The Winnipeg Jets completed a late-game comeback for the ages to finish the first round.
For the first time in the series between the St. Louis Blues and the Jets, overtime was required. In fact, these teams needed two overtimes to decide a winner.
This game almost didn’t make it to overtime – and that might be an understatement.
The Jets were down 3-1 with two minutes remaining in the third period, but a late goal from Vladislav Namestnikov and a last-moment deflection by Cole Perfetti gave them a chance to win the series and advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Both these goals came with Jets’ goalie Connor Hellebuyck pulled. Namestnikov’s goal came from a shot from the right side of the ice, and it deflected off a Blues defenseman before jumping past St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington. With that goal, the Whiteout in Canada Life Centre was brought back to life.
Winnipeg continued to apply offensive pressure on St. Louis’ defense and goaltender. Eventually, all their chances and offensive-zone time paid off in the dying seconds of the frame.
Perfetti, who already had a power-play goal earlier in the game, saved the Jets from elimination. The 23-year-old was in the right place at the right time, deflecting home a shot from left winger Kyle Connor. The goal with 1.6 seconds left was the latest equalizer in NHL playoff history. Perfetti has three goals and five points in this series.
In addition to playing over four-and-a-half periods of hockey, the Jets were undermanned for most of the game because D-man Josh Morrissey left early in the first period with an undisclosed injury. They already didn't have Mark Scheifele available to play this game.
Defenseman Neal Pionk played a game-high 46:15 of ice time as a result and finished the game with the game-winning assist on the Lowry goal.
This victory for Winnipeg comes one day after another Western Conference series had a dramatic ending.
The Mets pounded out 20 his on Sunday, tallying 10 in each game of Sunday’s doubleheader in St. Louis. But while the hits were numerous (as were the walks, 13 in total), the big, timely knock never came as they left 22 men on base and went 6-for-26 with runners in scoring position in a pair of one-run defeats.
“We hit a lot of balls hard,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the Game 2 defeat. “Yeah, it’s frustrating, but it’s baseball, I guess. Didn’t go our way.”
The Cardinals, of course, also had 20 hits across the twin bill, and left 20 on base while going 5-for-17 with runners in scoring position. But the sweep eases any postgame agita.
To add to the Mets' frustration was the number of balls hit on the button that didn't result in hits, as they had just five hits (all singles) on 12 balls with exit velocities over 100 mph in Game 2. The other seven went for eight outs.
“We had chances and hit balls hard, they just didn’t go our way,” Mendoza said.
The notable hard-luck moments: Brandon Nimmo’s 107 mph lineout to right left the bases loaded in the fourth (.630 expected batting average). And Juan Soto getting a three-run home run pulled back by Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott earlier that same inning.
“I thought it was out,” Soto said of the 408-foot flyout. “Definitely hit it hard enough to go out.”
Before Scott's intervention, the ball would have been a homer in 13 of 30 big league parks, but not Citi Field. Soto just missed leaving the yard in the sixth when he took one the other way, but it was caught in the middle of the track for a 349-foot out. A dinger in seven parks, but not St. Louis.
“I think we did a really good job of getting guys on,” Soto said, “unfortunately, we couldn’t come through with the big base hit.”
“That’s how baseball goes sometimes,” Mendoza said. “It could be a little frustrating, but there’s nothing you could do about it. You gotta keep doing what we’re supposed to be doing, which is control the strike zone [and] hitting balls hard.
“Yes, we want to win series, we want to win games. WE gotta turn the page and be ready for a series in Arizona.”
The only ball hit in Marte's direction during his four innings in right field landed well over his head in the Cardinals' bullpen for a two-run home run. So when he was removed from the second game of Sunday's doubleheader for the bottom of the fifth inning, there was concern.
But Mendoza said this was "part of the plan."
“He was only gonna go no more than five innings on defense after not playing since spring training,” he said. “We knew we wanted to get Soto off his feet and it was a good opportunity for Marte today, but he’s fine.”
While Marte in his first innings of the year in right field (with Soto serving as DH for the first time of the year) was a mere spectator, at the plate, he had two singles in his first two times up to bat, the second scoring a pair of runs in the Mets' four-run third. Marte also stole second base for his 357th career steal in the second inning.
He grounded out in his final at-bat to start the fifth to finish the day 2-for-3 with two RBI.
The club had been taking it slow with Marte throughout the year in an attempt to keep him fresh and healthy after he dealt with numerous injuries in his last three seasons.
The Mets lost Jesse Winker in Game 1 of the twin bill with a possible oblique injury. Winker, making his first start in left field of the year, apparently suffered the injury when he made a throw home in the bottom of the third.
