October 10, 2024 4:38 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Igor Shesterkin stopped 29 shots and the New York Rangers opened the season with a 6-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Chris Kreider scored twice for the reigning Metropolitan Division champions. Sam Carrick, Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Vincent Trocheck also scored for New York, which dominated Pittsburgh while beating the Penguins for the fifth time in their last six meetings. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was held scoreless in his 20th season opener.
October 10, 2024 4:35 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, his latest clutch swing in a storybook season, and the New York Mets reached the National League Championship Series with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Edwin Díaz struck out Kyle Schwarber with two runners aboard to end it as New York finished off the rival Phillies in Game 4 of their best-of-five Division Series, winning 3-1 to wrap up a postseason series at home for the first time in 24 years. After three days of rest, New York will open the best-of-seven NLCS on Sunday at the San Diego Padres or Los Angeles Dodgers. In San Diego, Mookie Betts homered for the second straight night, Shohei Ohtani hit an RBI single and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Dylan Cease and the San Diego Padres 8-0 to force a deciding Game 5 in their tense NL Division Series. Will Smith and Gavin Lux each hit a two-run homer for the Dodgers, who snapped a two-game losing streak and now return home for the next matchup between the NL West rivals on Friday night. The Padres won 10-2 at Dodger Stadium in Game 3 on Sunday night, when tempers flared on the field and in the stands.
October 10, 2024 4:32 am
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in Game 3 of their AL Division Series at Kauffman Stadium. The Yankees will send six-time All-Star Gerrit Cole to the mound Thursday night with a chance to advance to the American League Championship Series. Stanton had three hits, drove in two runs and stole a base for the first time in four years for the Yankees, who won despite another tough night for MVP front-runner Aaron Judge. Kyle Isbel and Michael Massey drove in the runs for Kansas City, which was hosting a playoff game for the first time since Game 2 of the 2015 World Series. Meanwhile in Detroit, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson each drove in a run, and six pitchers combined to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 3-0 win over Cleveland Guardians and a 2-1 lead in their AL Division Series. The Tigers, baseball’s hottest team the past two months, will have their first chance to advance to the American League Championship Series since 2013 on Thursday night in Game 4 at Comerica Park. Cleveland has gone 20 straight innings without scoring since opening the series with a five-run first and a two-run sixth in its 7-0 win.
October 10, 2024 4:30 am
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Antonio Pierce’s first major act after becoming the Las Vegas Raiders’ interim coach midway through last season was naming then-rookie Aidan O’Connell the starting quarterback. Pierce is now the full-time Las Vegas coach. He is turning again to O’Connell as the Raiders reach a critical part of their season and is benching Gardner Minshew with the Pittsburgh Steelers visiting on Sunday. O’Connell went 5-4 after he became the starter last season.
October 9, 2024 2:13 am
One question going into Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s usual Tuesday press conference surrounded the team’s quarterback situation and if there would be a change in who takes the starting role against the Raiders this weekend. Justin Fields has been the starting quarterback for all of the regular season games so far, as Russell Wilson continues to recover from a calf injury that’s kept him mostly on the sidelines since training camp. Tomlin says the team is in a “little bit of a different place” with Wilson this week. Wilson is scheduled to participate fully in practice on Wednesday. But overall, not much is changing. Wilson will practice with the second team and Fields will prepare as the starter. Tomlin said they’ll continue in this pattern until Wilson “gets to a point where we’re comfortable with what we’re looking at.” One of Tomlin’s points of focus for the week is getting back to business, or winning. The quarterback situation isn’t the only concern when it comes to getting back to business, so are injuries. Tomlin spoke of a “laundry list” of injuries the team is currently facing. Tomlin says four players are already ruled out for Sunday: DeMarvin Leal, Nick Herbig, Cordarrelle Patterson and Alex Highsmith. Three more players are listed as doubtful: Jaylen Warren, Damontae Kazee and MyCole Pruitt.
October 9, 2024 4:25 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Six months of success for the Philadelphia Phillies could be wiped out before the leaves start to turn. With one more loss to the New York Mets, a 95-win regular season would become an afterthought. Tuesday night’s 7-2 loss dropped the Phillies into a 2-1 deficit in the best-of-five NL Division Series. Seeking their third World Series title after 1980 and 2008, the Phillies reached Game 6 of the World Series in 2022 before losing to Houston. They took a 3-2 lead over Arizona in last year’s NL Championship Series, and then dropped Games 6 and 7 at home.
October 9, 2024 4:27 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Fernando Tatis Jr.‘s towering two-run home run highlighted a six-run second inning, and the San Diego Padres held on to beat Shohei Ohtani and the rival Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 to take a 2-1 lead in a tense NL Division Series. The Padres moved within one victory of eliminating the Dodgers in the NLDS for the second time in three seasons. Game 4 is Wednesday night at Petco Park, which was packed with a loud, rally towel-waving record crowd of 47,744. Tatis’ impressive homer gave the Padres a 6-1 lead, but Teoscar Hernández hit a grand slam with one out in the third.
October 9, 2024 4:30 am
BOSTON (AP) — Luis Tiant has died at the age of 83. The charismatic Cuban with a horseshoe mustache and mesmerizing windup pitched the Red Sox to the brink of a World Series championship and pitched himself to the doorstep of the Hall of Fame. He was known as “El Tiante.” Major League Baseball announced his death in a post on X on Tuesday. The Red Sox confirmed that he died at his home in Maine. Tiant’s death comes one week after that of all-time baseball hits leader Pete Rose, whose Cincinnati Reds faced Tiant’s Red Sox in the 1975 World Series — still considered one of the greatest matchups in baseball postseason history.
October 7, 2024 4:25 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves at an early season crossroads following a second straight close loss. Pittsburgh fell to 3-2 after letting a late lead slip away while falling to Dallas 20-17. Steelers quarterback Justin Fields took a step back, completing just 15 of 27 passes for 131 yards. With Russell Wilson’s calf injury improving, Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin could be faced with a choice on who gets the nod when the Steelers travel to Las Vegas to face the Raiders in Week 6.
October 8, 2024 4:28 am
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 331 yards, Kareem Hunt ran for 102 yards and a touchdown, and the Chiefs overcame more red-zone woes to beat the Saints 26-13 on a big night for Kansas City’s professional sports teams. Just as the Chiefs were moving to 5-0, the Royals were beating the Yankees 4-2 in New York to even their AL Division Series at a game apiece. Derek Carr threw for 185 yards with two touchdowns and a pick for New Orleans before leaving with an oblique injury. It occurred with about 9 1/2 minutes left, when Carr was hit on a fourth-down incompletion as he tried to rally New Orleans from a 23-13 deficit.
