April 23, 2023 3:47 am
The NFL has suspended five players for violating the league’s gambling policy. Detroit Lions wide receiver Quintez Cephus and safety C.J. Moore and Washington Commanders defensive end Shaka Toney are suspended through at least the the 2023 season for betting on NFL games in the 2022 season. Lions receivers Stanley Berryhill and Jameson Williams were each suspended six games for betting from an NFL facility on non-NFL games. The Lions released Cephus and Moore.
April 22, 2023 3:43 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Connor Joe had three hits and reached base four times to back a strong start by Mitch Keller and lead the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 for their fifth straight win. At 14-7, the Pirates are off to their best start since 2002. Cincinnati has lost four in a row and is 5-12 since opening the season by winning two of three from the Pirates. Acquired from Colorado in an offseason trade, Joe went 3 for 3 with a walk and raising his batting average to .377.
April 22, 2023 3:45 am
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel has approved rules changes that are expected to reduce the number of plays in football games. The most notable is one that will keep the clock running when a team makes a first down except in the last two minutes of a half. The new clock rule affects only Divisions I and II. Penalties accepted at the end of the first and third quarters will now be enforced at the start of the following quarter and back-to-back timeouts during the same dead-ball period are no longer allowed.
April 21, 2023 3:48 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Connor Joe and Jack Suwinski hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates held off the Cincinnati Reds 4-3. Joe hit a three-run blast to center field off Luke Weaver to open the scoring. Suwinski followed with a shot into the right-field stands to put the Pirates ahead 4-0. That was all the runs the Pirates needed as they won for the 12th time in 17 games since losing two of three games to the Reds in Cincinnati to open the season. Roansy Contreras took a shutout into the seventh inning before the Reds broke their streak of 24 consecutive scoreless innings.
April 21, 2023 3:50 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Mets pitcher Max Scherzer was suspended for 10 games by Major League Baseball on Thursday following his ejection for having a foreign substance on his hand during a game. Scherzer initially appealed the suspension but dropped his appeal hours later. In exchange, his fine was reduced from $10,000 to $5,000, according to a person familiar with negotiations between MLB and the players’ union. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement hadn’t been announced. Scherzer was ejected on Wednesday during the fourth inning of a game at Dodger Stadium. He claimed the stickiness was caused by rosin and sweat and not by a foreign substance.
April 20, 2023 2:51 am
DENVER (AP) — Rodolfo Castro hit a 458-foot homer and drove in four runs, leading Pittsburgh over the Colorado Rockies 14-3 to complete the Pirates’ first three-game sweep at Denver since 2019. Colorado has lost eight straight games, its longest skid since nine in a row last Aug. 27 to Sept. 4. The Rockies are a National League-worst 5-14 and the game drew 18,511, the smallest crowd for a Coors Field game with unrestricted ticket sales since 18,341 on April 18, 2013. Andrew McCutchen put the Pirates ahead in the first with an RBI double off and homered in the second.
April 20, 2023 3:48 am
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – The Oakland Athletics have signed a binding agreement to purchase land for a new retractable roof ballpark in Las Vegas after being unable to build a new venue in the Bay Area. Team president Dave Kaval said Wednesday night that the team finalized the deal to buy the 49-acre site last week where the A’s will plan to build the stadium that will seat between 30,000 and 35,000 fans close to the Las Vegas Strip. The A’s will work with Nevada and Clark County on a public-private partnership to fund the stadium. Kaval said the A’s hope to break ground on the stadium by next year and would look to hope to be able move into their new home by 2027.
April 20, 2023 3:49 am
Tiger Woods is recovering from another surgery. Woods has posted on Twitter that he had fusion surgery on his right ankle to alleviate arthritis from a broken bone. Most estimates on recovery are eight to 12 weeks. That would put into doubt whether he plays in the three remaining majors. Woods had a noticeable limp when he played in the Masters. He made the cut for a record-tying 23rd time. But he withdrew Sunday morning during the third round because of plantar fasciitis. The broken bone in his ankle stems from the February 2021 car crash in Los Angeles.
April 19, 2023 5:08 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers are working on a deal that would send wide receiver Allen Robinson to Pittsburgh. A source with knowledge of the pending agreement tells the Associated Press Los Angeles would send Robinson and a seventh-round pick in the draft to the Steelers for one of Pittsburgh’s two seventh-round picks. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal is not official until Robinson passes a physical.
April 19, 2023 2:41 am
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin took to the podium and declared he’s ready to resume his football career some four months after going into cardiac arrest and having to be resuscitated on the field during a game. Hamlin says his “heart is still in the game,” and adds that what happened on the field in Cincinnati isn’t the end of his story. He spoke after participating in the team’s voluntary workout program on Tuesday. Bills general manager Brandon Beane says Hamlin was cleared to play after meeting with a third and final specialist on Friday. The second-year player from the Pittsburgh area collapsed on the field after making what appeared to be a routine tackle in a Jan. 2 game against the Bengals.
