led by Bryce Bloemer who was 2 for 3 with an RBI. Ty Knapp was 2 for 3 for Tri-Valley who advances to take on top-seeded Maroa-Forsyth tomorrow afternoon in Forsyth. 

With the loss, the Maroons fall to 3-11 overall and 3-11 in the conference. The Vikings improve to 11-10 overall and 7-5 in the conference. 

Javier Baez lined a two-run homer, Anthony Rizzo had two doubles among three hits and the surging Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 6-1 on Wednesday for their third straight win and ninth in 10 games.

Baez's shot to the left-field bleachers was his 14th homer and third in three games, and it capped a three-run seventh that allowed Chicago to put it away. Rizzo drove in two runs in the fifth with his first double to snap 1-1 tie and posted a second-straight multihit game after missing the previous six with back tightness.

The Cubs are looking more and more like a deep, offensively talented team that belongs in first place in the NL Central.

The Cubs homered eight times as they swept the Padres in a three-game set at Wrigley Field for the first time since May 2012. San Diego lost its fourth straight, its longest skid since last August.

The Padres also lost Kim Ha-seong and Tommy Pham to injury after they collided chasing a fly ball in the fourth inning.

Rizzo lined a pitch from Tim Hill to left-center beyond the glove of diving center fielder Jurickson Profar to put Chicago ahead 3-1 in the fifth.

Hill, a lefty, had entered to face the left-handed hitting Rizzo. He replaced Pierce Johnson (1-2) who was charged with the loss.

Adbert Alzolay (4-4) allowed one run on three hits and struck out seven in five innings for the win. Four Cubs relievers followed with four scoreless innings.

Kim drove in the Padres run. He started at shortstop in place of injured slugger Fernando Tatis Jr.

Moments before the collision between Kim and Pham, the Cubs tied it at 1 when Rizzo raced home on Eric Hosmer's error at first. Chicago then loaded the bases with one out on Eric Sogard's bloop single.

P.J. Higgins lofted a high pop to short left, where Pham and Kim ran into each other. The ball and both players dropped to the grass.

Kim popped up and threw to Manny Machado at third for a force on Rafael Ortega. Machado relayed it to Jake Cronenworth at second for a force on Sogard and an inning-ending double-play.

Zach Davies (2-2, 4.65) will take the mound versus Giants RHP Anthony DeSclafani (4-2, 3.56) in the opener of a four-game series in San Francisco on Thursday.

Cody Bellinger had a grand slam and tied a career high with six RBIs as the Dodgers scored 11 times in the bottom of the first - their most runs in one inning of a regular-season game since moving to Los Angeles - during a 14-3 blowout Wednesday night.

The victory enabled the Dodgers to take two of three from the Cardinals after dropping three of four to the rival Giants. The defending World Series champions are 33-23 and 1 1/2 games behind NL West-leading San Francisco as they embark on a six-game road trip.

Bellinger, who missed most of the first two months due to a hairline fracture in his right leg, led the onslaught with a franchise-record six RBIs in the inning. After Paul Goldschmidt homered to put St. Louis ahead 1-0, Bellinger's two-run single gave Los Angeles a 3-1 lead. Later in the first, he hit his sixth career slam, as his drive off Jake Woodford's fastball just cleared the wall and Justin Williams' glove in right field.

It was the first home run of the season for Bellinger, who came into the game 1 for 12 with eight strikeouts since he came off the injured list last Saturday.

The 11-run inning surpassed the previous Los Angeles mark of 10, which had been done at least four times, most recently in the first inning on April 25, 2008, at Colorado. It was the second time in less than a year the Dodgers had an 11-run first. They put up the same number in Game 3 of last year's NL Championship Series against Atlanta.

Mookie Betts had a season-high three hits, including two in the first. His bloop double led off the inning, and the Dodgers sent 14 batters to the plate. They didn't make an out until pitcher Walker Buehler struck out on a foul bunt. By that point, Los Angeles was up 6-1 and had benefited from a pair of St. Louis errors.

Zach McKinstry, who had a two-run single, Justin Turner and Betts also had RBIs in the inning. The Dodgers got seven of their 10 hits in the first and led 11-1 at the end of the inning.

St. Louis starter Carlos Martinez (3-5) went two-thirds of an inning. He faced 12 batters and was lifted when a walk to Turner loaded the bases. The right-hander allowed 10 runs on six hits with four walks and a strikeout in the second-shortest start of his career.

