HOUSTON (AP) _ Stephen Strasburg tossed six innings before the Washington Nationals exploded for 10 runs over the last three frames to complete a 12-3 rout of Houston and take a 2-0 lead in the World Series. Strasburg scattered seven hits and struck out seven to improve to 4-0 this postseason, blanking the Astros after Alex Bregman’s two-run homer in the bottom of the first. Kurt Suzuki broke a 2-2 tie with a two-run homer in the seventh before Asdrubal (as-DROO’-bul) Cabrera contributed three RBIs.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ Joel Embiid (joh-EHL’ ehm-BEED’) and Ben Simmons carried the Philadelphia 76ers to a 107-93 win against the visiting Boston Celtics. Embiid finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Simmons paced Philadelphia with 24 points. Furkan Korkmaz and Tobias Harris buried consecutive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to give the 76ers a 10-point lead.
NEW YORK (AP) _ The Brooklyn Nets wasted Kyrie Irving’s 50-point performance in a 127-126 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Karl-Anthony Towns had 36 points and 14 rebounds for Minnesota, and Andrew Wiggins finished with 21 points. Irving lost his balance and missed a potential winning shot in his first game since signing with Brooklyn over the summer.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) _ Nikola Jokic (nih-KOH’-lah YOH’-kihch) had a double-double and Will Barton added 19 points as the Denver Nuggets dumped the Trail Blazers, 108-100 in Portland. Jokic finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds despite sitting much of the first half because of foul trouble. Damien Lillard had 32 points and eight assists for the Trail Blazers who had won an NBA-record 18 consecutive home openers.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) _ Victor Hedman scored a power-play goal with 56.8 seconds remaining to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens thought they might have scored in the closing seconds of regulation, but video review showed Kris Letang’s (leh-TAHNZ’) shot never completely crossed the goal line. Alex Killorn and Cedric Paquette (pah-KEHT’) also scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy (va-sih-LEHV’-skee) made 37 saves as the Bolts won for the third time in four games since a 2-2-1 start
