September 19, 2020 3:53 am
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) – Former Cardinals safety and Pro Football Hall of Famer Larry Wilson has died at 82. Wilson spent more than 43 years in the Cardinals organization as a player and an executive.
A seventh-round draft pick out of Utah in 1960, Wilson played 13 seasons with the Cardinals. He was an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and a first-team All-Pro five times.
September 18, 2020 3:54 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Steven Brault pitched a two-hitter for his first career complete game, Gregory Polanco hit a three-run homer and the Pittsburgh Pirates snapped an eight-game skid with a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis dropped to third place in the NL Central, 6 1/2 games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs and one back of the Cincinnati Reds. Brault had never pitched more than seven innings in his previous 43 starts. The Cardinals got their only hits in the third when Kolten Wong and Tommy Edman hit back-to-back singles, with Edman driving in St. Louis’ only run.
September 18, 2020 3:47 am
CLEVELAND (AP) – Baker Mayfield threw two touchdown passes, Nick Chubb ran for two scores and the Cleveland Browns gave coach Kevin Stefanski his first NFL win by beating the Cincinnati Bengals 35-30 on the NFL’s 100th birthday. Mayfield connected with Odell Beckham Jr. on a 43-yard scoring pass, and the Browns rebounded from an atrocious performance last week in Baltimore, where they were roughed up 38-6 by the Ravens and looked mostly inept in Stefanski’s debut. Things went much more smoothly against the Bengals and No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow, who threw two TD passes and showed nice poise in just his second game.
September 18, 2020 3:49 am
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Anthony Cirelli scored in overtime to send the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup Final with a 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final. Tampa Bay clinched each of its three series victories in overtime and goes on to face the Dallas Stars for the title. Only New York lasted more than five games, pushing the Lightning to their limits before their talented core got them into the final. They’re four wins from the Cup despite being without captain Steven Stamkos all postseason and missing top center Brayden Point for two games against the Islanders.
September 18, 2020 3:51 am
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) – Goran Dragic scored 25 points, Bam Adebayo led a big third-quarter rally to finish with 21, and the Miami Heat pulled off another comeback to beat the Boston Celtics 106-101 and take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals Thursday night. Duncan Robinson scored 18 points, Jimmy Butler scored 14, Jae Crowder had 12 and Tyler Herro finished with 11 for Miami. The Heat were down by 17 in the second quarter and trailed by 13 at halftime. Kemba Walker had 23 points for Boston, which got 21 apiece from Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Brown missed a corner 3 that would have tied the game with 15 seconds left, and Butler sealed it with two free throws with 7.4 seconds remaining.
September 17, 2020 3:47 am
CINCINNATI (AP) – Luis Castillo threw seven shutout innings, Shogo Akiyama drove in the Reds only run and Cincinnati completed a four-game sweep of Pittsburgh with a 1-0 win that keeps the Reds in the postseason picture. Pittsburgh rookie J.T. Brubaker allowed a hit and a walk in four innings before the Reds pieced together a two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth on consecutive singles by Jose Garcia, Curt Casali and Akiyama, whose liner to left knocked in Garcia. Castillo (3-5), coming off his first career complete game, retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced and gave up only three hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts.
September 17, 2020 3:49 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Zach Banner’s season is over. The Steelers placed the right tackle on injured reserve two days after he tore the ACL in his right knee in a win over the New York Giants. Banner edged Chukwuma Okorafor during an extended training camp battle to earn the starting job. His season ended in the fourth quarter against the Giants when his knee appeared to give out while dropping back in pass protection. Okorafor, a third-round pick in the 2018 draft, figures to get the start when the Steelers host Denver in their home opener.
September 17, 2020 3:52 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Big Ten is going to give fall football a shot after all. Less than five weeks after pushing football and other fall sports to the spring in the name of player safety during the pandemic, the conference changed course and said Wednesday that it plans to begin its season the Oct. 23-24 weekend. Each team will play eight games in eight weeks and the conference championship game will be held Dec. 19 – if all goes well. That should give the Big Ten an opportunity to compete for the national championship. The Big Ten said its Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously Tuesday to restart sports. The vote last month was 11-3 to postpone, with Ohio State, Iowa and Nebraska voting against. The decision to play came after sharp pressure from coaches, players, parents and even President Donald Trump, all of them pushing for a Big Ten football season. The conference is home to a number of battleground states in the November election, and Trump swiftly applauded the move in a tweet. Another factor in triggering the re-vote was the emergence of daily rapid-response COVID-19 testing, which wasn’t available when university presidents and chancellors decided to pull the plug on the season. The Big Ten said it will begin daily antigen testing of its athletes, coaches and staff on Sept. 30. The Big Ten’s plan to play also includes the establishment of a cardiac registry to study the effects COVID-19 has on athletes’ hearts. Dr. Leslie Cooper chairs the cardiovascular department at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. He says the registry can potentially close a gap in research when it comes to the new coronavirus.
September 16, 2020 3:48 am
CINCINNATI (AP) – Tucker Barnhart hit a home run and Brian Goodwin prevented one with a leaping catch as the Cincinnati Reds extended their winning streak to a season-high four games with a 4-1 victory Tuesday night over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Michael Lorenzen looked sharp in a spot start, helping Cincinnati inch closer to a playoff spot. The third-place Reds went into the game higher than fourth in the NL Central for the first time since they were tied with Milwaukee for third on Aug. 23. They were 1 1/2 games behind second-place St. Louis and ninth in the overall National League standings, one game behind the Giants for the final postseason berth.
September 16, 2020 3:53 am
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – The New York Islanders will spend at least two more days in the Edmonton bubble after extending the Eastern Conference final to a sixth game. Jordan Eberle scored on a 2-on-1 break 12 1/2 minutes into double-overtime to give the Isles a 2-1 win over the Lightning. Anders Lee lugged the puck deep into the Tampa Bay zone before sliding a pass to Eberle in the slot. Semyon Varlamov was superb at times while stopping 36 shots, with some of his best stops coming in OT. The Islanders ended an 0-13 skid on the power play when Ryan Pulock blasted a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy 15:41 into the game. New York maintained the lead until Victor Hedman’s goal four minutes into the second period. Vasilevskiy finished with 22 saves for the Lightning, who are the road team for Game 6 on Thursday.
