March 29, 2025 4:34 am
Oneil Cruz homered as part of a two-hit performance for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Miami Marlins on Friday night at loanDepot Park. The homer comes a day after a costly fielding error helped spoil Paul Skenes’ opening day start. Friday’s starter Mitch Keller pitched well, but some ninth-inning stress caused some nail-biting, due to closer David Bednar. The Pirates (1-1) broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning when Andrew McCutchen doubled with a pair of runners on. Three batters later, the Pirates were gifted a run when Adam Frazier hit a shallow fly ball to right field. First baseman Matt Mervis cut off a throw home from Griffin Conine, allowing Bart to score uncontested. The Pirates and Marlins play again Saturday at 4:00 p.m. The game can be heard on WJPA AM.
March 29, 2025 4:27 am
On Friday, the Pittsburgh Pirates placed infielder Nick Gonzales on the 10-day injured list with a non-displaced fracture in the left ankle. Infielder/outfielder Enmanuel Valdez, who will wear No. 48, has been recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis. The 26-year-old Valdez was acquired from Boston on December 15 in exchange for minor league right-handed pitcher Joe Vogatsky. Valdez has played in a total of 76 games over four stints with the Red Sox last year while being a member of the team’s Opening Day roster. He has made 112 appearances (100 starts) at second base, three appearances (one start) at third base, one appearance at shortstop and one appearance in left field during his career. Photo courtesy MLB.com.
March 29, 2025 4:42 am
PHOENIX (AP) — Several new bars dedicated to women’s sports have made the mad dash to open in time to capitalize on March Madness, now in full swing. From Phoenix to Austin, there will be more than a dozen overall across the country before the year is over. The femme-focused bar scene has made huge strides from three years ago when The Sports Bra in Oregon was the only one. It comes during an exciting first year where women’s teams will finally be paid for playing in the NCAA Tournament. Many credit athletes like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese for raising the profile of women’s college hoops.
March 28, 2025 4:35 am
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jiri Kulich scored twice as part of a five-goal second period, and the Buffalo Sabres routed Pittsburgh 7-3 in an outing Penguins captain Sidney Crosby broke an NHL record for point-per-game consistency he shared with Wayne Gretzky. Buffalo won its fourth-straight home game with Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, Tyson Kozak each securing a goal and assist. Crosby’s goal 8:49 in cut Buffalo’s lead to 2-1 was his 80th point, to assure he’ll finish his 20th NHL season averaging at least a point per outing. The 37-year-old surpassed Gretzky, who finished all but his 20th and final NHL season in 1998-99 averaging a point a game.
March 28, 2025 4:33 am
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Sidney Crosby broke an NHL record he shared with Wayne Gretzky for point-per-game consistency. By scoring 8:49 into the first period against Buffalo, Crosby registered his 80th point to assure he’ll finish his 20th NHL season averaging at least a point per outing. In doing so, he broke Gretzky’s record in which the Great One finished all but his 20th and final NHL season in 1998-99 averaging a point a game. The 37-year-old Crosby reached 80 points in his 72nd game in a season he’s already missed two outings due to injury. Pittsburgh has eight games left.
March 28, 2025 4:37 am
MIAMI (AP) — Kyle Stowers hit a run-scoring single in the ninth inning and the Miami Marlins spoiled the first opening day start for Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes with a 5-4 victory over the Pirates. Nick Fortes tripled to lead off the inning against reliever David Bednar (0-1) and Xavier Edwards was intentionally walked. After Edwards stole second, Stowers sent a line drive to right that scored pinch runner Javier Sanoja and gave new Marlins manager Clayton McCullough a win in his debut. Jesús Tinoco (1-0) pitched the ninth for the win. Skenes, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, gave up three hits and struck out seven over 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball.
March 27, 2025 4:23 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto, Blake Snell and Clay Holmes debut for new teams. Paul Skenes makes his first opening-day start at age 22 and Sandy Alcántara returns from Tommy John surgery. A week after the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers swept an opening two-game series over the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, 26 other teams get underway Thursday on opening day in the U.S. and Canada. One day later the Rays and Rockies become the final clubs to take the field, given extra time while Tampa Bay moved into the New York Yankees’ Steinbrenner Field, its temporary home this season after Hurricane Milton destroyed Tropicana Field’s roof.
March 27, 2025 4:24 am
The NFL competition committee is recommending making the dynamic kickoff rule permanent and moving touchbacks to the 35-yard line in hopes of generating even more returns. The competition committee released several potential rule changes for 2025 on Wednesday, including an expansion of instant replay that will be considered next week at the league meetings. Any rule change must be approved by 24 out of 32 team owners. Teams submitted several proposals last week that also could be voted on at the league meetings, including banning the “tush push” and changing playoff seeding rules.
March 27, 2025 4:26 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In an NCAA Tournament sorely lacking in Cinderella stories, coach John Calipari has the unusual role of being the closest thing to it. After routinely taking powerhouse teams in his first decade at Kentucky to the Sweet 16 and beyond, Calipari has surprisingly done the same in his first season at Arkansas with the 10th-seeded Razorbacks set to take on No. 3 seed Texas Tech in the West Region semifinals on Thursday night as the only double-digit seed remaining in the tournament. Top-seeded Florida will take on No. 4 seed Maryland in the other Sweet 16 game in San Francisco.
March 27, 2025 9:52 am
The Philadelphia Flyers fired coach John Tortorella with nine games left in another losing season for a franchise that hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2020. The Flyers are last in the Metropolitan Division at 28-36-9 for 65 points under the notoriously brusque Tortorella. The Flyers suffered their sixth straight loss Tuesday 7-2 to Toronto. The Flyers named Brad Shaw the interim coach, starting with Thursday’s game against Montreal.
