A Sports Filled Weekend It Was

Sometimes everything goes just right. Not often. But every now and then…Consider Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals.

Rendon entered Sunday’s game against the New York Mets with five runs batted in this season. When the afternoon had ended, he had 15.

Rendon went 6 for 6 at the plate, homered three times, drove in 10 runs and scored six as the Nats pounded the Mets 23-5. Washington’s 23 runs set a club record. Rendon put a few footnotes in the record book as well.

Washington’s third baseman became just the second player in Major League Baseball history to have a game that included six hits, three home runs and 10 RBIs. Walker Cooper is the other player, and he did it for the Cincinnati Reds in 1949.

Honorable mention in smacking the baseball goes to Matt Kemp of the Atlanta Braves, who hit three home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night. That hadn’t happened for the Braves since 2008.

NBA: The Utah Jazz won Game 7 of their first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers, 104-91. It’s another early exit for the Clips and the first time the Jazz have won a playoff series since 2010…The Boston Celtics opened the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Washington Wizards by falling behind 20-3, then winning 123-111. Two other series get underway on Monday night: The Toronto Raptors-Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets-San Antonio Spurs.

NHL: The Anaheim Ducks defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-3 to cut their series deficit to 2-1 and Nashville is up 2-1 after a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

ELSEWHERE: Joey Logano got his first win of the season, taking NASCAR’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Speedway…Kevin Kisner chipped in for eagle on the 18th hole as darkness shrouded the Zurich Classic in Avondale, La., sending himself and teammate Scott Brown into a Monday playoff with Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith…No. 20 North Carolina beat No. 7 Notre Dame 14-10 on Sunday to win the ACC men’s lacrosse championship. No.5 Maryland drubbed longtime rival Johns Hopkins 12-5 on Saturday for the Big Ten regular-season lacrosse title. The conference tournament begins on Thursday with Maryland the No. 1 seed.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman