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Archives for July 26, 2019

Mets’ Wheeler, Dealer

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FLUSHING MEADOWS – Zack Wheeler, making perhaps his final start with the Mets, tossed 5 1/3 solid innings in his return from the injured list and earned the win tonight as New York beat the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3.

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The Mets are 8-5 since the All-Star break and need to win one of the final two games against the Pirates to capture their fourth series in five tries since play resumed. Pittsburgh has lost six straight and has the National League’s worst second-half record, 2-12.

Wheeler (7-6), who was activated prior to the game after missing the previous 18 days due to a right shoulder impingement, allowed three runs on six hits and no walks while striking out seven. With scouts from several teams in attendance, Wheeler regularly hit 97-98 mph with his fastball and 91-92 mph with his slider.

The Pirates took the lead in the second, when they opened the inning with three consecutive singles, the last of which, by Colin Moran, scored Josh Bell from third.

Wheeler then 12 in a row before giving up a single to Melky Cabrera and a two-run homer to Adam Frazier on consecutive pitches to open the sixth. He was chased after giving up a one-out single to Bell.

The crowd of 33,776 offered Wheeler, who is due to become a free agent after the season and thus a prime candidate to be traded by the sub-.500 Mets, a warmer-than-usual ovation as he exited, to which the pitcher responded with a wave.

Luis Avilan retired both batters he faced in the sixth. Robert Gsellman and Justin Wilson tossed a scoreless inning apiece before Seth Lugo earned his first save with a perfect ninth.

The Mets went ahead for good in the third. Amed Rosario tripled with one out for New York’s first baserunner against Pittsburgh starter Dario Agrazal, and Wheeler was plunked by a pitch before Jeff McNeil homered just beyond the right-field fence.

Todd Frazier (fifth inning) and Pete Alonso (sixth inning) homered off Agrazal, and Wilson Ramos added a solo blast later in the sixth against Michael Feliz.

Agrazal (2-1) allowed five runs on four hits and no walks while striking out one over 5 1/3 innings.

Seth Lugo looked strong in relief and earned his first save of the season.

@DigSportsDesk was on site and on assignment on the #Retire36 trail.

–Field Level Media

Filed Under: MLB

Clippers Look at New Venue

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LOS ANGELES – A day after introducing their newest on-court acquisitions to the public, the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday unveiled the first renderings of what their planned state-of-the-art sports complex will look like.

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And as he did with acquiring Kawhi Leonard and Paul George this offseason, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is sparing no expense when it comes to his team’s future home.

Funded entirely by Ballmer — a former Microsoft CEO who is the wealthiest of all professional sports owners in the United States — the facility will encompass 26 acres in Inglewood, Calif. At a cost of a billion dollars, the complex will house the Clippers’ entire operation, including a training facility, corporate headquarters and the crown jewel, an 18,500-seat arena.

“My goal is simple. I want the Clippers to have the best home in all of sports,” Ballmer said in a news release. “What that means to me is an unparalleled environment for players, for fans, for sponsors and for the community of Inglewood. Our goal is to build a facility that re-sets fans’ expectations while having a transformative impact on the city we will call home.” 

The club plans on opening the facility in 2024, the year its lease at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles comes to an end. The Clippers are currently considered the third tenant in Staples Center, meaning they come after the rival Lakers and the Kings of the NHL when it comes to scheduling preferences.

“When I bought the team (in 2014), I thought it was great we didn’t need to build an arena,” Ballmer said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “But as we looked forward, we were at some disadvantages in Staples Center.”

Known as the Inglewood Basketball & Entertainment Center, the facility also will include community and retail spaces, per the team’s release. The arena’s exterior will designed in a three-dimensional oval shape, with diamond-shaped metal panels the outermost cover. The diamonds are meant to symbolize the diamond shapes of a basketball going through the net.

Inside the arena, much of the seating will be divided into upper and lower bowels, though an area behind a basket will run from the floor to the top row, undivided. Ballmer called that section a “wall of sound,” according to the Times, which added the idea was inspired by the noise at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., and Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City.

Outside the arena, a viewing area inspired by Toronto’s famed “Jurassic Park” will include a giant LED screen for fans to watch the game.

One tricky aspect of the project is location. Not only are the Rams and Chargers of the NFL building a stadium directly across the street (and they plan to begin playing there in 2020), but the Clippers’ planned site is also less than a mile from the Forum, the Lakers’ home before Staples Center.

The current owner of the Forum, Madison Square Garden Co. of New York, is currently battling the Clippers in court over part of the land. The CEO of MSG is Knicks owner James Dolan. Ballmer reportedly said it is “a little awkward” to be engaged in lawsuits with another NBA owner.

“We’ll see if there’s a chance to resolve without finishing litigation, great,” Ballmer said, per the Times. “And if it takes finishing litigation, we’re not backing down. We will continue.”

Ballmer also said that, while he and his wife, Connie, will continue to live in Seattle, he is committed to keeping the Clippers in the Los Angeles area.

“We’re not moving,” Ballmer said, “and neither is our basketball team. Let’s get that out of the way.”

After losing in the first round of the NBA playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference last season, the Clippers are now among the betting favorites to win the championship in 2020 after landing reigning NBA Finals MVP Leonard via free agency and adding George via trade.

–Field Level Media

Friday Night Baseball

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NY Yankees at Boston Red Sox

When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, July 26, 2019
Where: Fenway Park, Boston
Preview for Digital Sports Desk by Gracenote

BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox aren’t conceding the American League East title just yet after unleashing a historic offensive performance and will try to shave another game off New York’s big lead when they host the Yankees on Friday in the second contest of their four-game series. Boston is 3-1 in a stretch of 14 straight games against New York and Tampa Bay after Thursday’s 19-3 victory marked the most runs it has ever scored against the Yankees.

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Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts is the reigning AL MVP, but teammates Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts are making a run at the award this year. The left-side infielders have a combined 44 home runs and 161 RBIs after teaming up to go 6-for-11 with three home runs, six RBIs and six runs scored Thursday.

New York didn’t arrive in Boston until 5 a.m. on Thursday after completing a three-game series in Minnesota the night before, perhaps helping to slow the red-hot bats of Aaron Hicks, Edwin Encarnacion and Didi Gregorius to a combined 1-for-12. The Red Sox’ Andrew Cashner on Friday takes the ball in his first experience of what is arguably the greatest rivalry in sports and opposes James Paxton, who pitches at Fenway Park for the first time.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network; WPIX (New York), NESN (Boston)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees LH James Paxton (5-5, 4.20 ERA) vs. Red Sox RH Andrew Cashner (9-5, 4.19)

Paxton had a string of three straight quality starts snapped when he allowed seven runs (four earned), five hits and three walks with six strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of an 8-4 loss to Colorado on Sunday. The 30-year-old British Columbia native has a 1.47 WHIP this season, which would mark the highest of his career. Mookie Betts is 3-for-15 versus Paxton, who is 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA in five starts against Boston after striking out 10 and allowing two hits in eight innings of an 8-0 victory April 16.

Cashner has lost his first two starts with the Red Sox, including a 5-0 loss at Baltimore – his former team – on Sunday when he allowed four runs and six hits with seven strikeouts in six innings. The 32-year-old Texan didn’t yield a home run in his final five outings – all quality ones – with the Orioles but has yielded four with Boston. The Yankees’ Gleyber Torres is 6-for-13 with two home runs and Luke Voit is 5-for-7 with a homer against Cashner, who is 2-5 with a 3.96 ERA in 10 starts against New York – 0-2, 6.19 in three turns this season.

WALK-OFFS

  1. The Red Sox, who lead baseball with 5.77 runs per game, have scored eight or more versus the Yankees in four straight contests for the first time since 1912.
  2. New York placed LF Brett Gardner (left knee inflammation) on the 10-day injured list Thursday and recalled LHP Stephen Tarpley from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
  3. Boston has scored 39 runs in the first inning of its last 25 games after producing 33 in its first 80 contests this season.

Celtics Sign Fall

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BOSTON – The Boston Celtics signed undrafted free agent center Tacko Fall and three other players, the club announced Thursday.

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According to multiple media outlets, none of the money in Fall’s contract is guaranteed.

The 7-foot-6 Fall averaged 7.2 points and 4.0 rebounds in five games for the team’s summer league squad. Fall connected on 77.3 percent of his field-goal attempts. 

Fall averaged 10.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots in 115 games (110 starts) over four college seasons for Central Florida.

Boston also signed guards Javonte Green, Max Strus and Tremont Waters. The Celtics said Strus and Waters were signed to two-way contracts.

Green averaged 13.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in 51 games for Ratiopharm Ulm of Germany last season. He averaged 10.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in five summer league games.

Strus averaged 9.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in four summer league games. He averaged 18.6 points and 5.8 rebounds in two college seasons for DePaul.

Waters, selected by Boston in the second round of the 2019 draft, averaged 11.2 points and 4.8 assists in five summer league games. He averaged 15.6 points and 5.9 assists in two college seasons at LSU.

–Field Level Media

Hey Nineteen

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Boston Red Sox 19, NY Yankees 3

When: 7:10 PM ET, Thursday, July 25, 2019
Where: Fenway Park, Boston
Attendance: 37,591
By Field Level Media

BOSTON – Xander Bogaerts crushed a three-run home run as part of a seven-run first inning, and the Boston Red Sox never looked back, routing the visiting New York Yankees 19-3 Thursday in the opener of a four-game series.

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Bogaerts later added a solo shot and had four hits, and Rafael Devers and Sandy Leon also hit homers as the Red Sox set a single-game franchise record for scoring against the Yankees. Boston slugged 10 doubles among its 23 hits on its way to beating New York for just the second time in eight meetings this season.

Kyle Higashioka homered for the Yankees.

The storied rivals continued a trend of battering each other when they play. They’ve combined to score 85 runs in their past four meetings, with Boston reaching eight runs in each of those contests — the first time it has accomplished that feat in four straight against New York since 1912.

The Red Sox wasted no time Thursday, sending 11 men to the plate in the first inning against Masahiro Tanaka. Bogaerts had the big blow, and Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts each added two-run doubles for the 7-0 lead.

The Yankees came right back in the second with four straight one-out hits, including a Gleyber Torres RBI single. A bases-loaded walk later made it 7-2, but Rick Porcello, on his 47th pitch of the inning, got Aaron Judge to fly out to end the threat.

The rest of the night was all Boston, which put the game away with a five-run fourth. Higashioka’s homer in the fifth got New York within single digits, down 12-3, before the Red Sox scored three in the fifth and one in the sixth to go up 16-3.

Boston scored three more times in the eighth against New York catcher Austin Romine, who made his regular-season pitching debut.

Tanaka (7-6) gave up 12 earned runs, the most ever by a Yankees pitcher against the Red Sox. He was tagged for 12 hits, walked three and struck out four in 3 1/3 innings.

Porcello (9-7) gutted his way through six innings, giving up three runs on six hits and one walk while striking out five.

Boston second baseman Brock Holt was ejected in the third inning for arguing balls and strikes.

–Field Level Media

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