Mendoza said after the Game 2 loss that Winker was returning to New York for additional testing and would likely land on the IL.
The Mets didn’t have a chance for the closer to earn a save Sunday, but Mendoza still got Diaz into action in Game 2 to end a run of eight days of inaction for the right-hander.
Diaz surrendered a single on the first pitch he threw and a two-out double down the right field line, but kept the deficit at one run.
He threw 14 pitches to the five batters he faced, with a strikeout. He threw nine fastballs with an average velocity of 97.7 mph, which was 1.4 mph faster than his yearly average. His slider average velocity was also up 0.6 mph to 88.8. He had two whiffs and three called strikes.
Dodgers pitcher Dustin May delivers in the first inning of a 4-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. (Mike Stewart / Associated Press)
Dustin May knew how key his sweeper would be this season.
“It’s going to be huge,” the Dodgers right-hander said earlier this spring. “Being able to land that is probably going to be my biggest thing for the whole year.”
Lately, however, he’s learning there’s a flip side to that coin, as well.
For as good as May’s Frisbee-esque breaking ball looked, when he returned from a nearly two-year absence by giving up just two earned runs in his first three starts, the pitch has been more inconsistent in the three outings since, dragging May’s overall performance down with it.
In a 4-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday at Truist Park, it was two bad sweepers — both to Braves slugger Austin Riley — that sank May on a night the Dodgers saw their seven-game winning streak stopped.
In the first inning, May had two strikes against Riley before throwing a sweeper up and over the plate. Riley launched it to left for a two-run homer.
In the third, May tried his sweeper again against Riley, throwing it over the outer edge of the plate in a 1-and-1 count. But Riley was on it once more, belting another two-run blast that gave the Braves an early 4-0 lead.
“It's pretty frustrating,” May said. “Giving up two homers to him on kind of the same pitch, not really how I drew it up.”
Outside of those pitches, May was largely effective. He got through 5 ⅔ innings. He struck out six batters. He didn’t give up any other runs.
“I thought the execution was a little better tonight,” May said. “Being able to put the ball on the inner-half and outer-half of the plate.”
But for this new version of May — who, in search of better health after two major elbow surgeries, has dialed back on his fastball velocity and drastically dropped the arm angle of his already somewhat side-arm delivery — even a couple of misplaced mistakes can spell trouble.
“I mean, ideally, the first one [should have been] more off the plate, definitely not up,” May said. “The second one was OK, just too much plate.”
The Dodgers (23-11) still made it interesting at the end.
Max Muncy trimmed the deficit in half on a fourth-inning RBI double and a sixth-inning run-scoring groundout.
Miguel Rojas came off the bench in the sixth inning as a pinch-hitter for ice-cold outfielder Michael Conforto — who struck out twice and is six for 73 going back to early April — and hit a home run off left-handed reliever Dylan Lee to cut the score to 4-3.
Teoscar Hernández hits a single in the third inning for the Dodgers against the Braves on Sunday. (Mike Stewart / Associated Press)
But in the ninth, the Dodgers couldn’t complete the comeback, stranding pinch-runner Hyeseong Kim at third base after he stole second off Braves closer Raisel Iglesias and boldly dashed to third when a dropped third strike was thrown to first base.
"That was great. That was exciting,” Roberts said of Kim’s aggressive baserunning, one of the tools that attracted the club to the South Korean utilityman in free agency. “Those are things that, as he plays more and we start to learn more [about him], just shows that he's got really good instincts."
Still, for a banged-up Dodgers rotation looking for someone else to step up alongside staff ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, May’s recent regression has been the bigger disappointment.
In his last three outings, the 27-year-old has yielded 14 runs in 16 innings.
And each time, an inability to consistently land his sweeper has served as a source of frustration.
Two weeks ago, when an overall lack of command led to May getting knocked around at Wrigley Field by the Chicago Cubs, he was asked how difficult it is to be successful when that pitch isn’t working.
“I think you can see how important it is,” he said that night.
May remained dissatisfied after giving up three runs to the Miami Marlins last Monday.
“I still wasn’t executing very well at all,” he said then. “I just got away with some stuff.”
On Sunday against the Braves, it was a similar story — May looking frustrated with himself after two poorly executed sweepers, both of which were followed by Riley trotting around the bases.
“Ups and downs,” May said of his opening month, in which he has a 4.36 earned-run average in six outings. “Couple good moments. Couple really bad ones. Definitely need to be more consistent.”
Especially when it comes to executing his sweeper, and using it as a weapon to put hitters away.
Lancashire bowler Tom Bailey was left red-faced after a mobile phone slipped out of his pocket while batting during the ongoing County Championship match against Gloucestershire at Old Trafford.
