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Celtics Open Camp; No Tatum in ’25-26

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – Celtics star Jayson Tatum said he’s not feeling any pressure to push his recovery from a ruptured Achilles tendon.

“No pressure from (Celtics president of basketball operations) Brad (Stevens), (coach) Joe (Mazzulla), the team or the organization,” Tatum said Monday at the Celtics’ media day. “The most important thing is that I’m 100 percent.”

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Tatum suffered the injury in May in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Boston lost the series to the New York Knicks.

While Tatum downplayed any urgency he or the team may feel to get him back on the court, he did discuss his difficult recovery process.

“I think the toughest part was at the beginning and kind of being in disbelief. For me, I had to accept it,” he said. “I started to see a turning point, but then you’re on crutches, and you’re on a scooter, you’re in a boot. And then you can drop one crutch and then you can drop both crutches … That made me feel a little bit more normal.”

Tatum is expected to miss most, if not all, of the upcoming season. The Celtics were overhauled in the offseason amid lower expectations without their superstar. Veteran starters Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis were traded without much in the way of established NBA talent added.

“We have a lot of guys that are unproven,” Stevens said. “They’re younger and maybe not quite as experienced and maybe not quite as full of NBA wisdom.”

The Celtics are just 15 months removed from winning the 2023-24 championship. They’ll rely heavily on the leadership of players from that title team like Payton Pritchard, Derrick White and perennial All-Star Jaylen Brown.

“We have a chance for other guys to step up,” Brown said. “Empowering other guys, trusting your teammates more and trying to accelerate guys’ learning curve and play some good basketball. I think that’s what people want to see.”

–Field Level Media

Sox Beat Tigers: Will They Be Back?

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers sealing the Tigers’ fate as the No. 6 seed in the American League Postseason while the Sox will hold the No. 5 and play at the Bronx against their longtime rival, the New York Yankees. The Toronto Blue Jays took the American League East title.

Boston now plays New York on Tuesday, Sept. 30, Wednesday, Oct 1 and, if necessary, Thursday, October 2. The winner of the Boston vs. New York wild card will face the No. 1 seed Blue Jays.

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To close out the season today, Boston spot starter José De León pitched a career-high 6 2/3 innings in his first outing in two years. Red Sox DH Masataka Yoshida and second baseman David Hamilton homered to give the Boston Red Sox a 4-3 victory. The Tigers’ loss gave the AL Central title to the Cleveland Guardians.

After each team wrapped up a playoff berth during the final series of the regular season – the Red Sox on Friday and the Tigers on Saturday – they both sent out lineups for the regular-season finale that allowed some regulars to rest. That included Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman.

De León, called up from Triple-A so the Red Sox could line up their starters for the AL Wild Card series, allowed three runs on eight hits and three walks. He struck out eight. Greg Weissert pitched the ninth for his fourth save. Detroit starter Chris Paddock suffered his 12th loss against five victories on the 2025 season.

Detroit lost 13 of their final 16 and 22 of their last 31 regular season games to allow Cleveland to grab the Central title. Coincidentally, Detroit will travel to Cleveland for their best-of-three game Wild Card series, with the winner to play the Seattle Mariners.

 

 

Patriots Take Care of Carolina Biz

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FOXBORO – (Wire Service Report) – Marcus Jones sparked New England with a pair of huge punt returns, including one for a touchdown, and Patriots’ quarterback Drake Maye accounted for three touchdowns as New England beat the visiting Carolina Panthers, 42-13, on a busy sports Sunday afternoon in Massachusetts.

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Jones set a franchise record with 167 punt return yards on three attempts. Maye threw two touchdowns and added a rushing score against his hometown team.

New England (2-2) didn’t record its second victory last year until Oct. 27.

Maye was 14 for 17 for 203 yards. Hunter Henry and Mack Hollins caught his scoring passes. Stefon Diggs gained 101 receiving yards on six catches.

Trailing 42-6 less than a minute into the fourth quarter, the Panthers (1-3) were in danger of suffering the most lopsided loss in team history (43 points vs. the Raiders in 2000).

After driving for points on the game’s opening possession, Carolina didn’t score again until backup Andy Dalton’s 2-yard fourth-down pass to Mitchell Evans on the first play following the two-minute warning. Quarterback Bryce Young was 18 for 30 for 150 yards and a touchdown.

Jones returned a punt 87 yards for New England’s first points with 5:34 left in the first quarter. The Patriots also scored on their next three possessions, expanding their lead to 28-6 at halftime.

