Sports

Sloppy, unfocused Blue Jays squander six-run lead in disheartening loss to Rangers

Published

1 year ago

June 18, 2023

Corey Seager, centre, of the Texas Rangers scores a run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the fourth inning at Globe Life Field on June 18, 2023 in Arlington, Tex. Photo by Ron Jenkins /Getty Images

The Blue Jays figured out the run scoring part on Sunday — for a couple innings, anyway.

The rest of the baseball stuff? Not so much as they blew a huge lead in unsightly fashion.

A would-be Father’s Day feast turned into foolery, as the struggling Jays literally squandered a 6-0 lead in Arlington, Tex, falling 11-7 to the Rangers. And a team that had spent much of the spring vowing to be the master of the game’s little details gave away a win that should have been a blowout victory.

The loss was high on the list of the uglier ones for a Jays team that is now a reeling 2-4 through the first two stops of a nine-game road trip that lands in Miami on Monday for three against the sizzling Marlins.

The wildly inconsistent Jays have not lost for the sixth time in their past nine games and have dropped to the land of the mediocre on the road, where they are 20-21.

While there was justifiable angst about the lack of clutch hitting from manager John Schneider’s outfit over recent weeks, it’s not the only woe dragging this team right now.

Mistakes away from the plate are becoming costly — and inexcusable — for a team still desperately waiting for its offence to heat up on a consistent basis.

Blunders on the basepaths and in the field changed the momentum of what should have been a much-needed cruise control win for the run-starved group.

Instead, it became a generous gift to the Rangers, who took two of three in the weekend series under the roof down at Globe Life Field.

And one play in particular on Sunday cost the Jays dearly in that it changed the momentum of a game the Jays seemed to have well under control after chasing Rangers ace starter Jon Gray after just 2.1 innings.

While Jays starter Chris Bassitt clearly didn’t have his best stuff, he should have been out of the third inning unscathed, that is until first baseman Vlad Guerrero Jr. threw away what would have been the third out. A toss well over the head of Bassitt, who was covering first, kept the inning alive and led to a pair of Rangers runs.

It feels like Guerrero is not only distancing himself from his home-run king status but also from his gold glove form in what has been the worst season of his young big league career.

Add an error from Kevin Kiermaier in the third and the Jays continued squandering the lead in generous fashion. Three runs in each of the fourth and fifth frames gave the Rangers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Apologists will suggest the Guerrero error led to just a pair of runs and the Jays did plenty afterwards to gift this one away. Bassitt lasted just 3.2 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits for a second consecutive substandard start.

When things go bad, they go bad for this team these days. Bassitt gave way to Nate Pearson, who had his worst relief outing of the season, lasting just two-thirds of an inning before giving up three runs.

By then, the Rangers had seized control and the Jays were on their way to another maddening defeat.

The way the team is dropping games has to be maddening for Schneider, who had suffered through his team scoring just nine runs in its previous four games before finally getting some traction.

This is a group, remember, that had obsessively vowed to excel in clean baseball, avoiding the maddening mistakes that fritter away games. While Guerrero is not alone among the guilty, he also ran into an out on the bases in the first, ending an inning that had potential.

It also doesn’t help that Bassitt’s inefficiency further taxes the Jays relieve corps — the day after a bullpen day loss against the Rangers.

And now it’s on to Miami to face a Marlins team that has won four in a row and have jumped out to a June record of 12-4.

Overall, the Jays are now 39-34, just two games worst than they were through 73 games last season. Given the expectations to be much closer to AL East contention than still just on the outside of the AL wild-card race, it sure feels a lot worse, doesn’t it?

GAME ON

What a welcome to the major leagues for Spencer Horwitz, who was batting eighth as DH and singled in his first big league at bat, drove in a run (via a groundout) in his second and walked and scored in his third at bat and earned another free pass in his fourth. Good on the former 24th-round draft pick … A clutch double from Bo Bichette in the second not only drove in a pair of runs but marked the fifth consecutive game the Jays shortstop recorded a two-bagger … The Jays lost Alejandro Kirk in the second inning after the catcher took a 96 mph fastball off his left hand. The team announced that early X-rays were negative for a fracture and that Kirk had suffered a laceration and bruise. With that in mind, don’t be surprised if Tyler Heineman reports to Miami in time for Monday’s game as a fallback.

