BARCELONA, Spain – Barcelona won its second straight Spanish league title after defeating Granada 3-0 on Saturday thanks to a hat trick by Luis Suarez in the final round.
The result capped a five-game winning streak that allowed the Catalan club to finish one point ahead of Real Madrid, which fell short despite winning its last 12 league games.
Madrid defeated Deportivo 2-0 in La Coruna with two goals by Cristiano Ronaldo, but it needed Barcelona to stumble in order to clinch its first title since 2012.
After the final whistle in Granada, Barcelona players formed a circle near the benches and jumped up and down while chanting “Campeones, Campeones.”
The team’s hopes of repeating its treble from a year ago ended when it was eliminated by Atletico Madrid in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, though. Barcelona can still win the Copa del Rey in next weekend’s final against Sevilla.
Real Madrid and Atletico will still play the Champions League final May 28 in Milan.
ROME – Andy Murray beat French qualifier Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-1 at the Italian Open on Saturday to advance to his second clay-court final in two weeks.
Murray maintained his focus through two rain delays at the Foro Italico and will face either top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who beat Kei Nishikori in three sets, for the title today.
Murray also reached the final of last week’s Madrid Open, losing to Djokovic.
Murray, who hasn’t dropped a set this week, will return to No. 2 in the rankings ahead of Roger Federer on Monday.
CLEVELAND – The Indians placed outfielder Michael Brantley on the 15-day disabled list because he’s still having issues with his surgically repaired right shoulder.
The team made the move Saturday, retroactive to May 10. Brantley has been bothered by inflammation in his shoulder, which he injured late last season while trying to make a diving catch in Minnesota. He had surgery in November.
Brantley recovered more quickly than expected during spring training, but began this season on the DL. One of the club’s best players, he’s batting .231 (9 of 39) with seven RBI in 11 games.
The Indians also purchased the contract of infielder Michael Martinez from Triple-A Columbus.
Nationals star Bryce Harper dropped his appeal and served a one-game suspension Saturday against Miami.
The team announced the outfielder’s decision after he went 0-for-2 in Washington’s 6-4 win in the opener. The team did not open the locker room in between games.
The reigning NL MVP was suspended and fined Wednesday by Major League Baseball for his behavior following an ejection in Monday’s 5-4 win over Detroit.
During the bottom of the ninth inning of that win, Harper was in the dugout when he was ejected by plate umpire Brian Knight after Nationals batter Danny Espinosa was called out on strikes.
After the ejection, pinch hitter Clint Robinson connected for a game-winning home run. Harper, who by rule should not have been in the dugout after getting tossed, ran onto the field with his teammates to celebrate, pointed toward Knight and cursed at the umpire.
WASHINGTON – The Washington Nationals picked up the contract option for Mike Rizzo that keeps the president of baseball operations and general manager with the organization through the 2018 season.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The Nationals exercised the option before the June 15 deadline.
Rizzo joined the organization in 2007 and was named GM in 2010, the same year he selected Bryce Harper No. 1 overall in the first-year player draft. Washington won the NL East in 2012 and 2014.
Rizzo was promoted to president of baseball operations during the 2013 season.
“While I am proud of the work we have accomplished, we still must achieve the ultimate goal of bringing a World Series Championship back to Washington,” Rizzo said.
INDIANAPOLIS – Simon Pagenaud pulled away to win the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on Saturday for his third straight victory and second in three years on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The French driver inherited the lead when Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves pitted with 20 laps to go, and beat the Brazilian by 4.4748 seconds on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn course. Pagenaud is the first IndyCar driver to win three in a row since Scott Dixon in 2013.
Pagenaud started from the pole and led 57 of the 82 laps. He kept the lead despite making his final pit stop one lap after Castroneves.
Pagenaud extended his points lead over Dixon to 76. Dixon, the defending series champion, finished seventh for Target Chip Ganassi.
Canadian James Hinchcliffe of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports was third.
DOVER, Del. – Erik Jones won the Xfinity Series race at Dover International Speedway, where he earned a $100,000 bonus from the series’ Dash-4-Cash program.
Four drivers were eligible for the bonus, and Jones won it for the second time this season. There’s one more Dash-4-Cash race, at Indianapolis this summer.
Jones led a race-high 76 laps in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and he was cruising to the win until a caution came out with 11 laps remaining because Brendan Gaughan spun. The yellow flag ate up Jones’ lead over Alex Bowman, who pitted under the caution for four tires.
Jones was the leader on the restart with five to go, and Bowman was fourth. Bowman ended up finishing third, behind Darrell Wallace Jr., who was in a backup car.
INDIANAPOLIS – Plenette Pierson scored 17 points and the Dallas Wings beat the Indiana Fever 90-79 in the WNBA opener Saturday night.
The Wings never trailed after going on a 14-2 run to lead 58-53 in the third quarter. The Fever rallied to a 68-all tie on rookie Tiffany Mitchell’s driving layup late in the quarter, but Mitchell failed to convert the 3-point play and Indiana never pulled in front.
Dallas, formerly the Tulsa Shock, started the season ranked seventh in the AP WNBA Power Rankings. Indiana opened the season fifth.
Odyssey Sims had 14 points, Karima Christmas scored 13 and Theresa Plaisance added 12 for the Wings, who played without star Skylar Diggins. She tore her ACL last season.
Mitchell, the ninth overall pick in the 2016 WNBA draft, led the Fever with 18 points in her debut.
ATLANTA – Basically swimming against herself, Katie Ledecky turned in another strong performance to win the 400-meter freestyle at the Atlanta Classic on Saturday night.
Ledecky was out front as soon as she dove into the water, and she stretched the lead on every lap to finish in 4 minutes, 0.31 seconds – less than 2 seconds off her world record of 3:58.37.
Hali Flickinger took the runner-up spot in 4:09.03, trailing Ledecky by nearly half the length of the pool at Georgie Tech’s aquatic center. Brittany MacLean (4:10.24) was the only other swimmer within 10 seconds of the winner.
Ledecky added to her 200 free victory on the opening night of the meet. She’ll swim two more events – the 100 free and the 200 individual medley – today but won’t tackle the 800 free, probably her signature event.