Sports
Denny Hamlin rallies to win All-Star Race
May 17, 2026; Dover, Delaware, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) races to the inside of driver Brad Keselowski (6) during the NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images Denny Hamlin tracked down Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe, got by with 29 laps remaining and held on to claim the $1 million payday for Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Del.
Briscoe’s No. 19 Toyota took the point from Hamlin’s No. 11 with 52 laps left after the final restart, but Hamlin patiently hunted down his teammate’s Camry, moved by on the frontstretch and won the exhibition race by 0.887 seconds.
The 45-year-old Hamlin won the All-Star Race for the second time (Charlotte, 2015) in his 20th start. It was also his third straight victory at Dover.
Erik Jones finished third followed by Austin Dillon and rookie Connor Zilisch.
The high-banked, one-mile speedway reached out on Lap 2 as the first incident happened. Ryan Preece’s Ford was moved up on the straightaway and got into the No. 5 Chevrolet of reigning title winner Kyle Larson, creating a mess in Turn 1 in a nine-car melee.
The wreck involved Cup champions Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott, whose crews scrambled to repair their cars since the drivers were locked in to the final 200-lap segment.
After a lengthy cleanup, Brad Keselowski continued to pace the field but relinquished the point to polesitter Hamlin after leading the first 16 laps. Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota quickly built a 3½-second lead in 13 circuits.
Bubba Wallace passed Hamlin on the segment’s final restart, and his No. 23 Toyota won it after Riley Herbst spun in a wreck that involved Elliott for a second time, ending the day for the sport’s most popular driver.
AJ Allmendinger gathered the lead from Shane van Gisbergen in the second segment, but the road course specialist later spun. A wreck involving Keselowski, Ross Chastain and Wallace resulted in Chastain’s No. 1 being retired.
Tyler Reddick worked his way back to the front to earn the checkers in the 75-lapper over Briscoe and Hamlin, but JGR’s Ty Gibbs had a tire go down and wrecked while running sixth on Lap 126.
Briscoe passed Hamlin to lead early in the final segment, but Reddick showed strength as did a hard-charging Zilisch as the competition caution neared. Hamlin moved by Reddick to the point as the yellow waved with 125 to go.
Just after Hocevar and William Byron pitted, Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford crashed in Turn 1 after his left-rear tire came apart.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Jake Burger stars as Rangers salvage win vs. Astros
May 17, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers first baseman Jake Burger (21) hits a two-run home run to right field against the Houston Astros during the fifth inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images Jake Burger produced a pair of extra-base hits, including a two-run double that ignited a five-run seventh inning, and Nathan Eovaldi twirled seven shutout innings as the visiting Texas Rangers averted a three-game series sweep with an 8-0 victory over the Houston Astros on Sunday.
Burger was the linchpin in the series finale for a flagging Texas offense that totaled one run in the first two games of the series. He finished 2-for-4 with a home run, the double and four RBIs.
Astros right-hander Peter Lambert (2-4) matched zeroes with Eovaldi (5-4) through four innings before Burger swung momentum in the Rangers’ favor with one out in the top of the fifth.
Alejandro Osuna produced an infield single, the first hit Lambert allowed before Burger followed by drilling a 2-1 fastball the opposite way for a two-run homer that snapped a scoreless deadlock. Burger drove his eighth homer this season 356 feet to right field.
Lambert reclaimed control when he retired the next five batters. But Joc Pederson walked to lead off the seventh before Ezequiel Duran (double) and Osuna (hit by pitch) chased Lambert. Burger greeted Astros reliever Cody Bolton with a double to left that doubled the lead to 4-0.
Kyle Higashioka added a single that plated Osuna and Burger. Two batters later, Brandon Nimmo doubled off the scoreboard in left to score Higashioka, who capped the scoring with a homer in the ninth.
Lambert allowed five runs on three hits and two walks with six strikeouts in six-plus innings.
Eovaldi improved to 4-2 with a 2.54 ERA across seven starts in his hometown. He allowed five hits and two walks with a season-high-tying eight strikeouts. He threw 94 pitches, 64 for strikes.
