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Astros earn third straight win over Rays, force Game 7 in ALCS – Sportsnet.ca

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SAN DIEGO — The blowback from a sign-stealing scandal three years ago and a losing record during the pandemic-shortened regular season don’t mean a thing to Dusty Baker and the Houston Astros.

Like them or loathe them, the Astros are on the cusp of a third World Series in four seasons and joining the 2004 Boston Red Sox as the only teams to rally from a 3-0 deficit to win a seven-game series.

George Springer and Jose Altuve delivered big hits, Framber Valdez pitched six brilliant innings and the Astros beat the Tampa Bay Rays for the third straight time, 7-4 Friday to force a deciding Game 7 of the AL Championship Series.

It’s been a stunning turnaround in a series that had been going the Rays’ way as they opened a 3-0 lead.

“We’re not through writing history,” Baker said. “We’re hoping we can have a happy ending to this historic season and historic year.

“This team’s battled back big time,” added Baker, hired to bring some stability to a team rocked by a sign-stealing scandal it used en route to the 2017 title that was uncovered last off-season. “You’ve got to love this team, or some people hate this team, but I mean you’ve at least got to respect this team, the way that they’ve worked.”

Houston chased starter Blake Snell in the fifth before Springer hit a go-ahead, two-run single and scored on Altuve’s double. Carlos Correa, who hit a walkoff home run in Thursday night’s 4-3 win, added an RBI single.

“We’re relentless and when we said we didn’t want to go home, we really meant that,” Correa said. “We want to keep playing baseball and we don’t want this to be the end of our season. We took care of these three games and now we’ve got to take one more. If we don’t win that game, then it’s all meant nothing. We’ve got to go out there tomorrow and get that win. It’ll be great.”

Earlier this week, some of the Astros watched a documentary on the 2004 Red Sox, who after falling behind 3-0 won four straight games to stun the New York Yankees for the AL pennant before winning their first World Series in 86 seasons.

Otherwise, big league clubs leading 3-0 in a best-of-seven post-season series are 37-1.

Houston also is trying to become the first team to win a pennant with a losing regular season record (29-31). The Astros have been criticized for their role in a cheating scandal en route to the 2017 title that was uncovered last off-season.

Manuel Margot homered twice and drove in three runs for the Rays. Despite blowing a 3-0 series lead, they remain one win from the second World Series in franchise history — and one loss from joining the 2004 Yankees in ignominy.

Game 7 on Saturday night will feature the pitchers who started and finished Houston’s Game 7 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2017 World Series. Lance McCullers Jr. will go for the Astros while 36-year-old Charlie Morton will start for the Rays.

They are the first pair to pitch in the same winner-take-all post-season game as teammates and later start against each other in a winner-take-all game.

In the decisive Game 7 in 2017, McCullers started and went 2 1/3 scoreless innings while Morton pitched the final four innings for the victory. Morton signed with Tampa Bay prior to the 2019 season.

It’s also a rematch of Game 2 of this series, won 4-2 by Morton and the Rays.

“We’ve just got to bounce back,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “This isn’t the scenario that we wanted leading 3-0, but this is a resilient group. Encouraged that the offence kind of got going there. Look for some carryover.

“There’s no doubt the momentum has shifted, but I would bet on this team being very capable of bouncing back,” he said.

Valdez, who lost the opener of this series 2-1 to Snell, held the Astros to one run and three hits while striking out nine and walking three in his third career post-season start. He allowed Willy Adames RBI double in the second.

Astros closer Ryan Pressly pitched for the third straight day and got three outs for his second save to go with a win in Game 5. He allowed Yoshitomo Tsutsugo’s one-out single, then induced Mike Brosseau’s game-ending double-play grounder, a call upheld in a video review. Pressly threw nine pitches, all for strikes, raising his three-day total to 39.

The 71-year-old Baker, who led NL teams for the first 22 seasons of his 23-year managerial career, used some old-school baseball to outfox the 42-year-old Cash and overturn a 1-0 deficit in the fifth. The rally had only one hard-hit ball. The Astros had been frustrated in the first three games when they scalded balls right to fielders.

Snell walked Yuli Gurriel opening the fifth and allowed a single to Aledmys Diaz on his 82nd pitch. Cash, whose team was built around analytics, pulled Snell before he could face the No. 9 batter, Martin Maldonado, and leadoff hitter Springer, who had struck out twice.

Maldonado laid down a sacrifice bunt against Diego Castillo and Springer punched a two-run single to centre through a hole in Tampa Bay’s drawn-in infield that also was in a shift. Altuve followed with a double into the left-field corner that brought in Springer, who might have been out if Brandon Lowe had thrown to the cutoff man instead of second base.

After Michael Brantley walked, Correa singled to bring in Altuve.

Snell allowed two runs and three hits in four-plus innings, struck out four and walked four.

Baker, hired after AJ Hinch was fired following the revelation of the sign-stealing scandal, is the first manager to take five different teams to the playoffs. He has yet to win a World Series as a manager. His San Francisco Giants reached the 2002 Fall Classic before losing in seven games to the Angels. As a player, he helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win four straight World Series games in 1981 after falling behind the New York Yankees 0-2.

Houston’s Kyle Tucker homered off rookie Shane McClanahan leading off the sixth. In the seventh, Brantley hit an RBI single and Tucker a sacrifice fly.

Margot homered off Andre Scrubb leading off the Rays’ seventh and hit a two-run shot off Cristian Javier with two outs in the eighth.

“We’re all frustrated, but I don’t think they’re tensing up,” Cash said. “I think they recognize we’ve got an opportunity for the fourth time to do something special and find ways we can really compete, get the bats going, score some runs for Charlie and find a way to win.”

MODERN BALL

There were 33 pitches in the top of the eighth, and none put in play, The Astros loaded the bases on three walks and then had three strikeouts. Baker said they were lucky that inning didn’t come back to haunt them.

UP NEXT

Astros: McCullers struck out 11 in seven innings in taking the loss in Game 2. He allowed four runs, only one earned, and four hits.

Rays: Morton pitched five scoreless innings in winning Game 2.

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Edler to sign one-day contract to retire as a Vancouver Canuck

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VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.

The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.

He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.

The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.

Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.

“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”

Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Sixth-ranked Canadian women to face World Cup champion Spain in October friendly

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The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.

Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.

The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.

In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.

Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.

Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.

The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.

Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.

It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.

Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.

FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.

And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.

“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Maple Leafs announce Oreo as new helmet sponsor for upcoming NHL season

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TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.

The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.

The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.

Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.

The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.

Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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