Maye, on the first snap of the second quarter, and TreVeyon Henderson both scored on 5-yard runs, while Antonio Gibson got into the end zone from 1 yard out.

That last TD drive of the first half covered only 14 yards after Jones’s 61-yard punt return.

To begin the game, the Panthers moved 76 yards, scoring on Young’s 7-yard pass to Tommy Tremble.

The Panthers have trailed by at least 17 points at halftime in all three of their losses.

Carolina’s Ryan Fitzgerald, whose extra-point kick bounced off the upright, missed on a 55-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter.

Maye threw 31 yards to Henry to open the second-half scoring.

The Panthers lost receiver David Moore to an injury on the first play from scrimmage.

–Field Level Media

RYDER BUB-KIS

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OLD BETHPAGE – (Wire Service Report) – Team Europe is all but assured to win the 45th Ryder Cup after Saturday’s one-sided show at Bethpage Black, leaving more spotlight on the home fans’ interactions with Rory McIlroy.

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The Europeans and captain Luke Donald hold a commanding 11 1/2-4 1/2 lead over the United States team ahead of Sunday’s 12 singles matches. They need 2 1/2 points from those matches to retain the Cup and three points to win outright.

On Saturday morning, Europe became the first visiting team in Ryder Cup history to win the first three sessions when it took morning foursomes 3-1. McIlroy and company made it four straight sessions with another 3-1 edge in the afternoon fourball.

Team Europe seemed to make every putt it needed, which the statistics bore out. According to the website Data Golf, Europe is a whopping 9.55 strokes better than the U.S. on the greens this week, including 4.39 strokes gained during Saturday’s fourballs alone.

“These guys are 12 very able guys that know how to prepare and get ready. Certainly I’m not going to take credit for that,” captain Luke Donald said. “That is more about their grit and their determination to hole those putts more than anything.”

They did so in the face of raucous American fans who tried their best to counter European songs with more pointed barbs.

McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Shane Lowry of Ireland defeated Justin Thomas and Cameron Young, 2 up, in the face of constant jeering that prompted extra security guards and around 10 state troopers to join the match at the turn.

The crowd chanted “(Expletive) you, Rory” at the first tee and elsewhere on the course. Another popular chant was “U.S. Open, U.S. Open,” a reference to McIlroy squandering leads there in 2023 and 2024.

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On the 16th hole of his foursomes match, McIlroy yelled at fans to “shut the (expletive) up” when fans heckled while he was addressing his ball. He proceeded to stuff his approach shot to 3 feet, setting up Tommy Fleetwood’s clinching putt in a 3-and-2 win over Harris English and Collin Morikawa.

“Look, in between shots, say whatever you want to me. That’s totally fine,” McIlroy said after that win. “But just let us — you gave us the respect to let us hit shots, and give us the same chance that the Americans have, I guess.”

At the ninth green of the fourball match, Thomas signaled to the U.S. fans to be quiet for McIlroy. Word trickled out to the fans on social media that their heckling was becoming the focus of the day. “Don’t say anything naughty about Rory,” one American fan said sarcastically.

McIlroy released some emotion with a yell at the par-3 14th, where he rolled in his first birdie of the afternoon to put Europe 1 up.

At the par-3 17th, Thomas spun his tee shot to 13 inches of the cup and Europe conceded the birdie. McIlroy was loudly heckled up to the moment he hit his birdie try, which slid past. But Lowry sank his birdie to halve the hole, and the pair of friends finished the job at No. 18.

“When you play an away Ryder Cup, it’s really, really challenging,” McIlroy said. “It’s not for me to say. You know, people can be their own judge of whether they took it too far or not. I’m just proud of us for being able to win today with what we had to go through.”

It also got feisty in the second match, in which Fleetwood and countryman Justin Rose prevailed 3 and 2 over the Americans’ stars, Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau.

Fleetwood and DeChambeau got in a shouting match as they walked to the 16th tee, with Scheffler’s caddie Ted Scott also involved. The spat began on the previous green.

“I was waiting to putt,” Rose said. “The (Americans) were obviously working on their read … so I sort of waited a few seconds and then I felt like they came up again and I was sort of — I questioned whether — I was like, ‘It’s my putt, right?’ Or however I said it.”

“Maybe I didn’t say it as politely as I could have said it in the moment, but by no means was there any disrespect or anything like that, but obviously it was taken the wrong way.”

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DeChambeau didn’t address the confrontation afterwards.

