Sports
Clippers get Kawhi Leonard back, crush Hawks
Jan 4, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) dribbles the ball against the Atlanta Hawks during the second quarter at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images Norman Powell scored 20 points and Ivica Zubac added 18 points to go along with 18 rebounds as the Los Angeles Clippers celebrated the season debut of Kawhi Leonard with a 131-105 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday in Inglewood, Calif.
Amir Coffey scored 17 points while Leonard had 12 on 4-of-11 shooting in 19 minutes of court time after missing the first 34 games of the season due to a right knee injury. Terance Mann (finger) also returned to action after missing the past 11 games and scored 12 points in 16 minutes.
Los Angeles took control early, leading by as many as 27 points in the first half before improving to 12-2 at home since Nov. 4.
Trae Young scored 20 points and dished out 14 assists and De’Andre Hunter added 18 points as the Hawks lost for the second consecutive night in the Los Angeles area following a 119-102 setback against the Lakers on Friday.
Garrison Mathews scored 15 points and Zaccharie Risacher added 13 for Atlanta, which lost its third consecutive game.
The Hawks’ Jalen Johnson (shoulder) did not play for the second time in the past three games, while Bogdan Bogdanovic (leg) was out for the sixth time in seven games.
Leonard made his first shot of the season, a 3-pointer from the left wing just over two minutes into the game.
After leading 29-28 through one quarter, the Clippers used a 27-4 run in the second quarter to build a 63-39 advantage. Los Angeles was up 74-54 at halftime after shooting 54.5 percent from the floor while forcing 13 Atlanta turnovers.
The Clippers led 98-76 after three quarters, with Mann scoring his first five points of the game in the third. The Hawks never seriously threatened in the final quarter.
Los Angeles shot 55.2 percent from the floor for the game and had a season-high 36 assists. James Harden had 15 of those helpers to go along with 10 points.
Atlanta shot 43.2 percent overall and finished with 23 turnovers.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Canes keep rolling, blank Flyers to open semifinal series
May 2, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes center Logan Stankoven (22) is congratulated by left wing Taylor Hall (71) and right wing Jackson Blake (53) after his goal against the Philadelphia Flyers during the first period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images Logan Stankoven scored twice and goaltender Frederik Andersen collected his second shutout of this year’s playoffs as the host Carolina Hurricanes opened their playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers with a 3-0 victory on Saturday in Raleigh, N.C.
Jackson Blake scored once and added an assist for the Hurricanes, who followed a first-round sweep of the Ottawa Senators with a decisive victory to kick off the Eastern Conference best-of-seven semifinal series.
Andersen made 18 saves for his seventh career playoff shutout.
Mike Reilly collected a pair of assists.
Dan Vladar stopped 20 shots for the Flyers, who will attempt to regroup when the series resumes Monday in Raleigh.
The Hurricanes, who finished atop the Eastern Conference standings in the regular season, are yet to trail in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs and continued that trend thanks to their hottest player.
Stankoven tallied for the fifth consecutive game to open the scoring only 91 seconds into the clash. Reilly fired a point shot that Stankoven deflected into the net. Stankoven, 23, is the youngest player in history to score goals in five consecutive games to open the playoffs.
Stankoven has scored first in four of Carolina’s five playoff outings.
Blake doubled the lead six minutes later with a highlight-reel worthy tally. He zipped around the defenders before tucking home the puck for his second tally of the playoffs.
The Flyers had managed only one shot on goal at the point.
Stankoven gave the Hurricanes a three-goal edge late in the second period. After a turnover, Seth Jarvis fed a pass to Stankoven in the slot and he immediately buried the chance with 3:44 remaining in the middle frame.
From there, the Hurricanes cruised to victory, amidst a string of message-sending infractions by the Flyers and retaliatory actions from Carolina’s skaters.
After a handful of players were sent to the dressing room with misconducts just past the midway point of the final frame, things quieted.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Mariners place INF Will Wilson (thumb) on 10-day injured list
Apr 25, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Seattle Mariners third baseman Will Wilson (7) reacts after hitting a two home run against the St. Louis Cardinals during the second inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images The Seattle Mariners placed infielder Will Wilson on the 10-day injured list on Saturday because of a fractured left thumb.
The move was retroactive to Thursday. In a corresponding move, the Mariners recalled catcher Jhonny Pereda from Triple-A Tacoma.
Wilson, 27, played in two games and hit .200 (1-for-5) with a home run in his first at-bat for the Mariners in an 11-9 win on April 25 against the host St. Louis Cardinals. He may have been injured on Wednesday when he went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout in his second game this season, a 5-3 road victory over the Minnesota Twins.
The Los Angeles Angels selected Wilson in the first round (15th overall) of the 2019 MLB Draft out of North Carolina State.
Wilson, a second and third baseman, made his major league debut in 2025 with the Cleveland Guardians and batted .192 (15-for-78) with two RBIs and four doubles in 34 games. He signed as a free agent with Seattle in January.
Pereda, 30, has a career batting average of .241 with eight RBIs in 48 games with the Miami Marlins (2024), Athletics (2025) and Minnesota Twins (2025).
In other moves on Saturday, Seattle optioned left-hander Josh Simpson, 28, to Tacoma and selected right-hander Nick Davila, 27, from Double-A Arkansas.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Sean Burke stifles Padres, lifts White Sox to fifth straight win
May 2, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Sean Burke (59) throws a pitch during the sixth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images Sean Burke tossed six scoreless innings Saturday night and the visiting Chicago White Sox stretched their winning streak to five with a 4-0 blanking of the San Diego Padres.
Burke (2-2) allowed only four hits and a walk while fanning eight, including Xander Bogaerts three times. Three relievers finished up, with Seranthony Dominguez getting the last two outs for his eighth save in 10 chances, as Chicago wrapped up its first series win over San Diego since 2022.
The Padres filled the bases with no outs in the ninth when Jackson Merrill beat out an infield single followed by walks to Manny Machado and Bogaerts. Grant Taylor slipped a called third strike past Gavin Sheets before Dominguez came in to retire Miguel Andujar on a shallow fly ball and strike out Luis Campusano.
Michael King (3-2) yielded seven hits and four runs over six-plus innings. King walked three and struck out five as the Padres dropped their fourth straight game.
Burke and King matched each other pitch-for-pitch through the first five innings. But the White Sox struck in the sixth when Tristan Peters drew a one-out walk and Andrew Benintendi legged out an infield single.
After Munetaka Murakami moved the runners up 90 feet with a groundout, Miguel Vargas looped a liner into short right field, scoring Peters and Benintendi for the only runs Chicago needed.
But the White Sox added on with two more runs in the seventh. Chase Meidroth singled and reached third on Sam Antonacci’s double, then scored on Edgar Quero’s single that knocked out King. Peters then capped the scoring with a safety squeeze bunt that plated Antonacci.
The Padres’ best scoring chances against Burke came in the second and fifth innings. Sheets walked and Andujar singled with one out in the second. But Burke stiffened, fanning Campusano and inducing a groundout from Jake Cronenworth.
In the fifth, Andujar led off with a single and Cronenworth singled with one out. However, Ramon Laureano flew out and Burke blew away Fernando Tatis Jr. on three pitches to quash the threat.
The Padres were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, stranding eight runners.
–Field Level Media
