August 21, 2025 2:22 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Johan Oviedo earned his first major league win since 2023 and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 to take the three-game series. In his second start since having Tommy John surgery in late 2023, Oviedo struck out six, allowed two hits, one run and had a walk in five innings. His last win came with six scoreless innings in an 8-6 victory against the Cubs on Sept. 21, 2023. Dennis Santana struck out one in a perfect ninth for his ninth save. Tommy Pham plated a pair with a double in the first inning.
August 21, 2025 4:31 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates have decided to promote 22-year-old right-hander Bubba Chandler ahead of their game Friday against the Colorado Rockies. Chandler is baseball’s top pitching prospect. Pirates manager Don Kelly said he’s excited to add Chandler to a staff that already includes 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes. Chandler is expected to initially work in a bulk bullpen role. He got off to a hot start in Triple-A this year, but has stumbled lately and is currently 5-6 with a 4.05 ERA in 100 innings pitched this year for Indianapolis.
August 21, 2025 4:35 am
The College Football Playoff selection committee announced it will place more emphasis on strength of schedule when determining the 12-team field. The schedule strength metric has been adjusted to apply greater weight to games against strong opponents. An additional metric known as record strength has been added to the analysis to go beyond a team’s schedule strength to assess how a team performed against that schedule. The metric rewards teams defeating high-quality opponents while minimizing the penalty for losing to such a team. There will be minimal reward for defeating a lower-quality opponent and greater penalty for losing to one.
August 20, 2025 2:59 pm
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Baseball’s top pitching prospect is getting called up to the majors. A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press that the Pittsburgh Pirates have decided to promote 22-year-old right hander Bubba Chandler ahead of their game Friday against the Colorado Rockies. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the roster move was not yet official. Chandler got off to a hot start in Triple-A this year but has stumbled lately and is currently 5-6 with a 4.05 ERA this year for Indianapolis. The Pirates are shuffling their pitching rotation after sending veteran left-hander Andrew Heaney to the bullpen.
August 19, 2025 4:40 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Max Scherzer pitched six strong innings to notch his 220th career win, and George Springer hit an early two-run home run as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-3 on Tuesday night. Scherzer allowed one run and four hits with four strikeouts and three walks. The 18-year veteran has pitched at least six innings in five consecutive starts. The Blue Jays built a 5-0 lead against Mitch Keller in the first two innings. Springer hit a 423-foot shot to center field for his 20th homer of the season in the second inning.
August 20, 2025 4:45 am
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The New York Yankees put on quite a power show during a 13-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, becoming the first team in major league history to hit nine home runs in a game twice in one season. After the first pitch was delayed nearly two hours by rain, Giancarlo Stanton, Cody Bellinger and José Caballero each homered twice at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Aaron Judge launched his 40th of the season, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ben Rice also went deep, and the Yankees equaled a franchise record with nine home runs. New York also hit nine in its second game of the year, a 20-9 victory over Milwaukee on March 29 at Yankee Stadium.
August 20, 2025 4:55 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers’ first official snaps with the Pittsburgh Steelers will have to wait until Week 1. Coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that Rodgers, along with several other key players, won’t play against Carolina in Thursday’s preseason finale. Most of the healthy roster, including new additions like Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay, could see action. Tomlin believes Rodgers has shown enough progress in training camp, so there’s no need to risk injury. This decision marks a change from Tomlin’s usual approach, as previous starters typically played in preseason games. Rodgers is the league’s oldest active player.
August 20, 2025 4:42 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — There’s so much speculation about Texas quarterback Arch Manning’s future, in the media and even within his own family, that it can be hard for even him to keep up. Manning was asked Tuesday about grandfather Archie Manning’s recent prediction to Texas Monthly that he’ll still be with the Longhorns through the 2026 season. Arch Manning said he doesn’t know where his grandfather got that idea, but he also insisted he’s not making any plans about his pro future right now. Preseason No. 1 Texas opens the season Aug. 30 at No. 3 Ohio State after losing to the Buckeyes in the national playoff semifinals last season.
August 20, 2025 4:41 am
BOSTON (AP) — The sale of the Boston Celtics has been finalized. Private equity mogul Bill Chisholm has taken control of the NBA’s most-decorated franchise from a group led by Wyc Grousbeck that had owned them for more than two decades. The team was put on the market last summer, soon after it won its record 18th NBA championship. Chisholm won the bidding in March with an offer that valued the franchise at more than $6.1 billion — a record price paid for an American professional sports team. The NBA approved the deal unanimously last week, and the money changed hands on Tuesday.
August 19, 2025 4:27 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Paul Skenes kept the American League-leading Toronto Blue Jays in check for six innings, helping the Pittsburgh Pirates secure a 5-2 victory. Skenes bounced back from a shaky performance to allow just two runs, striking out eight. Evan Sisk earned his first big league win with a scoreless seventh inning, and Dennis Santana got his eighth save. The Pirates capitalized on Toronto’s three errors, including a wild pitch that allowed Henry Davis to score. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. exited in the fifth with hamstring tightness. The Pirates’ win was just their second in their last nine games.