Buehler (4-0) went six innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts. The right-hander also delivered a two-run double in the fourth to extend Los Angeles' advantage to 13-2.

Dylan Carlson had two hits for St. Louis, including a solo home run in the fifth. The Cardinals went 5-5 on the first of three 10-game road trips this season.

Bellinger's six RBIs in the first inning surpassed the five Jeff Kent (2005), Matt Kemp (2008) and Dusty Baker (1977) had for the Dodgers during a single inning.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the Dodgers scored 11 or more runs in an inning in a regular-season game was Aug. 8, 1954, when Brooklyn had 13 in the eighth inning of a 20-7 win over Cincinnati.

The last time they scored at least 11 runs in the first inning of a regular-season game was when they put up 15 on May 21, 1952, also against the Reds.

It was also the most runs scored in an inning in a regular-season major league game since the Atlanta Braves had 11 in the second against the Miami Marlins on Sept. 9, 2020.

The last time the Cardinals allowed a double-digit inning was the second inning on April 13, 2000, against Colorado, when the Rockies scored 10.

Corey Seager will accompany the team on its upcoming road trip as he continues to rehab from a broken right hand that put him on the 10-day injured list May 16.

Adam Wainwright (3-4, 4.22 ERA) gets the assignment as St. Louis begins a four-game series against Cincinnati on Thursday. Wainwright has a 10-14 career mark against the Reds.

The Cleveland Indians postponed Wednesday's game against the Chicago White Sox because of rain.

The teams will play a split doubleheader on Sept. 23.

The Indians had been given permission by the state of Ohio to return to full capacity at Progressive Field starting Wednesday. Cleveland's next home game is June 11 against Seattle.

Chicago leads Cleveland by 2 1/2 games in the AL Central. The teams split a doubleheader Monday with the White Sox winning the first game 8-6 in eight innings and the Indians taking the second game 3-1. Cleveland hung on for a 6-5 win Tuesday.

The rainout comes at an opportune time for both teams. Chicago played a doubleheader Saturday against Baltimore while Cleveland had a doubleheader Sunday against Toronto.

The White Sox were scheduled to pitch ace right-hander Lance Lynn (6-1, 1.37 ERA) on three days' rest against the Indians. Chicago opens a four-game series at home against Detroit on Thursday.

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur says All-Pro offensive tackle David Bakhtiari is “a little bit ahead of schedule” in his recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament that ended his 2020 season prematurely.

Bakhtiari, 29, injured his left knee at a Dec. 31 practice and didn’t play the remainder of the season. He was working out with other players rehabilitating from injuries during the Packers workout on Wednesday as part of organized team activities.

LaFleur said it was encouraging to see Bakhtiari on the practice field, but noted it was too early to tell whether he will be ready for the start of the season.

Bakhtiari earned All-Pro honors last season despite missing four games because of injuries. He missed three games with broken ribs before suffering the knee injury.

He also was an All-Pro in 2018 and was a second-team selection in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

The 2013 fourth-round draft pick from Colorado signed a four-year contract worth up to $105.5 million with a $30 million signing bonus in November.

The Packers announced they have signed first-round draft pick Eric Stokes, a cornerback from Georgia who was taken 29th overall. Wide receiver Amari Rodgers, a third-round pick from Clemson, is the only Packers draft choice who remains unsigned.

Shelbyville rolled to a 15-0, four-inning win over Clinton Tuesday in Central Illinois Conference boy's baseball action.

Ethan Clark paced the Rams' offense with two hits, including a double.

Alex Hawkins pitched four scoreless innings of two-hit ball. He struck out four.

The Maroons are 3-10 overall while Shelbyville improves to 18-2. 

The Maroons finished the regular season this afternoon at Tri-Valley.

Hannah Ubinger recorded two of Monticello's four hits but the Lady Sages could not break through as they lost 10-0 to Pontiac Tuesday afternoon in Illini Prairie Conference girl's softball action in Pontiac.

The Lady Indians poured it on early with a seven-run third inning.

It was the second defeat to Pontiac in as many days fro the Lady Sages.

Monticello finishes the regular season 8-10 overall. They travel to Forsyth to take on Maroa-Forsyth in Regional semi-final action. Hear Thursday's action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. First pitch is 4:30 pm.

