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What we learned as Roupp impresses in Giants' win over Athletics

What we learned as Roupp impresses in Giants' win over Athletics originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Wilmer Flores had the best night of his career on Friday night. The Athletics apparently forgot it happened. 

With two on and two outs in the 10th inning Saturday, the A’s intentionally walked Mike Yastrzemski to face Flores, who hit three homers and drove in eight runs just a few hours earlier. The Giants’ best clutch hitter fouled off a couple of 103 mph fastballs from A’s closer Mason Miller before drawing a walk that pushed across the only run in a fabulously pitched game on both sides. 

With the walk, Flores moved one ahead of Aaron Judge for the MLB lead in RBI. With the 1-0 win, the Giants got back to eight games above .500 and clinched the series on a night when their bullpen was about as efficient as it gets. 

Landen Roupp took the shutout through six and Randy Rodriguez, Tyler Rogers and Ryan Walker cruised through the next three innings. The three relievers needed just 20 pitches to get their nine consecutive outs, and 19 of them were strikes. 

On the other side, right-hander Luis Severino matched Roupp, but the Giants looked like they might get something going against reliever Justin Sterner in the bottom of the eighth. 

Speedy No. 9 hitter Tyler Fitzgerald reached with a leadoff single and took off on a 3-2 pitch to Mike Yastrzemski. It was strike three, and A’s catcher Shea Langeliers made a perfect throw down to second to nail Fitzgerald. 

Camilo Doval came on for the top of the 10th and stranded the automatic runner. When he struck out Brent Rooker, he took a huge hop off the mound before strutting back to the dugout with his 17th consecutive scoreless appearance. 

More Like R00PP

For the first time in his career, Roupp went at least six innings without allowing a run. In fact, this was just the third scoreless start out of his 13 in the big leagues, and his first this season. 

Roupp dealt with plenty of traffic, allowing five hits and walking two, but he always had an answer with his back against the wall. With two on and no outs in the second, he got a liner to center, strikeout and grounder to second. With a runner on in the first, he struck out a pair to end the threat. A pop-up and strikeout stranded runners in the fourth, and he struck out Luis Urias to end the sixth — and his night — with a runner on first.

Roupp entered the night with a 1.53 difference between his ERA and xERA. Like Jordan Hicks, who was removed from the rotation, he has pitched a bit better than the raw numbers, and on Saturday the results were there, too. 

Typical Randy

Speaking of xERA, Rodriguez is ninth in the majors, sandwiched between dominant American League closers Jhoan Duran and Andres Muñoz. His actual ERA after a 1-2-3 seventh inning is down to 0.96, and nothing about it feels flukey. 

Rodriguez breezed through the seventh, putting up a scoreless outing for the 17th time in 18 appearances. When he was coming through the minors, Rodriguez’s issue was command, but at some point last April that locked into place and he became a trusted reliever.

On Saturday he threw nine pitches and all were strikes, including six sliders. His fastball sat at 98 mph. The Giants bullpen has been excellent all year long, and the middle-inning guys are a big part of the reason. 

More Relief

Rodriguez can’t crack the eighth because Tyler Rogers is having his best season as a big leaguer, and Saturday’s eighth was his easiest yet. 

Rogers needed just four pitches to get through the inning, inducing three groundball outs. The submariner has his highest strikeout rate since 2020, but when he’s out there he’s looking for groundballs, and this was as good as it gets given that he faced the heart of the A’s lineup.  Rooker bounced the first pitch of the inning back to the mound and Rogers got an easy first out.

Tyler Soderstrom also bounced a sinker back to the mound but it was just over Rogers’ glove; Willy Adames was right there for the second out. After taking a pitch, Shea Langeliers hit a hard shot to first that LaMonte Wade Jr. stopped with a dive. With that, Rogers lowered his ERA to 1.27. 

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Wheeler looks like he's on a mission, Phillies win another series

Wheeler looks like he's on a mission, Phillies win another series originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Rob Thomson began describing what made Zack Wheeler so effective Saturday night against the Pirates then stopped himself.

