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Archives for April 2023

PGA Tour: Preview of the Zurich Classic

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NEW ORLEANS – This is the sixth year that the Zurich Classic of New Orleans will be played with the two-man team format, the concept introduced in 2017 but interrupted/canceled in 2020 during pandemic. The tournament format calls for teams of two PGA Tour pros to play Four-ball in the first and third rounds, and Foursomes in the second and final rounds.

Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay will defend their title after winning in wire-to-wire fashion in 2022.

Five of the top six players on the final leaderboard at last week’s RBC Heritage are in the this week’s field, including RBC champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who is competing with his brother, Alex. The younger Fitzpatrick is making his second career start on Tour and first since the 2022 Valspar Championship (MC). The defending champions finished third (Cantlay) and fourth (Schauffele), while the two players that tied for fifth are also making the trip to New Orleans: Hayden Buckley is paired with 2022 Valero Texas Open champion J.J. Spaun and Sahith Theegala is teaming up with 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year Justin Suh.

Zurich Classic | Tournament Facts

COURSE: TPC Louisiana, Avondale, LA

ARCHITECT: Pete Dye

YARDS/PAR: 7,425 yards/Par 72

PRIZE Money: $8,600,000

DEFENDING CHAMPIONS: Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay

PAST RESULTS: (link)

FEDEx CUP Points to Winners: 400 to each player

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @Zurich_Classic

NOLA: Remember local time is Central time, one hour behind Eastern Daylight time.

 

Bet You Can’t Play Just Once?

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Global Program Expands and Soccer Stars Mia Hamm and Javier “Chicharito” Hernández join Lay’s to Dedicate New Field in Santa Ana, California.

SANTA ANA – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The Lay’s division of PepsiCo is helping communities in the USA and around the world through its global program, Lay’s RePlay, which creates sustainable soccer fields from disposed Lay’s Potato Chip bags.

Lay’s unveiled its latest efforts with the Lay’s RePlay field in Santa Ana, California. The U.S. Lay’s RePlay field is made with recycled Lay’s chip bags and packaging materials that are washed, shredded and converted into an underlying layer that is designed to be recycled at the end of its 10-year lifespan The field, located at Cesar Chavez Campesino Park in Santa Ana was selected by Lay’s and its global partners UEFA Foundation for Children and Common Goal as part of its rich Hispanic heritage. The program’s goal is to provide affordable access to the sport of Futbol (soccer) via programming and education about the sport.

“As a UEFA ambassador, I am proud to be a voice for Lay’s RePlay,” said Mia Hamm, FIFA World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. “Having access to community gathering spaces and safe playing fields must be a top priority for young people across the world. Soccer continues to see incredible growth, and with the Hispanic community being the fastest growing segment of our population – and arguably the most passionate about the game – beginning the Lay’s RePlay U.S. expansion in a key area like Santa Ana is a powerful moment.”

“The pipeline for healthy lives in the Hispanic community expands greatly when you have access to quality fields and equipment, and the Lay’s RePlay program is a game-changer,” said Major League Soccer player and LA Galaxy striker Javier Chicharito. “As someone who lives and plays in Southern California, I’m looking forward to seeing the joy this field brings to families across the area.”

The Santa Ana field opens in partnership with the City of Santa Ana and Pure Game, a local non-profit that teaches children life skills through mentorship and sports-based character education.

“Since 2021, Lay’s RePlay has had the privilege of creating beautiful soccer fields and programming to share with deserving communities across the globe. From South Africa, Brazil, and Mexico to the United Kingdom, we’ve been able to see the tremendous impact this program brings to aspiring athletes and families around the world – uniting people through a common love of soccer, providing a safe space to foster togetherness and minimizing our impact on the earth,” said Ciara Dilley, PepsiCo’s vice president of marketing for global food brands. “We are so honored to be able to play such a significant role in furthering the soccer journeys of young people here in the community of Santa Ana with the launch of our first Lay’s RePlay soccer field in the U.S.!”

