TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Luis Rengifo hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning and the Los Angeles Angels rallied to beat Tampa Bay 4-3 Tuesday night, extending the Rays’ losing streak to five in the opener of a 13-game homestand.

Kenley Jansen allowed singles to Jake Mangum and Taylor Walls starting the ninth but escaped a second-and-third, no-outs jam for his third save. Yandy Díaz grounded to Rengifo, who threw out Mangum at the plate from third, and Jansen struck out Brandon Lowe and José Caballero to seal the Angels’ third straight win.

Tampa Bay drew 10,046 in its seventh sellout at Steinbrenner Field but dropped to 4-3 at its temporary home, the Yankees spring training ballpark.

This series originally was scheduled for Anaheim but Major League Baseball rearranged the schedule to have the Rays play 19 of their first 22 games at home in an attempt to lessen the impact of summer storms at the open-air ballpark. The Rays’ usual home, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, has a dome that was damaged by Hurricane Milton last October.

The Rays went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine runners, including seven in the last three innings. Pete Fairbanks (1-1) was the loser.

Tampa Bay’s Kameron Misner was hit on the helmet by a 98.8 mph pitch from Brock Burke (2-0) in the eighth but stayed in the game.

Anaheim’s Kyren Paris hit his third homer this seasons, a two-run drive off Shane Baz, with a video review upholding there was no fan interference.

Junior Caminero’s homer off Ben Joyce started a three-run seventh that overcame a 2-0 deficit. Christopher Morel hit a tying double and scored on Misner’s triple.

Travis d’Arnaud hit a tying RBI grounder in the eighth.

Key moment

Morel was ejected by plate umpire Rob Drake after a called strike in the eighth. He had words with the umpire and slammed his bat.

Key stat

Jansen went 0 for 4, grounding into a double play, and is 1 for 24 in his first season with Tampa Bay.

Up next

Angels LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-1, 4.50 ERA) and Rays RHP starter Ryan Pepiot (0-1) Wednesday.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The final buzzer in San Antonio closed a drama that ended with confetti and Gator chomps — a thrill-a-minute NCAA title for the Florida Gators that reminded us all of what’s so good about the games these college athletes play.

In another court — a few hours earlier and 1,700 miles away — lawyers, a few athletes and a judge debated issues that will impact the future of games like these and what comes next for a multibillion-dollar college-sports industry that is struggling with change.

Those two scenes Monday illustrated all that’s at stake, and maybe even whether March Madness, which Florida wrapped up with a 65-63 title-clinching victory over Houston, will look the same in coming years.

So while Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr.’s clutch stop in the final seconds might have produced the day’s biggest headline, federal judge Claudia Wilken’s decision about the multibillion-dollar college-sports lawsuit settlement — which could come within days, weeks, months, who knows? — will carry more weight.

“Basically I think it is a good settlement, don’t quote me, and I think it’s worth pursuing,” Wilken said near the close of the daylong hearing she held in Oakland that finished about an hour before tipoff in the Alamodome. “I think some of these things could be fixed if people tried to fix them and that it would be worth their while to try to fix them.”

Judge seeks solutions for roster limits, future college players

Among Wilken’s top-line items is figuring a way to gradually implement roster limits prescribed by the lawsuit. A solution could prevent an immediate wholesale phase-out of hundreds of football players, swimmers, sprinters and other college athletes across the country.

She also wants tweaks to how athletes who haven’t yet reached college might be treated per terms of an agreement that’s supposed to last 10 years.

“We’re taking your feedback. We’ll take it to our clients,” NCAA attorney Rakesh Kilaru told Wilken.

The clock is ticking.

As currently structured, terms of the settlement are due to take effect on July 1, when the biggest change will be schools’ ability to pay athletes directly. Also at stake is $2.78 billion in backpay to former players who weren’t eligible for those payments.

Putting settlement’s terms in play will impact all sports

That’s where it comes back to the Gators, along with the thousands of varsity teams and players participating in college sports — from swimmers to pitchers to quarterbacks and everyone in between.

Like every other coach, Florida’s Todd Golden is learning to work with a payroll. It’s funded both from third-party booster groups that can funnel money to the players, and then, if Wilken gives the OK, from a pool of $20.5 million that schools like his will distribute among all its athletes — but mostly to football and a little less to basketball.

Those financial decisions, in turn, will dictate roster decisions and determine whether the Gators can afford another player like Clayton.

He’s the senior who left a small northeastern school, Iona, to come back to his home state and join Golden and the Gators. He scored 134 points in six tournament games that culminated with Monday’s final. He will be playing in the NBA next year.

Houston frustrated him and held him to 11 points in his final game as a collegian. But Clayton got the last laugh when he charged toward Cougars guard Emanuel Sharp, who was lining up for what could have been the game-winning 3-pointer with the clock ticking down in a tense, rugged, defense-focused game that left everyone on edge.

Clayton’s defense forced Sharp to let the ball go without shooting. It bounced once, then twice, then a third time — Sharp couldn’t grab it, lest he be called for traveling — before Clayton’s Florida teammate Alex Condon pounced on it and the buzzer sounded.

“I do think what separates us and has separated us all season long is our team talent, how our guys have played together and for each other all year,” Golden said. “Because of that, we can call each other national champions for the rest of our lives.”

While the Gators got ready to cut down the nets, the well-worn favorite, “One Shining Moment” — a treacly highlight reel from America’s three-week hoops extravaganza — played on the big screen above.

Florida sprinted and Houston trudged through the tunnel, into their locker rooms, and basketball — and college sports, in general — began the long wait to see what comes next.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

Spurs ownership wants a new venue.

The ownership of the National Basketball Association’s San Antonio Spurs franchise along with city of San Antonio officials and Bexar County officials have made a big decision. The three potential arena-village partners decided that local property taxes will not be used to fund a $1.5 billion basketball arena-village. The three will use hotel and car rental taxes for the project and will be able to make the claim that no local taxes will be used for the venue construction. The agreement gives the three parties until July to come up with a plan to provide funding for the project.

The Project Marvel plan includes the construction of a San Antonio Spurs’ arena along with renovations to the 31-year-old Alamodome. The plan also calls for the adding of 150,000 square feet to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center as well as building a 20,000-square-foot University of Texas at San Antonio School of Hospitality. Additionally, if all goes according to the plan, the empty John H. Wood Federal Courthouse would be turned into a 5,000-seat concert venue. A convention center hotel would be part of Project Marvel. The price tag of Project Marvel is estimated to be around $4 billion. In the late 1990s, Spurs’ management pushed for a new arena and local voters said yes to building a new venue that opened in 2002. San Antonio officials want to keep the Spurs ownership group happy and have been talking to the ownership about building a new arena. San Antonio officials are also worried that Spurs’ ownership may fall in love with nearby Austin and move operations to the Texas capital. Spurs’ games have been played in Austin because the ownership group wants to expand its fan base. San Antonio is a small market. The arena game continues in San Antonio.

Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191

Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com