TAMPA, Fla. — The Twins’ momentum that saw them get back in the American League Central race ended in sweltering Florida.

Pablo López gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out three on Wednesday in a 5-0 loss to Tampa Bay. Minnesota managed just one hit in six innings against Rays starter Drew Rasmussen and couldn’t break through with five hits in the final three innings against three relievers.

The loss is the Twins’ third in four games and dropped them to 30-25, tied with Cleveland in the Central at six games behind Detroit.

Brandon Lowe and Junior Caminero hit fourth-inning home runs, and Drew Rasmussen allowed one hit in six innings to lead Tampa Bay. Lowe led off the fourth with his 11th home run. Caminero hit his 10th with Jonathan Aranda aboard.

Aranda added an RBI single and the Rays’ also scored on a balk. Lowe, Aranda and Caminero had two hits each. Chandler Simpson stole two bases for 16 this season.

Rasmussen (4-4) gave up a single to his former Oregon State teammate Trevor Larnach on the second pitch of the game. He also allowed a walk and a hit-by-pitch. He struck out five.

Rasmussen won his third straight six-inning scoreless start. Edwin Uceta, Mason Montgomery and Connor Seabold completed the Rays’ fifth shutout this season. The Rays finished their homestand 7-2.

López (4-3) lost for the first time in five May starts. He had given up three homers all season before Wednesday.

The Twins finished with six singles, including 27-year-old rookie Carson McCusker’s first MLB hit.

Key moment

Uceta gave up consecutive singles to open the seventh inning but then retired the next three batters with Josh Lowe making a leaping catch of Royce Lewis’ fly ball at the right-field wall for the third out.

Key stat

Brandon Lowe extended his hitting streak to 11 games, one shy of his career high. He is 16 of 39 for a .410 average with four homers and six RBIs during the streak.

Up next

The Rays are at Houston on Thursday with Shane Baz (4-3, 4.94) pitching. The Astros hadn’t announced a starter. The Twins are at Seattle on Friday with Zebby Matthews (0-1, 7.71) facing the Mariners’ Bryan Woo (5-2, 2.40).

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By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Artificial intelligence technology bellwether Nvidia overcame a wave of tariff-driven turbulence to deliver another quarter of robust growth amid feverish demand for its high-powered chips that are making computers seem more human.

The results announced Wednesday for the February-April period came against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again trade war that has whipsawed Nvidia and other Big Tech companies riding AI mania to propel their revenue and stock prices upward.

But Trump’s tariffs — many of which have been reduced or temporarily suspended – hammered the market values of Nvidia and other tech powerhouses heading into the springtime earnings season as investors fretted about the trade turmoil dimming the industry’s prospects.

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Those worries have eased during the past six weeks as most Big Tech companies lived up to or exceeded the analyst projections that steer investors, capped by Nvidia’s report for its fiscal first quarter.

Nvidia earned $18.8 billion, or 76 cents per share, for the period, a 26% increase from the same time last year. Revenue surged 69% from a year ago to $44.1 billion. If not for a $4.5 billion charge that Nvidia absorbed to account for the U.S. government’s restrictions on its chip sales to China, Nvidia would have made 96 cents per share, far above the 73 cents per share envisioned by analysts.

In another positive sign, Nvidia predicted its revenue for the May-July period would be about $45 billion, roughly the level that investors had been anticipating. The forecast includes an estimated $8 billion loss in sales to China due to the export controls during its fiscal second quarter, after the restrictions cost it about $2.5 billion in revenue during the first quarter.

“Global demand for NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure is incredibly strong,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said.

The performance bolstered Nvidia’s shares, which gained more than 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out. Nvidia’s stock price ended Wednesday’s regular trading session at $134.81, just slightly below where it stood before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. The price had plunged to as low as $86.62 last month during a nosedive that temporarily erased $1.2 trillion in shareholder wealth.

The outlook began brightening for Nvidia last month after AI leaders such as Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta Platforms reaffirmed their plans to invest heavily in AI. That spending has been a boon for Nvidia because its chipsets provide the technology’s brainpower, an advantage that has helped the company’s annual revenue from $27 billion to $130 billion in just two years.

