CHL cancels 2020 playoffs and Memorial Cup – TSN

CLEVELAND (AP) — Lane Thomas hit a three-run homer in a five-run outburst before Detroit got an out, and the Cleveland Guardians unleashed their lights-out bullpen to complete a four-hitter in a 7-0 win over the Tigers in an AL Division Series opener on Saturday.

Thomas’ shot — on his first career postseason swing — helped the Guardians cool off the Tigers, who stormed into the playoffs with a second-half surge before sweeping AL West champion Houston in the wild-card round.

“It was electric,” said Thomas, who was injured during Washington’s World Series run in 2019. “It was everything I had thought and more.”

Tanner Bibee pitched 4 2/3 innings before Guardians manager Stephen Vogt swung the door open to baseball’s best bullpen to finish off the Tigers.

Cleveland’s relievers combined for 4 1/3 hitless innings to finish and match the largest shutout victory margin in club postseason history. Detroit struck out 13 times and didn’t get a runner past first in the final four innings.

The shutout was the worst in Detroit playoff history since Game 1 of the 1945 World Series.

“We’re going to see a lot of this bullpen,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “The more you look at them, hopefully, the more comfortable you get.”

Cleveland’s bullpen was as advertised. Rookie Cade Smith (1-0) replaced Bibee and struck out all four batters. Tim Herrin took care of the seventh, Hunter Gaddis the eighth, and Emmanuel Clase, who led the AL with 47 saves, worked the ninth.

David Fry added a two-run double for the AL Central champion Guardians, who were unaffected by not playing for almost a week with a first-round bye.

“We came out ready to swing the bat, and we looked like we didn’t take five days off,” Vogt said.

Game 2 is Monday, when the Tigers will turn to Tarik Skubal, the favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award, to try and even the best-of-five series.

The 2,327th meeting between Detroit and Cleveland was the first between the franchises and Central division rivals in the postseason.

It was as good as over after one inning.

Hinch has made the right decisions for months as his young club went from being under .500 at the trade deadline to qualifying for the postseason with a 33-13 flourish since Aug. 11.

Hinch used his bullpen in Game 1 from the start and it backfired.

The Guardians sent nine batters to the plate in the first with Thomas’ moon shot into the left-field bleachers opening the 5-0 lead. Cleveland became the first team in AL postseason history to score five runs before recording an out.

Steven Kwan got it rolling with a leadoff double against Tigers starter Tyler Holton (0-1) and Fry walked. José Ramírez followed with a hard hopper to third that Zach McKinstry misplayed for an error, allowing Kwan to score.

“I tried to make a play and I didn’t. We ended up losing the game because of it,” said McKinstry, who put some of the blame on the grounds crew. “They watered the field before the game, but they didn’t water it for the game and it took a weird hop.”

Josh Naylor’s RBI single made it 2-0 and Hinch pulled Holton after just four batters to bring in Reese Olson.

Thomas, who batted just .143 with 33 strikeouts in his first month with Cleveland after being acquired from the Nationals in July, made his first postseason at-bat with the Guardians unforgettable.

He turned on Olson’s first pitch — a slider down the heart of the plate — and launched it over the wall, sending the majority of 33,548 fans inside Progressive Field into a frenzy.

Bibee admitted feeling nerves ahead of the opener, and he showed some in the first, throwing 27 pitches.

But taking the mound in the second with a five-run lead helped Bibee settle in. The right-hander gave up four hits and struck out six before handing the ball to Vogt and a bullpen with no detectable flaws.

“I totally get it,” Bibee said. “With how good our pen has been, I get it. It makes sense. Obviously, I want to stay out there as long as possible, but I get it.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb, a candidate to start Game 3, was added to the ALDS roster after finishing the regular season on the injured list with a blister on his middle finger. He made just three starts after being acquired in a July trade from San Francisco.

UP NEXT

Skubal led the AL in wins (18), ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228). The left-hander is expected to face Guardians RHP Matthew Boyd, who spent eight seasons with the Tigers and remains close friends with Skubal.

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AP MLB:

Canada’s Kerri Einarson defeated Sweden’s Isabella Wrana 6-1 on Saturday to reach the semifinals at the HearingLife Tour Challenge.

Einarson, from Gimli, Man., stole three points in the fifth end when Wrana was light with her final throw. The teams shook hands after the minimum six ends were completed.