Jake Edmondson's first-inning two-run home run was one of our Monticello hits and was enough run support as the Sages finished the regular season with a 2-0 win over Pontiac in Illini Prairie Conference boy's baseball action Tuesday from Pontiac.

Luke Teschke, Cole Smith, and Tristan Foran combined to shut out the Indians and allowed just one hit.

Teschke struck out three and Smith struck out one as each threw three innings. Foran closed the door on the ballgame with a scoreless 7th inning.

Joey Sprinkle doubled, Logan Chupp and Jacob Trusner recorded hits for the Sages and Andrew Rudolph walked twice.

The Sages finished the regular season on a nine-game winning streak and won 11 of their final 13 games finishing 13-5 overall.

Monticello will now head to the postseason where they begin play at Tolono Unity Friday afternoon in Regional semifinal action. Hear Friday's action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. First pitch is 4:30 pm.

Sydnee Evans was helped by her hitters pounding out 14 hits along the way to her 6th win as Blue Ridge outlasted Villa Grove 11-8 in Lincoln Prairie Conference girl's softball action Tuesday.

Evans went the distance fanning six and allowed six earned runs. She also added 3 hits and an RBI at the plate. 

Ashlyn Voyles led the offensive attack with a pair of three-run doubles. Lexi Young and Avery Place both continued their hot hitting with two hits each. 

The Lady Knights finish off the regular season 12-5 overall. They'll turn their attention to the 1A postseason when they travel to Lexington Thursday afternoon for a Regional semifinal matchup starting at 4:30 pm.

Oakwood handed the Mt. Pulaski Hilltoppers its first loss of the season with a 4-2 win Tuesday in non-conference boy's baseball action from Mt. Pulaski High School.

Gavin Smith allowed three runs, one was earned in just 1 2/3 innings. Smith walked five allowing the Comets to get off to a quick start. 

Isaiah Ruch pitched six innings of two-run ball, stifling a high-powered Hilltoppers offense. Ruch struck out eight, walked three, and allowed five hits. 

Hilltoppers pitchers did not allow an extra-base hit but were done in by 10 walks. Dylan Bensyl finished 2-for-3 with a walk and drove in a run. Matthew Miller and Josh Young drove in runs for Fithian-Oakwood. 

Drew Martin hit a solo home run for the Hilltoppers finishing 2-for-3. Mt. Pulaski is now 16-1. 

Mt. Pulaski now turns its attention to postseason play where they will host a Regional semifinal matchup Friday opposite the winner of today's matchup between Argenta-Oreana and Blue Ridge. 

As heard on WHOW, AL MVP Jose Abreu grounded out with the bases loaded to blunt a ninth-inning rally against Cleveland closer James Karinchak, giving Shane Bieber and the Indians a 6-5 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.

Bieber (6-3) allowed two earned runs in seven innings, striking out seven to beat the AL Central-leading White Sox for the fifth straight time. The reigning Cy Young winner is 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA in three starts against Chicago this season.

Down 6-3 in the ninth, Chicago scored twice as Zack Collins and Nick Madrigal hit RBI singles off Karinchak. A walk to Yoan Moncada loaded the bases for Abreu, who grounded out to shortstop to give Karinchak his seventh save.

Austin Hedges' two-run homer off Dylan Cease (3-2) landed on the porch in left field and gave the Indians a 5-3 lead in the fourth, scoring Bradley Zimmer.

Jose Ramirez's second double of the evening drove in Amed Rosario later in the frame, charging Cease with all six runs in 3 1/3 innings. Ramirez was removed from the game in the eighth as a precaution due to dehydration.

Harold Ramirez had two hits with two RBIs and a stolen base for Cleveland, which has won two in a row to pull within 2 1/2 games of Chicago.

The White Sox went up 3-2 on an unusual play in the second when Billy Hamilton scored after doubling home Jake Lamb and Zack Collins. Hamilton never stopped running, taking third on a throw and scoring on Hedges' fielding error at the plate.

Josh Naylor and Harold Ramirez gave the Indians a 2-0 lead in the first with back-to-back RBI singles.

ance Lynn (6-1, 1.37 ERA) has the top ERA in the AL among pitchers with 50 innings, but is 2 1/3 innings shy of qualifying for the official league lead.

