National Sports

OAKLAND, Calif. — Marcus Semien and Khris Davis homered early and the Oakland Athletics held off José Abreu and the Chicago White Sox in the late innings for a 5-3 win Wednesday that sent their AL playoff series to a deciding Game 3.

CALGARY — Leanne Taylor was born the same year Silken Laumann overcame long odds to stand on the Olympic podium. Laumann rowing to a bronze medal with a mangled leg at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona is part of Canadian sport lore.

ATLANTA — The scoreless innings kept piling up, along with the strikeouts.

MINNEAPOLIS — Shaken up by a scandal before the virus outbreak shrunk the season, the Houston Astros barely played well enough to reach the playoffs — with the rest of baseball actively rooting against them. Well, they're not ready to leave yet.

LONGUEUIL, Que. — The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has approved new rules that dole out stiffer punishments for fighting. All players involved in a fight will now receive a 10-minute misconduct penalty and a five-minute major.

CHICAGO — Corey Dickerson hit a three-run homer off a fading Kyle Hendricks in the seventh inning, and the Miami Marlins beat the Chicago Cubs 5-1 on Wednesday in Game 1 of their NL wild-card series.

MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens have signed goaltender Michael McNiven to a one-year, two-way contract. The contract is worth US$700,000 in the NHL and $75,000 in the American Hockey League.

MUNICH — Canadian Alphonso Davies set up a goal as Bayern Munich added to its trophy haul Wednesday, beating Borussia Dortmund 3-2 to hoist the German Super Cup.

The “King” of Madison Square Garden has been deposed.

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans have at least one more day to see if the team’s coronavirus outbreak is under control before their game with the Steelers is rescheduled for Monday or Tuesday.