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Marlins Go for 3-Game Sweep Over Sox

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After winning the first two games by a combined 16-3 score, the Miami Marlins aim for a road series sweep of the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night.

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Miami has won four straight and 10 of its past 13 games, including a 6-2 win on Wednesday to set up the opportunity for the sweep.

“This is my fourth year here and I’m not gonna lie, this is probably the most fun I’ve ever had in the big leagues playing baseball,” Miami center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “I always try to have as much fun as I can, but this is a different level of fun with these guys in there.”

The Marlins are also 11-3 in their past 14 road games, having won six straight outside of Miami, and they sit 13 games over .500 for the first time since 2009.

Reinforcements have helped the team’s recent success in Boston, as Chisholm and third baseman Jean Segura have just returned from injuries.

Chisholm, out since May 14 due to turf toe, went 3-for-4 with three RBIs in Tuesday’s series opener in his first game back, then hit an eighth-inning home run on Wednesday.

Segura, sidelined for nearly two weeks because of a hamstring strain, homered on Tuesday in his return. He added a two-run single on Wednesday.

“They’ve had a lot of time off and probably watching the team doing really well without them and wanting to be part of this thing,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said on Tuesday. “I think the pressure (was) a little bit off of them, too, because they don’t have to come back feeling like they have to be the hero. Just (being) who they are is good enough for us.”

The Marlins will finish the series with a second straight left-hander on the mound. Jesus Luzardo (6-5, 3.77 ERA) is set to oppose Boston for the first time.

Luzardo, 25, leads the Miami staff with 103 strikeouts through 16 starts. He fanned nine batters — his second-highest total of the season — across seven shutout, two-hit innings on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, his eighth quality start.

The Red Sox, who are on a four-game skid and have a 2-12 home record against National League teams this season, will attempt to salvage the series finale.

Alex Verdugo had a 13-game hitting streak snapped on Wednesday.

The emergence of Brayan Bello (5-4, 3.27 ERA) as a consistent starter has been a major bright spot of Boston’s season to this point. The 24-year-old right-hander will attempt to continue his success on Thursday.

Bello has worked at least six innings in each of his past four starts and five of his past six, which includes back-to-back, seven-inning outings against the New York Yankees earlier this month.

In his most recent start, Bello worked 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball to beat the host Chicago White Sox on Friday.

“My goal is always (to) try to go deep into the game so I can help the bullpen, and that has been my mentality since I came up here,” Bello said. “I’m trying to get quick outs. I’m not trying to strike out anybody, and that’s been the key to go deep into the game.”

Prior to Bello, the most recent Red Sox pitchers to post a sub-2.50 ERA in a 10-start span before turning 25 years old were Jon Lester, Aaron Sele, Roger Clemens and Dennis Eckersley.

Bello’s work ethic has been impressive.

“He’s very hungry,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He understands that he’s good, but obviously there’s a lot of work that we have to do for him to get to where we want to.”

Bello will be making his first career appearance against Miami.

–Field Level Media

Miami: 10 Runs, 19 Hits vs Red Sox

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Following a 10-1, series-opening triumph on Tuesday, the Miami Marlins will look to keep up their winning ways when a three-game series against the Red Sox continues in Boston on Wednesday.

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Miami has won three straight games and nine of 12, and the Marlins remain in a National League playoff position at nearly the halfway mark of the season.

Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara, who got the win on Tuesday in one of his best outings of the season, said, “Everybody’s happy. Everybody’s supporting each other. But what we are doing this year is something that people will know (about), because we surprised a lot of people this year, and we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Braxton Garrett (3-2, 3.64 ERA) takes the ball for Miami in the second of three games against Boston. It will be the 25-year-old’s first career start against the Red Sox.

While the Marlins’ rotation also includes reigning Cy Young Award winner Alcantara and star rookie Eury Perez, Garrett is in the midst of an strong run of his own. The left-hander has allowed just two earned runs — one in each of his two most recent starts — over his past 18 1/3 innings.

Despite taking a no-decision on Thursday in his start against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Garrett became the first left-hander in Marlins history to record 13 strikeouts without walking a batter. He allowed just two runs, one earned, on three hits across seven innings.

“This guy can really pitch,” Miami manager Skip Schumaker said. “If you have stuff and pitch, you’ll be an All-Star. He might be an All-Star. He’s pitching like one and putting together some really good outings for us.”