Jean Carlos Mejia (1-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his first big league start after three relief outings. RHP Eli Morgan was initially scheduled to pitch the series finale.

Willson Contreras hit a go-ahead homer, Patrick Wisdom went deep for the third time in two games and the surging Cubs beat San Diego 4-3 on Tuesday night after Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. left with an injury.

Tatis exited because of right oblique tightness. He hit a fly to left field in the sixth inning and was replaced at shortstop in the bottom half by Ha-Seong Kim.

The NL Central-leading Cubs are feeling good about themselves after winning for the eighth time in nine games. They secured a series victory against one of baseball's top teams and put themselves in position to complete a three-game sweep.

Patrick Wisdom, who homered twice in Monday's win, and Contreras each hit a long two-run drive against Ryan Weathers (2-2).

Wisdom sent one to the back of the left-field bleachers in the second inning. Contreras put Chicago back on top 4-3 with a 445-foot shot to center in the fifth after former Cub Victor Caratini and Tommy Pham homered against Kyle Hendricks (6-4) in the top half.

Rizzo singled twice for Chicago after missing the previous six games because of back tightness. Kris Bryant went 0 for 4, snapping his 13-game hitting streak.

Hendricks won his fourth straight start. The right-hander went six innings, allowing three runs and seven hits.

Ryan Tepera and Andrew Chafin each pitched a scoreless inning. Craig Kimbrel struck out all three batters in the ninth for his 13th save in 15 chances, delighting the crowd of 24,824.

The three-game series wraps up Wednesday with Adbert Alzolay (3-4, 3.81 ERA) starting for Chicago against RHP Dinelson Lamet (1-0, 2.57). Alzolay pitched scoreless ball into the sixth inning of a win over Cincinnati on Friday. Lamet went three innings, allowing two runs, in San Diego's 10-3 victory at Houston last week.

Edmundo Sosa hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning, Tyler O'Neill made a running catch for the final out and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 Tuesday night.

It was a rewarding victory for the Cardinals, who found out before the game that Jack Flaherty, their ace right-hander, will be sidelined for a while due to what manager Mike Shildt termed a ''significant'' oblique injury.

O'Neill led off the ninth with a single against Blake Treinen (1-2) and stole second base. He scored when Sosa hit a sharp grounder into left field. Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was playing in near the infield grass and was unable to get a glove on the ball.

The Dodgers had a chance in the ninth after pinch-hitter Yoshi Tsutsugo drew a two-out walk and advanced to second on Cody Bellinger's single. Mookie Betts then lined a ball to the warning track in left, but O'Neill made a leaping grab to give Alex Reyes his 16th save.

John Gant threw six shutout innings, but the right-hander did not factor in the decision after Matt Beaty's two-run homer in the seventh off Giovanny Gallegos (3-1) tied it.

Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson each had two hits and made great defensive plays in the sixth.

Edman made a leaping catch at second base to snag Max Muncy's line drive that had a hit probability of 91% according to MLB Statcast.

With runners on second and third, Carlson prevented Gavin Lux from tying the game when he made a sliding catch in center to end the inning.

St. Louis began the game with three straight hits off starter David Price. Edman led off with a double, advanced to third on a single by Carlson and scored when Paul Goldschmidt lined a ball into the corner in left field for a ground-rule double.

The Cardinals tacked on another run in the second when Carlson ended Price's night with a two-out single to drive in Jose Rondon.

The Dodgers finally broke through in the seventh to tie it. Albert Pujols drew a one-out walk before being lifted for a pinch-runner. Beaty then drove Gallegos' slider over the wall in right for his second home run of the homestand.

Gant allowed four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. It was only the second no-decision for the right-hander in his last nine starts.

arlos Martinez (3-4, 4.22 ERA) carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his last start on May 27 at Arizona before Ketel Marte broke it up with a single. Dodgers RHP Walker Buehler (3-0, 2.66) is 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his past four starts.

Pontiac scored a run in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 6 but the Monticello Sages answered in the bottom half of the inning to walk-off the Indians 7-6 in Illini Prairie Conference boy's baseball action on Memorial Day Monday in Monticello.

Joey Sprinkle recorded three hits and four runs batted, Cole Smith walked three times as Monticello won for the eighth straight game and tenth time in their last 12.

The Sages will finish the regular season this afternoon at Pontiac. They then head to Tolono Unity for a Regional semifinal match-up on Friday. Hear Friday's action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

Monticello is 12-5 on the season.

