Sports

Merrifield, Blue Jays top Diamondbacks for third consecutive victory

Published

1 year ago

July 15, 2023

TORONTO — Chris Bassitt had little time to prepare for his short-notice start on Saturday.

The Toronto Blue Jays right-hander found out Friday that he would be starting in place of all-star pitcher Kevin Gausman on Saturday after the latter was scratched due to discomfort in his left side.

Bassitt, however, did not disappoint.

All-Stars Whit Merrifield and Bo Bichette both homered and the Toronto Blue Jays earned a 5-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bassitt (9-5) had five strikeouts while surrendering seven hits and zero walks in six innings of action in front of a sellout crowd of 42,328 at Rogers Centre.

“Overall, good,” Bassitt said of his performance. “(The approach) was just pound the strike zone and trust your stuff. It wasn’t that big of a deal to me, it was just more so the preparation leading up to it was obviously not normal.”

Merrifield and George Springer each had two RBIs for Toronto (52-41), which extended its winning streak to three games.

Nate Pearson, Erik Swanson and Yimi Garcia — who got the save — held the Diamondbacks scoreless in three innings of relief.

“I thought the bullpen did a phenomenal job,” Toronto manager John Schneider said.

“They kind of feed off one another,” Schneider added. “They’re aware of what they’re doing and they’re taking pride in what they’re doing. When you have a good team and you have a good bullpen, it’s a luxury to throw those guys out there.”

Jake McCarthy had two RBIs for Arizona (52-41), which dropped its third in a row.

Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen (11-4) surrendered six hits and three walks, while striking out five batters in five innings of work. Relievers Miguel Castro, Andrew Chafin, Scott McGough gave up two runs in four innings.

“I felt like I just really couldn’t put guys away,” Gallen said. “I felt like I was making decent pitches, they were fouling them off. They were just waiting me out to get pitches they could handle.”

It was Gallen’s first start since being the National League starter in Tuesday’s All-Star game.

“We made him work,” Merrifield said. “We didn’t chase his stuff out of the zone early on and I think that when you do that to a pitcher, it kind of gets in their head a little bit, like ‘I gotta get the ball over the plate.’

“And when we did that, we did enough to get three runs off him. Against a guy like that, it’s a win.”

The Blue Jay bats found their rhythm in the second inning. Merrifield produced the first hit of the game with a single. After Daulton Varsho struck out, Alejandro Kirk nailed a 93 m.p.h. fastball into right field for a double.

Gallen then walked Cavan Biggio to load the bases. Springer followed up with a two-run single into deep left field that scored Merrifield and Kirk.

In the fourth, former Blue Jay Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled, followed by a double from Emmanuel Rivera. With a full count, two outs and runners on second and third, McCarthy hit a two-run single and narrowly made it safely to first base.

To the dismay of the crowd, a review did not lead to the call being overturned and the game was tied 2-2.

Those jeers quickly turned into cheers in the bottom of the inning. Merrifield cranked a 86.2 m.p.h change-up 372 feet into left field for his sixth homer of the season, with the ball bouncing off the top of the wall and over.

Bichette tacked on another homer in the eight inning — his 16th of the season — with a shot to left centre field off McGough to make it a 4-2 game.

Merrifield picked up his second RBI when his sacrifice fly scored Brandon Belt in the eighth.

INJURIES

The Blue Jays said an MRI revealed no damage and that Gausman is day to day.

Meanwhile, reliever Jordan Romano was not available Saturday after he exited Tuesday’s All-Star game with left lower back tightness. Schneider said the closer had an MRI that “came back clean” and that he’d be “taking it day by day.”

ON DECK

Yusei Kikuchi (7-3) is scheduled to start for the Blue Jays in Sunday’s series finale. Tommy Henry (5-1) is set to take the mound for the Diamondbacks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2023.

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Sports

Teravainen nets four points as Blackhawks beat winless Oilers 5-2

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

EDMONTON – Teuvo Teravainen had two goals and two assists and Connor Bedard had a goal and two assists as the Chicago Blackhawks captured their first victory of the season, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Saturday.

Seth Jones also had a goal and two assists in his 800th career NHL game and Philipp Kurashev scored the other goal for the Blackhawks, who improved to 1-1-1 on the season.

Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl scored for the Oilers, who fell to 0-2 to start the season on the heels of making it all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final last season before losing out to the Florida Panthers. Edmonton has been outscored 11-2 in its first two games.

Petr Mrazek had 35 saves in the Chicago net, while Calvin Pickard made 15 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Blackhawks: Former Oiler Taylor Hall now has eight points (2G, 6A) in 12 career games against the team that drafted him first overall in 2010, picking up an assist on Chicago’s first-period goal. There were four former first overall picks playing in the contest in Hall and Bedard for the Hawks and Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Edmonton. Nugent-Hopkins picked up his 700th career point in the contest.