Another exciting piece of Miami’s success is Luis Arraez’s chase for .400. The second baseman went 2-for-5 on Tuesday and has a 10-game hit streak while sitting at .399.

The Marlins’ lineup as a whole banged out 19 hits to tie a season high on Tuesday. Joey Wendle went 4-for-4 with two runs.

The Red Sox did not officially name a Wednesday starter following the Tuesday game, though manager Alex Cora named Kaleb Ort (1-1, 5.79 ERA) as the “most likely” option to get that nod.

Only one of Ort’s 17 appearances this season was a start, when he went 2 1/3 innings to help Boston in its June 18 doubleheader sweep of the New York Yankees.

He has since pitched twice in relief, most recently recording the last two outs of the eighth inning on Sunday against the Chicago White Sox.

After finishing 26-50 against American League East opponents last season, the Red Sox have taken their lumps during interleague play this year. Boston is 11-16 against the NL — including 2-11 at home, which is the worst mark in the majors.

All in all, Boston is exactly a .500 team for the first time in more than a week and will look to step it up in the dog days of the summer.

“40-40, yep. No more, no less,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Like I said, we’re not great, we’re not bad. We are where we’re at. Obviously, we’ve got a long way to go. (Wednesday) is the halfway game of the season and we just got to be better, man. That’s the bottom line.”

Cora’s club has been held to a single run in back-to-back games for the third time this season. The Red Sox also had a three-game stretch in May when they managed a total of one run.

On Tuesday, Alex Verdugo had two doubles and Triston Casas went 3-for-4 to lead the Boston offense. It wasn’t nearly enough as Garrett Whitlock allowed 11 hits and six runs in 4 2/3 innings.

–Field Level Media

Patriots Extend DeVante Parker

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FOXBORO – The New England Patriots and wide receiver DeVante Parker are in agreement on a new three-year contract worth $33 million, NFL Network and multiple media outlets reported.

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The deal includes $14 million in guaranteed money and per-game roster bonuses, per the report.

Parker, 30, was set to enter the 2023 season on the final year of his current contract, which would have paid him a base salary of $5.7 million.

Parker caught 31 passes for 539 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games (11 starts) for the Patriots in 2022, his first season with the team. The Patriots acquired Parker in a trade with the Miami Dolphins in April 2022.

Parker has 369 catches for 5,266 yards and 27 TDs in 106 career games (75 starts) with the Dolphins and Pats. He was selected No. 14 overall in the 2015 draft by Miami.

The Patriots also signed free agent wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster to a three-year, $25.5 million deal in March and reportedly are one of the teams in on free agent DeAndre Hopkins.

–Field Level Media

Sox Back Home for Marlins

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BOSTON – With the MLB All-Star break approaching in two weeks, a crucial stretch of games stands ahead for the Boston Red Sox.

After dropping a three-game set to one of the worst teams in the American League in the Chicago White Sox, Boston returns home for a three-game interleague series with the Miami Marlins beginning tonight.

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The series begins a stretch of nine straight games for Boston against teams currently in playoff position. The Red Sox had won six straight before dropping four of five games, including Sunday’s 4-1 series finale in Chicago.

“It’s just baseball. That’s the way it works,” Boston infielder Justin Turner said. “You can go out there and beat up on really good pitchers and sometimes pitchers that on paper that you’re supposed to beat up pitch really well. … We had a winning streak going but can’t take anything for granted.”

Turner has reached base multiple times in nine of his past 15 games.

In Sunday’s game, the Red Sox managed just two hits after the third inning. Outfielder Adam Duvall had two of the team’s five hits.

“There’s a lot of good teams out there,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We’ve just got to play good baseball.”

The Marlins are one of those strong clubs, entering Monday with the third-best record in the National League. Garrett Whitlock (4-2, 4.50 ERA) will be the first Boston starter to face them in the series.

Whitlock, who has never started against Miami, has worked seven innings in back-to-back starts but took a no-decision after allowing four runs on eight hits and striking out six last Wednesday at Minnesota. His past three decisions dating back a month have been wins.

In the series opener, the Red Sox will be up against a tough starter in reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara (2-6, 5.08).

Alcantara will look to follow up yet another impressive performance by 20-year-old rookie Eury Perez, who struck out nine and extended his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 21 in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Pittsburgh.

Miami has 16 wins during the month of June, including three of the past four games.

“It’s been a lot of fun. Winning is fun,” Perez said. “So we’ve got to continue winning a lot of games. Our next step is the playoffs. That will be the next step. (I) want to stay healthy so I can continue competing with all my teammates and win more games.”