Wedbush Securities analyst estimates Big Tech companies will spend about $325 billion on long-term investments primarily revolving around AI this year, with a substantial chunk of that money budgeted for Nvidia’s chips.

Trump’s trade war has been raising doubts about Nvidia’s ability to maintain its astounding momentum by threatening to close off key market, especially China.

In apparent attempt to curry favor with the president, Huang last month announced Nvidia will help boost U.S. manufacturing by building some of its AI chips and supercomputers in plants located in Arizona and Texas. Huang also accompanied Trump on a trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this month, signaling Nvidia’s ambitions to sell more of its AI chips in the Middle East as that region attempts to lessen its economy dependence on oil.

Trump also extended a helping hand to Nvidia of by rescinding the scheduled start export controls that had been drawn up under President Joe Biden’s administration that would have broadened the restrictions on chips sales in foreign markets beyond the limits already in place on deals with China and Russia.

By PHILIP MARCELO

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — George Santos ′ former campaign treasurer was sentenced Wednesday to three years’ probation for her role in fabricating campaign finance reports for the disgraced ex-congressman from New York.

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Nancy Marks was also ordered to pay more than $178,000 in restitution by U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert.

The veteran Long Island political operative, who resigned as Santos’ campaign treasurer in 2023, pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges last year.

“I thought I had found a friend in George Santos,” she said Wednesday. “But everything about him was a lie. I thought it was a true friend and a true person. He was not.”

She has admitted to helping Santos inflate his campaign donations during the 2022 election cycle in order to hit the fundraising thresholds needed to qualify for backing from the national Republican Party.

Prosecutors say Marks filed campaign finance reports that listed a number of false donors, including at least 10 members of her family and Santos’ family.

The reports to the Federal Election Commission and the GOP National Committee also falsely claimed Santos had loaned his campaign $500,000 when in reality he didn’t have the money to make that kind of loan.

Marks faced up to five years in prison. In a filing ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors had recommended the Shirley resident be sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $178,000 in restitution.

Marks’ lawyers filed their sentencing request under seal, meaning it wasn’t revealed prior to her appearance in Central Islip federal court.

Marks worked on more than 150 Republican campaigns on Long Island, including for the current head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, during his successful campaigns for Congress and a failed gubernatorial run.

Santos was sentenced last month to more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

He’s due to report to prison July 25.

Sam Miele, a former fundraiser for Santos, was sentenced in March to one year and one day in prison for his role in the campaign fraud, which included impersonating a high-ranking congressional aide.

Santos served less than a year in Congress before becoming just the sixth member of the House to be ousted by colleagues after it was revealed he’d fabricated much of his life story.

The political unknown had painted himself as a successful business owner who worked at prestigious Wall Street firms, when in reality he was struggling financially.

The revelations led to congressional and criminal inquiries into how he had funded his campaign.

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A large elephant seal took a wrong turn and was seen lumbering along a street in a coastal town in South Africa early Tuesday, surprising residents and inspiring a rescue effort to get him back to sea.

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The two-ton seal, which an animal welfare group said was a young male, was making his way through a suburb of Gordon’s Bay near Cape Town.

Locals came out of houses and recorded videos.

“This is unreal. Hi, bro, how did you get here?” one woman asked.

Police and a local security company attempted to contain the seal by parking patrol cars around him. He rested his huge head on the hood of one car and half-climbed over another before slipping free, crossing a road and carrying on up a sidewalk.

An elephant seal that found its way into a residential area in Gordon’s Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo)

The seal eventually stopped next to a shopping mall. Animal welfare officials worried he was too far from the ocean to find his way back and might become exhausted and dehydrated. They estimated he weighed around two tons (4,400 pounds). Elephant seals can grow to twice that size.

A team of marine wildlife specialists and a city veterinarian sedated the seal and guided him into an animal transport trailer to be returned to his natural habitat at a nearby bay.

Staff members of the Marine Unit with Shark Spotters facilitate the transportation of an elephant seal that found its way into a residential area in Gordon’s Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo)

The local Cape of Good Hope SPCA later posted a video on social media of the seal making his way down a beach and toward the ocean.

“Sea you later,” the video said.

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa