Sports
Jon Singleton's double lifts Astros over Angels
Sep 19, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (16) pitches against the Los Angeles Angels in the third inning at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images Jon Singleton slapped a two-run, two-out double into center field in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Houston Astros remained unbeaten in nine games started by Yusei Kikuchi by claiming the opener of a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 on Thursday.
Singleton capped a rally against Angels reliever Ryan Miller (0-1) by lining a 1-2 sweeper to center field. Yordan Alvarez — who worked a leadoff walk — and Yainer Diaz scored on the play to snap a 1-1 deadlock.
Hector Neris, Bryan Abreu (3-3) and Josh Hader — who notched his 32nd save — worked a scoreless inning each as the Astros (83-70) reduced their magic number to clinch the American League West to five games.
Shackled by Angels left-hander Jose Suarez, who made his second start this season, the Astros relied on the errant defense of Angels third baseman Eric Wagaman to rally from a 1-0 deficit.
Wagaman committed three errors, including two on a Jeremy Pena grounder leading off the second. Suarez pitched around that miscue but when Diaz reached on a Wagaman fielding error to open the fourth, Suarez wasn’t quite as fortunate. He surrendered consecutive singles to Pena and Victor Caratini, with the second hit driving home Diaz and tying the game.
Suarez allowed one unearned run on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts in five innings.
It was an inauspicious first inning for Kikuchi, who surrendered a leadoff home run to Angels left fielder Taylor Ward, his fifth leadoff homer in his last 19 games. Ward became the first Angels player since Mike Trout in 2012 to record five leadoff home runs in a season, as his 25th homer carried 416 feet to left-center and spotted the Angels a 1-0 lead.
Kikuchi surrendered two additional baserunners in the first: a walk to Nolan Schanuel and a single to Brandon Drury. But Kikuchi rallied with consecutive strikeouts of Logan O’Hoppe and Wagaman and rolled from there, allowing three additional hits — all singles.
Kikuchi sidestepped two-out singles from Jack Lopez and Jordyn Adams in the second and fourth, respectively, and struck out O’Hoppe and Wagaman in succession again in the sixth after Schanuel opened that frame with a single. Kikuchi retired the Angels (62-91) in order in the third and fifth, completing six frames with five hits and one walk on his ledger. He recorded nine strikeouts to increase his total to 68 strikeouts over 54 innings and nine starts with the Astros.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Jannik Sinner survives rain-delayed Rome semifinal
Jun 8, 2025; Paris, FR; Jannik Sinner of Italy returns a shot during the men’s singles final against Carlos Alcaraz of Spain on day 15 at Roland Garros Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images Top-seeded home favorite Jannik Sinner will clash with clay-court specialist Casper Ruud of Norway in Sunday’s final at the Italian Open in Rome.
Sinner concluded his rain-delayed semifinal Saturday against No. 7 Daniil Medvedev of Russia, finishing off a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory in two hours and 37 minutes.
Sinner was leading 4-2 in the third set when rain halted play for the night on Friday. Returning to the court 18 hours later, the World No. 1 wrapped things up in just 15 minutes.
Sinner won his service game at love to take a 5-3 lead and had two match points before Medvedev held serve. Sinner served out the match and returned to the ATP 1000 tournament final, where he lost to Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in 2025.
“It was a very different challenge and a tough challenge,” Sinner said. “Usually, during the night, I don’t struggle to sleep but this time it was not easy. You are in the third set, nearly done, but you still have to show up again and you never know what is happening. It is like the start of the match as there are nerves again. I am very happy with how I handled this situation and that I back in the final.”
Sinner, 24, is one win away from completing a career Golden Masters. Only Serbia’s Novak Djokovic has won all nine Masters 1000-level titles on the ATP Tour. Sinner extended his record Masters 1000 winning streak to 33 matches.
Sinner recorded seven aces, saved five of seven break points and finished with a 39-23 advantage in winners against Medvedev, who had seven double faults and 37 unforced errors to Sinner’s 30.
Sinner is bidding to become the first home champion at the Italian Open since Adriano Panatta lifted the trophy in 1976.
Sinner improved to 10-7 against Medvedev. He is 4-0 against Ruud.
Ruud, the No. 23 seed, booked his spot in the final with a 6-1, 6-1 win in 65 minutes against Italy’s Luciano Darderi on Friday.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Spirit, Falcons sweep into PGL Astana grand final
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
Team Falcons and Team Spirit will meet Sunday in the grand final at the $800,000 PGL Astana tournament in Kazakhstan.
Falcons swept magic and Spirit swept MOUZ in the semifinals on Saturday. The winner of their best-of-five championship will earn $256,000.
MOUZ and magic will meet in the best-of-three third-place match.
Sixteen Counter-Strike 2 teams began the event on May 9, with eight advancing through the Swiss System group stage to the single-elimination playoffs.
Falcons defeated magic 13-7 on Ancient and 13-5 on Dust II. Russia’s Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov led the winners with 44 kills.
Spirit made swift work of MOUZ, winning 13-3 on Dust II and 13-2 on Nuke behind a team-high 36 kills from Danil “donk” Kryshkovets of Russia.
PGL Astana 2026 prize pool:
1. $256,000
2. $120,000
3. $96,000
4. $56,000
5-8. $40,000 — FURIA, 9z Team, Aurora Gaming, G2 Esports
9-11. $20,000 — The MongolZ, Monte, Gentle Mates
12-14. $12,000 — HEROIC, PARIVISION, The Huns Esports
15-16. $8,000 — K27, Fisher College
–Field Level Media
Sports
Rain wipes out Indy 500 practice, delays qualifying
Fans move through the rain Friday, May 15, 2026, before Fast Friday practice ahead of the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Rain washed out morning practice and delayed Saturday’s qualifying session for the May 24 Indianapolis 500.
The IndyCar Series canceled the full-field practice session scheduled for 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. ET.
The 11 a.m. start for the time trials, scheduled to run through 5:50 p.m., was also delayed.
Scattered showers and storms are expected throughout the day and into the early evening at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
If all 33 drivers are unable to complete one qualifying run on Saturday, the whole process would be pushed back to Sunday.
“That would make for a long and busy day, considering one full round of qualifying runs takes roughly 3 hours, followed by three knockout rounds to determine the starting grid,” the Indianapolis Star reported.
The 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 is at 12:30 p.m. ET on May 24. Spain’s Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing is the defending champion.
–Field Level Media
Jannik Sinner survives rain-delayed Rome semifinal
Spirit, Falcons sweep into PGL Astana grand final
