Sports
Gerrit Cole brilliant again as Yankees sweep Royals
May 27, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) delivers a pitch against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images Gerrit Cole scattered four hits and struck out 10 over 6 2/3 stellar innings and Ben Rice had three RBIs as the visiting New York Yankees completed a three-game sweep with a 7-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.
Cole (1-0) did not yield a walk during his efficient 79-pitch outing as the Yankees beat the Royals for the 13th straight time. His second start of the year was even more impressive than his first, when he tossed six scoreless innings versus Tampa Bay on Friday in his first appearance since undergoing Tommy John surgery after the 2024 World Series.
Rice and Paul Goldschmidt each had two hits and Ryan McMahon clubbed a two-run homer in the eighth for New York, which has won four straight. The Yankees outscored Kansas City 26-4 this week — and 50-10 while sweeping the six-game season series.
Royals starter Noah Cameron (2-4) allowed two runs and four hits over five innings. Maikel Garcia poked two of the Royals’ four hits as they dropped to 3-13 since May 10.
Kansas City threatened Cole in the third, when Michael Massey roped a double into the right-field corner for the game’s first hit. However, he was thrown out at the plate by Aaron Judge on Garcia’s two-out single to right.
Cameron, meanwhile, was perfect through the first three innings. Then Goldschmidt opened the fourth with a single to left, then scored on Rice’s triple that went off the left field fence and caromed away from Kansas City’s Isaac Collins. Judge’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0.
Cameron’s night ended after he yielded another single to Goldschmidt and walked Rice to open the sixth. However, John Schreiber got Judge to ground into a 6-4-3 double play and Cody Bellinger to fly out.
The Yankees loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh. Nick Mears got Jose Caballero to line out and fanned Austin Wells, but he walked Goldschmidt to force home a run. The Royals brought in reliever Alex Lange, but Rice broke things open with a two-run single to right.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Dodgers place IF Kike Hernandez (oblique) on IL, recall Alex Freeland
May 25, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Enrique Hernandez (8) hits a RBI double in the third inning against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images The Los Angeles Dodgers returned infielder Kike Hernandez to the injured list on Wednesday due to a left oblique strain. With Hernandez back on the shelf after a mere two-game return, infielder Alex Freeland has been recalled in a corresponding move.
Hernandez, who started the season on the IL due to offseason elbow surgery, was activated Monday and started his season 4-for-4 with a homer, two doubles and two RBIs before exiting Tuesday’s 15-6 win over the Colorado Rockies with the injury.
While Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t share a timeline for how long Hernandez will be out, he did admit that his MRI showed a “significant tear.”
Hernandez, 34, is in the fourth year of his second stint in Los Angeles. He’s a career .237 hitter with 131 homers and 472 RBIs over 1,278 games.
Freeland, 24, started the season on the Dodgers’ roster. He hit .235 with two home runs, four doubles and eight RBIs in 33 games before being optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he hit four homers and drove in 16 runs in 11 games.
A third-round pick by Los Angeles in the 2022 MLB Draft, Freeland made his debut for the Dodgers in 2025 and hit .190 with two homers and six RBIs in 29 games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Gucci taking over title sponsorship for F1's Alpine in 2027
Italian fashion company Gucci will take over as the title sponsor for Formula 1 team Alpine beginning in 2027. The Alpine Formula 1 team will have a new look next year when Gucci takes over as the title sponsor.
The Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team will feature the sponsor’s red and green color scheme, a switch from Alpine’s current blue and pink.
According to Alpine, the agreement will create “a new business and experiential platform built around the values of performance, precision, discipline, and excellence at the intersection of luxury and sport.”
Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore added in a statement, in part, “Partnering with a prestigious brand of Gucci’s calibre in Formula 1 as title partner of Alpine Formula One Team is something I am incredibly proud of.
“Not only that, but I am also excited about the possibilities the partnership with Gucci brings and the great things we can achieve together at a global level. The Enstone Team has a history of doing things differently to others and has previously shown that fashion can finish first in Formula 1.
“With the improved performance on track, and Alpine having its best-ever points total to start a season, this new collaboration with Gucci shows the growing momentum behind the team.”
Gucci president and chief executive officer Francesca Bellettini lauded the company becoming the first luxury fashion house to act as the title sponsor of an F1 team.
“That reflects our ambition for the brand and the role we want Gucci to play on this stage,” Bellettini said. “Formula 1 represents today a unique convergence of performance, culture, and global reach, and Alpine Formula One Team is the right partner to bring this vision to life.
“Gucci Racing is more than a presence on the grid. It is an expression of who we are and where we want to take the brand. And there is much more to come. We are grateful to Alpine and the entire Renault Group for sharing this ambition with us.”
After coming in last place (10th) in the F1 team standings in 2025, Alpine currently sit in fifth place. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly holds eighth place in the driver standings, and teammate Franco Colapinto sits in 11th.
–Field Level Media
Sports
David Sandlin dazzles in debut as White Sox smash Twins
May 27, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago White Sox pitcher David Sandlin (54) delivers the ball during the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images David Sandlin pitched six innings of one-run ball in his major league debut and Munetaka Murakami homered for the third straight game as the host Chicago White Sox blasted the Minnesota Twins 15-2 on Wednesday.
Chicago secured at least a split of the four-game series behind a sterling outing from Sandlin, a right-hander acquired in a February trade with Boston which also brought reliever Jordan Hicks to the White Sox.
An 18-hit attack propelled Chicago. Sam Antonacci and Randal Grichuk collected three hits apiece. Chase Meidroth hit a seventh-inning grand slam off Travis Adams before Murakami followed immediately with his 20th home run, tied for the American League lead.
Sandlin yielded a leadoff homer to Minnesota’s Byron Buxton two pitches into the game but didn’t buckle after that. He retired the next 18 Twins in a row, the most for a White Sox pitcher in his big league debut over at least the last 100 years.
Sandlin (1-0) struck out four while throwing 41 of his 61 pitches for strikes. He needed just eight pitches in the fourth and showed similar efficiency after the White Sox racked up five runs in the fifth, sandwiching two flyouts around a strikeout over 10 pitches to end his outing.
Chicago recalled Sandlin from Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday after placing fellow rookie starter Noah Schultz (right knee patellar tendinitis) on the 15-day injured list.
Twins lefty Connor Prielipp sputtered in his seventh career start, allowing six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. Prielipp (1-3) walked three against five strikeouts.
He gave up the lead in the second, as Antonacci grounded a two-run single off Prielipp’s glove to score two.
Colson Montgomery extended the lead to 3-1 with an RBI double in the third. Edgar Quero, Meidroth, Murakami and Montgomery had two hits apiece for the White Sox. Antonacci had three RBIs and Grichuk added two.
After Buxton’s homer, the White Sox pitching staff retired 21 straight Minnesota batters before Kody Clemens connected against Brandon Eisert for a leadoff home run in the eighth. The White Sox allowed three hits, with two coming in the eighth inning.
Chicago has won eight of the past nine meetings against Minnesota dating back to last season.
–Field Level Media
