October 16, 2019 3:48 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Nationals have their first pennant in franchise history, and Washington has its first pennant in 86 years. The Nationals completed a four-game sweep of the Cardinals in the National League Championship Series by erupting for seven runs off Dakota Hudson and Adam Wainwright in the first inning of a 7-4 victory in Washington. Patrick Corbin and three relievers combined on a five-hitter against the punchless Redbirds, who managed just 16 hits the entire series. Anthony Rendon put Washington ahead with his seventh RBI of the postseason, a sacrifice fly that scored leadoff hitter Trea Turner. Juan Soto hit an RBI double and Victor Robles followed with a RBI single before Yan Gomes poked a two-run single that chased Hudson.
Wainwright later served up a two-run single by Turner to put the Nationals ahead by seven. The Redbirds began to chip away at their deficit when Yadier Molina homered in the fourth inning off Corbin. St. Louis later scored three times in the fifth, capped by a two-run double by Jose Martinez. Corbin left the game after striking out 12 and allowing four hits over five innings. The Nationals had never won a pennant, even when the franchise was the Montreal Expos from 1969-2004. Washington’s last pennant winner was the 1933 Senators, who dropped a five-game series with the New York Giants.
October 15, 2019 1:57 pm
Washington/Greene County schools will have 16 teams (9 girls, 7 boys) in the eight WPIAL soccer playoff brackets due to be released Wednesday. Once they’re available, we’ll post links here. Here are the teams that have qualified:
Girls: 4A–Canon-McMillan, Peters Township, 3A–Ringgold, Trinity, 2A–Waynesburg, 1A–Bentworth, Beth-Center, Chartiers-Houston, McGuffey.
Boys: 4A–Canon-McMillan, 3A, Ringgold, Trinity, 2A–Beth-Center, Charleroi, Waynesburg, 1A–Chartiers-Houston.
WPIAL Soccer Championship matches will be held at Highmark Stadium, Oct. 31-Nov. 2.
October 15, 2019 3:53 am
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – The Green Bay Packers remain atop the NFC North after engineering a pair of scoring drives over the last 9 1/2 minutes against Detroit on Monday. Mason Crosby capped the Packers’ comeback from a nine-point, fourth-quarter deficit by drilling a 23-yard field goal as time expired to give his team a 23-22 win over the Lions. Green Bay was able to march toward the Detroit goal in the final two minutes after Lions lineman Trey Flowers was called for a questionable hands-to-the-face penalty for the second time in the half. Replays showed Flowers’ hands on the neck or shoulder of a Packers lineman. The Lions led 22-13 until Aaron Rodgers hit Allen Lazard for a 35-yard scoring pass with 8:03 remaining. Rodgers was 24 of 39 for 283 yards and two touchdowns as the 5-1 Packers dropped the Lions to 2-2-1. Jamaal Williams finished with 104 yards on 14 carries for Green Bay, which captured its first win in five tries against its NFC North rival.
Matt Prater (PRAY’-tur) nailed five field goals for Detroit, including kicks of 54, 51 and 41 yards. Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was sacked three times while completing 18 of his 32 throws for 265 yards.
October 15, 2019 3:45 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Steelers head into their bye week with some momentum following a victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. Rookie quarterback Devlin Hodges threw for a touchdown in his first NFL start and rookie linebacker Devin Bush returned a fumble for a score to give Pittsburgh a rare win on the West Coast. The Steelers are 2-4 through six weeks and the schedule gets easier in the coming weeks. Only three of Pittsburgh’s remaining 10 opponents currently have a winning record.
October 13, 2019 7:47 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – It’s officially “Duck” season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers ruled quarterback Mason Rudolph out for Sunday’s visit to the Los Angeles Chargers while he continues to recover from a concussion, meaning undrafted rookie free agent Devlin “Duck” Hodges will get the start when Pittsburgh (1-4) faces the Chargers (2-3) in primetime. Hodges played well last week against Baltimore after coming in for Rudolph.
October 13, 2019 7:41 am
Quarterback Drew Saxton threw for 308 yards and four touchdowns leading Case-Western Reserve to a 35-19 win over Washington & Jefferson Saturday afternoon. The Spartans also ran for 211 yards, most of that by Zach Hall (16-159). Leading 14-7 at halftime, CWRU scored on its first three second-half possessions to put the game away. W&J’s Jacob Adams connected with Payton Skaylos and Jordan Halford for touchdowns after the Spartans had built a 35-7 lead. Case-Western remains unbeaten atop the Presidents Athletic Conference standings while W&J drops to 3-2 in the league, 4-2 overall and out of playoff contention.
