Sports
MLB roundup: Phillies top Cubs, clinch first-round bye
Sep 25, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh (16) is showered by second baseman Bryson Stott (5) after the game against the Chicago Cubs at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images Brandon Marsh hit a three-run double, Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott each collected three hits, and the Philadelphia Phillies topped the visiting Chicago Cubs 9-6 on Wednesday.
Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered for Philadelphia (94-65), which clinched a first-round bye in the National League playoffs with their win combined with the Milwaukee Brewers’ loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Phillies remain a half-game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (94-64) in the race for the NL’s top seed after the Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 4-3 later Wednesday.
Philadelphia wrapped up its home schedule with a major league-best 54-27 home record despite impressive performances from Chicago’s Isaac Paredes and Nico Hoerner. Paredes went 4-for-5 for the Cubs (81-78), while Hoerner hit a pair of home runs — his sixth and seventh of the campaign.
Dodgers 4, Padres 3
Shohei Ohtani drove in two runs, including a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning, as Los Angeles moved to the cusp of another National League West title after a victory over visiting San Diego.
Teoscar Hernandez and Gavin Lux each drove in a run as the Dodgers moved three games ahead of the Padres and reduced their magic number for their 11th division title in 12 seasons to two. The Dodgers can win the West with a victory over the Padres on Thursday.
Alex Vesia (5-4) pitched an inning to earn the win and Michael Kopech handled the ninth for his 15th save. Fernando Tatis Jr. homered for the Padres. Jeremiah Estrada (6-3) allowed a run in two-thirds of an inning.
Tigers 7, Rays 1
Spencer Torkelson homered and drove in three runs and red-hot Detroit moved closer to an American League wild-card berth with a win over visiting Tampa Bay.
Parker Meadows had three hits, including a solo homer, as Detroit won for the eighth time in nine games. Riley Greene and Dillon Dingler each added two hits and an RBI. Detroit starter Keider Montero gave up one run and four hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Tampa Bay had yielded three runs or fewer in eight consecutive games prior to Wednesday. Zack Littell gave up three runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 1
Jonatan Clase collected three hits, including his first career major league home run, as Toronto defeated visiting Boston.
Alejandro Kirk added three hits and three RBIs for the Blue Jays, who ended a five-game losing streak and prevented a three-game sweep. The Red Sox had their four-game winning streak end and saw their faint playoff hopes vanish.
Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman (14-11) allowed one run, four hits and three walks while striking out three in six innings. Boston right-hander Richard Fitts (0-1) gave up four runs, six hits and two walks with two strikeouts in five innings.
Diamondbacks 8, Giants 2
Zac Gallen struck out a season-best 11 in six innings and pinch hitter Pavin Smith slugged a three-run homer to help Arizona record a victory over San Francisco at Phoenix.
Gallen (14-6) gave up one run, two hits and two walks while winning his fifth consecutive decision. Arizona ended a three-game losing streak and moved one percentage point behind the New York Mets in the battle for the National League’s second and third wild-card spots. Geraldo Perdomo had two hits and a walk for the Diamondbacks.
Heliot Ramos had two hits and an RBI for the Giants, who had a season-best five-game winning streak halted. San Francisco’s Mason Black (1-5) gave up four runs and five hits over 2 2/3 innings.
Orioles 9, Yankees 7
Gunnar Henderson collected three hits and Colton Cowser drove in three runs as visiting Baltimore hung on for a victory over New York, which was unable to clinch the American League East for the second straight night.
A night after clinching a playoff berth, Baltimore has a magic number of one to seal the top AL wild card. Henderson led off the game with an infield single as the Orioles scored three times and had six hits in the first inning against New York emergency starter Marcus Stroman. The Orioles finished with 17 hits and went 8-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
New York saw its magic number for clinching a second division title in three seasons remain at one. Juan Soto slugged a two-run homer in the fifth. Aaron Judge homered for the fourth straight game to up his major-league-leading total to 57.
Mariners 8, Astros 1
George Kirby pitched six strong innings, Julio Rodriguez joined the 20-20 club and Seattle kept pace in the playoff race with a win in Houston in the decisive game of a three-game series.
