August 26, 2020 3:51 am
CHICAGO (AP) – Jose Abreu hit his seventh homer in five games, Dallas Keuchel pitched six dominant innings, and the surging Chicago White Sox pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-3 for their ninth win in 10 games. Abreu’s 12th home run was Chicago’s fourth of the game and broke it open. Eloy Jimenez, Danny Mendick and Edwin Encarnacion also homered for Chicago, which leads the AL with 60 home runs. Keuchel (5-2) allowed two runs on four hits and struck out seven in his third straight win. Trevor Williams (1-5) took the loss and Jacob Stallings had a two-run single and Erik Gonzalez hit a solo homer for Pittsburgh.
August 26, 2020 2:07 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The retooling of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ roster is underway. The Penguins acquired forward Kasperi Kapanen from Toronto as the centerpiece of a trade between the two clubs that reunites the 24-year-old Kapanen with the team that originally drafted him with the 22nd overall pick in 2014. The Maple Leafs sent Kapanen, well-traveled forward Pontus Aberg and defensive prospect Jesper Lindgren to the Penguins for Pittsburgh’s first-round pick in this year’s draft as well as forward Evan Rodrigues, defenseman David Warsofsky and Swedish forward Filip Hallander.
August 26, 2020 3:54 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – The NHL has fined Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella $25,000 for his conduct during a media session after his team was eliminated from the playoffs. Following the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Game 5 victory over the Blue Jackets, Tortorella ended his video news conference after two questions and walked away.
August 25, 2020 3:47 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is just fine if the team sticks to the plan that made him an All-Pro last season. Fitzpatrick’s arrival in a trade last September proved to be the spark that helped the Steelers become one of the NFL’s most dominant defenses. Fitzpatrick’s five interceptions tied for the team lead and his two touchdowns helped keep the Steelers in playoff contention until late in the season. The Steelers say Fitzpatrick’s versatility gives them flexibility on defense, but coach Mike Tomlin added they plan to keep Fitzpatrick in his role as the center fielder in the secondary.
August 25, 2020 3:50 am
UNDATED (AP) – The New York Islanders are the lowest seed remaining in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but they were good enough to open their second-round series with a win against the No. 1 Philadelphia Flyers. Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 shots and the Islanders opened their second-round series with a 4-0 win over the Flyers. Varlamov has posted consecutive playoff shutouts after failing to record one since 2011. He is the first Islander to record back-to-back shutouts. Andy Greene opened the scoring at the 6:06 mark, his first playoff goal in a decade. It remained 1-0 until Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee scored in the first nine minutes of the third. Devon Toews added an empty-netter shortly after Carter Hart was replaced by an extra attacker with about eight minutes left. Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars made it two straight wins over the Avalanche by rallying for a 4-2 victory. Dallas trailed 2-0 until Joe Pavelski and Radek Faksa scored power-play goals 43 seconds apart midway through the second period. Alexander Radulov notched the tiebreaking goal about five minutes later after contributing two goals and an assist in Game 1 on Sunday.
Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen each had a power-play goal and an assist for Colorado. Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin was otherwise perfect while the Avs outshot Dallas, 41-27.
August 25, 2020 3:51 am
UNDATED (AP) – The New York Mets will resume play with a doubleheader against the Marlins on Tuesday. The Mets are able to resume their schedule after no additional members tested positive for COVID-19 since the team learned of two infections that caused four games to be postponed last week. The Mets will make up their weekend Subway Series against the crosstown Yankees with doubleheaders on Friday and Sunday at Yankee Stadium and a single game on Sept. 3 at Citi Field.
August 24, 2020 3:56 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Slumping Gregory Polanco’s bat showed signs of life for a second straight day as his two-run home run in the eighth inning lifted the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and a three-game series sweep. Polanco connected off David Phelps for his fourth homer of the season and finished 2 for 3 with a walk. It was Polanco’s second two-hit game in as many days, lifting his batting average from .085 to .151. The Pirates nearly doubled their season win total in one weekend. They entered the series with a 4-17 record, worst in the major leagues.
August 24, 2020 4:01 am
UNDATED (AP) – The NFL has asked a New Jersey lab to investigate a new batch of COVID-19 test results amid reports from several teams of false positives. The league didn’t identify which teams got positive results, or how many there were. Among teams reporting false positives, the Minnesota Vikings said they had 12, the New York Jets 10 and the Chicago Bears nine. Other teams that were affected are the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns.
August 24, 2020 4:00 am
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Takuma Sato snatched a second Indianapolis 500 victory as the Japanese racer held off Scott Dixon and ultimately won under caution. IndyCar officials declined to throw a red flag after a violent crash by Spencer Pigot with just a handful of laps remaining. Pigot needed medical attention on the track, the crash scene was a debris field and there was no way the race could resume without a stoppage. Dixon dominated the race and asked on his radio if IndyCar was going to give the drivers a final shootout to the checkered flag, NASCAR style. But the five-time Indy-Car champion had to settle for second after Sato led him across the finish line under yellow.
August 24, 2020 3:59 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Boston Bruins have opened the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by defeating the team that took the No. 1 seed from them in the round-robin tournament.
Brad Marchand scored the eventual game-winning goal and had an assist while the Bruins were building a 3-0 lead in a 3-2 win over the Lightning. Marchand tallied 1:17 in the third period and set up Charlie Coyle late in the first. David Pastrnak (PAHS’-tur-nahk) had a power-play goal and Jaroslav Halak stopped 35 shots for Boston. Halak blanked Tampa Bay until Victor Hedman scored twice over the 11 minutes. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights are 8-1 in the Edmonton bubble after cruising to a Game 1 victory in the second round. Reilly Smith, Mark Stone and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist to support Robin Lehner (LEH’-nur) in the Knights’ 5-0 shutout of the Canucks. Vegas took the lead on Jonathan Marchessault’s goal midway through the first period. That was enough offense for Lehner, who turned back 26 shots in his first shutout in 17 postseason games. Vancouver netminder Jacob Markstrom was pulled midway through the third period after allowing five goals on 34 shots.
