Sports
Stingy starters take mound for Brewers, Nationals
Apr 16, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Foster Griffin (22) delivers a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Milwaukee’s William Contreras will aim to extend his torrid hitting stretch when the Brewers visit the Washington Nationals for the second game of a three-game series on Saturday afternoon.
Contreras had four hits and drove in three runs in the Brewers’ 6-1 win on Friday. That performance came after he collected four hits and four RBIs on Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 13-1 romp.
Contreras became the first player in Brewers history to have four hits in back-to-back games since Casey McGehee in 2010, and just the seventh all-time.
Over his past four games, Contreras is 10-for-17 with a home run, nine RBIs and six runs and has raised his batting average to .310.
Stopping Contreras will fall to Washington’s top starter thus far, Foster Griffin (3-0, 2.67 ERA), who will oppose Kyle Harrison (2-1, 2.28) in a matchup of left-handers.
The 30-year-old Griffin has allowed one earned run or less in three of his five starts. Last time out, he tossed seven shutout innings Sunday in a no-decision against the Chicago White Sox. He gave up two hits while striking out eight and walking two in a game Milwaukee won 2-1 in 10 innings.
“I really had a good sweeper today, really good changeup to the righties, and my cutter to both sides,” Griffin said after the game. “I feel like I was able to cut it away, cut it in, and then I could go soft away with pretty good command on my changeup to keep them off balance.”
Griffin defeated the Brewers on April 11, tossing 5 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing one hit in the 3-1 game.
Harrison has allowed two runs or less in each of his five starts. In his most recent outing, he threw six scoreless innings of one-hit baseball to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-0 last Sunday. Harrison struck out a career-high 12 batters and walked one. He retired the final seven hitters he faced, five via strikeout.
“That was a great day, but I can’t take that with me into the next one,” Harrison said. “You have to re-start.”
Harrison is 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA in four career starts vs. Washington.
Milwaukee starter Jacob Misiorowski was working on a gem Friday before leaving with a right hamstring cramp. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and struck out eight, walked two and retired the last 12 batters he faced, the final four by strikeout.
“He pitched great for 5 1/3, and then he cramped,” manager Pat Murphy said. “We’ll see where it is tomorrow. We’re very hopeful.”
Tyler Black had two doubles for Milwaukee, which has won four of its past five games.
Daylen Lile broke up Misiorowski’s no-hit bid with a double in the seventh inning. He finished 1-for-3 with a walk.
“We’ve faced some really good arms,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “I think we’ve faced some number ones, and I think we’ve had some success against them. This just felt different. None of the guys we faced before were 102 [miles per hour] multiple times and sitting 101.”
The Nationals are only 3-11 at home this season, and the Brewers are 7-6 on the road.
–Field Level Media
Sports
FaZe Vegas move to 3-0 in Week 2 of CDL Stage 3 qualifying
YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year. FaZe Vegas outlasted the Carolina Royal Ravens 3-2 on Friday, improving to 3-0 as the second week of qualifying for the Call of Duty League’s Stage 3 got underway.
Los Angeles Thieves and OpTic Texas also recorded victories and are 2-0. The Thieves swept Cloud9 New York 3-0, while OpTic defeated the Boston Breach 3-1.
The 12 Call of Duty League teams are playing a full qualifying round robin to determine seeding for the third major of the season, to be held May 15-17 as part of the DreamHack Atlanta event.
On Friday, the Royal Ravens won the opening map, Colossus Hardpoint, 250-199, before FaZe rebounded with back-to-back wins on Gridlock Search and Destroy (6-3) and Den Overload (4-3). However, Carolina pushed Vegas to a decisive fifth map, pulling out a 250-190 victory on Den Hardpoint. On Fringe Search and Destroy, Vegas edged Carolina 6-5 to remain unblemished.
Chris “Simp” Lehr of the United States was selected as match MVP after leading Vegas with 105 kills and a plus-5 kill-death differential.
The Thieves opened with a 250-140 victory on Colossus Hardpoint, then followed it up with 6-1 win on Gridlock Search and Destroy before closing out Cloud9 New York 5-4 on Den Overload.
Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez of France earned match MVP honors with 66 kills and a K-D differential of plus-14 for the Thieves.
Texas jumped out to a 2-0 lead with wins on Den Hardpoint (250-123) and Plaza Search and Destroy (6-3) before Boston battled back with a 3-2 victory on Den Overload. OpTic avoided a decisive fifth map with a 250-227 triumph on Sake Hardpoint.
Canadian/Lebanese player Brandon “Dashy” Otell was named MVP of the match, posting 81 kills and a plus-16 K-D differential.
The Week 2, Day 2 schedule for Saturday:
–Cloud9 New York vs. Carolina Royal Ravens
–Miami Heretics vs. FaZe Vegas
–Vancouver Surge vs. Riyadh Falcons
–Toronto KOI vs. OpTic Texas
Call of Duty League Stage 3 Major qualifying, with match record and map differential
1. FaZe Vegas, 3-0, 9-3
2. Los Angeles Thieves, 2-0, 6-1
T3. OpTic Texas, 2-0, 6-2
T3. Paris Gentle Mates, 2-0, 6-2
T3. Toronto KOI, 2-0, 6-2
T3. Vancouver Surge, 2-0, 6-2
7. Miami Heretics, 0-1, 1-3
8. Riyadh Falcons, 0-2, 2-6
T9. Cloud9 New York, 0-2, 1-6
T9. G2 Minnesota, 0-2, 1-6
T11. Carolina Royal Ravens, 0-3, 5-9
T11. Boston Breach, 0-3, 2-9
–Field Level Media
Sports
GamerLegion, FaZe Clan reach BLAST Rivals Spring semifinals
Jul 21, 2019; Miami Beach, FL, USA; A general view of gaming controllers on display during the Call of Duty League Finals e-sports event at Miami Beach Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images GamerLegion swept Astralis 2-0 on Friday to reach the semifinals at the BLAST Rivals Spring event in Fort Worth, Texas.
