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Carroll homers twice, drives in 6 as Diamondbacks whip Blue Jays 12-1

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PHOENIX (AP) — Corbin Carroll homered twice and had six RBIs, Yilber Diaz pitched six strong innings for his first big-league win and the Arizona Diamondbacks blasted the Toronto Blue Jays 12-1 on Saturday night.

The Diamondbacks roughed up José Berríos (8-7) to win or split their fifth straight series, scoring five runs on seven hits in four innings against the right-hander. On Friday night in the series opener, they rallied from down 4-2 in the eighth inning to beat the Blue Jays 5-4.

Carroll struggled early in the season, but has been rounding back into the form that earned him last season’s NL rookie of the year. He hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning, a three-run homer in the seventh and a two-run shot in the eighth to put Arizona up 12-1.

Eugenio Suárez also hit a two-run homer in the eighth — his third in four games — and the Diamondbacks had 15 hits to win for the 10th time in 14 games.

Diaz (1-0) was sharp all night, keeping the Blue Jays off-balance with a high-90s fastball and hard-breaking knuckle curve. He allowed a run on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks.

The Blue Jays have lost nine of 11.

Diaz had a solid big-league debut, allowing a run on four hits in six innings in a no-decision against Atlanta on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old Venezuelan was sharp again and got the win this time. Alejandro Kirk drove in a run in the second inning on a sacrifice fly, but that was it for Toronto against Diaz.

Berríos faced traffic on the bases in every inning in his third straight shaky start.

Joc Pederson hit a run-scoring double in the first inning and the Diamondbacks scored two more in the second, on the first of José Herrera’s three singles and Carroll’s sacrifice fly.

Ketel Marte hit a run-scoring single off Berríos in the fourth inning and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. made it 5-1 on an infield hit with the bases loaded.

Berríos allowed at least four runs for the third straight start and three of the four batters he walked ended up scoring.

CAUGHT WILD

Herrera made a rare play in the sixth inning, throwing out Spencer Horwitz on a wild pitch that went to the backstop.

The Arizona catcher had no chance of catching Diaz’s fastball, but the ball caromed hard right back to him. Herrera then wheeled and just got Horwitz at third base.

TRAINER’S TABLE

Blue Jays: RHP Yimi Garcia (elbow) has joined the Blue Jays in Arizona and could be activated Sunday.

Diamondbacks: Gurriel went 1-for-5 on his bobblehead night after being held out of Friday’s game with left shoulder soreness.

UP NEXT

Toronto LHP Yusei Kikuchi (4-8, 4.00 ERA) faces Arizona RHP Zac Gallen (6-5, 3.33) in the series finale Sunday.

___

AP MLB:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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‘Error in judgment’: Province probes school board’s $45k Italy trip for $100k of art

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TORONTO – Ontario’s education minister has asked officials to conduct a governance review of a Brantford-area Catholic school board after trustees spent $45,000 on a trip to Italy to buy $100,000 worth of art.

Trustees of the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board promised to pay back the trip expenses, not long after they were reported by the Brantford Expositor, but Education Minister Jill Dunlop said more answers are necessary.

“While I acknowledge that the (board) is taking steps to fix their error in judgment, I remain concerned that accountability was only taken after my ministry and the public expressed clear concerns for the misuse of taxpayer dollars,” Dunlop wrote in a statement.

“With that in mind, I have asked my officials to start the process to conduct a governance review of the board.”

The Brantford Expositor reported that the art purchased in Italy included life-sized, hand-painted wooden statues of St. Padre Pio and the Virgin Mary, a large crucifix, sculptures depicting the 14 stations of the cross and a bust of Pope Francis.

Most of the art is destined for St. Padre Pio Catholic Secondary School, currently under construction, which the board wants to make a “flagship” school, the newspaper reported.

Board chair Rick Petrella initially told the Expositor that he and three other trustees travelled to Italy over the summer to meet artisans and commission the religious artwork.

“We looked at buying it off the shelf, but nothing stood out,” he told the newspaper.

But Petrella and the board of trustees now say in a subsequent statement that they regret the trip, and have promised to repay the expenses, as well as look at donations or other funding to offset the cost of the artwork to the board.

“We recognize that the optics and actions of this trip were not favorable, and although it was undertaken in good faith to promote our Catholic identity and to do something special for our two new schools, we acknowledge that it was not the best course of action,” they wrote.

The province is also conducting an audit of the Thames Valley District School Board in southwestern Ontario due to a staff retreat in Toronto that cost nearly $40,000, including a stay at the Rogers Centre hotel.

The ministry is also doing an expedited investigation of the Toronto District School Board after Premier Doug Ford raised concerns about a recent field trip, which saw students from 15 schools attend a protest on mercury contamination affecting a First Nation community in the north.

Videos of the protest on social media show some march participants chanting pro-Palestinian slogans, which prompted Ford to complain that teachers were trying to indoctrinate children.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Credit card fees for small businesses dipping lower as deal set to take effect

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TORONTO – Credit card fees for small and medium-sized businesses are starting to dip lower as a deal reached between the federal government and the two major card companies is set to take effect.

Mastercard and Visa are reducing interchange fees by up to 27 per cent in a move that Ottawa says will save businesses about $1 billion over five years.

Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business thanked Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland for seeing the deal through. In a statement, he said qualifying businesses could expect about $350 savings per year for each $100,000 in Visa sales and about $200 in savings per year for each $100,000 in Mastercard sales.

To qualify, businesses’ sales volume can’t exceed $300,000 on Visa and $175,000 for Mastercard.

The change officially takes place Saturday, but some payment processors have already started to pass on the savings.

The small business group has, however, noted that not all processors have been clear that they’ll pass on the savings, pointing for example to Stripe where not all customers will see a change.

Kelly said Stripe’s decision means the company would keep the savings that were intended for small business customers.

“It’s extremely disappointing to see a big company take this approach,” he said.

Stripe says customers on its Interchange Plus plan, which sees costs vary by transaction type, will see the fee reductions passed through, just like other network cost and fee changes.

But those on its flat-rate plan won’t see a change, because the company says it has seen other costs and fees rise that add up to more than the reduction in interchange fees.

Other processors such as Moneris have said that qualifying businesses on both its interchange plus and flat rate model will see a reduction.

Finance Ministry spokeswoman Marie-France Faucher said the fee reduction should benefit about 90 per cent of businesses that accept credit card, and the department expects companies to pass on the savings.

“The federal government is closely monitoring the implementation of the credit card fees reduction, with the strong expectation that all payment processors like Stripe will pass the savings on to small businesses.”

She said the revised code of conduct for the industry has also given businesses more rights, including switching processors without penalty.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Quebec nurses union votes in favour of new collective agreement

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MONTREAL – Quebec’s largest nurses union has reached a deal with the provincial government more than a year and a half after their collective agreement expired in March 2023.

Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé, known as the FIQ, announced Thursday evening that two-thirds of union members had voted to adopt a new collective agreement recommended by a conciliator.

The details of the deal were not disclosed, but a major sticking point had been the government’s push for nurses to be more flexible in moving between health-care facilities to address staffing needs.

The union rejected a deal in principle in April over concerns about transfers between health centres, but president Julie Bouchard says those requirements will now be better defined.

However, Bouchard is not declaring victory and says the union will continue to fight to improve difficult working conditions, which include mandatory overtime and staff shortages.

The union has 80,000 members, including the majority of Quebec nurses, and the new collective agreement covers the period from 2023 to 2028.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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