Draper defeats Argentine 6-1, 7-5 in third round
Cameron Norrie sees off Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4
Jack Draper continued his impressive comeback from an arm injury by beating Francisco Cerundolo to set up a last-16 clash with Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells.
Draper rode his luck at the end of the second set to clinch a 6-1, 7-5 win and set up his first meeting with Djokovic since he took the first set off the defending champion on his Wimbledon debut in 2021.
Continue reading...Florida Panthers star Brad Marchand will miss time this week to see doctors and determine whether he needs surgery for a lower-body injury.
Marchand has missed 10 games with the injury since early January.
"There's going to be a decision on what's the best way to get to 100 percent full health," coach Paul Maurice told reporters on Monday, March 9.
He said that even if surgery isn't needed, Marchand would be out for weeks, not days.
"We had had a handle on it and there were times where he didn't play but kind of maintained it and then came back in," Maurice said. "But it just got to the point on this road trip that it was never recovering and continuing to get worse."
The Panthers have been devastated by injuries this season, starting with hernia surgery for Matthew Tkachuk that kept him out until January and ACL surgery for Aleksander Barkov when he was hurt in his first practice of training camp.
Eetu Luostarinen missed time after being burned while barbecuing. Seth Jones is potentially a week away from returning from an injury suffered in the Jan. 2 Winter Classic.
The Panthers haven't been able to gain traction this season and were 11 points out of a playoff spot on March 9. They could see the end of a run that took them to the Stanley Cup Final for three years in a row and win championships the past two.
Brad Marchand will see doctors this week to determine if he'll need surgery. Maurice said the injury has been bothering the winger for months. Marchand also played at the Olympics, winning a silver medal with Canada.
Brad Marchand has 27 goals and 27 assists in 52 games for the Panthers this season. He had one assist in four games at the Olympics.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Panthers' Brad Marchand to see doctors about whether he needs surgery
The Detroit Red Wings earned a much needed reset Monday night, defeating the New Jersey Devils 3–0 to halt a difficult stretch that saw the club lose seven of its previous ten games.
The victory also marked the debuts and returns of several new faces. Recently acquired defenseman Justin Faulk made his first appearance with Detroit, while call ups Dominik Shine and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard helped inject fresh energy into the lineup. The performance was enough to deliver two points in the standings, but Detroit knows it cannot afford for the win to be a one time response if it hopes to stay in the playoff picture.
Detroit currently sits third in the Atlantic Division in the National Hockey League standings. The Red Wings began the season near the top of the division but has gradually slid from first place to second and now to the third seed. At points during the slump the team even found itself clinging to a wild card spot, a scenario it hopes to avoid as the season enters its final stretch.
Pressure from behind continues to build. The Montreal Canadiens trail Detroit by just one point, while the Boston Bruins sit only three points back. With the standings tightening, the margin for error is shrinking quickly for a Red Wings team attempting to end a playoff drought that has stretched close to a decade.
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They will face an uphill battle with the fifth-hardest remaining strength of schedule in the league. Among the toughest tests ahead are two matchups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, along with single games against the Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Buffalo Sabres and the Canadiens.
Because of that challenging stretch, Detroit will need to take advantage of games against teams lower in the standings. Upcoming contests against the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames, along with a two game set against the Florida Panthers and three remaining games versus the Philadelphia Flyers, could prove crucial in determining their playoff fate.
For the Red Wings, the shutout win over New Jersey provided a necessary boost. Maintaining that momentum may ultimately determine whether Detroit finally returns to the postseason or sees its playoff drought continue.
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Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Yankees fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
We’re almost there. In just over two weeks, the Yankees will open the 2026 MLB season in San Francisco against the Giants. Final rosters around the league are still being developed, so we don’t know just yet what each of 30 teams will look like when the season starts. But we know a decent chunk about it now, so why not speculate?
