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After Stripling's absolute gem, Blue Jays' bats finally erupt for huge win – Sportsnet.ca

Published

2 years ago

August 17, 2022

TORONTO – All the ingredients for another game to unravel and end in heartbreak for the Toronto Blue Jays were there in the seventh inning. Cedric Mullins ended Ross Stripling’s run of six perfect innings by lining his first pitch to centre for a base hit. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then bobbled Anthony Santander’s chopper, preventing him from getting the lead runner. Stripling, at 72 pitches in his return from the injured list, was done, leaving a man in scoring position for Yimi Garcia, the afternoon’s outcome very much hanging in the balance.

This time, the Blue Jays didn’t wilt at the moment of truth.

Bo Bichette, crucially, made a tremendous barehanded grab and throw on a Ryan Mountcastle chopper that immediately shifted control of the inning. Garcia followed by striking out Austin Hays and positive momentum followed into the bottom of the frame, when Teoscar Hernandez blooped in a one-out single, Bichette moved him to third with a perfectly executed hit-and-run and catharsis arrived when pinch-hitter George Springer lined a go-ahead RBI single.

That they poured it on from there – starting with a two-run double by Santiago Espinal, plating Springer, who first-pumped after sliding safely into home, and capped by Alejandro Kirk’s two-run double – made it feel all the more like a cleansing of two weeks’ worth of frustration.

“Against a hitter that’s done obviously pretty well against us, it was a hell of a play by Bo,” interim manager John Schneider said of the barehanded throw after his Blue Jays completed a 6-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday afternoon. “He had an awesome game all around between that and his at-bats. To keep that right there instead of it being first and third and Yimi having to work in some real traffic, to me that was the play of the game right there.”

Factoring in Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s bases-loaded walk during the ensuing rally, the six-run frame nearly matched the Blue Jays’ total output of seven runs over the previous three games. The victory before a crowd of 40,141, just their fourth in 13 outings, featured their most productive day at the plate since a 9-3 win at the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 4.

In avoiding a sweep by the Orioles (61-56), the Blue Jays (62-54) also secured their hold on a wild-card spot and gave themselves some positive vibes to carry into a four-game series against the struggling New York Yankees beginning Thursday in the Bronx. A three-game set in Boston against the Red Sox follows right after.

“Hopefully it kind of lets guys just breathe and understand that you can do it because at times when you don’t do it, you start to think that you can’t do it – and then all of a sudden it happens,” Springer said of the relief provided by the offensive outburst. “Hopefully it can spiral into a lot more individual moments like that. It’s a big seven games coming up this week. We’ll see what happens.”

Jose Berrios gets the ball in the opener in New York with a chance to ensure the victory becomes a turning point rather than a respite. Kevin Gausman is set to follow on Friday and Mitch White will get the ball Saturday instead of Yusei Kikcuhi, who was moved into a relief role and sat in the bullpen Wednesday.

Such a move is representative of the urgency of the moment for a Blue Jays team that’s acting like it understands its runway is running out.

“It could be against left-handed hitting, it could be for some length,” Schneider said of what Kikuchi’s bullpen roles could be. “We’re talking about a guy with an electric arm and the improvements – although you can’t really see them on paper, I get that part of it – but incrementally he’s been a lot better. So we’re excited about it. He strikes a lot of guys out and has electric stuff. When put in the right position, I think he can really help us.”

Stripling’s return, of course, is the linchpin on that front and he couldn’t possibly have been more impactful.

From a dominant six-pitch first inning onwards, he kept the Orioles off balance by effectively locating his four-seamer and then discombobulating them with a changeup that generated six whiffs on 10 swings. A handful of sliders, sinkers and curveballs only added to the impressive mix and as the perfect innings piled up, it looked like he might leave interim manager John Schneider with a dilemma.

Stripling was at 67 pitches through six frames, the same number of pitches he’d thrown in a rehab outing for triple-A Buffalo last week, but between the right hip/glute strain that sidelined him and the all-star break, it had been July 13 since he’d last exceeded that mark.

How long to let him chase perfection, especially in a 0-0 game for an unsteady team, would have been a gut-wrenching call to make. But Mullins eliminated that from the mix with his single and it was all matching up in leverage from that point forward.

