Two-time major winner records highest PGA Tour Champions hole score
US golfer finds water seven times on par-5 12th at Sanford International
John Daly made it into the PGA Tour Champions record book Friday for the wrong reason. The two-time major champion took a 19 on the par-5 12th hole at the Sanford International.
Daly also broke his personal record by one shot, after he took an 18 on the par-5 sixth hole in the 1998 Bay Hill Invitational when he hit 3-wood into the water six straight times.
San Francisco's Patrick Bailey flips his bat after hitting a walk-off grand slam in a 5-1 win over the Dodgers in 10 innings Friday night at Oracle Park. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
It might’ve been more frustrating, had it not been so predictable.
The Dodgers starting to turn a corner, only to stumble to the kind of maddening late-game loss that has come to define their season.
Entering this weekend’s series against the San Francisco Giants, the team had won four straight games. It had started to stack better offensive performances from its slumping lineup. It had begun to believe that better health and improved pitching could spark a surge to carry it through the rest of the campaign.
Then, they came out of an off day looking flat at Oracle Park.
Then, reality once again smacked them square in the face.
The Dodgers’ 5-1 loss to the Giants might have ended in a familiar way, with Tanner Scott giving up a walk-off hit — this time, a grand slam to Patrick Bailey in the bottom of the 10th — for the third time in the last eight days.
But on this night, the embattled $72-million closer was far from the only person culpable for a slice of the blame.
The Dodgers (82-65) did not hit on a cool night along the San Francisco Bay, with a seventh-inning home run from Michael Conforto accounting for the entirety of their scoring.
They did not back up another gem from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, letting his latest dominant outing (seven innings, one run, one hit, 10 strikeouts) go to waste.
Mostly, they squandered an opportunity to continue the momentum they had finally built with this past week’s long-awaited winning streak. They let the game come down to Scott’s unreliable left arm, and reignited long-standing doubts about their ability to maintain any level of consistent play.
“When you score one run and you’re in a tight ball game, then there’s just no margin [for error],” manager Dave Roberts said in another somber postgame address. “When you’re playing these close ball games, where any flare, any mistake costs you, that’s a tough quality of life too. So it’s not just those guys in the 'pen.”
Indeed, the Dodgers’ loss was set in motion long before Scott threw an elevated fastball that Bailey lined to left for his walk-off slam.
It started with their inability to hit Justin Verlander, who pitched seven innings of one-run ball with a heavy dose of curveballs and sliders. It escalated when they came up empty in a string of scoring opportunities, going 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position. It's a problem they’ve tried to address in recent days, including with reps of simulated situational at-bats in batting practice.
Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers in the second inning Friday. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
Little by little, the turning points began to snowball. And ultimately, it all ended in an avalanche of orange Giants jerseys celebrating at home plate.
“We had opportunities to get a hit, to drive some runs in,” Roberts said. “We had some chances late to put up a crooked number. We just couldn’t come through.”
In the first and third innings, the Dodgers couldn’t capitalize upon one-out walks. In the fourth, they had two on with no outs, and yet still came up empty.
Yamamoto, fresh off his near no-hitter in Baltimore last week, made sure they stayed in it. He gave up one run in the first inning on a Willy Adames double, which plated Rafael Devers from first base after Andy Pages bobbled the ball for an error. But after that, he retired the final 20 batters he faced, lowering his ERA to 2.66.
Conforto, meanwhile, tied the score in the seventh, hitting only his 11th home run of the season to straightaway center.
From there, however, the horrors of the Dodgers’ horrendous play over the second half of the season quickly returned. They were handed a winnable game, and found a way to give it away.
They left another runner stranded in the eighth, after Max Muncy was hit by a pitch in the right forearm that eventually forced him to exit the game (but isn’t expected to keep him out going forward, after postgame X-rays came back negative).
They caught a break in the bottom of the ninth, when Giants pinch-runner Grant McCray was thrown out at home plate by Pages on an aggressive send on a shallow fly ball to center. But then they gave it right back in the top half of the 10th, when catcher Ben Rortvedt (once again filling in for Will Smith, who continues to nurse a bone bruise on his right hand) made his own out on the bases trying to advance as the automatic runner from second to third base.