Focusing on the American League, who do you think will be the toughest foe for the Yankees to take down this season? Is it the Blue Jays, who narrowly beat out the Yankees for the AL East last year, took them out in the playoffs, and then nearly won the World Series? They’re probably the favorite, but you don’t have to look too hard around the internet to find people doubting their ability to repeat that magic. Maybe you’re more of a believer in the youthful Red Sox, now also infused with Ranger Suárez, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contreras. The Mariners came oh-so-close to dispatching the Jays in the series before the Fall Classic, and their oft-vaunted pitching should stand to rebound from 2025 anyway. The Tigers added more Astros nemesis Framber Valdez to a rotation that also included two-time defending Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, so Detroit won’t be a walk in the park either.
So make your vote known! And while you’re at it, just for fun, pick a team in the second question’s prompt, which asks about the worst team in the American League. There are certainly some ignominious contenders.
The NBA has cancelled plans by the Atlanta Hawks to hold a promotional collaboration with a strip club at one of their games next week.
The Hawks had intended to partner with Atlanta-based adult entertainment venue Magic City for the visit of Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference on 16 March.
There were no plans to host adult entertainment at the Hawks' State Farm Arena home before, during or after the game but concerns arose at the NBA over the idea of partnering with a strip club.
The Hawks had described Magic City as an "iconic cultural institution" in a story on their website promoting the event and had announced plans relating to food, music and merchandise as part of a "Magic City Monday" in-arena experience.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league "reached out to the Hawks leadership" in order to "better understand their plans and rationale" before deciding to step in.
"While we appreciate the team's perspective and their desire to move forward, we have heard significant concerns from a broad array of league stakeholders, including fans, partners and employees," Silver said.
"I believe canceling this promotion is the right decision for the broader NBA community."
The Hawks said that they were "disappointed" by the NBA's decision but "fully respect" it.
A statement added: "As a franchise we remain committed to celebrating the best of Atlanta - with authenticity - in ways that continue to unite and brings us all together."
The Los Angeles Kings (26-23-14) survived a near-late collapse, avoiding another meltdown in Columbus thanks to a clutch finish from Adrian Kempe, walking away with two points.
Kempe blasted a slap shot from the left circle 2:26 into overtime, giving Los Angeles a dramatic 5–4 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets after a chaotic back-and-forth contest.
TWO POINTS!#GoKingsGopic.twitter.com/DM4Jlmlofb
— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 9, 2026
Adrian Kempe had a great afternoon, scoring the game-winner and finishing with two goals and two points. Artemi Panarin had another good outing, scoring a goal, assisting on one play, and finishing with two points.
Brian Dumoulin also played a great game, especially late down the stretch, giving the Kings the lead late in the third period, finishing the game with one goal, two assists, and three points.
Meanwhile, Anton Forsberg was phenomenal on the defensive side of things, finishing with 29 saves on 33 shots attempted, coming up with multiple key saves early in the game to help pay off Los Angeles on offense.
Newly acquired Scott Laughton had another strong performance for the Kings, scoring a goal in his second straight game as a member of the Los Angeles Kings and winning the key face-off in overtime, which led to Kempe's game-winning goal.
Los Angeles struck first in the opening period when the trade deadline addition Scott Laughton continued his string start with the club. Laughton finished the play with a nice coast-to-coast play from Brian Dumoulin down the left side before setting up Laughton for the easy goal.
LAK Goal - Laugh and Order!
— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 9, 2026
Kings open the scoring against the run of play. Nice activation by Dumoulin, Laughton makes it 2 goals in 2 games as a King at the net. 1-0..
Later in the period, Artemi Panarin doubled the score with a goal midway through the period, pushing Los Angeles ahead 2-0, despite heavy pressure and traffic from Columbus.
The Blue Jackets would answer late in the period when Conor Garland cut the deficit to 2-1, where the momentum really started to shift to Columbus to end the first period.
