May 17, 2022 3 min read

In the majors

Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Justin Turner homered in a five-run sixth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers outlasted the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-6 Tuesday to begin the first doubleheader ever played by the NL West rivals.

Will Smith also connected early for the Dodgers, whose four homers matched their season high. Betts also doubled and singled, and Freddie Freeman added a key RBI single in the seventh inning of Los Angeles’ third straight win.

• Facing emerging right-handed ace Miles Mikolas, New York Mets manager Buck Showlater stacked his lineup with six lefties and two switch-hitters.

That played just right for the NL East leaders.

Jeff McNeil and Dominic Smith helped New York chip away at Mikolas, Trevor Williams was sharp in a spot start and the Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 to open a doubleheader.

• Jose Abreu hit a two-run double in a three-run fifth inning, Dylan Cease pitched scoreless ball into the sixth, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 3-0 in the first game of a doubleheader.

Cease (4-1) wrangled out of trouble throughout, allowing runners in every inning. He gave up seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, with nine strikeouts – several in clutch situations.

• Baltimore Orioles pitcher Matt Harvey was suspended for 60 games by Major League Baseball for distributing a prohibited drug of abuse, a punishment stemming from his admission of providing opioids to a teammate who fatally overdosed.

The former New York Mets star also admitted in February during a federal trial in Texas stemming from Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs’ death that he used cocaine while in New York and California.

Pony baseball

Winning pitcher Anthony Giorgi and Jackson Starr each had a double, powering Chambers Insurance to a 7-5 win over Fort Cherry on Monday evening in the Founders Pony League.

In auto racing

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato shot to the top of the speed chart late Tuesday on the first day of preparations for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

Sato went 228.939 mph (368.44 kph) around Indianapolis Motor Speedway to bump six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon as fastest on opening day. Dixon’s lap of 227.768 mph had topped the scoring pylon for several hours until Sato’s big run in a Dale Coyne Racing entry.

Jimmie Johnson was third fastest followed by teammate Marcus Ericsson. Chip Ganassi Racing drivers were second, third, fourth and sixth fastest (reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou).

It was a strong day for Honda, which has been beaten by Chevrolet in four of five races so far this IndyCar season. Honda scored its first win of the season Saturday with Colton Herta on the road course at Indy.