August 20, 2023 7:11 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kenny Pickett led a pair of quick-strike scoring drives and the Pittsburgh Steelers eased past the Buffalo Bills 27-15. Jaylen Warren raced 62 yards for a touchdown on Pittsburgh’s opening possession. Pickett then hit Pat Freiermuth for a 25-yard score as the Steelers improved to 2-0 in the preseason. Josh Allen completed 7 of 10 passes for 64 yards for Buffalo. Bills safety Damar Hamlin had three tackles in his return to his hometown.
August 20, 2023 7:12 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Mitch Keller struck out 12 in six innings, and the Pittsburgh Pirates eventually got to Minnesota’s Sonny Gray in a 7-4 victory over the Twins. Gray retired his first 16 batters before Liover Peguero reached on an infield single with one out in the sixth. Peguero came around to score on Andrew McCutchen’s bases-loaded single with two down, and Ke’Bryan Hayes put Pittsburgh in front with an RBI single. McCutchen added a three-run drive in the ninth. It was McCutchen’s 11th homer.
August 19, 2023 4:13 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Pablo López pitched six scoreless innings, Michael A. Taylor hit a two-run homer and the Minnesota Twins beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1. López extended his scoreless streak to a career-best 19 innings and had seven strikeouts. Taylor connected for his 16th homer of the season for Minnesota, which has won four of five and leads the American League Central by five games over Cleveland. Andre Jackson (0-1) gave up two runs on four hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings for Pittsburgh, which has lost four of five.
August 19, 2023 3:43 am
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The lawyer for the family of late NFL quarterback Dwayne Haskins says the estate has reached a “partial settlement” in its lawsuit against the driver, the owner and the broker of the dump truck that struck and killed Haskins. The 24-year-old Haskins was killed April 9, 2022, while walking on a South Florida highway. His family alleges in the lawsuit that the driver of the truck was speeding, driving carelessly and had a cargo load exceeding the legal weight limit. Rick Ellsley, the lawyer for Haskins’ widow, Kalabrya Haskins, says there are 10 other defendants in the case, but a court date has not yet been set.
August 19, 2023 3:42 am
ATLANTA (AP) — Desmond Ridder led an impressive drive for Atlanta in his preseason debut and the Falcons settled for a field goal with 2 seconds left for a 13-13 tie with the Cincinnati Bengals. Jake Browning guided an 80-yard drive to that put the Bengals ahead 13-10 with 50 seconds remaining. But Logan Woodside led the Falcons into position for Younghoe Koo’s tying 45-yard kick, a decision that drew boos from the smattering of fans left in the stadium. Ridder completed 7 of 9 passes for 80 yards and had a 7-yard run before an interception off a deflected pass in his lone possession.
August 18, 2023 4:33 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Backup quarterbacks Marcus Mariota of Philadelphia passed for 85 yards and Dorian Thompson-Robinson of Cleveland threw for 164 while starters Jalen Hurts and Deshaun Watson watched from the sidelines as the Eagles and Browns played to an 18-18 tie on Thursday night in a preseason game that was marred by injuries. Mariota completed 9 of 17 passes with an interception and was sacked three times in the first half for the defending NFC champion Eagles. Signed to a one-year deal in the offseason to back up Hurts, Mariota was high and off target on several throws while playing behind Philadelphia’s backup offensive linemen and reserve receivers. Most of his completions were short passes that went for longer yards on runs after the catch. Thompson-Robinson was 13 for 25 in the first half.
August 18, 2023 4:35 am
More NFL hopefuls are getting an opportunity to stick around a little longer to showcase their skills this summer. One cutdown deadline will make things more difficult for personnel staffs because 1,184 players will become available at the same time. Teams are relying on their scouting evaluations to be prepared to scoop up talented players who get cut. Plus, they’ll be busy assembling a 16-man practice squad so it’s going to be a hectic time. When the league eliminated the first two rounds of roster cuts in March, it allowed teams to carry 90 players throughout the preseason. Rosters have to be trimmed to 53 by Aug. 29.
August 18, 2023 4:36 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Austin Barnes hit a solo shot in the eighth inning, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers win their 11th in a row with a 1-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. The NL West-leading Dodgers swept the NL Central leaders, outscoring them 14-3 in three games. The Dodgers earned their 12th shutout of the season. Lance Lynn dueled Brewers starter Corbin Burnes although neither figured in the decision. Burnes gave up two hits in seven innings, struck out nine and walked two. Barnes hit his first homer since last September and he also singled for his first multi-hit game of the season.
August 17, 2023 2:36 am
Washington County trailed Japan by one run through six innings, though the locals had just one hit after the first. But the Asia-Pacific squad pushed across six runs in the sixth and rolled to win PONY Baseball’s 71st World Championship, downing the hosts, 8-2. Kaito Saita doubled to open the game and scored on Kaisei Fukuchi’s RBI single in the first. Ryan Huey singled and scored on Troy Stimpson’s run-scoring double in the bottom of the inning. With two out in the fourth, winning pitcher Yugo Inoue singled in the infield, move to third on a sharp single to left and scored on Haruto Kawasaki’s basehit up the middle. Meanwhile, Inoue was holding Washington County to just three batters an inning from the second through the sixth. Japan used a walk, a sacrifice/error, a base hit and a hit-batter to open the seventh, chasing reliever Jayden Roach. Another hit-batter, a walk, a single and two more errors spelled the end of Washington’s title hopes. Brayden Radue singled in the bottom of the inning, later scoring on Ayvari Chandler’s base hit but two strikeouts ended the threat with the bases loaded. Washington County was playing in just its third winner-take-all PONY championship, the first since 1998, also a loss to the Asia-Pacific champion. Stimpson won the John D. Voytek Memorial Award as Washington County’s leading hitter. The Washington catcher went 8-for-15 (.533) with an inside the park home run, three doubles, four singles, five runs batted in and two runs scored. Click for Bracket.
Batting Champion: Ayden Vieth, Covina, CA (8-14, .571)
ERA Award: Luus Guajardo, Monterrey, MX (8.2 IP, 1 ER, 0.81 ERA)
August 17, 2023 1:08 am
NEW YORK (AP) — DJ Stewart had his first multihomer game in two years, leading the New York Mets to an 8-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Stewart, who also homered as a pinch-hitter in Tuesday’s 7-4 loss, hit a solo shot in the second inning Wednesday off Johan Oviedo (6-13) and delivered a two-run homer in the fifth off Ryan Borucki. The two-homer game was the third of Stewart’s career and his first since Aug. 12, 2021, when he went deep twice for the Baltimore Orioles. Pete Alonso hit his 36th homer, a solo shot that moved him into the Mets’ top 10 list in RBIs with 469, snapping a tie with Keith Hernandez.
