Coby Mayo belted a three-run homer to highlight a sixth-run sixth inning, fueling the visiting Baltimore Orioles to an 8-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday afternoon.

Leody Taveras’ RBI single forged a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning before Jeremiah Jackson’s two-run single gave Baltimore a lead it would not relinquish.

Pete Alonso launched a two-run homer in the first inning for the Orioles, who avenged a 6-5 setback on Tuesday to win the rubber match of the three-game series.

Chris Bassitt (1-2) allowed five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. Yennier Cano and Tyler Wells bridged the gap to rookie Anthony Nunez, who struck out two batters in the ninth inning to secure his first career save.

Kansas City’s Kyle Isbel crushed a two-run homer and Vinnie Pasquantino and Carter Jansen also went deep.

Jansen and Lane Thomas each had an RBI single for the reeling Royals, who have lost nine of their last 10 games.

Kansas City was nursing a 3-2 lead before Baltimore ignited an offensive surge to chase starter Michael Wacha (2-1) from the game.

Alonso worked a one-out walk and Samuel Basallo hit the first of three straight singles by the Orioles. Taveras’ single to right field plated Alonso, while Jackson’s single to left scored both Basallo and Taveras to give Baltimore a 5-3 lead.

Eli Morgan relieved Wacha and promptly surrendered a single to Colton Cowser before Mayo sent a 0-1 slider over the wall in left-center field. The homer was Mayo’s second in as many days.

That closed the book on Wacha, who permitted six runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. He entered the game having yielded just three runs on 13 hits in his previous four starts.

Bassitt saw a 2-2 sinker sent over the wall in center field by Jansen to trim Baltimore’s lead to 8-4, Cano relieved Bassitt and served up a two-run homer to Isbel just inside the right-field foul pole.

Alonso gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead after depositing a 1-0 sinker from Wacha over the wall in right-center field. Alonso’s homer was his third of the season and first since April 13.

Pasquantino halved the deficit after sending a 2-0 sinker from Bassitt over the wall in right field. The homer was his third of the season, with all three coming in his last seven games.

–Field Level Media

In the first tour-level clay-court match of her career, Ukraine’s Daria Snigur came away with a thrilling 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (13) victory over Australia’s Daria Kasatkina in first-round action of the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday.

Snigur, ranked 98th in the world, saved four match points before winning the marathon finish, which goes down as the longest first-to-seven, tour-level third-set tiebreaker in eight years and the sixth-longest in a WTA match this century.

Kasatkina, a 2022 French Open semifinalist, saved 17 of 24 break-point chances. Each competitor won 50% of both their service and return points. Snigur will next face No. 4 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland.

Seven Americans were in action during an extensive 22-match day of action in the Spanish capital. All 32 seeded competitors earned first-round byes in the 96-person event.

Alycia Parks won her opening-round match over Italy’s Elisabetta Coccioretto 6-3, 6-2, setting up a second-round clash with fellow American and No. 31 seed Ann Li.

Parks finished off her opening match in just 74 minutes. She hit just 52% of her first serves but won 71.4% of her service points, saving all three break points she faced while converting 3 of 7 on Coccioretto’s serve.

Two other Americans fell, with Taylor Townsend losing 6-4, 6-2 to Great Britain’s Katie Boulter while Elvina Kalieva took a 6-3, 6-4 defeat against Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.

Boulter will next face fifth-seeded American Jessica Pegula. No. 3 seed Coco Gauff will open against France’s Leolia Jeanjean, who blew past Russia’s Oksana Selekhmeteva for a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

There were also two battles between U.S. players on Thursday. Caty McNally bested Katie Volynets 6-1, 6-2 in 94 minutes and will face No. 10 Victoria Mboko of Canada in the second round. Sofia Kenin, who won the 2020 Australian Open, defeated Ashlyn Krueger 7-6 (2), 6-4 to book a matchup against No. 32 Qinwen Zheng of China.

Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania beat Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 and will face No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the Round of 64.

