Sports
Reds ask Andrew Abbott to slow surging Yankees, Ben Rice
Jun 19, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice (22) hits a three run home run during the second inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images While Cam Schlittler dominates every few games, Ben Rice seemingly is productive every day for the New York Yankees.
Rice is among the reasons the Yankees are off to a good start since losing Aaron Judge to a right rib stress fracture, and the first baseman will attempt to contribute to another victory Saturday in New York against the struggling Cincinnati Reds.
The Yankees are 10-5 since Judge last played on May 31. New York also is 16-6 in its past 22 games.
New York opened the series with a 5-0 victory on Friday. Schlittler struck out 13 batters in six dominant innings for his first career double-digit strikeout game in the regular season.
Schlittler also was supported by another big hit from Rice. The 27-year-old slugger belted a three-run homer and is batting .320 (8-for-25) with three homers and seven RBIs in his past six games.
Since May 26, Rice is hitting .333 (27-for-81) with five home runs and 19 RBIs in 20 games.
“He’s the lead man,” Schlittler said of Rice, who has 21 homers and 52 RBIs. “He’s a front-runner right now, and with Judge being out now, guys have stepped up and he’s been a huge piece of that and you expect that out of him.”
Aside from trying to quiet Rice’s bat, the Reds will attempt to generate more offense. After scoring 17 runs in a pair of wins over the New York Mets earlier this week, the Reds have scored once (an unearned run) and struck out 26 times over their past two games while facing Nolan McLean and Schlittler.
On Friday, the Reds finished with four hits and struck out a season-worst 17 times.
Eugenio Suarez struck out three times and is 11-for-58 (.190) in June. Sal Stewart is 12-for-60 (.200) this month, while Spencer Steer is 6-for-50 (.120) after fanning twice. The trio combined to go 1-for-12 in the opener at Yankee Stadium.
“It’s been a tough stretch for us,” Suarez said. “We have a really good team. At some point, we are going to be where we want to be.”
The Reds are 5-11 since losing Elly De La Cruz to a right hamstring strain. The shortstop may be close to returning after homering in his first rehab game for Triple-A Louisville on Friday.
After Schlittler’s dominant showing, Will Warren (7-1, 3.47 ERA) heads into his first career start against Cincinnati. The right-hander hopes to give the Yankees a longer outing after failing to complete five innings during no-decisions at Cleveland and at Toronto in his latest two appearances.
Warren threw 91 pitches in 4 1/3 innings of three-run ball against the Guardians on June 8. On Sunday, he fired a season-high 98 pitches in four innings while giving up two runs on eight hits against the Blue Jays.
Warren is 3-0 with a 3.48 ERA in his past six starts since allowing six runs in four innings during a 6-1 loss to Texas on May 6.
Left-hander Andrew Abbott (4-4, 3.95), who is 0-2 with a 3.91 ERA in his past four starts, gets the ball for Cincinnati on Saturday. Abbott has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his past nine starts, including a no-decision against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, when he allowed one run on four hits in five innings.
Abbott earned the win in his only career start against the Yankees. He gave up one run on three hits in 6 1/3 innings during a 3-2 victory on July 3, 2024, in New York.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Brazil coach: Neymar will be available to play vs. Scotland
June 17, 2026; Morristown, New Jersey, U.S.; Brazil’s Neymar Jr. during training. Mandatory Credit: Caean Couto-Imagn Images PHILADELPHIA — After Brazil defeated Haiti 3-0 in their second World Cup match on Friday night, Selecao coach Carlo Ancelotti said he expects Neymar to be available for the Group C finale.
Neymar, 34, has been rehabbing a right calf ailment. He last played for Santos in Brazil’s top flight on May 17.
The Selecao will oppose Scotland on Wednesday in Miami Gardens, Fla., needing only a win or a draw to advance to the round of 32.
“Neymar will be training tomorrow individually, and on Monday, he’s going to be training with the rest of the team,” Ancelotti said in the post-match press conference via an interpreter. “He will be available for the match against Scotland.”
Injuries limited Neymar during Brazil’s 2026 qualifying campaign. However, he was influential when he played, scoring twice and contributing three assists in four appearances.
Meanwhile, Ancelotti did not commit to continuing with Matheus Cunha at center forward despite the Manchester United player’s first-half brace against Haiti. Cunha started in place of Igor Thiago after coming on in the 61st minute of Brazil’s 1-1 draw with Morocco in their tournament opener.
“He may,” Ancelotti said when asked if Cunha would remain in the center forward role.
“I think that Matheus’ position was a good position for creating problems to the defense,” Ancelotti said. “And he filtered his passes very well, and his position was a good position to be effective at the front.
“It can be an option. We discussed this yesterday. I don’t want a clear identity. Maybe we will change this on the next match.”
Brazil, on four points, currently lead Morocco on goal-difference in Group C after the Atlas Lions defeated Scotland 1-0 earlier Friday.
The Scots could be playing for their tournament lives on Wednesday, but Ancelotti insisted he is focusing on the bigger picture.
“We don’t think about knocking out. We think about playing well and improving, and we analyze the match,” Ancelotti said. “If we can reach the first position of the group, that would be important for the future. So we want to prepare well for that match.