The new Lay’s RePlay field marks the sixth to open around the world, with others in South Africa, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Mexico, which have been utilized over 25,000 times to provide underserved communities with access to the beloved sport and state-of-the-art soccer fields since the program’s launch. Lay’s RePlay builds on work done by Lay’s and the UEFA Foundation for Children that delivered three artificial soccer fields in the Za’atari and Azraq Refugee Camps in 2017 and 2018 and have since provided 35,000 people access to the sport.

“Lay’s has been such an incredible partner to work with over the years and we are thrilled to support bringing the Lay’s RePlay program into the U.S.,” said Urs Kluser, general secretary for UEFA Foundation for Children. “Through our partnership, we are able to put our best resources forward and work together to gather communities around the world through the joy of the sport.”

Sox vs. Twins: Strange Game – Indeed

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston outfielder Alex Verdugo’s RBI single off the base of the right field wall, near the famed Pesky Pole, came with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning and capped a three-run rally and gave the Boston Red Sox a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins Tuesday night.

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The Red Sox trailed 4-2 until Reese McGuire hit a two-run single with no outs in the 10th. After Jarren Duran singled to load the bases, the Twins turned a double play before Verdugo’s third hit of the game scored McGuire with the winning run.

The Twins took a 3-2 lead when Byron Buxton’s sacrifice fly scored Nick Gordon in the top of the 10th. Minnesota made it 4-2 when Donovan Solano scored from third on Jose Miranda’s groundout later in the inning.

Chris Sale started for the Red Sox and struck out 11 in six innings. He allowed a run on three hits and walked two.

It was a 1-1 game when Sale exited the mound, and Max Kepler homered on the second pitch from reliever Josh Winckowski to give the Twins a 2-1 lead in the seventh. It was Kepler’s second home run of the season.

Boston tied the game in the eighth, when Enrique Hernandez scored from third on a fielder’s-choice grounder from Duran. Hernandez had gone from first to third when Minnesota’s Christian Vazquez was called for catcher’s interference.

Rafael Devers, Justin Turner and Duran each collected two hits for the Red Sox, who outhit the Twins 12-4. Minnesota also committed two errors.

Minnesota starting pitcher Sonny Gray limited the Red Sox to one run on seven hits in five innings. He struck out seven and walked two.

The Red Sox opened the scoring in the first, when Verdugo led off with a double and came home on a Devers single. The Twins tied the game in the fifth on a Carlos Correa bases-loaded sacrifice fly that scored Michael Taylor.

John Schreiber (1-0) got the win despite allowing two runs, one earned, in the top of the 10th. The Red Sox earned their fourth victory in five games.

Jovani Moran (0-1) took the loss, Minnesota’s third in a row.

–Field Level Media

Atlantic League to Test More MLB Rules

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Major League Baseball will use its partnership with the Atlantic League to test a trio of rules, including two new ones, in order to assess their viability.

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The Atlantic League will be the first to use new rules target toward pinch runners, pitchers and designated hitters when the collection of 10 independent teams starts their regular seasons on April 28.

A “designated pinch runner” rule will allow one player who is not in the starting lineup to pinch run multiple times in a game. That runner and the player leaving the field for the pinch runner can return to the game.

A “single disengagement per at-bat” rule will permit the pitcher to disengage from the pitching rubber just once per at-bat instead of the new MLB rule that allows two disengagements per AB.

The Atlantic League also will continue to experiment with a “double hook DH” rule that allows teams to use the DH for an entire game as long as the starting pitcher completes five innings. Otherwise, the team will lose its DH for the remainder of the game.

The league, which has teams in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky, has been experimenting with rules changes, per MLB’s request, since 2019.

Among the rules tested in the past were infield shift restrictions and larger bases, both of which were put into use at the MLB level this season.

Other rules tested in the league during recent seasons and not implemented at the MLB level included an automated tracking system to call balls and strikes, moving the pitching rubber back one foot from home plate, and an option to “steal” first base if the catcher failed to handle a pitched ball at any point in the count.

