MLB
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - The Twins’ games against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday and Sunday were postponed due to Minnesota’s COVID-19 problems.
Kyle Garlick, another unnamed Twins player and a team staff member tested positive in the two days before the postponements, manager Rocco Baldelli said.
Shortstop Andrelton Simmons already hadn’t made the trip to Anaheim after testing positive early in the week, and he hadn’t been around the team since Tuesday.
SOCCER
LONDON (AP) - A group of 12 elite clubs has split European soccer by announcing plans to walk away from the Champions League.
The 12 intend to create a breakaway midweek competition called the Super League. That has drawn an angry response and the threat of legal action from UEFA.
Clubs involved in the move to quit the existing structures in an apparent grab for more money and power include Real Madrid, Barcelona and the American owners of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. The other teams are Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester City and Tottenham.
The Super League organizers hope for three more teams to join. No German or French clubs have signed up.
NHL
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - San Jose forward Patrick Marleau tied Gordie Howe’s NHL record for career games played, appearing in his 1,767th on Saturday as the Sharks faced the Minnesota Wild.
Marleau hopped over the boards for his first shift 40 seconds into the game. He could break Howe’s record Monday night in Las Vegas.
Marleau is in his 23rd NHL season. He made his debut on Oct. 1, 1997, at 18 years and 16 days old, which made him the youngest player in the league since Lee Wharton debuted at 17 years, 81 days in 1945 for the New York Rangers.
The 41-year-old Marleau has 566 goals, 1,196 points, three All-Star appearances and two Olympic gold medals for Canada in 2010 and ’14.
GOLF
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) - Stewart Cink shot a steady, stress-free 70 to cap off a dominant, record-breaking week and win his third RBC Heritage title on Sunday.
The 47-year-old Cink finished at 19-under 265 at Harbour Town, four better than Emiliano Grillo and Harold Varner III. Grillo shot a 68 while Varner, who had the highest finish of his career, fired a 66.
He joined Bryson DeChambeau as the only two-time winners this season.
KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AP) - Lydia Ko ended nearly three years without a victory by closing with a 65 to win the Lotte Championship by seven shots in an LPGA Tour event that ended Saturday.
Ko torched Kapolei Golf Club and finished at 28-under 260.
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) - Steve Stricker figured someone could come out of the pack with a low score and win the Chubb Classic on Sunday, and it turned out to be him.
Stricker closed with a 5-under 67, taking control with a wedge into 3 feet for birdie on the 16th hole. That carried him to a one-shot victory in Naples.
Robert Karlsson of Sweden, who shared the 36-hole lead with Fred Couples, and Monday qualifier Alex Cejka of Germany each made birdie on the final hole to tie for second.
ATZENBRUGG, Austria (AP) - John Catlin won for the third time in the last eight months on the European Tour, closing with a 7-under 65 and outlasting Maximilian Kieffer on the fifth playoff hole Sunday in the Austrian Open.
Kieffer, who closed with a 66, missed a birdie putt on the first playoff hole. He ultimately made it easy on Catlin by hitting in the water three times on the fifth extra hole.
They finished at 14-under 274.
AUTO RACING
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Alex Bowman passed Denny Hamlin on a restart with 10 laps to go and drove away at Richmond Raceway for his third career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Bowman produced a stunning conclusion to a race that Hamlin had dominated along with Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano. With all eyes on Hamlin and Logano on the restart, Bowman ducked inside Hamlin, easily gained the spot held it to the finish, becoming the eighth winner in nine Cup races this season.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Alex Palou scored his first career IndyCar victory in his debut race with Chip Ganassi Racing by winning the series opener at Barber Motorsports Park.
Palou held off series champions Will Power and Scott Dixon to score the win.
Ganassi had three drivers finish in the top eight. Jimmie Johnson finished 19th in his IndyCar debut. Romain Grosjean was 10th in his debut and Scott McLaughlin was 14th.
IMOLA, Italy (AP) - Max Verstappen won a dramatic Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday after world champion Lewis Hamilton hit a wall in a race that was also temporarily suspended following a separate incident involving Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
The 23-year-old Verstappen led for the majority of the race on the wet Imola track and the Red Bull driver beat Hamilton by 22 seconds for the 11th win of his career.
IMOLA, Italy (AP) - There will be two Formula One races in the United States next year with the new Miami Grand Prix added to the calendar from 2022.
Next year’s race will be the first in a 10-year deal and is in addition to the existing grand prix at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
Assistant coach Joel Johnson is taking over the United States women’s national hockey team after Bob Corkum abruptly stepped down citing COVID-19 protocol concerns less than three weeks before the world championships open in Canada.
Corkum didn’t go into detail in saying he was “uncomfortable with the protocols” in a text to The Associated Press.
Corkum reached his decision Friday as he and players gathered in Maine for the start of training camp in preparation for the world championships in Nova Scotia, which run from May 6-16.
Johnson served as Corkum’s assistant and previously coached the U.S. Under-18 and Under-22 teams.
OBITUARY
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Kansas City Chiefs tight end Fred Arbanas, a key member of their first two Super Bowl teams in the 1960s’ and ’70s who later had a long career in county politics, has died. He was 82.
The Jackson County Democratic Party in Missouri, for which Arbanas was a major player for more than four decades, announced his death in a brief statement Saturday. No cause was given.
Arbanas, a member of the Chiefs’ Hall of Fame, was a six-time all-AFL selection and was picked to the All-Time AFL Team by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was a member of the Dallas Texans team that won the 1962 AFL title and, after the club moved to Kansas City, helped the rechristened Chiefs reach the Super Bowl in 1967 and 1970.
___
More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Please read our comment policy before commenting.