Colombus eventually erased the lead in the second period, scoring back-to-back goals in two minutes after both teams were struggling to get a shot up early in the second period.
Both teams had several chances to score on the power play, but failed, and Columbus eventually broke out of their slump behind Garland scoring his second goal of the game and Denton Mateychuck to give Columbus its first lead, 3-2.
Faceoffs were starting to kill Los Angeles in a fate that we've seen repeatedly happen this season when games get close. But today, Los Angeles won 65.7% of their face-offs, compared to the Blue Jackets' 34.3%.
But Los Angeles would respond despite going down by one goal. After a missed shot by Anze Kopitar, the puck bounced right to where Kempe was on the rebound, and he converted the goal, tying things up for Los Angeles.
LAK Goal - Tie game!
— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) March 9, 2026
Great shift by the top line to respond. Dumoulin/Ceci involved offensively as well, five-man unit attacking, Kempe buries the rebound. 3-3.
Dumoulin later put Los Angeles back in front after it was starting to get very nervous for LA, with the score tied 3-3. Dumoulin, with one of the best plays of the game, moved into the slot, faked the defense on the sustained pressure, and beat Jet Greaves to give the Kings their lead back.
Brian Dumoulin!!!!! pic.twitter.com/dsa11iPUuJ
— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 9, 2026
However, the Blue Jackets would refuse to go away.
After a controversial call that didn't give the Kings a two-goal lead late when Alex Turcotte thought he scored the goal, the refs took it away because the whistle had gone.
This would give Columbus another chance to tie the game up, and they did just that. With under two minutes remaining in regulation, Columbus forced overtime when Kirill Marchenko buried a power-play goal off a feed from Zach Werenski, tying the game 4–4 with just 1:56 left.
The late rally from Columbus would secure them a point as we headed into overtime.
But, Los Angeles this time didn't go away in the extra period, winning key faceoffs, and Kempe finally ended the game scoring his 25th goal of the season and his second goal of the afternoon, sending the Blue Jackets home.
The winger hammered a shot from the left circle off a pass from Panarin, beating Greaves and securing the win.
Massive win for Los Angeles, especially after blowing their last game against the Montreal Canadiens. Los Angeles outplayed the Blue Jackets throughout the first two periods, and when the game got close, they shut the door.
This win now gives Los Angeles 66 points on the year, and now they're just one point behind Seattle for the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division.
A very great game overall from the team, arguably one of its most complete wins of the season, playing great defense behind Forsberg and getting contributions on offense from multiple forwards.
Los Angeles will continue their five-game road trip tomorrow, taking on the Boston Bruins at 7:00 PM EST.
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New South Wales’ Tahlia Wilson has earned her maiden national call-up, chosen as Australia’s reserve wicketkeeper for the upcoming white-ball tour of the West Indies.
The Yankees optioned Spencer Jones to minor league camp, the team announced on Monday, ending the outfield prospect’s bid to make the big league roster for Opening Day.
It was always a bit of a long shot for Jones to make the Yanks’ roster out of camp with Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, and Aaron Judge set in the outfield and Giancarlo Stanton at DH, and he was in an uphill battle competing with the speedy, switch-hitting Jasson Dominguez to be the youngster on the bench.
The six-foot-seven outfielder has an abundance of power, to the tune of 82 home runs over his last three minor league seasons, but the big flaw in his game will be that he strikes out at an outrageous rate, 534 times over that same span.
“Those are the challenges of being a big guy,” manager Aaron Boone said recently. “It’s a hard thing to figure out, but if you can do it, [that size is] a massive advantage.”
Jones, who did hit a 427-foot blast early in spring, had six hits in 18 at-bats for the Yanks with three home runs and seven RBI.
“He’s done a nice job. He’s worked really hard this winter to make adjustments to try to hone his craft and had pretty good results here the first few weeks of games,” Boone said recently of Jones, who turns 25 in May.
Jones, now the Team's No. 6 prospect in the system according to MLB Pipeline, is still looking to make his MLB debut.
