Sports
Evander's FC Cincinnati surging into road tilt with sinking Charlotte
Apr 25, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; FC Cincinnati midfielder Evander (10) dribbles against Red Bull New York in the first half at TQL Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images Two middling teams in the Eastern Conference clash Saturday night when FC Cincinnati takes on host Charlotte FC.
Cincinnati (4-4-3, 15 points) arrives on the upswing after beating the New York Red Bulls and Chicago to vault back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture. It sits sixth in the Eastern Conference with potential for more by getting guys back from injury to be close to full strength.
“The idea is not to play guys out of position,” head coach Pat Noonan said. “It was a unique stretch there and, hopefully with the healthy (players) of those returning, we can get guys in more comfortable positions and have better depth, better health and better competition.”
In their most recent match last Saturday at Chicago, their star, Evander, netted his first career hat trick in a 3-2 gut-check win. Evander ranks second on the team with five goals, one behind Kevin Denkey.
Charlotte (4-5-2, 14 points) comes into Saturday night having lost its last five MLS regular-season matches. It also lost in the Round of 16 in the U.S. Open Cup last week.
After a 4-0-2 start, Charlotte FC hasn’t won since April 18 to drop to seventh in the Eastern Conference. They lost two of those MLS regular-season games by multiple goals, but their most recent match was a 1-0 loss to the New England Revolution last Saturday. It was a hard-fought effort from Charlotte, but it still did not stop its losing streak.
“I thought the players pressed extremely well,” head coach Dean Smith said. “But, we must improve on what we did, but also know that the opposition is going to play a little bit differently as well.”
Midfielder Pep Biel leads Charlotte with five goals, one of six players with multiple goals.
Charlotte leads the all-time series 4-2-2 and it swept Cincinnati last year. Cincinnati hasn’t beaten Charlotte since September 2023.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Astros blast four homers, blank slumping Reds
Houston Astros left fielder Zach Dezenzo (9) celebrates a two-run home run in the second inning of the MLB Interleague game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Houston Astros at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati on Friday, May 8, 2026. Zach Cole hit a three-run homer during a five-run ninth inning and the visiting Houston Astros beat Cincinnati 10-0 on Friday, sending the Reds to their eighth straight defeat.
Zach Dezenzo, Yordan Alvarez and Christian Vazquez also homered for Houston, which opened the three-game series by recording its third shutout of the season.
Mike Burrows (2-4) allowed three hits with one walk and six strikeouts over a career-high seven innings. He retired the last 11 batters he faced.
The Reds were outhit 13-5 while being blanked for the fourth time this season. Cincinnati has lost nine of its last 10 to fall into last place in the National League Central.
Vazquez followed Cole’s homer in the ninth with a solo shot against Tony Santillan. The Astros continued their onslaught against position player Jose Trevino, who made his fourth pitching appearance of the season.
Houston set the tone with two runs in the second inning against Nick Lodolo (0-1), who was making his season debut after dealing with a blister on his left index finger.
Lodolo retired the first two batters in the second before Brice Matthews tripled and scored when Dezenzo deposited a 1-2 sinker into the right field seats.
Cincinnati’s best scoring threat came when it loaded the bases with one out in the fourth. Burrows escaped the jam when Spencer Steer flied out and Tyler Stephenson struck out on three pitches.
Houston added to its lead in the sixth when Jose Altuve was hit by a pitch with one out and Alvarez followed with a two-run homer to right center. The 407-foot blast was Alvarez’s team-leading 13th homer of the season.
Lodolo allowed four runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out two.
Houston tacked on a run in the eighth inning against Tejay Antone when Altuve hit a leadoff double, moved to third on Alvarez’s groundout and scored on Isaac Paredes’ groundout to second.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Kaden Honeycutt earns first Truck Series win in NY
Kaden Honeycutt during his post-race press conference after he won the General Tire 100 at The Glen, an ARCA Menards Series race, at Watkins Glen International on May 8, 2026. WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.–A week after chastising himself at Texas for repeated failure to win NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races, Kaden Honeycutt pulled off his first career victory over the two drivers who have dominated NASCAR road courses over the past two years.
Honeycutt grabbed the lead from Connor Zilisch through tight Turn 1 on the first lap of overtime and pulled away for his first victory in the series in Friday’s Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen.
A few hours earlier, Honeycutt had won the ARCA Menards Series race on the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International circuit. With the Truck Series win, he became the second driver to win both an ARCA race and Truck Series event on the same day, joining Sam Mayer (2020 at Bristol) in that distinction.
“It’s just amazing,” said Honeycutt, who got to the finish line 0.902 second ahead of Zilisch. “I can’t believe I just won on a road course. It’s just unbelievable.”
Honeycutt proceeded to shotgun a beer beneath the flag stand, reveling in the liquid pouring across his face.
The victory was no easy accomplishment for the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota, which went to Victory Lane last year at The Glen with Corey Heim behind the wheel.
Honeycutt drew a penalty near the end of the second stage for pitting when pit road was closed and was forced to restart the final 32-lap stage from the rear of the field. A series of cautions and restart violations by both Ross Chastain and Gio Ruggiero, however, helped Honeycutt on his march back to the front.
“On the restart, I think Zilisch missed a shift a little bit coming off of (Turn) 7, and I was tight to him,” Honeycutt said. “The only option I had… we were three-wide going into (Turn) 1, and I barely got to his right rear and touched him a little bit.
“It was just enough to scoot by him. As soon as I got the lead, I pulled my visor up, and I was full-blown focused after that.”
Five-time 2025 NASCAR Cup Series road course winner Shane van Gisbergen finished third, thanks to the New Zealander’s ability to pick off cars during the series of late restarts.
Daniel Hemric was fourth and Chandler Smith fifth, followed by Ram Free Agent driver AJ Allmendinger, pole winner Brent Crews, Mini Tyrrell, Brenden Queen and Connor Mosack. The race marked the first time multiple Ram drivers (Allmendinger, Tyrrell and Queen) finished in the top 10 in the brand’s return to NASCAR racing this year.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race — Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, New York
Friday, May 8, 2026
1. (7) Kaden Honeycutt, Toyota, 74.
2. (5) Connor Zilisch(i), Chevrolet, 74.
3. (8) Shane Van Gisbergen(i), Chevrolet, 74.
4. (3) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 74.
5. (11) Chandler Smith, Ford, 74.
6. (16) AJ Allmendinger(i), RAM, 74.
7. (1) Brent Crews(i), Toyota, 74.
8. (30) Mini Tyrrell, RAM, 74.
9. (29) Brenden Queen #, RAM, 74.
10. (4) Connor Mosack, Chevrolet, 74.
11. (17) Jake Garcia, Ford, 74.
12. (23) Corey LaJoie, RAM, 74.
13. (22) Andres Perez De Lara, Chevrolet, 74.
14. (20) Tyler Reif, Chevrolet, 74.
15. (6) Giovanni Ruggiero, Toyota, 74.
16. (15) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 74.
17. (18) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 74.
18. (19) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 74.
19. (27) Dawson Sutton, Chevrolet, 74.
20. (31) Nathan Nicholson, Chevrolet, 74.
21. (13) Layne Riggs, Ford, 74.
22. (35) Stephen Mallozzi, Ford, 74.
23. (25) Justin Haley, RAM, 74.
24. (2) Ty Majeski, Ford, 74.
25. (21) Adam Andretti, Toyota, Accident, 73.
26. (34) Jackson Lee, Ford, 70.
27. (28) Timmy Hill, Toyota, Accident, 68.
28. (33) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 68.
29. (26) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, Accident, 64.
30. (14) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 64.
31. (10) Carson Hocevar(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 60.
32. (9) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 60.
33. (12) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, Transmission, 57.
34. (32) Wesley Slimp, Toyota, Accident, 34.
35. (24) Cole Butcher #, Ford, DVP, 31.
36. (36) Natalie Decker, Ford, Too Slow, 20.
–Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
Sports
Brewers' Brandon Lockridge (leg) carted off during Yankees game
Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Brandon Lockridge (20) waits to be carted off the field after being injured during the fourth inning of their game against the New York Yankees Friday, May 8, 2026 at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee Brewers leftfielder Brandon Lockridge was taken off the field on a cart with an apparent leg injury in the fourth inning of Friday night’s home game against the New York Yankees after sliding into the wall while unsuccessfully attempting to make a sliding catch on Cody Bellinger’s foul fly.
Lockridge appeared to slide into the concrete below the padding at a corner where the wall juts out.
Lockridge, who entered hitting .277 with no homers and 10 RBIs, had an RBI single during the Brewers four-run second off Max Fried and singled in another run in the third to put the Brewers up 5-0. He was 2-for-2 with a run scored when he exited.
The Brewers have not announced a status update on Lockridge.
–Field Level Media
Astros blast four homers, blank slumping Reds
Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 9, 2026
