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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Sonny Gray struck out 10 while allowing only four singles over seven innings and Willson Contreras had a part in both St. Louis runs as the Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers 2-0 on Saturday.

Gray’s 19th game with double-digit strikeouts made the 35-year-old right-hander in his 13th big league season the 10th active pitcher with 1,800 career strikeouts. Gray (6-1) threw 64 of 91 pitches for strikes and had only one walk.

Ryan Helsley worked the ninth for his 13th save in 15 chances to wrap up the Cardinals’ seventh shutout of the season. Phil Maton pitched the eighth.

The Cardinals went ahead to stay by manufacturing a run without a hit after the second inning nearly started with a home run.

Contreras led off with a towering flyball near the left-field pole that prompted a crew chief review to determine it was foul as initially called. He then walked, advanced on a wild pitch by Patrick Corbin (3-4), got to third on a groundout and scored on Nolan Arenado’s sacrifice fly.

Maysn Winn led of the Cardinals fourth with a double and went home on a ground-rule double by Contreras, a ball that hit just fair down the left-field line and bounced into the seats.

Corbin allowed two runs on three hits and two walks over 5 1/3 innings.

Texas, after an 11-1 win Friday night, was shut out for the eighth time.
Key moment

Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan’s nifty play in the ninth inning to throw out speedy No. 3 hitter Wyatt Langford for the second out around two strikeouts by Helsley.
Key stat

The Cardinals finished with a 19-8 record in May, their best record in that month since 20-7 in 2013, their last World Series season.
Up next

Jacob deGrom (4-2, 2.42 ERA), who has allowed two runs over fewer in each of his last eight starts, pitches the series finale for Texas on Sunday. Eric Fedde (3-4) goes for the Cardinals.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

HOUSTON (AP) — Junior Caminero hit two of Tampa Bay’s season-high five home runs and Zack Littell threw his first career complete game as the Rays sailed to a 16-3 victory over the Houston Astros Saturday.

Littell (5-5) allowed 10 hits and three runs with six strikeouts. The Rays have won each of Littell’s last seven starts and he’s 5-0 in that stretch.

The 21-year-old Caminero had a career-best four hits and drove in five runs. The performance comes after he set a career high with six RBIs on Thursday in a 13-3 victory.

Yandy Díaz, Jake Mangum and Josh Lowe also homered for the Rays, who had a season-best 18 hits and whose 16 runs tied a season high.

Díaz had a two-run shot in the third and Caminero put the Rays in front 4-3 with his solo homer to the seats in left field to start the fourth.

Tampa Bay led by 2 when Brandon Lowe extended his hitting streak to a career-long 13 games with an RBI double with one out in the sixth. Caminero followed with double to make it 7-3.

Mangum, a rookie who came off the injured list Friday, smacked a ball to the bullpen in right-center for his first career homer to push the lead to 9-3 and a two-run shot by Josh Lowe left Tampa Bay up 11-3.

There were two on with one out in the eighth when Caminero went deep again to make it 14-3 and give him his first career multi-homer game.

Jeremy Peña homered twice for the Astros, who fell to 1-2 in this four-game series.

Houston starter Colton Gordon (0-1) allowed five hits and four runs in five innings.
Key moment

Tampa Bay’s six-run seventh inning made it 11-3.
Key stat

Tampa Bay allowed four or fewer runs for the 12th straight game, which is the team’s longest streak since a 16-game stretch to end the 2021 season.
Up next

Tampa Bay’s Taj Bradley (4-4, 4.38 ERA) opposes RHP Hunter Brown (7-3, 2.00) when the series concludes Sunday.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

The seeds for the 2025 NBA Finals began getting planted unknowingly in 2017, back when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was about to enroll at Kentucky and Tyrese Haliburton was getting ready for his senior year of high school in Wisconsin.

That was the year the Indiana Pacers traded Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers landed Domantas Sabonis out of that deal. The Thunder would trade George in 2019 to the Los Angeles Clippers for a package that included Gilgeous-Alexander. The Pacers would trade Sabonis in 2022 to Sacramento for a package that included Haliburton.

And here we are.