The club also announced right-hander Elmer Rodriguez, the team’s No. 3 prospect and No. 82 in all of baseball, to minor league camp.
Rodriguez had a solid season at High-A Hudson Valley with a 2.26 ERA over 83.2 innings, and at Double-A Somerset posted a 2.64 ERA over 61.1 innings last season.
The 22-year-old made one appearance at Triple-A last season and expects to start there this season and could be in line for his big league debut later this summer.
Mark Barrington: I don’t think they ‘go for it’ in the sense that they change their strategy for the final stretch of games going into the playoffs. They’re comfortably in the top four and will have at least one home playoff series. They’re going to concentrate on continuing to improve and staying healthy. It’s entirely possible that that could result in a first-place finish in the west, but that’s not the primary goal.
Bill Huan: I can’t see that happening. The discourse about the Spurs potentially securing the top seed over a dominant regular-season team is reminiscent of the 2016-17 season, when they were within a game or two of the Warriors before Golden State pulled away. Oklahoma City has held its best punch for months now, prioritizing health. They’re still ahead, and I fully expect them to start rounding into playoff form and dominate games again before the postseason.
As for the minutes, the only player I’ll be monitoring for that is Wemby. He needs to be able to handle a load in the low-mid thirties for the Spurs to maximize their potential this season, and everyone else on the team seems to be in a good spot already.
Devon Birdsong: I think if there’s anything we’ve learned over the last several seasons, it’s that the Spurs have their timelines and guardrails in place, and they’re not going to deviate from them unless they see a clear (risk-limited) advantage in doing so. Unless they’re within a game of the Thunder in the final weeks of the stretch run, I just don’t see them making a special effort to do so from a front-office/coaching perspective. However, you can never count out what the players and their on-court performances might lead to. They clearly have their own desires and goals, and the way they’re pursuing them has already put them in a place that has (on some level) surpassed even the most optimistic of the front office’s projections. I think the most likely scenario is that they’ll start resting players once/if their position as a 2nd seed is solidified down the home stretch. However, if this hot streak keeps up, I would not be shocked to find them fighting for the #1 seed, which really says everything about this team.
Jeje Gomez: If the top seed is attainable in the last few games, they should probably go for it. The play-in games mean more rest before the start of the playoffs, so a few extra minutes shouldn’t matter that much. Some of the last few games could be tough, but they are at home. The top seed would guarantee that they wouldn’t have to face the Thunder until the conference finals and would pit them against the lesser of the play-in teams, but, more importantly, taking those last few games as must-wins could prepare them for the postseason. It would make no sense to risk injury, but tightening up an already shrinking rotation even more could put them in a playoff mindset, which could help such a young team.
Barrington: The Knicks are a veteran team with an incredible on-court leader in Jalen Brunson. Brunson can impose his will, and his team has the size and shooting to cause the Spurs problems, with KAT limiting the strategy of having Wemby lay off of his man and protect the rim. I think the Spurs are learning on the fly to gain the mental resilience to take on the veteran leadership of Brunson, but they still don’t have a big forward to counter Towns, who is too quick for a French Vanilla lineup to work. If the Spurs meet them in the playoffs, it will be a tough matchup, but I’d take it, because that would mean that the Spurs were in the NBA finals, about 2-3 years before I would have predicted that in my most optimistic scenarios.
Huan: Two games are too small a sample size to come to definitive conclusions, but it does appear like OG’s defense on Wemby is the x-factor. In a 7-game series where the Spurs can come up with a better gameplan, I think things would be a lot closer, and it would obviously mean that they made it to the finals. I’m not worried about the matchup in the slightest, and if I need to be in the future, it would mean that this Spurs team is four games away from a championship.
