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By TERRY LYONS
Wells Fargo Championship | Final Round
CHARLOTTE – In search of his first career PGA Tour victory, Wyndham Clark leads by two strokes over World No. 5 Xander Schauffele. Clark carded a season-low (63) for low round of the tournament.
Sox are Sweeper, Not Sweepee
BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – A month ago, the Boston Red Sox were being swept in a three-games series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The three losses at Fenway Park dropped the Sox record to 2-4 and they plummeted from second to last place in the American League East.
This week, Boston won four consecutive games against a talented Toronto Blue Jays team to sweep their series and improve their record to 19-14 and are five games over the .500 mark and they are 7-3 in series play, including 5-1 at home. Boston owns the AL’s longest active winning streak and are tied with the LA Dodgers for the longest win-streak in the majors.
It is far better to be the sweeper of a series, rather than the sweepee.
Boston’s Masataka Yoshida went 3-for-5 with a first-inning home run, three RBIs and three runs while Rafael Devers also went deep to help the Boston Red Sox complete the sweep of the visiting Blue Jays with an 11-5 win Thursday evening (6:10pm start).
Boston led 6-0 and 8-1 through two and four innings, respectively, en route to its sixth straight win.
The Red Sox put up a series-high 16 hits — delivering one more hit in each successive game of their series after 13 hits Monday. Justin Turner, Devers and Jarren Duran added three apiece as the Nos. 2 through 5 spots in Boston’s lineup went a combined 12-for-20 with nine RBIs.
Devers had four RBIs, including hitting his 150th career homer and American League-leading 11th this season to highlight the team’s three-run eighth. Raimel Tapia and Yoshida each scored three runs.
Winning pitcher Brayan Bello (1-1) struck out five and walked one while allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits over five innings.
Toronto SS Bo Bichette, first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (double, home run, two RBIs) and OF Daulton Varsho had two hits apiece for Toronto.
The Red Sox teed off on Toronto starter Kevin Gausman (2-3), who was charged with eight runs on 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings. The right-hander had pitched seven scoreless innings in his each of his previous two outings with 24 strikeouts in 14 innings.
Yoshida opened the scoring with a one-out solo shot into the center-field bullpen in the first.
Boston blew the game open with a five-run, six-hit second inning that moved Gausman over the 60-pitch mark. Catcher Reese McGuire’s one-out RBI single started the barrage to make it 2-0. After Tapia reached on a run-scoring fielder’s choice, he stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Yoshida’s sharp single to right. A Turner single moved Yoshida to third and Devers scored both on a double that was inches shy of clearing the fence in deep right.
In the fourth, the visitors got on the board on a Guerrero homer to center, but Boston made it 8-1 after Yoshida and Duran each hit RBI singles with Gausman exiting in between.
Toronto cut its deficit to 8-4 in the fifth. Bichette grounded a hit to right before Guerrero’s ground-rule double over Tapia’s head plated another run. Varsho capped the three-batter scoring span with a sacrifice fly to left.
In the eighth, an RBI single by Turner preceded the Devers bomb to right.
The Jays got a run back on George Springer’s one-out single in the final frame.
Toronto reliever Zach Pop exited with two outs in the eighth due to an apparent leg injury.
–Field Level Media
PGA Tour: Fleetwood Leads Wells Fargo
CHARLOTTE – Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood carded a 6-under 65 and holds a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship. Fleetwood holds the 18-hole lead/co-lead for the third time on Tour and second time this season (The PLAYERS Championship).
World No. 5 Xander Schauffele cards a 5-under 66, his lowest score in 13 rounds at the Wells Fargo Championship
K.H. Lee carded a first-round (66) at the Wells Fargo Championship for the third consecutive year (won the AT&T Byron Nelson Classic the following week in 2021 and 2022).
Three-time Wells Fargo Champion Rory McIlroy recorded a 3-under (68) on his 34th birthday and stands T-6.
Defending champion and two-time Wells Fargo Championship winner Max Homa opens with a 1-under 70 and stands T36
Wells Fargo Championship | After 18 holes
Tommy Fleetwood 65 (-6)
Kevin Streelman 66 (-5)
K.H. Lee 66 (-5)
Taylor Moore 66 (-5)
Xander Schauffele 66 (-5)
Ryan Palmer 66 (-5)
Full Leaderboard: (link)
Celtics Roll Over Sixers in Game 2
BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Philadelphia’s oft-injured center Joel Embiid returned to the 76ers’ lineup for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Wednesday night, but the Sixers fell victims to a 34-point blowout looking like a completely different club than the one who upset Boston in Game 1 Monday night.