Seattle remained 2 1/2 games behind the final two American League wild-card spots after the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers both won later Wednesday. The Minnesota Twins also posted a victory on Wednesday, and they are just two games back of Kansas City and Detroit.
Astros rookie Shay Whitcomb committed four errors after replacing veteran Alex Bregman at third base in the fourth inning. Bregman, an impending free agent for Houston (86-73), was pulled from his potential last regular-season home game and received a nice ovation as he exited.
Guardians 5, Reds 2
Jose Ramirez hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning and Cleveland beat visiting Cincinnati to complete a two-game sweep.
Four Guardians pitchers retired the first 18 Reds batters. Cleveland’s Hunter Gaddis (6-3) blew a lead in the top of the eighth but earned the win. Emilio Pagan (4-5) served up Ramirez’s homer.
Cincinnati failed to score after loading the bases with no outs in the ninth against Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, who recorded his franchise-record 47th save.
Royals 3, Nationals 0
Robbie Grossman supplied a two-run single, and visiting Kansas City survived the early departure of starter Michael Lorenzen to beat Washington.
Michael Massey and Salvador Perez had two hits each for the Royals, who remain tied with the Detroit Tigers for the second and third American League wild cards. Lorenzen exited after 2 1/3 innings due to leg fatigue that he hopes is minor.
Daniel Lynch IV (2-0) tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings for the win as six Royals pitchers combined on the two-hit shutout. Lucas Erceg pitched the ninth for his 13th save.
Pirates 2, Brewers 1
Luis L. Ortiz allowed one run on four hits over seven innings and Liover Peguero drove in two runs in his season debut to lead host Pittsburgh past Milwaukee.
Peguero, who played a combined 60 games with Pittsburgh in 2022 and ‘23, had a two-run double while Isiah Kiner-Falefa had two hits for Pittsburgh. Those were the Pirates’ only three hits.
Jake Bauers hit a home run for Milwaukee, which had a two-game winning streak snapped. The Brewers were eliminated from contention for the National League’s two first-round playoff byes. They will be the No. 3 seed in the NL playoffs and will host a wild-card series next week.
White Sox 4, Angels 3 (10 innings)
Andrew Benintendi’s RBI single in the 10th inning led host Chicago to a victory over Los Angeles as the White Sox averted a modern major-league-record 121st loss in a season for the second straight day.
Jose Quijada (2-1) struck out Luis Robert Jr. to begin the 10th inning before Benintendi’s single to left-center field ended the game. Jared Shuster (2-4) pitched one scoreless inning for the win.
Korey Lee launched a two-run homer and Lenyn Sosa added a solo shot for the White Sox (38-120), who remained tied with the expansion 1962 New York Mets for the most single-season losses since 1901.
Twins 8, Marlins 3
Carlos Santana hit a three-run double to cap a five-run seventh inning and Minnesota pulled away from Miami in Minneapolis.
The Twins (82-76) kept within two games of the final American League wild-card spot with four to play. The Marlins reached 100 losses for the fourth time in franchise history, joining teams from 1998 (108 losses), 2013 (100) and 2019 (105).
Trevor Larnach went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Byron Buxton hit a solo home run for the hosts. Jake Burger went 2-for-5 with a double, a homer and three RBIs to lead Miami.
Rangers 5, A’s 1
Wyatt Langford ignited a three-run first inning with a home run and Texas turned out the lights on 57 years of night baseball at the Oakland Coliseum with a victory over the Athletics.
Rangers relievers Matt Festa (6-1), Andrew Chafin and Jose Leclerc held the A’s scoreless on just three hits over 5 1/3 innings. Adolis Garcia also homered for Texas.
Brent Rooker had a double and a single and Lawrence Butler added a pair of singles for the A’s. Brady Basso (1-1) yielded five runs on six hits in three innings.
Cardinals 5, Rockies 2
Erick Fedde struck out 10 over seven strong innings, Masyn Winn tripled, doubled and scored twice and St. Louis beat Colorado in Denver.
Fedde (9-9) allowed one run on six hits and a walk. Pedro Pages, Ivan Herrera and Thomas Saggese also had two hits apiece for the Cardinals. Ryan Helsley got the final two outs with one pitch for his major-league-leading 48th save.