CHICAGO (AP) — Thirty months after his last appearance, Lance McCullers Jr. finally made it back to the mound in a major league game.
The 31-year-old McCullers started Sunday for the Houston Astros and threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings in his first outing since Game 3 of the 2022 World Series in Philadelphia. McCullers had surgery in June 2023 to repair his right flexor tendon and to remove a bone spur. Then he was shut down after a setback last year.
He kept the Chicago White Sox off the scoreboard in his first game back, allowing three hits and three walks with four strikeouts. The Astros lost 5-4 in a game shortened to seven innings by rain.
“I was happy with the overall stuff. Physically, I felt strong through the game,” McCullers told reporters. “Very grateful to just be back out with the team and be an active member.”
McCullers stranded runners on second and third in the first inning and pitched out of a bases-loaded situation in the second. After a 1-2-3 third, he got two outs in the fourth but also allowed a double and a walk. He was taken out after 87 pitches.
“A lot of foul balls, a lot of high-stress moments there, but I think he pitched out of them,” Espada said. “So he’ll get ready for the next one.”
McCullers is 49-32 with a 3.46 ERA in his career, which has been entirely with Houston. He went 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA in 2021, the last time he pitched anything resembling a full season.
If he can regain that level, the right-hander can obviously help the Astros.
“It has been a very long road for me. It’s been a grind to get back to this point,” McCullers said. “I know that I have to do a better job of controlling the pitch count and getting quick outs and things like that, but from where I’ve come from over the last couple years, especially where I was early this offseason, I would lie to you guys if I didn’t say I was pretty proud of myself.”
The Mets had chances early, but couldn’t find the big hit and let an early two-run lead slip away for a 5-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader.
Tylor Megill labored through five innings of work in his worst outing of the young season, as the Mets dropped two one-run games to close out the series in St. Louis.
Missed opportunities early proved harmful: New York was 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position, left nine on base, and hit into two double plays in the first five innings. The Mets, after scoring all their runs in the third, had just one base runner in the final four frames.
Here are the key takeaways...
- The second game of the twin bill started with a pair of twin killings as Pete Alonso smashed a ball (112.7 mph) for a tough-luck 5-4-3 in the first and Brandon Nimmo bounced into an easy 4-6-3 in the second.
Alonso made up for it with a run-scoring single to left (his 31st RBI of the year) with one out in the third. The first baseman’s single was the Mets’ seventh ball hit harder than 97 mph of the game and their sixth hit off St. Louis starter Andre Pallante.
Nimmo, with the bases loaded, got beat by a Pallante up and in fastball for the second out. Starling Marte, on a 3-2 count, took a lazy breaking pitch the other way for a two-run single to put the Mets ahead. Francisco Alvarez tacked on another run by shooting the ball the other way for his seventh RBI of the season.
- Nimmo got another chance with the bases loaded in the fourth, and lined a shot to right, but Jordan Walker made a stumbling catch on the run to end the inning without a run. The 107 mph shot had an expected batting average of .630, per Statcast. Nimmo finished the day 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- After a five-pitch first, Megill got beat with an infield single by Nolan Arenado on a slow roller to third before Alec Burleson took a fastball up and over the plate deep to right for a 402-foot two-run shot.
The right-hander bounced back, getting the next three batters with two strikeouts. But he walked Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn with one out in the third, and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner was out for a visit. Megill got a pair of grounders, but on the second one, Vientos’ throw was in the dirt and Alonso couldn’t scoop it. The play was ruled a second Arenado infield hit, but just as easily could have been ruled an error. Willson Contreras smashed a single up the middle on a 3-2 pitch to tie the game. On the 38th pitch of the frame, Megill got a grounder to second to end the jam.
His best inning of the night was his final one, working around a one-out hit-by-pitch to strike out the side in the fifth. Megill’s final line: 5 innings, four hits, four runs, three walks, and six strikeouts on 90 pitches (53 strikes).
- Max Kranick surrendered a run when Victor Scott hit a two-out gapper to right center, scoring Yohel Pozo from first. Luisangel Acuña and Francisco Lindor didn’t cut off Tyrone Taylor’s throw well, which denied them a shot at getting the slow-footed catcher at the plate.
Ryne Stanek allowed a one-out bloop single and another batter to reach on a strikeout-wild pitch in a scoreless seventh. Edwin Diaz, pitching in his first game in eight days, allowed a leadoff single and a two-out double, but kept St. Louis off the board.
- Juan Soto, serving as the DH for the first time on the season, smashed a single up the middle in the first. With runners on first and second and nobody out against a struggling Pallente in the fourth, Soto drove a deep fly to center, but Scott had time to get back to the wall and rob the slugger of a homer with a leaping catch. At 408 feet, it would have been a homer in 13 of 30 parks, but not Citi Field.
