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Bartolo Colon carried a perfect game into the eighth inning and Robinson Chirinos drove in all three runs for the Texas Rangers during their 3-1 victory over the Houston Astros in 10 innings Sunday night.

The 44-year-old Colon turned back the clock and dominated the defending World Series champions for seven innings Jeff Heath Jersey , retiring his first 21 batters in an entertaining pitchers’ duel with Astros ace Justin Verlander.

Colon walked Carlos Correa on a 3-1 pitch to start the eighth before Josh Reddick lined an 0-2 delivery down the right-field line for a double that put runners at second and third, spoiling the no-hit bid as well.

Opposing fans in Houston gave Colon a standing ovation, and he clapped his bare hand softly against the outside of his glove. Two outs later, he was pulled with the score tied at 1.

NBA

HOUSTON (AP) – James Harden scored 44 points and powered a big fourth-quarter run that allowed the Houston Rockets to outlast the Minnesota Timberwolves 104-101 Sunday night in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series.

Minnesota scored four straight points to get within 3 with about 30 seconds left. Chris Paul added two free throws after that for Houston, but a tip-in by Karl-Anthony Towns got Minnesota back within 3. After a bad pass by Paul gave the Timberwolves a chance to tie it with 1.5 seconds left, Jimmy Butler’s shot was short.

CLEVELAND (AP) – Victor Oladipo scored 32 points and the Indiana Pacers held off Cleveland’s second-half rally for a stunning 98-80 victory Sunday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference series, handing LeBron James and the Cavaliers‘ their first loss in the opening round in eight years.

Indiana was in control from the outset, opening a 21-point lead in the first quarter and leading by 23 in the third. The Cavs stormed back and got within seven, but Oladipo hit a big 3-pointer and Bojan Bogdanovic helped put Cleveland away with a 3 to make it 88-71.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Paul George scored 36 points to help the Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the Utah Jazz 116-108 in Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff series on Sunday night.

George set an Oklahoma City playoff record with eight 3-pointers, blowing past the previous record of five. He made eight of 11 shots from long range, and 13 of 20 shots overall. It was his first playoff game with the Thunder since being acquired in a trade with the Indiana Pacers in the offseason.

Russell Westbrook had 29 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists and Carmelo Anthony added 15 points for the Thunder.

BOSTON (AP) – Al Horford had 24 points and 12 rebounds and Boston overcame Khris Middleton’s long 3 that beat the fourth-quarter buzzer to top Milwaukee 113-107 in overtime in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference series.

The Celtics led 99-96 with 0.5 seconds left in regulation when Middleton took an inbounds pass on the far right wing and hit a contested 35-footer.

Terry Rozier added 23 points, four rebounds and three assists for Boston in his first career playoff start. Jaylen Brown finished with 20 points, and rookie Jayson Tatum added 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 35 points Kyle Fuller Jersey , 13 rebounds and seven assists before fouling out in overtime. Middleton had 31 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

HOCKEY

WASHINGTON (AP) – Matt Calvert scored 12:22 into overtime, Sergei Bobrovsky made 54 saves and the Columbus Blue Jackets overcame two goals from Alex Ovechkin to beat the Washington Capitals 5-4 on Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.

Columbus heads home for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Thursday two victories away from advancing to the second round for the first time in franchise history.

Cam Atkinson scored twice, Anderson had a goal at even strength and Zack Werenski added one on the power play for the Blue Jackets, who have the odds on their side. In Stanley Cup playoff history, 86.4 percent of teams that take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win it.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists and Matt Murray stopped 26 shots to help Pittsburgh silence a raucous Philadelphia crowd with a 5-1 win to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.

Crosby scored his fourth goal of the series in the first period, and Derick Brassard, Evgeni Malkin and Brian Dumoulin scored in the second to make it 4-0. Malkin and Dumoulin scored 5 seconds apart.

Justin Schultz made it 5-1 in the third on Pittsburgh’s third power-play goal of the game.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Mikael Granlund and Zach Parise scored power-play goals in the first period for the spark Minnesota was missing on the road, and the Wild used a four-goal second to roar back for a 6-2 win against Winnipeg in Game 3 of the Western Conference series.

Jordan Greenway scored his first NHL goal just 20 seconds after Eric Staal sent a wrist shot past past a struggling Connor Hellebuyck, who was pulled for Steve Mason at the second intermission.