The four-time Canadian champions have Dawn McEwen filling in at second this week for Shannon Birchard (injury). Team alternate Krysten Karwacki is playing lead for Briane Harris (suspension).

In other early games, Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg beat Italy’s Stefania Constantini 5-2 and Ottawa’s Rachel Homan topped South Korea’s Eun-Jung Kim 5-3.

Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa secured the other semifinal berth when she outscored South Korea’s Eun Ji Gim 9-6.

The men’s final four was finalized on Saturday afternoon at the Bell Aliant Centre.

Matt Dunstone made a draw for three points to give his Winnipeg-based team a 6-5 win over Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., scored a late deuce for a 5-4 victory over Scotland’s Ross Whyte.

Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen beat Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller 5-3 and Bruce Mouat doubled James Craik 8-4 in a matchup of Scottish rinks.

The semifinals at the season-opening Grand Slam event were scheduled for Saturday night and the finals were set for Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2024.

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CF Montreal has surged above the Major League Soccer playoff line with a late-season unbeaten run.

Now the players will try to keep their foot on the gas and clinch their spot in the post-season.

“The most important thing is not to get complacent, not to get comfortable where we’re at,” goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois said Friday. “We know, especially in this league, how everything could change after one game.”

Montreal (10-12-10) won its third straight game by defeating Atlanta United 2-1 on Wednesday — its first road victory since March 10 — and climbed to eighth in the Eastern Conference ahead of the penultimate Matchday at seventh-place Charlotte FC on Saturday.

Laurent Courtois’s side has 40 points, three clear of ninth-place Toronto FC, 10th-place Philadelphia Union and 11th-place D.C. United. Toronto, however, only has one game remaining on the calendar.

A victory on Saturday would guarantee Montreal a playoff berth provided one of D.C. or Philadelphia doesn’t win their respective matches. If Montreal draws, it can still clinch if either D.C. or Philadelphia loses.

The eighth- and ninth-place teams face off in a wild-card game on Oct. 22. The winner would meet Argentine superstar Lionel Messi and Supporters’ Shield winners Inter Miami CF in a best-of-three series beginning Oct. 25.

Sirois hopes Montreal can secure its place before meeting New York City FC at home on MLS Decision Day on Oct. 19, which follows an international break, but he also isn’t keen on settling for a wild-card spot.

With Charlotte (12-11-9) five points ahead in the standings, he believes Montreal should be gunning for seventh.

“The mentality I’d like to go into Saturday’s game with is the one where we’re trying to go for the seventh place, where we’re trying to go and win in Charlotte and make that possible,” Sirois said.

Defender George Campbell doesn’t believe Montreal should change its approach now that they’re the ones defending a playoff spot instead of chasing it.

“We can’t get complacent and overconfident or cocky, but we have to know that we’re a good team and we can compete with anyone,” Campbell said.

Amid a roller-coaster season that featured a nine-game winless streak, Montreal is hitting its stride at the perfect moment, earning 12 out of a possible 15 points in its last five matches.

Sirois said players struggled to find consistency while learning the system of their first-year head coach, but now they’re running on all cylinders.

“Each player is doing what they need to do and performing very well individually, which makes us very strong together,” he said.

It helps when one of those individuals is the team’s striker delivering on what he’s paid to do.

Josef Martinez, a league MVP in 2018, is turning back the clock of late with five goals in three outings, including both goals against Atlanta — his former club.

“He can do and execute stuff that nobody else can, and when he’s like this with the proper service, he’s unstoppable,” Courtois said after Wednesday’s win. “He’s one of the most exciting players I’ve ever seen, it’s an honour for me to coach him.”

After juggling his squad much of the season, Courtois has leaned on a nearly identical starting 11 the last three games.

That will likely have to change on Saturday with Montreal playing its third contest in eight days.

“The turnaround is short. There are players who are performing and have a lot of minutes, and there are also players who are fresh,” he said. “We’ll try to make the least risky decisions possible.”

Montreal’s strong run of form started with a 2-1 home victory against a defensively stout Charlotte side on Sept. 14. Sirois expects a more “aggressive” match on the road at Bank of America Stadium.

“Tomorrow, Charlotte might have a bit more possession, wanting to attack us a bit more,” he said. “At the end of the day, there might be a bit more pressure on them because they know that if we win, we’re two points behind them.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2024.