Crow-Armstrong homers twice as Cubs top Twins to deny series sweep
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong hit two home runs for his fifth multi-homer game this season, powering the Chicago Cubs past the Minnesota Twins 8-1 on Thursday.
Crow-Armstrong, whose first-half breakout earned him a starting spot for the National League All-Star team, went 3 for 4 with three runs and three RBIs to help the Cubs avoid a three-game sweep. Colin Rea (7-3) won his third straight start with a three-hitter over a season-high seven innings, and Minnesota native Michael Busch added two RBIs.
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Rea allowed only a fifth-inning home run by Kody Clemens, as the 35-year-old right-hander turned in his longest start since seven shutout innings for Milwaukee last Aug. 18.
Paddack, who considers Rea a mentor dating to their time together with San Diego for his advice on recovery from Tommy John elbow surgery, gave up 11 hits and six runs. He is 1-5 in his last 10 starts, with the Twins winning three.
REDS 6, MARLINS 0
CINCINNATI (AP) — Spencer Steer homered and Nick Lodolo pitched six strong innings as Cincinnati beat Miami to earn a split in the four-game series.
Elly De La Cruz singled for his 100th hit of the season, stole second, and scored on Austin Hays' single to put Cincinnati ahead 1-0 in the first.
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Steer's solo home run, his 11th of the season, made the score 2-0 in the second.
Cal Quantrill retired 11 straight following Steer's homer, but the Reds loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth.
Lodolo (6-6) allowed only three hits with no walks and four strikeouts. It's the seventh time this season that the Reds' lefty allowed one run or fewer.
De La Cruz singled in a run and TJ Friedl raced home on a throwing error by right fielder Dane Myers to make it 4-0 in the sixth. Hays followed with a two-run single.
Quantrill (3-8) pitched five-plus innings and allowed five earned runs, the most since April 19 when he allowed seven at Philadelphia.
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RED SOX 4, RAYS 3
BOSTON (AP) — Ceddanne Rafaela hit a go-ahead, two-run double during a three-run seventh inning and Boston earned their season-high seventh straight win by beating Tampa Bay.
Boston starter Walker Buehler gave up three runs off five hits, including two home runs, over six innings. Chris Murphy (1-0) and Garrett Whitlock pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth, and Aroldis Chapman struck out two in the ninth to pick up his 16th save and 1,300th strikeout.
Junior Caminero hit a two-run home run and Ha-Seong Kim added a solo homer for the Rays.
Tampa's Taj Bradley allowed one run off two hits over six innings, striking out five. But reliever Bryan Baker (3-3), who was making his Rays debut after being traded by the Baltimore Orioles, surrendered all three Boston runs in the seventh.
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ORIOLES 3, METS 1, 1ST GAME
ORIOLES 7, METS 3, 2ND GAME
BALTIMORE (AP) — Jordan Westburg homered and drove in three runs as Baltimore defeated New York to sweep a doubleheader.
Alex Jackson doubled twice and scored two runs in his Baltimore debut to help the Orioles win for the fifth time in six games. They took both ends of a twinbill for the first time since June 2016 against Tampa Bay at home.
In the opener, Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run drive in the eighth inning for his first career pinch-hit homer, sending Baltimore to a 3-1 victory.
The split-admission doubleheader was scheduled to make up Wednesday night's game, which was postponed due to a forecast of inclement weather.
