Sports
After ending skid, Yankees look to continue hold on Twins
Jun 29, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Zebby Matthews (52) pitches against the Houston Astros in the first inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images Seven games of frustration were more than enough for the New York Yankees.
After snapping their ugly slide, the Yankees will shoot for another win Saturday afternoon when they host the Minnesota Twins.
New York ended its longest skid since dropping nine straight Aug. 12-22, 2023, in a season when it won 82 games and was without Aaron Judge for nearly two months due to a fractured toe.
The Yankees have played the past month with Judge, who is sidelined due to a right rib stress fracture. They are 13-15 without their captain, including a series-opening 5-2 win over Minnesota.
After batting .137 during the seven-game skid, New York did enough with six hits on Friday. Ben Rice hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the third inning, Trent Grisham homered and lifted a sacrifice fly, and Jose Caballero had an RBI single.
“It doesn’t feel good to lose so many games,” Rice said. “I think everyone in this room was ready to turn the corner. I’m happy we were able to get the win.”
Rice enters Saturday with 24 homers on the season but just seven hits in 49 at-bats (.143) over his past 13 games. Paul Goldschmidt is hitless in his past 20 at-bats while Cody Bellinger is in a 5-for-49 (.102) skid over his past 14 games.
Minnesota has lost 32 of its past 38 games at Yankee Stadium, regular season and postseason, and has just two wins in its past 14 meetings with the Yankees overall. The Twins went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position in the series opener and struck out 14 times against Gerrit Cole and four relievers.
“We’ve been good with runners in scoring position,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton, whose team is hitting a major-league-leading .285 in those situations. “Tonight we had a tough night. We didn’t get the big hit, which we’ve been getting.”
Kody Clemens homered and Victor Caratini hit an RBI single, but the Twins struck out at least 14 times for the fifth time this season. Royce Lewis fanned twice, and he heads into Saturday with three hits in his past 15 at-bats.
Twins center fielder Byron Buxton missed his fourth straight game because of right hip impingement.
Zebby Matthews (4-5, 4.15 ERA), who is 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA in his past three outings, starts for Minnesota on Saturday. Matthews has allowed two runs or fewer in six of his nine starts, including Monday in Houston, when he yielded one run on four hits in seven innings during a victory.
Matthews is 0-2 with a 12.46 ERA in a pair of starts against the Yankees. He allowed three runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings during a 6-2 loss in New York on Aug. 11, 2025, and was tagged for nine runs on 11 hits in three innings in a 10-9 defeat on Sept. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis.
Carlos Rodon was scheduled to start on Saturday until the Yankees put him on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation on Friday. Instead, Brendan Beck (0-0, 6.00 ERA) will make his first career start and second career major league appearance.
Beck made his major league debut by allowing two runs in a three-inning relief outing on May 7 against the Texas Rangers. At Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year, the 27-year-old right-hander is 7-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 16 starts, having struck out 91 in 88 innings.
New York rookie center fielder Spencer Jones was optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the Friday game. Jones hit .233 with two homers and seven RBIs in 30 games with the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Pro-Argentina crowd helps spur dramatic win over Cape Verde
July 3, 2026; Miami Gardens, Florida, U.S.; Argentina fans in the stands during the match. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images When Argentina twice conceded equalizing goals to Cape Verde in the round of 32 on Friday night, the decidedly partisan Albiceleste crowd did not grow quiet.
If anything, the volume increased as La Doce made the stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., their own, imploring their side to a 3-2, extra-time victory that will go down as one of the all-time great World Cup matches.
For Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni, it was very much appreciated.
“I think the (fans) are the first ones who understand that this is Argentina, nothing is easy,” Scaloni said through an interpreter. “When you have bad results, you must have character as you have 47 million people rooting for you, and you need the courage to bounce back from that. And this team has it. I think people know it.”
At a tournament where critics have questioned whether the matchday atmosphere would suffer as a result of record-high ticket prices, Argentina’s supporters have continued to do whatever it takes to pack American stadiums.
It was particularly true Friday in South Florida, which has one of the country’s highest concentrations of Argentine lineage, and an MLS team in Inter Miami that is the club home of Albiceleste stars Lionel Messi and Rodrigo de Paul.
“There are Argentinians everywhere,” Messi said through an interpreter. “Many people came here. Even those who came without tickets, they had a lot of excitement, and they supported us as they always do.”
Fans of other South American nations — particularly Colombia and Ecuador — have also created fiercely partisan environments despite ticket prices.
Yet after Argentina ended a 36-year drought and won the 2022 World Cup, perhaps none are as unrelenting as those who support the Albiceleste with the confidence that such support will be rewarded.
That was eventually true Friday, long after Messi opened the scoring with his World Cup-record-increasing 20th career goal. The matter wasn’t settled until Cristian Romero’s 111th-minute header caromed off Cape Verde defender Diney Borges and over the line.