Outplayed and outmaneuvered all weekend, Keegan Bradley and the Americans would need to make history to pull off a comeback. The largest Saturday margin overcome in Ryder Cup history was 10-6 — by the U.S. in 1999, and by Europe in 2012.

A home-team winning streak is also in jeopardy; Europe’s last Ryder Cup win in the U.S. came in 2012 at Medinah.

“I think anytime at a Ryder Cup, the captain is to blame or to be celebrated,” Bradley said. “So we all have to do a better job, but most importantly I have to do a better job as a captain, and you know, who knows, I feel like the guys have played pretty well. The Europeans have just played, like, way better.

“Sometimes that happens, but we’ve still got another day. Who knows? You never know. We can go out there and win. What do we got to win, 10? Wild stuff happens in sports all the time.”

J.J. Spaun prevented a shutout when he birdied Nos. 17 and 18 to turn a 1-down deficit into a 1-up win alongside Xander Schauffele over Spaniard Jon Rahm and Austrian Sepp Straka.

The last match also arrived at No. 18 all square, and Englishmen Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton hit identical approaches within 3 feet of the cup, Hatton’s ball kissing Fitzpatrick’s. Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns couldn’t make birdie, handing Europe a 1-up victory.

Hatton was a late substitute for Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who aggravated a neck injury during morning foursomes and is questionable to play Sunday.

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World No. 1 Scheffler has had a nightmare week, becoming the first player since the Ryder Cup format changed in 1979 to go 0-4 in the opening four sessions of the event. He will face McIlroy in singles on Sunday.

-Field Level Media

Red Sox Clinch AL Wild Card

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Break out the swimming masks and the snorkel gear. Pop the bottles of Korbel. The Boston Red Sox will be playing postseason baseball in 2025.

On June 6th, the Red Sox lost a 9-6 game to the New York Yankees and fell to 30-35 and 10.5 games out of first place. On September 26, the Red Sox fell behind the Detroit Tigers, 3-0, in the 4th inning. It looked as though they’d need a win on Saturday or Sunday, the final day of the Major League Baseball regular season, to secure the Wild Card berth that hung like a slow curve ball, only because the Houston Astros dropped six of their last 10 games.

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That put the Red Sox in control of their own destiny as the Friday night lights shined upon Fenway and a season-ending three game set against the Tigers began.

Detroit had spent all but six days of the season tied or in sole possession of first place in the American League Central Division. The club went 59-34 in their first 93 games of the season which took them to July 8. They’ve gone 27-40 ever since, including the fact they’ve dropped 12 of their last 14 games and 21 of their last 29 games.

That opened the door for the red hot Cleveland Guardians to grab honors atop the Central as Toronto and New York battle it out for honors atop the AL East. Seattle holds first place and had already cliched a bye along side of the East division champ. All the others, minus Houston will play with a deck filled with wild cards.

Boston earned the postseason berth when centerfielder Ceddanne Rafaela cracked a ball off the center field wall, just over the outstretched glove of Tigers centerfielder Parker Meadows. One more inch, and we’d be reading and writing about Saturday.

Boston will see Postseason play for the first time since 2021, not all that long ago. But, Friday night’s big win in front of a sold out crowd of 37.052 at Fenway marked the first time since at least 1920 that the club earned a playoff berth via a walk-off RBI, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

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Instead, Boston’s Romy Gonzalez rounded the bases to score, giving the Red Sox a 4-3 “walk-off” victory. The hit marked Rafaela’s third walk-off RBI of the 2025 season and the 12th walk-off RBI for the Red Sox this season. Gonzalez had singled to start the one-out rally in the bottom of the ninth.

Boston scored single runs in the 7th, 8th and 9th inning to earn the victory.

Masataka Yoshida continued his hot-hitting ways as the team’s designated hitter. He went three-for-four with an RBI single in the 4th inning and a run scored in the 7th. Left fielder Jarren Duran slapped an RBI single in the 8th inning, scoring Nate Eaton who had pinch-run for Carlos Narvaez who singled and allowed Boston to tie the game at 3-3.

Boston spotted Detroit a three-run lead in fourth inning of this September night. Starting pitcher Kyle Harrison had held Detroit scoreless for three innings, striking out six Tigers batters. But he allowed five consecutive batters to reach base in the 4th inning, via four hits and a walk. Harrison gave way to Justin Slaten and he retired three of the four batters he faced to put the fire out.

Sox manager Alex Cora used six pitchers in relief of Harrison. Closer Aroldis Chapman (5-3) earned the victory after blanking Detroit in the top of the 9th inning, striking out the final two batters he faced.