Gilgeous-Alexander is the NBA’s MVP and Oklahoma City’s best player. Haliburton is an Olympic gold medalist and Indiana’s best player. They’ll lead their teams into Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night — Indiana at Oklahoma City, the start of a series that will decide who hoists the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

“Man, I’m just so proud of this group,” Haliburton said in the on-court televised interview with TNT after the Pacers’ 125-108 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. “I don’t even have words right now. It’s really exciting. We’ll enjoy this one for now. There’s four more, there’s a lot more work to do, against a really tough team.”

The Thunder — depending on how you count — are in the finals for either the second time or the fifth time. The franchise, when it was in Seattle, lost what was then called the NBA World Championship Series to Washington in 1978, then won the title in a rematch against the then-Bullets in 1979 and lost in the NBA Finals to Chicago in 1996. Oklahoma City got to the finals in 2012, losing to Miami.

The Thunder are 80-18 this season, after going 68-14 in the regular season and then 12-4 in the playoffs — sweeping Memphis in Round 1, surviving seven games against Denver in Round 2 and then ousting Minnesota in five games for the Western Conference title.

“When you win, that’s a special thing,” Thunder forward Chet Holmgren said. “It’s not guaranteed in this league. If everybody was guaranteed to win, it’d be a participation trophy instead of a Larry O’Brien. So, you have to kind of take it in and understand what you’ve accomplished to that point, but then the next day you have to start turning the page, get rid of the emotions and start focusing on preparation and what you have to do to conquer the next step. And that’s where we’re at.”

Indiana is in the NBA title round for the second time, having lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000. The Pacers franchise won ABA titles in 1970, 1972 and 1973. They got out of the Eastern Conference as the No. 4 seed, beating Milwaukee in five games in Round 1, beating top-seeded Cleveland in five games in Round 2 and then beating New York in the conference finals.

The Pacers were 10-15 through the first 25 games of the season — then went 40-17 to finish the regular season. They are the fourth team to start 10-15 or worse and go on to win a conference title, joining Seattle in 1977-78 (8-17), the 1956-57 St. Louis Hawks (10-15) and the 1958-59 Minneapolis Lakers (10-15). None of those teams went on to win the NBA title.

“In 49 states, it’s just basketball,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “But this is Indiana. … Our guys earned this. Congratulations to our guys.”

Oklahoma City swept the season series with Indiana 2-0, part of a regular season where the Thunder — who finished with the NBA’s best record — went 29-1 against the Eastern Conference. That doesn’t include a loss to Milwaukee in the NBA Cup final, a game that didn’t count in any standings.

So, the matchup is set. It’s the Paul George finals, albeit without Paul George — who had arguably the best season of his career with the Thunder, averaging 28 points and finishing third in the MVP voting for 2018-19 — starting at OKC on Thursday.

“Obviously, he wasn’t here long but he had great years here,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Saturday when asked about George’s impact. “I mean, one of the best years of his career was here, one of the best individual seasons a player’s had here — which is saying something here with the guys they’ve had. So, I have a lot of respect for him.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton made sure the Indiana Pacers gave their fans a celebration they waited 25 years to see again.

Siakam had 31 points and Haliburton scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, carrying the Pacers to a 125-108 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday night for a 4-2 series win and their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2000.

It’s just the second time in franchise history that they’ll play for the championship. The series begins Thursday at Oklahoma City.

“Pascal and Tyrese put us on their backs and made sure we would not lose,” coach Rick Carlisle told the gold-clad crowd that was on its feet for the waning minutes and the postgame party. “But our work has just begun.”

Siakam won the Larry Bird Trophy as the Eastern Conference finals MVP. Bird is the only other coach to take the Pacers to the Finals. Haliburton finished with 13 assists and Obi Toppin added 18 points and six rebounds against his former team.

OG Anunoby led the Knicks with 24 points. Karl-Anthony Towns had 22 points and 14 rebounds, while Jalen Brunson added 19 points as the Pacers’ relentless ball pressure forced New York into 17 turnovers.

“There were stretches where we played very good defense and stretches where we didn’t,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I think once you dig into it and you look at is, was it our defense? Or was it our turnovers? I think it was probably a combination of both.”

