Napheesa Collier caps busy weekend with All-Star Game MVP Award in win over Team Clark
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Canada News.Net
7 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
Elly De La Cruz, Reds heating up entering finale vs. Rays
(Photo credit: Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images) The first two months of the season were a struggle offensively for Elly De La Cruz. The Cincinnati Reds' All-Star shortstop was slashing .239/.315/.406 over April and May and had struck out 68 times. Then June hit, and De La Cruz has been in a groove ever since -- compiling a .327/.417/1.088 slash line while striking out 37 times over the past two months. He will look to keep that going when the Reds bid for the sweep against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays in the finale of a three-game set on Sunday afternoon. In his past 13 games, he's slashing .362/.483/.553 to raise his season batting average to .285 with a .365 on-base percentage and .490 slugging percentage. De La Cruz came through in the clutch on Saturday with a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning against reliever Garrett Cleavinger as the Reds won 6-2. 'The patience that he has, he's seeing the ball real well over the last couple weeks, or the last couple months, actually,' Reds bench coach Freddie Benavides told the Cincinnati Enquirer. 'For him to put it in play, especially against one of their top left-handed relievers, so, it was a great at-bat and great things happen when you put it in play.' That's helped the Reds win nine of their past 13 games and stay in the thick of the race for a playoff spot. They go into Sunday one game out of the final wild-card berth in the National League. 'We're playing really good baseball right now,' said Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott, who started Saturday. 'I think we kind of sat down and had a discussion as a team where we're just kind of like, let's keep stacking series wins. Let's control the things that we can control. Obviously, trying to put ourselves in a situation to be buyers, to be in the playoffs and we're right on the door knocking. We're really just trying to focus on the things that we can do.' Brady Singer (7-8, 4.84 ERA) will start the series for Cincinnati. The right-hander is 1-2 with a 4.13 ERA in 32 2/3 innings over six career starts against Tampa Bay. The Rays will counter with righty Shane Baz (8-6, 4.66) as they try to snap out of a skid that has seen them lose three in a row and 16 of their last 22. They find themselves 2 1/2 games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League and 10 games back of the East-leading Toronto Blue Jays. The Rays know that changes to the clubhouse could be coming. 'Especially this time of year, everybody in here wants to stay together. We know what the deadline brings, too,' shortstop Taylor Walls said. 'Not winning just puts a lot more pressure on the front office. And nobody in here wants that. 'So, of course, there's always urgency,' Walls continued. 'Especially, I mean, this ballclub, this organization, there's urgency to win every day we're out there. ... It's just everybody feels it is getting to be that time of the year.' After four straight quality starts, Baz gave up eight runs on eight hits over four innings in his last outing, an 8-3 loss to the visiting Chicago White Sox on July 21. He is 0-1 with a 9.72 ERA in 8 1/3 innings over two career starts against the Reds.
Canada News.Net
7 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
Blue Jays' Max Scherzer on familiar ground with start vs. Tigers
(Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images) Max Scherzer returns to the mound where the right-hander became a star in the finale of a four-game series between the Toronto Blue Jays and host Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon. The American League East-leading Blue Jays have won four straight games and eight of nine since the All-Star break, while the AL Central-topping Tigers have dropped six straight and 12 of their last 13. Scherzer's career took off when he was traded from Arizona to Detroit before the 2010 season. He posted an 82-35 record in five seasons with the Tigers and won the Cy Young Award there in 2013 - the first of three in the eight-time All-Star's well-traveled career. Right now, the 41-year-old Scherzer is just trying to get back into a groove after recovering from a thumb injury which sidelined him for nearly three months. Scherzer (1-0, 5.14 ERA) hasn't thrown more than 90 pitches in five starts since coming off the injured list. In his last outing on Tuesday, he gave up four runs in five innings against the New York Yankees. He wound up with a no-decision in a 5-4 loss. 'This is the major leagues; you either win or you don't. That's just how I operate,' Scherzer said. 'I take accountability for that. Saying that, our team fought hard. We were down, and we fought our way back into that ballgame. Guys are competing all across the diamond offensively and defensively.' The Blue Jays were down 4-1 when he departed but tied the score before the Yankees pushed across the winning run in the ninth. 'I thought Max threw well, and I thought his stuff was really good,' Toronto manager John Schneider said. 'I wish he had a few more pitches to keep going there, but I think that 90 with the score where it was, that's good for the night.' Scherzer will be making his 80th career start at Detroit's Comerica Park. He's 47-14 with a 3.37 ERA when at the Tigers' home park. His most recent start in Detroit didn't go so well. As a member of the New York Mets on May 3, 2023, Scherzer gave up six runs and eight hits - including two home runs -- in 3 1/3 innings and took the loss in an 8-1 Tigers victory. Overall, Scherzer is 2-2 with a 3.20 ERA in 25 1/3 innings over four career starts against the Tigers. Right-hander Jack Flaherty (5-10, 4.77), Detroit's scheduled starter, will be seeking his first win since June 8. He's 0-4 with three no-decisions in his last seven outings. Flaherty was pulled after just three innings and 78 pitches on Monday. He gave up three runs on six hits and walked three in a 3-0 loss at Pittsburgh. 'I was in some good counts and the at-bats got long,' he said. 'Then a couple of walks get sprinkled in there, which has been the theme when the pitch count starts to go up quickly. It was a weird one.' What made it even more baffling for Flaherty was that he had six strikeouts along the way. 'I was getting to two strikes and then let them stick around too long. Or I would fall behind and have to make a pitch,' he said. 'I have to really look at it. It's not a stuff thing. My stuff was actually really good.' Flaherty is 4-1 with a 2.51 ERA in 28 2/3 innings over five career starts against Toronto. The Blue Jays have won the first three games of the current series by a combined score of 23-7.
