Sports
On upswing, Red Sox try to crack Rays' tough pitching staff
Apr 23, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle (70) throws a pitch against the New York Yankees in the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images Following a sluggish start to their season, the Boston Red Sox will enter Sunday’s rubber game with the visiting Tampa Bay Rays seeking their fifth victory in their last six games.
Although Boston is battling with Baltimore to stay out of the American League East cellar, the Red Sox have surrendered three runs or fewer in nine of their last 13 games. Boston’s pitching staff has a 2.79 ERA during that 13-game span, and the bullpen got a little stronger Saturday.
Before Saturday’s game against Tampa Bay was postponed by rain, the Red Sox announced that reliever Justin Slaten was activated from the injured list after missing more than a month with an oblique strain. Slaten has a 0.00 ERA with five strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings during four appearances this season.
“Another back-end piece that can just lengthen the bullpen out, so it’s big to have him back,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said Saturday. “I think everybody knows when Slaten’s healthy and in there, between him, (setup man Garrett) Whitlock and (closer Aroldis Chapman) we’re going to rely on those guys at the back end of the bullpen, right? It’s like adding an extra guy into a lineup.
“So having that, especially on a day where you look up and all three of them are available, you shorten the game – or you feel like you can. Doesn’t mean they’re invincible, but you feel like you can make it really, really difficult on a team for the last nine outs.”
Slaten had a 4.24 ERA in 36 appearances during an injury-plagued 2025 season, but posted a 2.93 ERA with 58 strikeouts in 55 1/3 innings in 2024, his rookie season.
The Rays and Red Sox split the first two games of what was shortened to a three-game series. Saturday’s postponed game will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader on July 17.
Pitching hasn’t been an issue for Tampa Bay this season, either. The Rays have gone a franchise-record 15 consecutive games without allowing more than three earned runs. Friday night’s 2-0 loss to Boston ended the team’s seven-game winning streak and was Tampa Bay’s second loss in its last 15 games.
Mason Englert was activated from the injured list Friday and pitched the final 3 1/3 innings of Friday’s loss without allowing a run, but was sent to Triple-A Durham on Saturday.
“Mason did one heck of a job for us,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “It was unique coming off the IL in that circumstance. His efficiency and strike-throwing allowed him (to go that long) and freshen up the rest of the guys in the bullpen.”
Cash said Saturday’s postponed game won’t alter the team’s rotation, which means right-hander Nick Martinez (3-1, 1.71 ERA) will start Sunday, and Drew Rasmussen, who was originally scheduled to pitch Sunday, will start Monday’s game in Toronto.
Martinez has won his last three starts, giving up two runs in 20 innings. Martinez is 1-3 with a 5.80 ERA in nine career appearances (five starts) against the Red Sox.
Boston will counter with lefty Payton Tolle (1-1, 2.04). Like Martinez, Tolle was scheduled to pitch Saturday.
It will be Tolle’s first career start against Tampa Bay but he did allow a run on two hits in one inning during a relief appearance against the Rays last September.
Sunday’s start will come just over two years after Tolle’s mother, Jina, died following an eight-year battle with colon cancer.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Paige Bueckers, Wings top Caitlin Clark, Fever in season opener
May 9, 2026; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) shoots the ball while Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) defends in the first half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images Arike Ogunbowale scored 22 points, Paige Bueckers and Odyssey Sims tallied 20 apiece and the Dallas Wings opened the new season with a 107-104 win over the Indiana Fever on Saturday in Indianapolis.
Jessica Shepard racked up 13 points, nine rebounds and nine assists for Dallas, which burned Indiana with 25 fastbreak points.
Sims, a crucial part of Indiana’s playoff run last season, led the Wings with 12 points after halftime and made one of two free throws in the dying seconds of regulation. Caitlin Clark missed a 31-footer and Indiana fouled Bueckers on the rebound, but Bueckers missed both foul shots with 1.4 seconds left, giving the Fever one last chance.
With Clark smothered by defenders on the inbound play, Kelsey Mitchell uncorked a 3 to tie but it bounced off the rim.
Mitchell powered the Fever’s comeback with 11 of her game-high 30 points coming in the fourth. Aliyah Boston had 23 points and Clark tallied 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds while shooting 2 of 9 from deep in her first WNBA game since July 15, 2025, due to a season-ending groin injury.
Neither team led by more than nine as two efficient offenses went tit for tat. The Wings shot 59.1% from the field and 12 for 23 from 3-point range, while the Fever made 51.9% overall but just 7 of 24 3-point attempts.
Clark left the bench in the waning minutes of the third period and returned wearing a black wrap around her lower back. She reentered the game and hit the final layup of the third to forge a tie at 80. That gave Clark 10 points for the third and put her past 1,000 points in her 54th career game.
Clark was not part of the Fever’s first lineup for the fourth quarter but emerged from the locker room soon after, presumably after further treatment.
Sims’ fastbreak layup made it 97-90 with 4:12 to play, but Mitchell clawed the Fever back with a 3-pointer, one free throw and a three-point play to get it to 99-97 Dallas. Bueckers responded with a 20-footer.
Boston missed the second half of a pair of free throws but stole the rebound from Bueckers and laid it in to cut it to 101-100. Then the Fever forced their second five-second violation of the quarter, but came up empty on offense.