Eovaldi induced an inning-ending double play from Brice Matthews in the third inning, and he stranded runners on the corners when he got Braden Shewmake to fly out to left in the fourth. The Astros fashioned a threat in the seventh when Cam Smith followed a Shewmake double with a walk, but Eovaldi responded with a pair of groundball outs to conclude his stellar outing.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Braves turn fast start into 8-1 victory over Red Sox
May 17, 2026; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley (27) runs the bases after hitting a home run against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images Austin Riley and Mike Yastrzemski each hit home runs to lead the Atlanta Braves to an 8-1 victory over the visiting Boston Red Sox on Sunday afternoon.
Atlanta scored in four of the first five innings and cruised to the series-clinching victory, as Grant Holmes pitched six innings, while Reynaldo Lopez and Tyler Kinley combined to worked three innings in relief.
Holmes (3-1) scattered five hits, walked one and struck out four. Lopez followed with two scoreless innings.
Drake Baldwin also drove in two runs for the Braves, who logged eight hits to nine for the Red Sox.
Nick Sogard brought in Boston’s lone run with a ninth-inning double. Jarren Duran went 2-for-5 with a double for the Red Sox, while starter Brayan Bello allowed seven runs on eight hits across five innings.
Atlanta worked a 30-pitch first inning from Bello, while getting a three-run homer from Riley to left-center field.
Four Braves hitters reached base before Bello recorded the first out of the second. Jorge Mateo doubled, Yastrzemski singled and Jose Azocar walked to load the bases. Drake Baldwin walked in a run and Matt Olson brought home a run on a ground out for 5-0 lead.
Holmes stranded baserunners in five of his six innings, including a two-on, one-out jam in the fourth after Willson Contreras doubled and Ceddanne Rafaela walked.
Yastrzemski launched a leadoff homer into the right-field corner in the fourth and Dominic Smith had an RBI single in the fifth.
Back-to-back walks off reliever Red Sox Ryan Watson led to a Baldwin sacrifice fly, extending the Atlanta lead to 8-0 in the eighth.
The Braves were one out away from their fifth shutout of the season, but Connor Wong singled and scored on Sogard’s double into the right-field corner. Sogard was recalled from Triple-A Worcester on Saturday to take the place of injured infielder Trevor Story.
The game entered a 33-minute rain delay in the middle of the sixth inning. Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez did not return after the delay after he was diagnosed with finger pain. Wong came in as his replacement.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Mets complete late rally, top Yankees 7-6 in 10 innings
May 17, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice (22) looks up at his solo home run during the second inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Carson Benge drove in the game-ending run in the 10th inning for the second time in a week as the New York Mets stormed back from a four-run deficit to stun the visiting New York Yankees 7-6 on Sunday in the deciding game of this season’s first Subway Series.
The Mets’ Luis Torrens began the comeback from a 6-1 deficit with a two-run pinch-hit double in the sixth and Tyrone Taylor forced extra innings with a three-run homer in the ninth off David Bednar.
The Mets won a game in which they trailed after eight innings for the first time since 2024.
Rookie A.J. Ewing opened the 10th by laying down a sacrifice bunt against Tim Hill (0-1) to move automatic runner Marcus Semien to third. Hill then hit Torrens with a pitch.
Benge, who had a game-ending single in Wednesday’s 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers, followed with a grounder to the middle against a drawn-in infield. Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. and shortstop Anthony Volpe collided as Semien raced home.
Devin Williams (3-1) issued a one-out walk in the 10th but stranded automatic runner Ryan McMahon at third by getting Austin Wells to hit into an inning-ending 3-6-3 double play.
Semien had an RBI double for the Mets, who went 5-1 on their homestand and improved to 10-5 this month. Mark Vientos recorded two hits while rookie A.J. Ewing reached base in all four plate appearances with a single and three walks.
Volpe had a tie-breaking two-run single in the sixth and finished with three RBIs for the Yankees, who went 2-7 on a nine-game road trip.
Ben Rice homered in the third for his 15th of the season that is one shy of teammate Aaron Judge for the American League lead. Amed Rosario had a pinch-hit sacrifice fly for the Yankees.
The Mets’ ninth-inning rally spared inefficient starter Freddy Peralta the loss. Peralta surrendered three runs on two hits and six walks in five innings while striking out four. The six walks tied a career-high set most recently on May 5, 2024.
The Yankees’ Elmer Rodriguez gave up one run on five hits and one walk while striking out one over 4 1/3 innings in his third career start.
–Field Level Media