Leading the way offensively, second baseman Luis Arraez enters the series with a .399 average, falling below the .400 mark after back-to-back one-hit games. He has not struck out since June 14.

Despite Alcantara’s overall struggles, he has pitched at least seven innings in three of his past four outings and six in total this season.

However, he has given up five runs and 10 hits in each of his two most recent games. All five runs in his start against Toronto last Wednesday came in the second inning.

“I’m going to bet on Sandy. Our clubhouse is going to bet on Sandy,” Miami manager Skip Schumaker said. “Obviously, we need him to be that version (from the end of the game) moving forward if we want to get to where we want to get to.”

Alcantara’s only career start against Boston was on Sept. 15, 2020, working six innings of one-run ball.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Lose Series to White Sox

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CHICAGO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Luis Robert Jr. hit two home runs to power the Chicago White Sox to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Boston Red Sox on Sunday.

Robert hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning and a solo homer in the sixth. Both home runs came against Red Sox starting pitcher Kutter Crawford (2-4). Robert, who went 3-for-4 in the win, also homered in Chicago’s 5-4 triumph over Boston on Saturday. He has 21 home runs this season.

The victory allowed the White Sox to win the final two games in the three-game series after Boston posted a 3-1 victory on Friday night. Chicago’s Andrew Benintendi, who began his career with the Red Sox, went 2-for-4 Sunday and had seven hits in the series.

Jesse Scholtens (1-2) tossed four innings of scoreless relief to earn the victory. He gave up two hits, struck out three and walked one. Scholtens replaced starter Tanner Banks with two outs in the third inning.

Keynan Middleton pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his second save.

Crawford gave up four runs on five hits in six innings. He recorded four strikeouts and walked one.

Boston’s Adam Duvall doubled in the third inning and drove in Justin Turner to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead, but the White Sox grabbed the lead when Robert hit the first of his two home runs to make it a 2-1 game in the fourth. Benintendi also scored on the play.

Duvall collected two of Boston’s five hits.

In the fifth inning, Benintendi hit an RBI double that scored Gavin Sheets to increase the lead to 3-1, and Robert’s solo home run in the sixth capped the scoring.

Sunday’s game ended Boston’s seven-game road trip. The Red Sox went 3-4 in those seven contests.

The loss dropped Boston’s record against teams at or below the .500 mark to 12-15.

–Field Level Media

Dalbec Awaits Sox Opportunity

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CHICAGO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is dealing with a lineup problem as his team finishes a three-game road series against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, but it’s a problem he may be happy to have.

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Bobby Dalbec

The Red Sox recalled hot-hitting corner infielder Bobby Dalbec from Triple-A Worcester on Friday, but they have no obvious place to play him.

Dalbec, 27, was used as a third baseman for much of his minor league career, but he played first base when the Red Sox called him up in 2020. Boston has Rafael Devers at third base and Triston Casas at first. Justin Turner has been the team’s primary backup at both positions.

Based on how Dalbec performed in Triple-A this year, it may behoove the Red Sox to find playing time for him, however. Dalbec batted .296 with 18 home runs and 42 RBIs in 54 games with Worcester and hit .333 with 15 home runs and 38 RBIs over his last 36 games.

Dalbec appeared in 133 games for the Red Sox in 2021 and 117 games in 2022. He totaled 37 home runs over those two seasons, 25 of them in 2021.

“Obviously, where we’re at roster-wise, he needs to be patient,” Cora told reporters before Boston’s 3-1 victory over Chicago on Friday night. “And I understand how it works. It’s part of it. While he’s here, he’s going to get chances to contribute. And he’s ready to go. That’s part of being a big-leaguer, a professional baseball player. He sees what’s going on here.

“But at the same time, he belongs to us. He’s with us. And he’s been working hard to get better. In this business, you’re always one injury away from coming up here and contributing. He’s here right now, and hopefully, he’s in the right frame of mind. And whenever he gets a shot, just go ahead and keep doing the things you were doing at Triple-A.”

Devers, Red Sox Blast White Sox

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CHICAGO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Brayan Bello turned in another strong start and Rafael Devers hit a two-run home run as the Boston Red Sox ended a two-game losing streak by beating the host Chicago White Sox 3-1 on Friday night.

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It was a 1-1 game until Devers hit his 18th home run of the season in the fourth inning. Masataka Yoshida, who reached on an error, also scored on the blast.