“Scotland has its features. It can create a problem. It created problems to Morocco today. And so we have to focus on the match and be calm and be tranquil and keep on working to improve.”
–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media
Sports
Lynx rally past Valkyries, stay perfect in all-time series
Jun 19, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Minnesota Lynx guard Courtney Williams (10) drives in against Golden State Valkyries guard Kaila Charles (6) during the first quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images Nia Coffey missed her career-high by one with 22 points, Courtney Williams added 21 as part of a double-double and the Minnesota Lynx continued their lifetime winning streak over the Golden State Valkyries with an 81-75 victory Friday night in San Francisco.
Kayla McBride chipped in with 17 points and Natasha Howard added 10 to go with eight rebounds for the Lynx (13-3), who overcame a 1-for-10, seven-point, six-turnover night from rookie star Olivia Miles.
Seeking a fifth straight win, the Valkyries (10-6) led by as many as 12 in the first half, but were held to 29 second-half points in a duel of the league’s top two defensive clubs.
The Lynx took the lead for good at 63-62 on a jumper by Williams with 1:39 remaining in the third quarter, then let their suffocating defense dictate the outcome in the final period, during which they outscored the hosts 18-13.
Golden State got within three with 26.0 seconds left and 77-75 after a Cecilia Zandalasini 3-pointer with 21.8 seconds remaining. But the Lynx kept the hosts at arm’s length thanks to a pair of free throws each by Williams, Miles and Anastasiia Olairi Kosu.
Williams completed her double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds and also found time for a team-high five assists for Minnesota, which has prevailed in all eight meetings with Golden State since the Valkyries joined the league last year.
Miles aided the Minnesota cause with five rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks. The Lynx blocked nine shots, including two apiece by Williams and Kosu.
Zandalasini connected on four 3-pointers to account for a majority of her game-high 23 points for the Valkyries, who outscored the Lynx 36-18 from beyond the arc, but needed 27 more attempts (40 to 13) to do it.
Gabby Williams had a team-high eight rebounds to complement 15 points and Janelle Salaun also had 15 for Golden State, which had won four in a row.
Veronica Burton had a team-high five assists and two steals for the Valkyries.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Team Spirit, Team Falcons prevail at IEM Cologne playoffs
Nolan Starkey, a senior at Rossville High School, plays Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Monday, April 15, 2019, in Rossville. Starkey signed his letter of intent Wednesday to play esports at Trine University in Angola, Ind.
Rossville High School Senior Signs With Trine University To Play Esports
As the top performing team during Stage 3 group play, it is unsurprising that Team Spirit got off to a strong start during the eight-team playoff on Friday.
Team Falcons, on the other hand, had perhaps more success than expected as the fifth seed.
Both teams earned 2-1 victories in the quarterfinals Friday to advance to face one another in the next round on Saturday.
The Counter-Strike 2 tournament with 32 entrants competing for their share of a $1.25 million prize pool began June 2 with the start of the first stage.
The field was ultimately trimmed to the final eight playoff teams through a series of three stages, where all matches were best-of-three, as is most of the playoffs. Sunday’s grand final will be best-of-five, with the winner taking home $500,000.
Spirit, unblemished in Stage 3, picked up where they left off by handling G2 Esports. Despite absorbing a surprising 13-9 loss on Overpass to open, the Russian esports team showed resilience in rallying for a 16-14 overtime win on Dust II and a 25-22 quadruple-OT victory on Mirage.
As expected for such a closely contested match, multiple players racked up impressive kill numbers. Spirit’s Danil “donk” Kryshkovets paced all players with 81 kills and a 1.32 rating, though teammate Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov added 75 kills against just 56 deaths.
G2 was paced by Matus “MATYS” Simko’s 71 kills and 1.19 rating.
The Falcons established an advantage over fourth-seeded Team Vitality with a 13-11 win on Anubis to begin play. When Vitality rallied to win 13-11 on Inferno in Game 2, Team Falcons responded with a 13-11 closeout victory on Dust II.
Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov led all scorers with 63 kills, while his Falcons teammate Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin (52 kills) had the match’s highest rating at 1.43.
Vitality was led by Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut’s 54 kills and 1.16 rating.
The semifinals will be contested on Saturday. Previous qualifiers FURIA and Aurora Gaming face off in the first match of the day before Spirit and Falcons match up later in the day.
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool
1. $500,000
2. $170,000
3-4. $80,000
5-8. $45,000 — BetBoom Team, 9z Team, Team Vitality, G2 Esports
9-11. $15,000 — Natus Vincere, FUT Esports, The MongolZ
12-14. $15,000 — MOUZ, Monte, Legacy
15-16. $15,000 — B8, PARIVISION
17-19. $10,000 — paiN Gaming, TYLOO, BIG
20-22. $10,000 — MIBR, M80, Astralis
23-24. $10,000 — GamerLegion, FlyQuest
25-27. $5,000 — Lynn Vision Gaming, NRG, Team Liquid
28-30. $5,000 — THUNDERdOWNUNDER, Sharks Esports, HEROIC
31-32. $5,000 — Gaimin Gladiators, SINNERS Esports
–Field Level Media
Brazil coach: Neymar will be available to play vs. Scotland
Lynx rally past Valkyries, stay perfect in all-time series
