September 26, 2024 5:38 pm
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Civale pitched six scoreless innings in his last start before the postseason and Joey Ortiz was a home run short of the cycle as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2. Civale allowed three hits, struck out five and walked one. He is 6-1 with a 2.57 ERA in his last nine starts. Ortiz, a rookie third baseman, tripled in the third inning and came home on Brice Turang’s ground out to open the scoring. Milwaukee hosts an NL Wild Card Series beginning Tuesday. The Pirates lost for the ninth time in 13 games.
September 25, 2024 4:30 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Liover Peguero slashed a two-run double, Luis Ortiz pitched seven strong innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1. Ortiz (7-6) allowed one run on four hits with a walk and five strikeouts in seven innings. His only mistake was a second-inning pitch to Jake Bauers that Bauers sent to the seats in right-center for his 12th homer of the season. Peguero, called up in the final week of the season, doubled off Freddy Peralta (11-9) to produce the only offense the Pirates needed to beat the NL Central champions.
September 26, 2024 4:26 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Pirates rookie pitcher Paul Skenes says the team’s plan to bring him along slowly worked almost perfectly. The 22-year-old began the season in Triple-A. He arrived in the majors in mid-May and is 11-2 with a 1.99 ERA heading into his final start of the year against the New York Yankees. Skenes says he didn’t love the idea of starting in the minors but believes it’s one of the reasons he feels so good in late September. The hard-throwing right-hander says he expects to have fewer restrictions on his availability in 2025.
September 26, 2024 4:28 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Major League Baseball is thriving two years after introducing sweeping measures to make the game more exciting. The decision to introduce a pitch clock, ban defensive shifts and limit throwovers has produced a more compelling product for fans. Attendance is up 11% over 2022. Younger fans are buying more tickets and watching more games than they were five years ago. The increased popularity of content creators around the game has also introduced baseball to a new audience.
September 26, 2024 4:32 am
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Alyssa Thomas had 19 points and 13 assists to help the Connecticut Sun sweep Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever out of the playoffs with an 87-81 win Wednesday night. The third-seeded Sun will now face Minnesota in the semifinals which begin Sunday. Clark played much better in Game 2 than she did in her postseason debut last Sunday. The AP Rookie of the Year finished with 25 points and nine assists, but it wasn’t enough. Aliyah Boston added 16 points and 19 rebounds.
September 25, 2024 4:30 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Willy Adames secured his first 30-20 season in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 7-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night. Adames stole second after an infield single, his first of two hits, with one out in the second inning. It was the 20th stolen base for the seven-year veteran to go along with 32 home runs. He and 20-year-old rookie Jackson Chourio (21 homers, 21 stolen bases) are the first Brewers teammates to go 20-20 in the same season. Hoby Milner (5-1) pitched a perfect fifth inning for the win in relief of Tobias Myers. Pirates starter Bailey Falter (8-9) gave up four runs and five hits, striking out five and walking one in five innings.
September 25, 2024 4:32 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates have released first baseman Rowdy Tellez and outfielder Michael A. Taylor and promoted infielder Liover Peguero and outfielder Josh Palacios from Triple-A Indianapolis. The moves came with just six games left in the season and Pittsburgh out of playoff contention. Tellez recovered from a slow start to hit .243 with 13 home runs and 56 RBIs in 131 games. The Pirates had signed Tellez to a one-year deal in the offseason. Taylor, like Tellez signed to a one-year deal, hit just .193 with five home runs, 21 RBIs and 12 stolen bases in 113 games. His playing time diminished in recent weeks after the Pirates moved shortstop Oneil Cruz to center field.
September 25, 2024 4:33 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Tomlin is in no hurry to announce Justin Fields as the starting quarterback in Pittsburgh. While Fields will again get the nod in place of the injured Russell Wilson when the unbeaten Steelers visit Indianapolis, Tomlin stopped short of giving the job to Fields on a full-time basis. Tomlin said there’s no need to make that kind of decision because Wilson still has not been cleared to play. The 35-year-old nine-time Pro Bowler has been limited in recent weeks after aggravating a calf injury days before the opener against Atlanta.
September 25, 2024 4:28 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre told a congressional committee Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Favre made the announcement as part of his testimony about a welfare misspending scandal in Mississippi. Favre does not face criminal charges, but he has repaid just over $1 million in speaking fees funded by a welfare program in the state. He was also an investor a biotech company with ties to the case that said it was developing concussion drugs. It is unclear if Favre’s disease is connected to his football career or head injuries.
September 24, 2024 4:35 am
CINCINNATI (AP) — Rookie Jayden Daniels threw for two touchdowns and ran for a score in a remarkably efficient performance, and the Washington Commanders stunned Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals 38-33. Daniels finished 21 of 23 for 254 yards, with the No. 2 overall draft pick setting an NFL rookie record for completion percentage at 91.3%. The Commanders scored on every possession except for kneel-downs at the end of each half and have not punted or turned the ball over in their last two games. Neither Washington nor Cincinnati punted or turned it over, the first time that’s happened in the Super Bowl era. The Bengals fell to 0-3.