Soto drove a ball to the warning track in left to start the sixth, but the 349-foot ball was only a fly out. It would have been a homer in seven parks, but not in Queens. He finished the game 1-for-5.
- Lindor singled in the third and walked in the fourth before stealing second to put two in scoring position. He got an RBI chance with two out in the fifth, but went down swinging at a fastball above the zone to strand two. He finished the day 1-for-4.
- Vientos lined a first-pitch slider the opposite way to start the second with a single and walked his first two chances. He went down looking with the bases loaded in the fourth on a sweeper at the bottom of the zone on the inside corner. Vientos added a single to finish 2-for-4 with a walk and strikeout.
- Alonso finished 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Alvarez had just two walks in 28 times up entering the game and walked twice in his first three times up. He finished the day 1-for-2.
- Acuña bounced out to end the second and third innings, stranding two runners on both occasions. He finished 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Taylor singled to start the third and fourth innings. He went 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.
- Marte got the start in right field, making his first appearance in the field of the season. He took a hanging slider to left for a single and stole second for his 357th steal of his career in the second. After grounding out to start the top of the fifth, Marte was not in right for the bottom of the inning with José Azócar replacing him. He finished the day 2-for-3. Manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game that it was "part of the plan" to limit Marte to just five innings.
Who was the game MVP?
Cardinals reliever Michael McGreevy entered with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning and put a halt to the Mets' offense. The right-hander surrendered one hit, one walk, and a hit by pitch but closed the game with 5.2 scoreless innings. He retired the final 10 batters he faced.
Highlights
Pete Alonso gets the Mets on the board with an RBI single!
New York heads to Arizona for a three-game series against the Diamondbacks.
Right-hander Griffin Canning (2.61 ERA, 1.387 WHIP in 31.0 innings) gets the start for the visitors. Righty Ryne Nelson (5.82 ERA, 1.176 WHIP in 17 innings) climbs the hill for the home side.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Tyrese Haliburton made a go-ahead 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter that sparked a decisive burst for the Indiana Pacers, who stunned the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers 121-112 on Sunday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Haliburton finished with 22 points and 13 assists, and he also made key plays on the defensive end, blocking a 3-point attempt by Max Strus with 2:12 left and converting it into a layup for a 10-point lead.
Andrew Nembhard added a playoff career-high 23 points and made five 3-pointers for the fourth-seeded Pacers, who finished 19 of 36 beyond the arc. Cleveland, which was second in the NBA during the regular season with 15.9 3s per game, was 9 of 38.
Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 33 points and broke Michael Jordan’s NBA playoff record with his eighth straight game of at least 30 points in a series opener.
Evan Mobley added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who trailed most of the game, took the lead in the fourth and then couldn’t close it out.
Indiana had a 12-point lead in the third before Cleveland rallied. The Cavs went ahead 102-101 on a free throw by Strus before Haliburton’s 3 ignited a 15-4 run.
All five Indiana starters scored in double figures. Aaron Nesmith and Pascal Siakam had 17 points apiece.
Big Bash final hero Mitch Owen is turning his big-game heroics into a million-dollar payday after being signed for his maiden Indian Premier League stint as an injury replacement for fellow Australian Glenn Maxwell.
Sunday’s Game 7 between the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets puts an end to the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which did not see any shocking upsets, but did see clubs like Los Angeles and Tampa Bay, who had home-ice advantage, go down to division foes Edmonton and Florida. A number of former Buffalo Sabres moved on to the second round, which will open with the Panthers taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
Here are the ex-Sabres who survived the first round:
Carolina
Eric Robinson GP - 5, G - 0, A - 1, PTS - 1, +/- -1
Taylor Hall GP - 5, G - 1, A - 2, PTS - 3, +/- -1
William Carrier GP - 5, G - 0, A - 0, PTS - 0, +/- +1
The Canes took care of the New Jersey Devils in five games, who went into the series without top center Jack Hughes and lost a sizable chunk of their blueline to injury.
Dallas
Ilya Lyubushkin GP - 7, G - 0, A - 2, PTS - 2, +/- -5
Lyubushkin went -5 in the Game 6 loss in Denver, but the Stars rallied in the third period of Game 7, with former Av Mikko Rantanen scoring a hat trick in a 4-2 victory.
Edmonton
Evander Kane GP - 5, G - 2, A - 1, PTS - 3, +/- -1
Jeff Skinner GP - 1, G - 0, A - 1, PTS - 1, +/- -2
Skinner never got back in the lineup after a poor Oilers performance in Game 1. Kane returned after missing the entire regular season and was a difference-maker with his physicality and key goals, as Edmonton rallied from being down 2-0 and defeating the LA Kings in six games.
