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Last Update on May 18, 2012 02:57 GMT

NBA PLAYOFFS-SCORES

UNDATED (AP) -- The Indiana Pacers have taken a 2-1 lead in their best of seven NBA playoff series with Miami. And they did it in impressive fashion. Playing in front of their fans in Indianapolis, the Pacers beat the Heat, 94-75. George Hill led the way for the Pacers with 20 points, while Roy Hibbert had 19 points and 18 rebounds.

Miami was playing without starter Chris Bosh and his absence showed. The Heat were led by Mario Chalmers and his 25 points as LeBron James had 22 points, 16 of which came in the first half. Dwyane Wade had just 5.

Bosh is out with a strained abdominal muscle and is not expected to return for this series.

Game 4 will take place Sunday afternoon, again in Indianapolis.

MLB-SCORES

UNDATED (AP) -- Indians fans rode a roller coaster of emotions during their team's 6-5 extra-innings victory over the visiting Mariners. Cleveland's Jose Lopez cracked a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at 4. Seattle regained the lead in the top of the 11th on an RBI double by Michael Saunders.

In the home-half of the frame, Asdrubal Cabrera (ahs-DROO'-buhl kah-BREHR'-uh) tied the game with an RBI single, before Carlos Santana ended it with a bases-loaded single.

In other American League results,

-- The Twins may have the worst record in baseball, but they were too good for the Tigers for a second straight game.

Justin Morneau (mohr-NOH') belted a two-run homer in his second game back from a wrist injury to help Minnesota beat Detroit 4-3 and improve to 12-26. It's only the second time this year the Twins have won back-to-back games.

-- Adam Jones hit a two-run homer, J.J. Hardy also drove in a pair of runs and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals 5-3 for their seventh straight road win.

The Orioles also improved to 12-1 when Jones goes deep, including a victory over the Royals the previous night, when his homer in the 15th inning decided the game. Jones has 13 homers this season.

-- Kila Ka'aihue (KEE'-luh ky-uh-HOO'-ee) had a tiebreaking single in the 10th inning, as the Oakland A's bounced back from a disputed call on a squeeze play that cost them the lead to beat the Texas Rangers 5-4. Oakland fell behind 4-3 in the sixth when Craig Gentry scored from third on a squeeze bunt that Brandon McCarthy thought he caught. A's manager Bob Melvin was ejected for arguing the call.

Josh Hamilton was out of the starting lineup against the A's. It was his first absence since a hot streak that vaulted him to the major league lead in all three Triple Crown categories.

-- Chris Sale pitched effectively into the sixth inning, giving Chicago's rotation a much-needed solid outing, and the White Sox capitalized on some shoddy defense by the Los Angeles Angels for a 6-1 victory. After a three-game stretch in which starters John Danks, Jake Peavy (PEE'-vee) and Gavin Floyd gave up a combined 18 earned runs over 14 1-3 innings, the 23-year old Sale, who is 4-2, restored order in his sixth major league start.

-- Jose Bautista and J.P. Arencibia each hit two-run home runs and Drew Hutchison won consecutive starts for the first time as the Blue Jays beat the Yankees 4-1. The Jays swept the two-game series. The Yankees have lost three straight and are 0-9 this season when failing to hit at least one home run. Making just his sixth major league start, Hutchison allowed one run and five hits in six innings, matching his longest outing.

Over in the National League, David Wright continued his sizzling start to the season. The third baseman lined his second double of the game, a tiebreaking drive in the eighth inning that raised his major league-leading average to .411 and sent the New York Mets past the Cincinnati Reds 9-4. The Mets had trailed 4-0 in the game.

-- In Denver, Justin Upton hit a two-out, two-run homer off closer Rafael Betancourt in the ninth inning to help the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies 9-7. Upton sent a 93-mph fastball from Betancourt over the right field fence for his first homer in two weeks. Willie Bloomquist and Ryan Roberts also drove in two runs apiece as the Diamondbacks won for the third time in 12 contests.

The game was briefly delayed by a swarm of bees.

-- Brandon Crawford hit a two-run single for his first RBIs since April and the Giants beat the Cardinals 7-5. The World Champion Cards had a bad day in the field, committing three errors in a game for the second time this week. Matt Cain got the win and Adam Wainwright the loss.

-- Brandon Beachy threw a five-hit shutout, the first of his career, to improve the major leagues' lowest earned run average as the Braves beat the Marlins 7-0. Beachy has won five straight decisions since losing his first start. He had no walks and six strikeouts as he lowered his ERA from 1.60 to 1.33. The right-hander had two strikeouts in the ninth to cap his first career complete game and Atlanta's first shutout of the season.

-- Andrew McCutchen homered twice and James McDonald took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and finished with a career-high 11 strikeouts as Pittsburgh beat Washington 5-3. McDonald retired his first 13 batters, striking out nine, and was helped by two spectacular plays on defense, from first baseman Casey McGehee and McCutchen in center.

MLB-OWNERS-PLAYOFFS

NEW YORK (AP) -- Baseball owners have approved a 2-3 playoff format in this year's division series. They'd used a 2-2-1 system since 1998.