“I mean, it’s the same quotes. You can take the same quotes from the last 20 starts and fill it in,” the Phillies’ manager said.

Wheeler is on another one of his dominant runs. It was 84 degrees at first pitch Saturday night and he barely broke a sweat, mowing down the Pirates over six scoreless innings and riding an early lead to a 5-2 win, one of the Phillies’ most comfortable of the season.

Wheeler allowed just three hits and a walk, improving to 5-1 with a 2.67 ERA. The Phillies have won his last four starts and seven of 10 for the season. He’s cruised his last six times out, putting just 31 men on base over 39⅔ innings with a 1.82 ERA and .177 opponents’ batting average.

All of Wheeler’s stuff was up Saturday — velocity, spin and command. He hit 99 mph with his four-seam fastball and 98 with his sinker. The sinker was his best of the season, 96.2 compared to a season average of 94.5.

“Sometimes they just explode out of his hand and you know he’s got his A-plus-plus stuff instead of his A-plus stuff,” said Bryson Stott, who drove in three runs.

“A guy with that many pitches, that many strike pitches, he may save one or two the first time through the order and you think you’ve got him, and then he busts out the splitter, cutter or slider. That’s what the great ones do, they keep a pitch in their arsenal and start using it the second or third time through.”

Wheeler’s sinker has been a plus pitch for years but hadn’t been as sharp early this season. Last week, he attributed it to facing so many left-handed hitters. The sinker is more of a weapon vs. righties and he just doesn’t see many. On Saturday, though, the Pirates started five of them.

“The pitch was good, but obviously when you throw it more in a game, it’ll be better,” Wheeler said. “Everybody’s been stacking lefties against me so you can’t throw it as much and it won’t be as crisp or as good.”

The Phillies (27-18) scored in the bottom of the first with one-out singles by Trea Turner and Bryce Harper and an RBI double from Kyle Schwarber. The Pirates are 2-19 this season when falling behind and have scored the fewest runs in baseball, so jumping on them early almost always means a win. Their only runs came on a Bryan Reynolds homer with one out in the ninth.

Stott added to the Phillies’ early lead with a solo home run in the third inning and they scored three more times in the fourth on Stott’s two-run single and Bryce Harper’s RBI double.

Stott’s homer came on a low-and-in slider to end a six-pitch plate appearance, the same number he saw before lining out in the first inning. Stott leads MLB this season with 4.59 pitches seen per plate appearance, a valuable attribute for a leadoff hitter. All four of Stott’s home runs this season have been pulled to right field on pitches on the inside corner at the belt or below.

“Yeah,” Stott said when asked if his eyes light up when he gets a pitch in that zone. “Kinda big, sometimes too big, like my last at-bat, the one in the dirt. I like it there and do damage there. Sometimes you’ll get a game where you’ll see every pitch outside and then you get one in. You don’t want to miss it.”

Harper sure seems to be finding his swing. He went 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBI in Friday’s win then reached base three more times Saturday. His double was the kind of swing Harper puts on a ball when he’s going well, laced to the opposite field with fading action away from the left fielder. He’s slumped for about a month yet still has an .816 OPS.

The Phillies have gone 10-4-1 in their 15 series. Only the Tigers (10-4) have a better series winning percentage. The back-to-back victories guarantee the Phils at least a .500 homestand and they can make it a winning week on Sunday, but it will be a challenge facing Pirates ace Paul Skenes for the first time. Mick Abel makes his big-league debut.

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Francisco Lindor's ninth-inning sac-fly gives Mets 3-2 win over Yankees

The Mets defeated the Yankees 3-2 on Saturday at Yankee Stadium to even this version of the Subway Series at 1-1.

They scored a run in the top of the ninth, on a Francisco Lindor sacrifice fly, to break a 2-2 tie, and Edwin Diaz closed it out for the save.

Here are the top takeaways...

-- There was plenty of late drama, especially in the bottom of the ninth as Diaz had to get Aaron Judge for the final out of the game.

Diaz got ahead 0-2 and then, after Judge worked the count to 3-2, struck out the Yankees’ superstar swinging at a high fastball.