Birdsong: There’s certainly some bad luck involved, but it really comes down to three factors. 1. The Spurs are still inconsistent defending the three, and the Knicks have a roster that can really pour them on. 2. Jalen Brunson is one of the few guards who has enough savvy and grit to successfully fight through and counter Stephon Castle’s defense. 3. And most importantly, Karl-Anthony Towns is one of the few big men whose long-distance shooting can warp San Antonio’s preferred defensive schemes. That shooting forces the Spurs to either let Wemby pursue him to the perimeter, opening up the post for exploitation, or stay home and allow Towns to benefit from the Spurs’ weak spot at power forward. Towns has shot 40% from three in 3 of their last 4 games against each other, and there’s no other player on the roster big enough and fast enough to trouble Towns, which has been making him (and the Knicks) a matchup nightmare for San Antonio.
Gomez: It’s a bad matchup. Teams with stretch bigs and big wings tend to give the Spurs trouble because they expose the lack of length at the forward spots and force Wemby to either step outside or roam, which surprisingly confuses him at times, as he seems at his best when he’s directly involved in plays. But what makes the Knicks a worse matchup than most is their offensive rebounding. Towns is not only an elite shooter, but he has been crashing the glass well, and Mitchell Robinson is arguably the best offensive rebounder in the world. Worrying about New York doesn’t make much sense since they won’t be a playoff rival unless the two teams make the finals, but they do offer others a blueprint on how to beat San Antonio.
Barrington: I think I’d be happy with a Suns matchup. The Spurs have lost two games to them, but I think that could work in the Silver and Black’s favor, as they’ll be motivated to play with maximum effort from the start. Also, the Suns seem to be having a bit of internal dissension, and that might make them a little easier to beat.
The other likely matchup for the Spurs would be the Warriors, and I think they might be a tougher out, especially if Steph Curry is healthy. Really, the dream scenario for the Spurs in the first round is a sweep with everyone healthy, and a good rest before the second round starts, and that would be extremely unlikely against a healthy Golden State squad.
If I were just looking for a fun series, I’d ask for the Trail Blazers, who are punching above their weight in the Western Conference Standings. But I don’t see them winning two play-in games against any of the possible opponents. The Clippers are probably the best team in the play-in range of any of the current four, but by the end of the season, I expect that they’ll be either in the top 6 or out of the play-in tournament completely, depending on Kawhi’s health. There’s no middle ground for them.
Huan: Out of all the options, I’d feel the best facing Portland. Deni is their lone reliable creator, and he’s having back issues. Frankly, I don’t want to see a red-hot Clippers team or a potential Warriors squad getting back a refreshed Steph. Phoenix would be a tough out too, given how much trouble they’ve created for Wemby this year, and the West is suddenly looking much deeper than it did earlier in the season.
Birdsong: I really would prefer for them to avoid the Warriors and the Clippers, so that really only leaves Portland and Phoenix, and out of those two, I think Portland would be the better option. The Spurs would probably need to land the #1 seed for that to happen, though. By default, I think it’s going to be Phoenix. And honestly, that might be a good first-round matchup for the Spurs, because that’s not a team they can succeed against if they get sloppy. Also, I love the opportunity the Spurs would have to make Phoenix fans miserable. Sorry, can’t teach this old dog new tricks (or get him to let old rivalries go).
Gomez: The obvious answer is Portland. They just don’t have enough shot creation to win a playoff series unless everything breaks right for them, but that’s also the reason why they are unlikely to come out of the play-in. Out of the other three teams, the Warriors give the Spurs trouble because they can play five-out and lure opponents into shooting contests, and the Clippers have a stretch big and the type of perimeter length that the Knicks also have. So the preferred option would be Phoenix, which has Spurs-killer Jalen Green, but also traditional bigs for Wemby to guard.
There’s a surprise inclusion on the Bucks’ initial injury report ahead of tomorrow night’s matchup with the Suns: forward Taurean Prince is questionable to play. Prince has missed the last four months after appearing in Milwaukee’s first eight contests off the bench. That’s 55 games in total.