“I would have fought to stay in there all the way because I felt great physically,” said Stripling, who was pulled from a no-hit bid during his big-league debut after 7.1 innings and 100 pitches. “I feel great physically now a couple of hours removed, and felt strong through the outing. I’m built up, right? … I know what it takes to go 90/100 pitches in a big-league game. So I would have fought that tooth and nail to stay in there for sure. Might have been taken out of my hands. But now 32 years old, who knows if I’ll ever get an opportunity like that ever again? You would have had to drag me off the mound.”

Schneider conceded that he would have let Stripling run with it – “I’m glad I didn’t have to have (that conversation). But he was going to keep going,” he said. And demonstrating the amount of trust the right-hander has earned, the manager asked him if he wanted to remain in the game to face Mountcastle during a mound visit.

Thinking for sure his day was done, Stripling was stunned at the question – “I was like, uhhh,” he admitted – and said he’d geared down mentally and that it would be better to bring in Garcia.

Schneider did precisely that, the result broke the Blue Jays’ way with Bichette’s help and counter to their recent fortunes, they opened things up with a pivotal rally.

“We all knew that it’s going to happen eventually. It’s just the process,” said Bichette. “That inning definitely was big for all of us. Obviously we need to score runs to win. So it was a big deal, a lot of big hits. Maybe a little bit of relief, but I think just everybody’s excited to get the job done.”

An excitement borne out of ensuring that in a coin-flip game, they found a way to win.

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NHL roundup: Hurricanes beat Flyers 6-4 for seventh straight win

Published

23 hours ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Martin Necas scored a go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on Tuesday night.

It was the seventh straight win for the Hurricanes, who also got goals from Jack Roslovic, Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake. Seth Jarvis added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Necas typically saves his game-winners for overtime, with nine in his career, but he was able to take care of business in regulation with his team-best seventh goal of the season.

Travis Konecny scored two goals and had two assists for the Flyers. Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia.

Aleksei Kolosov made 28 saves for the Flyers, who trailed 2-1, 3-1 and 4-3 but kept coming back. Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov struggled in net allowing four goals on just 16 shots.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

—

SABRES 5 SENATORS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bowen Byram and Tage Thompson scored 16 seconds apart to open the third period, and Buffalo snapped a three-game skid with a win over Ottawa.

Byram scored twice, JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves.

Ridly Greig converted his own rebound in cutting Buffalo’s lead to 2-1 with 7:31 left in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in dropping to 1-4 in his past five starts.

Buffalo went up 3-1 on Byram’s second goal 21 seconds into the third period. The defenceman’s shot from inside the blue line sneaked through Ullmark, with the puck rolling down the goalie’s pad, dropping into the crease and trickling across the line. Thompson scored when he crashed the net, was knocked over by defender Jake Sanderson and was lying in the crease when Alex Tuch’s shot went in off his shoulder.

—

MAPLE LEAFS 4 BRUINS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in Toronto’s 4-0 victory over Boston.

Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Toronto connected three times on the power play. William Nylander and Matthew Knies added a goal and an assist each. Mitch Marner had two assists of his own. Steven Lorentz rounded out the scoring into the empty net.

The Leafs played without captain Auston Matthews, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jeremy Swayman made 23 stops for Boston, which was coming off consecutive weekend shutouts of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

Toronto’s porous 31st-ranked power play scored for the second time in as many games at 8:44 of the second period when Rielly fired through a screen. Nylander banked in his team-leading 10th goal of the season on another man advantage 1:14 later for a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins entered the game 8-0-0 in the regular season against their Atlantic Division rival dating back to Jan. 14, 2023.

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FLAMES 3 CANADIENS 2 (OT)

MONTREAL (AP) — Matt Coronato scored twice as Calgary came back to defeat Montreal in overtime.

Coronato tied the game with 2:46 remaining in regulation when he cruised into the slot and went off the post and in. He then buried the winning goal seven seconds into the extra period.

Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, which won its second game in seven outings. Dustin Wolf stopped 21 shots.

Joel Armia — with a short-handed goal — and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (4-7-2). Armia also provided an assist, while Sam Montembeault made 32 saves as the Canadiens’ losing streak extended to four games.

Zary opened the scoring with his third 4:20 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Montembeault.