Brenton Doyle homered and Aaron Schunk, Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Jones had two hits each for the Rockies.
–Field Level Media
Sports
A'ja Wilson has no shortage of motivation after Aces' early exit in '24
Oct 1, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson (22) and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) during game two of the 2024 WNBA Semi-finals at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images LAS VEGAS — Entering her eighth season in the WNBA, Las Vegas Aces superstar A’ja Wilson is poised to build on what was arguably the most dominant individual campaign in league history.
Wilson joined Cynthia Cooper (1997) as the second player in league history to win a unanimous MVP award and joined an exclusive club as the fourth player to win the award three times. She averaged 26.9 points and 11.9 rebounds per game last season and set the all-time single-season mark for points (1,021) and rebounds (451).
Unfortunately for Las Vegas, injuries and fatigue from their two previous championship runs mounted and resulted in the team’s worst regular-season record (27-13) since 2019. The Aces’ three-peat hopes ended with a 76-62 home loss to the New York Liberty to drop their semifinal series 3-1.
It’s that loss on her home floor that served as Wilson’s motivation this offseason.
“Losing sucks, especially on your home court,” Wilson said “It still kind of burns a little bit, but I’ve used that as fuel to help my teammates understand how hard it is to win in this league. Yes, we can celebrate the two championships. They were great. But for us to move forward, we have to understand how hard this league is and value the basketball and the little things. I think that’s what we lacked last season, so we’re going to make sure that we can show up better than we did.”
While the Aces appeared to be on top of the world heading into their potential three-peat campaign in 2024, the reality inside the locker room was that both the internal and external pressure to win another championship had become suffocating. A common theme across media day was the fact that the team feels less pressure entering the 2025 season, a sentiment Wilson shared as the unquestioned leader of the team.
“(Three-peat talks) obviously impacted us, because it’s like, y’all think we don’t want to win? We’re trying as well,” Wilson said.
“I would definitely say it’s refreshing this year. I feel like this is one of my only years where it feels like there’s no weight. There’s a lot of weight to be defending champs. It’s a lot of weight to be trying to win one. We don’t have that. We actually have a clean slate to really dial into getting back to who we are culturally, like, in our system and everything.”
Leading the Aces back to the top of the mountain for a third time in four years is one of a few historically significant achievements Wilson can collect this upcoming season. Wilson could also become the first four-time MVP in league history, though the meaning of that is something she hasn’t quite allowed herself to ponder yet.
“I haven’t given it much thought, but it would be a blessing to have my name in that conversation,” Wilson said. “Every year, I try to be better than I was the year before just to give myself a chance in this league. Because the league is getting better. We’re growing. At this point, you just want to maintain your stamina. You want to maintain your mental, all of that, because the season gets hard. I can’t think too much about that just yet, but I’m definitely going to try to be better than I was last year.”
As Aces coach Becky Hammon put it, fans can expect to see an even better version of Wilson this season.
“What I see is, she went and got better,” Hammon said. “Which is hard to do when you’re already the best, but it speaks to her work ethic, her desire and her mindset this whole offseason. We talked a lot this offseason. She’s a busy lady, but I can tell you what she always does is her workouts. She’s always getting her workouts in. That comes first and foremost, she never gets her priorities jumbled up.”
When Hammon was asked what a player like Wilson would possibly need to improve after last season’s campaign, the coach did not feel like revealing too much.
“There was (something for Wilson to improve), and she did,” Hammon said. “I’m not going to tell you what it was. Actually, there were two things.”
–Will Despart, Field Level Media
Sports
Jacob Wilson joins Aaron Judge in spotlight for Yankees-A's series
May 5, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson (5) throws to first for an out against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images The top two hitters in the majors square off Friday night when the New York Yankees face the Athletics in the opener of a three-game series in Sacramento, Calif.
It’s no surprise to see Yankees star Aaron Judge off to a superb start after winning American League MVP honors last season. He has a major league-best .400 batting average and entered Thursday’s play tied for the big-league lead with 12 homers and 34 RBIs.