That was one of seven matches contested on the day which went to a third set. However, one of the more thrilling matches was Argentina’s Solana Sierra holding off Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska 7-6 (10), 7-6 (8) in a match which lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours despite only going two sets.

In other two-set matches, Italy’s Tyra Caterina Grant defeated France’s Elsa Jacquemot 6-1, 6-2, Switzerland’s Simona Waltert beat Oleksandra Oliynikova of Ukraine 7-5, 6-0, Indonesia’s Janice Tjen swept Russia’s Alina Charaeva 6-4, 6-2, Colombia’s Emiliana Arango beat Australia’s Talia Gibson 6-3, 6-2, Alexandra Eala of the Philippines defeated Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-3, Hungary’s Dalma Galfi bested Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 7-6 (7), 6-4, Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez beat Spaniard Carlota Martinez Cirez 7-5, 6-2 and China’s Shuia Zhang overcame Germany’s Eva Lys for a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

In three-set territory, Czech Karolina Pliskova bested Austria’s Sinja Kraus 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan outlasted Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina beat Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine beat Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 and Hungary’s Panna Udvardy took care of Australia’s Kimberly Birrell in a 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 triumph.

–Field Level Media

Bryson DeChambeau addressed speculation that he could be leaving LIV Golf after this season by pledging, “As long as LIV is here, I would figure out a way for it to make sense.”

DeChambeau told Flushing It Golf, in an interview published on Wednesday, that he is still working on “a potential contract” as he plays out the final season of his original LIV Golf deal.

The circuit is facing questions about its future as rumors circulate that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund may be preparing to end its immense financial support of the league. However, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said last week that the league would not fold. O’Neil later added that LIV Golf is financed through the 2026 season.

DeChambeau had spent part of his time while competing at the Masters Tournament earlier this month to discuss a possible return to the PGA Tour, according to a report by The Athletic.

In his interview published on Wednesday, DeChambeau said he is committed to LIV Golf as long as the league continues next year.

“We’re still working on a potential contract,” he said. “I haven’t given up on that and I think there will be a solution. But as of right now, my job is to help make the league work after this year. I just feel like I have a responsibility. I’ve put a lot of effort into it. So that’s what I’m going to do, we’re going to make this work.”

Adversity comes with the territory, DeChambeau said, as in any new venture.

“There’s a lot of moving parts like in any business,” he said. “It’s a startup, right? And so there’s going to be times where we’re squeezed and punched. This is one of those moments. But I’m going to do everything in my power to make it work and I really see the value in franchise golf.”

DeChambeau, 32, prevailed in a playoff in consecutive weeks in March by winning at both LIV Golf Singapore and LIV Golf South Africa. The two-time U.S. Open champion has won five individual LIV Golf titles.

When LIV Golf began in 2022, DeChambeau reportedly signed a $125 million contract for 4 1/2 years. According to The Daily Telegraph, he had been seeking as much as $500 million on a new contract to remain with the league.

DeChambeau did have the opportunity to return to the PGA Tour earlier this year through the Returning Member Program but reportedly declined. That program was developed as Brooks Koepka departed LIV for his return to the PGA Tour earlier this year.

Also declining the option to return were Jon Rahm and Cam Smith. DeChambeau, Rahm and Smith were the only three LIV stars who were offered a path to return amid new parameters that were restricted to players who had departed for at least two years and had won a major tournament or a Players Championship title between 2022 and 2025.

DeChambeau, as captain of the Crushers GC team, turned the focus beyond his own situation and fellow stars Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Spain’s Rahm to younger golfers committed to the league.

“And, you know, another reason why I’m doing this is not just for myself and the team aspect that I really believe in on the Crushers side,” he said. “It’s for Michael La Sasso. It’s for Caleb Surratt. It’s for Josele Ballester. It’s for David Puig.

“Jon, Phil, DJ, myself and the guys that have been here from the start, we’re OK. It’s now our responsibility to take care of these kids that believe in us. That’s why I’m really doing it. There’s so much value to squeeze out of this whole thing for golf in general.”

The league’s fourth season has eight tournaments remaining — five in the United States — after last week’s event in Mexico.

–Field Level Media