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Miami rallies twice to earn draw in new stadium opener vs. Austin

MLS: Austin FC at Inter Miami CFApr 4, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Inter Miami CF forward Lionel Messi (10) kicks the ball against Austin FC during the first half at Nu Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Substitute Luis Suarez scored his first goal of the season in the 82nd minute after Lionel Messi scored his fifth and Inter Miami salvaged a 2-2 draw against visiting Austin FC to officially open their new permanent stadium on Saturday night.

Both goals pulled Miami (3-1-2, 11 points) back from a goal down at the 26,700-seat Nu Stadium just west of downtown Miami, which replaces the Herons’ temporary home of Chase Stadium in nearby Fort Lauderdale.

Austin’s Guiherme Biro scored the first goal in the venue early in the first half, and Jayden Nelson temporarily restored the visitors’ lead early in the second.

It was the first time the Verde (1-2-3, 6 points) have scored multiple goals since a 2-2 home draw against Minnesota in their season opener.

But Austin were forced to settle for a share of the points when Suarez leveled nine minutes after his entrance on a well-worked corner.

Mateo Silvetti struck the inswinging service to the near post, and German Berterame met it with a flick-on header to the far post. That’s where Suarez showed up for a first-time volley from close range.

Once level late, Miami looked far more likely to get the winner. Suarez briefly thought he’d dispatched a rebound into the net for a winner, only to be ruled offside. Then Austin’s Brad Stuver sprawled to deny Messi’s low effort in second-half stoppage time.

A rare turnover from Messi led to Austin’s second goal in the 53rd minute.

Joseph Rosales took the ball off the Argentine, took several touches forward to begin a break and then sprayed a pass further up the left flank to Myrto Uzuni.

From there, Uzuni played a very clever first-time diagonal ball — benefiting from a fortunate deflection off Miami’s Noah Allen — into the path of Nelson sprinting up the center channel. Nelson finished the sequence off the inside of the left post and into the net.

Austin first went in front on a sixth-minute corner. Facundo Torres provided the outswinging service, and Miami’s Tadeo Allende slightly misjudged his clearing header attempt.

That allowed the ball to drop for Biro, who powered a low header off the turf and past Dayne St. Clair.

Messi pulled the Herons level four minutes later after Telasco Segovia orchestrated a flowing left-to-right move, eventually playing the ball to Ian Fray on the right flank.

Fray looped a cross back toward the penalty spot, where Messi connected with a relatively rare headed goal into the top-right corner.

–Field Level Media

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Andy Pages remains hot in Dodgers’ win over Nationals

MLB: Los Angeles Dodgers at Washington NationalsApr 4, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) hits a two RBI double against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images

Andy Pages slugged a three-run homer among his three hits, Freddie Freeman doubled twice and drove in four runs, and the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals 10-5 on Saturday.

Will Smith also had three hits and Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker and Alex Call each had two of the Dodgers’ 16 hits. Pages leads the majors in hits while batting .500 (15-for-30).

Los Angeles star shortstop Mookie Betts exited in the middle of the first inning of the game due to right lower back pain and was replaced by Miguel Rojas.

Tyler Glasnow (1-0) threw 101 pitches over six innings, giving up two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts and two walks.

CJ Abrams hit a two-run homer and Luis Garcia Jr. went 3-for-4 with an RBI for Washington, which lost its fourth straight and has been outscored 23-11 in the first two games of the weekend series.

The Dodgers put two runs on the board in the first inning. With two on and one out, Freeman delivered a two-run double against Jake Irvin (1-1).

Irvin ran into trouble again in the second inning, allowing three runs on three hits. Los Angeles loaded the bases with one out before Alex Freeland scored on Rojas’ sacrifice fly. Freeman followed with a two-run double to right field.

The Dodgers extended their lead to 6-0 in the third when Pages singled, stole second and scored on Call’s two-out single.

Washington pushed a run across with two outs in the third on Garcia’s RBI triple into the right-field corner.

Irvin was replaced by Brad Lord after giving up six runs on eight hits over four innings. He walked two and struck out four.

Will Smith and Max Muncy greeted Lord with back-to-back singles to begin the fifth inning, and Pages drove them home with a three-run homer. The 387-foot shot was Pages’ second in as many games and third of the season.

After Los Angeles tacked on another run in the seventh on Tucker’s two-out single, Abrams hit a two-run homer off Ben Casparius in the eighth. Washington added a run in the ninth on Jose Tena’s pinch-hit RBI single.

–Field Level Media

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William Sawalich gets breakthrough victory at Rockingham

NASCAR OReilly Auto Parts: US Marine Corps 250Mar 28, 2026; Martinsville, Virginia, USA; Joe Gibbs Racing driver William Sawalich (18) pit crew try to get their car back into the final laps of the race at Martinsville Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Grabbing the lead and control of the race after a restart on Lap 172, William Sawalich pulled away over the final 79 laps to win Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black’s Tire at Rockingham Speedway.

The victory was the first in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for the 19-year-old Sawalich, the youngest driver to win at the 0.94-mile track in any of NASCAR’s top three series.

