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Orioles get IF/OF Blaze Alexander from Diamondbacks for 4 players

MLB: San Francisco Giants at Arizona DiamondbacksSep 16, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Blaze Alexander against the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles acquired utility player Blaze Alexander from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday for right-hander Kade Strowd and a pair of minor leaguers, righty Wellington Aracena and infielder Jose Mejia.

Alexander, 26, batted .230 with seven home runs and 28 RBIs in 74 games last season for the Diamondbacks. In parts of two seasons since making his MLB debut in March 2024, he is batting .237 with 10 homers and 49 RBIs in 135 games.

He has played shortstop, second base, third base, left field, center field and designated hitter. Arizona selected Alexander in the 11th round of the 2018 MLB Draft.

Strowd, 28, made his major league debut last May. He went 0-1 with a 1.71 ERA, 13 walks and 24 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings over 25 games for the Orioles.

Baltimore picked Strowd in the 12th round of the 2019 draft.

Aracena, 21, was acquired by Baltimore as part of a July 2025 trade that sent left-hander Gregory Soto to the New York Mets. Aracena was ranked the No. 23 prospect in the Orioles organization for 2026 by Baseball America and No. 26 by MLB Pipeline.

Mejia, 20, batted .271 (35-for-129) in 49 games last season, mostly with the Florida Complex League Orioles.

–Field Level Media

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Blue Jays notch second straight walk-off in comeback over Athletics

MLB: Athletics at Toronto Blue JaysMar 28, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Ernie Clement (22) hits a walk off single against the Athletics during the eleventh inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images

Ernie Clement stroked an RBI single to left in the 11th inning and the Toronto Blue Jays came back to defeat the visiting Athletics 8-7 on Saturday in extra innings.

Clement’s hit against Luis Medina (0-1) gave the Blue Jays their second straight walk-off win to open the season.

Spencer Miles (1-0) made his major league debut in the 11th and pitched around a walk to earn the win.

Shea Langeliers hit his third career grand slam in the seventh inning to give the Athletics a 6-2 lead.

Alejandro Kirk tied the game at six with a one-out solo homer in the ninth against Michael Kelly.

Brent Rooker delivered an RBI single against Louis Varland in the 10th, but Toronto tied it on Addison Barger’s sacrifice fly against Scott Barlow in the home 10th.

Toronto scored in the third against starter Jeffrey Springs with Myles Straw and Andres Gimenez singling to left and George Springer slicing an RBI double to left.

Toronto starter Dylan Cease struck out seven straight before Kurtz led off the sixth with a walk. Kurtz stole second and scored on Tyler Soderstrom’s bloop double to left.

Cease struck out 12 in 5 1/3 innings while allowing one run, three hits and two walks in his Blue Jays’ debut.

Mark Leiter Jr. replaced Springs with one out and a runner at first in the home sixth and allowed a Daulton Varsho RBI single.

Springs allowed two runs, five hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.

The Athletics opened the seventh with consecutive infield singles on comebackers by Jeff McNeil and Max Muncy. Both deflected off Mason Fluharty’s right leg and he was replaced by Brendon Little. After a double steal, McNeil scored on Denzel Clarke’s infield single. Kurtz walked to load the bases and Langeliers homered to center.

Langeliers hit two homers in Toronto’s 3-2 Opening Day win on Friday.

Leiter plunked pinch hitter Jesus Sanchez with a pitch and Gimenez singled to open the home seventh. Elvis Alvarado replaced Leiter and allowed Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s two-out RBI single.

Alvarado walked Kirk and Varsho to open the eighth and was replaced by Hogan Harris. Kirk took third on a flyout to right and scored on Sanchez’s infield single to third. Gimenez grounded an RBI single to center.

–Field Level Media

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Aryna Sabalenka completes Sunshine Double over Coco Gauff in Miami Open final

Tennis: Miami OpenMar 28, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus poses with the Butch Buchholz Championship trophy after defeating Coco Gauff of the United States in the final of the women’s singles at the Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka showed exactly why she deserves that top ranking Saturday.