-- The Mets put together the winning rally in the ninth against Fernando Cruz, loading the bases with one out on a walk to Luis Torrens, and infield single by Brett Baty, and a hit-by-pitch to Tyrone Taylor.

Lindor, on a 3-1 count, delivered his sacrifice fly to right-center, just deep enough for pinch-runner Luisangel Acuña to score ahead of Cody Bellinger’s throw to the plate.

-- Reed Garrett pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the eighth for the Mets to keep the game tied 2-2.

Garrett was fortunate, as he allowed three walks and a hard-hit double to right by Anthony Volpe. But he also got a 6-4-3 double play for the first two outs, and ended the inning when DJ LeMahieu line a hard-hit ball to Juan Soto in right.

-- A questionable send of Brett Baty in the seventh inning didn’t wind up costing the Mets. On the play, Baty was thrown out at the plate in the top of the seventh on Taylor’s one-out double to left-center, leaving the game tied 2-2.

Watching the play live, it looked like an overly aggressive send of Baty by third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh, as Volpe took the relay throw in shallow left in time to nail the runner.

Still, Baty might well have been safe with a better slide. The throw was up the line just enough that Baty needed to slide more to the inside of the field, away from the tag. Also, Lindor could have given Baty more directional help, as he saw the throw veering up the line as the on-deck hitter.

Had Baty been held, the Mets would have had runners at second and third with one out and Lindor and Soto coming up.

-- Griffin Canning delivered a solid start, allowing two runs over 5.1 innings with an assist from Huascar Brazoban, who got the final two outs of the sixth, stranding two inherited runners.

The Yankees clipped Canning for solo home runs by DJ Lemahieu and Bellinger for their two runs against him -- a wall-scraper to right by Lemahieu and a 432-bomb to right-center by Bellinger.

Canning pitched exceptionally well against Judge in three at-bats, getting him on a routine fly to right, a strikeout swinging on a slider, and a soft ground ball to third by jamming him inside with a fastball.

-- Clarke Schmidt gave the Yankees a solid start as well, though he was fortunate that five walks didn’t cost him more as he allowed two runs over six innings.

Three of the walks came in the fourth inning, when the Mets scored two runs to take a 2-1 lead. But Schmidt pitched out of a bases-loaded jam, getting Brett Baty to fly to right to end the inning.

Soto stole third in the inning to set up the second run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Mark Vientos. For Soto it was his second steal in two games against the Yankees, both times getting an early jump and stealing without a throw.

-- Judge had a rare rough day at the plate, going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts as the Mets pitched him tough. The 0-fer dropped Judge’s average to .402.

-- Lemahieu, making his second start of the season after injury delay, had a big day with two hits and a very good defensive play at second, as he slid to backhand Lindor’s ground ball toward the middle and threw him out to end the top of the seventh.  

Lemahieu’s homer was a Yankee Stadium Special, breaking a scoreless tie in the third inning. It was tracked at 333 feet, just clearing the fence toward the right field corner. According to Baseball Savant, it would have been a home run in four of the 30 major league ballparks.

Game MVP: Francisco Lindor

It wasn’t the most heroic of MVP games, but Lindor came through with a sac fly in the ninth. No small matter for a team that has struggled with runners in scoring position at times this season, and especially lately.

Highlights

What's next

The Mets wrap up their Subway Series against the Yankees on Sunday night, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

David Peterson (2-2, 3.05 ERA) will take the mound, opposite Max Fried (6-0, 1.11 ERA).

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A long ride to Rome: could the Giro d’Italia really be bound for Australia?

Rumours are swirling that the 2027 grand tour race could begin in Australia – and it’s not the first time the idea has been explored

Earlier this month, the Giro d’Italia – Italy’s premier cycling race and one of three Grand Tours on the global cycling calendar – began in Albania. So far, so normal – it is increasingly common for the Grand Tours to begin outside their homelands. The Tour de France first started outside France in 1954; in recent years, the Grand Départ has taken place in Italy, Spain, Denmark and Belgium. The Giro has previously rolled out from as far afield as Israel and Northern Ireland, while next year’s Vuelta a España will begin in Monaco.