Sam Reinhart GP - 5, G - 2, A - 4, PTS - 6, +/- +2
Dmitri Kulikov GP - 5, G - 0, A - 2, PTS - 2, +/- 0
Evan Rodrigues GP - 5, G - 0, A - 1, PTS - 1, +/- 0
The Panthers surprisingly dominated Tampa Bay and eliminated the Lightning in five games, playing the prototypical Florida rough and dirty style. Reinhart led them in scoring with six points.
Toronto
Jake McCabe GP - 6, G - 0, A - 1, PTS - 1, +/- +1
The Leafs were given a scare by Ottawa, who rallied from down 3-0 to make the series close before Toronto won Game 6 on Thursday. McCabe was an important part of the Leafs success, as part of their shutdown pairing with Chris Tanev.
Vegas
Jack Eichel GP - 6, G - 1, A - 4, PTS - 5, +/- -4
Brayden McNabb GP - 6, G - 0, A - 3, PTS - 3, +/- 0
Victor Olofsson GP - 4, G - 0, A - 1, PTS - 1, +/- -2
The Golden Knights had a tougher time than expected with the Minnesota Wild, topping them in six games. Eichel struggled defensively early in the series, but made up for it by tying for the club scoring lead with five points.
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HOUSTON – Draymond Green didn’t set the tone when he stayed vertical and contested Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun’s attempt at a left-handed hook shot on the opening possession Sunday night at the Toyota Center.
Or when he forced Sengun into a travel after grabbing his own rebound off that miss. Or when he set a screen for Steph Curry the first time the Warriors had the ball, cut to the basket and finished a wide-open layup. Or when he jumped to stuff Jalen Green at the rim on the Rockets’ second possession. Or when he followed that with a 3-pointer at the top of the arc to give the Warriors a 5-0 lead in the first 71 seconds.
Standing in front of his teammates and coaches and other members of the organization, Green planted his flag the night before the Warriors’ 103-89 Game 7 win Sunday, making a plea that everybody could count on him with the season on the line.
“Draymond set the tone last night at the team meeting,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr revealed.
"Draymond set the tone last night at the team meeting."
The Warriors’ voracious vocal leader owned up to letting the team down in the Warriors’ Game 6 loss at Chase Center, setting the tone in the wrong way by getting called for an unnecessary flagrant foul just over three minutes into the first quarter. His poise was wiped away from that point on. He’s the 13-year NBA veteran who has four championship rings to his name, yet the young Rockets took him out of his game and erased his mental edge.
Green was embarrassed by his Game 6 performance and what he gave to the game of basketball in that loss. Draymond had heart-to-heart conversations with the people he loves the most following Friday night’s loss in the lead up to Game 7.
His wife. His longtime trainer and close personal friend, Travis Walton. His college coach, the legendary Tom Izzo, and even his barber. They were all there for him, but it was more so about the message Green was sending than what he was hearing on the other side.
Pouting outweighed production, and Green was dying to get back on the court to prove himself yet again. He tried to defer to Curry and Jimmy Butler in giving a pregame speech, but they, too, knew the group needed to hear from him more than anybody else.
“Most importantly was calling myself out,” Green said. “You can’t go into a Game 7 expecting guys to rally off the game we had before and not address it. So I wanted to address that, number one. And then secondly, tell everybody else what we needed, which was a togetherness like no other. In our huddles, together – trusting and believing.
“I thought it was much needed. But as much as I think this team needed it, I feel like I needed it for myself even more. You got to be accountable. You can’t be a leader and not be accountable. You call other guys out when their s–t stinks, then you better say when yours does too. That’s what I tried to make a point in doing.”
"I spent the last two days embarrassed at what I gave to the game, what I gave to the world."
The 16 points Green scored were one more than he had in the Warriors’ previous two games combined. Green was a game-high plus-18, making all four quarters a living hell for Sengun, who had 21 points and 14 rebounds but was a game-low minus-12. Sunday marked Green’s sixth Game 7, all with Curry by his side, who looked to have a slow shooting night until the fourth quarter began.
His impact was about so much more.
Curry didn’t score a single point in the first quarter. He only had three going into halftime because of a long 3-pointer he made with 33 seconds left in the second quarter, and eight going into the fourth quarter. Points weren’t his goal. Reducing turnovers were.
As the Rockets grabbed, held and tugged at Curry for a seventh straight game, he continuously made the right play. The ball kept moving when the Rockets tried to blitz and double-team him, and still he only had one turnover in the first half and two all night. Despite his low scoring output, Curry was a game-high plus-16 in the first half, leading all players in defensive rebounds (six), assists (five), steals (one) and blocked shots (two).