Detroit’s reliever, Tommy Kahnle (1-5) took the loss, the fifth walk-off loss of the season coughed up by the Tigers. Detroit is now 6-16 (.272) in the month of September as they fight off the law of averages and steep competition in the postseason, most likely as the 6th seed and final Wild Card berth in the AL.

Boston has won seven of their last 11 games, and 13 of their last 23. The club went (6-5) in their Fenway Green uniforms, but each of the six victories came in “walk-off” fashion.

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You just might wonder if they’ll wear them on the road in the Wild Card round of the Postseason?

Playoff Picture On Line at Fenway

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – The American League playoff picture will be in full focus as the Boston Red Sox host the Detroit Tigers in a regular season-ending, three-game series beginning on Friday night.

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The teams holding the final two wild-card spots had opposite Thursday results, with the Red Sox (87-72) missing an opportunity to officially clinch their first postseason berth in three years via a three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays, losing 6-1 in the series finale. Their magic number is still one; a win or a Houston Astros loss to the Los Angeles Angels would do the trick.

“Just one of those nights,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We’ve put ourselves in a good position, yet we know what we have to do and it’s going to be at Fenway Park.”

Detroit (86-73), meanwhile, snapped an eight-game skid with a 4-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians, leaving the two teams tied atop the Central entering the weekend after the Tigers had a double-digit lead in the division as recently as Sept. 3.

After winning their first two games in Toronto by a combined 11-2 score, the Red Sox were hitless until the seventh inning on Thursday. Jarren Duran doubled and scored the lone Red Sox run on a Trevor Story single.

Story is four RBI away from his first 100-RBI season since 2018 and just the second of his career.

On the mound, Kyle Harrison (1-1, 3.58 ERA) looks to continue making his case for October when he makes his third appearance and second start with Boston on Friday.

The 23-year-old southpaw, who was part of the Rafael Devers trade in June, pitched six innings of one-run ball last Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rays. Cora called it an “amazing” debut start with the club.

“His strike-throwing with the fastball is legit. And when he’s around the zone, he’s tough to hit,” Cora added. “He was under control.”

Prior to last weekend, Harrison had not pitched since a three-inning relief outing on Sept. 10 against the Athletics. He has never faced Detroit.

“I’m just glad they had the confidence in me, and I was glad that I was able to deliver in that moment,” Harrison said.

The Red Sox are trusting Harrison in a key situation against Detroit, which scored five runs in its previous three games before tagging Cleveland lefty Parker Messick for three homers in four innings out of the gates on Thursday.

Solo shots by leadoff-hitting Jahmai Jones and Wenceel Perez made it 2-0 in the first, while Riley Greene added his team-leading 36th homer of the season in the fourth.

“Look, everybody needs to see a little positivity in the game,” Detroit manager AJ Hinch said. “We’re human. We feed off a ton of things, including the good things. Of course I think everyone took a collective breath and said, ‘Here we go.’”

A handful of relievers clinched the much-needed win behind rookie Troy Melton, who lasted 3 2/3 innings. Will Vest struck out the side in the ninth.

It was Tigers’ first triumph since Sept. 14 and just their fifth in 20 September games.

“It felt like a weight was lifted off our shoulders and we’re back on track,” Melton said. “We know we’re a good baseball team.”

Despite the team’s September struggles, Casey Mize (14-6, 3.91 ERA) has gone five innings and allowed no more than three runs in each of his four starts. The first two were wins.

Mize has a pair of eight-strikeout efforts this month and has 14 outings with five or more this season, which was his total across 5 2/3 Sunday innings against the Atlanta Braves.

“The opportunity’s still in front of us, as bad as it’s been,” Mize said after his last start.

Mize, a 2025 AL All-Star, is 0-1 with a 4.29 ERA in four career starts against Boston.

-Field Level Media

Crochet Goes 8 Innings; Beats Jays

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TORONTO – (Wire Service Report) – Boston’s ace starter Garrett Crochet pitched eight scoreless innings, Carlos Narvaez hit a three-run home run and the visiting Red Sox defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 on Wednesday night in Canada.

Crochet (18-5) allowed three hits and no walks while striking out six to lower his ERA to 2.59.

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Masataka Yoshida added a solo homer and an RBI double while Trevor Story contributed three hits to help the Red Sox (87-71) to their second straight win to open the three-game series. Romy Gonzalez had two hits and two RBIs.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa homered for Toronto in the ninth against Payton Tolle.

