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Archives for July 1, 2025

Rain Stops Sox Game in 4th Inning

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – Continuing rain in the Boston area suspended Tuesday’s game between the Boston Red Sox and visiting Cincinnati Reds in the top of the fourth inning. The Red Sox held a 2-1 lead on the strength of a pair of first-inning runs.

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The game will resume at 2:30 p.m. ET Wednesday before the regularly scheduled series finale at 7:10.

The Red Sox needed just two batters to take the lead against Cincinnati’s Brady Singer. Jarren Duran and Roman Anthony cracked back-to-back doubles for the first run. After Anthony moved to third on Abraham Toro’s fly ball, Narvaez made it 2-0 with an RBI single through the right side.

Boston starter Richard Fitts worked around a leadoff walk to retire the next six Reds he faced before the visitors halved their deficit. Will Benson and Christian Encarnacion-Strand began the third with consecutive singles, then Benson worked his way home on TJ Friedl’s sacrifice bunt Matt McLain’s RBI groundout.

After allowing two runs and three hits in the first, Singer threw two hitless innings and finished with four strikeouts and two walks to show for his three innings of work.

Fitts did not allow a hit outside of Cincinnati’s run-scoring frame. He posted one strikeout and one walk in three innings.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Ride Abreu vs Reds

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox have to like what they have seen from Wilyer Abreu at the plate lately.

Abreu, who has hit three home runs in his past three games, will look to remain hot Tuesday when the Red Sox face the visiting Cincinnati Reds in the second contest of a three-game series.

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Abreu hit an inside-the-park home run and a grand slam during Boston’s 13-6 victory over Cincinnati on Monday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Abreu became the first Boston player with those two varieties of homers in the same game since 1939 (Jim Tabor).

Jocko Fields, Everett Scott, Charlie Gehringer and Roger Maris are the other MLB players who have hit a grand slam and an inside-the-park home run in the same game. Maris did it most recently, in 1958.

Abreu also belted a three-run home run during a 15-1 win against Toronto on Saturday.

After hitting 15 home runs in 132 games last year, Abreu has 16 homers in 74 games this season.

“So far, it’s been an outstanding season for him,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “It’s been great.

“He got a fastball he could handle down in the zone for the grand slam, and that’s something we’ve been talking about with him. He gets a lot of pitches –especially fastballs — and he fouls them straight back. … There’s a lot of communication lately about who you are as a hitter and what (pitches) we need to attack. It’s getting to that point in the season where tendencies are out there and they know who you are.”

It was just the kind of game the Red Sox needed after going 1-7 in the previous eight games.

Cincinnati’s Chase Burns made his second MLB start, but exited the mound with one out in the first inning. Burns, the No. 2 selection in last year’s MLB draft, surrendered seven runs (five earned) on five hits.

Given how relentless the Red Sox were, Cincinnati manager Terry Francona wondered if Burns was tipping his pitches.

“(Tipping) is something you probably always need to check,” he said. “There were pitches that caught the plate. They were definitely hit hard. Those are always things you try to check for. Cora is one of the best at that. They were certainly ready.”

“We don’t play this game for a good showing, but I was proud of our guys,” Francona added. “We kept the energy up. We kept fighting. … There were some quirky things that happened tonight, but they battled. We’re OK.”

Jordan Hicks, a hard-throwing reliever the Red Sox received from the San Francisco Giants in the Rafael Devers trade, made his Boston debut and pitched a one-two-three eighth inning. One of his pitches was clocked at 100.5 mph.

Right-hander Brady Singer (7-6, 4.31 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for Cincinnati on Tuesday. Singer is 2-2 with a 4.71 ERA in four career appearances (all starts) against Boston. He’s allowed 28 hits in 21 innings against the Red Sox.

Righty Richard Fitts (0-3, 4.68) is Boston’s probable starter. It will be his first career appearance against the Reds.

Fitts allowed two runs on four hits in four innings during his last start, Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, though he took a no-decision. He struck out six and walked one.

–Field Level Media

TL’s Sports Notes | June 29

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Back in the ‘80s, NBA teams suffered through tougher than tough road trips when traveling into the Western Conference’s Southwest, Pacific and Northwest Divisions. Sometimes, it was a Utah-Portland-Seattle run, other times it might be a trip to LA to play the Lakers, followed by a stop in Phoenix and then a get-away game at Denver in the Mile High city.