–Field Level Media

Twins to Challenge Sox in Three-Game Series

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BOSTON – (Staff and wire service report by Field Level Media) – The Boston Red Sox open the second leg of their seven-game home stand with a visit from the American League Central-leading Minnesota Twins tonight for the opener of a three-game series.

Boston strives for a better start in the new series than the finish of the prior stint after allowing four first-inning runs in a 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Monday. The Red Sox are tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for most runs allowed in the opening frame this season with 23.

Despite that fact, 13 of Boston’s first 17 games have still been decided by three or fewer runs.

“We’ve got to be better on that,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of the shaky starts. “As far as the team and what we’re trying to accomplish, we’re going to play 27 outs and we’ve been showing that.”

With Brayan Bello activated from the injured list to start on Monday, Chris Sale had his turn pushed to Tuesday as the Red Sox will work with a six-man rotation until their next off day on April 27.

Sale (1-1, 11.25 ERA) has recorded at least six strikeouts in each of his three starts this season, but he allowed six runs (five earned) over four innings on Wednesday in a loss at Tampa Bay.

“He hasn’t pitched in four years, honestly. … In (2019), he wasn’t healthy,” Cora said. “We’ll wait until Cinco de Mayo to see where we’re at.”

Sale is 11-6 with a 3.91 ERA in 29 career appearances (21 starts) against Minnesota, having gone 3-0 with a 2.64 ERA in his past five starts vs. the Twins dating back to 2017.

The Boston bullpen has more than made up for the starters’ early-season struggles, allowing just two runs over 18 1/3 innings in the past four games. Kutter Crawford worked 6 1/3 scoreless, one-hit frames after Bello’s rain-drenched Monday exit.

Minnesota comes to Boston following back-to-back losses to finish a four-game road set against the New York Yankees.

“This is not the same Twins team that people have seen in the last two years,” Twins designated hitter Byron Buxton said, according to MLB.com. “We are making our own identity.”

The Twins scored nine runs in the first inning on Thursday in an 11-2 win over the Yankees but were then held to just seven runs during the remainder of the series. They were shut out for the second time this season in the 2-0 series finale on Sunday.

“We played two good games and grabbed two wins at Yankee Stadium, and we walk out splitting. It’s not going to feel good,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I would call it a competitive series. Overall, the pitching was at a pretty high level.”

Sonny Gray (2-0, 0.53 ERA) looks to continue his outstanding start to the season and pick up his first career win at Fenway Park, where he is 0-4 with an 8.02 ERA in six appearances (five starts). He pitched five scoreless innings en route to a 3-1 win on Wednesday in the Twins’ rubber match against the Chicago White Sox. Gray is 1-7 with a 6.80 ERA in 10 career outings (nine starts) against the Red Sox.

Minnesota’s Donovan Solano, who is playing first base every day with Joey Gallo out due to a right intercostal strain, is batting .366 during an 11-game hitting streak.

“If you have a bunch of guys that hit the ball on the barrel often, as often as he does, I think you’re going to have a productive offense,” Baldelli said.

–Field Level Media

Citius – Altius – Fortius – Ranius – Bucketius

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Citius – Altius – Fortius – Ranius – Bucketius.

The weather forecasters tried to ruin the best day of the year in Boston. They couldn’t. When they threw a misty mountain top of a morning at us, Boston answered with the 9:00am start of the men’s wheelchair race and Swiss racer Marcel Hug primed to win his sixth Boston Marathon.

Workers lay down a Boston Marathon decal on Boylston Street with sponsor John Hancock logo, the final time they will sponsor the race. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

When they threw some headwinds at the racers, Boston countered with women’s wheelchair racer Susannah Scaroni, who finished in the Top 5 on five previous marathons, and she finally broke through for the win this year.

They threw dangerous cells of rain and some lightning at the runners and Boston countered with former NHL Bruins captain Zdeno Chara at ’em, and then doubled-down with Boston College and pro football legend Doug Flutie running the marathon yet again. It was Flutie’s fifth Boston Marathon and he raised $350,000 for autism research while he ran his 26.2 with a tweaked hamstring that kept him away from his final training runs for the past six weeks.