Addison Masching recorded three hits and Makayla Metz allowed a run pitching into the sixth inning as Pontiac rolled Monticello 9-1 in Illini Prairie Conference girl's softball action from Monticello on Memorial Day Monday.

Masching and Peyton Trost drove in three runs apiece for the Lady Indians. Metz struck out three in 5 2/3 innings and Masching closed the door with 1 1/3 innings of relief. 

Alyssa Fox and Bailey Masching had three hits as well for Pontiac.

Leah Neef, Josie Nelson, and Mackenzie Daniels drew walks for the Lady Sages who fall to 15-13. Monticello wraps up the regular season this afternoon in Pontiac. 

They will quickly turn to Regional play Thursday with a Regional semifinal matchup on Thursday at Moroa-Forsyth. Hear Thursday's action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

As heard on WHOW, Adam Eaton hit a two-run homer and Jose Abreu had a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to give the Chicago White Sox their fourth straight win, 8-6 over the Cleveland Indians in the first game of a holiday doubleheader Monday.

Indians starter Triston McKenzie struck out a club-record eight straight hitters, two short of the major league record set by Hall of Famer Tom Seaver in 1970.

Eaton, who returned to the lineup after missing several games with a tight hamstring, followed Abreu's fly with his fifth homer, a shot to right-center off James Karinchak (2-2).

Chicago starter Carlos Rodon recovered after allowing back-to-back homers in the first inning and hung around for six. He pitched a no-hitter - one of six in the majors this season - against the Indians on April 14.

Codi Heuer (4-1) pitched the seventh and Aaron Bummer gave up one run in the eighth before getting his first save.

The Indians played their second consecutive seven-inning doubleheader after splitting two with Toronto on Sunday.

McKenzie set a club record for consecutive strikeouts and Cesar Hernandez homered twice but also had two errors for the Indians.

After giving up four runs in the second, McKenzie was almost unhittable.

The right-hander, recently sent down to the minors to work on his control, struck out Abreu to end the third and then fanned the side in the fourth and fifth to tie the team's previous consecutive strikeout record held by Corey Kluber (2014).

McKenzie broke it by striking out Jake Lamb to open the sixth before giving up a single to Yoan Moncada and being pulled. The 23-year-old was given a roaring ovation as he walked to the Indians' dugout after his strong outing.

Bryan Shaw's two wild pitches and Hernandez's second error helped the White Sox take a 5-4 lead in the sixth.

But the Indians tied it when Bradley Zimmer beat out a two-out infield single and Josh Naylor scored. Cleveland got the go-ahead run to third but Rodon struck out Hernandez on his 85th and final pitch, a fastball clocked at 99 mph.

Any thoughts of Rodon throwing another gem against the Indians were over quickly as Hernandez connected on his first pitch - the shot to left was initially ruled a double and overturned - and Amed Rosario followed with a homer into the left-field bleachers.

It was the first time Cleveland had opened the game with consecutive homers since Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley did it in 2018.

Zack Collins hit a two-run double in the second off McKenzie and a third run scored on the play when Hernandez dropped the relay throw.

The White Sox scored their fourth run with two outs when Tim Anderson stayed alive in a rundown between first and second long enough for Collins to sprint home from third before the final out was recorded.

Jose Ramirez's two-run homer and a solid start by reliever Cal Quantrill led Cleveland to a 3-1 win over the Chicago White Sox on Monday, giving the Indians their second straight split of a seven-inning doubleheader in two days.

Ramirez connected for his 13th homer in the third inning off Jimmy Lambert (0-1) to break a 1-1 tie as the Indians, who rallied to win Game 2 on Sunday against Toronto, got back the game they dropped earlier to the AL Central-leading White Sox.

The back-to-back doubleheaders - necessitated by a postponement on Saturday- put a strain on Cleveland's pitching. But while it was tough, it could have been so much harder if not for Major League Baseball changing the doubleheader format last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Quantrill made his first start in 2021 after 17 relief appearances and held the White Sox to one run and four hits over 3 2/3 innings. The right-hander didn't pitch long enough to be credited with the win, but he kept Chicago in check while the Indians figured out Lambert, who was making his first career start.

In the third, Amed Rosario beat out a single to short right with one out, taking second when White Sox second baseman Nick Madrigal's throw nearly went into the Chicago dugout.