Whatever the explanation, the Knicks are headed home again courtesy of the Pacers. New York still hasn’t played in the finals since 1999.

It was a magical night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse — from the festive pregame atmosphere through the roaring ovation for the starters as they departed with 47.2 seconds to go to Reggie Miller’s presentation of the Eastern Conference’s Bob Cousy Trophy to Pacers owner Herb Simon on TNT’s final NBA broadcast. Miller was one of the telecast’s color analysts.

And yet, it was a tough, physical game that didn’t always follow the Pacers’ preferred style.

Whether it was Towns limping after drawing a foul or Haliburton holding his jaw when he took a shot that knocked him to the ground, the tone was set early — and never really changed with so much at stake.

Indiana finally broke open a close game by opening the second half on a 9-0 run, then extended their lead to 78-63 courtesy of three straight 3-pointers — two from Thomas Bryant and one from Andrew Nembhard. The run ignited the crowd, which included everyone from Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson to WNBA star Caitlin Clark to Timothee Chalamet to Kylie Jenner.

But when the Knicks answered with eight straight to cut the deficit to 78-71, the Pacers responded with another 9-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game and the Knicks were forced to play catch-up the rest of the night.

“This is no time to be popping champagne,” said Carlisle, who won the 2011 title as coach of the Dallas Mavericks. “When you get to this point of the season, it’s two teams and it’s one goal. So it becomes an all or nothing thing and we understand the magnitude of it.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Pacers forward Jarace Walker was on crutches with a right ankle injury following Indiana’s 125-108 victory over the New York Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night and coach Rick Carlisle said he was uncertain of Walker’s availability for the NBA Finals.

Walker will have four full days to recover with Game 1 set for Thursday night at Oklahoma City.

“He’s young so that’s good,” Carlisle said. “I did not see a replay so I don’t know how much, how far it turned over, how much weight he had on it. But when a guy goes down and stays down like that, you’re always holding your breath.”

Walker was injured early in the fourth quarter while defending a drive. His right leg appeared to bend awkwardly, and he stayed down for two more possessions before crawling off the court. He needed help from two trainers to get off the floor and he went straight to the locker room.

Walker did not return. He did not play much in the Knicks series but he made his only shot Saturday, finishing with two points in seven minutes. He was Indiana’s first draft pick in 2023, No. 8 overall.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger said Saturday that he was surprised and embarrassed when he got pulled from Game 5 of the Western Conference final after giving up two goals on the only two shots he faced, and coach Pete DeBoer was still facing questions about that decision two days after the season-ending loss to Edmonton.

“No one’s a bigger fan of Jake Oettinger than me, as a person or a goalie,” DeBoer said. “There’s one motive, and that’s how do we survive this and get it to a Game 6. And I have to live with those consequences. If it works, great, we’re in Edmonton tonight and you guys are telling me how awesome a move it was. And when it doesn’t, I’ve got to stand up here and do this, and I understand.”

Instead of a Game 6 in Edmonton on Saturday, the Stars had their season-ending availability in North Texas.

Oettinger was pulled only 7:09 into Game 5 at home Thursday night after Mattias Janmark’s goal put Edmonton up 2-0. The Oilers scored again less than a minute after Casey DeSmith took over on the way to a 6-3 win that set up a Stanley Cup Final rematch against Florida, though Dallas got within 4-3 a minute into the third period.

“The reality is if I make one or two of those saves, then I’m still playing in the game,” Oettinger said in his first public comments since. “The way I’m looking at it is, how can I get better from that? How can I can make those saves that I made all playoffs?”

The 26-year-old goalie has been to the playoffs in four consecutive seasons and won six postseason series. That stretch began in 2022, when Dallas took top-seeded Calgary to a Game 7, and Oettinger had 64 saves before Johnny Gaudreau’s OT goal ended the first-round series.

Oettinger had a .905 save percentage and 2.82 goals-against average while facing 503 shots in 18 games this postseason, by far the most of any goalie. Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky, in one fewer game, has faced 408 shots and the next-highest total is 292. Oettinger had a .909 save percentage and 2.59 GAA in 58 regular-season games.

