Sunday's Sports in Brief

By The Associated Press

Here's a look at Sunday's sports in brief around the country.

BOSTON (AP) — Francisco Rodriguez’s biggest save of a record-breaking season came in a tie game.

Rodriguez wriggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th inning, Mike Napoli hit two early homers before scoring the go-ahead run in the 12th and the Los Angeles Angels avoided another playoff sweep by beating the Boston Red Sox 5-4 on Sunday night in a game that lasted 5 hours, 19 minutes.

Boston had beaten Los Angeles in 11 consecutive AL playoff games, including three-game sweeps in 2004 and ’07 en route to a pair of World Series titles. But the Angels chased Red Sox ace Josh Beckett early, then got six scoreless innings from five relievers to keep them in the game.

Jon Lester will face Angels right-hander John Lackey in Game 4 on Monday night, and if the Angels can win that one they would return home for the decisive fifth game on Wednesday.

CHICAGO (AP) — Thanks to John Danks and the White Sox, Chicago still has one team standing.

Danks pitched another big game to save the season and well-traveled DeWayne Wise delivered a two-run double as the White Sox beat Tampa Bay 5-3 Sunday, trimming the Rays’ lead in their AL playoff series to 2-1.

Game 4 in the best-of-five matchup is Monday in Chicago, with Gavin Floyd facing Tampa Bay’s Andy Sonnanstine.

Less than 24 hours after the Cubs were swept out of the playoffs by the Dodgers, dashing Chicago’s hopes for a crosstown World Series, the White Sox avoided elimination before a black-shirted, white towel-waving crowd of 40,142 in their home park.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies found plenty of power to go with their pitching, right in time for the NL championship series.

Pat Burrell broke out of his slump in a big way with two homers, one a three-run shot, and Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth added solo drives Sunday to lead the Phillies to a 6-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers that clinched their first trip to the NLCS since 1993.

Overshadowed by the offensive barrage was a gem by midseason addition Joe Blanton, who held the Brewers to one run after an eight-day layoff. Rollins got the Phillies started with a leadoff shot and Philadelphia won the best-of-five series three games to one, earning another crack at the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.

The teams have met for the NL pennant three times before. The Dodgers won in 1977 and ’78, while the Phillies took the flag in 1983.

Game 1 is Thursday in Philadelphia. During the regular season, each team swept a four-game series from the other at home.

NFL

HOUSTON (AP) — Peyton Manning turned a colossal collapse by the Houston Texans into a stunning victory for the Indianapolis Colts.

The Colts scored 21 points in a late span of 2:10 — two touchdowns thanks to fumbles by Sage Rosenfels — then intercepted Rosenfels’ last-ditch comeback attempt for a 31-27 win Sunday.

Manning threw two touchdown passes, connecting with Reggie Wayne on a 5-yarder with 1:54 remaining for the decisive points. Linebacker Gary Brackett returned a fumble by quarterback Rosenfels 68 yards for a score in between Manning’s TD throws.

Rookie Tom Santi caught the other late score, a 7-yarder to bring the Colts (2-2) within 27-17 with 4:04 to go. It was his first NFL touchdown.

Backup Rosenfels, playing for the ill Matt Schaub, had the winless Texans (0-4) ahead by 17 points before losing two fumbles and throwing an interception. Texans fans had wanted to see Schaub replaced all season, and Rosenfels was nearly flawless for three quarters. Then came one of the most worst collapses in the history of the young franchise.

The Texans played the 100th game in franchise history in their hurricane-damaged stadium with the retractable roof open; the roof couldn’t be repaired in time for Sunday’s game. Houston was supposed to host Baltimore in Week 2 when Hurricane Ike hit, but that game was postponed until Nov. 9.

AUTO RACING

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Tony Stewart snapped his 43-race winless streak on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, getting the victory when NASCAR ruled Regan Smith drove below the yellow out-of-bounds line to get by Stewart on the final lap.

NASCAR decided Smith’s move was illegal, and Stewart earned his first win of what’s been a frustrating final season at Joe Gibbs Racing.

In making his first Sprint Cup Series trip to Victory Lane, Stewart crossed Talladega off the list of four active tracks where he’d failed to win a race. Stewart finished second a maddening six times before this win.

GOLF

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — Paula Creamer calmly won her biggest LPGA Tour title yet, holding off a large pack in the 20-player Samsung World Championship.

Playing near her hometown of Pleasanton, the 22-year-old Creamer beat Song-Hee Kim by a stroke Sunday, closing with a bogey-free 3-under 69 for a 9-under 279 total. Creamer earned $250,000 for her fourth title of the year and eighth overall.

On No. 18, Creamer holed a 5-foot par putt that rolled around the right lip of the cup and in. She dropped her putter, and raised both arms with a huge smile across her face as Kim waited nearby for a possible playoff.

Kim finished with a 68 for her fifth top-five finish of the year.

Two-time defending champion Lorena Ochoa shot a 69 to tie for third at 7 under with Juli Inkster (68), Suzann Pettersen (68) and Angela Stanford (70).

After Kim moved into a share of the lead by chipping in for birdie on No. 14 — the first time all day Creamer wasn’t alone out front — Creamer made a long birdie putt on 15 to retake control.

VERONA, N.Y. (AP) — Long-hitting rookie Dustin Johnson won the Turning Stone Resort Championship for his first PGA Tour title, holing an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 3-under 69 and a one-stroke victory over Robert Allenby.

Johnson finished at 9-under 279 to take the $1.08 million first-place prize in the $6 million event, the richest of the Fall Series, catapulted him from 128th to 41st on the money list. The top 125 at the end of the year retain full exemption for 2009.

Allenby (70), seeking his fifth victory and first since 2001, had a chance to tie at 18, but the Australian’s 12-foot putt for birdie stopped inches short of the hole.

Mathew Goggin (69), Steve Allan (69), Woody Austin (69), Davis Love III (70), Ryuji Imada (69), Robert Garrigus (69) and third-round co-leader Charles Howell III (73) finished at 7 under. Nick O’Hern (68), Pat Perez (70), Joe Ogilvie (70), and Jeff Overton (73) were another shot back on the Atunyote Golf Club course.

PRO BASKETBALL

YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — Katie Smith missed almost the entire second quarter because of foul trouble. Cheryl Ford has been out since the summer with a knee injury. And the Detroit Shock had to play in a college gym half the size of their regular home court.

In the end, none of it mattered.

The Shock overcame all of that in winning their third WNBA title in six seasons on Sunday, beating the San Antonio Silver Stars 76-60 in Game 3.

Detroit swept the league’s best regular-season team, winning the clincher at Eastern Michigan University’s Convocation Center, a venue forced upon them because of a scheduling conflict.

For Smith, the finals MVP, the win meant a league championship less than two months after she and her U.S. teammates took gold in Beijing.