You’ll recall that TP, a major fixture of last year’s starting lineup, underwent neck surgery on November 13th. He’s seen zero action since their loss to Toronto on November 4th, after which he was listed as out with a neck strain. From what it sounded like in Doc Rivers press conferences, they thought it was serious, and sure enough, it turned out to be a herniated disc. A few weeks post-operation, the soon-to-be 32-year-old vowed that he’d play again.
In December, the Bucks reportedly applied for a disabled player exception in light of Prince’s surgery, indicating they believed he could be done for the season. For the exception to be granted, an NBA-designated physician must determine that the player is “substantially more likely than not” to be out through at least June 15th of any league year. Now, most of these exceptions—if approved—are never used because they do not grant teams an additional standard roster spot. They only allow teams to sign a replacement player for the lesser of 50% of the injured player’s salary or the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception. The latter is $14.1m, and given Prince’s $3.6m salary, Milwaukee’s exception would have been worth only $1.8m, only about $600k more than the rookie minimum salary.
Since they applied, there’s been no word on whether their request was approved or denied, but we can close the book on it now. Perhaps a physician determined that Prince could play again this season, which may prove correct very soon. TP’s done on-court work at practices and before games for a while now, though there had been no rehab assignment to the G League or any indication he was getting close. For a Bucks team that isn’t as starved for wing depth as they were to begin the year, he’s still a welcome body who maybe defends a little, but definitely shoots. On 4.2 attempts per game, he shot 43.9% from three last year, good for third-best leaguewide.
Prince is in the first year of a two-year, veteran’s minimum contract, with a $3.8m player option for 2026–27. He’ll certainly face a minute restriction, and the Bucks’ 19 remaining games may not give him much chance to reestablish enough value for a trip to the open market, so he may opt in once that decision is due in late June. On the other hand, his projected minimum salary for next year is $3.9m—an $85k raise—and all 30 teams can pay him that money with the minimum salary exception. Despite the long injury layoff, he still seems likely to find a minimum deal somewhere if he chooses to leave, given the recent shooting prowess.
Regardless, congrats to Prince for completing his rehab and seeing an NBA floor again before the season is out. Neck injuries, especially when a disk is involved, have curtailed many careers—just ask Marques Johnson. I doubt TP displaces Ousmane Dieng or Kyle Kuzma from the starting lineup or rotation, but Milwaukee will at least now have the size to avoid playing guards like AJ Green out of position as often.
At a time when his rotation-mates are relishing the opportunity, while their catcher is away at the WBC, to try out new tricks, Bryan Woo is dancing with the one that brought him.
Woo looked sharp today in his third spring outing: his pitches were crisp, well-located, and thrown with conviction. He opened with a dominant first inning where he struck out the Diamondbacks’ top three hitters on, in order, an elevated fastball, a backfoot slider, and an elevated sinker at 95 mph. It took him all of 12 pitches. It took him another 10 pitches to retire the D-Backs’ next three hitters, this time working in his sweeper and sinker more. Woo didn’t allow a hit until the third inning, when he missed on a sweeper to Ivan Melendez, but Brendan Donovan helped his pitcher out with an awesome circus catch into the third base line netting for the second out, and Woo was able to coax an inning-ending groundout off the bat of leadoff hitter Ildemaro Vargas after that to end the inning.
“Much better today,” said Woo about his outing. “Getting ahead, being in better counts. That’s my brand of baseball right there. That’s exactly what it needs to look like.”
While his fellow starters might be taking the lack of regulars here in camp as an opportunity to experiment, Woo remains laser focused on Opening Day – perhaps even as the Opening Day starter.
“It’s always tempting, but I think that’s kind of the trap with any of us, trying to tweak too much. For me, just getting ready for the season and getting closer to regular season shape is more just doing the little things, so that’s exactly what we did.”
