NL Central - Sunday
Pirates 1
Houston 0

Philadelphia 3
Cincinnati 2

St. Louis 4
Milwaukee 2

NY Mets 4
Chicago Cubs 3

NHL - Sunday
Boston 5
NY Rangers 2
(Bruins lead series, 2-1)

Frontier League -Sunday
Schaumburg 2
Wild Things 1

Bucs "Locke" Down Astros
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jeff Locke allowed three hits over seven innings and Pedro Alvarez homered as the Pittsburgh Pirates won for the eighth time in 10 games, beating the Houston Astros, 1-0, Sunday. Locke (4-1) won his fourth straight decision, allowing one run or fewer for the fifth time in his past eight outings. He struck out four and walked three. Jason Grilli pitched a perfect ninth inning to record his MLB-best 17th save. Alvarez pushed his average above .200 for just the second time since the second game of the season. His eighth home run came on the first pitch and was an opposite field line drive down the left field line in the fifth. Alvarez's longball was his second of the series and third in eight games. It was the lone mistake by Astros starter Lucas Harrell, who lost his third consecutive decision despite allowing just four hits and one walk over seven innings.

Boomers Sweep Wild Things
SCHAUMBURG - The Boomers got run-scoring hits from Frank Pfister and Gerard Hall and four shutout innings from the bullpen as Schaumburg swept the season-opening series from the Wild Things, beating Washington 2-1 in the finale Sunday afternoon. Washington starter Shawn Blackwell allowed just three hits and struck out five over six innings, but the Boomers took advantage of walks in the third and fifth innings and got clutch hits to plate the runs. The Boomers won each of the three games by one run, getting the winning run in each of the first two games in their final at-bat. The Wild Things are off Monday, then open a three-game series in Rockford Tuesday night. Hear all the action on WJPA-FM (95.3) and online.

WPIAL Softball Quarterfinals Monday, Baseball Semifinals Tuesday
The opening rounds are in the books--softball through one round, baseball through the quarterfinals. Six of the seven Washington County softball teams that started the playoffs are into Monday's quarterfinals. Two of them, Quad-A #1 Canon-McMillan and Class A #2 Burgettstown, had first-round byes. In baseball, California is the only county team to make through the first two playoff games. The Trojans now have to chances to also qualify for the state tournament. See the brackets by clicking on these links: Softball - - Baseball