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García hits 3 HRs for Texas, doubles twice with shot at 4th

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:42 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García was in the on-deck circle with three home runs and one more good chance to try for a fourth while Josh Sborz was making a rare plate appearance for a Texas pitcher.“Yeah, he had orders not to swing the bat,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said of the right-handed reliever.Sborz followed those orders, taking three strikes on four 55-plus mph sliders from Oakland infielder Jace Peterson with the Rangers on their way to an 18-3 victory Saturday night.Looking to match the major league record for home runs in a game, García’s second chance at his fourth of the night ended the same way as the first: a double. The first two-bagger — in the seventh inning — drove in two runs, just as all three homers had. The 30-year-old slugger from Cuba finished with a career-high eight RBIs to go with his first three-homer game. He has seven homers and 28 RBIs this season.García launched two-run shots in the first, third and fifth — all at least 400 feet — as the ...

Vazquez scores to lead Cincinnati over Timbers 2-1

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:42 GMT

CINCINNATI (AP) — Sergio Santos had a goal and an assists, Brandon Vazquez also scored a goal and Cincinnati beat the Portland Timbers 2-1 Saturday. Santos put away an entry played by Álvaro Barreal from the sideline to the corner of the 6-yard box with a diving header that opened the scoring in the 34th minute. Santos played a slow rolling cross in front of the net, where Vazquez scored with a first-timer from point-blank range to make it 2-0 in the 58th. Cincinnati (6-1-2) , coming off a 5-1 loss at St. Louis, has won a club-record five consecutive home matches and has just one loss in its last 16 (9-0-6). Dairon Asprilla scored the only goal for the Timbers (2-5-2).The Timbers outshot Cincinnati 14-13, with four shots on goal to six for Cincinnati.Roman Celentano saved three shots for Cincinnati. Aljaz Ivacic had four saves for the Timbers. Portland scored four goals in a 18-minute span last time out as it rallied to beat the Seattle Sounders 4-1 and snap a six-game winless strea...

Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks tossed for blow to LeBron in Game 3

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:42 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Memphis Grizzlies agitator Dillon Brooks was ejected from Game 3 of their first-round playoff series Saturday night after striking LeBron James in the groin.Brooks committed the flagrant foul while guarding James near midcourt just 17 seconds into the second half, and James went down in obvious pain. Officials tossed Brooks after a brief video review, leading to a raucous celebration in the Los Angeles stands.Brooks had been booed every time he touched the ball in Game 3 because of his behavior during and after Game 2 in Memphis. Most notably, the 27-year-old Brooks called the 38-year-old James “old” while dismissing the impact of the top scorer in NBA history.Brooks and James were matched up again in Game 3, and James was largely dominating until Brooks’ ejection.James scored 12 points in the first half while the Lakers went up by 29 points early and eventually built a 53-37 halftime lead. Brooks struggled mightily, scoring seven points on 3-for-13 sh...

Savarino, Gómez propel Real Salt Lake past San Jose 3-1

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:42 GMT

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Jefferson Savarino scored the go-ahead goal early in the second half and Andrés Gómez had a goal and an assist to guide Real Salt Lake to a 3-1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night.Savarino gave Real Salt Lake (3-5-0) the lead when he took a pass from Gómez and scored in the 54th minute.Jasper Löffelsend scored in the 39th minute — with an assist from Danny Musovski — to give Real Salt Lake the lead at halftime. Cristian Espinoza pulled San Jose (4-3-2) even when he scored unassisted four minutes into the second half.Gómez added an insurance goal in the 80th minute with an assist from Bryan Oviedo.Real Salt Lake had a 13-10 advantage in shots and a 6-4 edge in shots on goal.Zac MacMath saved two shots for Real Salt Lake. JT Marcinkowski had three saves for San Jose.Real Salt Lake has scored multiple goals in its last five matches against the Earthquakes after doing so only three times in the previous 16 match-ups.San Jose travels to play Austin ...

Maple Leafs, Devils, Golden Knights win in overtime

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:42 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Morgan Reilly scored at 19:15 of overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night in Game 3 of the first-round NHL playoff series.Ilya Samsonov stopped 36 shots for Toronto. He had eight saves in the extra period, one on Lightning star Nikita Kucherov from point-blank range, to help give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 is Monday night at Amalie Arena.Auston Matthews and Noel Acciari also scored for Toronto, which forced overtime when Ryan O’Reilly slipped a shot past goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy with a minute left in regulation.Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel scored for Tampa Bay, which took a 3-2 lead on rookie Darren Raddysh’s first career playoff goal in the second period.DEVILS 2, RANGERS 1, OTNEW YORK (AP) — Dougie Hamilton scored 11:36 into overtime and New Jersey beat New York to cut its series deficit to 2-1.Jack Hughes scored and Jesper Bratt had two assists for New Jersey, which lost the f...