In Game 2, host Boston benefitted from a game-high 25 points from all-star swingman Jaylen Brown and pulled even in the best-of-seven series, earning a 121-87 victory.
The second-seeded Celtics led by only eight at halftime and took control of the game in the third quarter, when they outscored the third-seeded Sixers, 35-16, to take a 92-65 advantage into the fourth.
Malcolm Brogdon came off the bench to toss in 23 points for the Celtics, who won even though leading scorer Jayson Tatum finished the game with seven points in 19 minutes. Marcus Smart (15 points), Derrick White (15) and Grant Williams (12) also scored in double figures for Boston, which made 20 of its 51 (39.2 percent) 3-point attempts.
Embiid, who was named the NBA’s MVP on Tuesday, sprained his lateral collateral ligament on April 20 during Game 3 of Philadelphia’s first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets. He didn’t play in Game 4, when the 76ers completed a four-game sweep of the Nets. He also sat out Philadelphia’s 119-115 Game 1 victory over Boston on Monday.
Embiid finished Game 2 with 15 points and five blocks in 27 minutes. He won a second straight scoring title by averaging 33.1 points per game during the regular season.
Tobias Harris led Philadelphia with 16 points. James Harden, who scored 45 points in Game 1, scored 12 in Game 2. The 76ers were 6 of 30 (20 percent) from behind the 3-point arc.
The Celtics led 28-22 after one quarter and increased their lead to 12 points — their largest lead of the first half — when an Al Horford 3-pointer made it 50-38 with 4:41 left in the second quarter. The 76ers missed 12 of their 13 3-point attempts in the first half and trailed 57-49 entering the third quarter.
Boston cruised from there, leading by as much as 36. The series continues with Game 3 in Philadelphia on Friday.
–Field Level Media
Red Sox Strike Data Protection Deal
BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – HYCU, Inc., a Boston-based data protection service company, struck a multi-year partnership with the Boston Red Sox. The new partnership will leverage the power of the award-winning HYCU Protégé platform to modernize, scale, and simplify the Red Sox club-owned proprietary data and its overall protection strategy.
Echoing Major League Baseball’s efforts to protect the integrity of data, the challenge for the Red Sox became apparent as each MLB club needed to protect their back-end infrastructure environments such as corporate, enterprise, and fan-facing systems that are unique to the sport.
The Red Sox turned to HYCU to modernize their back-end infrastructure. In doing so, the team adopted the solutions tailored to fit their specific needs.
“The business of baseball is very complex,” said Brian Shield, Red Sox SVP and CTO. “The need to modernize our digital strategy and cloud capabilities was a top priority for our IT team. As our data protection needs continue to grow, we needed a more effective way to protect our data and HYCU has allowed us to do that.”
“Partnering with the Boston Red Sox and their IT department to help modernize their infrastructure for not only today but well into the future, is what any Boston-based company dreams about,” said Simon Taylor, CEO and Founder, HYCU. “HYCU solutions are designed to help companies seamlessly manage, protect, optimize, and recover all their data, no matter where it resides and on what platform. We are thrilled to work with The Red Sox and count them as a key relationship in our growing customer base.”
Tour Turns to “The Green Mile”
CHARLOTTE – The Wells Fargo Championship is the 29th event of the 2022-23 PGA TOUR Season and seventh designated event, featuring six of the Top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (33 of top 50), 25 of the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings and 19 of the 23 players that have won on TOUR this season.
Prize money is a lofty $20m with the winner getting $3.6 million from the bank’s coffers.
Red Sox Can Take Series vs. Blue Jays
BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Red Sox had a season series to forget against the Blue Jays in 2022, but Boston came out swinging in back-to-back games vs. visiting Toronto to begin the week. After losing 16 of the 19 games between the teams last season, Boston has banged out double-digit hits twice and shown resolve to pick up a pair of one-run wins.
Boston will chase a fifth straight win and aim to clinch the four-game series when the American League East foes meet tonight.
“Last year, they had our number,” Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo said. “It’s one of those things, man, we want to play competitive games against these guys. Last year there were a lot of blowouts, a lot of uncompetitive games.”
Verdugo hit a walk-off home run on Monday in a 6-5 Boston win, and catcher Connor Wong was the hero on Tuesday. His 4-for-4 effort included two long balls, the second of which came in the eighth inning to decide a 7-6 ballgame.
The Red Sox, who have come from behind in 12 of their 17 wins, tied a season high with four home runs on Tuesday. Christian Arroyo and Masataka Yoshida also went deep.