But as strong as Woo was, Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen matched him blow for blow, mowing through the Mariners the first time through the order, collecting a strikeout in each of his three innings. The Mariners finally got a little traffic on the bases when Gallen departed the game in the fourth. Brendan Donovan opened the inning with what could have been a single but it deflected off the first baseman’s glove and rolled clear to the right field wall, so, “double.” Rob Refsnyder then worked a walk to put two on with no outs. Unfortunately, that brought up the strikeout-prone part of the Mariners lineup, and both Luke Raley and Mitch Garver struck out to bring up J.P. Crawford, who swung at the first pitch he saw for an inning-ending groundout.
The Diamondbacks answered back with traffic of their own, but they were able to turn it into runs. Behind in a 2-1 count, Woo threw his hardest pitch of the day (95.6 mph) but right in the zone for Barrosa to tag for a leadoff double (109 mph EV). Barrosa then moved to third on a groundout and scored on a Pavin Smith ground ball single, but the damage was capped there when Woo was able to get AJ Vukovich to ground into an inning-ending double play on a sinker, cleanly turned by J.P. Crawford and Ryan Bliss.
With new pitcher Andrew Hoffman in for the fifth, the Mariners were finally able to break through in the run column. Connor Joe, who loves to hit the high fastball, continued his strong spring with a well-struck single up the middle. Ryan Bliss worked a walk, and then Rhylan Thomas brought home the run with a single of his own. But an opportunity for more scoring was cut off when Bliss was caught stealing and picked off of second in a rundown that wasn’t particularly close; Donovan singled for his second hit of the day but Thomas wasn’t able to beat out the throw at home, and the Mariners let a good chance to score more runs go by, continuing a frustrating theme this spring.
The teams traded zeroes after that until the dam broke for the Mariners in the bottom of the ninth; Blas Castaño, in his second inning of work, allowed a single, and then Tyler Cleveland couldn’t turn in a clean inning in relief, walking a hitter and then, with two outs, giving up a parachute fly ball to score the runner from second and hand the Mariners their 12th loss of the spring.
Other notes:
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jesús Luzardo and the Philadelphia Phillies have agreed on a five-year, $135-million contract extension that starts in 2027, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Monday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not yet official.
The 28-year-old Luzardo went 15-7 with a 3.92 ERA in 183 2/3 innings and was second in the National League with 212 strikeouts in his first season with the Phillies.
Luzardo was acquired ahead of the 2025 season in a trade with Miami and instantly helped solidify the rotation – he struck out 11 in his first start against Washington -- as the Phillies won their second straight NL East championship. The only time a pitcher recorded more strikeouts in his first game with Philadelphia came in 1997, when Garrett Stephenson had 12 against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The left-hander is 41-41 lifetime over seven seasons that also included stops with Oakland and the Marlins.
Luzardo is the latest Phillies starter to sign a long-term deal.
Cristopher Sánchez is in the midst of a $22.5 million, four-year contract through the 2028 season. Zack Wheeler has a $126 million contract through the 2027 season, and Aaron Nola is signed to a $172 million deal through 2030, while rookie Andrew Painter expects to earn the fifth-starter spot in the rotation.
The Phillies had a busy offseason. They gave manager Rob Thomson a one-year extension after he led the Phillies to their fourth straight playoff appearance, signed NL home run champion Kyle Schwarber to a $150 million, five-year deal and three-time All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto to a $45 million, three-year contract.
Once again, a Brewers-Dodgers matchup ended in a low-scoring affair and the Dodgers came out on top with a 4-2 spring training win.
The Brewers got off to a strong start against Emmett Sheehan of the Dodgers with Greg Jones rifling an RBI single in the 2nd inning to give the Crew a 1-0 lead. Aaron Ashby was looking strong as he was stretched out to three ups today. But Ashby gave up an answer by the Dodgers in the top of the 3rd on a Dalton Rushing RBI single.
