Team Falcons swept three matches on Wednesday to pull into a tie for first place in the group stage of the BLAST Slam VII at Copenhagen, Denmark.

One of the wins for Team Falcons came against Team Yandex, leaving those clubs tied for first place at 5-1. Team Yandex won their other two matches of the day.

PARIVISION captured both of their Wednesday matches to sit in third place at 4-1. Team Liquid enjoyed a 3-0 day to improve to 4-2, level in fourth place with LGD Gaming, who went 2-1 on Wednesday.

The $1 million event is beginning with 12 participants in a group stage that runs through Friday. Group play is a round-robin, best-of-one format. The top two teams at the end of the week will advance to the upper-bracket semifinals of the playoffs, while the third- and fourth-place teams will start in the upper-bracket quarters.

The fifth- and sixth-place teams will proceed to Round 2 of the last-chance qualifier, while teams 7-10 in the standings will begin in Round 1 of that stage. The bottom two teams will be eliminated.

Team Falcons began action Wednesday with a 33-minute win on green over Aurora Gaming. Russia’s Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak paced Team Falcons with a 12-1-12 kill-death-assist ratio.

Team Falcons then logged a 48-minute victory on red over Team Yandex behind Malr1ne’s 18-3-15 K-D-A ratio. A 40-minute triumph on red over Xtreme Gaming capped Team Falcons’ perfect day, with Jordan’s Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf registering a 7-1-10 K-D-A ratio for the victors.

BLAST Slam VII standings

T1. Team Falcons, 5-1

T1. Team Yandex, 5-1

3. PARIVISION, 4-1

T4. Team Liquid, 4-2

T4. LGD Gaming, 4-2

T6. BetBoom Team, 2-3

T6. GLYPH, 2-3

T8. Aurora Gaming, 2-4

T8. Team Spirit, 2-4

T8. Tundra Esports, 2-4

11. OG, 1-4

12. Xtreme Gaming, 1-5

BLAST Slam VII payouts (prize money, team earnings)

1. $300,000, $100,000

2. $150,000, $45,000

3. $70,000, $23,000

4. $50,000, $17,000

5-6. $40,000, $15,000

7-8. $25,000, $10,000

9-10. $15,000, $5,000

11-12. $10,000, $2,500

–Field Level Media

The Detroit Tigers have been wallowing around the bottom of the American League. A big part of that has been the continued struggles for Jack Flaherty.

The veteran right-hander, who will start the series finale against the visiting Los Angeles Angels on Thursday, hasn’t recorded a victory this year. Detroit lost the last seven games that Flaherty has started, most recently when he survived just 3 1/3 innings at Baltimore on Friday.

Flaherty (0-6, 5.94 ERA) gave up six runs and eight hits on that dreary night, though only half of the runs were earned. Pete Alonso and Jackson Holliday homered off him.

“There’s a handful of fastballs that are probably over the middle of the plate that when I go back and look at it, (I) will see that,” Flaherty said.

Over his past six starts, Flaherty has surrendered 22 earned runs in 23 2/3 innings (8.37 ERA) while losing five times.

“Jack is always a competitor and he’s always trying to find a way,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. “Obviously, he’s searching for the consistency that he’s had before in his career and will have again.

“This is taking a toll on him. It’s taking a toll on all of us. Not just Jack’s performance, just the overall way things have gone. But we’ll get back to work and Jack will get back to work to find solutions.”

The Angels have traditionally been rough on Flaherty as well. He has lost all three career starts against them while giving up 20 runs, 19 earned, in 13 2/3 innings (12.51 ERA).

Flaherty’s mound opponent, Los Angeles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, has made two starts since recovering from right shoulder inflammation that kept him out for the season’s first seven weeks. Rodriguez (1-1, 10.61 ERA) gave up seven runs and seven hits while walking four in 3 2/3 innings in his Angels debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 17.

He allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings against the Texas Rangers on Friday and picked up the victory as the Angels prevailed 9-6.

“Definitely took a step in the right direction,” Rodriguez said. “Still a lot of things to work on, though. Felt like I was fighting my delivery at times.”

Rodriguez cut down his walk total to two free passes.

“I don’t even want to look at the first-pitch strikes,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t even want to look at that stat. I know that needs to be better, but we’re headed in the right direction.”

Rodriguez was acquired from Baltimore in a November deal that sent outfielder Taylor Ward to the Orioles. The Angels are hoping that Rodriguez will emerge as one of their top starters. He has pitched 10 scoreless innings and struck out 15 while going 1-0 in two career starts against the Tigers.

Detroit got a much-needed 4-0 victory in the middle game of the three-game series on Wednesday, but it came with a cost.

Starting pitcher Casey Mize was removed after the fourth inning due to right groin tightness. Closer Kenley Jansen couldn’t finish the game after an awkward landing while delivering a pitch. Both sustained right groin injuries, but the extent of both was unclear right after the game, Hinch said.

The Tigers won for just the second time in 11 games, while the Angels had their season-best four-game winning streak snapped.

–Field Level Media

Chicago White Sox ace Davis Martin admits, “I don’t like talking about myself.”

The Minnesota Twins can relate.

After absorbing a 15-2 defeat on Wednesday, the visiting Twins will aim to move on against Martin on Thursday afternoon as they try to split the four-game series.

“There’s not much we did well (Wednesday) overall,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said.

The White Sox walloped the Twins behind a season-best 18 hits. Sam Antonacci and Randal Grichuk contributed three apiece, while Chase Meidroth, Munetaka Murakami, Colson Montgomery, Edgar Quero and Tristan Peters each added two.

“It was awesome,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Up and down the lineup, really stringing together quality at-bats. … We just had really good at-bats that we were able to get hard contact, really, throughout the lineup.

Meidroth has recorded multiple hits in each of the first three games of the series, and he connected for a grand slam on Wednesday.

Murakami, meanwhile, has homered in each contest to stretch his total to 20, tied for the American League lead. He is the third White Sox player in club history to reach that mark before June.

“He’s just been consistently doing a lot of damage, obviously,” Venable said. “Every day, you see quality at-bats. If it’s not homers, it’s pitches he took the other way, like today. Drawing walks. So he just continues to stay in good spots. He’s stacking really productive days.”

Minnesota also relied on the long ball Wednesday but little else. Two of the club’s three hits were solo shots, with Byron Buxton and Kody Clemens providing the power. Chicago’s David Sandlin, making his major league debut, retired 18 straight after Buxton’s leadoff home run.

A Gold Glove center fielder, Buxton has started three straight games and six of his past seven at designated hitter as he deals with a sore right hip that triggers pain when he stops.

“We’re working on that brake system,” Buxton said. “It’s good though. Every day it’s progressing, feeling better. Keep going day by day and go from there. Obviously it’s May so I don’t want to do something stupid, which is hard. They’re keeping me contained.”

Chicago has won eight of nine against Minnesota dating to last season.

Martin (7-1, 2.04 ERA) will get the call as the White Sox try to win their fifth straight home series. The right-hander is searching for his third straight winning start and his sixth consecutive winning decision.

Strong run support helped Martin win a road game against the San Francisco Giants on Friday, when he spaced four runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked two against seven strikeouts.

Martin is 2-3 with a 6.15 ERA in six appearances (five starts) vs. the Twins.

The Twins moved Taj Bradley’s turn in the rotation back one day and will give the ball to rookie left-hander Kendry Rojas (1-0, 1.26).

Rojas has made just one start among his five appearances, when he worked four shutout innings against the Houston Astros on May 18. He contributed three shutout innings of relief against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, permitting one hit and one walk while striking out three.

The 23-year-old Cuba native will be opposing the White Sox for the first time.

–Field Level Media