“I think that’s a true definition of, like, I don’t even know what you call it,” Butler said. “Being the best player, being one of the greatest is that they impact the game in more than just scoring or shooting. To be able to guard, to be able to rebound, to be able to find guys when they’re open – it’s a hard job for him because he always has three people that are on him and he’s always making the right play over and over and over again. But we needed it.
“Then when it was time for him to make some shots, we needed it, and he came through.”
As the Warriors’ offense went ice-cold down the stretch of Game 6, Curry scored three points on 1-of-7 shooting. He was averaging only 4.4 fourth-quarter points for the series. This was Game 7, where heroes of the game rise above.
Curry scored 14 points in the fourth quarter Sunday, playing all but the final eight seconds, going 5 of 6 from the field and 2 of 3 from deep. Steph opened the quarter ISOing Jabari Smith Jr. and slicing through the Rockets’ defense for a finger roll. The next time down, Curry hit Amen Thompson with a step-back three, giving the Warriors a 13-point lead and making Rockets coach Ime Udoka call a timeout.
He jogged to the other side of the court, talking to Rockets fans who have seen this movie before. Game over, right then and there.
Curry now has beaten the Rockets in five playoff series, and became one of seven players ever to have three Game 7 wins on the road. Green, Butler and Warriors center Kevon Looney are also part of the list, but Curry is the only one to score at least 20 points in all three. He only needed three words to describe how Houston will remember him.
“I’m a winner,” Curry said.
That has been the story of Steph and Draymond since they became teammates 13 years ago. The competitive spirit that never wavers. The will to find a way to win, and the enjoyment in doing so. Curry hit Houston with his Night Night celebration after a late three by Buddy Hield, and Green waved goodbye to the few fans that remained when the final buzzer rang.
There they were going down the tunnel and back to the Warriors’ locker room together, Draymond sticking his tongue out and yelling “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!” with Steph jumping up and down like a little kid at his antics. They’re so different in so many ways, and equally the same in giving the game everything they’ve got until it one day tells them there’s nothing left.
Draymond Green’s message as he walks to the Warriors’ locker room after beating the Rockets in Game 7 on the road: “SURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE!”
While the Yankees served as host to an annual Star Wars Day celebration, the on-field product that they doled out in the Bronx resembled anything but a fully operational Death Star.
Fans who sat through a 30-minute rain delay before first pitch on Sunday might've felt some spring training vibes, as a compromised lineup missing a handful of regulars couldn't muster enough offense in a 7-5 rubber-game loss to the division-rival Rays at Yankee Stadium.
The top-heavy lineup did include the punch of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Paul Goldschmidt, who drove in three runs on as many hits. But notably absent were Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm Jr. due to injury, and Ben Rice and Austin Wells due to rest. It wasn't a split-squad camp game, but the energy undoubtedly existed.
There were late signs of life
With the Yankees trailing by five entering the eighth inning, Judge extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff double that sparked a rally. Following a walk to Bellinger, Judge scored on an RBI single from Goldschmidt, and just a few pitches later, Jasson Dominguez loaded the bases with a sharp liner that bounced off the right-field wall.
The stage was then set for backup catcher J.C. Escarra -- making his eighth major league start -- as the tying run with nobody out. But the momentum built up was quickly cut down when his soft comebacker to Rays reliever Edwin Uceta helped manufacture a 1-2-3 double play. New York's rally ultimately produced three runs, as Jorbit Vivas delivered a pinch-hit, two-run single for his first MLB knock.
After the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked why he didn't use Wells or Rice as a pinch hitter for Escarra, and explained that he didn't want the move with no outs and a thinner bench. Boone also wanted to avoid Volpe as an option, as the Yankees' shortstop suffered a scary "day-to-day" injury to his left shoulder on a diving attempt in the field during Saturday's loss. Rice wound up walking as a pinch-hitter for Oswaldo Cabrera with two outs in the eighth.
"I'm choosing between Escarra and Vivas there, and just going to take the guy who's been here and more experienced," Boone said. "I knew I had one shot with Rice there. And then once the double play happened, I kind of shut that down a little bit. But then he was the tying run again with [Cabrera]... I can't shoot for both of them, because all I'd have is Escarra left. I've got to keep Escarra in the game, or then I can't shoot for Vivas either."
Warren struggles with command again
There's no doubt that the half-hour rain delay disrupted Will Warren's pregame routine, but the rookie right-hander didn't encounter new problems against the Rays. He once again grappled with command, allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits and three walks across 4.2 innings.