However, Milwaukee was able to get past their one run per game limit against the Dodgers with a Jake Bauers solo blast in the 5th inning. That’s Bauers’ third home run of the spring and he’s now 9-for-17 on the spring with five walks as well.
That lead would not last, though. Shane Drohan, who has been pitching well all spring, gave up an RBI single to Ryan Fitzgerald in the 7th and then an RBI single to Seby Zavala in the 8th. He also allowed a run on a double play by Charles Davalan and then his day was done after 3.2 IP and 63 pitches.
The Brewers tried to mount a comeback in the 9th. Josiah Ragsdale, a 7th round pick last year, roped a double into the gap. He later scored on an Ethan Murray infield single. But then Luis Lara and Mike Boeve grounded out to end the game in a 4-3 loss.
The Brewers have an off day tomorrow but will be back in Cactus League action on Wednesday against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Dodgers snapped their two-game losing skid on Monday, as they rallied for a pair of eighth inning runs to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday 4-3.
Emmet Sheehan made his first start of the spring, lasting 2 1/3 innings while tossing 49 pitches (26 strikes) while allowing two hits and one earned run coming via a Greg Jones RBI single, but struggled with his command as he walked three and struck out two. Cody Morse was able to get out of the third inning in relief of Sheehan as he struck out two to escape further trouble.
River Ryan came in relief to begin the bottom of the fourth inning, and despite letting the Brewers pull ahead by a run with Jake Bauers taking him deep to left field, he registered 2 2/3 solid innings of work, with the home run being the only hit he allowed while striking out three and walking one. Ryan now has a 1.59 ERA with seven strikeouts across 5 2/3 innings this spring as he continues to increase his odds of being a part of the starting rotation come the team’s home opener on Mar. 26.
Dalton Rushing plated home the first run of the game with an RBI single to tie the game at 1 in the top of the third. Although the counting numbers look great on paper (two home runs, five RBI), Rushing has struggled at the plate so far this spring, slashing just .200/.250/.440 across 28 plate appearances with a 32.1 percent strikeout rate.
Michael Siani and Ryan Fitzgerald managed to even the score at two runs apiece with a double and an RBI single respectively with two outs in the top of the seventh. The Dodgers took their first lead of the game in the top of the eighth with an RBI single from Seby Zavala, later adding an insurance run with Emil Morales scoring on a double play. The elder Ryan brother, Ryder Ryan, managed to record the final six outs of Monday’s contest despite allowing a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to trim the Dodger lead to one run.
The Dodgers head back to Camelback Ranch to host the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday (1:05 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Tyler Glasnow gets the start for the Dodgers, facing right-hander Brandon Pfaadt.
LONDON (AP) — West Ham will face Leeds United in the FA Cup quarterfinals after beating Brentford 5-3 in a penalty shootout following a 2-2 draw after 90 minutes and extra time on Monday.
The tie was decided when stationary West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola saved Dango Ouattara’s woefully taken Panenka effort in the shootout.
His effort, the third of Brentford’s five, was the only penalty kick not converted.
The finale came at the end of a pulsating match that featured two goals apiece from West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen and Brentford’s Igor Thiago.
A regular talisman for the Hammers, Bowen got the opener after 19 minutes when he reacted quickly to a loose ball in the box to slam it past 'keeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Thiago equalized for Brentford nine minutes later but West Ham was ahead again before halftime when Bowen coolly converted a penalty kick.
The second half failed to live up to the high standards set in the opening 45 minutes but another penalty decision proved key.
Thiago got his double from the spot with nine minutes remaining after Crysencio Summerville was adjudged to have pushed Michael Kayode. It was Thiago's 20th goal of the season in all competitions.
The result means West Ham has needed extra time or penalties to win all three of it FA Cup ties thus far but that will bother neither the players nor coach Nuno Espirito Santos.
They can look forward to an enticing home game against Leeds, one of the two all-Premier League encounters. The other has Manchester City facing Liverpool on the weekend of April 4-5.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer