Winnipeg Jets hand Edmonton Oilers 6-1 loss in NHL pre-season

TORONTO – Kevin Gausman threw six strong innings and Alejandro Kirk drove in three runs as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Wednesday to end a five-game losing skid.

Leadoff hitter Jonatan Clase hit his first career home run for the Blue Jays (74-85) and added two singles and a walk. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. chipped in with two of Toronto’s 11 hits.

The Red Sox (80-79) were denied a three-game sweep and had their four-game win streak come to an end. Jarren Duran had two hits and scored Boston’s lone run.

Gausman (14-11) allowed four hits and one earned run for his third straight victory. Brendon Little, Erik Swanson and Chad Green threw a scoreless frame apiece.

Richard Fitts (0-1) made his fourth career start for the Red Sox. He did not give up an earned run in his first three starts, settling for no-decisions despite pitching at least five innings in each appearance.

Toronto nearly ended his streak in the first inning. Clase singled and reached third after a sacrifice bunt and a groundout but Kirk lined out to end the threat.

The Blue Jays got to Fitts in the fourth when Guerrero doubled and came around on a Kirk double. Kirk moved to third base on a groundout and scored when Ernie Clement stroked a single through the left side of the infield.

In the fifth inning, Lukes dropped his second sacrifice bunt of the game to move Tyler Heineman to third and Clase to second base.

Kirk drove in both runners by smacking a ball off the wall near the right-field corner. The slow-footed catcher was thrown out at second base to end the inning after both runners had crossed the plate.

Gausman threw five shutout frames before Boston tallied in the sixth. Duran hit a leadoff double and scored when Triston Casas lined a single to right field.

Fitts allowed six hits, four earned runs and two walks while striking out two over five innings. Gausman fanned three batters and issued three walks.

Clase hit a two-run shot in the seventh inning off Red Sox reliever Josh Winckowski. Guerrero had a bloop single later in the frame to leave him three away of the 200-hit plateau for the season.

The Rogers Centre roof opened shortly before first pitch. Announced attendance was 27,694 and the game took two hours 31 minutes to play.

BICHETTE UPDATE

Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette was scheduled to undergo surgery Wednesday to repair his fractured right middle finger.

He suffered the season-ending injury last week while taking grounders during infield practice.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider said a pin would be used to help address a “little displacement” in Bichette’s finger. A recovery timeline wasn’t provided but Bichette is expected to be ready for spring training.

COACHING SHUFFLE

Blue Jays field coordinator Gil Kim served as first-base coach for the series finale against the Red Sox.

Regular first-base coach Mark Budzinski moved across the diamond to fill in for third-base coach Carlos Febles, who underwent knee surgery on Tuesday.

COMING UP

The Blue Jays have an off-day Thursday before kicking off their final series of the season on Friday against the visiting Miami Marlins.

The Red Sox will return home to prepare for Friday’s opener of a three-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.

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CALGARY – Gabby Wood says her curling team is ready for anything this season after facing the No. 1 women’s team in the world.

The Canadian women’s college champions took on Rachel Homan in the opening draw of the single-knockout PointsBet Invitational on Wednesday.

Wood’s Edmonton foursome took their lumps in an 11-2 loss, and will also take the experience of playing on arena ice and on television against the reigning Canadian and world champions.

“It’s a crazy first game of the season, so honestly, none of our opponents after this are going to seem that scary,” said the 20-year-old Wood.

The PointsBet Invitational that unofficially kicks off the Canadian curling season offers a purse of over $350,000, including $50,000 each to the men’s and women’s victors, to an eclectic field of 32 teams.

There’s a soccer FA Cup element as underdog junior, college, university, under-25 and club champions attempt to upset, and send home early, the likes of Homan and reigning Canadian men’s champion Brad Gushue.

Kaitlyn Lawes, who ranked fourth in Canada at the end of last season, beat recently crowned national women’s under-25 champion Taylor Reese-Hansen 5-2.

National No. 8 Corryn Brown doubled university women’s champion Serena Gray Withers 8-4 in the opening draw.

Selena Sturmay edged Ashley Thevenot 8-7 in the other women’s game to kick off the five-day cashspiel at Calgary’s WinSport Arena.

In the first men’s draw later Wednesday, Gushue was to take on Canadian men’s club champ Dan Sherrard and four-time national champ Kevin Koe was to meet university men’s champion Josh Bryden.

National women’s under-21 champion Allyson MacNutt squares off against four-time Canadian champ Kerri Einarson, and men’s under-21 champion Kenan Wipf faces 2024 Brier runner-up Mike McEwen on Thursday.

“We are just so grateful that they include the college champions, the university champions,” Wood said. “We don’t get a ton of opportunities to play on arena ice, and so that makes a huge difference developmentally.

“Having a chance, other than our nationals, to play on arena ice, on this big stage, to get to experience just a little bit of what the pros experience is just really exciting and really inspiring.”

Seven months after claiming the Scotties Tournament of Hearts title on the same WinSport ice, Ottawa’s Homan opened defence of her PointsBet crown by scoring four in the second end.

The skip tossed a triple takeout in the third to negate a multi-point setup by Wood, whose team then struggled with changing ice conditions in a warm building.

“It’s great to get them on this kind of stage, on a national platform and getting some arena ice experience is really key for next gen to get as much experience as possible,” Homan said.

“There’s lots they can take out of it for sure. Lots of great throws and I thought they communicated well.”

The only major upset in the first two years of the PointsBet was national under-25 men’s champion Ryan Kleiter toppling fourth-seed Koe 10-6 last year in Oakville, Ont.

The odds are against the underdogs, who will take what they can from a loss.