Possibly the toughest road trip was the very challenging three games in four night through the “Texas Triangle,” visiting the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs.

At different intervals throughout the decade, a stop in Dallas meant a match-up with Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman and Derek Harper, and later in the decade, the guards were backed-up by a young and efficient Roy Tarpley – Coach Dick Motta’s orJohn MacLeod’s first experimentation with the “stretch four and stretch five.”

In San Antonio, you might battle the great center Artis Gilmore, George “The Iceman” Gervin, and point guard Johnny Moore backed by the Baseline Bums and bigs like Dave Corzine, Mark Olberding and George T. Johnson.

In the early ‘80s, a trip to Houston would require a match-up vs MVP-level center Moses Malone, but soon after, the Rockets fell into fortune via the NBA Draft’s “coin-flip,” rather than the NBA Lottery of today. That luck of Jim Foley, Charlie Thomasand their map of Ireland taken from the walls of Jimmy Weston’s bar in midtown resulted in a Rockets roster of 7-4 Ralph Sampson, 6-9 center Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon – The Twin Towers – and a supporting cast of forwards Otis Thorpe, Robert Horry, Carl Herrera, Rodney McCray, and guards like G-F Clyde Drexler, point guard Kenny Smith, along with Mario Elie, Sam Cassell and a host of others.

Put all together, it was the vaunted “Texas Triangle” and it just might be returning “to a theatre near you” this Fall.

With the Dallas Mavericks selecting consensus college player of the year, Cooper Flagg of Duke, with No. 1 pick in this week’s NBA Draft, the franchise which was under fire from fans and media, alike, has now been rejuvenated. Tickets are flying off the shelves. That said, the state of the Mavericks will depend largely on the injury status of point guard Kyrie Irving (torn ACL in March) who is not expected to play until January 2026.

Meanwhile, NBA All-Star center Anthony Davis battled back at seasons’ end from a left adductor strain suffered just after his trade from the LA Lakers to Dallas in exchange for Mavs’ franchise cornerstone Luka Dončić – a deal that shook the NBA for months.

If Flagg can perform to his highest standards and both Irving and Davis are healthy come the eve of the 2026 NBA Playoffs, Dallas could be a force out West, but chances are, it will take another year or two for the Mavericks to be in full contention.

That leads us to the Houston Rockets, the Southwest Division champion of 2024-25 and the No. 2 seed in the 2025 NBA Playoffs because of their 50-32 record. Houston was upset in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs this past April/May, losing a seven game series to the Golden State Warriors. Of the three Texas teams, however, Houston has the best chance to advance in the 2026 NBA Playoffs and they will depend of budding NBA All-Star in Turkish center Alperen Sengun who averaged 20.9 points and 11.9 rebounds last season.

Next?

The San Antonio Spurs might be a 12-for-12 roster flip wish for every team in the NBA, sans the OKC Thunder. The duo of the past two NBA Rookies of the Year (7-foot-3 Victor Wembanyama and tough-as-nails guard Stephon Castle will be joined this coming season by Spurs’ first-round, No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper, a 6-foot-6 scorer out of Rutgers. Depending on Flagg’s development with the Mavericks, theoretically, the Spurs could roster the last three NBA ROY winners. (NBA teams have had two in a row, but never three consecutive ROY).

As your self the question, ‘If you were GM of Indiana, Cleveland, New York, Boston, or the LA Lakers or Clippers, would you trade rosters with the San Antonio Spurs?’

I would, after all, everything in Texas is BIG.

