LeBron James scored 18 of his 28 points in a runaway first half for the visiting Los Angeles Lakers, who cruised to a 98-78 victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday and claimed their Western Conference first-round playoff series in six games.

By virtue of the 4-2 series victory, the Lakers advance to the Western Conference semifinals and will travel to face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder for Game 1 on Tuesday.

James added seven rebounds and eight assists to his ledger. Teammate Rui Hachimura put up 21 points, hitting 5 of 7 from the 3-point arc. Austin Reaves, who started for the first time in the series, added 15 points for the Lakers.

Undermined by turnovers throughout the series, the Lakers committed just 11 giveaways while limiting Houston to 35% shooting. The Lakers finished with a 19-8 edge in fastbreak points, made 12 of 28 3-point shots (42.9%) and produced a plus-9 rebounding margin.

Alperen Sengun paired 17 points with 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who played without leading scorer Kevin Durant for the fifth time in the series. Amen Thompson added 18 points and eight rebounds while Tari Eason tallied 14 points. Reed Sheppard scored 10 points for Houston, but missed 15 of 19 shots, including 9 of 10 from 3-point range. Houston finished 5 of 28 (17.9%) from deep.

The Rockets’ promising bid to rally from a 3-0 series deficit and force a Game 7 in Los Angeles on Sunday fizzled quickly. Sengun gave Houston a 16-11 lead with a hook shot nearly seven minutes into the first quarter, but the Lakers seized control with a 12-0 run.

Reaves ignited the surge with a three-point play while Luke Kennard, Jake LaRavia and Hachimura added treys to lift the Lakers to a 23-16 lead.

The Lakers opened the second with a 9-0 spurt keyed by James, who scored in the post, drilled a 3-pointer and tallied a driving layup.

The Rockets missed their first 11 shots of the second, with Sheppard ending the drought by driving for a layup at the 6:55 mark. After Thompson scored through a foul to cut what had been a 19-point deficit to 11, Ayton sank 1 of 2 free throws and then James assisted on a Hachimura trey before nailing a pull-up 3-pointer that helped the Lakers re carry a 49-31 lead into the intermission.

Los Angeles led by as many as 29 points in the second half.

–Field Level Media

Ronny Mauricio hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning Friday night for the New York Mets, who mounted their biggest comeback of the season to beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 in the opener of a three-game interleague series between a pair of reeling teams.

The Mets trailed 3-0 before winning for just the fourth time in their last 21 games and improving their MLB-worst record to 11-21.

The comeback win marked New York’s first multi-run rally since it spotted the Pittsburgh Pirates the first two runs in an 11-7 win on Opening Day.

Five Mets pitchers combined to retire the final 21 batters they faced as the Angels lost for the 11th time in 12 games since an 11-10 start.

Los Angeles scored three runs or fewer for the ninth time in 12 games.

Jorge Soler hit a two-run homer off Christian Scott in the first for the Angels, who extended their lead to 3-0 in the third when Zach Neto stole third and raced home after Francisco Alvarez’s throw sailed into left field.

Angels starter Walbert Urena allowed just one hit through the first five innings before Bo Bichette – who had the lone hit in the fourth – led off the sixth by lining a comebacker off Urena’s right knee.

Urena took two warmup tosses before exiting for Brent Suter, who got two outs but allowed two hits, including Alvarez’s RBI single. Two batters later, Marcus Semien greeted Chase Silseth with a tying two-run single.

Mauricio put the Mets ahead with a one-out blast, his first of the season, off Jose Fermin (0-1).

Huascar Brazoban (2-0) threw a perfect sixth before Brooks Raley and Luke Weaver followed suit in the seventh and eighth. Devin Williams earned his third save by striking out two in the ninth.

Scott, who retired the final nine batters he faced, gave up all three Angels runs (two earned) on three hits while walking none and striking out eight.

Urena allowed one run on two hits and three walks while striking out four.

–Field Level Media

Pinch hitter Lane Thomas’ run-scoring single with one out in the eighth inning broke a tie as the Kansas City Royals defeated the host Seattle Mariners 7-6 on Friday, overcoming a pair of two-run homers by Julio Rodriguez.

Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone went deep for the Royals, who won for just the fourth time in 16 road games this season. By taking the opener of a three-game series, Kansas City stopped a mini two-game skid.

Connor Joe and Randy Arozarena also homered for Seattle, which had won six of its previous seven games.

Royals reliever Daniel Lynch IV (1-0) got the victory despite allowing two runs in his lone inning. Lucas Erceg worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his eighth save of the season.

With the score tied at 6-all, Kansas City’s Salvador Perez led off the eighth with a double to left field, his second of the game. Perez advanced to third on Carter Jensen’s groundout and scored as Thomas hit a looping liner to right-center off Mariners reliever Jose A. Ferrer (0-1).

The Royals’ Maikel Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr. and Pasquantino began the game with singles, with Pasquantino driving in the opening run. Perez followed with a two-run double to right to make it 3-0. With two outs, Isaac Collins doubled off the glove of third baseman Leo Rivas, scoring Perez.

The Mariners’ halved their deficit in the bottom half of the frame. J.P. Crawford drew a leadoff walk, and an out later, Rodriguez went deep into the second deck in left field.

Seattle pulled within 4-3 in the fifth when Joe hit a leadoff homer to left.

Pasquantino led off the sixth with a liner off the facade of the second deck in right field. Two outs later, Caglianone hit a high drive that just cleared the fence in the right field corner to give the Royals a 6-3 advantage.

Arozarena went deep to right with one out in the bottom of the inning.

In the seventh, Crawford singled and Rodriguez homered to straightaway center with two outs to tie it at 6-all.

Both starting pitchers struggled to keep the ball in the yard.

Royals left-hander Cole Ragans went 5 1/3 innings and gave up four runs on four hits, including three homers. He walked three and struck out eight.

Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo struggled early, allowing four runs in the first inning, then settled down to retire 13 consecutive batters before giving up the two solo shots in the sixth. Woo went six innings and allowed six runs on seven hits, with no walks and two strikeouts.

–Field Level Media