place tie

Suddenly, Michigan State's big lead in the Big Ten is gone. No. 6 Purdue beat the Spartans 76-64, knocking MSU into a first-place tie with Illinois at 9-3.

Purdue and Ohio State are 8-3.

The AL Central has come down to the final day. The Detroit Tigers dropped into a first-place tie with Minnesota, looking listless Saturday night in a 5-1 loss to Freddy Garcia and the Chicago White Sox.

Tom Watson has skipped his first practice round for the U.S. Senior Open because he is ill. He's still hoping to make it onto the course Wednesday.

Watson says the bug will cost him preparation time after spending the last two weekends in Britain. He followed his playoff loss in the British Open with an eighth-place tie in the Senior British Open.

Hiroki Kuroda was nearly perfect in lifting the under-.500 Dodgers into a first-place tie in the NL West.

Pedro Martinez was sharp, too.

The Mets bullpen, though, almost denied New York its first winning record in a month.

Kuroda took a perfect game into the eighth inning and settled for a one-hitter, leading Los Angeles to a 3-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Monday night.

The right-hander retired the first 21 batters before Mark Teixeira lined his 70th pitch into the right-field corner for a double.