Sports
'Dirtbag' Pirates pursue road sweep of power-starved Brewers
Apr 21, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski (50) comes off the field after he pitches against the Texas Rangers during the first inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images The visiting Pittsburgh Pirates will turn to right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski on Sunday afternoon as they look to complete a sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Mlodzinski (1-1, 3.28 ERA) will oppose Brewers left-hander Kyle Harrison (1-1, 3.06).
The Pirates scored three runs in the 10th inning en route to a 6-3 victory Saturday, fueled by RBI singles from Bryan Reynolds and Nick Gonzales. It was Reynolds’ 51st RBI in 102 career games against Milwaukee, which lost its fourth straight contest.
The Pirates have clinched their third straight series victory against a National League Central rival this season.
“In division, to be able to win series is really important,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said following Saturday’s game. “We need to continue to do that, and I think that continuing that gritty, dirtbag style of baseball is what we need to do.”
Milwaukee is in last place in the division despite its .500 record.
Mlodzinski lost his last start, allowing five runs in 4 1/3 innings in a 5-1 defeat Tuesday at Texas. In the two starts before that, he did not allow a run in 11 1/3 innings.
He has not given up a home run this season in 24 2/3 innings in five games, including four starts.
Mlodzinski will make his first career start against Milwaukee after 12 relief appearances. He is 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA against the Brewers, allowing 11 runs, but only six earned, in 15 1/3 innings.
Gonzales had three hits Saturday to extend his hitting streak to six games. He is batting .458 (11-for-24) over that span, with three RBIs.
“We need to keep earning it. It’s a daily thing,” Kelly said. “We still need to keep grinding it out and getting after it and continue to earn that respect every day.”
Without injured starters Jackson Chourio, Andrew Vaughn and Christian Yelich, the power-starved Brewers have just one home run in their last 10 games, including none in their last six — their longest streak since six games in July 2015.
“When you’re going through a spell where you feel like nothing’s going right, it seems like everything backfires,” manager Pat Murphy said Saturday. “But there’s a lot of great performances I can point out.”
Harrison lasted just three innings in his last start, allowing one run on four hits without a decision in a 12-4 win at Detroit on Tuesday. He struck out three but walked three, hit one batter and had a wild pitch in the 72-pitch outing.
Harrison has faced the Pirates once, when he was with the San Francisco Giants, tossing five scoreless innings without a decision in a 3-0 win in 2024.
“The Pirates are a couple games ahead of us, but you’d think they’re in first place,” Murphy said. “They’re playing with such great confidence. They’ve got a nice team.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Better-rested Nashville SC welcome Charlotte FC
Apr 11, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Nashville SC forward Sam Surridge (9) chases the loose ball during the second half against the Charlotte FC at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kinser-Imagn Images Two months into the regular season, Nashville SC built the best record in the Eastern Conference while juggling matches in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Now, Nashville will have had a rare full week’s rest when it hosts Charlotte FC on Saturday.
Nashville SC (6-1-1, 19 points) had Wednesday off while much of the league was in action. They also didn’t have a midweek Champions Cup fixture for a change: Nashville beat Club America on aggregate last week and will tussle with Mexican power Tigres UANL in the semifinals beginning April 28.
“I think when you actually get a full week of training, you can really focus on yourself for periods of time,” Nashville head coach B.J. Callaghan said. “Obviously when you’re playing every two days, a lot of it has to do with recovery and thinking about what you’re going to do for the opponent.”
Recovery helps, too. Callaghan said Nashville’s top scorer Sam Surridge, who hasn’t played since April 11 due to a hamstring injury, is back at practice and available for selection. He’s tied with Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi for third in the league with seven goals.
That April 11 match was the first meeting between regional rivals Nashville and Charlotte this year. Edvard Tagseth and Patrick Yazbek scored in either half to lift Nashville to a 2-1 road win.
“We didn’t play well in the first half against Nashville. We never got the ball back,” Charlotte coach Dean Smith said this week. “I didn’t think we pressed as well as we could’ve, with the intensity that we needed to. We certainly need to go and do that.”
Charlotte FC (4-3-2, 14 points) have dropped two of three in league play, most recently taking a 4-1 road loss to Orlando City on Wednesday. That was Charlotte’s highest yield of the season, yet Smith insisted his team played better than in its previous match, a 2-1 win over New York City FC. Defender Morrison Agyemang, 21, had his first career goal.