It all set the stage for the bottom of the 10th, when Scott was thrust into the kind of situation that has haunted him repeatedly of late.
Matt Chapman led the inning off with a ground ball against Blake Treinen, moving the winning run over to third base with left-handed hitter Jung Hoo Lee due up next. At that point, rookie southpaw Jack Dreyer had already pitched in the eighth and ninth inning. Fellow lefty Alex Vesia was down after making back-to-back appearances in his return from the injured list earlier this week.
Thus, Roberts came to the mound, and summoned Scott into the game.
“He had three days off [before this],” Roberts said. “I felt it was the time to run him out there.”
At first, the decision seemed to work. Scott pitched Lee carefully to work a full-count. Then, he snapped off a slider that appeared to induce a putaway foul-tip.
But as Lee waved at the pitch, and home plate umpire Bill Miller initially signaled for strike three, third base umpire Chad Fairchild quickly overruled the call, motioning the ball had instead bounced off the ground and into Rortvedt’s glove — even though replays showed that Rortvedt had secured it without the ball hitting the dirt.
“Obviously we looked at the replay, it didn't hit the ground,” said Roberts, who was left helpless in the dugout on what was a non-reviewable play.
“I thought I got it clean, it definitely didn't bounce,” Rortvedt added. “But I think the way I caught, it might have been a trap.”
Either way, the at-bat continued. The next pitch was a slider out of the zone, putting Lee on base as disaster began to stir.
The Dodgers elected to intentionally walk the next batter, right-handed hitting Casey Schmitt, to bring Bailey to the plate. Scott’s first pitch to him was a slider in the dirt. The next: A 96.5 mph fastball just above the zone that Bailey timed up for a grand slam to end the game.
“Gave up a bad pitch to a hitter that can hit fastballs [and] it cost us again,” said Scott, who has a 5.01 ERA in his debut Dodgers season with nine blown saves, four losing decisions and 11 home runs allowed (tying his total from the past three years combined).
“I’m tired of it happening,” he added.
Dodgers pitcher Tanner Scott watches after San Francisco's Patrick Bailey hits a game-ending grand slam in the 10th inning of the Dodgers' 5-1 loss Friday at Oracle Park. (Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)
Roberts tried to give the closer a vote of confidence afterward, saying “we've just got to continue to try to give him confidence and, when the time's right, run him out there and expect good things to happen” — even though, the manager also acknowledged, it might be time to finally use Scott in lower-leverage sequences of games.
Rortvedt also took blame for the decisive pitch selection, even though he insisted the location of the fastball was one that “no one's supposed to hit.”
That didn’t seem to give Scott much solace. He was so dumbfounded by his latest late-game implosion, he openly wondered if he was simply tipping his pitches.
“They’re on everything, it sucks,” he said. “I have no friggin’ clue right now. ... I’m having the worst year of my life.”
The Dodgers, of course, aren’t having a banner year as a team, either. They might not have ceded ground in the National League West standings on Friday, remaining 2½ games up on the San Diego Padres after that club’s own stunning loss at home to the Colorado Rockies. But, the Dodgers did lose all the momentum they had carried into this rivalry series; putting Scott in a position he has so often struggled, thanks to their earlier inability to put the game away.
Sasaki's next steps
Roki Sasaki could rejoin the Dodgers' big-league roster before the end of the regular season. But first, he'll have to pass one more minor-league rehab test.
Roberts said Sasaki, the rookie right-hander who finally rediscovered his 100 mph fastball last week after missing most of the season with a shoulder injury, will make one more start with triple-A Oklahoma City next week after experiencing a calf issue in his start last week.
If Sasaki comes through that outing OK, Roberts said he hoped to see Sasaki back in the big leagues, where he hasn't pitched since posting a 4.72 ERA in eight starts to begin the season.