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Red Wings sign Raymond to 8-year, $64.6 million contract

Published

57 mins ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract Monday, completing a deal with one of their best young players less than 72 hours before training camp begins.

Raymond will count $8.075 million against the salary cap through 2032. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent without a contract for the upcoming NHL season and was coming off setting career highs with 31 goals, 41 assists and 72 points.

The Red Wings have another one of those in defenceman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2021-22.

Detroit is looking to end an eight-year playoff drought dating to the Original Six franchise’s last appearance in 2016.

Raymond, a Swede who was the fourth pick in 2020, has 174 points in 238 games since breaking into the league.

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AP NHL:

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Cousins caps winning drive with TD pass to London as Falcons rally past Eagles 22-21

Published

1 hour ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kirk Cousins led a flawless last-minute drive for Atlanta and connected with Drake London for a 7-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.

Saquon Barkley dropped a short pass that stopped the clock with 1:46 left and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal instead of a game-sealing first down. That was plenty of time for Cousins — especially against an Eagles defense playing soft coverage with a nonexistent pass rush.

The 36-year-old veteran, playing his second game since tearing his Achilles tendon last Oct. 29 while playing for Minnesota, shook off an uneven effort and hit Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.

Cousins found London on a short pass to his right for the tying score, and Younghoe Koo put Atlanta (1-1) on top with a 48-yard extra point after London was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The go-ahead drive took just 65 seconds.

Jalen Hurts had his final pass intercepted by Jessie Bates III to seal Atlanta’s win and set off a wild celebration on the sideline.

The Eagles (1-1) went ahead on Hurts’ 1-yard tush push score with 6:47 left. Barkley finished with 95 yards on 22 carries in his home debut for Philadelphia, but his drop provided the Falcons with some hope.

And then Cousins started playing like the QB Atlanta thought it was getting when it signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract.

Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta’s first TD was a 41-yarder from Cousins to Mooney, who finished with three catches for 88 yards.

Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, including a touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury, Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score.

Jake Elliott kicked two field goals for the Eagles. His 28-yarder with 1:39 left made it 21-15.

Atlanta kept stalling in the red zone, getting three field goals from Koo, before Cousins fired over the middle to Mooney, who shook loose from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and left him on the turf before he somersaulted into the end zone with 1:21 left in the third quarter for a 15-10 lead. Cousins failed on the 2-point conversion pass.

Hurts had some juice in his step during a second-quarter TD drive, running with abandon for big plays much like he did in the 2022 season. He spiked the ball in a rare, raw show of emotion on a 23-yard run, earning a delay-of-game penalty. He shrugged off the 5-yard setback and scrambled for 9 yards and 15 yards to move the Eagles to Atlanta’s 19.

With comedian Shane Gillis and actor Bradley Cooper among the fans cheering on the Eagles, Hurts connected with Smith in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD that made it 7-3.

Under new defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, the Eagles have established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.

Questionable call

Rather than take a chip-shot field goal from Elliott, the Eagles’ fourth-and-4 gamble at Atlanta’s 9-yard line in the first quarter failed when Hurts threw an incomplete pass.

Elliott kicked a 29-yarder with 4:31 left in the third quarter for a 10-9 lead.

Running wild

Bijan Robinson ran for 97 yards for the Falcons. The Eagles stuffed him late on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 39.

Barkley was quiet until the go-ahead drive, a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. They went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. Barkley had 40 yards rushing in the first half.

Foles honored

Former Eagles QB Nick Foles, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title, served as an honorary captain and led the crowd in a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”

Injuries

The Falcons played without LB Nate Landman (calf, quad).

Up next

Atlanta hosts Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday.

The Eagles play at New Orleans on Sunday.

___

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Fernandez and Dabrowski headline Canadian lineup for Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Published

13 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.

The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.

Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.

Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.

“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.

“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”

Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.

Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.

Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.

Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.

Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.

Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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