The contributions of Wong and others have brought a new dynamic to the lineup.
“He’s been (hitting like) the best catcher in the league,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Defensively, obviously, he’s doing what he’s doing. It’s cool to see all these kids coming in here and getting a chance to play and contributing to this.”
Nick Pivetta (1-2, 5.11 ERA) will get the start for Boston on Wednesday. The right-hander has pitched at least five innings and recorded at least five strikeouts in four of his first five starts.
Pivetta is looking to bounce back from a Friday loss to the Cleveland Guardians in which he allowed four runs on five hits but struck out five in five innings. His lone win came a week earlier in Milwaukee.
“I feel like I’ve been competitive, making small increases as I go forward, staying healthy, which I’m happy about,” Pivetta said. “I feel like I’m close to … taking a step in the right direction.”
Pivetta is 1-4 with a 5.83 ERA in 11 career starts against Toronto.
The Blue Jays have scored at least five runs in seven of their past nine games, but they have allowed six or more in three straight, all losses.
A six-run fifth inning, including a three-run homer by Daulton Varsho, was not enough for Toronto on Tuesday.
Bo Bichette, who was 7-for-11 with two homers and six RBIs in his previous two games, went 0-for-2 with two walks and a run on Tuesday.
“Competing is when he’s taking his skill set along with a really good approach to what the pitchers are doing to him,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.
Bichette leads the major leagues with 43 hits.
Alek Manoah (1-1, 4.88), Toronto’s scheduled Wednesday starter, has not been victorious since April 5 in Kansas City, though he allowed just two runs total over his past two starts. He struck out seven in five innings of two-run ball during a no-decision against the Seattle Mariners on Friday.
Manoah has been outstanding in six career starts against the Red Sox, going 4-0 with a 1.46 ERA and 33 strikeouts over 37 innings.
“I pitch with passion and I love competing,” Manoah said prior to the series. “When you are a competitor like that, a lot of teams like to come at you with their best. They lock it in that day or they’re extra aggressive that day. They play harder, and that’s what I love.”
Three of Manoah’s four victories over Boston came last season, including a Sept. 30 start in which he allowed just two hits in six shutout innings.
– Field Level Media
Embiid Dominates in NBA MVP Voting
NEW YORK – Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid won the 2022-23 NBA Most Valuable Player award. Embiid, the runner-up in each of the past two years, beat out Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, who had combined to win the past four MVPs.
The Sixers’ big man from Cameroon received 73 of 100 first-place votes from a panel of broadcasters and journalists and received 915 total points. Jokic placed second with 15 first-place votes and 674 points; Antetokounmpo received the other 12 first-place votes and had 606 total points.
Embiid, 29, is the second player from Africa to win the prestigious award, joining Hakeem Olajuwon (1993-94). He’s also the first 76ers player to take home MVP honors since Allen Iverson in 2000-01.
“I don’t even know where to start,” Embiid told TNT’s “NBA Tip-Off” in a remote video call from Boston, where the 76ers defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series but Embiid was forced to sit out on Monday with knee soreness.
“It’s been a long time coming. A lot of hard work. You know, I been through a lot, and I’m not just talking about basketball. I’m talking about everything in life, my story and where I come from and how I got here and what it took for me to be here.”
Embiid led the league in scoring for the second straight year, posting a career-high 33.1 points per game to go with 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 blocks.
He shot a career-high 54.8 percent from the field, thanks to 58.7 percent shooting from inside the arc. Embiid added 66 3-pointers and 66 steals.
An All-Star every season since 2017-18, Embiid made the All-NBA second teams in 2017-18, 2018-19, 2020-21 and 2021-22.
The 76ers managed to beat the Celtics 119-115 without Embiid available in Game 1 due to his knee injury. The injury is widely reported to be a Grade 1 LCL sprain, and Sixers coach Doc Rivers told reporters that Embiid is doubtful for Game 2 Wednesday.
TNT host Ernie Johnson asked Embiid if he would take the court for Game 2.
“We shall see,” Embiid said.
Embiid had his teammates sitting behind him when he appeared on the broadcast.
“First of all, I thank all of them because I couldn’t have done it without them,” he said. “Obviously we’ve been winning a lot and the work that they put in to trust me and put me in positions to succeed has been amazing and they’ve given up a lot for me.
“We’re going to celebrate for five minutes and then we’re going back to business. We got a series to win. I’m just so proud of them, obviously, winning yesterday. That was a big one and we’ve got a few more coming. I’m just so proud of them to be able to make sure to give me some time to really allow me to heal and get back to myself. And I’ll be back, and we’ve got more work to do.”