"I don’t know in what capacity," Roberts said of Sasaki's role, which would likely be in the bullpen if he were to make the postseason roster. "But I’m hopeful that we’ll see Roki here before season’s end. ... From my understanding, Roki is in a good place to do whatever it is to help the team."
EDMONTON – The Calgary Flames rookies earned a 6–5 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night, holding off a late push in an entertaining matchup at Rogers Place.
After giving up the opening goal to the Oilers, the Flames responded with a tally of their own before the end of the first period, when Hunter Laing capitalized on a rebound in front to even the score at 1–1.
Calgary controlled the second period, striking three times to build a commanding lead. Nathan Brisson put the Flames ahead 2-1, then Sam Honzek finished off a crisp power-play passing play, and Aydar Suniev added to the lead with a one-timer off the rush to make it 4–1 at the break.
In the third, Matvei Gridin and Parker Bell each found the back of the net to extend Calgary’s advantage to 6–2. Edmonton answered with three goals in the final few minutes, but the Flames held strong to secure the 6-5 victory.
Owen Say picked up the ‘W’ between the pipes for Calgary.
The two teams meet again for a rematch in Calgary at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday.
It was meant to be a triumphant homecoming for Livonia, Mich., native Mike Modano, a longtime Dallas Stars forward who had battled the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Playoffs multiple times before signing a contract to play for his hometown team.
Things couldn't have started better for Modano, who scored in his Red Wings debut at Joe Louis Arena in October 2010 against the Anaheim Ducks.
— Red Wings Goals In Order (@RedWingsVids) July 28, 2025
Unfortunately, Modano missed a large portion of what became his final NHL season after a teammate’s falling skate sliced a tendon in his right wrist in late November. He underwent surgery, was sidelined for several months, and didn’t return until late February.
His most productive years were well behind him at that point, and he ultimately scored just four goals in the 40 games he appeared in wearing the Winged Wheel.
He was recently a guest of the Ozzy and Keats podcast consisting of newly-retired FanDuel Sports Detroit host John Keating and former Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood, and he revealed that he was close to signing with the Minnesota Wild in the 2010 offseason before receiving a call from then-Red Wings GM Ken Holland.
"If anybody else was calling besides Detroit, I would have been like, 'Thanks for the call, but I'm just going to pass and maybe call it a day,'" Modano explained.
As a youth, Modano played for the Detroit Little Caesars AAA Hockey Club before moving to Saskatchewan. Drafted first overall by the Minnesota North Stars in 1988, he remained the face of the franchise when the club relocated to Dallas and went on to become the highest-scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history and helped the Stars win the Stanley Cup in 1999 alongside future Red Wings forward Brett Hull.
He recognized that his days with the Stars were numbered in 2010, and jumped at the chance to play for the Red Wings when the offer came from Holland.
"It was a chance to go home and play with some great players, be at home, play with the Wings," he said. "I loved Kenny Holland at the time, we thought he was a great guy. I loved the Ilitch Family and what they did for us as far as our minor hockey with Little Caesars and what they did for me growing up there in that city. I thought I'd give it a shot and go back, and realized how out of shape I was."
Modano’s unfortunate injury derailed a season in which he said he felt he was in the best playing shape he had been in over the previous two to three years.
"Probably around Thanksgiving, I felt I was about the best shape I'd been in in two to three years....but then I got hurt," Modano explained. "If I didn't get hurt, I think my idea, my feelings obviously and my whole demeanor would have changed. It was just a hard struggle to get back, it was a rare, crazy injury."
"I figured I was done at that point.....it didn't pan out well."
Modano remained diplomatic when asked about the infamous decision by then-coach Mike Babcock to scratch him late in the regular season, a move that kept him from reaching what would have been his 1,500th career game.
"It was just an odd phone call, I just didn't expect to get at that point, knowing I was so close. And then he dressed me in Chicago to end up with 1,499. It was frustrating at the time, I got to the rink and he just kind of let it be known that he brought me in to win a Cup, not get 1,500 games."
"I didn't play much in the playoffs, and I knew the writing was on the wall at that point."
Modano retired following the season was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014, his first year of eligibility.
Luis Gil was terrific for the Yankees again on Friday night.
The right-hander stepped up and delivered six hitless innings to help New York take the opener of a huge three-game set with the division rival Boston Red Sox.
Gil was forced to work through traffic at times, but he navigated it well.
He retired first four hitters he faced before Masataka Yoshida reached on an error in the bottom of the second, and after he advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch, the youngster got a pop out to strand him there.
He then issued a one out walk to Ceddanne Rafaela in the bottom of the third, but a fly out and groundout helped him escape without any damage from the top of the order.
Gil put together a perfect fourth, but had to battle again in the fifth.
He was hurt by some questionable calls on back-to-back free passes to lead off the inning and then balked them into scoring position, but was able to retire the next three to get out of the frame with the no-hitter still in-tact.
A Jazz Chisholm throwing error then pushed Trevor Story into scoring position with one out in the sixth, but Gil got a strikeout and groundout to again escape the inning and end his night without any damage.
He finished with four walks and four strikeouts across six hitless innings, bringing his ERA to an outstanding 0.99 in five career starts against the Sox.
“Where we are in the division right now, everything is so tight,” Gil said through a translator. “All of the games are so important for us and we want to just do the best we can and keep things right there and just find a way to contribute.”
Gil certainly has done his part of late -- including tonight, he’s now allowed just one earned one over his past two outings, both of which have come against divisional opponents in the Sox and Blue Jays.
He's now down to a 2.83 ERA on the season.
Aaron Boone went as far as saying this is the best he’s been since returning from the IL.
“He started losing the strike zone a bit,” the skipper said. “But his stuff was good and he was able to get big outs. To buckle down in the fifth and hold them at bay there was big, hopefully this is another springboard for him.”
When a young netminder from Sorel, Quebec made his NHL debut on Oct. 10, 2003, it's difficult to imagine that folks in Pittsburgh, Pa. knew what was in store for the next decade and a half.
Marc-Andre Fleury allowed just two goals on 48 shots that day against the Los Angeles Kings, which was a 3-0 loss for his Pittsburgh Penguins. The 18-year-old was selected first overall by Pittsburgh just a few months prior, and it was his first taste of hockey at the highest level as well as everyone's first taste of "Flower."
Fast forward about 15 years, and Fleury - along with the core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang - helped lead the Penguins to three Stanley Cup championships. In those last two runs - back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017 - Fleury did help his team win a few playoff series, but there was another young, up-and-coming goaltender in Matt Murray who was beginning to supplant Fleury as the team's starting goaltender.
Knowing and understanding the situation at hand, Fleury departed the Penguins for the 2017 expansion draft, becoming the face of the new Vegas Golden Knights franchise and its first draftee. He did win a Vezina Trophy with the Knights in 2020-21, and he ventured onward to the Chicago Blackhawks and then to the Minnesota Wild, where he spent the final three-plus seasons of his NHL career.
Even though he had strayed - and saying goodbye to Pittsburgh was hard for him and his longtime teammates - there was always some degree of inevitability when it came to Fleury reuniting with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
And that all manifested on Friday when he signed a professional tryout (PTO) contract with the Penguins so that he would be able to retire in Pittsburgh black and gold.
It's no secret that there were some tough times with Fleury and the Penguins near the end of his tenure with the team. Prior to the back-to-back runs, the Penguins were mired in a stretch of lackluster post-season appearances and faltering expectations, and goaltending was certainly a part of that. The emergence of Murray resulted in young, fresh blood between the pipes, which is what the Penguins needed at the time - regardless of how difficult it would be to, potentially, say goodbye to a franchise legend.
And - if we're being honest - it was always going to come to that if a younger successor to Fleury ever came about. It wasn't fair to the goaltender who had given so much to the Penguins' organization - and to the city - to play second-fiddle to a 20-year-old rookie when, at 32, he was still capable of playing some high-level hockey in the blue paint.
At the time, Fleury and the Penguins simply weren't on the same page anymore, and moving on was the right thing to do, no matter how painful. Fleury deserved to start somewhere, and that wasn't going to happen in Pittsburgh any longer.
