WASHINGTON — Wearing a red muscle shirt with a drawing of a gold trumpet — this year’s answer to the “Baby Shark” phenomenon of 2019 — Washington Nationals centre fielder Victor Robles sat down for his postgame video conference and announced, “Hi, guys!”
Filled with energy on and off a baseball field, Robles did his part Saturday night to help fill in for missing teammate and friend Juan Soto, who began the season on the COVID-19 injured list.
Robles jump-started Washington’s dormant offence by delivering three hits and four RBIs, including a homer off the foul pole that he celebrated by pantomiming pandemic-appropriate “air high-fives” with teammates, helping the Nationals beat the New York Yankees 9-2 without scratched starter Stephen Strasburg and despite five errors.
“He uplifted us,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said about Robles.
Robles credited utility player Emilio Bonifácio with coming up with the trumpet theme — players motioned with their fingers as if playing a horn after hits — and making shirts with the instrument. Robles likened it to the whole “Baby Shark” vibe last year along the way to a championship when since-departed outfielder Gerardo Parra‘s child tune became a walk-up song and then an anthem of sorts for the Nationals.
Asdrúbal Cabrera and Michael A. Taylor also homered for Washington, which lost 2019 World Series MVP Strasburg to a nerve issue in his pitching hand two days after Soto tested positive for the illness caused by the coronavirus.
Filling in for Strasburg, Erick Fedde allowed a pair of runs in four innings, including Giancarlo Stanton’s second homer in two games. Fedde was told two days earlier to be prepared to start in case Strasburg couldn’t.
Stanton’s drive was projected at 483 feet with an exit velocity of 121.3 mph, and when Fedde was asked about that 3-0 pitch, he chuckled and replied: “He definitely crushed it.”
Stanton knelt alongside fellow Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks during the national anthem; another teammate, DJ LeMahieu, stood nearby and tapped each on the shoulder after the song ended.
Asked why he knelt, Hicks said: “Because I’m a Black man living in America. I feel like for me, I should be judged by my character and not by my skin tone. And growing up, that’s kind of what happened. I felt like it was right to do.”
With Max Scherzer and other Nationals starting pitchers — although not Strasburg — sitting somewhat spread out about 10 rows behind home plate, Fedde was followed by four relievers, who gave up three hits across five scoreless innings.
Tanner Rainey (1-0) got three outs for the win.
After losing Soto on opening day, then managing one hit against Gerrit Cole in a rain-shortened 4-1 loss to the Yankees, the Nationals got going in Game 2 with four consecutive hits off James Paxton (0-1) in the second.
The biggest was Robles’ two-run double. One walk later, Paxton was done after 41 pitches — and just three outs. The lefty went 11-0 over his last 14 starts in 2019, including the playoffs, but he had off-season back surgery and would have missed the start of this season if it hadn’t been delayed for nearly four months because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The lefty said he didn’t feel pain while throwing.
“Just felt a little sluggish tonight,” Paxton said. “The arm just didn’t feel really live.”
Robles added a two-run homer in the fourth, clanging the ball off the foul pole in left field, then singled in the sixth.
“He’s definitely missed big-time here,” Robles said through a translator about Soto, a fellow Dominican outfielder. “But individually, we all have a role. We all know what our job is. It’s just a matter of doing your job and helping the team win, any way you can.”
The teams combined for seven errors — two by Nationals shortstop Trea Turner on a single play, one fielding and one throwing.
“The errors that we made, I think, were kind of lackadaisical,” Martinez said. “Those things can’t happen. We’re better than that.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: LeMahieu made his season debut after having COVID-19, leading off and playing five innings in the field. … Manager Aaron Boone said LHP Zack Britton would be his primary closer while Aroldis Chapman is on the COVID-19 injured list.
Nationals: Carter Kieboom has what Martinez described as a “little, slight groin issue” that affects his lateral movement, so Kieboom was in the lineup as the DH instead of at 3B.
ROSTER MOVES
After the game, the Yankees optioned OF Clint Frazier and RHP Ben Heller to the team’s alternate training site. New York said it anticipates recalling RHP Brooks Kriske and RHP Nick Nelson before Sunday’s game.
UP NEXT
LHP Patrick Corbin begins his second season of a $140 million, six-year deal with Washington by starting Sunday afternoon against the Yankees, who are expected to go with a mix of relievers.
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TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
