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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.

WINNIPEG – Neal Pionk produced a goal and three assists to lead the Jets to a 6-1 whipping of the Edmonton Oilers in an NHL pre-season game at the Canada Life Centre on Wednesday night.

Adam Lowry, Brad Lambert, Colin Miller, Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for Winnipeg (1-1-1).

Connor Brown replied for Edmonton (1-3-0).

Kaapo Kahkonen made 26 saves on 27 shot shots for Winnipeg, which recorded its first win of the pre-season.

Stuart Skinner, in his first start of the pre-season, stopped 23 of 27 shots for Edmonton before being replaced by Collin Delia to start the third. Delia stopped eight of 10 shots.

Brown deflected a point shot by Noel Hoefenmayer with 3:28 left in the game. Noah Philp also assisted.

Lowry scored a short-handed goal midway through the third period to give the Jets a commanding 5-0 lead. Lowry blocked an attempted Delia pass, then skated around the net and potted the puck past a diving Delia for an unassisted marker.

Lambert greeted Delia by beating him with a wrist shot on the power play just 1:13 into the third. Pionk and Miller assisted.

Winnipeg extended its lead to 4-0 when Rasmus Kupari sent Pionk towards the net. Pionk then beat Skinner on a screened backhand shot late in the second.

The Jets upped the score to 3-0 on the power play midway through the middle frame. With Brett Kulak off for slashing, Miller whipped a wrist shot past Skinner from the point. Pionk and Brad Lambert had the helpers.

Winnipeg took a 2-0 lead early in the second period. Mark Scheifele sent Connor in alone on a breakaway from the blue line. The speedster deked Skinner, then beat him with a backhand shot. Pionk also assisted.

Kahkonen made a couple of solid saves to open the middle frame, stopping a sharp shot from Sam O’Reilly and a snap shot by Seth Griffith.

Winnipeg outshot Edmonton 27-13 through the first two periods.

The Jets opened the scoring midway through the first period. Ehlers finished off a pretty, tick-tack-toe passing play with Vladislav Namestnikov.

Earlier, Skinner had to be sharp when Gabriel Vilardi stickhandled his way to the front of the net and attempted to slide the puck past him.

Kahkonen stopped Brown when he deked his way to the front of the net and tried to slip the puck past him.

Winnipeg outshot the Oilers 12-8 in the opening period.

Vilardi took a blatant high stick to the chin from Ty Emberson, which the officials ignored.

NOTES: Defenceman Simon Lundmark was a last-minute replacement for Logan Stanley … The Oilers left superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at home as the Jets dressed a star-laden lineup.

NEXT UP

Jets: Visit Minneapolis to face the Wild on Friday.

Oilers: Return home to host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

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

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.