But on Monday, the well-known Australian cycling commentator Mike Tomalaris raised eyebrows when he suggested the 2027 Giro might begin half a world away: in Australia. With a post on Instagram, Tomalaris indicated he was breaking the news.

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Five things to watch in Game 7 between Nuggets, Thunder

It's this simple for me: The winner of this game will win the NBA championship.

Oklahoma City and Denver have been the two best teams in the NBA this postseason, going head to head in what has been the best series of the playoffs. While the Thunder are +32 for the series, remove the Game 2 blowout from the mix and it is Nuggets +11. Denver has shown more offensive weapons that coach David Adelman can trust night-to-night, but the Thunder are deeper and have the better defense.

Here are the five things to watch in Game 7 between these teams on Sunday (3:30 ET on ABC).

MVP Face-Off

Nikola Jokic vs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Basketball doesn't get better than this. Savor it.

The two leading MVP candidates — the league has delayed handing out the actual hardware until this series ends — have lived up to the billing this series: Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 28 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists a game, adding 1.3 steals into the mix; Jokic is averaging 29.8 points, 14.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2 steals a game.

These might be the two best basketball players walking the face of the earth right now (at worst, they are both top three), and they are living up to the billing. Enjoy one last game between these two.

Aaron Gordon’s hamstring

With just a couple of minutes left in Game 7, Aaron Gordon seemed to tweak his hamstring, he was walking around, rubbing it, then subbed himself out of the game with less than a minute to go.

Gordon has a strained hamstring and is unlikely to play in Game 7.

That is a huge blow. In this series, Gordon has averaged 14.5 points and 9.2 assists a game, shooting 45.2% from 3, and he hit the game-winner in Game 1 of this series.

If, as expected, he cannot play, that is a huge setback for an already thin Nuggets team. The pressure falls on Peyton Watson, who must have a monster game for Denver.

Which Jalen Williams shows up?

Oklahoma City fell to Dallas in the second round a year ago partly because Jalen Williams was not ready to step up and be the No. 2 option this team needed.

This year… it's too much of the same. Williams had 32 points on 21 shots in Game 3 (an OKC loss), but in the last three games Williams has shot 2-of-13, 5-of-14 and 3-of-16, a combined 23.3%. That will not be good enough in Game 7.

Williams is an All-Star, and the Thunder will offer a five-year max contract extension this summer, but this is where that money is really earned. He needs to step up and be that guy. If he — and Chet Holmgren as well — can't be the running mates Gilgous-Alexander needs, it means Sam Presti has some hard decisions coming up.

Which MVP gets help?

This is the real story of the series.

As noted above, Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander have lived up to the billing. The question game-to-game is which team's role players step up and provide enough help to their star. With everyone tight in Game 7, that becomes an even bigger question. Does Christian Braun have a big game because he's been there before and handles the moment? Is this a good Williams and Holmgren game for the Thunder? Is this another Julian Strawther game?

The safest bet on the board is whichever team's role players step up will win.

What about Thunder defense?

In the regular season, Oklahoma City had a 107.6 defensive rating, the best in the league (using Basketball-Reference's numbers). In the first round against Memphis, the Thunder had a defensive rating of 99.6, allowing less than a point per possession.

In this series, here are the Thunder's defensive ratings in each of the last four games: 99.8, 92.1, 107.3, 116.5. Jokic's high-IQ mind tends to figure teams out over the course of seven games. Has that happened here? As great and athletic as the Thunder defense has been this season, has Jokic solved the puzzle? He's making the right passes, he has found his counters to OKC's adjustments. Or, do the Thunder — likely behind more minutes from Alex Caruso, who has been fantastic this series — have one more game of stops in them.

If the Thunder defense performs to its potential, the Thunder will take Game 7 and advance.

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Adam Klapka Scores First 2 IIHF Goals: ‘It’s Something You Dream About’

Adam Klapka played his first IIHF World Championship game on Thursday against Hungary but his second game on Saturday was more memorable. The 24-year-old Calgary Flames winger recorded two goals and an assist in an 8-1 victory over Kazakhstan.