But, somehow, everyone always knew that he would make his way back east someday. There was simply too much history, too much brotherhood, and too much mutual love and respect to ignore. Pittsburgh missed Fleury as much as Fleury missed Pittsburgh, and given his illustrious NHL career, he deserved to go out on his terms when he made the decision to hang up the skates at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season.
And his terms included skating one last time with the team that drafted him. The team that trusted him to be their franchise backstop for more than a decade. The team that molded him, won with him, fought alongside him. The team and the city that he called home for a large part of his life as an NHL player.
The Penguins mean something to Fleury, and the second-winningest goaltender in NHL history means something to the Penguins. There is - as 'Swifties' would say - an invisible string between the two entities, and it's an indestructible bond that has stood the test of time.
Fleury will hit the ice twice more in a Penguins' uniform. The first will be during team practice at training camp on Sept. 26, and the second will be in a pre-season game in Pittsburgh against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sept. 27.
In case you're wondering, tickets are already going for - at minimum - $311.00 on StubHub. And that price continues to rise. People are eager to give the greatest goaltender in franchise history - and one of the greatest to ever do it - the best possible sendoff as he rides into the sunset.
And he'll be riding into that sunset on the Fort Pitt Bridge, departing the city that he loves. Just as it should be, and just how it was always meant to be.
After turning out last week top to toe in navy blue, Argentina revert to their traditional albiceleste (white and sky blue).
It is one of my favourite uniforms in international sport, and here’s why. The colours are beautiful, soft, and complementary. Le Coq Sportif is uber cool and carries association with shaggy haired French soccer players of the 1980s. The golden Puma is unfussy. The sponsor is top-tier and occupies the correct amount of real estate. My only criticism is the absence of a collar, recent iterations of this jersey were elevated further by a crisp white fold.
We got to see some actual hockey on Friday when the Pittsburgh Penguins prospects took on the Boston Bruins prospects in the Prospects Challenge.
It was the first of three games for the Penguins, and they kicked it off with a 2-1 win, thanks to a late game-winning goal from forward Avery Hayes. Hayes scored with less than a minute left in the third period after receiving a really nice pass from defenseman Owen Pickering. Hayes fired the puck glove side past the Bruins’ goalie, and the Penguins’ prospects were able to finish the game off with relative ease.
Hayes was still buzzing about that pass after the game when he met with reporters.
Outside of Hayes, let’s take a look at a few other players who had good performances in this game.
Quinn Beauchesne
Beauchesne, a fifth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, was a goal shy of a Gordie Howe hat trick. He got a secondary assist on Ville Koivunen’s first goal before getting into a fight with Bruins forward Dylan Edwards after he delivered a big hit on Penguins forward prospect Benjamin Kindel. Beauchesne took exception to the hit and defended his teammate with a good tilt.
He came close to scoring a goal later in the game and really showcased his skating ability throughout. Beauchesne would've been picked two or three rounds higher if he were a bit bigger, but that's not the Penguins' problem. All that matters is that he's in the system, and he may turn into a fan favorite if he hits his ceiling. He's set to play for the OHL's Guelph Storm again this season after finishing last year with six goals and 24 points in 47 games.
Ville Koivunen
Koivunen opened the scoring in the first period with a heck of a snipe. Fellow forward prospect Tristan Broz got the primary assist on the goal. The goal for Koivunen is for him to show that he's too good for this type of tournament, and he started to do that in this game.
He's one of the young pieces that will push for a full-time roster spot once training camp opens up next week. Koivunen got a crack at the NHL at the end of the 2024-25 season and looked the part, compiling seven points in eight games. He got time with both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin at 5v5 and even got to play on the top power play.
Both goaltenders (Sergei Murashov and Gabriel D'Aigle).
Murashov and D'Aigle split the playing time in this game and looked the part. Murashov played the first half and made all 11 saves before D'Aigle came in. Murashov's movement in the crease continues to be really impressive. He was also challenging opposing shooters when they had the puck and never looked rattled. He's going to be in contention for the full-time starter's role in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this year.