In the other quarterfinal match, FaZe Clan eked out a 2-1 victory over G2 Esports.
The results set up the semifinals on Saturday, when Natus Vincere will face FaZe Clan before Team Vitality will clash with GamerLegion.
The $350,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with eight teams divided into two double-elimination groups for the initial stage. The group winners moved directly to the semifinals of the single-elimination playoff. The group runners-up went to the quarterfinals as high seeds, and the teams that finished third in their groups advanced to the quarterfinals as low seeds.
All matches in the group stage and the playoffs are best-of-three until the grand final on Sunday, which will be best-of-five. The championship team will receive $125,000 and two BLAST Frequent Flyer Tokens.
On Friday, GamerLegion got past Astralis 13-8 on Overpass, then 16-14 in overtime on Inferno.
Sweden’s Fredrik “REZ” Sterner and the Czech Republic’s Oldrich “PR” Novy each logged 42 kills for GamerLegion, while PR had a team-best plus-4 kill-death differential. Lithuania’s Gytis “ryu” Glusauskas, Sweden’s Love “phzy” Smidebrant and Denmark’s Victor “Staehr” Staehr each amassed 37 kills for Astralis.
FaZe Clan opened with a 13-11 decision on Dust II before G2 Esports equalized by claiming Ancient 13-9. FaZe Clan sealed the series by taking Mirage 16-13 in overtime.
Slovakia’s David “frozen” Cernansky propelled FaZe Clan with 58 kills and a plus-8 K-D differential. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Nemanja “huNter-” Kovac and Spain’s Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia each posted 50 kills for G2 Esports.
BLAST Rivals Spring prize pool
1. $125,000, two BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens
2. $75,000
3-4. $40,000
5-6. $25,000 — Astralis, G2 Esports
7-8. $10,000 — FUT Esports, FURIA
–Field Level Media
Sports
Blue Jays flying high as they continue surge against Twins
May 1, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto (7) connects with a pitch from Minnesota Twins pitcher Luis Garcia (40) in the ninth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images The player known as “Big Oak” is starting to swing the lumber.
That could be bad news for the Minnesota Twins as they face the Toronto Blue Jays and their hard-hitting third baseman, Kazuma Okamoto, on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Okamoto is coming off the first two-homer game of his brief career Friday night. He finished with three RBIs to help the Blue Jays pull away for a 7-3 win over the Twins in the second contest of a four-game series.
The performance gave Okamoto seven home runs in 31 games to start the season, tops on the team. The 29-year-old signed with Toronto during the offseason after playing professionally in Japan.
The Blue Jays hope to benefit from Okamoto’s power surge as they look to put an up-and-down April behind them. Toronto started the season 7-13 but has gone 8-4 since then.
A win on Saturday would guarantee Toronto at least a tie in the series against the Twins. Toronto won its previous three series before heading to Minneapolis.
The Twins hope to obstruct Toronto’s turnaround. Minnesota won the series opener 7-1 Thursday before falling short Friday.
Since April 15, the Twins are 3-12. They have lost four consecutive series and need back-to-back victories this weekend to secure their first series win in two-plus weeks.
Twins manager Derek Shelton will need a bounce-back performance from his hitters on Saturday. Byron Buxton is hot with four home runs in his past five games, but the rest of the lineup did not generate much offense in Friday’s loss. The team stranded nine runners.
“(Blue Jays left-hander Patrick) Corbin just kind of kept us off balance,” Shelton said. “He mixed and matched. He used his fastball both in and out, but he was able to use the changeup to keep us off balance.”
On Saturday, the Blue Jays will turn to right-hander Dylan Cease (1-1, 2.87 ERA). He is coming off his first loss of the season after giving up four runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings against the Boston Red Sox on Monday. Toronto fell 5-0.
Cease has made 13 career starts against the Twins, going 4-5 with a 4.69 ERA. He has walked 33 and struck out 79 in 71 innings.
The Twins will counter with left-hander Connor Prielipp (1-0, 4.00), who will take the mound for the first time since earning his first career big-league victory. He pitched in front of family and friends and held the Seattle Mariners to two runs on one hit in five innings in an 11-4 win on Monday.
This will be Prielipp’s first career start against the Blue Jays.
Okamoto is not the only player heating up for Toronto. Rookie outfielder Yohendrick Pinango will look to stay hot after going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs on Friday night.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Pinango has impressed him. The rookie has appeared in five games, batting .500 (5-for-10).
“We’re going to give him a bit of runway while he’s here,” Schneider said. “That’s the profile you want. Go ahead and swing it, and swing at a good pitch.”
–Field Level Media
FaZe Vegas move to 3-0 in Week 2 of CDL Stage 3 qualifying
GamerLegion, FaZe Clan reach BLAST Rivals Spring semifinals