The Blue Jays (90-68) have lost six of their last seven games and have now fallen into a tie for first within their division. They began the day with a one-game lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East.

The Red Sox have won four of five as they close in on a postseason berth. The Blue Jays have clinched a playoff spot.

Boston scored three runs in the first inning against Max Scherzer (5-5). Story looped a single to left and took third on Alex Bregman’s single to right. Yoshida dumped an RBI double into the right-field corner and Gonzalez knocked a two-run single to left.

Crochet pitched around Ernie Clement’s double in the bottom of the first.

Yoshida led off the fifth with a blast to right on an 0-1 fastball for his third homer of the season.

Scherzer allowed four runs, 10 hits and no walks while striking out five in five innings before Brendon Little took over to toss a perfect sixth.

Toronto’s Jose Berrios entered in the seventh to make his first relief appearance since being sent to the bullpen from the starting rotation in a move looking forward to the postseason. Berrios started his first relief appearance since 2017 with a perfect inning with one strikeout.

In the eighth, however, Berrios allowed a single to Gonzalez, a walk to Ceddanne Rafaela and the 15th homer of the season by Narvaez, a shot to right with two out.

Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was ejected in the bottom of the seventh for arguing about a called third strike. Hitting coach David Popkins was also ejected.

Toronto’s Anthony Santander returned to the lineup for the first time since late May after missing nearly four months with left shoulder inflammation. He was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Win Big Game vs. Jays

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TORONTO – (Wire Service Report) – Nathaniel Lowe and Carlos Narvaez had two RBIs apiece and the visiting Boston Red Sox defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Both had key hits in Boston’s three-run sixth inning that broke a 1-1 tie in the opener of the three-game series.

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The Red Sox (86-71) are trying to secure a playoff spot, while the Blue Jays (90-67) confirmed their postseason berth with a win on Sunday that ended a four-game losing streak.

The Blue Jays had their lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East cut to one game. The Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Tuesday.

Boston had a 9-3 advantage in hits and took a 1-0 lead in the second against Kevin Gausman (10-11). Masataka Yoshida led off with a double into the right-field corner and scored on Lowe’s two-out single to left. Boston further threatened when Wilyer Abreu blooped a double down the left-field line, but Narvaez lined out to right.

Toronto loaded the bases against Lucas Giolito in the bottom of the second on two walks and shortstop Trevor Story’s second error of the game. George Springer’s shot past third base was ruled foul and then he was called out on strikes.

Toronto tied the game in the fourth. Nathan Lukes doubled to right center, took third on Davis Schneider’s single to left and scored on Andres Gimenez’s fielder’s choice grounder.

Justin Wilson (4-1) replaced Giolito in the fifth after a two-out walk. Giolito allowed one run, three hits and four walks with three strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

The Red Sox regained the lead in the sixth. Romy Gonzalez doubled to left with one out, stopped at third on Ceddanne Rafaela’s single to left and scored on Lowe’s single to right. Rafaela was out in a rundown between third and home on Abreu’s grounder to first. Narvaez lined a two-run double to right and Louis Varland replaced Gausman, who allowed four runs, nine hits and one walk with seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Boston’s Garrett Whitlock pitched a perfect seventh inning with two strikeouts.

Justin Slaten took over for Boston in the eighth and pitched a clean inning.

Aroldis Chapman pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 32nd save of the season.

–Field Level Media

Sox vs. Blue Jays: Big 3-Game Series

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TORONTO – (Wire Service Report) – The Toronto Blue Jays’ postseason ticket officially has been punched. Their next goal is to win the American League East as they close out the regular season with a six-game home stand that opens tonight against the Boston Red Sox.

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The Blue Jays (90-66) clinched a playoff berth with an 8-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday that completed a 3-4 road trip.

The win snapped the Blue Jays’ four-game losing streak during which they scored a total of three runs. It also maintained their two-game lead in the AL East over the New York Yankees, who also won Sunday.

The Red Sox (85-71) are third in the AL East, five games behind Toronto after losing 7-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday night. They will be trying to solidify their hold on a wild-card spot when they complete a six-game road trip with three in Toronto.

The Blue Jays are scheduled to start Kevin Gausman (10-10, 3.38 ERA) on Tuesday. The right-hander is 9-10 with a 4.18 ERA in 32 career games (27 starts) against the Red Sox. In his one start against them this season, he allowed one unearned run in eight innings but did not factor in the decision.

Lucas Giolito (10-4, 3.46) is expected to get the assignment for the Red Sox. The right-hander is 3-3 with a 4.63 ERA in 10 career starts against the Blue Jays. In two starts against them this season, he is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA.

