JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers on Wednesday approved hundreds of millions of dollars of financial aid to try to persuade the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals to remain in the state. House passage sends the legislative package to Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, who called lawmakers into special session with a plea for urgent action. Kehoe is expected to sign the measures into law. Missouri’s session paired two otherwise unrelated national trends — a movement for new taxpayer-funded sports stadiums and a reevaluation of states’ roles in natural disasters as President Donald Trump’s administration reassess federal aid programs. The…
Author: AP News
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Maikel Garcia homered, doubled and scored three times, and the Kansas City Royals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5 in the second game of a day-night doubleheader on Thursday night. Royals starter Cole Ragans pitched three innings in his return from the 15-day injured list with a left groin strain. He allowed five runs on five hits, struck out four and walked three. Angel Zerpa (3-0) pitched three scoreless innings in relief, giving up one hit, one walk and striking out four. Carlos Estévez earned his 18th save in 21 tries. Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore (3-5)…
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nick Loftin homered to start a six-run fifth inning, Bobby Witt Jr. also homered and the Kansas City Royals erased a five-run deficit to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 10-7 on Tuesday night in the major league debut of top Royals’ prospect Jac Caglianone. Caglianone, recalled from Triple-A Omaha on Monday, went hitless in five at bats. Daniel Lynch IV, Steven Cruz (2-0), Angel Zerpa, John Schreiber and Taylor Clarke combined to pitch 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief before Carlos Estévez pitched a scoreless ninth for his 17th save. Vinnie Pasquantino hit a game-tying two-run…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals have called up top prospect Jac Caglianone in the hopes of jump-starting their languishing offense, and the slugging first baseman and outfielder is expected to make his major league debut on Tuesday night in St. Louis. The Royals announced the move during their day off Monday, optioning outfielder Dairon Blanco to Triple-A Omaha. Caglianone’s promotion comes on the heels of a second straight 1-0 game for Kansas City — it split them with the AL Central rival Tigers — and amid a season in which the Royals have struggled to score…
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference is ratcheting up penalties on schools whose fans storm the field or rush the court, doing away with an escalating fine system and now charging $500,000 per incident. “The motivation was ‘field rushing is field rushing, the first time or the 18th time,’” commissioner Greg Sankey said Thursday in announcing the decision. “The random nature of, if you’re the one getting rushed, it doesn’t feel good. It might be the first time (it happened) there, but it might be your sixth time in a row, literally.” The conference also has the authority…
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Another college basketball season in the books means another offseason to reset, recruit and reassess the growing needs of the game. Following a yearlong experiment with a 20-game conference schedule, the Big 12 announced its intention to return to 18 games for the upcoming season. Vice President of Big 12 Men’s Basketball Brian Thornton said Wednesday there were multiple reasons for the change. “The schedule got very compressed and when you’re planning in a league as challenging as ours, understandably our coaches wanted a little bit of an opportunity during the course of conference play to…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Noah Cameron pitched into the seventh, scattering six singles as the Kansas City Royals beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 to salvage the final game of the series on Wednesday night. Cameron (2-1) allowed a run on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Maikel Garcia singled with one out in the fourth, extending his hitting streak to 13 games, then scored from first on Drew Waters’ deflected single. In the fifth, John Rave doubled to right, collecting his first major league hit, and scored when Bobby Witt Jr. bounced a…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Elly De La Cruz hit two long home runs, Brady Singer pitched seven strong innings against his former team and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Kansas City Royals 7-2 on Tuesday night. De La Cruz hit a 436-foot shot to center in the fourth inning that tied the score at 2 against Jonathan Bowlan, then a go-ahead 451-foot drive into the right-center fountain in the sixth off Taylor Clarke (1-1). De La Cruz has 11 home runs this season. He tied Pete Rose’s team record for switch-hitters with five multihomer games, including two this year.…
The College Football Playoff will go to a more straightforward way of filling the bracket next season, announcing Thursday that it will place teams strictly on where they are ranked instead of moving pieces around to reward conference champions. Ten conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director came to the unanimous agreement they needed to shift the model that drew complaints last season. The new format will no longer guarantee an opening bye week for the four highest-ranked league champions, reserving that benefit for the four top-ranked teams in general. The change was widely expected after last season’s jumbled bracket…
EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — A proposed ban on the tush push failed on Wednesday at the NFL owners’ meetings, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. The proposed prohibition of the polarizing short-yardage play failed on a 22-10 vote, which will allow quarterbacks to continue to be aided by teammates when plunging into the line. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details of the discussions by the owners had not yet been made public. The Philadelphia Eagles brought former center Jason Kelce, one of the players who fueled the success of the…