Troy Melton and Dillon Dingler help the Tigers complete a sweep of the Rays after 7-2 victory

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Troy Melton allowed only two runs over a career-long eight innings, Dillon Dingler drove in four runs and the Detroit Tigers finished off a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays with a 7-2 victory on Wednesday.

Detroit scored 25 runs on 19 extra base hits in the three games at Tropicana Field. The road sweep for Detroit is the first since last July at Cleveland.

Tampa Bay has dropped eight of the past 10 games. The Rays’ lead in the AL East dropped to 0.5 games heading into Wednesday night.

Melton, making his third start of the season after beginning the year on the 60-day disabled list with right elbow inflammation, held the Rays to four hits while striking out five in eight innings on 94 pitches. Melton retired the final 17 batters he faced. Drew Anderson retired the side in the ninth.

Dingler drove in Gleyber Torres with a base hit in the first inning and delivered a three-run home run in the fourth that put Detroit up 6-2. Dingler finished the series with three homers and nine RBIs.

Jake Rogers also homered for Detroit, delivering his first of the season with a solo shot in the second inning.

Rays starter Nick Martinez was chased after four innings, ending his streak of 11 consecutive starts to begin the season without allowing more than two runs. Martinez allowed six runs on nine hits — including two home runs — marking the first time he has allowed at least three runs since Aug. 26, 2025, when he allowed four runs in a 6-3 loss at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Yandy Diaz had an RBI single in the first and Cedric Mullins delivered a solo home run in the second.

Tigers: Open a six-game homestand on Friday with LHP Framber Valdez (2-4, 4.39 ERA) on the mound against Seattle.

Rays: Begin three-game road trip at Miami on Friday with RHP Drew Rasmussen (4-2, 3.36 ERA) scheduled against Marlins RHP Tyler Phillips (0-1, 1.63 ERA).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Ben Williamson forces Detroit Tigers' Dillon Dingler (13) at second base on a fielder's choice by Kerry Carpenter during the seventh inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Mason Englert delivers to the Detroit Tigers during the eighth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Detroit Tigers' Dillon Dingler (13) celebrates his three-run home run off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Nick Martinez with Matt Vierling (8) and Gleyber Torres (25) during the fourth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Detroit Tigers' Dillon Dingler connects for a three-run home run off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Nick Martinez during the fourth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Detroit Tigers pitcher Troy Melton goes into his delivery to the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

NEW YORK (AP) — The online prediction platform Polymarket is ending its paid relationship with George Santos as federal regulators investigate whether the former congressman illegally bet against his own attendance at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union.

Santos placed the bets on another prediction marketplace, Kalshi, after publicly announcing his intention to be at the Feb. 24 speech, according to a person familiar with the investigation. He later blamed a delayed flight for missing the event.

The suspicious trades were detected by Kalshi and referred to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, a federal regulator that has opened a probe into Santos for possible insider trading, according to a second person familiar with the investigation.

Both spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Santos was released from federal prison last October after Trump granted him clemency in a fraud case.

By the time of the State of the Union address, four months later, he was already working in an influencer capacity for Polymarket, using his substantial online platform to promote the controversial brand.

In response to an inquiry from the AP, a Polymarket spokesperson said the company was in the process of terminating the contract as a result of this week’s revelations.

Santos did not respond to phone calls and text messages from the AP. He wrote on social media Wednesday that the allegation was “preposterous,” adding that his legal team was in touch with the Justice Department.

On his podcast, “Doing Time with George Santos,” the former congressman has suggested that prediction markets are “easily manipulable,” and rife with abuse.

“There’s definitely some space for speculation. There will be investigations. There will be scrutiny,” he said in March. “I just want to make sure that people understand: It is not straightforward. It is not a crime to do prediction market. I don’t think people should be taking this seriously.”

The financial regulator overseeing prediction markets, meanwhile, has pledged to take the issue of insider trading “extremely seriously.”

“There is a myth in the mainstream media and social media that insider trading law doesn’t apply in the prediction markets. That is wrong,” David Miller, the director of enforcement at CFTC, said during a recent talk at New York Law School. “Insider trading in the prediction markets — where there is misappropriated information — is precisely the kind of serious violation that we are going after vigorously.”

That pledge comes as the Trump administration has thrown its support behind the prediction market operators and is actively suing states that have tried to regulate them. The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., has invested in Polymarket through his venture capital firm and is a strategic advisor for Kalshi. And the CFTC has faced allegations of maintaining a friendly posture toward the industry it is meant to regulate.

Still, some bets have not escaped federal scrutiny.

Last week, prosecutors charged a Google engineer who allegedly used the company’s 2025 “Year in Search” data, before it was published, to enter Polymarket wagers about the most searched people of last year.

A spokesperson for Polymarket said the company had worked closely with the CFTC, along with federal prosecutors, ahead of the insider trading charges.

Experts said Santos’s own alleged actions didn’t appear to meet the same threshold for insider trading, since they would not have been based on stolen information. But the bets — coupled with his public statements — may run afoul of other financial laws.

“What he’s accused of sounds a lot more like market manipulation than insider trading,” said Todd Phillips, the director at Klaros Group and a former Georgia State University professor who has written extensively about prediction market regulation.

The federal regulator could also bring a civil action against Santos, potentially resulting in a steep fine and a ban from trading, he noted. But the rapid rise of online betting platforms has meant there are few similar cases to draw from.

“We didn’t have examples of people trading on contracts involving themselves. That is new, and it allows people to change their behavior in order to profit,” Phillips said. “Until pretty recently, the question of George Santos being at the State of the Union was not something that had ever been traded before.”

Associated Press reporter Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report

FILE - Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., talks to reporters as House Republicans hold a caucus meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Oct. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)