Warren wasn't supported enough by his defenders, as a fielding error from Oswald Peraza and a catcher's interference call on Escarra extended jams. By the time he was pulled with two outs in the fifth, Warren had thrown a career-high 102 pitches with the Yankees trailing 5-0.
The silver lining is that he registered a career-best eight strikeouts, but the output could've been greater if he hadn't lost some hitters while ahead in the count. Of the seven hits he allowed, three of them came with two strikes. It was the second-shortest outing thus far for Warren, whose ERA now sits at 5.65 through eight starts (32.1 innings).
"I felt like the whole day was a little up and down," Warren said. "They kind of hit the ball where we weren't and then I had three free passes. They were taking advantage of every little thing we gave them. I don't know if I thought it was a grind, I was just trying to attack and execute pitches as much as possible... I wish I could've put the team in a better chance to win."
No. 200 for No. 35
There haven't been many highlights from Bellinger with one-fifth of the season now complete, but the veteran slugger delivered a milestone hit on Sunday. With one on and one out in the sixth, he crushed a fastball from Rays starter Taj Bradley that landed in the right-center field seats for his 200th career home run.
"It's definitely pretty cool [to hit 200]. You never knew as a kid what you'd do," said Bellinger, who managed to make a deal with a fan for the ball. "So I've just got to keep going and hopefully a lot more to come. I signed some balls and I'm grateful they were able to hand me the baseball. Got a little collection going on, so I'll just put it with the rest."
The Yankees are still waiting for Bellinger to bust out at the plate. While he provided a pair of homers this week, his season total sits at only four, and he's slashing an inadequate .200/.276/.364 through 31 games (110 at-bats).
Golden State, after nearly fumbling a 3-1 series lead, clinched their ticket to the Western Conference semifinals with a 103-89 win over Houston, giving Curry and Green plenty to be proud of.
“We were just talking about the score,” Curry told reporters after the win. “We wanted to keep them under 90 [points].”
Curry, who provided little offensive output the first three quarters of the game, scored 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter. Green, on the other hand, contributed 16 points, delivering his best offensive performance when it mattered most.
As Curry noted, the Warriors’ offense and defense held their ends of the bargain.
“We had done it a couple of times, and we won,” Curry added. “We felt very confident that if we did that again, we’d be able to score enough to create some separation, and that’s kind of how it played out.”
Curry and Green’s postgame moment didn’t end there, however.
As both players made their way to the locker room, Green celebrated loud and clear, shouting, “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!’”
Curry, as seen in the video, loved every bit of it.
Draymond Green’s message as he walks to the Warriors’ locker room after beating the Rockets in Game 7 on the road: “SURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE!”
Hield was magnificent on offense, his specialty, with a game-high 33 points, including nine triples. He also was highly effective on defense, where his reputation is less than sterling, playing in significant role in the Warriors limiting the Rockets to 40.5-percent shooting from the field, including 33.3 percent from deep.
“The 33 points were great,” Draymond Green told reporters at Toyota Center. “Nine threes? Incredible. But what he did on the defensive end was even more impressive. He took on every matchup that he had whether it was Jalen [Green] or Fred [VanVleet] all over, hawking the ballhandler. He ended up with Şengün on the post, made him force a miss, knocked the ball out we was able to come up with the loose ball.
“He made winning plays all night.”
Green said he sensed Hield, who was scoreless in a Game 6 loss, was prepped to play a significant role in Game 7.
“I told Draymond I planned a big game tonight,” Hield said. “Just locked in, trying to find my joy. I’ve never been in this situation before, and I was just trying to seize the moment, that was the moment, and just be in the moment at the same time. And enjoy the moment.”
This was a team triumph, to be sure, with superb performances from the accomplished core of Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler III and Green ensuring Golden State’s ouster of the Rockets to advance to the Western Conference semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
That core, however, followed Hield’s lead. Even Butler, who leads the pack of those routinely making Buddy a lighthearted punchline, had to admit as much.
“Buddy was huge,” Butler said semi-grudgingly. “We know the type of basketball player that he is, and he’s a tough cover for sure whenever he’s making shots. But he made so many right plays on the defensive side of the ball, getting the ball where it needed to go. Buddy was really, really, really big for us tonight.”
Hield’s defense was stellar, but it was his offense that set the tone. He quickly lit a fire under his teammates in the first quarter – punctuating it with a 42-foot buzzer-beater – that the Rockets simply not extinguish over the next three. The Warriors led by as much as much as 20 points.
“Buddy Hield, I don’t know what to say,” said coach Steve Kerr, who said he never considered benching Hield after Game 6. “That was really incredible watching him light it up in that first half, especially, and then down the stretch as well.”