“Every time we get to play on arena ice, we’re really excited, and playing against a top team, that’s what we want to do. That’s where we want to be,” said Reese-Hansen. “These are the teams that we want to play against and see how we stack up, so it’s super valuable.”

Added Gray-Withers: “It just makes us hungrier for more, to be honest, because we’re just super blessed with great ice, great rocks and great conditions here, so we just want to be back for more.”

A PointsBet berth for less experienced teams is one carrot to keep young teams in competitive curling.

Curlers often fall into the gap between junior and elite curling as school and jobs can knock the sport down life’s priority list.

“My mentality when I played against more experienced teams when I was in juniors or early in my career, was you have nothing to lose and you can learn so much,” Lawes said.

“So the fact that they’re here and they’re competitive and willing to learn, I think that’s going to help keep teams in the game.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.

The Montreal Alouettes can secure another first on Saturday night.

Montreal (11-2-1) visits the Toronto Argonauts (7-7) with a chance to clinch first in the East Division and earn home-field advantage in the conference final Nov. 9. An Alouettes win or Ottawa Redblacks loss in Regina would do the trick for the defending Grey Cup champions.

Montreal was the first CFL team to both clinch a post-season berth and home playoff contest.

For a third straight week, Ottawa (8-5-1) can cement a playoff berth with a win. The Redblacks visit the Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-7-1) on Saturday afternoon.

Ottawa hasn’t been to the playoffs since losing to Calgary in the ’18 Grey Cup. The Redblacks would also qualify for the post-season with losses by Hamilton and Edmonton, which would eliminate the possibility of Ottawa being impacted by a West Division crossover.

Edmonton and Hamilton are both on the road Friday night. The Elks (5-9) play the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (8-6) while the Ticats (5-9) face the B.C. Lions (7-7).

Winnipeg would also punch its playoff ticket with a victory.

Montreal is coming off a 24-12 win last week over Ottawa. Not only did the Alouettes remain unbeaten on the road (6-0-1), they became the first team to defeat the Redblacks at TD Place this season.

Montreal faces a somewhat similar situation this week as Toronto is 5-2 this season at BMO Field. But while the Alouettes are 5-1 within the East Division, the Argos are just 1-5.

However, that lone Toronto victory was a 37-18 decision in Montreal on July 11. The Alouettes won the series opener 30-20 at BMO Field on June 28.

Montreal will get its first look of the season at Toronto starter Chad Kelly. He didn’t play in either of the two previous matchups while serving a CFL-mandated suspension for violating its gender-based violence policy.

Kelly was reinstated, with conditions, in August.

Toronto is 2-3 under Kelly, the CFL’s outstanding player last season. He has completed 119-of-179 passes (66.5 per cent) for 1,630 yards with six touchdowns and seven interceptions while rushing 26 times for 131 yards (five-yard average) and four TDs.

Montreal’s Cody Fajardo has completed 225-of-306 passes (league-best 73.5 per cent) for 2,642 yards with 13 TDs and six interceptions. The Alouettes are 7-2-1 with Fajardo as their starter.

Toronto is coming off a 33-31 home loss to Hamilton, which gave the Ticats their first regular-season series sweep of the Argos since 2019. Kelly threw for 255 yards with a TD and interception while DaVaris Daniels had four catches for 118 yards.

Montreal is allowing a CFL-low 19.6 offensive points per game. Linebacker Tyrice Beverette has a league-high 114 defensive plays (including a league-best 92 total tackles) with teammate Darnell Sankey second overall with 100 (including a league-leading 89 defensive tackles).

An interesting matchup will be Toronto’s second-ranked ground game (118.4 yards per game) versus Montreal’s No. 8-ranked run defence (112.1 yards). The Argos are averaging 5.4 yards per rush (second-best in CFL), which is also what the Alouettes are allowing (tied for seventh-highest).

But Montreal boasts the league’s second-ranked pass defence (254.8 yards per game). The Alouettes have allowed just seven completions of 30-plus yards and 14 touchdown passes, both CFL lows.

And Montreal’s second-down conversion percentage of 45.6 is second only to Winnipeg (42.4).

Pick: Montreal.

Edmonton Elks versus Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Friday night)

At Winnipeg, the Bombers have reeled off six straight wins and sit atop the West Division. A big part of their success has been Brady Oliveira (CFL-leading 1,021 rushing yards, 5.8-yard average). Last week, the defence forced six turnovers in the club’s 27-14 road win over Edmonton. Veteran McLeod Bethel-Thompson will reportedly start for the Elks, who got a 157-yard rushing performance last week from Justin Rankin, his second 100-yard game this season.

Pick: Winnipeg.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats versus B.C. Lions (Friday night)

At Vancouver, the Ticats chase a fourth straight win. Veteran Bo Levi Mitchell leads the CFL in passing (4,044 yards) and TDs (24). Marc Liegghio hit all six field goals he tried last week versus Toronto, including the 48-yard winner on the game’s final play. Nathan Rourke remains the starter for B.C., which comes off the bye week and hosts an East Division rival — usually two big advantages. Then again, the Lions’ last home game was a 33-17 loss to Toronto on Sept. 13.

Pick: B.C.

Ottawa Redblacks versus Saskatchewan Roughriders (Saturday afternoon)

At Regina, Saskatchewan ended its seven-game winless streak (0-6-1) with last week’s 37-29 road victory over Calgary. Ryquell Armstead, a former Redblack, ran for 207 yards on 25 carries in his Riders’ debut. Ottawa counters with the league’s third-ranked run defence (91.1 yards per game) but starter Dru Brown (ankle) was injured last week against Montreal. If he can’t play, veteran Jeremiah Masoli is expected to draw the start.

Pick: Saskatchewan.

Last week: 3-1.

CP’s overall record: 36-27.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.