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HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Writing from Fenway Park on a Saturday afternoon, one has to wonder if the Boston Red Sox switched “babies” overnight and fielded a new team? Friday night saw the Toronto Blue Jays shutout the Sox 9-0 and the score could’ve been worse. Despite a halfway decent outing by Sox SP Brayan Bello (three earned runs on eight hits over six innings), the Boston bullpen gave up another six runs to the Jays. On Saturday, the roles were reversed and Boston jumped on Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt for nine runs (eight earned), on eight hits over two innings pitched. … The Saturday afternoon Boston victory snapped a a season high losing streak of six games with much of the recent damage done on a Sox 9-game road trip to the West Coast. Prior to departing on that trip (which coincided with the day Boston shipped Rafael Devers off to San Francisco), Boston had won eight of the nine previous games, dating back to June 10. On Saturday, with a 15-1 win, the Red Sox scored more runs in one game than they scored in their previous five.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: The NHL Draft was held on Friday night and the New York Islanders selected No. 1 for the fifth time in franchise history and first since 2009. The Isles made highly touted defenseman Matthew Schaefer of the Erie Otters the top pick. Schaefer became the first OHL player to go first overall in the Draft since Connor McDavid in 2015 (also out of Erie) and the first OHL defenseman to be picked at No. 1 in more than a decade, with Aaron Ekblad (2014) the last before him.

An emotional moment for any top pick of a major league sports draft, the dream-fulfilling night had added meaning for Schaefer who lost his mother, Jennifer, to breast cancer in February 2024.

EMOTIONS RAN HIGH: The emotions of the first-rounders and their families at the NBA Draft in Brooklyn Wednesday night were flowing. ESPN anchor Malika Andrews did a great job putting those lifelong dreams into perspective as each player had his name announced. It started with Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks and his entire family embracing for several minutes and continued throughout the first round.

The best reaction, by far, was that of Duke center Khaman Maluach who stayed at his table for an extra 30 seconds to gather his emotions. There certainly wasn’t a dry eye in the house when he lifted his head, stood up and embraced his family and friends before walking to shake hands with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Maluach, who was selected by the Houston Rockets but traded, will have an opportunity to play immediately as a member of the Phoenix Suns, a club overhauling its roster.

While there might not be crying in baseball, there was a fair share of crying at the NBA Draft and it was nothing other than great. Each year, the sound of their names being called by Commissioner Silver sends shivers up and down the spines of the players and their families.

(Personal note: Back when I worked with the league, we used to try (and I stress try) preparing the rookies for the rush of emotion upon being drafted. The day before each draft, the rookies would be playing it cool, and stating, ‘They’d be alright when the time came.’ We’d warn them, and even go to the length of slipping a roster of the team they were picked by into their hands after they shook the Commissioner’s hand and were welcomed into the League.

Players would forget their names, never mind the names of new teammates or the head coach, and quite a few players came to us after things calmed down to say, ‘You were right. I couldn’t think of a thing.’

THIS JEST IN: A few picks after the Islanders, the Boston Bruins selected forward James Hagens in the first round (7th overall) of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Hagens, 18, appeared in 37 games for Boston College during the 2024-25 season, recording 11 goals and 26 assists for 37 points, with a plus-21 rating. The 5-foot-11, 177-pound forward ranked third among Boston skaters and fourth among NCAA freshmen in points, earning a spot on the Hockey East All-Rookie Team.

In 2023-24, Hagens appeared in 58 games for the U.S. National U18 Team, as part of the National Team Development Program, totaling 39 goals and 63 assists for 102 points. The Hauppauge, Long Island, NY native was part of the United States’ gold medal-winning team at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, ranking second among U.S. skaters in points (nine). Hagens was named most valuable player after leading tournament scoring at the 2024 IIHF U18 World Junior Championship, recording 22 points in seven games to help Team USA win the silver medal.

He also won gold at both the 2023 IIHF U18 World Junior Championship and 2022 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge

SAD, BUT YOU CAN’T MAKE IT UP: Louisiana’s Supreme Court this week ruled that former LSU coach Ed Orgeron owes his ex-wife Kelly nearly half of the buyout he received from the school … In a 5-2 ruling, the court said Kelly Orgeron should receive $8.13 million from the buyout since the two were married when Ed signed his extension to coach football for the LSU Tigers in January 2020. Coach Orgeron filed for divorce six weeks after he signed the extension, though the contract was not approved by the school’s board of directors until divorce proceedings had already begun. Orgeron received nearly $17 million from the school when he was fired in 2021 with an agreement to finish the season. In November of 2021, former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was named LSU’s 33rd head coach … In 2018 Ms. Orgeron underwent surgery to correct the back condition, “scoliosis.” After complications from the surgery, she fully recovered. She maintained a social media presence until 2021 at Twitter.