Weekend Sports In Brief

PRO BASKETBALL

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Gordon Hayward scored 26 points and the Utah Jazz easily eliminated the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday with a 104-91 victory, winning the first-round playoff series 4-3.

George Hill and Derrick Favors added 17 points apiece in Utah’s first postseason victory since 2010.

The Jazz advanced to face top-seeded Golden State in the Western Conference semifinals. The Warriors swept Portland 4-0 and have been waiting since Wednesday to find out their next opponent.

Game 1 is Tuesday in Oakland.

The Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan had 24 points and 17 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the series. Jamal Crawford added 20 points off the bench.

BASEBALL

WASHINGTON (AP) - Anthony Rendon had 10 RBIs, three home runs and six hits as the Washington Nationals took advantage of Noah Syndergaard’s injury and mauled the New York Mets 23-5 on Sunday to set a franchise scoring record.

Rendon went a career-best 6 for 6 and scored five times while setting a club mark for RBIs. He became the 13th player in major league history to drive in 10 or more runs in a game - the first since Garret Anderson did it for the Angels in 2007.

Matt Wieters added two homers, a single and two walks as the Nationals salvaged the finale of a three-game series between NL East rivals. Adam Lind and Bryce Harper also homered, and Harper scored four runs.

Washington finished with a season-high 23 hits and scored the most runs in the history of the Expos/Nationals franchise. The Nationals’ seven homers were their most since the team moved from Montreal to Washington in 2005.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Washington Nationals confirmed on Sunday that center fielder Adam Eaton’s season is likely over after tearing a ligament in his left knee.

General manager Mike Rizzo said Eaton has a “full thickness” ACL tear, plus a meniscus tear and a high ankle sprain.

In Friday’s 7-5 loss to the visiting New York Mets, the 28-year-old Eaton stepped awkwardly on the bag when he beat out a throw to first in the ninth inning.

He fell down and then needed assistance leaving the field, keeping weight off his left leg.

AUTO RACING

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Joey Logano pulled away after a restart with about 20 laps to go to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway on Sunday.

Logano, who qualified fifth but had to start 37th after making a transmission change, grabbed the lead from Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski when Keselowski had to make a defensive move to keep Kyle Busch from sneaking past him on the inside.

Logano then had to get around Kyle Larson and five others who stayed on the track when everyone else pitted with just over 20 laps remaining. He made quick work of that challenge and pulled away while Keselowski and Hamlin dueled for the second position.

Keselowski, who had the dominant car for the second half of the race, held on for second, followed by Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

PRO FOOTBALL

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) - The Buffalo Bills fired general manager Doug Whaley one day after the end of the NFL draft, a move that further solidifies rookie head coach Sean McDermott’s control over the team.

Team owner Terry Pegula said Sunday he and his wife, Kim, reached the decision after a lengthy review of the team. Whaley’s dismissal completes what has become yet another front-office house-cleaning which began when coach Rex Ryan was fired in the final week of last season.

“This was my decision. It was not an easy decision but I believe it’s the right one for the future of the Buffalo Bills. Our search for a new general manager will begin immediately,” Pegula said in a statement released by the team. “He is a good person and we want to thank him for his work and commitment to our football team.”

Whaley’s future was also uncertain when Ryan was fired, though he received the full backing of Pegula at the time. The owner’s change of heart coincides with the authority McDermott has amassed in the three months since being hired.

GOLF

AVONDALE, La. (AP) - Kevin Kisner chipped in for eagle on the 18th hole as darkness fell Sunday night at the Zurich Classic, lifting himself and teammate Scott Brown into a Monday playoff with Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith.

Kisner’s chip-in - which skipped on a wet green, hit the pin and dropped in from nearly 95 feet - forced the 23-year-old Smith to make a 1 1/2-foot birdie putt to remain in contention for his first PGA Tour victory.

Kisner and Brown shot a 12-under 60 in best-ball play, and Blixt and Smith had a 64 to finish at 27 under at the TPC Louisiana in the PGA Tour’s first team event in 36 years.

Blixt, a Swede, and Smith, an Australian, haven’t bogeyed a hole yet, and appeared to have the victory wrapped up before Kisner’s chip-in, which whipped the die-hard crowd around the final green into a frenzy while Kisner waved both arms in celebration.

The round finished in barely playable darkness because of a more than six-hour delay cause by thunderstorms.

IRVING, Texas (AP) - Hara Nomura two-putted for birdie on the sixth playoff hole Sunday for her third LPGA Tour victory after Cristie Kerr briefly took the lead on the 72nd hole in the windy Volunteers of America Texas Shootout.

Nomura, the 24-year-old from Japan who lives in Hawaii, also birdied the par-5 18th hole at the end of regulation to force the playoff after giving up the lead for the first time with a double bogey at No. 17.

Kerr and Nomura finished regulation at 3-under 281 at Las Colinas Country Club, then played the 518-yard 18th six more times. There were five matching pars before Nomura finally won nearly 7 1/2 hours after starting her round, almost making an eagle before her tap-in and then the wait while Kerr’s 12-foot birdie chance slid left of the cup.

TENNIS

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Rafael Nadal defeated Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-1 to win his 10th Barcelona Open title on Sunday.

It was the second consecutive week that Nadal had won a tournament for the 10th time. He had become the first men’s tennis player in the Open era to win the same title 10 times at the Monte Carlo Masters last Sunday.

It was Nadal’s second title of the season and 71st of his career. The fifth-ranked Spaniard had lost his previous three finals, including to Roger Federer in the Australian Open.

Next month he will try to win a 10th French Open title. The last of his 14 Grand Slams was three years ago in Roland Garros.

BOXING

LONDON (AP) - Anthony Joshua survived the first knockdown of his young career, coming back to drop Wladimir Klitschko twice before stopping him in the 11th round Saturday night to retain his heavyweight titles.

Before a boisterous crowd of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium, Joshua and Klitschko traded huge punches and showed grit before Joshua finally found a way to finish the longtime former champion. It was anybody’s fight when Joshua landed a right uppercut early in the 11th round that spun Klitschko’s head around. He was all over the Ukrainian and dropped him with a left hook, but Klitschko got up only to take even more punishment.

Joshua knocked Klitschko down again and was landing punches to his head on the ropes when referee David Fields moved in to stop the bout late in the 11th round. Joshua defended his heavyweight titles, winning for the 19th time in as many fights in a bout that lived up to its billing as the best heavyweight fight in more than a decade.

SOCCER

GENEVA (AP) - FIFA Council member Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah of Kuwait is resigning from his soccer roles under pressure from allegations in an American federal court that he bribed Asian officials.

Sheikh Ahmad said Sunday in a statement he will withdraw from a May 8 election in Bahrain for the FIFA seat representing Asia, which he currently holds.

“I do not want these allegations to create divisions or distract attention from the upcoming AFC (Asian Football Confederation) and FIFA Congresses,” said the Kuwaiti royal, who denies any wrongdoing. Therefore, after careful consideration, I have decided it is in the best interests of FIFA and the AFC, for me to withdraw my candidacy for the FIFA Council and resign from my current football positions,” he said.

The long-time Olympic Council of Asia president contacted the ethics panels of FIFA and the IOC after the allegations were made in Brooklyn federal courthouse on Thursday.