He assisted on Jakub Flek’s goal early in the second period to make it 2-0 but waited until the third period to score his goals. Before that, he missed a couple of point-blank chances.

“Honestly, I was a little angry with myself,” he told the media after the game, according to Hokej.cz. “When you're alone in the slot, you should score because it doesn’t happen very often. I should convert these chances. But I’m glad I finally found a way to score.”

Did he ever. A minute into the third period, he picked up the corner deep in his own zone and went end-to-end, beating five Kazakhs and splitting the defense along the way to give the Czechs a 5-0 lead.

“The defenseman hit my stick and the puck went up in the air,” he said about the finish. “I wanted to bury it under (the goalie) and I found a hole between the legs, so I put it there.”

His second goal closed out the scoring in the final minute.

“Flíček (Flek) wanted to pass it to me and it hit a Kazakh stick, so again from the air, I just wanted to try to put it past the goalie, and fortunately I did,” Klapka described.

Adam Klapka playing for the Calgary Flames in the 2024-25 season. © Sergei Belski-Imagn Images

“I really enjoyed it. It’s something you dream about when you watch the World Championship at home.”

Klapka wasn’t the only Czech to record three points in the game. Captain Roman Červenka, a former Flame, recorded a hat trick.

"I'm happy for him,” said Klapka. Roman is a professional and you can learn a lot from him. He’s the first to enter the locker room and the last to leave. I like watching how he takes care of himself – it’s inspiring. It’s incredible to enjoy time with him like this and be right there.”

Adam Klapka: “I knew deep down that I would play in the NHL one day”Adam Klapka: “I knew deep down that I would play in the NHL one day”At 6-foot-8 and 236 pounds, Adam Klapka is a hard guy to miss. But the Czech winger managed to fly under the radar for much of his amateur career and even in his early years as a pro. He never played in the U18 Worlds or the World Juniors, was never drafted by an NHL team and at age 21, split the season between the Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Extraliga and HC Benátky nad Jizerou of the tier-two Chance Liga.

With injured Jakub Lauko due back into the lineup at some point and speculation about the addition of David Kämpf to the Czech team if the Toronto Maple Leafs get eliminated on Sunday, Klapka doesn’t know if he’ll get the chance to play any more games in this tournament, but he’ll be ready if he does.

“It’s up to the coaches,” he said. “I tried to do my best in the two games I played. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll do what the coaches say and be ready for anything.”

Czechs Eyeing Kämpf If Leafs Lose Game 7; Hertl HurtCzechs Eyeing Kämpf If Leafs Lose Game 7; Hertl HurtCzechia still has a free forward spot on its World Championship roster and the team is apparently eyeing David Kämpf in the event the Toronto Maple Leafs lose Game 7 of their Stanley Cup second-round playoff series to the Florida Panthers on Sunday.
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Tom Dunn shines on record-breaking appearance as Bath crush Leicester

  • Bath 43-15 Leicester
  • Dunn scores try in 184th Premiership match for Bath

It could yet be that these two teams will meet again in this season’s Premiership final at Twickenham. If so Leicester will have to look for some different solutions. This meeting of the leagues’s top two was compared to a “heavyweight boxing clash” by Bath’s head of rugby, Johann van Graan, but even the ability of Leicester’s defence to soak up plenty of punishment could not save them in the end.

Bath’s first-choice forwards are increasingly taking no prisoners and this seven-try victory on a glorious early summer evening was the latest reason to fancy they will eventually end up as champions. The highlight was a memorable score from Tom Dunn, setting a new club record for the most Premiership appearances in the famous blue, black and white striped jersey. The hooker’s extravagant dummy and subsequent 20-metre sprint to the line would have been collector’s items even in a game of social tag rugby

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Yankees reliever Jake Cousins has injury setback, this time a pec issue

NEW YORK — Yankees reliever Jake Cousins felt pectoral discomfort after throwing a pair of batting practice sessions, another setback in his bid to return to the mound for the first time since last fall.

Cousins won’t throw again for four or five days, manager Aaron Boone said Saturday.

Boone said ahead of spring training’s opening workout that Cousins had a strained right forearm and was uncertain for the March 27 opener.

