Sports
Behind Bailey Ober, Twins vie for series sweep of Red Sox
May 17, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Bailey Ober (17) delivers a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images A strong pitching matchup is on tap as the visiting Minnesota Twins look to complete a three-game series sweep of the Boston Red Sox on Sunday afternoon.
Standing in the way of Bailey Ober (5-2, 3.63 ERA) and the Twins is fellow right-hander Sonny Gray (5-1, 2.93), who has allowed just two runs and struck out 17 batters in 17 innings across a three-game win streak.
Gray pitched six innings of one-run ball with a season-high nine strikeouts last Monday against the Kansas City Royals. It was his second straight outing of that length.
“The same as we’ve seen (in) the last two outings,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said of Gray’s recent stretch. “Just in complete control, in and out, up, down, changing speeds. Had a nice front-door sinker, running it back on lefties, catching the inside corner. He was sensational.”
Gray, who is 3-6 with a 5.63 ERA in 11 career starts against Minnesota, again will look to play the role of stopper for his team after the Twins started the series with 8-6 and 4-2 victories.
On Saturday, the Red Sox were limited to five hits, but a ninth-inning rally after loading the bases was cut short. It was the 22nd game this season in which they were held to two or fewer runs (2-20).
“We gave ourselves chances and had a big, big shot there,” Tracy said.
Ceddanne Rafaela had Boston’s lone RBI hit on a double in the fourth inning.
Willson Contreras was 2-for-3 and scored a run, but he also was at the center of a minor benches-clearing altercation after he slowed up before running into Twins catcher and former Chicago Cubs teammate Victor Caratini covering the plate.
“It wasn’t anything malicious or anything at all, it was not bad intention,” Contreras said. “For him to get that mad at that was kind of surprising. For the benches to empty, that was surprising as well.”
The Twins claimed the series and won their third straight on Saturday. Trevor Larnach’s 4-for-5 day with a double and two runs helped make a winner out of Taj Bradley, who returned from the injured list to pitch five innings of one-run ball.
The victories have come in different ways for Minnesota. It scored five unanswered runs to finish Friday’s series opener before a two-run first inning started things off on Saturday. The latter game featured a 12-hit performance, with four players posting multiple hits.
“We took (the Fenway Park crowd) out until the end and then they got a little rowdy like they do here, but overall, our guys continued to battle in another really good team victory,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said.
Like Gray, Ober is in the midst of a solid run of his own. He has won back-to-back and three of his last four starts.
After holding the Miami Marlins to two hits in a complete-game shutout on May 12, Ober grinded through five innings of three-run ball to beat the Milwaukee Brewers in his most recent outing last Sunday.
“I’m not always going to have my stuff like I did last game, where I’m able to locate everything, and I know that,” Ober said of his last outing. “I feel like I did enough for the team to stay in it.”
Ober is 2-2 with a 2.48 ERA in five career starts against the Red Sox. He earned his second straight win in the series back on April 13, striking out seven through a six-inning start.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cloud9 escapes with win over FlyQuest in LCS Spring playoff opener
YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year. After an unbeaten regular season, Cloud9 opened the playoffs of the LCS Spring event in Los Angeles with a narrow win over FlyQuest in the first upper-bracket semifinal on Saturday.
Cloud9 jumped out to a 2-0 lead before losing the next two games. It all came down to the fifth and final game, which Cloud9 won to advance to the upper-bracket final while FlyQuest fell into the lower-bracket quarterfinals, where it will next face Sentinels on May 30.
Eight teams competed in the best-of-three matches in the round-robin regular season with the top six advancing to the playoffs of the League of Legends event. The playoffs will be contested in best-of-five matches in a double-elimination format. The top two teams will qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational.
Cloud9 leapt ahead with a 25-minute win on red followed by a 32-minute victory on blue. FlyQuest leveled the match at 2 behind a 30-minute red triumph and a 31-minute win on blue. The deciding game was the longest of the match, with Cloud9 prevailing on red in 35 minutes.
Robert “Blaber” Huang was the MVP of the match for Cloud9, finishing with a combined kill-death-assist ratio of 10-15-35. Su-hyeong “Quad” Song of South Korea led FlyQuest with a 12-5-30 K-D-A ratio.
No. 2 seed LYON faces No. 3 seed Team Liquid in the other upper-bracket semifinal on Sunday. Both teams finished the regular season with a 5-2 record.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Suddenly surging Jays look to finish off sweep of Pirates
Apr 27, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Dylan Cease (84) delivers a pitch against the Boston Red Sox in the first inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images The host Toronto Blue Jays will send out Dylan Cease Sunday afternoon as they go for a three-game sweep of the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Blue Jays have won a season-best four straight, including the first two of a three-game series with the Pirates after a 5-2 victory on Saturday. Toronto left-hander Patrick Corbin allowed one run in six innings and struck out a season-best seven.