October 11, 2019 3:49 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jake Guentzel scored the tie breaking goal in the third period to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2-1 victory over the previously unbeaten Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.
Guentzel finished Sidney Crosby’s backhand feed from the slot at 7:24 of the third. Guentzel has five goals in five career games against the Ducks, including his second career hat trick last season. Crosby also scored a power-play goal, his second of the season. He has multiple points in five of his last 10 games against Anaheim. Matt Murray made 31 saves for the Penguins. He needs one more win to reach 100 in the NHL. Pittsburgh concluded a season-opening, four-game homestand with a 2-2 record. The Penguins have won nine of their last 12 home games against Anaheim and nine of the last 13 overall versus the Ducks. Ondrej Kase scored his first of the season for Anaheim, which tried to open a season with four straight wins for the first time in franchise history. The Ducks, who entered the NHL as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 1993-94, started 3-0 last season and also in 2006-07, when they won the Stanley Cup. John Gibson, a Pittsburgh native, stopped 26 shots. He allowed more than one goal for the first time this season. Four of Pittsburgh’s top nine forwards were out of the lineup.
October 10, 2019 3:55 am
UNDATED (AP) – The St. Louis Cardinals have advanced to the National League Championship Series by putting together the most productive first inning in major league postseason history.
The Cardinals sent 14 batters to the plate while erupting for 10 runs on five hits, four walks and a huge error in the first inning of a 13-1 rout of the Braves in Game 5 of the NL Division Series in Atlanta. The Braves had a chance to get out of the frame trailing just 1-0, but first baseman Freddie Freeman botched a potential inning-ending double play grounder. Tommy Edman, Dexter Fowler and Kolten Wong provided two-run doubles following the error, allowing the Cardinals to turn the deciding game into a laugher. Pitcher Jack Flaherty walked with the bases loaded and Fowler reached base twice during the rally. Braves starting and losing pitcher Mike Foltynewicz retired just one batter while surrendering seven runs – six earned – on three hits and three walks. Max Fried (freed) allowed three runs in the first and was lifted to start the third inning with Atlanta trailing 11-0.
October 9, 2019 3:50 am
TAMPA BAY, Fla. (AP) – Willy Adames homered and made a sensational relay throw from shortstop, Tommy Pham also went deep and the wild-card Tampa Bay Rays chased Justin Verlander early and beat the Houston Astros 4-1 to even their AL Division Series at two games apiece on Tuesday night. Nick Anderson and four other relievers combined on a five-hitter to beat Verlander, who was pitching on short rest after dominating the wild-card Rays in Game 1 of the best of five series that shifts back to Houston for the decisive fifth game on Thursday. Verlander, whose eight career ALDS victories are a major league record, yielded three runs in the first inning. Adames homered leading off the fourth to make it 4-0, and the Houston ace didn’t make it through the rest of the inning. A fifth and deciding game will be Thursday evening in Houston.
October 8, 2019 3:49 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The New York Yankees have completed a playoff sweep of the Minnesota Twins and will advance to AL Championship Series. Gleyber Torres got New York going with a second-inning home run and scored on each of his two doubles, giving Luis Severino sufficient support and fueling the Yankees to a 5-1 victory over Minnesota. In Washington, Max Scherzer’s season-saving, seven-inning pitching performance and Ryan Zimmerman’s three-run homer lifted the wild-card Washington Nationals to a 6-1 victory over the league-best Los Angeles Dodgers to force a deciding Game 5 in their NL Division Series. They will face off on Wednesday in Los Angeles. The St. Louis Cardinals survived with a 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves in the other NLDS contest. Yadier Molina hit a tying single in the eighth and a sacrifice fly in the 10th. The Tampa Bay Rays cut their AL Division Series deficit to 2-1 with 10-3 romp over the Houston Astros. Former Astros hurler Charlie Morton allowed one run and three hits while striking out nine over five innings. Astros manager AJ Hinch announced after the game that Houston will start Justin Verlander on three days of rest in Game 4 of the best-of-five matchup at Tropicana Field on Tuesday. Tampa Bay will use Diego Castillo as an opener.
