Frankie Beverly, the Maze singer who inspired generations of fans with lasting anthems, dies at 77 (2024)

Fernando Tatís Jr. hit a two-run homer, Dylan Cease pitched six shutout innings and the San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 5-0 on Friday night. The Padres are a half-game ahead of the Diamondbacks atop the National League wild card standings. The Giants have lost three of four. Cease struck out 10 and also recorded his 1,000th career strikeout in the third inning when he got Donovan Walton looking. He got some help from defense in the sixth when Tatís and Jake Cronenworth combined to cut down Heliot Ramos at the plate on a double by Patrick Bailey.

SAN FRANCISCO — While the San Diego Padres were putting on their layers in preparation for a chilly night at Oracle Park, scores in two games on the other side of the country went final.

Julio Rodríguez hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning to help spoil Jacob deGrom’s return to the mound and send the Seattle Mariners to a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night. Back after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2023, DeGrom left after 3 2/3 innings with a 2-0 lead and the Rangers had a 4-0 advantage. Rodríguez began Seattle’s rally with a double in the seventh that set up two runs. Then in the eighth, he hit his 15th homer of the season to deep left field with two outs off David Robertson (3-4). JT Chargois (3-1) struck out three in the eighth for the victory, and Andrés Muñoz finished for his 21st save.

The Orlando Pride remained undefeated this season with a scoreless draw against the Kansas City Current in the National Women’s Soccer League. The first-place Pride (14-0-6) extended their league-record unbeaten run to 21 games going back to last season, but the draw ended a six-game winning streak. Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse had three saves and tied a league record with her 11th shutout this season. Current goalkeeper Almuth Schult finished with five saves. In other matches, Ally Schlegel's goal was enough to give the Chicago Red Stars a 1-0 win over the Portland Thorns. Bay FC and the North Carolina Courage fought to a 1-1 draw.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — At least the fans in Italy who got up in the middle of the night to watch Sam Aldegheri pitch could go back to sleep quickly.

Brionna Jones scored 20 points on 10 of 16 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds, Marina Mabrey added 19 points and the Connecticut Sun beat the Phoenix Mercury 88-69 on Friday night. With the win, the Sun remained a game behind the Minnesota Lynx for second place in the WNBA standings and four games back of the first-place New York Liberty. DeWanna Bonner scored 14 points, Harris had 12 and Alyssa Thomas finished with 11 assists to go with seven points for the Sun. Phoenix has lost six of its last seven games.

Marcus Stroman will be moved into the bullpen by the New York Yankees next week as they attempt to hold off Baltimore in a close race for the AL East crown. New York has a day off Monday before beginning a six-game trip to Seattle and Oakland, so the Yankees will return to a five-man rotation. Nestor Cortes will be scheduled to start next time through instead of Stroman. It was Cortes who was the odd man out last week, when New York used five starters around an off day Sept. 5. Without an off day off this week, Stroman and Cortes both pitched on turn as the Yankees went with six starters.

Rhys Hoskins hit a two-run homer, Freddy Peralta pitched five effective innings and the Milwaukee Brewers increased their NL Central lead with a 2-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Hoskins hit his 24th homer off Eduardo Rodriguez in the fourth inning and five Milwaukee pitchers shut down baseball’s highest-scoring offense. Peralta allowed a run on six hits and Devin Williams worked a perfect ninth for his 12th save in 13 opportunities. The Brewers extended their NL Central lead to 10 games after the Chicago Cubs lost 9-5 to Colorado. Arizona was limited to six hits to drop into a tie with San Diego for the top NL wild-card spot.

Hunter Goodman hit two home runs, including a tiebreaking grand slam in the eighth inning and the Colorado Rockies came back to beat the Chicago Cubs 9-5. Goodman finished with three hits on the night and a career-high seven RBIs. Ezequiel Tovar hit his 23rd home run of the season and Brendan Rodgers added a run-scoring double for the Rockies, who snapped a six-game losing streak to the Cubs. Michael Busch had three hits for the Cubs, including a three-run home run off Victor Vodnik (4-3) in the top of the eighth that pulled Chicago into a 5-5 tie.