A 30-year-old right-hander, Cousins threw batting practice to injured slugger Giancarlo Stanton on May 6. Boone said Cousins pitched an additional session before the pec issue caused a shutdown.

“We don’t think it’s anything serious, but enough to hold him back a few days,” Boone said.

Boone said Cousins had tests and they didn’t show any shoulder issues.

Cousins had a 2.37 ERA in 37 relief appearances last year, striking out 53 and walking 20 in 38 innings.

Boone said a date has not been set for Stanton to start a minor league injury rehabilitation assignment. The five-time All-Star has been sidelined since spring training with pain in the tendons of both elbows.

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Crystal Palace stun Manchester City to win FA Cup and first-ever major trophy – as it happened

Eberechi Eze scored a fine winner and Dean Henderson – who might have been sent off earlier – saved a penalty on a famous day for Palace

Oliver Glasner’s pre-match thoughts

It’s a special moment for all of us and we’re really looking forward to the game.

We expect City to have more of the ball, as they do against most teams, especially as they have picked a very attacking line-up. It’s a little bit similar to how Villa played, with lots of attacking players, but that gives you space for transitions. That’s what we need to wait for. We have to be very efficient when we get chances.

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Abel didn't expect the call but pitched well enough to earn it

Abel didn't expect the call but pitched well enough to earn it originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Players nearing the major leagues can sometimes see the writing on the wall before their first call-up, but Mick Abel did not. 

He had no reason to. The Phillies had five starters plus Taijuan Walker in the bullpen. Aaron Nola had struggled mightily but hadn’t missed time with an injury in over eight years. 

“We were in Syracuse playing the Mets’ Triple A. I had no idea it was coming,” Abel said Saturday afternoon from the Phillies’ dugout during batting practice. 

“Our manager, Anthony Contreras, called a meeting and was talking about the team’s success, how we’re not riding the highs too much, and at the end he was like, ‘We’ve got a lot to celebrate today,’ and he said it. I was pretty surprised. 

“I was a little star stuck at first, like, he said my name? I put my head down and didn’t know how to feel, I was pretty overwhelmed. Once I stood up, emotions started flowing, I started dapping guys up. It was fun.”

Abel is up for one start and one start only. He will make his big-league debut Sunday opposite Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes in an exciting pitching matchup to end the Phillies’ six-game homestand.

Abel is up because Nola was placed on the 15-day injured list Friday with a right ankle sprain. Nola suffered the injury last Thursday in Tampa and pitched through it for two starts, allowing four runs in five innings in Cleveland, then nine runs on 12 hits to the Cardinals at home. 

The ankle felt a little bit better after the Cleveland start, Nola said Friday, but it lingered into the outing against the Cardinals, which was the worst of his career.

Nola had to adjust his mechanics in that one, he said, because he couldn’t rotate his foot properly. His back then tightened up. The Phillies want to sit him down for a few weeks so he doesn’t adjust anything else to compensate and injure a different body part. 

The Phillies do not expect Nola (1-7, 6.16 ERA) to miss much time beyond the 15-day minimum, manager Rob Thomson said Friday. But Abel will make just this start, regardless. Walker will slot into the rotation spot on Wednesday at Coors Field. Thomson made this clear to Abel. 

Maybe it puts a little less pressure on the 23-year-old former first-round pick. 

“I think so,” Thomson said. “We did it with Sanchy a couple years ago. I FaceTimed him and said you’re coming up here and it’s just one start and you’re going right back, so just come up here and be yourself, pitch like you are right now, you’re gonna have success. Just relax and have fun, enjoy the moment. And he did, he pitched really well.”

These are the Phillies’ probable starters for the week ahead:

Sunday vs. Pit: Mick Abel

Monday at Col: Cristopher Sanchez

Tuesday at Col: Jesus Luzardo

Wednesday at Col: Taijuan Walker

Thursday at Col: Ranger Suarez

Friday at Sac: Zack Wheeler

Saturday at Sac: Cristopher Sanchez

Sunday at Sac: Jesus Luzardo

Abel was the Phillies’ top pick in the 2020 draft, the first high school pitcher selected. He’s made 92 starts in the Phils’ system since 2021 and has put together the best run of his mjnor-league career this year, going 5-2 with a 2.53 ERA in eight starts. He’s 4-0 with a 1.44 ERA in the last four. 

