Sports

Simmonds scored his second power-play goal to break a tie with 10:33 remaining and completed the first opening-night hat trick in Flyers history with an empty-netter as Philadelphia beat the San Jose Sharks 5-3 on Wednesday.

Trailing 2-0, Belt started San Francisco's comeback with an RBI single in a three-run seventh inning, then added a two-run homer in the eighth as the Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3 Sunday at PNC Park for their season-high sixth straight win.

Stratton pitched six innings to run his scoreless streak to 12 2/3 innings over his past two outings, and the San Francisco Giants stymied the contending Milwaukee Brewers with a 2-0 win Monday night.

The offense has been near flawless, the defense has been much improved and the special teams has generated big plays to help Oakland to its first 2-0 start in 15 years.

What began more than a year ago with an NFL quarterback protesting police brutality against minorities by kneeling silently during the national anthem before games has grown into a roar with hundreds of players sitting, kneeling, locking arms or remaining in locker rooms — their reasons for demonstrating as varied as their methods.

Seattle's Danny Valencia hit a three-run homer against his former team and fellow ex-Oakland slugger Yonder Alonso added a two-run shot in the Mariners' 6-3 win over the Athletics on Tuesday night.

Fifth-ranked USC forced four of its six turnovers in the fourth quarter to set up a touchdown run by Stephen Carr and a TD pass by Darnold, and the Trojans won their 13th straight game by pulling away late for a 30-20 victory over California on Saturday.

Josh Tomlin struck out five and pitched into the eighth inning to win back-to-back starts for the first time this year, and Cleveland capitalized on two costly errors to rally and beat the Giants 5-3 on Monday night.