Smith said defender and U.S. men’s national team captain Tim Ream (adductor) will miss one more match but should be ready for May 2 at the New England Revolution.
“I think they’ve had to make a few adjustments with Tim Ream out,” Callaghan said, “but I think what you always get from Charlotte is a really well-coached team, organized in a lot of phases and again, that highlights a lot of — I would say, some of their individual attacking qualities really are able to come out from that.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Red-hot San Jose Earthquakes seek 1st-ever win over St. Louis City
Apr 22, 2026; San Jose, California, USA; San Jose Earthquakes forward Timo Werner (11) celebrates scoring the team’s second goal against Austin FC in the second half at PayPal Park. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images St. Louis City SC has never lost or tied in six matches against the San Jose Earthquakes in their four-year existence.
If current form holds for both teams, that streak figures to end Saturday night when San Jose invades Energizer Park in a fixture of Western Conference squads.
After routing Austin 5-1 on Wednesday in northern California, the Earthquakes (8-1-0, 24 points) boast the top record in MLS and are tied with Vancouver for the best goal differential at plus-18.
Meanwhile, St. Louis (1-4-3, 6 points) is coming off a 4-1 loss last Saturday at Seattle that extended its MLS winless streak to three matches (0-1-2). Not only is it once again struggling to score goals — it has seven in eight matches — but its defense has conceded at least once in every match.
Midfielder Marcel Hartel didn’t have a real answer when asked why the team continues to struggle to finish its chances.
“That’s a good question,” he said. “We speak about it after every game — analyze the goals we concede, the goals we score. We defend good as a collective. … We have to score more goals. We have good opportunities in every game.”
The return of Eduard Lowen could help St. Louis unlock its offense. He played briefly at the end in Seattle and scored in stoppage time.
As for San Jose, its only problem might be overcheering. The team is scoring nearly three goals per match and its defense, an issue last year when it missed the playoffs, is maintaining its shape beautifully.
It’s adding up to another magical second season for coach Bruce Arena. If the Earthquakes earn the Supporters’ Shield, it would be the fourth team Arena has coached that has earned that honor in his second year with that squad.
“We won nine games last year. We have eight now,” he said. “I attribute it simply that they grind it out, they work hard every day and they like each other.”
Oussemi Bouda and Preston Judd each have five goals, while four other players have scored two goals each.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Timbers focused on present, not past disappointment vs. San Diego
Apr 18, 2026; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Portland Timbers forward Kristoffer Velde (99) controls the ball as Minnesota United FC defender Morris Duggan (23) defends during the second half at Allianz Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images The Portland Timbers will try to avoid focusing on vengeance for last season’s playoff exit on Saturday night when they visit a San Diego FC squad enduring the roughest stretch of the club’s two-year existence.
The Timbers (2-5-1, 7 points) were one of eight clubs that didn’t play on Wednesday.
That gave manager Phil Neville’s side a week to prepare for a San Diego side that eliminated Portland from the playoffs last season in a tightly contested first-round series.
But with Portland currently five points beneath the playoff line in the Western Conference, he hopes his squad can leave the emotion of that defeat behind.
“I don’t do revenge,” Neville said. “I think that’s very short-sighted. I think if you get clouded with that kind of emotion, you don’t have clarity of mind. … I think I see it as an opportunity rather than revenge, and I’m sure they do as well.”
Kristoffer Velde leads the Timbers with three goals, including the first in the Timbers’ 2-1 victory over LAFC two weekends ago.
Eight other players have each scored once for a side that has lost its first four away fixtures, including 2-0 at Minnesota last weekend.
San Diego (3-4-2, 11 points) enters having lost four straight in the league, one game more than its longest losing stretch in the club’s inaugural 2025 season.
Amid that dynamic, SDFC manager Mikey Varas agrees there won’t be much carryover from last postseason.
“Every season, the teams are a little bit different, so it’s all a fresh start,” Varas said. “The team is really hungry to continue making steps forward and get back to our best.”
Three of those four defeats have come on the road, with San Diego failing to score in two of those away fixtures.
San Diego has also seen a player sent off in four of its last five matches. Striker Amahl Pellegrino was dismissed in the 79th minute of Wednesday’s 1-0 loss at the Houston Dynamo and will serve his one-match suspension Saturday.
Marcus Ingvartsen leads San Diego with five league goals and Anders Dreyer has four.
–Field Level Media
Every Major Change One Piece Season 2 Made To The Source Material
Better-rested Nashville SC welcome Charlotte FC
