Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty delivers during the first inning against the San Diego Padres on Saturday. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Padres blank

Tigers 3-0

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Randy Vásquez and two relievers combined for a two-hitter, and Fernando Tatis Jr. hit an RBI single and his stolen base led to another run as the San Diego Padres beat the Detroit Tigers 3-0 Saturday night to avoid a three-game sweep.

Vásquez (1-0) struck out eight and allowed two hits — a single and double by Colt Keith — in six innings, with three walks. Kyle Hart struck out three in two perfect innings and Mason Miller, who took over as closer after Robert Suarez signed as a free agent with Atlanta, walked one and struck out two in the ninth for the save in his season debut.

The Padres got to Jack Flaherty (0-1) in the third and fifth innings, getting enough offense to avoid being swept in their opening series for the first time since 2018 against Milwaukee.

Woodland

triumphs

HOUSTON (AP) — Gary Woodland is a winner again just 30 months after brain surgery. Woodland produced a moment as big as his U.S. Open title at Pebble Beach when he won the Houston Open.

He led by as many as seven shots and shot 67 to win by four. Woodland had surgery in September 2023 to remove a lesion on a part of the brain that caused unfounded fears of dying. And then two weeks ago he chose to go public with his harrowing struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder in an emotional Golf Channel interview. The win gets him in the Masters.

54 straight

for UConn

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Geno Auriemma and defending national champion UConn are going to their 25th Final Four in the women’s NCAA Tournament. All-America forward Sarah Strong scored 21 points and Blanca Quiñonez added 20 for the 38-0 Huskies in a 70-52 win over Notre Dame on Sunday in the Fort Worth Regional 1 final.

UConn has won 54 games in a row, and is going for its 13th national championship. Azzi Fudd, UConn’s other first-team AP All-America pick, had 13 points. Hannah Hidalgo had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the 25-11 Fighting Irish.

Lauren Betts had 23 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks to help UCLA rally from a rare halftime deficit and beat Duke 70-58, advancing to the women’s Final Four for the second straight season.

Elliott takes

Martinsville

Martinsville, Va. (AP) — Chase Elliott outdueled Denny Hamlin at Martinsville Speedway, earning his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season. Elliott capitalized on a shrewd gamble by crew chief Alan Gustafson to pit the No. 9 Chevrolet earlier than the other contenders on Sunday.

When the caution flew on the 312th lap, Elliott was in the lead and pitted with the rest of the lead-lap drivers aside from Ross Chastain. Elliott took first from Chastain after a restart and led the final 69 laps to win by 0.565 seconds over Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota. Joey Logano finished third, followed by Ty Gibbs and William Byron.

Rugby player

tries football

LONDON (AP) — Irish rugby player Neff Giwa has never played American football. That will change soon because Giwa, who is 6 feet, 7 1/2 inches tall and weighs 295 pounds, has committed to play at South Carolina as an offensive lineman.

The 20-year-old who is also Nigerian selected the Gamecocks over offers from Miami, North Carolina, SMU, Tennessee and Texas. Giwa showed interest in football only a few months ago and linked up with American recruiter Brandon Collier in Germany. Collier brought Giwa on a recent tour of U.S. colleges. A video clip of one of Giwa’s workouts piqued the interest of several schools.

Clippers

handle Bucks

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Bennedict Mathurin scored 28 points, John Collins 22 and Kawhi Leonard 20 as the Los Angeles Clippers got past the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks 127-113 on Sunday for their fifth consecutive win.

Darius Garland added 15 points and 11 assists and Derrick Jones Jr. 13 points for Los Angeles, which made 45 of 77 shots (58.4%).

Gary Trent Jr. had a season-high 36 points to pace Milwaukee, which had only eight players available. Taurean Prince added 18 points and AJ Green scored 15 for the Bucks, who have lost 10 of their last 12 games.