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The Hill
18 minutes ago
- The Hill
Obama mourns Cubs great Ryne Sandberg: ‘Class act'
Former President Obama is remembering Ryne Sandberg as a 'class act' following the Chicago Cubs second baseman's death. Sixty-five-year-old Sandberg died Monday, the Cubs said in a social media post. The famed baseball player had announced last year that he had been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. 'Hall of Famer and Cubs stalwart Ryne Sandberg wasn't just a great baseball player — he was a class act who never cheated the game,' Obama said on Tuesday. 'Everyone in Chicago — including White Sox fans — will miss him deeply,' he added. The former commander in chief, whose home city is Chicago, is a noted White Sox fan. But he's expressed admiration for the Windy City's crosstown rival before. Ahead of the Cubs' 2016 World Series win, then-White House press secretary Josh Earnest said of Obama, 'The president is a loyal Chicago White Sox fan.' 'But the president is also a champion of his hometown, and he has been pleased to see the Chicago Cubs play so well this year,' Earnest said at the time. In a statement, MLB commissioner Bob Manfred called Sandberg a 'legend of the Chicago Cubs franchise.' 'He was a five-tool player who excelled in every facet of the game thanks to his power, speed and work ethic,' Manfred said, recognizing Sandberg's '10 consecutive All-Star selections, nine straight Gold Gloves, seven Silver Sluggers and 1984 National League MVP honors.'


New York Times
19 minutes ago
- New York Times
Can Quentin Grimes and the Sixers find a deal that works for both?
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Most people polled for the story considered Grimes within shouting range of the midlevel exception, which is worth $14.1 million in starting salary. Twelve of the 16 proposed average annual salaries between $12 million and $16.7 million. One front-office staffer who is especially high on Grimes suggested a four-year, $75 million deal, the most total money and the highest average annual value ($18.8 million) anyone in the poll mentioned. On the other side of the spectrum was an executive who considered Grimes worth just $30 million over three years, $10 million in average annual value, the lowest number in the poll. The executive said he couldn't properly contextualize Grimes' scoring outburst at the end of last season, when the injured 76ers were losing intentionally in the hopes of keeping their first-round pick, because he 'played on a bad team.' 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Since they are restricted free agents, their 2024-25 teams have right of first refusal, meaning if Grimes, for example, signed an offer sheet with another franchise, the Sixers could match it to bring him back for the same price. It makes rival organizations hesitant to tie up cap space with restricted free agents. Meanwhile, sign-and-trades are difficult because of a niche rule in the collective bargaining agreement called base year compensation, which makes the math in matching salaries far more complex than usual. Yet, whether he's a 20-point scorer or not, Grimes can play. By his second season, he was a starter on a New York Knicks team that won a playoff series. He drained 3-pointers and consistently guarded the opposition's best perimeter player. He's bounced around since — to the Detroit Pistons and then Dallas Mavericks and eventually to the Sixers, who let him cook after most of their top performers left the court late in the season. Advertisement As Grimes' usage climbed in Philadelphia, his above-average efficiency maintained, not normally the case when a young player ratchets up his responsibilities. He ran more pick-and-rolls, attacked the basket and controlled his squad's offense more than ever while in Philly. 'There are not many Swiss Army knife wings out there that score it as efficiently, defend, pass or rebound like he does,' said the front-office staffer who suggested the four-year, $75 million contract. 'He might not be elite at any one thing, but (he's) very good at a lot of them.' But even if the 76ers agree with that assessment, they have a problem. The cheapest salary a four-year, $75 million contract could start at is $16.7 million. As of now, Philadelphia is approximately $3 million below the luxury-tax threshold. Any Grimes contract, including if he picked up his qualifying offer of $8.7 million (which would send him back to Philly on a one-year deal and allow him to enter unrestricted free agency a year from now), would drive them past it. But this contract would blast them into the first apron and only approximately $5 million short of the second apron, which the team is hoping to avoid. The Sixers may overflow with talent but they also have the largest delta between their possibilities for the upcoming season. In a best-case scenario, a former MVP in Joel Embiid looks like himself again; a renaissance season from nine-time All-Star Paul George emerges; and a young stud in Maxey continues to improve. There is additional talent to fill in the gaps. In a worst-case one, Embiid and George, who just underwent another surgery, can't stay on the floor and the team combusts, just as it did in 2024-25, when expectations were high and results were the league's most disappointing. 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Newsweek
19 minutes ago
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Chicago Bears Connected as Suitor in Micah Parsons Trade Scenario
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