October 11, 2024 4:36 am
DETROIT (AP) — Anthony Beauvillier scored twice, Joel Blomqvist made 29 saves in his NHL debut and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Thursday night. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, each with two assists, figured in four of the six goals as the Penguins rebounded from season-opening 6-0 home loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. Marcus Pettersson, Erik Karlsson, Kevin Hayes and Drew O’Connor also scored for Pittsburgh. Alex DeBrincat scored twice for the Red Wings in their opener. Vladimir Tarasenko added a goal.
October 11, 2024 4:41 am
DETROIT (AP) — Pinch-hitter David Fry had a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning, then bunted home an insurance run in the ninth to help the Cleveland Guardians force a decisive Game 5 against the Detroit Tigers in their AL Division Series with a 5-4 victory. Cleveland ended a streak of 11 losses in postseason elimination games dating to Game 6 of 1997 World Series. Game 5 is Saturday in Cleveland, with ace Tarik Skubal set to start for the Tigers. The winner advances to the ALCS against the New York Yankees starting Monday. Gerrit Cole held the Kansas City Royals to a single run over seven innings Thursday night, sending the New York Yankees to a 3-1 victory that put them back to the American League Championship Series. The six-time All-Star scattered six hits and struck out four before giving way to the New York bullpen. Clay Holmes breezed through a perfect eighth inning and Luke Weaver handled the ninth, extending the scoreless streak by Yankees relievers to 15 2/3 innings this postseason. Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres and Game 3 hero Giancarlo Stanton drove in runs for the Yankees. Michael Wacha failed to make it through five innings for Kansas City, which managed only five runs over the final three games of the series.
October 10, 2024 4:38 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Igor Shesterkin stopped 29 shots and the New York Rangers opened the season with a 6-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Chris Kreider scored twice for the reigning Metropolitan Division champions. Sam Carrick, Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Vincent Trocheck also scored for New York, which dominated Pittsburgh while beating the Penguins for the fifth time in their last six meetings. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was held scoreless in his 20th season opener.
October 10, 2024 4:35 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, his latest clutch swing in a storybook season, and the New York Mets reached the National League Championship Series with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Edwin Díaz struck out Kyle Schwarber with two runners aboard to end it as New York finished off the rival Phillies in Game 4 of their best-of-five Division Series, winning 3-1 to wrap up a postseason series at home for the first time in 24 years. After three days of rest, New York will open the best-of-seven NLCS on Sunday at the San Diego Padres or Los Angeles Dodgers. In San Diego, Mookie Betts homered for the second straight night, Shohei Ohtani hit an RBI single and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Dylan Cease and the San Diego Padres 8-0 to force a deciding Game 5 in their tense NL Division Series. Will Smith and Gavin Lux each hit a two-run homer for the Dodgers, who snapped a two-game losing streak and now return home for the next matchup between the NL West rivals on Friday night. The Padres won 10-2 at Dodger Stadium in Game 3 on Sunday night, when tempers flared on the field and in the stands.
October 10, 2024 4:32 am
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in Game 3 of their AL Division Series at Kauffman Stadium. The Yankees will send six-time All-Star Gerrit Cole to the mound Thursday night with a chance to advance to the American League Championship Series. Stanton had three hits, drove in two runs and stole a base for the first time in four years for the Yankees, who won despite another tough night for MVP front-runner Aaron Judge. Kyle Isbel and Michael Massey drove in the runs for Kansas City, which was hosting a playoff game for the first time since Game 2 of the 2015 World Series. Meanwhile in Detroit, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson each drove in a run, and six pitchers combined to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 3-0 win over Cleveland Guardians and a 2-1 lead in their AL Division Series. The Tigers, baseball’s hottest team the past two months, will have their first chance to advance to the American League Championship Series since 2013 on Thursday night in Game 4 at Comerica Park. Cleveland has gone 20 straight innings without scoring since opening the series with a five-run first and a two-run sixth in its 7-0 win.
October 10, 2024 4:30 am
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Antonio Pierce’s first major act after becoming the Las Vegas Raiders’ interim coach midway through last season was naming then-rookie Aidan O’Connell the starting quarterback. Pierce is now the full-time Las Vegas coach. He is turning again to O’Connell as the Raiders reach a critical part of their season and is benching Gardner Minshew with the Pittsburgh Steelers visiting on Sunday. O’Connell went 5-4 after he became the starter last season.
October 9, 2024 2:13 am
One question going into Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s usual Tuesday press conference surrounded the team’s quarterback situation and if there would be a change in who takes the starting role against the Raiders this weekend. Justin Fields has been the starting quarterback for all of the regular season games so far, as Russell Wilson continues to recover from a calf injury that’s kept him mostly on the sidelines since training camp. Tomlin says the team is in a “little bit of a different place” with Wilson this week. Wilson is scheduled to participate fully in practice on Wednesday. But overall, not much is changing. Wilson will practice with the second team and Fields will prepare as the starter. Tomlin said they’ll continue in this pattern until Wilson “gets to a point where we’re comfortable with what we’re looking at.” One of Tomlin’s points of focus for the week is getting back to business, or winning. The quarterback situation isn’t the only concern when it comes to getting back to business, so are injuries. Tomlin spoke of a “laundry list” of injuries the team is currently facing. Tomlin says four players are already ruled out for Sunday: DeMarvin Leal, Nick Herbig, Cordarrelle Patterson and Alex Highsmith. Three more players are listed as doubtful: Jaylen Warren, Damontae Kazee and MyCole Pruitt.
October 9, 2024 4:25 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Six months of success for the Philadelphia Phillies could be wiped out before the leaves start to turn. With one more loss to the New York Mets, a 95-win regular season would become an afterthought. Tuesday night’s 7-2 loss dropped the Phillies into a 2-1 deficit in the best-of-five NL Division Series. Seeking their third World Series title after 1980 and 2008, the Phillies reached Game 6 of the World Series in 2022 before losing to Houston. They took a 3-2 lead over Arizona in last year’s NL Championship Series, and then dropped Games 6 and 7 at home.
October 9, 2024 4:27 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Fernando Tatis Jr.‘s towering two-run home run highlighted a six-run second inning, and the San Diego Padres held on to beat Shohei Ohtani and the rival Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 to take a 2-1 lead in a tense NL Division Series. The Padres moved within one victory of eliminating the Dodgers in the NLDS for the second time in three seasons. Game 4 is Wednesday night at Petco Park, which was packed with a loud, rally towel-waving record crowd of 47,744. Tatis’ impressive homer gave the Padres a 6-1 lead, but Teoscar Hernández hit a grand slam with one out in the third.
October 9, 2024 4:30 am
BOSTON (AP) — Luis Tiant has died at the age of 83. The charismatic Cuban with a horseshoe mustache and mesmerizing windup pitched the Red Sox to the brink of a World Series championship and pitched himself to the doorstep of the Hall of Fame. He was known as “El Tiante.” Major League Baseball announced his death in a post on X on Tuesday. The Red Sox confirmed that he died at his home in Maine. Tiant’s death comes one week after that of all-time baseball hits leader Pete Rose, whose Cincinnati Reds faced Tiant’s Red Sox in the 1975 World Series — still considered one of the greatest matchups in baseball postseason history.
