BASEBALL
Shane Drohan held the Erie SeaWolves to two hits over six innings, and Edwin Diaz hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning, lifting the Portland Sea Dogs to a 6-1 victory Wednesday afternoon in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Drohan (4-0) struck out seven, walked one and retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced. Although Erie scored its only run on an error in the first inning, it wound up as an earned run, raising Drohan’s ERA to 0.78.
Stephen Scott was 4 for 4, Ceddanne Rafaela added three hits, and Alex Binelas hit a two-run double.
SOCCER
ENGLAND: Kevin de Bruyne scored twice, Erling Haaland broke the Premier League record for a 38-game season with his 33rd goal, and host Manchester City beat first-place Arsenal 4-1 to take control of the title race.
While the defending champions remain in second place, Arsenal’s lead was cut to two points, with City having two games in hand.
• Joel Matip’s header from a corner in the 67th minute sealed Liverpool’s third straight win, 2-1 at West Ham.
• Nottingham Forest climbed out of the Premier League’s relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Brighton that was marred by what looked like a serious injury to Forest defender Neco Williams, who was carried off on a stretcher and taken to a hospital after colliding with teammate Brennan Johnson.
Forest climbed above Everton and Leicester and out of the bottom three by one point in a tight relegation race that looks likely to go to the final weekend.
• Chelsea sunk to a fifth straight loss since the appointment of Frank Lampard as interim manager, as Brentford won 2-0 in London.
ITALY: Inter Milan maintained its push for a trio of trophies as it beat Juventus 1-0 to reach its second straight Italian Cup final.
Federico Dimarco scored the only goal to help defending champion Inter advance 2-1 on aggregate. The Nerazzurri will play Fiorentina or Cremonese in the final on May 24 in Rome.
Inter plays AC Milan in the Champions League semifinals next month. It beat its city rival to win the Italian Super Cup in January.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR: Alex Bowman suffered a fractured vertebra in a sprint car crash, and Hendrick Motorsports said the Cup Series star will miss at least the next three races.
Bowman will be replaced by Josh Berry, who filled in for Chase Elliott for five races while Elliott recovered from a broken leg. Berry will be in the No. 48 Chevrolet starting this weekend at Dover International Speedway in Delaware.
Bowman suffered a compression fracture in an accident Tuesday evening on his 30th birthday while competing in a sprint car event at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. The event was part of a racing series created by his Hendrick teammate, Kyle Larson.
BOXING
OLYMPICS: USA Boxing has terminated its 77-year membership in the International Boxing Association ahead of its move to a rival governing body that hopes to return the sport to Olympic favor.
The U.S. organization announced the move Wednesday in a letter to its membership from executive director Mike McAtee. USA Boxing intends to join the World Boxing International Federation, which was established two weeks ago in an attempt to preserve the Olympic future of boxing heading into the second straight Games without IBA involvement.
McAtee said USA Boxing is making the move because of the IBA’s “failure to uphold its mission and principles of its constitution, and failure to respect the Olympic charter and movement.”
An IOC task force ran the boxing tournament at the Tokyo Olympics, and another task force is running the qualifications and competition for the Paris Games next year. Boxing, which has been part of every Olympic program but one since 1904, is not on the provisional program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, although the IOC has said it still could be added.
TENNIS
MADRID OPEN: Mirra Andreeva of Russia got her first tour-level win with a 6-3, 6-4 upset of former U.S. Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, three days before her 16th birthday.
Elina Svitolina, a former No. 3 playing in her first match at a WTA 1000 event in 14 months following maternity leave, lost 6-4, 7-5 to Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
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