Antetokounmpo won back-to-back MVP awards in 2019 and 2020 and Jokic was going for his third consecutive MVP.
Jayson Tatum of the Celtics collected 89 fourth-place votes and one third-place vote to finish fourth in voting at 280 points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder (46 points) rounded out the top five after a career year.
For the first time in his career, LeBron James did not receive a single vote for MVP.
–Field Level Media
Celtics Shy on Defense; Drop Game 1
BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – A better brand of defense will be on the mind of the Boston Celtics when they try to rebound from a series-opening defeat on their home court against the Philadelphia 76ers tonight after their 119-115 loss on Monday.
The Celtics’ Al Horford admitted that team defensive intensity was lacking when they played the 76ers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Boston must win Game 2 at home to avoid falling into a deep hole of being down 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.
Although they played without MVP candidate Joel Embiid (knee), Philadelphia prevailed 119-115 in the series opener. James Harden poured in a game-high 45 points, but the 76ers also received plenty of offense from their supporting cast.
Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey scored 26 points, Tobias Harris finished with 18 and De’Anthony Melton came off the bench to toss in 17.
In addition, Philadelphia received 10 points and 13 rebounds from Paul Reed, who started at center in Embiid’s absence.
“We didn’t do as good a job defensively as we could,” Horford said, alluding to an inability to adjust defensive strategies. “As much as you don’t want to say (Embiid’s absence) wasn’t a factor, I think it was. We have to be better. We have to understand that we have to be able to play with whatever happens, whatever variables.”
Embiid’s status for Game 2 remained unchanged as of Tuesday afternoon, according to head coach Doc Rivers. He hasn’t played in Philadelphia’s last two games after injuring his knee in Game 3 of the team’s first-round series victory against the Brooklyn Nets.
“In a lot of ways, when Embiid doesn’t play everybody else is empowered,” Boston’s Malcolm Brogdon said. “Everybody else has the green light and guys are gonna step up, and I thought that’s what happened. I think we expected that, guys to step up, but we still struggled with it. We just gotta be prepared.”
Boston had a 115-114 lead after Jayson Tatum made two free throws with 26.1 seconds left, but Harden sank a 3-pointer – his seventh of the game on 14 attempts – that put Philadelphia in front for good with 8.4 seconds to play.
Harden’s 45 points matched his career-high in a playoff game. He also scored 45 points when he played for Houston in a victory over Golden State in the 2015 Western Conference finals.
“We didn’t come into this game expecting to lose,” Harden said. “We’re here to win. Even after this one I told guys, ‘Don’t get too happy.’ We’re even-keeled. We’re coming in here to get Game 2 as well. That’s the mindset we have as a unit and whether (Embiid) comes back or not we’re going to be ready to go.”
Boston received 39 points from Tatum and 23 from Jaylen Brown in the loss, but Harden alone outscored Tatum and Brown 15-10 in the fourth quarter. Philadelphia was better down the stretch, ending the game on a 12-4 run.
The Celtics had a 66-42 advantage in points in the paint, but that wasn’t enough to overcome Harden’s 17-for-30 (56.7 percent) overall shooting performance.
“(Harden) was phenomenal for us,” Harris said. “He had a huge amount of confidence in his game and what he works on. He’s been doing it for so long and it was an amazing time to come out and just dominate.
“He dominated the whole game and carried us to the victory. It was a team effort, but he did an amazing job of having his composure all throughout the game to help us win.”
–Field Level Media
Bergeron Played with Bad Back
BOSTON – Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron told reporters that he was playing with a herniated disc in his back during Boston’s first-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Florida Panthers.
Bergeron sustained the herniated disc during the Bruins’ final game of the regular season, a 5-4 victory over the host Montreal Canadiens back on April 13. It was labeled as an upper-body injury at the time, and Bergeron did not return to the game against Montreal for precautionary reasons.
The injury forced Bergeron to miss the first four games of the series against Florida, but the Bruins won three of those contests. Bergeron returned for Game 5 and scored a goal — his lone point of the 2023 playoffs — but it wasn’t enough, as Boston fell 4-3. The Panthers then won Games 6 and 7 to stun the Bruins and advance to the second round.
With the offseason now upon Boston after its historic 65-12-5 (135 points) regular season, Bergeron also said that he was weighing his options when it came to the future.
“I gotta take some time and talk with the family and go from there,” Bergeron said. “Right now it’s too hard to process anything. Obviously we’re shocked and disappointed.”
Bergeron, 37, recorded 58 points (27 goals, 31 assists) in 78 games this season, his 19th with the Bruins.
–Field Level Media