If that weren’t enough, Flutie was also nursing a pulled groin, suffered in a recent ice hockey game.

As the Marathoners got serious and the weather cleared, Evans Chebet and Hellen Obiri took honors in the men’s and women’s elite/professional categories for the 127th running of the Carnegie Hall of Marathons.

The New England weather got tough and Boston got tougher until late afternoon when the novice marathoners saw only slight drizzles as they took a right on Hereford Street and a left to Boylston.

While the marathoners ran to Boston from the starting line out in Hopkinton, the Los Angeles Angels were throwing the great Shohei Ohtani against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Sox won the first three games of their series against the Angels, but Boston chose to throw Brayan Bello back at ’em, and that proved disastrous as former Sox outfielder Hunter Renfroe plopped a 3-run homer into the lap of some Green Monster seat ticket holder in the very first inning of a game that was to be delayed for 56 minutes to start and a total of 2:21 on the day before Red Sox DH Masataka Yoshida popped up to LA’s Gio Urshela at third base to end the 5-4 Boston loss.

 

Fitzpatrick Takes RBC in Playoff

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By TERRY LYONS

HILTON HEAD – Reigning U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick defeated defending champion Jordan Spieth in a multi-hole playoff to win the RBC Heritage at Harbor Town.

The playoff between Fitzpatrick and Spieth was the first on Tour featuring multiple players that had previously won a major championship since the 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions (Justin Thomas* def. Patrick Reed* and Xander Schauffele). Spieth became the first defending champion to lose in a playoff since Schauffele at that same tournament.

Spieth now has 18 runner-up finishes on Tour since the start of the 2013 season, four more than any other player in that span.

Fitzpatrick is the third player from England to win on Tour this season, tying the most in a single season on record (1983-present).

RBC Heritage | Final Leaderboard

P-1 Matt Fitzpatrick 66 70 63 68 267 (-17) 1-0

P-2 Jordan Spieth 68 67 66 66 267 (-17) 5-4

3 Patrick Cantlay 69 65 66 68 268 (-16)

4 Xander Schauffele 67 66 70 66 269 (-15)

T-5 Sahith Theegala 70 68 67 65 270 (-14)

T-5 Hayden Buckley 69 68 66 67 270 (-14)

Celtics Send a Message to Hawks

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BOSTON – (Staff and wire services report) -Two days after having five stitches removed from a finger on his shooting hand, Jaylen Brown recorded game highs of 29 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Boston Celtics to a 112-99 victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series Saturday.

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Brown, an Atlanta native, missed Boston’s final two regular-season games after cutting himself while picking up a piece of glass in his home.

Jayson Tatum added 25 points and 11 rebounds for the second-seeded Celtics, who received a 24-point performance from Derrick White.

The seventh-seeded Hawks were 5 of 29 from 3-point range, and were outrebounded 58-45.

Dejounte Murray led the Hawks with 24 points and eight rebounds. Trae Young, Atlanta’s leading scorer during the regular season, finished with 16 points.

The Hawks trimmed a 30-point halftime deficit to 12, 96-84, with 9:33 to play, but the Celtics responded with a 6-0 run to push their lead to 18. Atlanta, which trailed 94-75 after three quarters, missed 11 of its next 12 shots after slicing Boston’s lead to 12 points.

Atlanta used an 8-0 run to pull within 12 points with 3:16 to go, but never got any closer.

Game 2 will be played in Boston on Tuesday before the best-of-seven series shifts to Atlanta on Friday.

Boston led 29-19 after one quarter and extended its lead in the second. A Tatum 3-pointer capped a 20-3 run that put the Celtics up 52-27 with 6:10 remaining in the quarter, and Boston had its largest lead of the half after Tatum made a 3-pointer that gave the Celtics a 74-44 advantage with 2.2 seconds left in the second.

