Sports
Cardinals keen on continuing surge in clash vs. Padres
May 7, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker (18) hits a double during the ninth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images These days, it doesn’t matter who the St. Louis Cardinals play.
“With the way we’re playing, right now, I’m comfortable playing just about anybody,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said of his team, which is 8-2 in its past 10 games. “It has more to do with the consistency right now than anything.”
That consistency continued Thursday night in the Cardinals’ 2-1 win over the San Diego Padres to start a seven-game road trip.
St. Louis will try to make it two straight victories against the Padres on Friday night.
The Cardinals won with pitching and defense on Thursday. Matthew Liberatore gave up one run on three hits over six innings, and the bullpen gave up only one hit over three shutout innings.
It was a departure from most of the Cardinals’ recent wins, which have been built around an offense that has kept steady pressure on the opposition. St. Louis managed just five hits in the series opener, although one was Alec Burleson’s sixth homer of the season and another was Masyn Winn’s go-ahead RBI triple in the seventh inning.
But it still was enough to boost the Cardinals’ road record to 12-5.
“We have the same mindset every day where we’re trying to play hard, play the right way and win games,” Burleson said. “We just show up and do the things that we do — and it’s worked out for us on the road so far.”
It’s also worked out for the Cardinals when right-hander Michael McGreevy (2-2, 2.52 ERA) takes the mound. He tossed six shutout innings Saturday night during a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, permitting only three hits and three walks while striking out three.
McGreevy, 25, has faced San Diego twice in his young career, going 1-1 with a 9.28 ERA and allowing 16 hits over 10 2/3 innings.
Opposing McGreevy will be 29-year-old right-hander Griffin Canning (0-0, 1.80 ERA), whose first start with the Padres on Sunday consisted of five good innings against the Chicago White Sox in his team’s 4-3 win. Canning gave up one run on three hits while striking out seven in his first MLB game since suffering a season-ending Achilles injury last June with the New York Mets.
In four career starts against St. Louis, Canning is 3-1 with a 3.63 ERA. That includes a win in April 2025 when he pitched for the Mets, a 4-1 decision in which he recorded eight strikeouts in six innings.
Manager Craig Stammen said Canning’s initial start for San Diego, which saw him strike out the last four men he faced, was what he envisioned.
“He has the potential to be someone we can rely on,” Stammen said. “This is one start for him. He’s coming off a major injury. There’s bound to be hiccups. But he’s off to a good start.”
Which is more than can be said for the inconsistent hitters. After showing signs of life with 15 runs on 20 hits in the last two games of their series in San Francisco this week, the Padres managed only four hits Thursday night. Half of those were in the first inning.
Mainstays such as Manny Machado (.202), Jackson Merrill (.230) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (.252) continue to hit far below their career averages. And Tatis’ homerless streak to start the year is up to 135 at-bats.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Thunder pull away from Lakers, maintain perfect playoff mark
May 7, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) looks to pass as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) defends in the first half during game two of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 22 points each, lifting the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 125-107 home win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday and a 2-0 advantage in a Western Conference second-round playoff series.
The Thunder remain undefeated in this year’s playoffs as the best-of-seven series moves to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Saturday.
Oklahoma City won despite Gilgeous-Alexander being hampered by foul trouble for much of the night, limiting him to 28 minutes.
Early in the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander was called for a flagrant-1 offensive foul while being guarded by Austin Reaves.
Gilgeous-Alexander headed to the bench with four fouls as the Lakers went up by five.
However, despite not having Gilgeous-Alexander on the floor, the Thunder went on a 25-7 run to move ahead by 13 late in the quarter.
The surge included Jaylin Williams’ four-point play that put Oklahoma City up 85-74 with less than three minutes left in the third. Holmgren got the play started by ripping the ball away from Reaves underneath the basket on the other end.
The Thunder scored 11 points off Los Angeles’ seven third-quarter turnovers and ended the night with 26 total points off Lakers’ 21 giveaways.
The Lakers cut the deficit to five early in the fourth quarter, but Holmgren scored five consecutive points to extend the gap back to double figures.
About four minutes into the fourth quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Lakers’ LeBron James went down on the same play after Gilgeous-Alexander was fouled by Reaves.
James, going for the block from the backside, tried to leap over Gilgeous-Alexander on the baseline but couldn’t avoid contact with the Thunder star.
Both remained down, with James grabbing his right wrist as he crashed to the floor while Gilgeous-Alexander writhed momentarily in pain.
Both Gilgeous-Alexander and James remained in the game.
Reaves, who shot 3 of 16 in Game 1, fared much better on Thursday, finishing with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting.
James added 23 points for the Lakers, who shot 50% from the floor.
Oklahoma City’s Ajay Mitchell contributed 20 points. Holmgren hit 7 of 11 attempts from the field and had nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
Jared McCain added 18 points off the bench for the Thunder, whose reserves outscored the Lakers’ 48-20.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Matthew Liberatore, Cardinals eke out low-scoring win over Padres
May 7, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Matthew Liberatore (32) delivers during the second inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images Masyn Winn’s RBI triple in the seventh inning Thursday night snapped a tie and helped the visiting St. Louis Cardinals edge the San Diego Padres 2-1.
