Sports
Light-hitting Reds keep finding ways to win ahead of finale vs. Tigers
Apr 20, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Cincinnati Reds first baseman Sal Stewart (27) reacts after scoring a run in the seventh inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images It’s fair to call the Cincinnati Reds the surprise team of the National League a month into the season. After entering the year without an abundance of household names, the Reds are tied for second in the majors with 18 wins.
Cincinnati will search for its 10th win in 12 tries on Sunday afternoon in the series finale against the visiting Detroit Tigers.
Despite a major-league-worst .213 batting average, the Reds have scored nine runs apiece in back-to-back wins over the Tigers and are averaging 7.3 runs across their last six outings. At .303, Sal Stewart is the only Cincinnati player hitting .300 or better.
Instead of a flashy centerpiece, the Reds have tried to break down the opposing pitching staff using 1-9 in the batting order.
“When you get this group of guys with the character we have and the way we play the game, good things will happen,” Reds second baseman Matt McLain said. “We play the game hard every single day.”
Stewart and TJ Friedl each had three hits and a homer in the Reds’ 9-2 series-clinching win on Saturday.
On the mound for the upstart club, Rhett Lowder (3-1, 3.10 ERA) will look to continue his impressive start to the year. After missing all of last season with multiple injuries, Lowder leads the Reds with three wins. The 24-year-old right-hander has won consecutive starts, and he allowed just one run across six innings in a 6-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.
“He gave us six innings — that was really impressive,” Cincinnati manager Terry Francona said. “He just started to throw the ball more where he wanted to.”
Lowder, selected seventh overall pick in the 2023 draft out of Wake Forest, is slated to make just the 12th start of his career and first against the Tigers.
Detroit entered the interleague set winners in 10 of its previous 13 but has seen its pitching staff falter in a pair of games at Great American Ball Park. After falling on Nathaniel Lowe’s walk-off homer to lose 9-8 on Friday, the Tigers got just two innings out of starting pitcher Jack Flaherty in Game 2.
Manager A.J. Hinch and company will seek to fare much better in the early innings on Sunday in hopes of salvaging the series.
“(Cincinnati) put the ball in play twice in the first inning and scored four runs,” Hinch said. “That’s pretty much the tone that was set. It was rough to recover from.”
Keider Montero (1-2, 3.68 ERA) will make his fifth start of the year for Detroit. Montero, 25, will appear on the road for the first time this season. Last time out, he yielded three earned runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings Tuesday in a 12-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Montero has faced the Reds once, throwing five innings of two-run ball in an 11-5 win on June 13, 2025.
At the plate, Spencer Torkelson has homered in four straight games, becoming the first Detroit player to accomplish the feat since Ian Kinsler in May 2016. Torkelson can match the franchise record of five shared by multiple Tigers, most recently Marcus Thames in June 2008.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Austin FC look to home match vs. rival Dynamo to end winless swoon
Apr 11, 2026; Austin, Texas, USA; Austin FC midfielder Joseph Rosales (30) controls the ball against LA Galaxy midfielder Lucas Sanabria (8) during the first half at Q2 Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images Austin FC hope that the added intensity of a rivalry match at home with the Houston Dynamo changes their recent winless swoon when the sides square off Saturday in the latest edition of the quest for Copa Tejas.
The Dynamo head northwest to the Texan capital on the heels of a 1-0 home win over San Diego FC on Wednesday. Ibrahim Aliyu’s goal in the 35th minute was the difference-maker and keeper Jonathan Bond had to save just one shot to secure a second consecutive shutout for Houston (4-4-0, 12 points).
The shutout streak comes after Houston surrendered six goals in a shellacking at Colorado on April 11.
“After that loss, there was a refocus on the defensive side, on how we look off the ball and how we look after each other,” Dynamo coach Ben Olsen said after Wednesday’s victory. “We could have made things easier for ourselves with a second goal — we have to do a better job of understanding when it’s time to go against a team that leaves itself exposed.”
Dynamo starting striker Ondrej Lingr, who assisted on Aliyu’s goal on Wednesday, was shown a red card late in that match and will not be available versus Austin.
Austin travels home from the Bay Area after a 5-1 walloping Wednesday at the hands of San Jose. That match was the third on the road in nine days for the Verde (1-4-4, 7 points), with Joseph Rosales scoring Austin’s lone goal while goalkeeper Brad Stuver saved 11 of the 16 shots with which he was peppered before the floodgates opened.
Austin is winless in its last seven MLS matches (0-4-3) and has allowed 12 goals in its past four contests. The Verde, who scored a Western Conference-low 37 goals last season, have been outscored 19-12 over their nine matches this year.
The Verde are still looking for a balance between pressing to score and limiting their opponents’ opportunities. San Jose had a 37-6 edge in shots on Wednesday while defeating Austin.
“We were not a team that scored many goals (last season),” Austin coach Nico Estevez explained. “This is something we talked about in the offseason. And it’s true that sometimes when you focus so much on improving one thing, you can get worse in other aspects.”
The Verde have historically been dominant at home in MLS matches against Houston, forging a 5-1-1 mark the seven times the sides have clashed at Q2 Stadium.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cowboys, Ravens square off for NFL's first game in Rio in September
Aug 16, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Baltimore Ravens place kicker Tyler Loop (33) kicks a field goal during the second half against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images The Dallas Cowboys will play the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL’s first game in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the league announced on Friday.
The Cowboys had been announced in early February for the game but not the opponent nor the date, which is Sunday, Sept. 27, at 4:25 p.m. ET at Maracana Stadium. The game will be carried on CBS and Paramount+ as well as the NFL+ app.
The 78,000-seat Maracana Stadium has hosted World Cup matches and the 2016 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. The league previously announced Rio as one of its new international markets; at least three regular-season games will be played there in the next five years.
“The international expansion of our great game has been remarkable,” Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said in a press release. “South America is home to some of the world’s most passionate sports fans, including our Ravens Flock in Brazil. We look forward to playing in the iconic Maracana Stadium against the Dallas Cowboys, as our league continues to engage with fans across the globe.”
The NFL came to Brazil for the first time in 2024, and its Sao Paulo games in 2025 and 2026 were played on Friday of Week 1. The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers in Sao Paulo in 2024 and the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs there this past year at Corinthians Arena.
The league said in Friday’s release that there are more than 36 million NFL fans in Brazil.
“Playing in the legendary Maracana Stadium against the Ravens in front of such a passionate and growing fan base on a global stage will be very special for our team, our entire Cowboys organization and the millions watching back home and around the world,” Cowboys owner, president and general manager Jerry Jones said in the press release.
The NFL has scheduled a record nine international games for 2026 across four continents, seven countries and eight stadiums. The cities are London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Munich, Paris and Rio de Janeiro.
The San Francisco 49ers will play the Los Angeles Rams at Melbourne Cricket Ground for the NFL’s first game in Australia, but other matchups have not been announced. The 49ers also will play a regular-season game at Mexico City’s Estadio Banorte.
The NFL will play its first regular-season game in Paris this fall with the New Orleans Saints as one of the participants at Stade de France Stadium. The Atlanta Falcons are ticketed for a regular-season game in Madrid, Spain, at Bernabeu Stadium, while the Detroit Lions will play at FC Bayern Munich Stadium in Germany.
The Jacksonville Jaguars will be designated as the home team for two games in London this year. The games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley Stadium will be played in consecutive weeks in October. A second game overseas was added to the Jaguars’ schedule due to the ongoing renovations at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville.
The league also previously announced that the Washington Commanders will serve as the host team for a game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Fire endeavor to keep unbeaten run alive vs. last-place SKC
Apr 18, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Chicago Fire FC forward Hugo Cuypers (9) (center) dribbles forward during the second half of an MLS match against FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kareem Elgazzar-Imagn Images After letting a second-half lead slip away in their last outing, the host Chicago Fire renew their rivalry with fellow Midwestern foe Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.
While the Fire (4-2-2, 14 points) are unbeaten in their last five matches across all competitions (4-0-1), they blew a 3-1 second-half lead against FC Cincinnati on April 18. Evander’s penalty kick in the 79th minute and Dje D’Avilla’s own goal seven minutes later engineered Cincinnati’s 3-3 come-from-behind draw.
“For us, there were a couple things we did wrong, and a lot of that is correctable. We looked at the video and worked on it. It’s something we want to stay focused,” Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter said.
Though Kansas City (1-6-1, 4 points) is currently at the bottom of the Western Conference, that’s “a little bit misleading,” Berhalter said.
“They have played better at times than the results show, and they pose some problems. For us, it’s being really focused on what we’re trying to do, being aggressive and trying to set the team up for success,” he said.
Sporting KC have dropped five in a row across all competitions, including a 3-0 upset loss to USL Championship side Colorado Springs Switchbacks in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 on April 14. They have been outscored 16-3 in that span.
It’s far from what SKC head coach Raphael Wicky anticipated, ahead of his first meeting against the club he helmed for just shy of two seasons in 2020 and 2021.
“When you look at all these games, there’s always moments where we’re good, that we’re in the game, and then very quickly we make a mistake or we concede, and then we’re quickly out of the game,” Wicky said. “So that is always frustrating, but that is where I think we have to keep going.”
Chicago forward Jonathan Bamba (personal matters) will remain out against Kansas City, per Berhalter. Defender Leonardo Barroso (lower-body injury) is out as well.
Wicky was 12-26-14 in 52 matches as the Fire’s head coach.
Hugo Cuypers has netted half of Chicago’s 12 goals. Dejan Joveljic has four of SKC’s seven to lead the visitors.
–Field Level Media
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