Ryan Vilade hit a two-run homer and Richie Palacios added a three-run blast as the Tampa Bay Rays opened a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians with an 11-3 win on Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Shane McClanahan (9-6) allowed one run on two hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out three while throwing 71 pitches. Chris Roycroft closed the game with three scoreless innings for his first career save.

Nick Fortes went 4-for-4 with two RBIs, and Jonny DeLuca and Chandler Simpson each had two hits with an RBI for Tampa Bay, which led 5-1 after four innings and won for the fourth time in its last five games. Cedric Mullins added two hits.

Austin Hedges hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning for Cleveland, which was outhit 15-7 and lost its third straight.

Vilade gave the Rays the lead in the second inning with a two-run homer against Joey Cantillo (8-6). The 365-foot shot was Vilade’s eighth homer of the season.

McClanahan did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, when Chase DeLauter extended his season-high on-base streak to 16 games with a leadoff double and scored on Brayan Rocchio’s one-out double.

Tampa Bay extended its lead with three runs on four hits in the fourth inning. Mullins began the rally with a leadoff triple and scored on DeLuca’s single.

After Simpson reached on a bunt single, Vilade walked and DeLuca scored on Ben Williamson’s fielder’s choice grounder to first baseman Rhys Hoskins.

Fortes followed with an RBI single before Cantillo struck out the next two batters. Matt Festa entered and stranded the bases loaded when Junior Caminero popped out.

Cantillo allowed five runs on eight hits over 3 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.

With two runners on and two outs in the sixth inning, the Rays tacked on a run when Fortes raced home from second base on Caminero’s single to left field.

The Rays scored again with two outs in the seventh on back-to-back doubles by Williamson and Fortes. Tampa Bay added four runs in the eighth on Simpson’s sacrifice fly and Palacios’ three-run homer to right-center.

–Field Level Media

Roki Sasaki struck out nine and allowed just one run over seven innings, earning his first win in two months as the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Mets 4-2 on Friday.

Kyle Tucker went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer in the eighth that gave the Dodgers some breathing room. Freddie Freeman finished 3-for-4, scoring twice, and Shohei Ohtani (2-for-4) hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh that put Los Angeles on top for the first time.

Luis Robert Jr. hit a solo homer off Sasaki (4-5) in the second inning for the Mets, who collected only four hits. Francisco Alvarez added a solo shot off Evan Phillips in the eighth.

Los Angeles’ Tanner Scott pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 16th save.

Most of the game was a pitchers’ duel between two starters with ERAs higher than 4.70. Sasaki matched his season high by going seven innings for the third time. The right-hander’s nine strikeouts were his second-highest total in 2026.

Sasaki permitted three hits, walked two and retired the last nine batters he faced.

Sasaki needed to be sharp as Sean Manaea gave up just a run over six innings while fanning three. The Dodgers got leadoff hits in five of those innings, but the Mets left-hander, who allowed six hits and two walks, benefited from a couple big throws by Carson Benge.

The Mets right fielder cut down Ohtani trying to extend a leadoff double into a triple in the fifth. An inning later, after catching a Miguel Rojas fly ball, he got Freeman on a one-hop throw to the plate to secure an inning-ending double play.

Los Angeles took the lead with some soft contact off Brooks Raley (4-5), who took over for Manaea in the seventh. Tucker led off with an infield single and took third on a bloop hit by Teoscar Hernandez (2-for-4).

Dalton Rushing tried a safety squeeze, but the Mets caught Tucker in a rundown. Tucker avoided being tagged long enough to let Hernandez and Rushing take second and third, respectively, allowing Ohtani to give the Dodgers the lead with his subsequent fly ball to center.

New York’s Juan Soto left in the sixth inning because of a sore left calf, the same issue that prompted the Mets to give him the day off Wednesday. After the game, the team announced that Soto would undergo imaging Saturday on his calf.

–Field Level Media

To hear Tim Pernetti tell it, elected officials on Capitol Hill don’t like to see him coming.

“I’ve walked the halls in D.C. more than Frank Underwood did in ‘House of Cards,'” the commissioner of the American Conference said Friday at the league’s football media day.

“The American has a seat at the table. That’s great news. We have a national respected voice.”

Pernetti has made a point of being the most visible commissioner of a Group of Six conference and fighting for representation for the so-called little guys.

In Friday’s address to reporters in St. Petersburg, Fla., he expressed his support for the Protect College Sports Act progressing through Congress and said that if the size of the College Football Playoff doubles, G6 bids should double, too.

“The American’s position on the CFP is clear,” Pernetti said. “We’re supportive of an expanded playoff that provides more access for every conference.

“We’re asking for two things — fairness and common sense. Here’s a fact – 51% of FBS schools competing in football are outside the autonomy conferences. So, in any expanded format, including the one you’re reading about that could double the field to 24 teams, access should double for everyone.”

As for the Protect College Sports Act, the latest version of the bill, co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, would focus on NIL regulation and the implementation of a one-time transfer policy.

“It’s time for structure in college sports,” Pernetti said. “While this bill isn’t perfect, it addresses the core challenges facing the industry, led and headlined by transfers and eligibility.

“It demands that NIL deals have a legitimate business purpose. I promise you this, that will put an end to these sham pay-for-play deals that are turning recruiting into this unchecked auction.

“It’s progress over perfection.”

–Navy was voted the preseason favorite in the American Conference preseason media poll, garnering half the 14 first-place votes and finishing 12 total points above Memphis.

Navy has gone 11-2 and 10-3 over the past two seasons, including a 13-3 mark in conference games. The Midshipmen appeared in the AP poll both years.

The service academies may have done more for the American Conference than put their historic football programs in the mix. Pernetti pointed to the additions of Army and Navy as a gateway to getting more attention in Washington. Navy has been a football member since 2015, while Army only joined in 2024.

“Army and Navy being in our conferences has been great for us, but their engagement enabled me to create engagement in Washington, D.C., which got me in the room as part of these committees for college sports,” Pernetti said. “Their national profile and the relationships they brought to the table has really enabled the American to get to the table, and now we’re in the group. So we have a national voice in all this change.”

–Charles Huff was not shy in the way he introduced himself as the head coach of Memphis at his first American media day.

“Seventy-one new players,” Huff said of his roster. “I’ve kind of become the Lane Kiffin of the Group of Five. Which is the portal king.”

Huff’s rapid rise through the coaching ranks has taken him from Marshall (2021-24) to Southern Miss (2025) and then to Memphis in just a few years. The 43-year-old guided Marshall to a 10-3 season in 2024, and he took 21 of those players with him when he accepted the job at Southern Miss, which finished 7-5 in his lone season.

This time, 17 players followed Huff to his new post, meaning not all 71 newcomers at Memphis are starting from scratch.

“The first thing you’ve got to realize is it doesn’t matter about talent if you can’t get them to come together,” Huff said. “For us, we’ve been blessed to be in a situation where we’ve been able to retain some of them even though we’ve moved locations, which helps. And that’s the first step.”

At Memphis, Huff replaces Ryan Silverfield, who became the coach at Arkansas.

–Field Level Media