Boston shot 60 percent from the field in the first half, when it made nine of its 16 3-point attempts. Atlanta shot 33.3 percent from the floor and was 1 of 16 from behind the arc.

Sox Adjust 40-Man Roster

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BOSTON – (Staff report from official news release) – The Boston Red Sox made the following roster moves on Sunday, April 16:

  • Placed right-handed pitcher Chris Martin on the 15-Day Injured List (retroactive to April 13) with right shoulder inflammation.
  • Selected right-handed pitcher Jake Faria from Triple-A Worcester. He will wear number 32.
  • Transferred right-handed pitcher Wyatt Mills to the 60-Day Injured List.
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Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom made the moves..

Martin, 36, last pitched Wednesday in Tampa Bay, allowing one run in the eighth inning. The right-hander has allowed two runs in 7.0 innings pitched across seven outings with the Red Sox this season, his first games with the club. He was signed by Boston as a free agent on December 8, 2022.

Faria, 29, has made three relief appearances with Triple-A Worcester this season, allowing six runs over five innings, with six walks and five strikeouts. The right-hander owns a 4.70 ERA (106 ER/203.0 IP) in 72 career Major League appearances (29 starts) with the Tampa Bay Rays (2017-19), Milwaukee Brewers (2019), and Arizona Diamondbacks (2021). He was signed by the Red Sox as a minor league free agent on February 3, 2023.

Mills, 28, began the season on the 15-Day Injured List with right elbow inflammation. The right-hander made five Grapefruit League appearances with the Red Sox during 2023 Spring Training, posting a 7.50 ERA (5 ER/6.0 IP) with 10 strikeouts. He was acquired from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for minor league right-handed pitcher Jacob Wallace on December 16, 2022.

Can Sox Keep It Running?

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Wire Service) – Following a four-game losing streak, the Boston Red Sox found a way to win back-to-back games against the Los Angeles Angels to get back on track.

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Boston will look to keep rolling on Sunday when it plays host to the Angels in the third game of the teams’ four-game series.

With Saturday’s 9-7 win, the Red Sox have come from behind in five of their first seven victories this season, while the team has yet to have a starting pitcher record an out in the sixth inning.

“It’s been tough,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “We were able to survive, but it’s kind of too soon to survive, to be honest with you. We’ve got to be better early on. We will be.”

Garrett Whitlock (0-1, 9.00 ERA) hopes to shake off a tough Tuesday start at Tampa Bay with some home cooking at Fenway Park, where he is 7-2 with a 2.84 ERA in 41 career games (five starts).

The Red Sox have averaged 6.1 runs per game at home this season, but it took a pair of catcher’s interference calls loading the bases and a two-run single by Yu Chang in the eighth inning to nab Saturday’s game.

Chang, who also homered and finished the game with four RBIs, was 0-for-16 this season entering Saturday.

“I’m so happy that the team gave me the opportunity to play every day,” Chang said through a translator. “I didn’t do well in the beginning, but (Saturday), I just got the chance, and with that homer, I was so happy.”

Whitlock, who made nine starts while also working in a relief role last season, allowed five runs on a career-high three homers in five innings in his last outing.

Two of his 2022 starts came against the Angels. He allowed six runs and struck out 14 across nine combined innings.

While the Red Sox have shown the ability to come back, it’s been a different story for the Angels, who have led in six of their first seven losses.

“We were in position to win a game when our starter wasn’t at his best, and we just didn’t finish it,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said of Saturday’s setback.

Tyler Anderson lasted four innings and allowed six runs, but four Angels relievers combined to allow three, only one of which was earned.

Reid Detmers (0-0, 5.59) will be tasked with trying to get Los Angeles’ pitching staff in a rhythm.

Detmers is seeking his first career win against the Red Sox in his third-ever start against the team, though he worked 4 1/3 scoreless innings in a home outing against Boston on June 8 of last season.

Despite logging 12 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings, Detmers has yet to record a decision this season. He fanned five across five innings last Sunday against Toronto, a game Los Angeles lost 12-11 in 10 innings.