Even Cape Verde manager Bubista noticed the resiliency of Argentina’s support following his side’s two game-tying goals, including a fabulous strike from Sidny Lopes Cabral that made it 2-all in the 103rd minute.
“Looking at the stadium virtually filled with Argentinians also shows the greatness of the team, of the nation, of their football,” he said. “I think they’re already used to that. Obviously the public in attendance tonight helped with that at points.
“Even when we equalized, we felt the (fans) cheering Argentina on in moments of difficulty throughout the match.”
–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media
Sports
Jake McCarthy belts leadoff homer, slam as Rockies rout Giants
Jul 3, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies outfielder Jake McCarthy (31) celebrates after hitting a first pitch home run in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images Jake McCarthy hit the first pitch of the home half of the first inning for a home run and later added a grand slam, propelling the Colorado Rockies to a 15-3 shellacking of the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game series Friday night in Denver.
McCarthy finished with four hits and a career-high six RBIs, and Cole Carrigg drove in three runs and tripled twice for the Rockies, who won their third game in a row.
The 15 runs were Colorado’s second most this season, one more than the Rockies put up in a 14-4 home win over the Miami Marlins on Thursday but far below their total in a 23-9 win over the Athletics on June 14 in Las Vegas.
McCarthy’s first-swing homer came off Giants ace Logan Webb (5-6), the National League Pitcher of the Month for June. Webb struggled through a three-inning outing, allowing seven runs and 11 hits. He walked two and struck out two.
The Rockies wasted no time piling on Webb after McCarthy’s homer. They scored twice more on three more hits in the first inning, then tallied two more in both the second and third innings, building a 7-1 lead.
Ezequiel Tovar launched his seventh homer to account for the second-inning runs. Carrigg had his first triple in the third before scoring on a fielder’s choice, and McCarthy added an RBI single.
Up 7-2, Colorado busted the game wide open with a seven-run fifth, highlighted by McCarthy’s second career grand slam. The blast made the left fielder just the seventh player in major league history to record a leadoff home run and a grand slam in the same game, according to MLB.com.
The two homers gave McCarthy nine for the season.
Rockies starter Ryan Feltner (3-2) coasted through six innings, striking out nine. He allowed all three Giants runs, two earned, on six hits and no walks.
Making his major league debut, Gabriel Hughes shut out the Giants on two hits over the final three innings to earn a save.
Kyle Karros scored three times, while McCarthy, Tovar, Carrigg, Hunter Goodman and Edouard Julien all scored twice for the Rockies, who improved to 3-1 against the Giants this season. Tovar also compiled three hits and three RBIs, Karros had the club’s third triple among his three hits, and Goodman and Mickey Moniak chipped in with two hits apiece.
Colorado totaled 18 hits, seven for extra bases.
Rafael Devers belted his 16th home run among two hits and Casey Schmitt had a pair of singles for the Giants, who have lost three of four to begin a six-game trip.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Early goal carries Colombia past Ghana, into round of 16
July 3, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.; Colombia’s Jhon Arias celebrates scoring their first goal. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images Jhon Arias scored the lone goal in the 14th minute and Colombia earned a spot in the World Cup’s round of 16 with a 1-0 victory over Ghana on Friday in Kansas City, Mo.
Arias’ goal held up as the Colombian defense didn’t allow Ghana to get a single shot on goal against goalkeeper Camilo Vargas.
Colombia will face Switzerland in the round of 16 on Tuesday in Vancouver.
Colombia didn’t qualify for the 2022 World Cup, but they did reach the round of 16 in 2018 and the quarterfinals in 2014.
Lawrence Ati Zigi was stellar in goal with seven saves for Ghana.
Colombia had a 16-8 edge in shots and placed eight on target.
Luis Suarez set up the Colombia goal when he sent a cross from the right side toward the center. The ball narrowly sailed over the heads of two players — one from each team — to the wide-open Arias, who sent a right-footed shot into the far corner.
Luis Diaz had a solid opportunity for Colombia in the 39th minute, but his close-range right-footed shot was wide left.
Colombia kept the heat on and had a chance in the first minute of first-half stoppage time. Daniel Munoz sent a cross over to Johan Mojica, but his header was knocked aside by Zigi’s right hand.
Zigi made two big saves in a short span of the second half to keep the margin at one.
In the 55th minute, Gustavo Puerta took a shot from the left side and pinpointed it for the far post, but Zigi knocked the ball away with both hands. Three minutes later, Diaz had another close-range opportunity, but Zigi again thwarted his right-footed shot.
Colombia took another shot at adding to the lead on Juan Fernando Quintero’s corner kick in the 81st minute. Davinson Sanchez fought to find positioning, but his header was saved by Zigi.
As time dwindled away, Colombia kept on the pressure as Ghana struggled to come close to an equalizer.
–Field Level Media
Marvel’s Most Underrated Villain Just Returned, And Nobody Noticed
Pro-Argentina crowd helps spur dramatic win over Cape Verde
