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Archives for October 7, 2024

KC Chiefs Remain Unbeaten; Carr Hurt

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KANSAS CITY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Kareem Hunt and Xavier Worthy of Kansas City rushed for touchdowns, Harrison Butker kicked four field goals, Patrick Mahomes passed for 331 yards and the host Chiefs defeated the New Orleans Saints 26-13 on Monday night.

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JuJu Smith-Schuster caught seven passes for 130 yards and Travis Kelce made nine receptions for 70 yards to help the Chiefs (5-0) overcome the absence of injured wide receivers Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice.

Hunt rushed for 102 yards, while Mahomes completed 28 of 39 passes with one interception.

New Orleans quarterback Derek Carr completed 18 of 28 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns with one interception before leaving the game because of an oblique injury in the fourth quarter.

Rashid Shaheed finished with four catches for 86 yards and a touchdown, but the Saints (2-3) lost their third consecutive game.

The Chiefs had an opportunity to extend their 16-7 halftime lead on the first possession of the third quarter, but Butker’s 51-yard field goal hit the right upright and caromed wide.

Kansas City drove to the New Orleans 2-yard line on its next possession, but a Mahomes pass was intercepted in the end zone by defensive tackle Khalen Saunders, who returned to the New Orleans 35. Both teams went scoreless in the third quarter.

On the second play of the fourth quarter Carr threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Foster Moreau, pulling New Orleans within 16-13. Blake Grupe’s extra-point kick was no good.

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The Chiefs needed just five plays to answer as Mahomes connected with Smith-Schuster for a 50-yard gain and Kelce received a direct snap and handed to Worthy for a 3-yard touchdown run and a 23-13 lead.

Butker’s 38-yard field goal completed the scoring with 3:03 remaining.

On Kansas City’s first possession, Hunt ran 5 yards for a touchdown that gave the hosts a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Chiefs increased the lead on a 26-yard field goal from Butker before Carr threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Shaheed to pull New Orleans within 10-7.

Kansas City overcame a second-and-34 on its way to a 34-yard Butker field goal, and the kicker added a 28-yarder to increase the lead to nine points entering halftime.

–Field Level Media

A Royal Fourth

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Kansas City’s catcher Salvador Perez hit a towering homer off New York’s Carlos Rodon to start a four-run fourth inning and the Royals beat the Yankees 4-2 on Monday night to even their American League Division Series at one game apiece.

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Game 3 of the best-of-five set is scheduled for Wednesday night in Kansas City.

The only remaining player from Kansas City’s 2015 World Series team, Perez forged a 1-1 tie by hammering a 2-0 slider to the back of the left field seats.

It was Perez’s sixth career postseason homer and first since Game 5 of the 2015 AL Championship Series.

The veteran catcher’s 402-foot drive gives him 13 hits in 28 career at-bats off Rodon (0-1), whom he faced frequently when the Yankees left-hander pitched for the Chicago White Sox.

Following Perez’s homer, the Royals continued to pounce on Rodon’s slider, as Tommy Pham and Garrett Hampson had run-scoring singles.

Yuli Gurriel followed Perez’s drive with a single to left on a 2-2 slider and took second on a wild pitch. After Rodon got the first out of the fourth, Pham lined another slider to center to plate Gurriel for a 2-1 lead, then stole second.

With two outs, Pham easily scored when Hampson hit a slider to left for a 3-1 lead, chasing Rodon from the game in the process. Maikel Garcia added an RBI single off Ian Hamilton, but he got caught in a rundown for the final out of the frame.

Kansas City starter Cole Ragans struggled with command at times but held the Yankees to one run on three hits in four innings before the Royals used four relievers to finish the game. Ragans struck out five and walked four.

Angel Zerpa (2-0) got a double play to end the fifth, and John Schreiber got three flyouts in the sixth for Kansas City.

Kris Bubic pitched two innings, getting Juan Soto to fly out to the warning track to end the seventh and retiring Giancarlo Stanton on a double-play grounder to end the eighth. Lucas Erceg gave up Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s homer to start the ninth and a two-out single to Jon Berti before notching the save.

Rodon allowed four runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He didn’t issue a walk and fanned seven.

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the third on Stanton’s RBI single.

New York finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media