OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Former Athletics ace Chris Bassitt allowed one run in eight strong innings and the Toronto Blue Jays took sole possession of the third American League wild-card playoff berth with a 7-1 win over Oakland on Tuesday night.
Toronto’s fifth win in six games moved the Blue Jays past the Rangers in the crowded AL playoff race. Texas lost to Houston 14-1 earlier in the day.
“We’re showing a lot of maturity behind the scenes of not chasing a 3 1/2-game deficit within one game,” Bassitt said. “Just concentrate on ourselves and win every series. If we win every series the rest of the way, we’re going to be world champions. That’s the way it is.”
The Blue Jays did it behind plenty of offence and a superb outing from Bassitt (14-7), who was 30-24 over six seasons with the A’s and was an All-Star in his final season with Oakland in 2021. The 6-foot-5 right-hander allowed seven hits and didn’t walk anyone while striking out seven.
Despite his history with the A’s, Bassitt said he didn’t have any added motivation other than trying to keep Toronto in the playoff hunt.
“I would say it’s more business as usual,” Bassott said. “Obviously I have a lot of friends from the staff (in Oakland) but I didn’t play with that many guys that are on this team anymore. So there’s no real adrenalin when it comes to that.”
The A’s traded Bassitt to the Mets on March 12, 2022 before the right-hander signed with the Blue Jays as a free agent nine months later.
“He’s been this guy for a while,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He’s had some huge games for us, another one tonight.”
Bowden Francis recorded three consecutive strikeouts in the ninth for Toronto in front of another small crowd of 4,751 at the Oakland Coliseum. It was Bark at the Park Night so there were a few dogs in the crowd, too.
Kevin Kiermaier hit an RBI single to break a scoreless tie as part of a six-run seventh inning for Toronto. George Springer followed with a two-run single and Whit Merrifield added a sacrifice fly. Cavan Biggio drew a bases-loaded walk, his second free pass of the inning, to force in a run and make it 5-0.
Oakland reliever Zach Neal, who retired one batter in relief after starter Ken Waldichuk pitched six scoreless innings, suffered his first loss since Sept. 2, 2016 against the Red Sox.
Kiermaier finished with three hits and two RBIs for Toronto. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled and has reached base in his last 21 games, the longest active streak in the majors.
It’s all coming together at the right time for the Blue Jays, winners in seven of the last 10 games. That’s rewarding to a team many had written off not long ago.
“They’re all going to be big games,” Schneider said. “Really, really proud of the way that they’ve kind of come together and kind of embraced an all-hands-on-deck approach.”
Zack Gelof and Seth Brown each had two hits for the last-place A’s. Jordan Diaz drove in the team’s only run with a two-out single off Bassitt in the seventh.
Waldichuk had one of his most efficient starts of the season but left without a decision for his sixth consecutive outing. He allowed four hits in six scoreless innings and raised his season strikeout total to 117, ninth-most by an Oakland rookie.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: 1B Brandon Belt was not in the starting lineup for a fourth consecutive game. Belt has been dealing with an illness and lower back tightness.
Athletics: OF Lawrence Butler was placed on the Bereavement List and is expected to be back Friday, according to the team. 3B Kevin Smith was called up from triple-A Las Vegas.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays LHP Hyun Jin Ryu (3-1, 2.48) faces the A’s for the first time this season in the series finale Wednesday afternoon. Ryu has 15 strikeouts in 15 innings over three career starts against Oakland. The A’s will start LHP JP Sears (3-11, 4.60), who leads the majors with 15 hit batters, the most by any A’s pitcher in the past 112 years.
LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.
Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.
World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.
The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.
Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.
Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.
The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Canada, fuelled by a 2-1 win over the U.S. and scoreless draw with Mexico, has jumped two places to No. 38 in the FIFA men’s world rankings released Thursday.
Of the top six CONCACAF teams, Canada was the only one to move up. Mexico was unchanged at No. 17 while the U.S. and Panama each fell two rungs to No. 18 and 37, respectively
Costa Rica slipped one spot to No. 50 and Jamaica two places to No. 61.
It marks Canada’s highest ranking under coach Jesse Marsch, who was hired in mid-May when the Canadians were ranked 50th. Since then, the team has climbed to No. 49, 48, 40 and now 38.
Canada has been as high as No. 33 in the men’s ranking, achieved in February 2022 under John Herdman with Canada, named the “Most Improved Side” in 2021 by FIFA, turning heads with an unbeaten run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
The new rankings encompass 184 internationals involving teams from all six confederations including 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Oceania and South America.
The top 10 was unchanged with Argentina ahead of France, Spain, England, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy. But the gap at the top is closing with Argentina losing 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy.
Teams 10 through 15 were also unchanged. But there was movement after that in the form of Japan (, up two), Iran (No. 19, up one) and Denmark (No. 20, up one). Egypt (No. 31), Ivory Coast (No. 33), Tunisia (No. 36) and Algeria (No. 41) all jumped five places while Greece (No. 48) climbed six spots.
The biggest movers were Brunei Darussalam (No. 183) and Samoa (No. 185), who vaulted seven spots on the back of two wins apiece.
Qatar suffered the biggest drop, tumbling 10 places to No. 44.
San Marino remains at the bottom of the rankings in 210th place despite recording its first victory in more than 20 years, San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 on Sept. 5, ending a 140-game winless run since a 1-0 decision over the same opponent in April 2004.
Liechtenstein fell four places to No. 203.
Canada’s next match is an Oct. 15 friendly against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. The next men’s ranking will be released Oct. 24.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024
It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.
As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).
According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.
In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).
However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.
And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.
In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).
Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.
Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.
Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.
A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.
A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.
A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
