October 12, 2022 4:00 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin says he’s not going to make changes for the sake of change with his team riding a four-game losing streak. The Steelers suffered their worst loss since 1989 in a 38-3 mauling at the hands of Buffalo that dropped them to 1-4. Tomlin said he still has confidence in offensive coordinator Matt Canada even with Pittsburgh 30th in the league in scoring and 29th in yards rushing. Tomlin said his team needs to get back to work and that it won’t climb out of the hole it has dug in one week. The Steelers welcome Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday afternoon.
October 12, 2022 3:49 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Trea Turner homered and doubled as the Los Angeles Dodgers started fast and held off the San Diego Padres 5-3 in their NL Division Series opener. The Dodgers raced to an early 5-0 lead and appeared to be on their way to another blowout of the Padres. Los Angeles dominated in the regular season, owning a 14-5 advantage and outscoring San Diego 109-47. The 111-win Dodgers claimed the NL West and the Padres finished second, 22 games back. With Sandy Koufax watching from the owners’ box, 17-game winner Julio Urías retired the first eight batters. Chris Martin pitched a scoreless ninth for Los Angeles. Struggling closer Craig Kimbrel was left off the Dodgers’ roster for this best-of-five matchup. Game 2 is Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.
October 12, 2022 3:54 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Nick Castellanos drove in three runs and made a potentially game-saving catch in the ninth inning, lifting the Philadelphia Phillies over the reigning World Series champion Atlanta Braves 7-6 in the opener of their NL Division Series. The Phillies have won three straight games to begin these playoffs, hardly looking like a team making its first postseason appearance since 2011. They followed up their wild-card sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals with a victory over the team that finished 14 games ahead of them in the NL East. It wasn’t easy. Matt Olson hit a three-run homer in the ninth off Zach Eflin to bring the Braves within a run.
October 12, 2022 3:52 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Gerrit Cole cruised for most of the night, Harrison Bader and Anthony Rizzo homered and the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Guardians 4-1 in their AL Division Series opener. Not even another Josh Donaldson baserunning blunder could slow the Yankees, who have won six straight postseason games against Cleveland dating to a comeback from a two games to none deficit in the 2017 Division Series
October 12, 2022 3:48 am
HOUSTON (AP) – Yordan Alvarez smashed a game-ending, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning off Robbie Ray, wrecking Seattle’s strategy of using a Cy Young Award winner in a rare relief role and vaulting the Houston Astros over the Mariners 8-7 in their playoff opener. Trailing all game after a poor start by Justin Verlander, the AL West champion Astros overtook rookie star Julio Rodríguez and the wild-card Mariners at the end to begin their best-of-five Division Series. Houston was down 7-5 when rookie pinch-hitter David Hensley was hit by a pitch from Seattle closer Paul Sewald and Jeremy Peña singled with two outs. Mariners manager Scott Servais then made the bold move to bring in Ray. Alvarez homered on Ray’s second pitch.
October 11, 2022 3:40 am
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Patrick Mahomes threw four touchdown passes to Travis Kelce, the Chiefs overcame an early 17-point deficit along with a dubious roughing-the-passer penalty, and Kansas City extended its mastery of the Las Vegas Raiders, holding on for a 30-29 victory. The Raiders had a chance to march for the winning field goal, but a pass to Davante Adams that was ruled a catch was overturned by replay, which showed him stepping out of bounds. That brought up fourth down in the closing seconds, and Derek Carr’s final pass fell incomplete to allow Kansas City to hold on.
October 11, 2022 3:42 am
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A controversial roughing-the-passer penalty just before halftime of the Las Vegas Raiders’ game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night delivered another blow to the NFL and its beleaguered officiating crew. The Chiefs had just scored to trim their deficit to 17-7 just before halftime when Chris Jones stripped Derek Carr from behind. The Pro Bowl defensive tackle landed on the Raiders quarterback while also coming away with the ball, and replays showed it was clearly loose and that Jones clearly recovered, but referee Carl Cheffers threw a flag for roughing the passer. The call came one day after referee Jerome Boger was panned for a roughing call on Tom Brady that helped the Buccaneers seal their win over Atlanta.
October 11, 2022 3:43 am
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The Carolina Panthers have fired coach Matt Rhule, ending the former Baylor coach’s tenure five games into his third losing season. Rhule is the first NFL coach to be fired this season. He went 11-27 with Carolina and leaves with roughly $40 million left on the seven-year, guaranteed $62 million contract he signed in 2020. Defensive pass game coordinator and secondary coach Steve Wilks will serve as interim coach for the rest of the season. The Panthers also fired two of Rhule’s longtime assistants, defensive coordinator Phil Snow and assistant special teams coach Ed Foley.
October 11, 2022 3:44 am
Major League Baseball’s first foray into a best-of-three wild-card round provided its share of memorable moments. A 15-inning, 432-pitch game. A seven-run comeback win. Joe Musgrove’s ears. Now it’s on to the division series, which is business as usual with a best-of-five format. The four matchups are Braves-Phillies, Padres-Dodgers, Mariners-Astros and Guardians-Yankees and all of them begin Tuesday. The Astros, Yankees, Braves and Dodgers got to rest and watch the wild-card drama round from home, thanks to superior regular season records. Battle-tested Braves begin quest to repeat as Series champs
October 10, 2022 4:01 am
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) – Josh Allen picked apart a flimsy and injury-depleted Steelers secondary by throwing four touchdown passes in the first half alone – including two deep shots to Gabe Davis – in the Buffalo Bills’ 38-3 rout of Pittsburgh. After hitting Davis for a 98-yard TD on Buffalo’s third play from scrimmage, Allen all but sealed the win by hitting Davis for a 62-yard touchdown catch and Stefon Diggs for a 15-yard score a little over two minutes apart to put the Bills ahead 24-3 with 7:20 left in the second quarter. The Bills improved to 4-1. The Steelers dropped to 1-4, and have lost four straight, which marks their longest skid since opening the 2013 season with four losses.