Then, Ramirez, who seems to come up with a big hit every other day, belted a 3-1 changeup from Lambert over the wall in right.

Phil Maton (1-0) gave up a leadoff double in the sixth before striking out Abreu and Eaton. Emmanuel Clase allowed a single and struck out the side in the seventh for his ninth save.

Michael Kopech went on the 10-day injured list before the opener with a strained left hamstring. Kopech is 2-0 with a 1.78 ERA in three starts and 13 games.

Indians ace Shane Bieber (5-3) allowed just one hit and struck out 12 in his previous start. He'll face Chicago's Dylan Cease (3-1).

Illinois DH Justin Janas won the 2021 Big Ten regular season batting title with an average of .391 this season. Janas also led the conference with an on-base percentage of .506.

Janas finished the year hitting .391/.506/.449 (54-for-138), with six doubles, a triple, 28 RBI and 32 runs scored. His .391 batting average ranked 29th in the country and his 54 hits were a team best.

Illinois has had the Big Ten regular season batting champion the last three full seasons. INF Grant Van Scoy won the 2019 Big Ten regular season batting title when he posted a .347 average and INF Bren Spillane won in 2018 after hitting .389 during his National Player of the Year campaign.

>>NCAA Tournament Field Set

Arkansas was rewarded for its dominant run through the Southeastern Conference, landing the No. 1 national seed in the NCAA baseball tournament.

The Razorbacks (46-10) won all 10 of their SEC series and wrapped up their first conference tournament championship on Sunday. After losing three straight games in March, the Hogs never lost consecutive games. This is the third tournament in a row that Arkansas has been a top-eight national seed.

The 64-team tournament opens Friday in 16 regionals.

The top eight national seeds are assured of hosting super regionals if they win their regionals. The national seeds following Arkansas: Texas (42-15), Tennessee (45-16), Vanderbilt (40-15), Arizona (40-15), TCU (40-17), Mississippi State (40-15) and Texas Tech.

Javy Baez and Patrick Wisdom each homered twice, helping Kohl Stewart and the Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 7-2 on Monday.

The 28-year-old Baez talked openly last year about how much he missed playing in front of fans during the pandemic-shortened season. With Wrigley allowed to host 60% of its capacity at the moment, producing a charged crowd of 24,824 for the series opener against Fernando Tatis Jr. and the Padres, Baez soaked in the atmosphere once again.

Pressed into action after Trevor Williams had an appendectomy Sunday morning, Stewart pitched five innings of one-run ball in his first major league win since July 21, 2019, for Minnesota against Oakland. Stewart (1-0) opted out of last season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kris Bryant also went deep as Chicago capped a 19-8 May with its seventh win in eight games.

Bryant went 2 for 4 while extending his hitting streak to 13 games, one shy of his career high.

San Diego dropped to 4-4 on its 10-game road trip. Tatis hit his 16th homer and Wil Myers drove in a run, but that was it for the Padres.

Chris Paddack was tagged for five runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings in his first loss since April 27. The right-hander struck out six and walked one.

Baez committed a throwing error in the second that set up Myers' RBI single. But he atoned for the miscue in the third, crushing a massive drive that traveled an estimated 455 feet.

Baez took a good long look as his 12th homer soared over the wall in center. He added a solo shot in the seventh, leading to the curtain call.

Bryant's two-run shot in the fifth lifted the Cubs to a 5-1 lead and obliterated a fan's beer when he tried to catch the ball with his cup before it landed in the basket in right. Wisdom connected for solo drives in the fourth and sixth in his first career multihomer game.

Manny Machado returned to the starting lineup after resting on Sunday. The slugger has been dealing with a sore left shoulder.

Anthony Rizzo was out of the starting lineup for the sixth consecutive game because of back tightness. But Rizzo took some swings and fielded grounders before the matchup with the Padres.

OFs Jason Heyward (left hamstring strain) and Jake Marisnick (right hamstring strain) also worked out on the field.

Left-hander Ryan Weathers (2-1, 1.31 ERA) and right-hander Kyle Hendricks (5-4, 4.63 ERA) pitch on Tuesday night. Weathers tossed four scoreless innings for San Diego in a no-decision at Milwaukee on Thursday. Hendricks is coming off a strong May for Chicago, going 4-1 with a 2.67 ERA in five starts.