“Any time a guy makes his debut whether it’s a position player or pitchers, it’s always exciting. And he’s had a lot of focus on him since he signed because he’s a high draft pick,” Thomson said. 

“He’s had some struggles in the past but he’s really put together a nice season this year. I told him today just come in here, one start, be yourself and have fun. Enjoy the moment.”

Abel has always missed bats but control has been a consistent issue. He walked 143 batters in 222 innings in 2023 and 2024. He’s down from 5.8 walks per nine innings to 3.7 this season. Sometimes, it’s been nibbling. Sometimes, he’s admitted over the years, it’s been thinking too much. 

Right now, he’s trusting his stuff, pitching with confidence and intent. 

“I’m expecting all the nerves in the world,” he said, “but at the end of the day, it’s the same game, just a different place.”

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Jaylen has partial meniscus tear, played through injury: Report

Jaylen has partial meniscus tear, played through injury: Report originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jaylen Brown has been dealing with a right knee injury since March, and we now know severity of his ailment.

The Boston Celtics star has a partially torn right meniscus, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported Saturday. Brown will be “evaluated this week to determine if surgery is needed,” per Shelburne.

Brown missed six games over a 13-game span in March as well as the final three games of the regular season due to a knee injury the team labeled as “right knee posterior impingement.” After an April 3 loss to the Miami Heat, Brown admitted he was dealing with consistent knee pain but planned to play through it.

“I’ve had to come to grips that every night I’m not gonna feel my normal self,” Brown said at the time, “but that doesn’t mean I still can’t make plays and things like that. So, it’s just something that we are working through.”

Brown didn’t miss a game in the postseason, and while his typical explosiveness was limited, he still averaged 22.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.

With Jayson Tatum sidelined due to a ruptured Achilles suffered in Game 4, Brown helped keep Boston’s season alive in a Game 5 win over the New York Knicks with 26 points, eight rebounds and a playoff career-high 12 assists.

“I don’t make excuses,” Brown said after the Celtics’ season-ending loss in Game 6 on Friday. “Obviously, it’s tough the way we went out like tonight, but the way we finished the year, personally, the way I finished the year, persevering through some physical stuff that I was battling through, I’m proud of our group.”

How long Brown needs to recover remains unclear and will depend on whether he elects to have surgery, but his injury adds another wrinkle to an already uncertain offseason in Boston.

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US PGA Championship golf 2025: day three – as it happened

  • Scottie Scheffler opened up a possibly decisive lead with some almost flawless golf down the closing stretch at Quail Hollow
  • Official leaderboard

… so having given Scottie Scheffler the grandstand introduction, he double-crosses himself and sends his approach at 1 towards the gallery to the left of the green. He’ll have a hell of a chip from there, from thick rough over sand. A pleasing symmetry to this.

… so having given Rory McIlroy the grandstand introduction, he carves his second at 10 towards the gallery to the right of the green. He’ll have a hell of a chip from there, from thick rough over sand. Meanwhile his playing partner, the defending champion Xander Schauffele, leaves his approach short and right, and immediately hollers “Mud ball!” Ah yes, mud balls …

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Paolini storms to victory over Gauff to win Italian Open and make history

  • Home favourite wins 6-4, 6-2 at Foro Italico
  • Paolini is first Italian to win women’s singles in 40 years

Jasmine Paolini became the first home winner of the Italian Open for 40 years with a dominant victory over Coco Gauff. The 29-year-old, who reached the final of the French Open and Wimbledon last year in a breakthrough season, delighted the fans at the Foro Italico with a 6-4, 6-2 success.

No Italian had won the singles titles in Rome since Raffaella Reggi in 1985, but Paolini thoroughly merited her triumph. Jannik Sinner could make it a home double when he faces Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday. “It doesn’t seem real to me,” Paolini said. “I came here as a kid to see this tournament, but winning it and holding up this trophy wasn’t even in my dreams.”

