ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tyler O’Neill hit a tiebreaking homer, Cardinals relievers combined for five scoreless innings, and St. Louis salvaged a split of its four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 2-1 win. The Cardinals climbed within three games of the San Diego Padres for the final NL wild-card spot, while the Dodgers fell 2 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants. O’Neill’s fifth-inning drive off Phil Bickford was his 25th homer this season. The blast made a winner out of Alex Reyes, who pitched two scoreless innings in his fifth appearance since being demoted from the closer’s role.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Miguel Cabrera and Robbie Grossman each had four hits, and the Detroit Tigers avoided a sweep by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1. Cabrera was 4 for 4 with a double and three RBIs. He doubled off the Clemente Wall in right field to score Grossman in the first, singled home Akil Baddoo in the third and bounced one up the middle in the fifth to bring in Jonathan Schoop. Grossman was 4 for 5 and scored three runs. He singled in his first three at-bats and hit a solo home run just inside the right field foul pole in the seventh.

NEW YORK (AP) — Jamie Murray of Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil have closed in on their second U.S. Open men’s doubles title by reaching the final. The seventh-seeded duo defeated the eighth-seeded team of John Peers of Australia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia in the semifinals Thursday. Murray and Soares will face Rajeev Ram of the U.S. and Joe Salisbury of Britain for the championship. Murray, whose younger brother Andy is a three-time major singles champion, and Soares won the U.S. Open and Australian Open together in 2016. Soares also teamed with Mate Pavic to claim the men’s doubles trophy at Flushing Meadows a year ago.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — When Tom Brady runs out from the tunnel, screaming “Let’s Go!” and leading the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers onto the field against the Dallas Cowboys, a full stadium will greet players for the first time since COVID-19 upended the world and changed the way sports were viewed. Fans return as COVID-19 surges. The delta variant is filling hospitals, children are getting sick and some schools are abruptly switching back to remote learning because of outbreaks. The U.S. death toll stands at more than 650,000, with one major forecast model projecting it will top 750,000 by Dec. 1 — deep into the NFL season.

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s first sports betting operations are now open in time for the start of the NFL season with live wagers allowed on college and professional sports. Betting began Thursday online and at the FanDuel Sportsbook at the downtown Phoenix arena where the Phoenix Suns play and at temporary betting windows at the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chase Field. The action was made possible by a new law enacted by the Legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey last spring. Online fantasy sports wagering became legal late last month. Before that, Arizona was one of the few U.S. states where it was still banned.

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