Sports
Tarik Skubal fans 10 in 6 innings as Tigers take down Red Sox
Apr 18, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) pitches during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images Tarik Skubal pitched six dominant innings and Kerry Carpenter highlighted his multi-hit game with a home run, leading the Detroit Tigers to a 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday afternoon.
Skubal (3-2) struck out 10, twice fanning the side, while allowing just one run on four hits en route to the win.
Carpenter (2-for-3, two RBI) and Kevin McGonigle (2-for-5, RBI, run) led the offense for Detroit, which broke a nine-game road losing streak.
Tyler Holton and Kenley Jansen teamed up in relief as Boston was limited to five hits. Jansen notched his fifth save.
Brayan Bello (1-2) took the loss, allowing four runs on five hits and three walks in four innings. He fanned four, while throwing 84 pitches.
The Tigers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning while forcing Bello to throw 35 pitches. After McGonigle lined a leadoff single to right, another base knock by Colt Keith and a walk to Riley Greene loaded the bases.
Bello fanned Spencer Torkelson, but another free pass to Carpenter forced home Detroit’s opening run.
Bello retired the next eight men he faced, including a strikeout to begin the fourth, before the visitors marked the scoreboard again on Carpenter’s towering homer into the right-center field bullpen. After two more baserunners continued the line, Jake Rogers’ sacrifice fly and another McGonigle single extended the Detroit lead.
The four runs proved to be enough support for Skubal, who retired the Red Sox in order the first time through the lineup and allowed just one baserunner before Boston got on the board in the fifth.
In the hosts’ run-scoring inning, a Wilyer Abreu single and Ceddanne Rafaela double set the table in the inning, but Connor Wong’s double play ball plating a run was all of the offense Skubal would allow.
Back-to-back hits by Roman Anthony and Andruw Monestario to begin the sixth gave Boston an opportunity to break into its deficit further, but Skubal escaped trouble with two strikeouts of the next three batters.
Skubal fanned the side in the second and fourth innings. Boston’s Willson Contreras and Trevor Story each struck out three times in the game.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Carson Kelly's pinch-hit homer propels Cubs over hapless Mets
Apr 18, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs pinch-hitter Carson Kelly (15) hits a three-run homer against the New York Mets during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images Carson Kelly hit a tie-breaking three-run pinch-hit home run in the sixth inning Saturday afternoon for the host Chicago Cubs, who beat the skidding New York Mets 4-2.
The pinch-hit homer was the second of Kelly’s career and his first since Aug. 25, 2021, when he went deep for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Anthony Banda.
Ian Happ homered in the second for the Cubs, who have won four straight and have scored 51 runs while winning five of their last six games. Chicago scored 59 runs in its first 14 games this season.
Kelly’s homer off Brooks Raley made a winner of Jameson Taillon (1-1), who gave up one run on five hits and three walks while striking out four over six innings.
Mark Vientos provided the visitors a short-lived lead by homering in the top of the second for the Mets, who have lost 10 straight — their longest skid since an 11-game losing streak from Aug. 28-Sept. 8, 2004. New York hasn’t led at the end of an inning since first inning of an 11-6 loss to the Athletics on Apr. 11 — a span of 62 frames.
New York’s Bo Bichette scored when second baseman Nico Hoerner threw wide of the bag on Francisco Alvarez’s two-out grounder in the eighth. But reliever Ben Brown induced Vientos to ground out to third and strand two before Caleb Thielbar struck out two in a perfect ninth to earn his first save of 2026.
Freddy Peralta (1-2) took the loss after allowing three runs on three hits and two walks while striking out three over 5 2/3 innings. Peralta issued both walks with two outs in the sixth, after which Kelly took Raley deep on the first pitch he saw. The homer was the first surrendered by Raley since 2023.
The Cubs only managed five hits as Happ reached in 3-of-4 plate appearances with a pair of walks.