Toronto leads the season series with Boston 7-3.

The Blue Jays finished last in the division in 2024 after being swept in the wild-card series in each of the previous two seasons. This season, they are considered a surprise team and were the first AL team to clinch a postseason berth.

“I’m so happy for them,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “It is hard at this level for everyone to put their egos aside and play for each other. It is so cool to see these guys genuinely happy for each other when they get the job done, no matter who it is. This is the most fulfilling team I’ve been part of.”

The resurgences of George Springer and Bo Bichette have given the offense a boost this season. Bichette, who was hampered by injuries in 2024, has been out since Sept. 7 with a sprained left knee and he will not return until the postseason.

Finishing first in the AL East and winning the top seed in the AL could be important for the Blue Jays because of the home-field advantages they bring. The Blue Jays have been two different teams this year — 50-25 at home and 40-41 on the road.

Entering Tuesday’s games, the Blue Jays are in the driver’s seat for the AL’s top seed. They have a magic number of four with the Yankees, three with the Mariners, two with the Astros and one with the other three AL teams still mathematically in the playoff chase.

The Red Sox are 39-39 on the road but are 17-10 away from home since July 23.

They missed a chance to sweep the Rays on Sunday when they stranded 10 runners despite going 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Taking the series in Tampa was considered a positive step for the Red Sox, who entered Monday sitting in the second wild-card spot. They begin the final week of the regular season one game ahead of Houston and Cleveland, who are tied for the third and final spot entering Tuesday’s action.

“Every game counts,” said Boston manager Alex Cora. “We’re in a good position. I know the season didn’t end (Sunday), but we’re in a good spot.”

Cora likes the way the offense is trending. “I truly believe now, the line is moving,” he said. “There were some tremendous at-bats, guys using the whole field.”

Boston outfielder Wilyer Abreu returned to the lineup on Sunday after being out since Aug. 18 with a strained right calf. He struck out four times as the DH.

–Field Level Media

Patriots Turn It Over vs Steelers

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FOXBORO – (Wire Service Report) – Aaron Rodgers tossed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Austin on a third-and-6 play with 2:16 remaining in the game to help the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the New England Patriots 21-14 Sunday.

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New England moved the ball to the Pittsburgh 28-yard line on its final possession before turning the ball over on downs.

The Patriots (1-2) committed five turnovers in the loss, including two fumbles by running back Rhamondre Stevenson. Running back Antonio Gibson and quarterback Drake Maye each lost a fumble, and Maye was intercepted once. Stevenson fumbled seven times last season, which was the most among NFL running backs.

“We don’t need to lose a football game to know that turnovers are very hard to overcome,” said Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. “They erase all the good things that you do. They take away momentum. They take away points, give them field position. We didn’t need to turn it over as many times as we did to learn a lesson. I think we knew that before. So, it was very unfortunate.”

Tight end Hunter Henry caught two TD passes for New England, which had a 369-203 edge in total yards.

The Steelers (2-1) took a 14-0 lead by scoring on each of their first two possessions. The first TD was set up by a Stevenson fumble that gave Pittsburgh the ball on its own 46-yard line. The Steelers capitalized when Kenneth Gainwell scored on a 1-yard run with 8:25 remaining in the first quarter.

“There’s a lot to clean up,” said Vrabel.  “A lot of good in there, but unfortunately just not enough to get us the win, to get us to really have any sort of advantage in the football game. Every time I felt like we were going to take the momentum and be able to score and move forward in the game, and the defense did a great job there. Unfortunately, it got to be one too many opportunities on their part.”

It was 14-0 after DK Metcalf caught a 12-yard TD pass from Rodgers and Chris Boswell made the PAT with 13:49 left in the second quarter. The play moved Rodgers into fourth place in career NFL TD passes with 509. He trails Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571) and Peyton Manning (539).

The Patriots scored on a 5-yard pass from Maye to Henry with 9:01 left in the first half. New England had a chance to tie the game later in the half, but Cam Heyward tipped a Maye pass that was intercepted by Bradin Echols in the end zone with seven seconds remaining in the second quarter.

New England tied the game when Henry hauled in a 16-yard TD pass on a fourth-and-two play with 14:56 left in the fourth quarter. The Andres Borregales PAT made it 14-14.

Pittsburgh scored the go-ahead TD after Maye fumbled and the Steelers recovered on their own 33.

The Steelers got two sacks from T.J. Watt.

–Field Level Media