Hield had 22 of Golden State’s 51 first-half points before turning the offense over to Curry and Butler, who combined for 31 of the team’s 52 points in the second half.
Hield’s 33 points are the most by any player following a scoreless postseason game. He shot 12 of 15 from the field, including an astonishing 9 of 11 from beyond the arc. His nine 3-pointers tied Donte DiVincenzo for most triples ever in a Game 7.
This was, for Buddy, an exceedingly loud response to his Game 6 doughnut.
“Next game mentality,” Hield said on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Warriors Postgame Live.” “Can’t dwell on what happened last game. Yes, we lost. Flip the script, flip the page, next game. That’s the mentality I got to have. That’s the mentality you’ve got to keep every time.
“You can’t let in the outside noise. I stayed off my phone. I didn’t even talk to my family as much. My family wanted to come to the game, I told them no. I wanted to lock in and prepare for this.”
The Warriors had taken a 3-1 series lead before desultory performances in Games 5 and 6 forced them into a Game 7 on the road. Considering the veterans remain salty about blowing a 3-1 lead in the 2016 NBA Finals, repeating such an inglorious feat would have done cruel things to their souls.
Green was terrific: 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and two blocks, finishing a team-best plus-18 over 40 minutes. Curry was wonderful: 22 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds, two steals and finishing plus-16 over 46 minutes. Butler played 45 minutes, delivering 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, finishing plus-10.
But this was Hield’s night.
Signed last July to provide bench scoring and 10 months later, in a time of urgent need, he starts a Game 7 and shoots his way into Golden State’s book of unforgettable postseason performances.
The Warriors were underdogs in Game 7 after losing the last two games, but they dominated the Rockets from start to finish in Sunday’s contest.
Most NBA pundits expected the Rockets to win the decisive game on their home court, but Green, Curry, Buddy Hield, Jimmy Butler and the rest of the Warriors didn’t let that happen.
And Green let everyone hear about it on his way to the locker room.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Chicago Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga left Sunday’s game at Milwaukee after straining his left hamstring, adding another injury to the banged-up rotation for the NL Central leaders.
Imanaga got hurt when he left the mound to cover first base on a potential double play during the Cubs’ 4-0 loss to the Brewers. He departed his previous start with cramping in each of his legs.
“We’ll probably do some imaging to see what’s going on,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s never had any lower body muscle strains, so he’s a little unsure of what the feeling means. But he felt something, for sure, so we’ll just get it checked out tomorrow and go from there.”
Counsell said the Cubs would need more information before determining whether Imanaga needed to go on the injured list. The Cubs already have left-hander Justin Steele out for the season with an elbow injury and right-hander Javier Assad on the IL with an oblique issue.
If Imanaga has to go on the IL, the Cubs could move Chris Flexen into the rotation. They also have Cade Horton at Triple-A Iowa, and off days coming up on Thursday and May 15.
Imanaga’s injury occurred in the sixth inning of a scoreless game.
The Brewers had runners on first and second with one out when Christian Yelich hit a grounder toward first baseman Michael Busch. Imanaga left the mound to try to complete a 1-6-3 double play, but he was in clear discomfort as he headed toward first base.
As Yelich beat the throw to first, Imanaga grabbed the back of his left leg. After Cubs officials checked on Imanaga and removed him from the game, the pitcher walked with a clear limp as he headed to the dugout.
Imanaga pitched five innings in Tuesday’s 9-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates before departing because of leg cramps. He was charged with two runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings against the Brewers.
Imanaga noted that he felt “amazing” before Sunday’s game, so he isn’t sure what caused this latest problem.
“I’m at the point where I don’t know exactly what’s going on,” Imanaga said through a translator. “I don’t know what the damage is. We’ll have to see going into tomorrow.”
Imanaga, 31, is 18-5 with a 2.89 ERA since signing a four-year, $53 million contract with the Cubs in January 2024. The Japanese left-hander finished fourth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting last season.
The Cubs got another scare in the ninth inning when star outfielder Kyle Tucker appeared to hurt himself sliding into second on a double steal. Tucker got checked out by Cubs officials, but he remained in the game and expressed optimism afterward that he would be available Monday when Chicago begins a series with the San Francisco Giants.
“He felt a little something in his right hip when we went out there, then he thought it went away,” Counsell said. “We’ll check on him tomorrow, but (we’re) pretty optimistic.”
The Brewers had their own injury issues.
Right fielder Sal Frelick departed in the fourth with left knee discomfort and was getting an MRI after the game. Right-hander Freddy Peralta left after throwing 89 pitches in six innings because his groin was bothering him, though he downplayed it after the game.
“I didn’t want anything to get worse or something like that, but it’s nothing that I think I have to be concerned about,” Peralta said.
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