When DeBoer was asked Saturday about his conversations with Oettinger since the season ended, the coach said they hadn’t had the opportunity yet to have one.

Oettinger was later asked if he had any concerns about their relationship, and he responded by saying the whole experience is something he would learn from and that was going to help him grow to be a better person and goalie.

“My job is to stop the puck. And I feel like I’m one of the best in the world when I’m playing well doing that. So that’s all I’m in a focus on,” Oettinger said. “All the extra stuff is just extra stuff to me. … If I go out there next year and I’m the best goalie in the world, it doesn’t matter. One of you guys could be coaching, it doesn’t matter. Just try to be the best I can be, learn from the experience.”

It was the third season in a row the Stars lost in the West final, and Edmonton also knocked them out last year. The Oilers finished the 2024 series with three wins in a row, and this time won the last four after Dallas won the opener.

DeBoer said there had been discussions among the coaching staff before Game 4 at Edmonton about whether Oettinger maybe needed a break, and that the goalie had dealt with some upper respiratory issues during the series. While that didn’t happen then, it was at least part of the quick in-game switch on Thursday, along with the recent playoff record against the Oilers.

“When you’re in that moment, you’re making that decision, what’s going through my mind is, you know, we need to stop the bleeding here. Our team looked tentative. We’re down 2-0,” DeBoer said. “In the back of your mind, you know, is he a little bit fatigued, he’s been through a lot. He’s carried us through two rounds, is he going to be a better goalie in Game 6 and 7 for us fresh.”

Oettinger said he felt great physically — “as healthy as I’ve ever felt” — and felt like he could have played 40 more games. But he did acknowledge the potential mental grind of another long season.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Keegan O’Connor had a record-breaking three-run homer, Lincoln Sheffield threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings and Kansas State beat Houston Christian 7-4 on Saturday in the Austin Regional.

Kansas State (32-25) advances to Sunday’s elimination game against the loser of Saturday’s nightcap between Texas and UTSA.

Houston Christian (32-25), in its first season under head coach Clay Vanderlaan, finished with a 14-game improvement from last year for its second trip to the regionals.

O’Connor became Kansas State’s single-season home run leader with his 17th blast for a 5-0 lead in the third inning. The previous record of 16 was set in 1997 by Scott Poepard and Heath Schesser. O’Connor’s homer put him at 59 RBIs.

Kansas State’s shutout bid ended in the eighth on Rhett Hendricks’ two-run single up the middle. The Wildcats answered with two runs on a passed ball and sacrifice fly in the bottom half for a 7-2 lead.

Jeremy Rader blasted a two-run homer in the ninth to get within three runs before KSU closed it out.

Sheffield (7-4) struck out six and allowed only four hits.

Joshua Caravalho (9-4) went 3 2/3 innings and allowed six hits and five runs, four earned, while walking one.

Coach Pete Hughes became the fastest to reach 200 wins in Kansas State history.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — NiJaree Canady gave up just four hits and struck out seven, and Texas Tech defeated UCLA 3-1 on Saturday to reach the Women’s College World Series semifinals for the first time.

The Red Raiders (52-12) need one win against Oregon or Oklahoma on Monday to reach the best-of-three championship series.

UCLA (55-12) is still alive in the double-elimination format. The Bruins will play Tennessee in an elimination game on Sunday.

Saturday’s contest matched programs with very different histories. UCLA has a record 12 World Series championships while Texas Tech just won its first World Series game on Thursday in its first ever trip.

“It feels amazing, just this being our first time here as a team and just being able to get to the semifinals,” Canady said. “I feel like, it’s a huge accomplishment by itself, but obviously we’re not finished. We’re going for the whole thing like every other team here. But it’s definitely something to be proud of.”

Canady has plenty of World Series experience. She led Stanford to the semifinals the past two years and eliminated UCLA from the World Series last year before transferring to Tech.

Canady ran into trouble against UCLA a few times on Saturday before coming through, like she did so many times before in a Cardinal uniform.

“I guess you’ve got to start everything with NiJa in the circle,” Tech coach Gerry Glasco said. “She’s just so fantastic, and I thought she pitched a gem of a game.”

