September 24, 2025 4:25 am
CINCINNATI (AP) — Spencer Horwitz hit an run-scoring double in the 11th inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat Cincinnati 4-3 on Wednesday night, preventing the Reds from gaining ground in the race for an NL wild card. The Pirates took the lead in the 11th when Bryan Reynolds scored his third run of the game on Horwitz’s double. In the bottom of the inning, the Reds loaded the bases before Yohan Ramirez got Noelvi Marte to ground into a force play. Pirates starter Paul Skenes allowed four hits and struck out seven in six innings in his final scheduled start of the season. Reds right-hander Hunter Greene allowed two runs on five hits in six innings with two walks and seven strikeouts.
September 25, 2025 4:25 am
CINCINNATI (AP) — Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes isn’t a big numbers guy, yet he does maintain high standards for himself. The 23-year-old right-hander allowed four hits and struck out seven in six innings in his final scheduled start of the season on Wednesday night. While he didn’t figure in the Pirates’ 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in 11 innings, he lowered his ERA to 1.97. Skenes became the first qualified pitcher with an ERA under 2.00 since Justin Verlander in 2022. He’s the youngest pitcher with a sub-2.00 ERA since 20-year-old Dwight Gooden’s 1.53 in 1985.
September 25, 2025 4:27 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers isn’t exactly a fan of his new helmet. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback says he “hates” the model the NFL required him to use this year after the league banned the model he long preferred for safety reasons. Despite his reservations, Rodgers is adapting. He’s thrown for seven touchdowns through three games, tied for second in the NFL. Rodgers says the Steelers are still “figuring it out” but is optimistic things are trending in the right direction. Pittsburgh travels to Dublin, Ireland, in Week 4 to face Minnesota in the first regular-season game in the Emerald Isle.
September 25, 2025 4:30 am
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) — This week’s Ryder Cup is an example of sports as an international score-settler. Could a group of pro golfers give Americans a break from the nonstop news cycles that makes their country feel fraught and fragile? Could it help bring a country together? And if so, how will fans react to two of the most-beloved golfers during a normal week, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood. They’ll be representing the opposition this week, Europe. They’ll be doing it at Bethpage Black outside New York — a workingman’s golf course where fans have a reputation for behaving badly toward people they don’t like.
September 24, 2025 4:25 am
CINCINNATI (AP) — Oneil Cruz hit a two-run homer and the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates beat the wild-card chasing Cincinnati Reds 4-2. With the loss, the Reds fell a game behind the Mets for the third NL wild card. The Pirates scored all four of their runs in the second inning against Brady Singer (14-11). Jack Suwinski doubled and scored on Nick Yorke’s single. Yorke scored on Alexander Canario’s double. Cruz’s homer made it 4-0. Elly De La Cruz hit a two-run homer for the Reds to make the score 4-2. The Reds had runners on first and third with two outs in the sixth, but Pirates rookie Hunter Barco (1-0) got Matt McLain to ground into a force play.
September 24, 2025 4:28 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball’s 11-man competition committee has approved use of the Automated Ball/Strike System in the major leagues in 2026. Human umpires will still call balls and strikes, but teams can challenge two calls per game. Challenges must be made by a pitcher, catcher or batter. A team retains its challenge if successful. Reviews will be shown as digital graphics on outfield videoboards. Adding robot umps could reduce ejections, as most are related to balls and strikes. The Automated Ball/Strike System has been tested in the minor leagues since 2019. The challenge system allows for ABS without eliminating pitch framing, a skill for catchers. This is MLB’s first major rule change since 2024.
September 24, 2025 4:26 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Scotty Bowman and Ron Francis headline the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Hall of Fame class of 2025. Both were key members of the Penguins teams that won the franchise’s first two Stanley Cups in the early 1990s. They will be inducted alongside forward Kevin Stevens and former coach and general manager Eddie Johnston during an on-ice ceremony on October 25. All four played significant roles in making Pittsburgh a marquee NHL team in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
September 23, 2025 4:27 am
BALTIMORE (AP) — Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery ran for two touchdowns apiece, and the Detroit Lions bullied their way to a 38-30 win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Lions sacked Lamar Jackson seven times and outrushed the Ravens 224 yards to 85. Detroit scored on drives of 98 and 96 yards against a Baltimore front that was without defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike and showed little ability to handle the Lions physically up front. Up 31-24 at the two-minute warning, Detroit converted on fourth-and-2 from their own 49 when Jared Goff completed a 21-yard pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown. Then Montgomery raced for a 31-yard touchdown with 1:42 to play, capping a 151-yard night for the running back.
September 23, 2025 4:28 am
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco star defensive end Nick Bosa tore the ACL in his right knee and will miss the rest of the season. Bosa hurt his knee in the first half of a win over Arizona on Sunday and didn’t return to the game. Bosa gave a thumbs-down after the injury but initial tests did not show a torn ACL. Coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game that more tests would be needed to determine the severity of the injury and the results Monday showed that Bosa had torn his ACL and his season was done.
September 23, 2025 4:24 am
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Atlantic Coast Conference is moving to a nine-game league schedule for football while having teams play at least 10 games against power-conference opponents, though there will be variables due to the league’s odd number of football-playing member schools. Going from an eight- to a nine-game model would align the ACC with its power-conference peers in the Big 12, Big Ten and Southeastern conferences. The ACC would join the SEC in playing 10 games against Power Four opponents. The SEC announced its plans for a nine-game schedule last month.