The homer came against Chicago starting pitcher Lucas Giolito (5-5), who allowed three runs (one earned) and struck out 10 in six innings. Giolito surrendered three hits and walked one.

Devers raised his RBI total to 60. Yoshida had two of Boston’s four hits in the win, with Enrique Hernandez collected the Red Sox’s other hit.

Bello (5-4) limited the White Sox to a run on six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He recorded five strikeouts and walked one. Bello has given up no more than two earned runs in nine of his past 10 starts, and pitching to a 2.45 ERA in that span.

Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his 16th save of the season.

The Red Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, when David Hamilton walked, stole second and scored on a two-base error by second baseman Tim Anderson. The White Sox made it 1-1 in the bottom of the inning on Anderson’s sacrifice fly, which scored Seby Zavala.

Hamilton made his major league debut on Wednesday and made his second start on Friday, going 0-for-2 to leave him 1-for-5 overall. He stole 70 bases for Double-A Portland last season and had 27 thefts with Triple-A Worcester this year.

Eloy Jimenez had three hits for the White Sox, who have lost nine of their last 12 games. Chicago, which finished with eight hits, is 18-20 at home this season.

Boston’s victory came in the opener of a three-game series. It was the first meeting between the Red Sox and White Sox this season.

–Field Level Media

Celtics Acquire Porzingis; Trade Smart

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Boston Acquired Jordan Walsh with 38th Pick in NBA Draft

BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The Boston Celtics have acquired center-forward Kristaps Porzingis from Washington, a 2023 Memphis first round draft pick (25th overall), and a future first round draft pick from Golden State via Memphis as part of a three-team transaction. As part of the transaction, Memphis received all-defensive team guard Marcus Smart from Boston, while Washington acquired guard Tyus Jones from Memphis and forwards Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala, in addition to the draft rights to the 35th overall pick in 2023 from Boston.

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With the 25th pick, the Celtics drafted another Marcus – Marcus Sasser of the University of Houston – and immediately dealt him to the Detroit Pistons in a deal that saw Boston move back to No. 31 and acquire future second-round picks.

“On behalf of everyone here, I would like to thank Marcus for his many contributions, both on and off the court, as a Celtic. The greatest legacy you can leave is to make a place better than you found it. We are all better for getting to compete with Marcus Smart these past nine years,” said the head of the Celtics’ basketball operations department, Brad Stevens.

Smart was selected by the Celtics with sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft and has since appeared in 581 games (360 starts) while averaging 10.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.6 steals in 30.0 minutes per game. The three-time all-defensive team selection led the Celtics to a playoff berth in each of his nine seasons with the franchise, including the 2022 Eastern Conference Championship and five Conference Finals. Smart ranks fourth in Celtics history with 914 steals and was honored with the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year award, becoming the first league guard to take home the honor since Gary Payton in 1995-96.

“We are very happy to welcome Kristaps to Boston” said Stevens in a statement. “He brings a skill set and ability to impact the game that not only fits the needs of our team, but is elite for his position and size. The ability to play to his strengths with any combination of players is unique.”

Originally selected by New York with the fourth overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft, Porzingis, 27, has appeared in 402 career games and has averaged 19.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.8 blocks in 31.1 minutes per game. The seven-year NBA veteran joins the Celtics after stints at New York (2015-19), Dallas (2019-22), and Washington (2022-23).

Porzingis was named to the 2018 NBA All-Star Game and was selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team with the Knicks in 2015-16. He became one of five players in league history to record at least 4,000 points, 1,500 rebounds, 400 made three-pointers and 400 blocks before his 25th birthday, joining LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Tracy McGrady, Karl-Anthony Towns.

This year with Washington, Porzingis made the most starts in a season (65) since his 2016-17 campaign (65) and recorded career-highs in points (23.2), assists (2.7), and steals (0.9). The Latvia native finished the season as one of only three players in the league to average at least 20.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks during the 2022-23 season (Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid). Porzingis led the Wizards with 20 double-doubles while shooting a career-high 49.8 percent from the floor this season and has now shot above 45.0 percent from the field in three consecutive years.

