PITTSBURGH (AP) — Christian Yelich homered twice and the Milwaukee Brewers breezed past the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-5 in a game interrupted by rain. Yelich hit a three-run drive against rookie Mike Burrows and a solo shot off reliever Isaac Mattson for the 11th multi-homer game of his career. Spencer Horwitz had two hits and two RBIs for the Pirates, including a solo shot in the fourth inning for his first home run this season. The Pirates did manage to avoid making major league history. Pittsburgh scored at least five runs for the first time in 27 games, leaving the team tied with four others for the longest such drought.
The series continues tonight. Pregame at 5:05pm. First pitch at 5:40pm on AM1240 & 96.5FM.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers have activated pitcher Aaron Civale off the 15-day injured list. The move cleared the way for Civale to start the opener of a four-game series against Pittsburgh. Civale was placed on the injured list with a strained left hamstring in March. He had made just one start this season, allowing five runs in three innings of a blowout loss to the New York Yankees on March 30. The Brewers also designated struggling reliever Joel Payamps for assignment. The 31-year-old Payamps, a fixture in the bullpen in 2023 and 2024, was 0-1 with an 8.35 ERA in 23 games for the Brewers this season.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points a day after being named the NBA’s MVP, and the Oklahoma City Thunder overwhelmed the Minnesota Timberwolves again, winning 118-103 to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals. Gilgeous-Alexander made 12 of 21 field goals and 13 of 15 free throws after receiving his MVP trophy from Commissioner Adam Silver before the game. He also had eight assists and three steals. Jalen Williams had 26 points and 10 rebounds and Chet Holmgren added 22 points for the Thunder. Anthony Edwards scored 32 points for the Wolves but it took him 26 shots to get them.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sam Bennett scored one of his two goals in Florida’s three-goal first period, Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves and the Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-0 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference final. Gustav Forsling and Matthew Tkachuk also scored in another tone-setting opening 20 minutes for the reigning Stanley Cup champions, while Carter Verhaeghe had three assists. Bennett scored a second time by skating in to clean up an attempt at the right post in the final minute of the second period to make it 4-0, ending a long shift in Carolina’s end prolonged by Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns being stuck on the ice after breaking his stick. Aleksander Barkov scored midway through the third as punctuation.
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Britta Curl-Salemme tied it with 16 seconds left and scored at 16:24 of overtime to give the defending champion Minnesota Frost a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Charge on Thursday night, evening the PWHL championship series at a game apiece. Ottawa opened the best-of-five series with a 2-1 overtime victory Tuesday night. Game 3 is Saturday in St. Paul, Minnesota. After Jocelyne Larocque broke through for Ottawa with 2:35 left in regulation, Curl-Salemme tied it off a rebound on a power play with 16 seconds remaining with goalie Maddie Rooney also off for an extra attacker. In overtime, the puck went to Curl-Salemme in the high slot off a scramble and she swatted it past Gwyneth Philips. Rooney stopped 37 shots