García has 3 homers, 2 doubles, 8 RBIs as Rangers rout A’s

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:42 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit three home runs and then two late doubles, driving in eight runs as the Texas Rangers routed the Oakland Athletics 18-3 on Saturday night.All three of García’s homers were two-run shots, and his first double also scored two to give the 30-year-old Cuban slugger a career high for RBIs to go with his first three-homer game.García’s final at-bat came against infielder Jace Peterson in the eighth. Because of position switches, Texas reliever Josh Sborz batted ahead of García and took three of four pitches for a strikeout.The line-drive double down the left-field line from García could have scored Travis Jankowski, but he jogged to third, preserving Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez’s club record of nine RBIs in a game set in 1999.“I was just looking for a certain pitch in a certain zone and wasn’t trying to do too much and overthink,” García said through an interpreter of his final two at-bats. “Just try to make good contact.”García...

Vrioni scores 2 goals as Revolution beat Sporting KC 2-1

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:42 GMT

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Giacomo Vrioni scored two goals a few minutes apart to lead the New England Revolution to a 2-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.Vrioni first-timed a cross played by Emmanuel Boateng to open the scoring in the 31st minute and made it 2-0 in the 35th minute with a putback of a missed shot by Carles Gil. Johnny Russell scored for Sporting KC (0-6-3).The Revolution outshot Sporting KC 16-8, with nine shots on goal to three for Sporting KC.Djordje Petrovic had two saves for the Revolution. Tim Melia stopped seven shots for Sporting KC.Sporting played a man down after Andreu Fontàs was shown a red card for denying an obvious run scoring opportunity in the 61st minute. Both teams next play Saturday. The Revolution host Cincinnati and Sporting KC hosts Montreal.___The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.___More AP MLS: https://apnews.com/hub/major-league-soccer and https://twitter.com/AP...

Hampson, Arraez help Marlins sweep doubleheader vs Guardians

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:42 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — Garrett Hampson drove in two runs and Luis Arraez and Bryan De La Cruz each had three hits as the Miami Marlins completed a doubleheader sweep of the Cleveland Guardians with a 3-2 win in the second game Saturday night.Hampson’s single in the sixth scored Jon Berti and put Miami ahead for good at 2-1, helping spoil Cleveland manager Terry Francona’s 64th birthday. The Marlins won both games of a doubleheader for the 12th time in franchise history.Braxton Garrett (1-0) worked 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run, and A.J. Puk pitched a dicey ninth for his fourth save. Puk hit Andrés Giménez with a pitch and walked Gabriel Arias with no outs before retiring the next three batters.Arraez went 4 for 8 on the day and is hitting a major league-best .444 as he seeks a second straight big league batting title.Guardians right-hander Zach Plesac (1-1) gave up three runs in five innings. Oscar Gonzalez had two hits and an RBI for Cleveland, which also dropped both games of a twin b...

Bouanga helps LAFC earn 1-1 draw with Nashville

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:42 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Dénis Bouanga scored early in the second half to help Los Angeles FC earn a 1-1 draw with Nashville SC on Saturday night.Bouanga used an assist from Stipe Biuk to score the equalizer in the 59th minute for LAFC (5-0-3). Bouanga has seven goals this season. Jordan Morris had a league-high eight goals for the Seattle Sounders entering play.Hany Mukhtar took a pass from Teal Bunbury and scored in the 35th minute to give Nashville (3-3-3) a 1-0 lead at halftime. Mukhtar, the reigning MVP, had not contributed to a goal in Nashville’s last two home matches but had never gone three straight at home without a goal or an assist.LAFC had advantages of 19-8 in shots and 6-3 in shots on goal.John McCarthy had two saves for LAFC. Joe Willis totaled five saves for Nashville.Nashville managed to earn a point for the tie after losing its three previous matches this season when yielding a goal. Nashville has just one victory in its last 18 matches when conceding at leas...

Álvarez, Tucker lead Astros past Braves for 3rd straight win

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:42 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Astros starter Framber Valdez marvels at how talented Yordan Álvarez is. He watched for the second consecutive night as Álvarez delivered a big blow against the Atlanta Braves.“Obviously, he’s having an excellent season,” Valdez said through a translator. “He’s a great hitter, a power hitter, contact hitter. He’s a guy that saves us a ton and contributes to the team a ton and we know what he can do.”Álvarez and Kyle Tucker each hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning off Kyle Wright, and Houston beat Atlanta 6-3 for its third straight victory on Saturday night.Álvarez’s sixth long ball of the season came one night after he hit a go-ahead, two-run shot in the ninth inning for the decisive runs in a 6-4 win. Álvarez, who finished third in the AL MVP voting last year for the World Series champion Astros, connected against Wright on a 414-foot homer that sailed into the Chop House restaurant in right field to make it 2-1.After Braves rookie shortstop Vaughn Grissom ...