D'Aigle came in at the halfway point and had to help the rest of the team kill off a four-minute double minor. He made the saves he needed to make in that period, including one on Fraser Minten from up close.
D'Aigle looked even more confident during the third period, even when the Penguins' prospects were under siege from the Bruins. Some fans were a bit down on the D'Aigle pick when he was selected in the third round of the 2025 NHL Draft, since his numbers weren't that good this past season, but that's because he played on a terrible Victoriaville Tigres team in the QMJHL. The Tigres finished the 2024-25 season with a 17-43-4 record. Put D'Aigle on a better team, and there's no doubt his numbers improve.
Harrison Brunicke
Brunicke didn't have any points in this game, but his skating continues to be a treat to watch. The way he walks the blue line and jumps deeper into the offensive zone with the puck on his stick is great.
He also jumped into the play on the penalty kill and got a dangerous chance for a shorthanded opportunity, but the puck didn't find its way to the back of the net. He spent the game paired with Emil Pieniniemi, who is set to play in Wilkes-Barre this year.
Brunicke's goal is to make the NHL roster this season after coming really close last year. He got to the end of training camp, but was one of the final cuts.
Next up for the Penguins' prospects is a date with the Blue Jackets' prospects on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
San Jose Sharks hockey is back, at least in a sense. The Sharks’ prospects took the ice on Friday night against the Anaheim Ducks at the Golden State Rookie Faceoff.
The Sharks had five first-round draft picks in their lineup for the matchup, including second-overall pick Michael Misa, Joshua Ravensbergen, and Sam Dickinson.
It didn’t take long for the Sharks to get on the board, as Cam Lund opened the scoring just over 30 seconds into the game, beating Russian netminder Vyacheslav Buteyets. Quentin Musty and Filip Bystedt got assists on the play.
The Ducks’ fifth-round pick from this summer, Alexis Mathieu of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, got his team on the board 7:59 into the first period with a shot from the point.
The Sharks got their first power play opportunity of the night halfway through the first period, when Ethan Procyszyn was called for cross-checking. Despite some strong zone pressure and some great opportunities, including one from Collin Graf, the Sharks were unable to beat Buteyets.
The power play came to a premature end when Igor Chernyshov was called for tripping on Tarin Smith. The Sharks successfully killed off the Ducks’ abbreviated power play. In the moments following the penalty kill, Ravensbergen would be forced to make a couple of big saves, including a high-danger shot from the slot.
Ryan Lautenbach would be called for slashing with just over five minutes remaining in the first period. Sam Dickinson would hit the post moments before Mattias Havelid restored the Sharks’ lead with a power play goal, making it 2-1.
Throughout the first period, Haoxi (Simon) Wang had a couple of dangerous giveaways, one of which led directly to a high-danger scoring chance for the Ducks. He did show some signs of promise, but overall he’s a player who could benefit massively from this tournament as he did improve over the course of the night.
Nearly two minutes into the second period, Misa was called for slashing, giving the Ducks their second man-advantage of the night. Stian Solberg shot the puck from the point just moments into the period, and Tim Washe tipped it into the net.
20 seconds after the goal, the Sharks would get another opportunity on the power play as they looked to regain their lead. They failed to convert, but a few minutes later, Jackson Wiebe was called for holding, giving the Sharks another chance.
Some tic-tac-toe hockey eventually found its way to Musty in front of the crease who put it away, making it 3-2 in favor of the team in teal.
Carson Wetsch dropped the gloves with Anaheim’s Konnor Smith after a big hit on Teddy Mutryn, however Smith’s size advantage was too much for the Sharks’ winger.
As time expired on the second frame, the two teams had to be pulled apart as things were getting chippy. Wetsch was once again in the middle of it, but Mutryn and Yegor Sidorov were the only ones given penalties for their role in the scrum. The Sharks carried their lead into the second intermission, however at that stage it was still anyone’s game.