The change is being made because the wild-card round was added after schedules were set with the regular season ending Oct. 3 and the World Series starting Oct. 24. Teams with home-field advantage will host Games 3, 4, 5, eliminating one travel day, and the wild-card playoff winners will start at home.

CLEMENS-TRIAL

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The key prosecution witness in the Roger Clemens perjury trial conceded he initially lied about his involvement with steroids.

Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin said to Brian McNamee (MAK'-nuh-mee), "It was a lie wasn't it?" McNamee said yes.

McNamee said he lied both out of self-preservation and to assure Clemens "I had his back."

Hardin highlighted an email that McNamee sent to an employee of the agency that represents Clemens, in January 2007. McNamee complained about "gross inaccuracies" in a newspaper story that identified him as a steroids distributor.

Clemens himself is on trial for allegedly lying to Congress in 2008 when he denied using steroids or human growth hormone. McNamee testified he injected the former pitcher multiples times in 1998, 2000 and 2001.

The trial is in its fifth week.

NFL-BOUNTIES

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Jonathan Vilma has filed a defamation lawsuit against NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (guh-DEHL'), asking for unspecified monetary damages. The Saints linebacker claims Goodell has made false statements about him while discussing the NFL's bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints.

Goodell has fingered Vilma as a leader of the team's bounty program and has suspended him for the 2012 season.

Vilma and three other players who received shorter suspensions all have appealed their punishments.

NFL-DRAFT SIGNINGS

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- The Buffalo Bills have signed their top draft pick. Former South Carolina cornerback Stephon Gilmore gets a four-year contract that's worth about $12 million after being selected No. 10 overall.

Gilmore was a three-year starter for the Gamecocks and is expected to step in and compete for a starting job in Buffalo.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) -- The New York Jets have signed first-round draft pick Quinton Coples to a four-year contract. The defensive end from North Carolina is expected to be a starter after a standout career with the Tar Heels. The 6-foot-6, 285-pound Coples was the 16th overall pick last month after finishing tied for third in Tar Heels history with 24 sacks, including 17 1/2 his last two years.

NFL-SIGNINGS

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Eagles have agreed to terms with running back LeSean McCoy on a five-year contract extension that runs through 2017. McCoy set franchise records in 2011 with 17 rushing touchdowns, and 20 total scores, while earning All Pro and Pro Bowl honors.

He also led the NFL with 102 first downs and 48 runs of 10-plus yards, while finishing as the league's fourth-leading rusher with 1,309 yards.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed placekicker Connor Barth to a four-year, $13.2 million contract. The 26-year-old was second in the NFL in field goal percentage last season and was designated the team's franchise player in March.

Barth converted 26 of 28 attempts in 2011, including 15 straight to end the year, the NFL's longest current streak.

NFL-TAYLOR-RING

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (AP) -- Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor is auctioning off his 1991 Super Bowl championship ring.

The former New York Giants linebacker was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999. But he also had a highly publicized struggle with drug addiction and has had multiple legal problems since retiring from football.

The president of the company handling the auction estimates the ring's value at $75,000 to $100,000. The highest bid stood at $67,292 as of midday.

The online auction ends Saturday.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL-TCU

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- A conference switch is proving to be a boon to TCU football. The Horned Frogs have announced they've sold out their full allotment of 30,000 season tickets for 2012, when they begin Big 12 play in their newly renovated, 45,000-seat stadium.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL-ODU

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Old Dominion has joined Virginia Commonwealth in leaving the Colonial Athletic Association. Two days ago VCU announced it was bolting for the Atlantic 10. Now comes word that ODU is leaving to join Conference USA, effective July 1, 2013.

It means the Monarchs, who began playing football only three seasons ago, will play at the Bowl Subdivision level after one more year in the Championship Subdivision.

The move will be costly for Old Dominion, which will have to add football scholarships, but the school's president says Monarchs boosters have already pledged $3 million in private support to help meet those expenses.

COLLEGE ATHLETICS-SMU

DALLAS (AP) -- SMU athletic director Steve Orsini has been fired. The decision comes only weeks after Orsini hired Hall of Fame basketball coach Larry Brown.

School president R. Gerald Turner says it became apparent to him that a change was necessary after several discussions over the last few weeks. He didn't elaborate.

NHL-OILERS COACH

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- The Edmonton Oilers are searching for a new coach after deciding to let Tom Renney go following two losing seasons. The team announced on its Twitter feed that it decided not to renew Renney's contract. Renney joined the team for the 2010-11 season and finished with an NHL-worst 25-45-12 record. The team improved to 32-40-10 this season, good for second-worst in the league.

PGA-BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

IRVING, Texas (AP) -- Ryan Palmer has the lead after the opening round of the PGA's Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas. He shot a bogey-free first round 6-under-64, good for a one shot lead over Marc Leishman and Alex Cejka (CHAY'-kuh). Seven players, including Matt Kuchar (KOO'-chur) , shot a 4-under-66.

A year ago Palmer lost a playoff to Keegan Bradley in the event.