The Celtics also made a series of Draft night transactions and the following trades are not yet finalized: (i) Boston acquired the 31st  pick and two future second round picks from Detroit in exchange for the draft rights to the 25th pick (Sasser); (ii) Boston then acquired the 34th and 39th pick from Charlotte in exchange for the draft rights to the 31st pick (James Nnaji); (iii) Boston then acquired the draft rights to the 38th pick (Jordan Walsh) and a future Dallas second round draft pick from Sacramento in exchange for the draft rights to the 34th pick (Colby Jones); and (iv) acquired a future second round draft pick from Atlanta in exchange for the draft rights to the 39th pick (Mouhamed Gueye).

The following future second round draft picks will be acquired by the Celtics once the trades have been finalized:

  • Dallas’ 2024 second round pick
  • The best of Detroit’s, Golden State’s, or Washington’s 2025 second round pick
  • The best of Minnesota’s, New Orleans’s, New York’s, or Portland’s 2026 second round pick
  • Atlanta’s 2027 second round pick

In one of the proposed future trades, the Celtics will acquire the draft rights to forward Jordan Walsh, who was selected with the 38th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Walsh, 6-7/205, tied the program record for most games played by a freshman with 36 appearances in his lone season at Arkansas and averaged 7.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 24.4 minutes per game while shooting 43.3 percent from the field. The Branson, Mo., native helped the Razorbacks advance to the Sweet 16 of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Walsh was ranked the No. 11 prospect by ESPN in the Class of 2022 after being named to the 2022 McDonald’s High School All-American Game and a Jordan Brand Classic participant.

CFP’s Hancock To Retire in 2025

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IRVING, Texas – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock announced that he will step down when his contract expires February 1, 2025.
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“My time at the CFP has been a dream come true,” said Hancock, 72, who will be entering his 19th season working in post-season football this fall. “I cherish what I do and the folks I get to work with. And I do love college football. Now I will run through the tape, as the track coaches say, and then I will enjoy whatever next steps are waiting for (his wife) Nicki and me.”
Hancock was named executive director of the CFP a few months after the event was created in 2012. He was the only CFP employee at the time. The leaders of the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences and Notre Dame directed him to finalize the details of a media rights agreement, negotiate agreements with bowl games and championship-game host cities, build a staff, find office space, contact members to serve on the selection committee, and draft protocol and procedures for the committee to use.
The result has been nine enormously successful years for the CFP so far.
The CFP is slated to expand from four to 12 teams after the 2023-24 season.
“The plan was established several years ago for me to notify the CFP Board of Managers a year in advance if I decided to step aside, in order to provide ample time to plan a smooth transition to the next executive director,” Hancock said.
“I’m advising the board now, so the new executive director will have a long on-ramp, as he or she prepares to guide the CFP into the 12-team era.”
“Everyone who is blessed to work with Bill knows he is a highly skilled administrator, strong leader and truly good person. He’s a legend in college sports,” said Mississippi State University President Mark E. Keenum, the chairman of the CFP Board of Managers. “We were sorry when Bill told us about his and Nicki’s decision, but we are so grateful for his service in getting the CFP started and carrying it through the first nine years—10 after next year.”
Hancock will remain in his current duties through the 2023-2024 season.

Scouts Sue MLB for Age Discrimination

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LOS ANGELES – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – A group of former Major League Baseball scouts sued commissioner Rob Manfred, the league office and all 30 teams on Wednesday, contending age discrimination, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Denver and contends MLB “blacklisted” older scouts and used the pandemic and the trend toward analytics as a “pretext for coordinated and systemic discrimination based on age.”

The lawsuit alleges MLB and the teams violated the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and age discrimination laws in 12 states.

“We believe the commissioner and the owners colluded to eliminate veteran personnel because of salaries,” Rick Ingalls, who was a scout for 37 years, told the Times.

Named as plaintiffs in the suit are 17 former scouts between the ages of 55 and 71. All but one had at least 24 years’ experience. The plaintiffs are seeking class-action status that could grow the case to involve more than 100 “older” scouts and a request for at least $100 million in lost wages and damages.

Per the Times, the suit contends that MLB stopped posting notices when scouts became available to hire, listed older scouts who shouldn’t be hired and used the pandemic as “an opportunity to terminate an entire class of older employees.”

Ingalls told the Times that some of the scouts are in financial straits.

“These guys, when they’re let go, they’re not given a year of severance, they have no health insurance, no paycheck,” Ingalls said. “A lot of guys who are 55-60 when they’re fired can’t take pensions without penalties until they’re 65. They can’t get social security until they’re 62. They have no health insurance.

“A lot of these guys who we’re fighting for are losing their homes. They have kids, and the cost of [health] insurance is off the charts.”

–Field Level Media