Francisco Lindor and Luis Robert Jr. had two hits apiece for the Mets, who were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
–Field Level Media
Sports
WTA roundup: Elena Rybakina continues sizzling start to 2026
Elena Rybakina waves to the crowd after advancing to the quarterfinals after Sonay Kartal retired from their match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., Wednesday, March 11, 2026. Top-seeded Elena Rybakina continued her outstanding 2026 campaign by overwhelming sixth-seeded Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-1 on Saturday to reach the finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.
Rybakina, who represents Kazakhstan, will face No. 7 seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in Sunday’s final. Muchova pulled off a mild upset with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory over No. 4 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
Rybakina, who won the 2026 Australian Open and reached the finals at Indian Wells, exchanged breaks with Andreeva before winning four of five points on the Russian’s serve to capture the first set. She cruised in the second set, winning a combined 21 of 25 points on her first serves and Andreeva’s second service offerings.
The deciding set between Muchova and Svitolina looked to be going the distance, but the Czech won the final eight points of the match — four on her opponent’s serve in the ninth game — to set up the fourth all-time meeting with Rybakina. Muchova has won two of three prior matches, including a quarterfinal victory in January at Brisbane.
Rouen Metropolitan Open
Top-seeded Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine cruised past Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-3, 6-0 to reach the finals in Rouen, France.
Kostyuk will take on teenage qualifier and countrywoman Veronika Podrez. She advanced in a walkover prior to her scheduled match against Romania’s Sonia Cirstea, who withdrew due to a leg injury.
Kostyuk, who will be trying to win her second WTA title and first since a 2023 championship in Austin, Texas, fended off all four break points in the match against the 38-year old German. Maria could not contain Kostyuk’s power, dropping 32 of 43 (74.4%) service points.
Podrez, 19, advanced to the semifinals with wins over Sloane Stephens, No. 7 seed Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy and Great Britain’s Katie Boulter.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Dane Myers' hit in 9th lifts Reds past Twins
Apr 18, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Cincinnati Reds second baseman Sal Stewart (27) loses his helmet as he runs to third base against the Minnesota Twins in the second inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images Pinch hitter Dane Myers’ bloop single scored Spencer Steer in the top of the ninth inning as the Cincinnati Reds rallied for a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday in Minneapolis.
Kyle Nicolas (1-0) struck out all three batters in the eighth inning to earn the win. Tony Santillan pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth and earned his first save of the season as the Reds won the first two games of the three-game set.
Minnesota manager Derek Shelton was ejected in the top of the seventh after Elly De La Cruz’s RBI single scored Rece Hinds to trim the Twins’ lead to 4-3. Shelton was upset De La Cruz was ruled to have checked his swing a pitch earlier.
An inning later, the Reds tied the game at 4-4 when Hinds’ sacrifice fly scored Eugenio Suarez. Cole Sands (0-1) allowed Myers’ game-winning hit in the ninth.
Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Austin Martin walked with one out and Josh Bell singled to right. Ryan Jeffers knocked them both in with a triple to the left field gap. Bell and Luke Keaschall each collected two hits for the Twins.
Tyler Stephenson’s sacrifice fly to center field scored Sal Stewart and cut the Twins lead to 2-1 in the top of the second.
In the bottom of the third, Martin reached on an error and was eventually plated on Keaschall’s line drive to shallow right field as the Twins led 3-1.
Cincinnati pulled within 3-2 in the top of the fourth. Suarez doubled with one out and moved to third on Nathaniel Lowe’s ground out. On an 0-2 pitch, Stephenson drove a hanging cutter into left field to score Suarez. Suarez and Lowe both had two hits.
Bell led off the bottom of the fifth with a single. After Abbott issued a two-out walk to Trevor Larnach, the Reds went to the bullpen. Reds reliever Sam Moll gave up an RBI single to Brooks Lee that scored Bell as the Twins led 4-2.
Reds starting pitcher Andrew Abbott gave up four runs (three earned), six hits, walked three and struck out three in 4 2/3 innings. Twins’ starter Taj Bradley allowed two runs, five hits, walked two and struck out five in six innings.
–Field Level Media
