Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Denny Hamlin raced to his series-leading fifth NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season Thursday night, passing Kevin Harvick in the closing laps and holding off Brad Keselowski to make it back-to-back victories at Kansas Speedway. Hamlin had struggled the past three weeks, failing to finish better than 12th. But after showing good speed early, his Joe Gibbs Racing team made all the right calls during a crash-filled final stage to win in front of empty grandstands. Keselowski finished second and Martin Truex Jr. came across third. Harvick wound up sliding to fourth and Erik Jones, who hadn’t been quiet all night, rounded out the top five to cap a banner night for the Gibbs boys.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Brady Singer will make his big league debut on the mound for the Kansas City Royals in their second game Saturday in Cleveland. But unlike the thousands of players who have made it to the pinnacle of the sport, and were celebrated by tearful mom and dad and family in the stands, the culmination of Singer’s lifelong dream will only be shared by his teammates. When the decision was made to play an abbreviated 60-game major league season without fans, it meant that anybody making their debut this season would do so without their support system there to enjoy it.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals have placed right-hander Chance Adams and left-hander Randy Rosario on the injured list and right-hander Jesse Hahn on the bereavement list as they pared their roster down to 30 players ahead of opening day. Backup catcher Meibrys Viloria was reinstated from the injured list and recalled, along with right-hander Ronald Bolanos and outfielder Franchy Cordero. Both of them were acquired in a recent trade with San Diego. Left-handers Foster Griffin and Gabe Speier and right-hander Kyle Zimmer also were recalled.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals have recalled outfielder Austin Dean, right-hander Junior Fernandez, catcher Andrew Knizner and infielder Edmundo Sosa as they finalized their roster for opening day against the Pirates. St. Louis also announced that right-hander Kodi Whitley made the initial 30-man roster for the start of the season. The moves came one day after the Cardinals released reliever Brett Cecil, who pitched just 100 innings across 113 games since signing a four-year contract with the club.

DETROIT (AP) — This is the final year of Jordan Zimmermann’s contract with Detroit and also his last chance to make a good impression before free agency arrives again. Now that opportunity may be gone. After going on the 45-day injured list with an arm problem, his best-case scenario is to return for a bit at the very end of the season. This truncated 2020 campaign is also important for a number of other free-agents-to-be. Rick Porcello and Didi Gregorius have a lot to prove this year before they can return to the open market, and they don’t have a lot of time to showcase themselves.