Alanna Smith scored for Dallas and Sims hit a shot over Clark to make it 105-100 with 36.4 seconds left.
After the Fever pushed in front early in the second quarter on consecutive 3-pointers by Cunningham and Boston, No. 1 overall pick Azzi Fudd responded with the first points of her career on a corner 3, and Ogunbowale’s triple restored the tie game at 35.
But Fudd finished her WNBA debut with just those three points and one steal in 18 minutes.
Neither team led by more than five points until the final minute of the half, when Aziaha James knocked down two 3-pointers and Ogunbowale added one in between to build a 60-51 Dallas lead.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Disguised, Sentinels win basement battles at LCS Spring
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
Sentinels and Disguised earned victories as the bottom four teams in the standings were in action on the opening day of Week 6 of the regular season of the LCS Spring event in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Sentinels remained locked into a top-five spot with a 2-0 sweep of Shopify Rebellion, and Disguised kept Dignitas winless in regular-season play with a 2-0 triumph.
Eight teams will compete in best-of-three matches in the round-robin regular season before advancing to the playoffs of the League of Legends event, which will be contested in best-of-five matches in a double-elimination format. The top two teams will qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational.
Sentinels swept its match with a pair of victories on red in 39 and 32 minutes.
Jeong “Impact” Eon-young and Cho “Rahel” Min-seong of South Korea split MVP honors, posting kill-death-assist ratios of 6-4-8 and 10-2-12, respectively, in the match. Australia’s Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami led Shopify Rebellion’s charge with a 5-6-6 K-D-A ratio.
Disguised’s sweep of Dignitas came via a 26-minute win on red followed by a 43-minute victory on blue.
Christian “KryRa” Rahaian of Canada was the MVP of both wins, posting a 4-4-26 K-D-A ratio in the match. Australian Ian Victor “FBI” Huang was Dignitas’ most effective player with a 6-3-7 K-D-A ratio.
The penultimate week of the regular season concludes Sunday with the top four teams in the standings in action. Cloud9 takes on FlyQuest and Team Liquid faces LYON.
Regular-season standings (Win-loss total, map differential)
T1. Cloud9, 5-0, 10-3
T1. Team Liquid, 5-0, 10-3
3. LYON, 4-1, 9-3
4. FlyQuest, 3-2, 8-5
5. Sentinels, 2-4, 7-9
6. Disguised, 2-4, 4-9
7. Shopify Rebellion, 1-5, 3-10
8. Dignitas, 0-6, 3-12
–Field Level Media
Sports
Wild hand Avalanche first postseason loss in dominant fashion
May 9, 2026; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Wild right wing Ryan Hartman (38) is congratulated by teammates after scoring on the Colorado Avalanche in the second period of game three of the second round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Grand Casino Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images Kirill Kaprizov and Brock Faber each finished with a goal and two assists as the Minnesota Wild pulled away for a 5-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series on Saturday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Quinn Hughes tallied a goal and an assist for Minnesota, which pulled within 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Ryan Hartman and Matt Boldy also scored and Mats Zuccarello had two assists for the Wild.
Nathan MacKinnon scored the only goal for Colorado, which lost for the first time in the postseason after entering with a 6-0 record.
The teams will reconvene for Game 4 on Monday night in Minnesota.
“I thought we came out with desperation,” Faber said. “There’s no excuses for the way we played (in the first two games). I think it was a quick turnaround with an emotional series in Dallas, and we need to move on quicker, and I think we didn’t bring our best in Colorado.
“But tonight was a lot better. Tonight was the way we play.”
Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt turned aside 34 of 35 shots to earn the victory.
Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood allowed three goals on 12 shots before he was replaced in the second period. Mackenzie Blackwood saw his first action of the postseason and stopped 12 of 13 shots in backup duty.
“I felt like it was a good opportunity to get him in and see if it sparked our group and if he could maybe close the door the rest of the way,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of the goaltending change. “So that’s why I did it. It just felt like they had all the momentum and all the steam early in that game, and we needed to do something.”
Minnesota grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period. Kaprizov opened the scoring with 4:49 remaining in the first period. He raced toward the net, took a pass from Faber and finished with a wrist shot from the left side of the crease.
Hughes scored less than two minutes later to give the Wild a two-goal advantage. He handled the puck from the left circle to the top of the slot and fired a wrist shot through traffic for the power-play goal.
Another power-play goal gave Minnesota a 3-0 lead with 15:37 left in the second period. Hartman parked in front of the crease and knocked in a shot from the point by Zuccarello.
“We didn’t play good enough to win that hockey game tonight,” Bednar said. “We played against a desperate hockey team. It looked to me like they had more determination. They were more tenacious, more physical. We tried to respond, but we didn’t get a lot out of some of our lines tonight.”
The Avalanche got on the scoreboard with 6:49 remaining in the second period. Wallstedt stopped Colorado’s initial shot, but MacKinnon spotted the rebound and punched it in for the power-play goal.
The Wild needed only 20 seconds to respond. Faber scored on a deflection to increase the Wild’s lead to 4-1 with 6:29 to go in the second period.
Boldy capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with 3.3 seconds remaining.
-Field Level Media
Paige Bueckers, Wings top Caitlin Clark, Fever in season opener
Disguised, Sentinels win basement battles at LCS Spring