Michael McIvor took over in net for the Ducks to start the third period, which started with two minutes of four-on-four play. Ravensbergen would make a phenomenal save on a breakaway, as Beckett Sennecke made him stretch from post-to-post to deny his shot. Cam Lund immediately went down to the other end and scored his second goal of the night, extending the Sharks’ lead to 4-2.
McIvor was forced to make a couple of big saves before Will Francis, a three-time cancer survivor, was called for hooking. Graf would add a power play goal of his own about a minute into the penalty, making it 5-2 for the Sharks with Michael Misa and Kasper Halttunen registering assists on the play.
Jake Furlong would be called for tripping at 5:29 in the third period, giving the Ducks an opportunity to get themselves back into the game. Sidorov wouldn’t wait long to take advantage, as his shot beat Ravensbergen 44 seconds into the power play, making it a 5-3 game with just under 14 minutes left to play.
Halttunen and Solberg dropped the gloves for a quick scrap with just over eight minutes remaining in the final frame. Francis and Braden Hache would do the same with just over six minutes remaining following a big hit on Lund that left him shaken up. Moments after the fight, Lund went down the Sharks’ tunnel, and the Sharks were awarded a power play as a result of the hit.
With 4:02 remaining, the game descended into chaos as a giant scrum led to another fight and a couple smaller skirmishes. During the ensuing four-on-four play, Luca Cagnoni scored an empty net goal, making it 6-3 in favor of the Sharks.
The Sharks walked away with a convincing win, elevated by their three power play goals on the night. They’ll take the ice again tomorrow afternoon against the Los Angeles Kings’ prospects.
On another note, it’ll certainly be interesting to see if any of the grudges from tonight’s affair carry over into the preseason, as the Sharks will face the Ducks later this month in Anaheim.
Would Jacob deGrom like to see the Mets retire his No. 48 at Citi Field?
“That’s not my decision,” the right-hander said.
If he were to have stayed when he hit free agency, that answer would be much clearer.
After leaving for Texas, though, it remains to be seen where the organization stands.
DeGrom will go down as one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history.
While his lone ring came with the Rangers, he took home the NL Rookie of the Year, a pair of Cy Young awards, and made four of his five career All-Star appearances in his nine years donning the orange and blue.
And he was arguably the most dominant starting pitcher in the game during that stretch -- accumulating a 2.52 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 1,607 strikeouts following his big-league debut back in 2014.
Injuries derailed things towards the end of his tenure in the Big Apple, which led to the two sides going their separate ways, but there’s no taking away the countless dominant efforts deGrom put forward in a Mets uniform.
The 37-year-old said it would be a huge honor if he were to join the legendary group.
“Every time I took this mound for the Mets, I left it all out there,” deGrom said. “There were obviously some times where I got injured, but you can’t really control that, so when I was on that mound I felt like I left it all out on the field.”
It's not easy what Jonah Tong is attempting to do for the Mets.
Last month the young right-hander was pitching for Double-A and now he's going up against Jacob deGrom at Citi Field, thrusted in a pressure-filled playoff race and trying to help his team overcome its losing ways.
Forget about difficult, that's just unfair.
And even though manager Carlos Mendoza said Tong is mature for his age, he's still just 22 years old and deserves all the grace in the world following his rough start on Friday night.
"Keep your head up, keep going," Mendoza said about his message to Tong. "There’s no other way around it. Flush that one out and just keep moving forward."
Tong, of course, has the talent and potential to be a successful starting pitcher in the league. Look no further than his MLB debut just two weeks ago and you'll see a pitcher with the stuff that can be dangerous for a long time.
However, it's obvious he still needs time to continue to develop into the starting pitcher that he has the talent to be. But asking him, along with the two other rookies in the rotation, to be the savior of a flailing team with sky-high expectations that have not been met this season isn't the proper way to foster and nurture that talent.
After the loss, a clearly emotional Tong didn't have a lot to say. Still, he managed to get out that he didn't give the start that he wanted and even thought of the bullpen, saying that it "hurts" to know that his outing put "more stress" on a beleaguered group -- quite selfless for a 22-year-old.