Canada News.Net
10 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
Judge-less Yankees set to face surging Phillies, ace Zack Wheeler in finale
(Photo credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images) In the first season of interleague play in 1997, a 94-loss edition of the Philadelphia Phillies pulled off a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees, the then-reigning World Series champions. The current edition for the Phillies is jostling for first place in the National League East and another win in New York on Sunday will give them a three-game sweep of the Yankees, who will put Aaron Judge on the injured list with a flexor strain in his right elbow. The Phillies outscored the Yankees 21-9 in the first two games of the series and totaled 27 hits. In Saturday's 9-4 win, Bryce Harper homered, Trea Turner drove in two runs and Kyle Schwarber hit a two-run double for the Phillies. Nick Castellanos was held out of the lineup after jamming his knee Friday and Edmundo Sosa suffered a bruised back in a collision with left fielder Brandon Marsh, though both could be in the lineup Sunday. Harper has five homers in his past eight games and is hitting .347 (17-for-49) in his past 12 games. Turner had a four-hit game Friday and is 10-for-20 in his past four games. Schwarber homered twice Friday and is batting .353 (12-for-34) with six homers and 15 RBIs in eight games since the All-Star break. J.T. Realmuto had an RBI single and his hitting .394 (28-for-71) in his past 17 games. 'It's the ebbs and flows,' Phillies manager Rob Thomson said after his team collected 13 hits Saturday. 'We got a lot of guys swinging the bats well right now and that comes and goes.' Judge experienced discomfort, wincing on a throw during New York's three-game series in Toronto. He was in more discomfort Friday and the Yankees sent him for tests that revealed only the strain and no damage to the ulnar collateral ligament. 'All in all, we got good news,' manager Aaron Boone said. 'I think all of us feared the worst.' Without Judge, the Yankees dropped to 3-7 in their past 10 games following a five-game winning streak. The five-game run followed their second six-game losing streak and the Yankees are 21-28 in their past 49 games since winning 35 of their first 55 and holding a seven-game lead atop the AL East. 'We're going to have to figure it out,' New York slugger Giancarlo Stanton said. 'Everybody's going to have to step up.' New York on Sunday will face righty Zack Wheeler (9-3, 2.39 ERA), who can reach double-digit wins for the fifth straight season. Wheeler earned his most recent win July 6 against the Cincinnati Reds when he pitched a one-hitter. Since then, he has allowed six runs on 13 hits in a pair of six-inning starts in no-decisions against the San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox. Wheeler notched his fifth double-digit strikeout game this season Monday against Boston when he fanned 10 and allowed seven hits, equaling his second-highest total this season. Wheeler is 1-2 with a 7.18 ERA in five career starts against the Yankees. He last faced the Yankees in a 14-4 loss in Philadelphia last season, allowing three homers and seven runs in five innings on July 29. New York has an MLB-worst 6.29 ERA this month and starts Carlos Rodon (10-7, 3.10). Rodon is 2-4 with a 4.20 ERA in his past eight starts and allowed four runs (two earned) in five innings during a 4-1 loss at Toronto on Monday, his most recent start. Rodon is 1-0 with a 0.51 ERA in three career starts against the Phillies.