The Houston Astros earned the 5,000th victory in franchise history with a 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Yusei Kikuchi pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, and Yordan Alvarez homered and drove in two runs. Alex Bregman hit an early two-run homer and Alvarez added his 33rd in the ninth inning for the first-place Astros, who have won two straight after a three-game skid. Mickey Moniak homered for the Angels, who have lost five of six. Kikuchi overcame early trouble and struck out six Angels while keeping the Astros unbeaten in all of his starts since joining Houston.

Aaron Judge ended the longest home run drought of his career with a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning that rallied the New York Yankees past the Boston Red Sox 5-4. The star slugger had gone 16 games without a longball before launching a clutch drive into the lower left-field seats off reliever Cam Booser to give the Yankees a 5-4 advantage. New York extended its AL East lead to three games over Baltimore, which was held hitless for 8 2/3 innings by four Tigers pitchers in a 1-0 loss at Detroit. Mark Leiter Jr. got four outs in relief of starter Clarke Schmidt for the win. Luke Weaver struck out five in two scoreless innings for his second career save.

Texas Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom struck out four in 3 2/3 scoreless innings at Seattle in his return from Tommy John surgery. DeGrom allowed two hits in the fourth and was removed after he retired Jorge Polanco on a flyball to center. Walter Pennington then came in and got J.P. Crawford to bounce to second, leaving runners on the corners. The 36-year-old deGrom threw 61 pitches, 41 for strikes, in his first major league appearance since April 28, 2023. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner allowed four hits and walked none.

Patton Kizzire hugged a tree on the way to the first tee Friday as part of a mental exercise, then patiently worked his way around Silverado to take the lead into the weekend in the FedEx Cup Fall series opener. Working with a new mental coach who has him embracing a more relaxed and even approach, Kizzire shot a 7-under 65 for a one-stroke advantage over David Lipsky in the Procore Championship. Kizzire joked about some of the things his new mental coach has him doing, like walking around barefoot and hugging trees. Kizzire had a 13-under 131 total on the picturesque course in the heart of Napa Valley wine country. Lipsky, the first-round leader, had a 67.

MINNEAPOLIS — Sorry if this sounds familiar, but:

Avery Johnson threw two touchdown passes, Dylan Edwards returned a punt 71 yards for a score and No. 14 Kansas State beat No. 20 Arizona 31-7 on Friday night in a nonconference matchup of new Big 12 rivals. Johnson had 156 yards passing to go with 110 yards rushing, and D.J. Giddens added 86 yards rushing and a score for Kansas State, which improved to 3-0. Noah Fifita had 268 yards passing and Tetairoa McMillan caught 11 balls for 138 yards for Arizona, which fell to 2-1. The schools agreed to the matchup before Arizona left the Pac-12 for the Big 12. Neither had enough time to find an replacement opponent, so Kansas State and Arizona kept the game without it counting in the conference standings.

MINNEAPOLIS — Elly De La Cruz stood in the batter’s box and held the finish from his swing as Twins reliever Jorge Alcala watched his 89-mph slider sail into the right-field seats.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Napheesa Collier scored 20 points, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Chicago Sky 83-66 on Friday night for their fifth straight victory.

Skylar Diggins-Smith scored 21 points, including two free throws with 17.1 seconds left that gave Seattle the lead for good, and the Storm rallied from a 21-point deficit to beat the Dallas Wings 83-81. Jewell Loyd had 15 points and six assists for the Storm. Nneka Ogwumike scored 12 points, and Gabby Williams had 10 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Teaira McCowan scored a season-high 23 points for Dallas and grabbed 15 rebounds. Satou Sabally added 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Despite getting outplayed in nearly every statistical category, UNLV upset Kansas, 23-20, on Friday night after some late-game heroics.

Salvador Perez and Kyle Isbel hit home runs and drove in two runs each, Alec Marsh struck out 11 in 5 1/3 innings, and the Kansas City Royals snapped Pittsburgh’s four-game winning streak with an 8-3 victory over the Pirates. Perez’s two-run shot to left-center capped a six-run second inning when the Royals broke a scoreless tie. Isbel’s solo homer in the fourth pushed the lead to 7-0. Adam Frazier added a solo home run in the eighth. Marsh (8-8) allowed only one run and the 11 strikeouts matched a career high. Pittsburgh's Luis Ortiz (6-6) was tagged for seven runs – four earned – on five hits in four innings.

Kylin James scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 1:51 left to lift UNLV past Kansas 23-20 at Children’s Mercy Park. The Jayhawks are playing all their games away from Lawrence, Kan., this season because of construction on their stadium. UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka was just 7-for-18 for 86 yards, but he also rushed for 113 yards. Jalon Daniels was 12-for-23 for 153 yards, with two interceptions for Kansas (1-2). He had two rushing touchdowns. UNLV (3-0) used a 14-play, 75-yard drive that took 9:31 to take the late lead.

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DETROIT (AP) — Gunnar Henderson tripled just past the glove of diving first baseman Spencer Torkelson with two outs in the ninth inning for Baltimore’s first hit, and the Detroit Tigers held on for a 1-0 win over the Orioles on Friday night.

Brittney Sykes scored 20 points and the Washington Mystics held off the Atlanta Dream 72-69 on Friday night to move into a tie for the final postseason spot. Washington (13-24) pulled even with the Chicago Sky for the No. 8 seed, while knocking Atlanta (12-25) a game off the pace with three left to play. The Mystics and Dream play again Sunday in Washington. Rhyne Howard hit a turnaround jumper for Atlanta with 21 seconds to go to make it a one-point game, but Ariel Atkins made two free throws for Washington and Tina Charles missed a 3-pointer on the game’s final shot.

Rookie Brady Basso pitched five-hit ball into the sixth inning in his first major league win, and the Oakland Athletics handed the Chicago White Sox their 16th consecutive home loss with a 2-0 victory. Chicago was shut out for the 18th time, finishing with six hits. At 33-115, the White Sox are approaching the post-1900 record for losses — 120 by the 1962 New York Mets in their inaugural season. Basso struck out two and walked one in 5 1/3 innings in his second major league start and fifth appearance overall. He pitched six scoreless innings in a no-decision against Detroit in his previous outing last week.

Alejandro Kirk drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded single in the 11th inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3. After the Cardinals intentionally walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to begin the 11th, Leo Jiménez advanced both Guerrero and automatic runner Nathan Lukes with a bunt single. Will Wagner grounded into a fielder’s choice before Kirk won it with a single over the drawn-in outfield off right-hander Ryan Fernandez (1-5). It was the first game-winning hit of Kirk’s career. Erik Swanson (2-2) worked one inning for the win as Toronto improved to 3-7 in September.

ATLANTA — Those storm clouds that have hovered over the Dodgers’ pitching staff this season?

Francisco Alvarez, Brandon Nimmo and Harrison Bader hit three-run homers, Jose Quintana allowed three hits in seven shutout innings and the New York Mets routed the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies 11-3 for their 12th win in 14 games. Alvarez and Nimmo homered in a three-run fifth inning off Aaron Nola, Alvarez’s second three-run homer in a span of three at-bats. Bader homered in the eighth and Pete Alonso went deep in the ninth off infielder Kody Clemens. New York All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor had an RBI double and left in the middle of the seventh inning because of lower back soreness.

PHILADELPHIA — For the first four innings, the Mets couldn’t crack Aaron Nola. In the fifth, they broke him.

Chelsea Gray scored 21 points, A’ja Wilson added 15 points and 17 rebounds and the Las Vegas Aces held on to beat the Indiana Fever 78-74 on Friday night to spoil another record-breaking day for Caitlin Clark. Clark, who scored all of her 18 points in the second half, finished with eight rebounds and nine assists for Indiana. The rookie set the WNBA’s single-season record for assists with 320, breaking the mark of 316 set last season by Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun. Gray made 7 of 11 from the field and had six assists for Las Vegas. Kelsey Plum added 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and Jackie Young scored 12 points.

PITTSBURGH — Luis Ortiz’s last two starts of August signaled he could be in for a strong finish to a breakout campaign.

Spencer Schwellenbach kept Shohei Ohtani in the park and off the bases, while Gio Urshela and Jorge Soler went deep for the Atlanta Braves in a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ohtani went hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts, putting a hold on his quest to become the first player in MLB history to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in a season. The Dodgers star is at 47 homers and 48 stolen bases with 15 games left in the regular season. Atlanta remained a game behind the Mets for the NL’s final wild-card spot. Miguel Rojas homered for the Dodgers, who lead the NL West.

The Aces beat the Indiana Fever, 78-74, on Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Napheesa Collier scored 20 points, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Chicago Sky 83-66 for their fifth straight victory. Collier also grabbed eight rebounds for Minnesota, which has won 12 of 13 overall. Courtney Williams had 14 points and 10 assists, and Alanna Smith finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Chennedy Carter scored 17 points for Chicago, which dropped into a tie with Washington for the final playoff spot after losing for the ninth time in 11 games. Kamilla Cardoso finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Lindsay Allen and reserve Rachel Banham both scored 10.

Aaron Judge has ended the longest home run drought of his career with a go-ahead grand slam for the New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox. The slugger had gone 16 games without a longball before launching a clutch drive into the lower left-field seats off reliever Cam Booser in the seventh inning to give the AL East leaders a 5-4 advantage. Judge’s eighth career slam and second this season sent the Yankee Stadium crowd of 45,292 into a frenzy, and he came out of the dugout for a curtain call. It was the 52nd homer of the season for Judge, who also leads the majors with 130 RBIs. He hadn’t gone deep since Aug. 25, when he homered twice against Colorado.

Zack Littell shut down Cleveland for six innings and rookie Logan Driscoll hit his first career homer, sending the Tampa Bay Rays to a 3-1 win over the AL Central-leading Guardians. Littell allowed just two hits in his second straight strong start. He blanked Baltimore for five innings last week. He's 4-0 in his career against the Guardians. Littell’s performance followed Tampa Bay’s bullpen shutting out Cleveland over the final seven innings Thursday. Driscoll connected in the third and Jonathan Aranda homered in the fourth for Tampa Bay. The Guardians got just four hits and had their division lead reduced to three games over Kansas City.

Texas Rangers right-hander Max Scherzer is expected to return from the injured list on Saturday in Seattle after a successful workout Friday. Scherzer was limited earlier this year after offseason back surgery, then began to experience shoulder and nerve pain in his right arm after he returned to the rotation. Scherzer is 2-4 with a 3.89 ERA in eight starts and 39 1/3 innings this season. His last start was July 30. He had a successful rehab appearance on Saturday for Triple-A Round Rock in Las Vegas, throwing 59 pitches and striking out four in four scoreless innings.

LOS ANGELES — Justin Herbert came in for a hug. Jim Harbaugh punched him in the chest. Over and over and over.

DETROIT — There has never been a combined perfect game in major league history, but Beau Brieske and Brant Hurter had one going for seven innings Friday night.

Gunnar Henderson tripled just past the glove of diving first baseman Spencer Torkelson with two outs in the ninth inning for Baltimore’s first hit, and the Detroit Tigers held on for a 1-0 win over the Orioles. Beau Brieske and Brant Hurter combined to retire Baltimore’s first 21 batters before Adley Rutschman’s eight-pitch walk leading off the eighth. Brenan Hanifee retired the next three batters and Tyler Holton relieved to start the ninth. Emmanuel Rivera flied out and pinch-hitter Coby Mayo took a called third strike. Henderson pulled a first-pitch sweeper into the right-field corner for the Orioles’ second baserunner. Holton then struck out Anthony Santander for the final out.