"He’s a competitor," Mendoza said. "Obviously he cares a lot... He'll get through that one."
The question now becomes what will the Mets do next?
While he didn't confirm or deny that Tong would make his next start, Mendoza reiterated that New York could get creative. What's most sad about the situation, though, is despite how poorly his outing went on Friday, Tong remains one of the better options the Mets have at the moment due to massive failures elsewhere on the roster.
"It’s just life, so take it one step at a time," Tong said. "I mean, I’m always grateful for opportunity."
Among the players giving the right-hander advice was David Peterson who Tong said told him, "Keep your head up. The sun’s gonna rise tomorrow."
Wherever Tong makes his next start, he'll have time to learn from this one and hopefully grow from it.
"(I'm) gonna have some time to reflect on this and get ready for the next one and just go from there," he said.
Jacob deGrom had this one circled on his calendar.
He looked at the beginning of the season and wanted the chance to return to Citi Field.
Finally on Friday night, that opportunity came.
The right-hander knew it was going to be a special night, and that it was.
He couldn’t help but get emotional as the Mets took a look back at his prestigious nine-year career with the club with a tribute video before transitioning to his signature warmup song, “Simple Man” as he played catch pregame.
But once the action got underway, it was business as usual.
“It was really cool,” deGrom said. “This is where it all started, coming back here I thought it was going to be a very special day -- thankful to the Mets for playing that and like I said, these fans were great to me while I was here and that was a really nice thing to do.”
Fittingly, the 37-year-old was handed immediate run support, something he lacked throughout his time with the Mets.
The Rangers jumped on New York’s young right-hander Jonah Tong for a total of six runs on four hits and three walks in the top of the first, handing their hard-throwing ace the big advantage before he even threw a pitch.
DeGrom responded with a six-pitch bottom-half of the inning.
He worked around a one out Mark Vientos single in the bottom of the second, but then the bottom of the Mets’ order got to him in the third, as a solo homer and a pair of sacrifice flies made it a three-run ballgame.
But as Mets fans are very familiar with, it was lights out from there, as deGrom would set down the next 13 hitters in order to close out his night with seven strong innings.
He ended up taking home his 12th victory of the season after allowing those three runs on four hits and no walks while striking out just two batters on the evening.
“It means a lot,” deGrom said. “The fans were great to me tonight and they were great to me when I was here, I always enjoyed taking the mound in front of this crowd, so tonight was just as special.”
MIAMI (AP) — Detroit Tigers star left-hander Tarik Skubal left the club’s game against the Miami Marlins in the fourth inning Friday night after experiencing tightness in his left side.
The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner — and favorite to repeat this year — allowed a leadoff single to Heriberto Hernández and then retired Eric Wagaman on a flyout to center field when he exited. Skubal is currently under evaluation.
After a recent stretch of dominant outings, Skubal struggled Friday, giving up four runs and four hits. Rookie Agustín Ramirez and Hernández hit solo homers off Skubal.
Skubal had allowed one earned run over his previous 27 1/3 innings and had thrown seven scoreless innings in each of his last two starts.
Tigers shortstop Javier Báez also left early, when he fouled off a pitch that struck near his left eye in the second inning.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman’s one-game suspension was dropped by Major League Baseball on Friday and he instead will pay a fine for his role in a benches-clearing incident at Colorado on Sept. 2.
The Giants made the announcement ahead of Friday’s opener in a weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, saying an agreement with the Commissioner’s Office had been reached.
Chapman had faced a suspension and an undisclosed fine after he made contact with Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland.
Freeland, Adames and Rafael Devers also were fined for their involvement. Tempers flared after Devers hit a two-run homer in the first inning and admired it before beginning his slow trot.
“Look, we didn’t feel like we started it. It is what it is, deal with it going forward. We’ll see what happens in the appeal. The other ones were fines,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said the next day. “You knew something was going to happen. We were hoping there weren’t suspensions. Ended up being one, and it’s on appeal, so see where that goes.”
Devers crushed a sweeper over the right field wall and then Freeland took exception with Devers’ celebration, prompting both players to shout at each other.
