Sports Digest: Sikes leads Sea Dogs to fifth straight victory

BASEBALL

Phillip Sikes went 3 for 4 with three RBI, Alex Binelas hit a two-run single during a four-run second inning, and the Portland Sea Dogs picked up their fifth consecutive victory with an 8-5 win Sunday against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats at Hadlock Field.

Portland finished with 11 hits, including five doubles. Sikes had a pair of RBI singles and also doubled home a run.

Wikelman Gonzalez got the win in relief of Angel Bastardo, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out four in three scoreless innings. Ryan Zeferjahn struck out five over the final two innings to earn his second save.

The Sea Dogs (9-4), now in first place in the Northeast Division, begin a six-game road series at second-place Hartford on Tuesday.

AUTO RACING

FORMULA ONE: Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the Chinese Grand Prix from the pole – his fourth victory in five races this season and his 23rd in the last 27 extending through last season.

Lando Norris of McLaren was about 14 seconds behind Verstappen in second – the eighth time he has been No. 2 in his career as he still seeks his first victory. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, was third.

INDYCAR: Scott Dixon moved closer to A.J. Foyt on IndyCar’s all-time win list by picking up his 57th career victory on the downtown streets of Long Beach, California.

Foyt is IndyCar’s winningest driver with 67 victories.

Dixon used masterful fuel-saving strategy and was being chased over the final 20 laps by Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden, who seemed to have the speed to run down Dixon. But the race changed when Colton Herta ran into the back of Newgarden as they all slowed through a hairpin with lapped traffic ahead. Herta and Alex Palou both passed Newgarden, and Herta finished 0.9798 seconds behind Dixon.

TENNIS

BARCELONA OPEN: Casper Ruud took his revenge against Stefanos Tsitsipas by winning the final in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, for his biggest career title, a week after losing to the Tsitsipas in the Monte Carlo Masters final.

BMW OPEN: Jan-Lennard Struff won his first ATP title at the age of 33 with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Taylor Fritz in Munich.

PORSCHE GRAND PRIX: Elena Rybakina eased to her third title of the season with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in Stuttgart, Germany.

HOCKEY

NHL: Carter Verhaeghe tapped in a pinpoint pass from Aleksander Barkov for the lead 58 seconds into the third period, Matthew Tkachuk added a goal and an assist, and the Florida Panthers beat the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

• Jimmy Vesey had a goal and an assist, Artemi Panarin also scored, and the New York Rangers beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

SOCCER

ENGLAND: Second-tier Coventry nearly pulled off one of the most unexpected comebacks in FA Cup history, rallying from three goals down against Manchester United to force extra time after a 3-3 draw, but United advanced to the final against rival Manchester City by winning a shootout, 4-2.

• Liverpool moved level on points with leader Arsenal in the Premier League title race with a 3-1 victory at Fulham that was illuminated by a brilliant free kick from Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Arsenal and Liverpool are both one point ahead of Manchester City, which has a game in hand.

• Aston Villa’s push to secure Champions League qualification was boosted with a come-from-behind 3-1 win at home against Bournemouth.

The result strengthened Villa’s grip on fourth place, the final Champions League qualification spot. Villa is six points ahead of Tottenham, which has two games in hand.

SPAIN: Real Madrid took a huge step toward winning the Spanish league title, beating visiting Barcelona 3-2 with a stoppage-time goal by Jude Bellingham.

Madrid now has an 11-point cushion over Barcelona entering the final six rounds.

ROAD RACING

LONDON MARATHON: Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya set a world record for a women-only marathon, leaving world-record holder Tigst Assefa and two other rivals behind to win the London Marathon.

She finished in 2 hours, 16 minutes, 16 seconds, with Assefa in second and Joyciline Jepkosgei in third.

That was more than 4 minutes slower than Assefa’s overall women’s world record set in Berlin last year, but it was the fastest time ever in a women-only marathon, beating the mark of 2:17:01 set by Mary Keitany in London in 2017. The elite women’s field in London starts about 30 minutes ahead of the elite men.

Alexander Mutiso Munyao of Kenya won the men’s race in 2:04:01.