Oilers: Oilers defenceman and Edmonton-area product Brett Kulak suited up for his 500th career NHL game. The 30-year-old has been a mainstay since arriving from Montreal at the 2023 NHL trade deadline, playing in all 183 regular-season and 53 playoff games that he could. He has recorded an even 100 points in his career.

KEY MOMENT

The Blackhawks took a two-goal lead with six minutes to play in the middle frame as Bedard used a defender as a screen before ripping a perfect shot glove-side past Pickard for his first of the season.

KEY STAT

With his third period power-play goal, Oilers forward Draisaitl now has a 16-game point streak (13-18-31) against Chicago dating to Oct. 28, 2018 and passed teammate Connor McDavid (15-game streak versus New Jersey) for the NHL’s longest active point streak against one opponent.

UP NEXT

Blackhawks: Wrap up a four-game road trip in Calgary against the Flames on Tuesday.

Oilers: Host the Flames on Sunday in the third game of a season-starting four-game set at home.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2024.

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Sports

Huberdeau scores twice, Wolf has 37 saves in Flames’ 6-3 win over Flyers

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

CALGARY – Jonathan Huberdeau had two goals and two assists for the Calgary Flames in a 6-3 win in their home-opener over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

Nazem Kadri scored twice, including an empty-netter with MacKenzie Weegar and Mikael Backlund each contributing a goal for Calgary (2-0-0).

Flames goalie Dustin Wolf stopped 37 of 40 shots in his season debut.

Travis Konecny scored twice, including one short-handed, and Joel Farabee also had a goal for Philadelphia (1-1-0).

Flyers starter Ivan Fedotov made 27 saves in his first start of the season.

The Flyers played their second road game in as many nights to start their season after a 3-2 shootout win over the Canucks in Vancouver.

The Flames overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Canucks 6-5 in overtime to start their season Wednesday.

TAKEAWAYS

Flyers: Slow start after beating Vancouver in a shootout 24 hours earlier, but scored twice in the second period and trailed by a goal heading into the third.

Flames: Wolf was the difference early stopping all 18 shots he faced in the first period and 37 overall. Calgary’s first goal that deflected off Huberdeau’s shoulder was lucky, but the winger set up Weegar perfectly for a one-timer and a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, assisted on a pair of power-play goals and generated the Flames’ fifth goal.

KEY MOMENT

The Flames converted a five-on-three in the second period into Kadri’s power-play goal and a two-goal lead. Wolf reached back into his crease during a scramble to clear the puck and deny Konecny a potential equalizing goal midway through the third period.

KEY STAT

Philadelphia’s power play, which was the worst in the NHL last season, was 1-for-4 on Saturday and 2-for-8 after two games. Calgary’s went 2-for-5 to be 4-for-9 after two games.

UP NEXT

Flames: Finish a back-to-back weekend on Sunday in Edmonton against the Oilers.

Flyers: Follow the Flames into Edmonton on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2024.

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Sports

Caufield scores twice, Canadiens beat Senators 4-1

Published

2 days ago

October 12, 2024

Anne Joseph

MONTREAL – The Montreal Canadiens grabbed a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by Emil Heineman and Cole Caufield and went on to beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Saturday at the Bell Centre.

After Alex Newhook boosted the Canadiens’ lead to 3-0 early in the third period, Tim Stutzle ended Sam Montembeault’s bid for a second consecutive shutout. Montembeault, who made 48 saves in a season-opening win over Toronto, made 24 saves.

Caufield completed the scoring with his second goal of the game and fourth of the season as the Canadiens improved to 2-1, while the Senators slipped to 1-1.

Montreal defenceman Mike Matheson was awarded a penalty shot when he was upended by Jake Sanderson on a rush to the net during a third-period power play. Linus Ullmark, who finished the game with 21 saves, got a piece of the shot which hit the post and went wide.

TAKEAWAYS

The Canadiens won the battle of special teams. Heineman scored a power-play goal with one second remaining in the advantage as Montreal went 1-for-4 with the extra man. Ottawa failed to score on four power plays and were held to three shots on goal.

KEY MOMENT

After facing only four shots in the first period, Montembeault was under pressure in the second period when the Senators outshot the Canadiens 12-3.

KEY STAT

The Canadiens have had one of the worst power plays in the NHL over the past three seasons and the outlook for this season wasn’t bright after the team went 0-for-30 in the pre-season. But Heineman scored his first NHL goal on a power play in the first period to give Montreal a power-play goal in each of its first three regular-season games.

UP NEXT

Senators: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Monday afternoon.

Canadiens: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2024.

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