Matt Dumba and Marcus Foligno bookended the furious middle frame with goals for the Wild, who won a postseason home game for only the second time in their last nine contests. Mikko Koivu and Nick Seeler each had two assists and Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves, keeping the crowd loud all night.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – James Neal scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:37 to play, and the Vegas Golden Knights rallied from a third-period deficit to beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 to move to the brink of the expansion franchise’s first playoff series victory.

Cody Eakin tied it at 6:10 of the third Mike Singletary Jersey , and William Karlsson scored 21 seconds after Neal’s goal to make it 3-1 in a final-period flurry fo After the Winnipeg Jets lost Game 3 of the Western Conference final, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck didn’t seem fazed and spoke like a confident veteran rather than a third-year player whose team appears to be unraveling.

The Vezina Trophy-finalist went as far to say he liked his game better than the guy about 200 feet across the rink – 14-year veteran Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped 33 of 35 shots and improved to 10-3 in the postseason.

”I like my game, I like it a lot more,” Hellebuyck said after making 26 saves in Wednesday’s loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. ”I like my details and will continue chugging away and getting better every single day.”

If Game 3 is any indication of the type of game Vegas will bring into Friday night’s Game 4, Hellebuyck needs to get better urgently.

”I think we’ve been capitalizing on some chances we’ve been getting,” Vegas forward Cody Eakin said after Thursday’s practice. ”Getting to the dirty area, smackin’ `em into the blue paint. He’s a heck of a goalie and he’s played very well all season and all playoffs for them. It’s just one of things where you have a game plan, you stick to it. Whether it’s the bounces or capitalizing on a rush or whatever it may be, we’re just trying to finish every chance we get.”

Like 35 seconds into Game 3, when a premature poke-check by Hellebuyck led to a goal by Jonathan Marchessault. Hellebuyck’s ill-advised mistake allowed Marchessault to use a forehand-backhand deke and give Vegas the momentum early with a 1-0 lead.

In the second period, Hellebuyck went behind the net and lifted the puck to clear it but Erik Haula was there to knock it down and feed James Neal, who found the open net to give Vegas a 2-1 lead just 12 seconds after Mark Scheifele tied the score.

Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice refuses to blame his goalie, though Mason Crosby Jersey , and seemed fine Thursday, with the rather braggadocious manner Hellebuyck speaks with, despite allowing three or more goals for the second consecutive game and fifth time in his last nine games.

”It’ll be across the crease, no chance in hell he’s getting that puck, and he believes he can stop that puck,” Maurice said. ”I don’t plan to stomp that mentality. He believes he can stop everyone, and then he moves on pretty darned well. He doesn’t carry it too heavy with him. He’s got confidence in the right way.”

So does Fleury, who leads the NHL with a career-best 1.70 goals-against average during the playoffs. And if the Jets can’t get more production outside of Scheifele, they’ll find themselves on the brink of elimination after Friday’s game.

Scheifele, who now owns the NHL record for most goals scored on the road in a single playoff with 11, has 14 goals and six assists in 15 games. But for a dangerous team that gotten this far because of its depth, guys like Vegas defensemen Nate Schmidt, Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore have shown they can keep the Jets in their own zone or disrupt things in the neutral zone.

”A few miscues and they made us pay for it – that can’t happen,” said Scheifele Pernell McPhee Jersey , who has three of the Jets’ seven goals in this series. ”They’re going to have their games, we’re going to have our games. We can’t sulk on this too long. We gotta pick ourselves up and be ready for a big game on Friday.”

The Jets showed some life in the third period on Wednesday, and certainly outplayed what appeared to be a weary Vegas team over the final 20 minutes, but Fleury was outstanding in coming up with tremendous highlight saves to preserve the win.

”I think we’re starting to get a better understanding of how we have to attack and how we have to approach the net,” Maurice said. ”At 2-1, we’re all aware that we’re down 2-1, but it’s still fairly early in the series. Both teams are going to come out guns-a-blazing and try to give the other team nothing.”

History is against the Jets, who are trailing in a series for the first time this postseason. Teams with a 2-1 lead in the conference final (or NHL semifinals) have won the series 35 of 43 times (81.4 percent) since 1975.

And unless Hellebuyck’s confidence translates into keeping the puck out of his net, and Scheifele gets some help at the other end, history is bound to repeat itself.

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