April 5, 2024 4:35 am
CLEVELAND (AP) — Two of college basketball’s biggest stars will face off when Iowa and Caitlin Clark meet UConn and Paige Bueckers in the Final Four. Clark is a two-time National Player of the Year trying to guide the Hawkeyes to their first NCAA championship. Bueckers has returned to form this year after dealing with knee injuries that cost her most of two seasons. Clark and Bueckers grew up in the Midwest often facing off in AAU tournaments or playing alongside each other for Team USA. They say they don’t view themselves as rivals but instead feel their rising stardom is symbolic of the increased exposure of the women’s game.
April 5, 2024 4:33 am
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Athletics will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor league park near Sacramento until their planned new stadium in Las Vegas is built. The A’s announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland. The A’s announced their intention last April to move to Las Vegas. The decision angered the fans in Oakland and the team’s previously low attendance dropped precipitously with the club drawing a league-low 832,352 fans to the outdated Coliseum last season.
April 4, 2024 4:43 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joey Gallo emphatically ended an 0-for-12 season-opening drought with an upper-deck homer that traveled 447 feet and two other hits to help the Washington Nationals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3. The loss on Wednesday night was Pittsburgh’s first defeat of 2024 after a 5-0 start. Luis García Jr. doubled three times and scored twice for Washington, CJ Abrams had a pair of RBIs, and Trevor Williams allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings. Gallo homered in the second inning and added a single and a double to raise his batting average from .000 to .188. Pirates manager Derek Shelton was ejected in the seventh inning.
April 4, 2024 4:42 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Catcher Joey Bart has been added to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ roster after he was acquired in a trade with the San Francisco Giants. The Giants took him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 amateur draft. The 27—year-old Bart once was considered Buster Posey’s likely successor as San Francisco’s starting catcher. But the Giants designated him for assignment on Sunday. The Pirates received Bart in a deal that sent minor league right-hander Austin Strickland to the Giants. Bart appeared in 162 games over four seasons with San Francisco, batting .219 with 11 homers and 38 RBIs and 178 strikeouts. Pittsburgh put backup catcher Jason Delay on the 10-day injured list.
April 4, 2024 4:45 am
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills have agreed to trade their top receiving threat, Stefon Diggs, to the Houston Texans. The Bills acquired the Texans’ second-round pick in the 2025 draft, which Houston acquired in a trade with Minnesota. Houston also acquired Buffalo’s sixth-round pick in this year’s draft, and a fifth-rounder in 2025. Diggs’ departure from Buffalo leaves quarterback Josh Allen without his favorite target, and breaks up a tandem that has re-written the team’s passing records since the receiver’s arrival in a trade with Minnesota in March 2020. For the Texans, Diggs gives the offense another playmaker to team with Nico Collins and Tank Dell.
April 4, 2024 4:46 am
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Defending national champion UConn had a tough time getting off the ground on the way to the Final Four. The Huskies finally took off from Bradley International Airport near Hartford at about 1:30 a.m. EDT Thursday after the plane they were supposed to take experienced mechanical issues getting to the East Coast. After the five-hour flight, the team was expected to arrive at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix at about 3:30 a.m. MST. The flight was originally scheduled to leave Wednesday at about 6 p.m. EDT, but a mechanical issue kept the plane that was supposed to used from arriving at Bradley, the school said.
April 3, 2024 4:41 am
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby each scored twice in Pittsburgh’s five-goal third period and the Penguins kept their playoff hopes alive, rallying for a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils. The Devils led 3-1 after two periods on goals by Timo Meier, Curtis Lazar and Jesper Bratt. Crosby and Malkin scored 67 seconds apart early in the third to tie the score. Rickard Rakell then put Pittsburgh ahead with 3:44 to play before Malkin scored again 21 seconds later. Crosby added an empty-net goal. Alex Nedeljkovic had 23 saves for the win.
April 3, 2024 5:02 am
(AP) – Caitlin Clark can claim another record — the most-watched women’s college basketball game in history. Iowa’s 94-87 victory over LSU averaged 12.3 million viewers on ESPN, according to Nielsen. Clark scored 41 points as the Hawkeyes avenged last year’s loss to the Tigers in the national championship game. It was one of the most-viewed games in any sport other than NFL football over the past year. Iowa-LSU outdrew all but of the five games in last year’s NBA Finals, along with the clinching game of last year’s World Series. The previous biggest audience for women’s college basketball was the 1983 national title game between Southern California and Louisiana Tech.
April 2, 2024 4:39 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates are 5-0 for the first time since 1983. They beat the Washington Nationals 8-4 on Monday with two run-scoring hits from Connor Joe, including a tiebreaking RBI double in the eighth inning. Michael A. Taylor, a former member of the Nationals, had three hits, and Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen, Alika Williams and Henry Davis delivered two apiece. Reynolds stretched his on-base streak to 33 consecutive games dating to last season and tacked on a two-run double in the ninth. Pittsburgh remained unbeaten in 2024, all on the road, following a four-game sweep at Miami to begin the season. Washington’s Riley Adams made it 3-all with a two-run homer in the seventh.
April 2, 2024 4:37 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist and Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat New York 5-2, snapping the Rangers’ five-game winning streak. Bryan Rust also scored twice and Emil Bemstrom added a goal for Pittsburgh, which ended a four-game losing streak in New York and improved to 14-9-3 in its last 26 games against Rangers. The Penguins lost both previous games this season at home against the first-place Rangers and were making their lone appearance at Madison Square Garden. Kaapo Kakko and Jack Roslovic scored goals for the Rangers, and Igor Shesterkin finished with 16 saves.
