HARTFORD, Conn. — Kevin McAvoy allowed one run over six innings as the Portland Sea Dogs completed a three-game sweep Wednesday with a 5-1 win over the Hartford Yard Goats.

McAvoy gave up five hits and a walk while striking out six to earn his first win of the season.

Trailing 1-0 after four innings, the Sea Dogs took the lead with three runs in the fifth, highlighted by a two-run single by Danny Mars. Portland’s Tzu-Wei Lin went 2 for 3, extending his Eastern League-leading hitting streak to 15 games.

The win was the fourth in a row for the Sea Dogs (13-8), who open a five-game series against Reading at Hadlock Field on Thursday evening.

The win was the fourth in a row for the Sea Dogs (13-8), who open a five-game series against Reading at Hadlock Field on Thursday night.

HORSE RACING

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KENTUCKY DERBY: Classic Empire is the early 4-1 favorite, with just four of the 20 horses listed at single digits.

The colt will break from the No. 14 post Saturday. Just two horses have won the Derby from there. The last was Carry Back in 1961.

Trained by Mark Casse, Classic Empire won the Arkansas Derby and was last year’s champion 2-year-old.

Always Dreaming (No. 5 post) and McCraken (No. 15) are the co-second choices at 5-1. Irish War Cry is listed at 6-1 and drew the No. 17 post.

GOLF

U.S. OPEN: Tony Romo’s next pursuit of a championship will be in golf.

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A month after the longtime Dallas Cowboys quarterback retired, Romo is among nearly 9,500 players who signed up for the U.S. Open. He plays an 18-hole local qualifier Monday at Split Rail Links and Golf Club in Texas, about 30 minutes west of Fort Worth.

If he advances, sectional qualifying follows June 5.

This isn’t the first time Romo has tried to qualify. He made it out of local qualifying in 2010. In a 36-hole sectional qualifier where only two of the 35 players advanced, Romo opened with a 71 and withdrew in the afternoon after two weather delays.

TENNIS

WIMBLEDON: Maria Sharapova will discover June 20 if she has been granted a wild-card entry, provided she has not already qualified for the tournament.

The Russian player has returned to the WTA Tour after serving a 15-month ban for doping and reached the semifinals in Stuttgart last week in her first event back, leaving her ranked No. 262.

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Sharapova is set to play two more tournaments, in Madrid and Rome, before the deadline for direct entry to Wimbledon qualifying.

PRAGUE OPEN: Defending champion Lucie Safarova withdrew ahead of her second-round match against Kristyna Pliskova because of illness, while big-hitting Jelena Ostapenko rallied to eliminate second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

BMW OPEN: Veteran Tommy Haas’ last appearance at the Munich tournament ended in a 6-4, 7-5 defeat to fellow German Jan-Lennard Struff in the second round.

Struff saved five of the seven break points he faced to win in just under an hour and a half against the 39-year-old Haas, who won the clay-court tournament in 2013.

ESTORIL OPEN: Top-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta defeated fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo 7-6 (5), 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals in Portugal, while fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro withdrew after the death of his grandfather back home in Argentina.

Second-seeded Richard Gasquet of France defeated Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-1, 6-4 for his first tour win since February.


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