Austin Cindric gave Team Penske its first NASCAR victory of the season by holding off a huge pack of challengers over the closing lap in a rare drama-free day at Talladega Superspeedway.

Cindric as he celebrated the third win of his Cup Series career and snapped a 30-race losing streak. The victory makes him the first Penske driver locked into the playoffs.

Cindric was followed by Ryan Preece as Ford drivers went 1-2. Kyle Larson and William Byron finished third and fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, but the two Chevrolet drivers pushed Cindric and Preece from the second row rather than pull out of line on the final lap and make a third lane in an attempt to win.

Minor league baseball

Saints give Gardenhire 300th win as manager

A 13-hit, five-run attack on Sunday gave the St. Paul Saints a 5-3 win in the series finale against Indianapolis and earned Toby Gardenhire his 300th win as Saints manager.

Gardenhire, the lone manager in St. Paul’s Triple-A history, only trails George Tsamis for wins as Saints manager. Tsamis’ team won 954 games from 2003-20.

Zebby Matthews started for St. Paul and allowed two runs on two hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings, while striking out five. Kyle Bischoff (2-0) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Kody Funderburk pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save.

Carson McCusker had twohits, including a two-run double in the first inning. Royce Lewis had two hits, drove in a run and scored twice.

St. Paul now travels for a week-long series against Columbus starting with a doubleheader on Tuesday.

Gophers athletics

Crousore finishes 7th at Big Ten championships

Gophers freshman Jack Crousore finished seventh at the Big Ten Conference championships on Sunday, finishing even par. Minnesota finished in 10th as a team with a score of 26-over.

Junior Cormac Sharpe finished 23rd for the Gophers.

UCLA won the conference title and the Bruins Omar Morales was the individual medalist at 7-under.

Football

Falcons DC Ulbrich’s son prank called Sanders

The Atlanta Falcons said Sunday that defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich’s son was responsible for a prank call made to NFL draft pick Shedeur Sanders.

The Falcons released a statement saying 21-year-old Jax Ulbrich “unintentionally came across the draft contact phone number for Shedeur Sanders off an open iPad while visiting his parent’s home and wrote the number down to later conduct a prank call.”

Though Jax Ulbrich provided the number, he was sitting beside an unidentified friend who actually made the call to Sanders.

The Falcons said Jeff Ulbrich was unaware of the data exposure or the prank until after the fact. They offered “sincere apologies to Shedeur Sanders and his family” in their statement, and Jax Ulbrich also posted a public apology on social media.

Sanders was perhaps the draft’s biggest story as he had to wait until the fifth round on Saturday before being drafted by the Cleveland Browns. He received a prank call on Friday night, the second day of the draft, while waiting.

Briefly

College Softball >> Junior Sydney Schwartz threw her first career no-hitter as the Gophers beat North Dakota 8-0 on Sunday.

MLB >> Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, who revealed in a Netflix documentary that he attempted suicide three years ago, said a fan in the front row Sunday near the Red Sox dugout in Cleveland said “something inappropriate” to him.

EPL >> Liverpool beat Tottenham 5-1 and clinched a record-equaling 20th English league championship — matching the achievement of its great rival Manchester United.

MLB >> Devin Williams lost his job as Yankees closer after stumbling repeatedly during his first 10 games with his new team.

NFL >> The Jacksonville Jaguars agreed to terms with veteran defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah on Sunday. The one-year deal is worth up to $5 million, according to agent Drew Rosenhaus.

— From news services