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Mets Notes: What LHP Jose Castillo brings to NY, next steps for Paul Blackburn and Frankie Montas

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza spoke to reporters ahead of Saturday's Subway Series matchup against the Yankees, and gave some updates on the team...

Dedniel Núñez still "going to be a big part of this team"

New York optioned the relief pitcher to Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday, SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino reported, as Mendoza said he needs to see more consistent strike-throwing from him.

"Feel like even though the past two outings he's been better, we just need to see consistency with the strike-throwing," Mendoza said. "That's what made this guy elite last year and became who he was last year for us. First couple of outings, we saw the inconsistencies with the strike-throwing.

"But it was good to see him yesterday, 98 (mph), and he was a lot better. He's just got to go down there and find that consistency, and just continue to throw strikes."

Mendoza was asked how Núñez received the message and made it clear he's still in the team's plans going forward.

"Nobody's happy when you tell them they're going back to the minor leagues, but he's a professional, he understood, he gets it," Mendoza said. "He was fine, he was professional. He just got to keep working. He's going to be a big part of this team and he'll be back."

What LHP Jose Castillo brings to NY

The Mets acquired Castillo from the Diamondbacks on Thursday, adding a second left-hander to their bullpen.

Mendoza discussed how the 29-year-old can help the team against lineups like the Yankees and Dodgers.

"It definitely helps, especially when you're going against a lineup like this (Yankees), or Boston, or the Dodgers coming up," Mendoza said. "We know the stuff is there. He's a lefty that throws hard, he's got a breaking ball, a slider. We saw him not too long ago.

"This is a guy that when he's healthy, he's got the talent. He's dealt a lot with injuries in the past, but he was a big-time prospect coming up with the Padres. We feel like there's more in the tank there and hopefully he can be a player for us out of the bullpen."

Castillo had struggled in five games for the Diamondbacks this season with a 11.37 ERA across 6.1 innings. Although he had a strong 2018 season in San Diego with a 3.29 ERA over 37 games with 52 strikeouts before injuries started to derail his career, including an ACL tear, causing him to miss all of 2024. Castillo pitched just three times from 2019 through 2024.

Latest on Paul Blackburn and Frankie Montas

Blackburn made another rehab start on Friday night for Double-A Binghamton, allowing five runs (three earned) on one hit (a home run) over 4.1 IP. He struck out seven and walked one.

Mendoza was asked what the next steps are for Blackburn before returning to the bigs, saying he'll get at least another rehab start.

"He was good. Five ups, up to 73, 74 pitches. He's going one more, at least, in the minor leagues and then we'll have a decision there," Mendoza said. "As of right now, came out fine. We'll give him one more in the minor leagues."

Over five minor league starts during his rehab assignment, Blackburn owns a 0-2 record with a 5.63 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 16.0 IP.

As for Montas (lat), who threw a live bullpen session on Friday in Brooklyn, the starter is getting closer to a rehab assignment of his own.

"Good. So he's got another one Tuesday, I think it is and then we'll go from there," Mendoza said Saturday,

The 32-year-old has yet to make his Mets debut, but pitched to a 4.84 ERA last season with the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers.

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Last-place Orioles fire manager Brandon Hyde after falling 13 games under .500

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde on Saturday after a dismal start to the season by a team coming off two consecutive playoff appearances.

The Orioles are 15-28 and in last place in the AL East following a loss to Washington on Friday night. Hyde guided the team through an extensive rebuild and won manager of the year honors in 2023, but Baltimore’s performance slipped noticeably during the second half of last year, and the Orioles have put themselves in a significant hole so far in 2025.

“As the head of baseball operations, the poor start to our season is ultimately my responsibility,” Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said in a statement. “Part of that responsibility is pursuing difficult changes in order to set a different course for the future. I want to thank Brandon for his hard work, dedication and passion all these years, and for returning the team to the playoffs and winning an AL East championship.”

Third base coach Tony Mansolino will serve as interim manager. The Orioles also fired major league field coordinator/catching instructor Tim Cossins.