The Pirates have lost six of eight and their ace, Paul Skenes, allowed four runs and a career-high nine hits in taking the loss on Saturday. Skenes has allowed nine runs (five against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 17) over his past two starts and his ERA has jumped from 1.98 to 3.00.
“I wasn’t super unhappy with some of the execution on some of the pitches, but could have executed a number of them better,” Skenes said. “I’ll have to re-watch it again, but yeah, I think, probably similar to last week, probably not as bad as the line would suggest.”
Cease (3-2, 2.98 ERA) is coming off a May 19 road loss to the New York Yankees, who tagged him for five runs in five innings. He struck out nine but walked four.
“You walk guys, you fall behind, you’re probably not going to win,” Cease said. “When I’m in the zone, I like where I’m at. Didn’t do a good job of it today.”
Cease is 1-1 with a 3.54 ERA in five career starts against the Pirates. In two starts against them last season, he was 0-1 with a 5.19 ERA.
The Pirates are scheduled to start right-hander Mitch Keller (4-2, 3.86), who is 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA in two career starts against the Blue Jays.
Toronto designated hitter George Springer appears to have overcome his early-season struggles. He led off the bottom of the first with his fifth homer of the season and his third of the week on Saturday. He has 65 career leadoff homers. He also had a double on Saturday.
Springer is on a six-game hit streak, batting .320 (8-for-25) with two doubles, three homers and five RBIs.
“He’s trending in the right direction,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He’s taking some good swings this past week. It’s good to get him rolling a little bit.”
The Blue Jays have won seven of their past 10.
“I think our last 15, 16 games have been great,” Springer said. “Guys are starting to settle in and play to their strengths.”
Ernie Clement is one of those surging players. He was 1-for-4 with an RBI single on Saturday. In his past 14 games, he is hitting .362/.400/.574 with four doubles, two homers and seven RBIs.
Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds was 2-for-3 with a walk Saturday, becoming the 34th player to reach the 1,000-game plateau as a Pirate.
Former Blue Jay Spencer Horwitz was 1-for-3 and was hit by a pitch Saturday. The Pirates first baseman has played 18 games in May, and is batting .310 (18-for-58) with five doubles, one triple, one homer and 12 RBIs.
Pirates manager Don Kelly was ejected during the sixth inning of the loss. The Pirates felt that Jesus Sanchez had struck out on a checked swing before eventually hitting an RBI double in the three-run inning.
“We’re in a big moment right there,” Kelly said. “I thought Sanchez had check swung and went, for sure, at that ball. I just felt like it was a big moment. Obviously, I didn’t agree with the call.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Johnny Manziel delivers quick TKO win in 1-and-done MMA debut
Nov 30, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Former Texas A&M and Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel looks on prior to the game against the Texas Longhorns. The Longhorns defeated the Aggies 17-7 at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images Johnny Manziel made his amateur MMA debut Saturday at Brand Risk 14, making quick work of social media influencer Bob Menery in a 205-pound bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
In the opening minute, a lackadaisical Menery ran directly into a takedown. Manziel, a former NFL quarterback and the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner easily secured the mount, raining down elbows and punches until the bout was stopped at 2:15 of Round 1.
“Respected you for getting in here. Much love, brother,” Manziel said after being awarded an honorary “W U” belt for his victory.
Both men immediately indicated they have no intentions of fighting again, with Menery adding, “Not after that display,” when asked about a second fight.
The influencer-driven spectacle — pivoted from Miami to Vegas after promoter Adin Ross secured the blessing of UFC CEO Dana White — drew an exclusive crowd including music icon Chris Brown, Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby and UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland.
White previously helped generate buzz by publicly doubting the fight would even happen, stating he placed a $10,000 bet that the notoriously unpredictable Menery would no-show.
Saturday’s 11-fight card — with an MMA main card after a boxing prelim card — was the first Brand Risk event held outside Miami or Nashville since its inception.
Brand Risk 14 main card (MMA)
Johnny Manziel def. Bob Menery by TKO (Round 1, 2:16)
Lance Stephenson def. Michael Beasley by submission (rear-naked choke) (Round 1, 1:26)
DeWayne “Supah Hot Fire” Stevenson def. William “Ray J” Norwood Jr. by TKO (Round 2, 0:26)
Johnathan “No Neck Jay” Webb def. Shane Chance by KO (Round 2, 1:10)
Jeremy Smith def. Ryder Warbrick by unanimous decision
Dominick “Dom the Troll” Giannetto def. Tommy Tough Knuckles by submission (rear-naked choke) (Round 1, 0:29)
–Field Level Media
Cloud9 escapes with win over FlyQuest in LCS Spring playoff opener
Suddenly surging Jays look to finish off sweep of Pirates