Gallagher then slipped the puck between Wolf’s pads at 16:23 to level the score with his fifth of the season.

—

BLUES 3 LIGHTNING 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist scored to help St. Louis beat Tampa Bay 3-2.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for his 149th career win moving him past Jake Allen for second place in franchise history, just two wins behind Mike Liut’s 151.

Nick Perbix and Victor Hedman scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning who have lost three straight games.

Kyrou scored his fourth goal of the season 8:51 into the third period to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Toropchenko scored his first goal of the season with 1:35 remaining in the second period to put St. Louis ahead 2-1 after Sundqvist tied the game with his first of the season 7:47 into the period.

—

ISLANDERS 4 PENGUINS 3 (SO)

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the only goal in a shootout and New York rallied past Pittsburgh 4-3.

New York goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang in the shootout and finished with 32 saves. Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who trailed 3-1 midway through the third period.

Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third for New York. Horvat had two assists.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to lead Pittsburgh. Crosby got his 598th career goal, and Michael Bunting also scored. Rakell added two assists.

Alex Nedeljkovich stopped 23 shots for the Penguins, who have lost seven of nine. They won their previous two following a six-game skid.

—

KINGS 5 WILD 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Trevor Lewis scored twice, Kevin Fiala added another on the power play and Los Angeles beat Minnesota 5-1.

Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield also scored for Los Angeles, which was playing the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-0 win in Nashville a night earlier. David Rittich made 23 saves for the Kings.

Fiala, who was traded to Los Angeles in 2022 by Minnesota for a first-round pick draft pick and defenceman Brock Faber, scored his seventh goal of the season. He now has three goals and six assists in his last seven games against the Wild.

Minnesota, which had won three in a row, opened the scoring in the second period on Zach Bogosian’s first goal of the season. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for the Wild.

—

JETS 3 UTAH 0

WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter scored twice in his 900th NHL career game and Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help Winnipeg defeat Utah 3-0.

It was Hellebuyck’s second shutout of the season and 39th of this career.

Gabriel Vilardi also scored for the Jets. Adam Lowry assisted on both goals by Niederreiter.

Utah ended a run of picking up points in three consecutive games (1-0-2).

Karel Vejmelka stopped 25 shots for Utah in its second stop on a four-game road trip.

Jets winger Kyle Connor had his franchise-record, season-opening points streak end at 12 games.

—

AVALANCHE 6 KRAKEN 3

DENVER (AP) — Arturri Lehkonen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in his season debut and Nathan MacKinnon had five assists as Colorado beat Seattle 6-3.

Mikko Rantanen added two goals for the Avalanche, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Chris Wagner also scored for Colorado.

Cale Makar had two assists but the star defenceman barely played in the second half of the game and appeared to be slowed by an apparent injury during a brief shift.

MacKinnon and Makar extended their season-opening point streaks to 13 games.

Lehkonen played for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.

Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken.

—

CANUCKS 5 DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist apiece, and Quinn Hughes recorded his 300th career assist in Vancouver’s victory over Anaheim.

Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson also scored and Hughes had three assists for the Canucks, who have won six of eight. Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in Vancouver’s sixth consecutive win over the Ducks.

Olen Zellweger scored a power-play goal early in the first period for Anaheim, which has lost seven of nine. Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko took shots from teammates again after the morning skate, and he could return to practice this week. The Southern California native and 2023-24 Vezina Trophy finalist hasn’t played this season due to a knee injury incurred late last season.

—

SHARKS 2 BLUE JACKETS 1 (OT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Wennberg scored 3:11 into overtime and San Jose celebrated the return of No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini with a win over Columbus.

Defenceman Jack Thompson scored his first career goal for the Sharks (4-8-2), who entered the night with the worst record in the NHL. San Jose has won four of five.

Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, missed 12 games with a hip injury he sustained in the season opener Oct. 10 — an injury first incurred during the pre-season. Celebrini didn’t score and missed a shot early in overtime.

San Jose goalie Vitek Vanacek was fantastic in net, making 49 saves.

Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko scored for the second consecutive game. Columbus (5-6-1) has lost three straight.

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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

Published

2 days ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.

The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.

The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.

Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

Published

2 days ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.

The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.

Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.

KEY MOMENT

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.

KEY RETURN?

Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.

OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN

The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.

The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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