September 16, 2019 3:44 am
CHICAGO (AP) – Star first baseman Anthony Rizzo was pulled from a game Sunday with a sprained right ankle, putting a damper on the Chicago Cubs’ 16-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rizzo was injured fielding a bunt at first base in the third inning. He had to be helped off the field and could not put pressure on the leg. X-rays taken at Wrigley Field showed no fractures, and an MRI has been scheduled for Monday. Chicago’s postseason pursuit has already been hindered by an injury to shortstop Javier Baez, who is out for the rest of the regular season with a hairline fracture of his left thumb. The Cubs maintained their one-game lead over Milwaukee for the second NL wild card. The Nationals are 1 1/2 games ahead of Chicago for the first wild card. Kris Bryant homered twice, and Ian Happ, Kyle Schwarber and Jonathan Lucroy also connected as Chicago battered Pittsburgh for a third straight day. The Cubs scored a total of 47 runs on 49 hits in completing the three-game sweep. Chicago starter Jose Quintana was pulled after allowing five runs in the third inning, when he fell apart following Rizzo’s injury. After Erik Gonzalez’s leadoff double, Pirates starter Trevor Williams bunted toward third base. Rizzo charged aggressively from first and rolled his ankle a few steps before fielding the ball. He threw wide to first base and dropped to the ground in pain. Brad Wieck (1-1) later replaced Quintana with two on and struck out both batters he faced to end the inning. The Cubs rallied for five runs in the bottom of the inning to lead 8-5, starting with Bryant’s second homer of the game and ending when reliever Michael Feliz threw wildly on an appeal play at third base. Williams (7-7) allowed seven runs in 2 1/3 innings. Pablo Reyes drove in three runs for the Pirates. Bryant gave the Cubs an early lead with a three-run blast in the first. Happ, who replaced Rizzo, hit a two-run shot in the fifth to make it 12-6. Jason Heyward drove in a run in the sixth and Schwarber hit a two-run shot in the seventh. Lucroy capped the scoring with a solo homer in the eighth.
September 14, 2019 4:17 am
CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) – Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins are eager to move forward after an ugly first-round sweep at the hands of the New York Islanders. The Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cups before last season’s disappointment. Pittsburgh traded productive winger Phil Kessel to Arizona in the offseason. The Penguins started training camp on Friday.
September 14, 2019 4:16 am
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (AP) – No. 13 Penn State used a pair of late defensive stands to hold off rival Pittsburgh 17-10. The Nittany Lions turned the Panthers away twice in the fourth quarter. Pitt couldn’t score a touchdown despite having the ball at the Penn State 1 midway through the final frame. Pitt’s last-ditch possession ended with quarterback Kenny Pickett’s heave to the end zone falling incomplete. Journey Brown ran for 109 yards and a score for Penn State, which improved to 53-43-4 all-time against the Panthers.
September 10, 2019 3:45 am
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Will Lutz drilled a 58-yard field goal as time expired to kick the New Orleans Saints to a 30-28 victory against the Houston Texans. Lutz also hit a 47-yarder late in the fourth quarter to give New Orleans a 27-21 cushion in the final minute, but New Orleans needed his sturdy leg again after DeShaun Watson hit Kenny Stills for a 37-yard touchdown with 37 seconds to play. Drew Brees (breez) was 32 of 43 for 370 yards, two touchdowns and one interception for the Saints, who trailed 21-10 in the second half.
September 9, 2019 3:07 am
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) – The New England Patriots trolled the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday and then blew them out Sunday night. A day after the acquiring former Steelers malcontent Antonio Brown, the defending Super Bowl champions showed they might not even need him, getting 341 yards and three touchdown passes from 42-year-old Tom Brady to beat Pittsburgh 33-3. Phillip Dorsett caught two touchdown passes, including a 58-yard score, and Josh Gordon – another disgruntled receiver who wore out his welcome elsewhere – caught one TD pass. On the night New England unveiled its sixth NFL championship banner, Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman caught six passes for 83 yards and also completed a throw to help the Patriots begin their quest for back-to-back titles. The last team to do that: New England in 2003 and ’04. Facing the last team to beat them, the Patriots opened a 20-0 lead before Pittsburgh kicked a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 10:17 left in the third quarter. Brady responded with a 58-yard touchdown pass to Dorsett and a 27-3 lead. Dorsett, who will be moving down the depth chart Monday when the Patriots make Brown’s signing official, had four catches for 95 yards and the first multi-score game of his career. Ben Roethlisberger completed 27 of 47 passes for 277 yards and an interception, with much of the production coming on non-scoring drives in garbage time. The offense showed the effects of losing two of its biggest playmakers: Brown, who talked and tweeted his way out of both Pittsburgh and Oakland in one offseason, and running back Le’Veon Bell, a two-time All-Pro who sat out all of last season to avoid a franchise tag. In their place, James Conner gained 21 yards on 10 carries; the Steelers gained only 32 yards rushing in all. Top receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster caught six passes for 78 yards, 26 of it coming on one throw in the final six minutes with the Steelers already trailing 33-3. The drive ended when Roethlisberger threw it into the end zone from the 41-yard line and was picked off by Devin McCourty. The Steelers had five full possessions in the first half and punted on four of them, going three-and-out three times.