Sabalenka completed the Sunshine Double, the first to do so since 2022, with her win over No. 4 American Coco Gauff 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the Miami Open final at Miami Gardens, Fla.

“I haven’t had a moment to stop, look back and realize what’s happened in the past months. I’m so proud of the work we’ve done and the fight I was able to bring on court,” Sabalenka said during the trophy ceremony after the win. “Coco will fight for every opportunity and she played incredibly, but I was mentally strong. I knew I was doing everything right and it was just a matter of a few points.”

Sabalenka is just the 11th player ever to complete the Sunshine Double, when a player wins the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open back-to-back, and just the fifth ever woman to do so. She joins Steffi Graf (1994, 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005), Victoria Azarenka (2016) and Iga Swiatek (2022).

This also the second straight Miami Open championship for Sabalenka, who defended her title by dropping just one set along the way. She’s the first person since Ashleigh Barty in 2019 and 2021 to win back-to-back titles at this event.

Sabalenka came out hot in Saturday’s final, breaking Gauff’s first serve and forcing seven break point opportunities in the first set. Sabalenka rang home two aces to take the first set 6-2. Gauff fought back in the second set and earned the only break of the set to tie it at a set apiece.

But Sabalenka replicated her success in the first set by breaking Gauff’s first serve and raced ahead once again to a 3-1 lead. With the match on the line and Gauff serving once again, Sabalenka needed just one match point to ice the game and secure the title.

Overall, Sabalenka forced 11 break point opportunities and converted on four of them while facing only two herself. She defended her own serve well by winning 35 of her 47 first serve points (74 percent).

Gauff put up a valiant effort but struggled on her serve, being broken four times and conceding seven double faults.

“Aryna congratulations. We’ve had many battles, many finals and, I think you push me to be a better player,” Gauff said. “You’re a great fighter and hopefully we can play many more. I think we will.”

–Field Level Media

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Royce Lewis' HR helps Twins dispatch Orioles

MLB: Minnesota Twins at Baltimore OriolesMar 28, 2026; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Minnesota Twins pitcher Taj Bradley (26) delivers during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

Royce Lewis hit a two-run home run and the Minnesota Twins won for the first time under first-year manager Derek Shelton by beating the host Baltimore Orioles 4-1 on Saturday.

Six Minnesota pitchers combined on a five-hitter while striking out 16 batters and walking six.

The Twins prevailed despite managing only four hits – including two by Byron Buxton – with the bats. The outcome came in the second game of the season-opening series.

Anthony Banda (1-0) was the winning pitcher with two-thirds of an inning of relief. Cole Sands worked the ninth and was credited with a save.

The Orioles stranded 11 runners on base. Jeremiah Jackson had two hits for Baltimore.

Minnesota starter Taj Bradley struck out nine in 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits but he was finished after 92 pitches.

Orioles starter Kyle Bradish (0-1) was done after 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits and taking the loss. He walked three and struck out four.

Baltimore scored first on Jackson’s run-scoring single.

Josh Bell’s sacrifice fly tied it in the fourth. When Lewis belted his homer in the fifth, it gave the Twins a lead for the first time this season.

Lewis had 13 home runs last year while playing a career-high 106 games.

Banda entered behind Bradley and notched strikeouts for his two outs and then Kody Funderburk fanned the first two Orioles in the sixth, so it meant that 13 of the first 17 outs recorded by the Twins came via strikeouts.

The Orioles loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth. Eric Orze got Gunnar Henderson on a flyout to end the threat.

The Twins tacked on a run in the seventh on Kody Clemens’ two-out single that drove in Lewis.

Baltimore used five pitchers, registering a total of 10 strikeouts.

The result handed Baltimore’s Craig Albernaz his first loss as a big-league manager.

–Field Level Media

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