Sawalich, who led 80 laps, crossed the finish line 0.863 seconds ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brandon Jones to end the five-race winning streak of JR Motorsports and preserve the series record of six straight victories for JGR.

“It means everything,” said Sawalich, who gained three positions to 11th in the series standings. “Honestly, it was a tough year last year and a tough start to the year this year. Gosh, it feels good to get it done here at Rockingham in front of an awesome crowd.

“Our Supra was on rails today, obviously. Good in Stage 1 (fifth), Stage 2 (second) and obviously amazing in clean air. Lapped traffic took me out last year (in a 25th-place finish), so that was running through my head a little bit, but, man, I just studied the race last year, calmed down–and everything’s fine.”

With the win, Sawalich earned eligibility for the first Dash 4 Cash race next Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. The top four finishers at Rockingham–Sawalich, Jones and third- and fourth-place finishers Justin Allgaier and Rajah Caruth–will compete for a $100,000 bonus in that event, with the top finisher among them claiming the prize.

Caruth, in fact, made a spectacular three-wide pass of both Sheldon Creed and Carson Kvapil with nine laps left to grab the last Dash 4 Cash position. Kvapil finished fifth and Creed sixth, followed by Taylor Gray, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg and pole winner Corey Day.

For the first half of the race, Day appeared to have the dominant car. The 20-year-old led a race-high 118 of the 250 laps and swept the first two stages–the first stage wins of his career.

But Day lost five positions on a slow pit stop during the second stage break and never recovered. On Lap 174, he pitted out of sequence for a loose lug nut and charged from 24th over the final 70 laps to post his seventh straight top 10.

“We had a couple of bad pit stops,” Day said. “We got behind there, and it was hard to dig ourselves out of the hole.”

Jones was pleased with the progress his runner-up finish represents.

“I left Martinsville a little frustrated at myself last week (after finishing 18th),” Jones said. “We weren’t quite aggressive enough at times, so today, I was super adamant on being super aggressive. I am going to take all of the runs I can get. I’m going to put people in bad situations, if I can, and just move forward.

“I think we did a really good job of it. We kept fighting both sides of it with balance today. Sam (McAuley, crew chief) did a great job taking all of my feedback and making a car, I think, capable of winning. It was just a matter of trying to get some track position, and he (Sawalich) got such a big restart on that last restart (after the seventh caution on Lap 206) that it was hard to catch him.”

Allgaier had the consolation of leaving Rockingham with a lead of 126 points over second-place Jesse Love in the O’Reilly Auto Parts standings. Love hit the outside wall after a shove from Caruth, lost track position on a subsequent unscheduled pit stop on Lap 153 and finished 27th, two laps down.

–Field Level Media

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Ramon Laureano leads Padres over Red Sox with 9th inning single

MLB: San Diego Padres at Boston Red SoxApr 4, 2026; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) scores a run against Boston Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez (75) during the ninth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images

Ramon Laureano’s two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth inning propelled the visiting San Diego Padres to a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox in the second of a three-game series on Saturday.

The Padres found two-out magic against Boston closer Aroldis Chapman (0-1) to take the lead for good, as Fernando Tatis Jr. ripped a double over Ceddanne Rafaela’s head in center field to set the stage for Laureano’s heroic knock into left.

Miguel Andujar also had a big day for San Diego, going 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored.

San Diego had recorded just two hits between the fourth and seventh innings, allowing the Boston offense to scratch a tying run. Adrian Morejon (1-0) earned the win despite blowing a potential save, which Mason Miller wound up earning after striking out the side in the ninth.

Rafaela and Roman Anthony each had two hits for the Red Sox; Anthony hit a triple in the fifth.

In the eighth, Rafaela and Anthony started the Red Sox with back-to-back singles before pinch hitter Andruw Monasterio put together a nine-pitch at-bat and earned an RBI fielder’s choice. The Padres looked to turn an inning-ending 1-4-3 double play, but Jake Cronenworth fumbled Morejon’s throw to second.

After Boston starter Connelly Early worked out of a two-on, two-out jam to start the game, San Diego took a 1-0 lead on Bryce Johnson’s RBI grounder in the second. Freddy Fermin scored after drawing a leadoff walk and moved first-to-third on Ty France’s wall-ball single.

The bottom of the inning saw the hosts respond with a game-tying run, as Willson Contreras knocked a leadoff single to left and scored on Marcelo Mayer’s sacrifice fly.

A pair of doubles in the third helped the Padres take a 2-1 lead. Andujar knocked one into the left-field corner with one out to spark the inning, and Manny Machado kept the line moving with a walk. Two batters later, Fermin flipped the score again with a two-out liner past the dive of Boston third baseman Caleb Durbin.

Both teams’ bats were quieted for several innings thereafter, though the Red Sox had opportunities to re-tie the game with four hits across the fourth and fifth.

San Diego starter Randy Vasquez worked around three singles in the first of those frames, striking out Mayer with two on to end the threat. An inning later, Anthony’s two-out triple to deep right went by the board.

Vasquez completed six innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts.

Early threw 88 pitches in just four innings, allowing two runs on three hits and four walks while fanning four.

–Field Level Media

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