But who had Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson ranking second in the majors at .357 as the season nears the quarter pole? Wilson has played in just 64 career games and quickly has solidified himself as a future All-Star, perhaps even this season.
Sharing the marquee board with Judge seems quite surreal for the 23-year-old shortstop who was the No. 6 overall pick of the 2023 draft.
“It’s a great feeling, for sure,” Wilson said of his name being mentioned with Judge. “Obviously, everybody has seen what he is doing. It’s pretty incredible watching him do his thing on a daily basis. To be up there with him is pretty cool for me.
“I’m excited to play against him this week and see what it looks like in person.”
Wilson had his first career four-hit game during Wednesday’s 6-5 home loss against the Seattle Mariners and has six multi-hit outings in the past eight games. He went 8-for-14 with one game-winning hit in the three-game series against the Mariners and is 16-for-34 (.471) with four walks during the eight-game stretch.
The hot hitting led to Athletics manager Mark Kotsay moving Wilson to the leadoff spot on Wednesday. Kotsay indicated Wilson may be sticking at the top of the lineup.
“I think you’ll see Jacob up there now,” Kotsay said. “Jacob’s earned it. … Jacob has shown enough over the last week. He’s walking and taking pitches, and, obviously, swinging the bat really well.”
Judge arrives in Sacramento in the midst of a four-game funk in which he is 2-for-15.
The two-time MVP just went 1-for-10 in a three-game home series against the San Diego Padres, but the one hit was a homer.
Judge grew up 50 miles south of Sacramento in Linden and starred for Linden High but wasn’t highly sought by major league teams. The then-Oakland Athletics selected him in the 31st round in 2010.
Judge instead went the college route and starred for Fresno State. He was chosen in the first round (32nd overall) by the Yankees in the 2013 draft.
Trent Grisham was one of the heroes of Wednesday’s 4-3, 10-inning win over the Padres. He hit a tying two-run pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning.
Grisham had two homers and five RBIs in the series against the Padres — one of his former teams — and already has 10 long balls in just 89 at-bats. He hit just nine last season in 179 at-bats.
“I’m having fun with the guys, I would say that more than anything,” Grisham said. “The clubhouse is really good in here, led by Cap (Judge). So, I would say the guys have been the most enjoyable part.”
New York is starting right-hander Will Warren (1-2, 5.65 ERA) in Friday’s series opener. Right-hander Osvaldo Bido (2-2, 4.71) will be on the mound for the Athletics.
Warren, 25, struck out a career-high eight in 4 2/3 innings while losing to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. He gave up five runs (three earned) and seven hits. Warren hasn’t previously faced the Athletics.
Bido, 29, received a no-decision against the Miami Marlins last Saturday when he gave up four runs on three hits over five innings. He is winless (0-1) over his last three starts. Bido hasn’t faced the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Report: Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao coming out of retirement
Aug 21, 2021; Las Vegas, Nevada; Manny Pacquiao (right) fights Yordenis Ugas in a world welterweight championship bout at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao plans to end his retirement and return to the ring on July 19 against Mario Barrios in Las Vegas, ESPN reported Thursday.
Pacquiao, 46, will be fighting for the first time since losing a unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas in 2021.
The fight will be for Barrios’ WBC welterweight championship belt. Barrios turns 30 on May 18.
Pacquiao is an eight-division champion who is slated to be inducted into the boxing Hall of Fame in June. He reportedly will formally announce his return to boxing next week. The report stated that Pacquiao has been cleared to compete by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
In recent years, Pacquiao has been focusing on his political career in the Philippines.
The boxer nicknamed “PacMan” has a 62-8-2 record with 39 knockouts during his career. He won his first major title — the WBC flyweight crown — at age 19 in 1998.
Pacquiao was 54-3-2 prior to turning 33 and 8-5 afterward. One of those losses was to Floyd Mayweather Jr. via unanimous decision in 2015, a bout that reportedly drew nearly $400 million in pay-per-view sales.
Barrios (29-2-1, 18 knockouts) fought to a 12-round, split-decision draw against Abel Ramos last November. This will be his third defense since winning the title by beating Ugas in 2023.
–Field Level Media
A'ja Wilson has no shortage of motivation after Aces' early exit in '24
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