Matthew Liberatore (2-1) came out on top in a classic pitchers’ duel, permitting only three hits and a run in six innings with three walks and six strikeouts. San Diego’s Michael King left after six innings, allowing just one hit and one run while walking two and fanning six.
Jordan Walker led off the seventh with a double against Bradgley Rodriguez (0-2). After Nolan Gorman fanned, Winn’s looping fly ball fell in front of right fielder Nick Castellanos and rolled into the corner, allowing Walker to easily score.
St. Louis’ bullpen took care of matters from there. George Soriano and JoJo Romero worked scoreless innings, followed by Riley O’Brien with a 1-2-3 ninth for his 11th save in 13 opportunities.
San Diego scored its only run in the first. Manny Machado drew a two-out walk, reached second on a single by Fernando Tatis Jr. and scored when Xander Bogaerts lined a check-swing single to right.
That was basically it for the Padres’ offense. Liberatore faced the minimum over the next four innings and didn’t allow another hit until Miguel Andujar grounded a single into center with two outs in the sixth. Machado followed with a groundout to end the inning.
Tatis led off the seventh by beating out an infield hit but was thrown out trying to steal second, a call which was confirmed after a manager’s challenge. That was their last baserunner of the game.
Alec Burleson tied the game in the fourth when he jumped on a first-pitch changeup from King and lined it 378 feet into the seats in right. It was Burleson’s sixth homer and 30th RBI.
St. Louis missed on a chance to add insurance in the ninth after Walker doubled and Gorman walked to start the inning. But Jason Adam quashed the rally there with the help of a failed sacrifice bunt by Winn.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Khamzat Chimaev, Sean Strickland to settle bad-blood feud at UFC 328
Aug 16, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, UNITED STATES; Dricus Du Plessis Murphy (red gloves) fights Khamzat Chimaev (blue gloves) during UFC 319 at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images Things have reached a boiling point in the middleweight division ahead of Saturday’s UFC 328 event in Newark, N.J., as newly minted UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev looks to handle unfinished business against former champion Sean Strickland in the headliner of a 13-fight card.
The friends-turned-enemies let the racial insults fly Thursday evening at the Prudential Center in front of a rambunctious crowd at the pre-fight press conference.
The UFC allowed both men to do the traditional ceremonial faceoff before security pulled both off the stage after Chimaev kicked Strickland in the leg, marking a dark climax to a chaotic week of separation before the fight.
Strickland (30-7 MMA) was visibly frustrated the entire press conference, screaming throughout at Chimaev (15-0 MMA) about his Russian heritage and how he’s now classified as fighting from the United Arab Emirates. Chimaev, in turn, invoked Strickland’s abusive father and childhood trauma.
“He’s going to be dead in two days,” Chimaev said. ” … I’ll be your daddy in the cage. I’ve been all day, every day, your daddy. You know about it. I’m your daddy. Listen to your daddy.”
UFC CEO Dana White said the rivalry has bad blood, which has made it a top-three rivalry in the promotion’s history.
Unlike Dricus du Plessis, who lost to Chimaev at UFC 319 after Chimaev used a dominant wrestling base, Strickland made one thing clear.
“They don’t want to watch a boring-ass f****** fight,” Strickland said. “I want you to wrestle. I will outwrestle you.”
Strickland described Chimaev’s sparring session against him, which has since resurfaced on social media, as a 2022 “warm-up match” that set Chimaev off.
Hostility aside, Chimaev enters the fight with four submission wins in nine UFC matches. Strickland earned the title shot off a third-round TKO defeat of Anthony Hernandez at UFC Houston in February.
The fight is set as a five-rounder, marking Chimaev’s first title defense while Strickland attempts to regain the title after relinquishing it to du Plessis in January of 2024 at UFC 297.
The co-main event sees a re-booked flyweight title fight between Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira. The pair were supposed to meet at UFC 327 last month in Miami, Fla., but Van sustained an undisclosed minor injury that shifted the fight to this event.
Van (16-2 MMA) became the new UFC flyweight champion in December at UFC 323, as an arm injury to then-champion Alexandre Pantoja ended the fight after just 26 seconds. He is the first fighter born this century to become a UFC champion, while Taira (18-1 MMA) aims to be the first UFC champion from Japan with a win over Van, who is from Myanmar.
The main card gets underway on Paramount Plus at 9 p.m. ET.
Main card (subject to change)
— Main Event: (C) Khamzat Chimaev (15-0) vs. Sean Strickland (30-7) for UFC middleweight title
— Co-Main Event: (C) Joshua Van (16-2) vs. Tatsuro Taira (18-1) for UFC flyweight title
— Alexander Volkov (39-11) vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta (17-2), heavyweight
— Sean Brady (18-2) vs. Joaquin Buckley (21-7), welterweight
— King Green (34-17-1) vs. Jeremy Stephens (29-22), lightweight
–Field Level Media
Thunder pull away from Lakers, maintain perfect playoff mark
Matthew Liberatore, Cardinals eke out low-scoring win over Padres
