May 23, 2023 3:51 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Tucupita Marcano hit his first career grand slam, rookie Luis Ortiz pitched into the eighth inning and earned his first major league victory and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Texas Rangers 6-4. Ortiz allowed two runs and five hits in 7 2/3 innings, picking up the win in his eighth career start, including four this season. He struck out four and walked two in a 93-pitch effort. Marcano’s slam to straightaway center field off Joe Barlow capped a five-run seventh inning and put the Pirates ahead 6-1. Pittsburgh won for the fourth time in 11 games and snapped the Rangers’ three-game winning streak.
May 23, 2023 3:53 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Denver Nuggets are going to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. Nikola Jokic had 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists as the Nuggets swept the Western Conference finals with a 113-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4. Jamal Murray scored 25 points for the top-seeded Nuggets, who overcame LeBron James’ 31-point first half and a 15-point halftime deficit to earn their first conference title in 47 seasons in the NBA. James finished with 40 points after the highest-scoring postseason half of his matchless career.
May 22, 2023 3:56 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Christian Walker had three RBIs, hitting a two-run double in a three-run seventh inning that powered the Arizona Diamondbacks to a series win with a 8-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ketel Marte had a two-out RBI single in the seventh and scored with Corbin Carroll on Walker’s double for a 7-3 lead. Walker added a run-scoring single in the ninth. Arizona has won seven of nine, including the final two games of the series. Pittsburgh committed three errors and had five wild pitches, falling to 4-13 in May after a 20-9 start. Merrill Kelly (5-3) gave up three runs and three hits in five innings.
May 22, 2023 3:58 am
PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Brooks Koepka is a major champion again. Gone are those injuries that led to doubt whether he was still part of golf’s elite. Koepka won the PGA Championship at Oak Hill by closing with a 67 and winning by two shots over Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland. He now has won the PGA Championship three times. And it was his fifth major title. Only 14 players have won more. It was the first major by a LIV Golf player since the Saudi-funded league began nearly a year ago. California club pro Michael Block made an ace and tied for 15th.
May 21, 2023 7:44 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pavin Smith hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning to lift the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Smith’s third homer of the season came off Robert Stephenson and helped the Diamondbacks overcome a 3-2 deficit after Pirates ace Mitch Keller was pulled following six strong innings. Ketel Marte also homered for Arizona, which won for the sixth time in its last eight games. Ke’Bryan Hayes accounted for all the Pirates’ scoring with a bases-loaded triple. Reliever Kyle Nelson got the win. Miguel Castro earned his fourth save.
May 21, 2023 7:55 am
BALTIMORE (AP) — Bob Baffert’s National Treasure has won the Preakness Stakes, hours after another of the Hall of Famer’s horses was euthanized on the track with a racing injury. The sport was already facing questions after a tumultuous leadup to the Kentucky Derby that included seven horses dying of various causes over a 10-day span at Churchill Downs. Derby winner Mage finished third in the Preakness. His defeat means there will not be a Triple Crown winner for a fifth consecutive year. Blazing Sevens finished second by a head. Baffert won the Preakness for a record eighth time.
May 21, 2023 7:45 am
PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Brooks Koepka has fired a second straight 4-under 66 to surge into the lead through three rounds at the PGA Championship. Koepka let a chance to win the Masters get away in the final round at Augusta National last month. He’s responded with three solid and occasionally spectacular days of golf at rain-soaked Oak Hill to put him in position to win the fifth major of his career. Viktor Hovland is one back at 5 under following a 69, alongside Corey Conners, who shot 70. Conners led for most of the day before a double bogey at the par-4 16th hole.
May 20, 2023 4:10 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ke’Bryan Hayes had three hits and three RBIs, Bryan Reynolds homered for the first time in six weeks and drove in four runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates rolled over ace Zac Gallen and the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-3 on Friday night. Gallen (6-2) lasted just 3 2/3 innings and allowed a career-high eight runs – five earned – and eight hits as his six-game winning streak ended. Gallen had given up a total of six runs in his previous seven starts. Andrew McCutchen, Ji Hwan Bae and Josh Palacios also had three hits apiece as part of the Pirates’ 17-hit outburst. (Photo: AP)
May 20, 2023 4:11 am
CLEVELAND (AP) — Jim Brown was both extraordinary and extraordinarily complicated. One man. Many versions. His greatness on the football field is beyond reproach. For generations, Brown, who died Thursday night peacefully at his home in Los Angeles, has long been the standard of excellence for running backs, a freakish blend of brute power and blazing speed who in many ways changed the NFL forever. But Brown, who retired to pursue a film career, was also a civil rights pioneer whose image was tarnished by accusations of domestic violence against women.
May 19, 2023 3:44 pm
(AP) – NFL legend, actor and social activist Jim Brown has died at the age of 87. Brown shattered records during a relatively short NFL career, leading the Cleveland Browns to their last championship in 1964 — and retired in his prime to become an actor. Brown appeared in more than 30 films, including “The Dirty Dozen” and “Any Given Sunday.” Brown was also a prominent leader in the Black power movement of the 1960s and dedicated much of his life to social causes.