September 8, 2019 7:12 am
Zack Swartz and Zahmere Robinson led the way as Wash High won for the 700th time in school history, taking down Summit Academy, 58-16, Saturday afternoon. The Little Prexies jumped in front with 26 first-quarter points. Swartz threw three TD passes and ran for two scores. Robinson scored three times including a 90-yard run to put the game’s first points on the board. Caleb Jackson, Mike Allen, Asa Charnik and Chance Cohen also scored, Cohen on a 80+yard kick return. Wash High (700-366-61) is just the fourth WPIAL team to amass 700 wins, joining Jeannette (750), New Castle (741) and Aliquippa (726). Greensburg Salem (695) is poised to be the next team to cross the 700-win threshold, followed by Clairton (684).
September 7, 2019 4:00 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Serena Williams lost her temper and then lost the match when she played for last year’s U.S. Open championship. She gets another chance Saturday night, again seeking a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title when she faces 19-year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu. The 37-year-old Williams has lost all three major finals she has reached since returning from giving birth, including to Naomi Osaka in Flushing Meadows last year. That match is best remembered for Williams’ arguments with chair umpire Carlos Ramos. She remains one behind Margaret Court’s record for most Grand Slam trophies and seeks her seventh at the U.S. Open, 20 years after winning her first. Andreescu, 33-4 this season, can become the first Canadian woman to win a Grand Slam title.
September 7, 2019 3:59 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Adam Frazier capped Pittsburgh’s six-run seventh inning with a two-run triple, and the Pirates rallied to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-4 on Friday night. Last-place Pittsburgh scored each of its runs in the seventh with two outs. Josh Bell hit a two-run single off Andrew Miller. After run-scoring hits by pinch hitter Melky Cabrera and Jose Osuna, Frazier made it 7-4 when he tripled high off the 21-foot wall in right field. The NL Central-leading Cardinals had won six of eight. Miller (4-5), the second of three relievers in the seventh, got just one out and was charged with three runs and three hits.
September 6, 2019 2:58 am
CHICAGO (AP) – The Monsters of the Midway showed up for the NFL’s season opener. They were wearing gold, green and white. In a defensive battle also marked by sloppy offense and penalties, the Packers used the Bears’ usual trademark, a staunch D, and just enough from Aaron Rodgers on Thursday night to kick off the league’s 100th season with a 10-3 victory over their archrivals. A lack of action in the preseason clearly damaged both offenses, and Rodgers at times looked uncomfortable in the attack designed by new coach Matt LaFleur. But he is a two-time league MVP, and he hit Jimmy Graham for the game’s only touchdown in the second quarter. From there, it was an aggressive defense that would have made Vince Lombardi proud in the latest edition of the NFL’s longest rivalry, which the Packers lead 98-95-6. Green Bay has won 16 of the last 19 regular-season meetings, and Rodgers is 17-5. Chicago’s defense hardly slacked, getting five sacks – tying the most it has had against Rodgers. But it could do little with the ball and the Packers had five sacks of Mitchell Trubisky, who never found his stride. Former Bears safety Adrian Amos picked off an end-zone pass into double coverage with 1:58 remaining, the only turnover of the contest. Mason Crosby made a 39-yard field goal in the final period for Green Bay, while defending NFC North champion Chicago got a 38-yarder from Eddy Pineiro.
September 5, 2019 2:58 am
Antonio Brown says the Oakland Raiders have fined him close to $54,000 for missing a practice and walkthrough. The star receiver posted a letter on his Instagram account from general manager Mike Mayock saying that he was fined $40,000 for an unexcused absence from practice on Aug. 18 and $13,950 for skipping a walkthrough in Winnipeg on Aug. 22.