UCLA loaded the bases with one out in the second, yet Canady, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s Pitcher of the Year, escaped without allowing a run.

Texas Tech’s Makayla Garcia stole home in the fifth to open the scoring. She slid between UCLA catcher Alexis Ramirez’s legs to score the run.

“Coach Glasco told me, ‘Hey, we’re gonna go and we’re going to take a chance,’” Garcia said. “And I had to trust him in that moment, and I trust him — he’s a great coach. And so I was like, ‘You know what? We’re gonna do it.’ And it had to work in our favor. And luckily it did.”

UCLA’s Kaniya Bragg answered with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning.

Hailey Toney’s solo blast in the sixth put Tech ahead 2-1 and Raegan Jennings’ RBI single in the seventh made it 3-1.

UCLA got two on with no outs in the seventh, and Canady again avoided damage.

“We just found a way to win,” Glasco said. “And that’s kind of what we’ve become. We pride ourselves on being a mentally tough team, a resilient team that can go out under pressure and play defense when we have to play defense in tight moments.”

Taylor Tinsley took the loss. She went the distance and gave up three runs on four hits.

Tinsley said the Bruins are ready to move on.

“I feel like the big thing with this team is we have a really short-term memory,” she said. “Each play is kind of like in the past. This game is already as old as dirt for us, so we’re just ready to get back out there.”

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Sam Angelo hit two home runs, including a three-run shot to cap a six-run first inning, and No. 5 overall seed North Carolina rolled to an 11-5 victory over Oklahoma in the nightcap of the Chapel Hill Regional on Saturday night.

The second-seeded Sooners (36-21) will play an elimination game against No. 3 seed Nebraska on Sunday. That winner would need to beat the host Tar Heels (44-12) on Sunday night and again Monday to advance to the super regionals.

North Carolina jumped on Oklahoma starter Kyson Witherspoon with two outs and a runner on first. Gavin Gallaher, Hunter Stokely, Alex Madera and Tyson Bass had four straight singles to account for the first three runs before Angelo capped it. All six runs were unearned.

Gallaher had an RBI single in the fourth and Bass and Angelo hit back-to-back solo shots in the fifth for a 9-0 advantage.

Madera singled in a run in the sixth and Carter French did the same in the seventh as the Tar Heels scored in four straight innings.

Sam Christianson had an RBI double in the sixth for the Sooners’ first run. Trey Gambill, Kyle Branch and Dasan Harris drove in the other three runs.

Jason DeCaro (9-3) allowed three runs on seven hits in six innings. He struck out eight and didn’t issue a walk. Olin Johnson pitched a scoreless eighth and Cameron Padgett was tagged for an unearned run in the eighth. Tom Chmielewski allowed a run in the ninth without retiring a batter before Ryan Lynch closed it out.

Witherspoon (10-4) gave up 10 hits and three earned runs before leaving after four innings.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — James Taussig went 4 for 4 with a double and two RBIs to help UTSA send No. 2 overall seed Texas to the losers’ bracket with a 9-7 come-from-behind victory at the Austin Regional on Saturday night.

Host Texas (43-13) will play No. 3 seed Kansas State in an elimination game Sunday. The winner would have to beat the Roadrunners (46-13) Sunday night and again on Monday to advance to the super regionals.

The Longhorns scored five runs in the third inning off UTSA starter Conor Myles and reliever Connor Kelley to take a 6-1 lead.

Nathan Hodge had a two-run single and Taussig doubled in the final of four runs in the fifth as the Roadrunners pulled within 6-5.

Hodge and Mason Lytle had RBI singles before Garrett Gruell doubled in a run as UTSA scored three more times in the sixth to grab an 8-6 lead.

Rylan Galvan hit a solo homer in the seventh to get the Longhorns within a run, but Taussig delivered a ninth-inning insurance run with a two-out single after Lytle’s one-out double.

Kendall Dove (3-0) got the win with a scoreless fifth inning. Braylon Owens pitched the final four innings and allowed a run on a hit and four walks for his third save.

Max Grubbs (6-2) was saddled with the loss after allowing two runs in 1 1/3 innings in relief of starter Luke Harrison, who yielded five runs — two earned — in 4 1/3.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports