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Baseball

Blake Snell shines on mound and Dodgers hold off Phillies 4-3 for 2-0 lead in NLDS

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Blake Snell allowed one hit in six shutout innings, striking out nine, and the Los Angeles Dodgers barely turned back Philadelphiaâ€s late rally Monday night for a 4-3 victory over the Phillies in Game 2 of their NL Division Series.

Freddie Freeman made a game-saving defensive play at first base and Shohei Ohtani delivered an RBI single that helped the Dodgers take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five playoff. The defending World Series champs can reach their 17th National League Championship Series with a Game 3 win Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Will Smith had a two-run single in a four-run seventh, and the Dodgers took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth.

Thatâ€s when the Phillies finally mounted a major threat.

Nick Castellanos slid headfirst into second base, narrowly eluding a tag, for a two-run double off Blake Treinen that at last sent the Philadelphia crowd into a frenzy and made it a 4-3 game.

Alex Vesia came in to face Bryson Stott, who tried to advance Castellanos with a bunt. But third baseman Max Muncy wheeled and threw to shortstop Mookie Betts sprinting over to cover the bag in time to get Castellanos.

Pinch-hitter Harrison Bader singled and Max Kepler grounded into a fielderâ€s choice that left runners at the corners with two outs.

Roki Sasaki entered and retired NL batting champion Trea Turner on a groundout to second for the rookieâ€s second career save – both in this series. Freeman went to his knees to pick Tommy Edmanâ€s poor throw on his backhand, keeping his right toe on the bag before rolling over onto his back with the ball.

Kepler tripled in the eighth and scored on Turnerâ€s single to trim it to 4-1.

A two-time Cy Young Award winner, Snell was sensational in holding the Phillies to another mostly punchless effort in the playoffs. Turner, NL home run champion Kyle Schwarber and two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper went a combined 1 for 10 with five strikeouts.

On the 15-year anniversary of Phillies ace Roy Halladayâ€s playoff no-hitter against the Reds, Snell had one going until Edmundo Sosaâ€s two-out single in the fifth.

Snell, who walked four and threw 99 pitches, was tangled in a duel with Jesús Luzardo until the seventh.

Luzardo threw 24 pitches in the first before the left-hander settled down and retired 17 straight Dodgers until Game 1 star Teoscar Hernández singled leading off the inning. Freeman doubled and that was all for Luzardo.

After reliever Orion Kerkering got a strikeout, Kiké Hernández hit a slow roller to shortstop and Turner rushed an off-target throw home that allowed Teoscar Hernández to score. Smith lined a two-run single for a 3-0 lead and Ohtani – who struck out four times in the opener and again leading off Game 2 – ripped a run-scoring single off left-handed reliever Matt Strahm for his first hit of the series.

The Dodgers, who used the injured list this season 37 times for 2,585 days, according to Major League Baseball, are finally mostly healthy and need to win just once in two home games to clinch the series. Teams taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five postseason series have won 80 of 90 times, including 54 sweeps.

The NL East champion Phillies were used to flailing at Snell.

Snell, who missed four months of his first season in Los Angeles with shoulder inflammation, struck out a season-high 12 over seven innings in a September start against the Phillies. Philadelphia players in the Game 2 starting lineup who had faced Snell hit only a combined .152 lifetime against him coming in.

Snell worked out of his only jam in the sixth, when he issued consecutive one-out walks to finally get a rise out of more than 45,000 fans who had been nervously subdued most of the game. Snell got Harper, the NLDS career home run leader with 11, to swing hard on strike three, and Alec Bohm ended the threat with a chopper to third that snuffed the energy out of the ballpark.

The slumping Phillies were 1 for 18 with nine strikeouts through six.

The Dodgers send RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound in Game 3. Yamamoto struck out a postseason-high nine while pitching into the seventh inning in the Wild Card Series clincher against Cincinnati. Aaron Nola will start for the Phillies.

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AP NFL:

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Sandbergâ€s superb strike denies Chelsea as Manchester United hold WSL leaders | Women’s Super League

Chelsea and Manchester United both maintained their unbeaten starts to the Womenâ€s Super League season, although the defending champions†100% winning record was brought to an end by an entertaining contest between the top two.

The result extended Unitedâ€s agonisingly long wait for a first WSL victory over Chelsea but they will have taken great encouragement from their performance, on a night when both teams created plenty of chances to win and the home side showed they may well have the qualities to mount a serious title challenge.

For a game played between the teams with the two best defensive records in the WSL last term, and which had conceded the fewest goals so far this season before kick-off, the game began in a surprisingly open fashion as both attacked early on. The contest opened at such a fast pace that it could easily have been 2-2 inside the first six minutes, with Hannah Hampton saving with her feet from Elisabeth Terland, Catarina Macarioâ€s effort being blocked by Maya Le Tissier, Jess Park firing narrowly over the crossbar and then Aggie Beever‑Jones following suit when she looked certain to score.

Chelsea did then provide the goal the early flurry of attacks had threatened, as Wieke Kaptein met Macarioâ€s clever back-heeled pass and slotted in a neat, clinical finish low into the corner, as the hosts conceded a league goal for only the second time this season.

Manchester United had lost 10 of their previous 11 WSL meetings with Chelsea, but this confident version of Marc Skinnerâ€s team were unwilling to roll over. Inspired by the dribbling of Park, who seemed determined to skip her way past as many defenders as possible and was the driving force of her teamâ€s adventurous play, they continued to create chances and they were soon level when Anna Sandberg scored her first goal for the club. She could hardly have caught her strike any sweeter, angling her foot perfectly over the ball to arrow a half-volley powerfully past Hampton from just outside the area.

The game was played amid Storm Amy, which brought swirling rain and gusts of wind, and started with a minuteâ€s silence following the terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday, with the home side also wearing black armbands as a mark of respect.

Additionally, both sets of teams joined together in a circle pre-match against racism at the start of Black History Month, in a week when the Peterborough player Kira Rai suffered racist abuse. The England and Tottenham forward Jessica Naz was the victim of racism online nine days previously.

Wieke Kaptein gave Chelsea an early lead. Photograph: Steve Taylor/PPAUK/Shutterstock

This was the ground where Chelsea clinched last seasonâ€s title, with a 1-0 victory in a game that had been fairly even. This looks like a much-improved United team since then, though, and they continued to threaten in the second half, with Fridolina Rolföâ€s deflected effort looping on to the top of the bar before Parkâ€s swerving effort flew narrowly over. Melvine Malard, on as a substitute, dragged a low shot wide with 21 minutes remaining.

Skinner had said on Wednesday that he wanted his team to be brave and “show Chelsea that you can beat themâ€, and they certainly seemed to respond to his rallying cry as they continued to play with intensity and attacking intent, while Chelsea remained dangerous at the other end too, with Beever-Jones going close.

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Such was the extent of the test Chelsea were being presented with, there was even a rare moment of frustration from Sonia Bompastor, with the Chelsea coach shown a yellow card in the second half after she bemoaned a free-kick decision against her team.

Chelseaâ€s Sjoeke Nüsken bent an effort just wide of a post as the visitors began to search for a late winner, and Alyssa Thompson was almost able to race through on to a loose ball inside the penalty area but she was tackled by the quick-thinking United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who also dived low to her left to keep out a Keira Walsh shot moments later.

Guro Reiten had a shot blocked in stoppage time, as late Chelsea pressure grew, but in the end a draw was a relatively fair result and sets the weekendâ€s action up nicely before the other two title contenders, Manchester City and Arsenal, go head-to-head on Saturday. They will be hungry to capitalise on Chelsea and United sharing a point, with City able to close to within a point of the leaders if they win.

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QMJHL Roundup: Sagueneens hold off late rally from Eagles

Émile Guité scored the shootout winner as the Chicoutimi Saguenéens held off a rally from the Cape Breton Eagles to win 3-2 on Thursday in Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League action.

Maxim Massé and Guité scored in regulation for Chicoutimi (3-1-0-1). Raphael Précourt made 26 saves.

Lucas Romeo and Eliot Litalien replied for Cape Breton (1-1-1-2). Félix Hamel stopped 24 shots.

Guité’s goal at 14:53 of the third period made it a 2-0 game for the Saguenéens.

However, Romeo made it a one-goal game on the power play with 2:31 remaining in regulation. Litalien added another power-play marker with 1:57 left to send the game to overtime.

GATINEAU, Que. — Nathan Leek capped a two-goal effort with the game-winning marker with 5:05 remaining in the third period as the Charlottetown Islanders edged the Gatineau Olympiques 4-3.

CJ Watroba and Tyler Peddle also scored for Charlottetown (5-0-0-1), which held a 3-1 lead before the Olympiques rallied to tie the game in the third period. Donald Hickey made 24 saves.

Simon-Xavier Cyr, Maxime Coté and Justin Boisselle provided the offence for Gatineau (3-2-0). Danai Shaiikov stopped 19-of-22 shots in 49:37 of action, with Nathan St-Pierre turning away 5-of-6 shots in relief.

HALIFAX — Quinn Kennedy scored twice as the Halifax Mooseheads defeated the Baie-Comeau Drakkar 4-1.

Connor MacPherson and Daniel Walters added the others for Halifax (3-2-0), which got 25 saves from Owen Bresson.

Justin Gendron replied for Baie-Comeau (0-4-0-1). Lucas Beckman stopped 25-of-28 shots.

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Baseball

Mets’ offense explodes, Nolan McLean strikes out 11 to hold on for 8-5 win over Cubs

Two homers helped propel the Mets to an 8-5 win over the Cubs in Chicago on Thursday night to take the series.

Nolan McLean, while dominant at times, had an uneven night. But with the offensive production, the Mets didn’t need their young phenom to carry the weight of the season. And with the Reds winning their game earlier in the day, the Mets remain one game ahead in the wild-card race with three games remaining.

Here are the takeaways…

-New York got to Shota Imanaga in the first inning with Francisco Lindor setting the table with a leadoff walk. After Juan Sotonearly missed a two-run shot, Pete Alonso followed with a double to put runners on second and third with one out. Mark Vientospopped out toward the stands on the third base side, which Dansby Swanson caught in foul territory, but he fell into the stands, which automatically allowed Lindor to score from third since Swanson went out of play. Brandon Nimmo hit a single to score Alonso to give the Mets an early 2-0 lead.

Lindor would help the offense out again in the third, launching a fastball 408 feet out of Wrigley Field to put the Mets up 3-0. It’s Lindor’s 30th homer of the season, his second 30-30 year of his career. It’s also just the third time in MLB history two teammates — with Soto — had 30-30 seasons, joining the 1996 Rockies (Dante Bichette, Ellis Burks ) and the 1987 Mets (Howard Johnson, Darryl Strawberry).

It’s also the first time in franchise history that three players have had 30 home runs in the same season, joining Soto and Alonso.

-The Mets’ batters started to hit Imanaga hard in the fourth. Vientos hit a screamer tailing away from Ian Happ in left field, but the Gold Glover made a nifty diving catch for the first out. Nimmo and Luis Torrensfollowed with back-to-back singles before Brett Baty launched a three-run shot to give the Mets a comfy 6-0 lead.

With the Cubs trying to chip away, Tyrone Taylorgot the runs back in the sixth with a two-out double that scored Nimmo and Baty. Taylor entered that at-bat 0-for-5 since returning from the IL, but delivered a massive hit to reestablish the Mets’ six-run lead.

-McLean was asked to essentially save the Mets’ season again, and he did his darnedest on this night. After allowing a two-out double to Happ in the first, he struck out Moises Ballesteros to end the first inning and kept the momentum on the Mets’ side after their two-run opening frame. The young right-hander was cruising in the early going, striking out eight batters in the first four innings. He made one mistake, leaving a hanging changeup to Seiya Suzuki smashed it to straight center field for a solo shot, just the second home run McLean has allowed in his big league career. Swanson hit a solo homer of his own with one out in the fifth to get the score to 6-2. Despite the homers, McLean had reached a new career-high in strikeouts, fanning 10 Cubs across his first five innings of work.

After McLean picked up his 11th strikeout of the night, the most by a Mets pitcher this season, he started to lose his command. He walked Happ and allowed a ground-rule double to Ballesteros before Suzuki launched a three-run shot to trim the Mets’ lead to 8-5. New York tried to stretch McLean to get through six innings with the bullpen taxed, but McLean hit a wall.

McLean allowed five runs on five hits (three home runs), two walks through 5.1 innings (94 pitches/63 strikes) while striking out those 11 batters. The five runs pushed McLean’s ERA to 2.06 on the year.

-In relief of McLean, the taxed Mets bullpen was tasked with getting the final 11 outs of the game and performed masterfully. The combination of Ryne Stanek, Brooks Raley, Tyler Rogers and Edwin Diaz shut out the Cubs to hold down the win. Here’s how each reliever did…

  • Stanek: 0.2 IP, 1 H
  • Raley: 1.0 IP, 3 K
  • Rogers: 1.0 IP
  • Diaz: 1.0 IP, 1 H

–Francisco Alvarez was not in the starting lineup, as manager Carlos Mendoza wanted to give the young backstop a day off after he had leg cramps toward the end of Wednesday’s game. Torrens started and went 1-for-4 with a run scored. The Mets’ skipper also said he had a decision to make with the lefty Imanaga on the mound, and chose Baty over Jeff McNeil. Baty finished 2-for-4 with the big blast and made a bare-handed web gem at third base to get McLean through the third inning.

Game MVP: Mets bullpen

With McLean unable to get out of the sixth, the ‘pen got the final 11 outs without giving up a run from the high-powered Cubs.

Highlights

What’s next

The Mets head to Miami to take on the Marlins. The series opener on Friday has a first pitch time of 7:10 p.m.

Brandon Sproat(0-1, 3.94 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets. Miami will send Sandy Alcantara (10-12, 5.48 ERA).

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Hockey

Penguins Hold Strong, Fall To Canadiens In Pre-Season Shootout

Sep 22, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Pittsburgh Penguins forward Tristan Broz (26) plays the puck during the first period of the game against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

On Monday, Pittsburgh Penguins’ hockey officially kicked off for the 2025 pre-season.

And the performances of some of the Penguins’ most promising prospects was certainly a sight for sore eyes – even if the result didn’t go their way.

The Penguins fell to the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1, in a shootout after an all-around tight, solid game. Forward Tristan Broz scored the lone goal for the Penguins in regulation on a first-period power play, and he also registered the team’s only shootout goal. Owen Beck potted one for the Canadiens in the second period, while Sean Farrell and Oliver Kapanen capitalized in the shootout to seal the win for the Habs.

Goaltender Joel Blomqvist started the game for the Penguins and stopped all 11 shots he faced, and youngster Sergei Murashov relieved him midway through the second period and surrendered just one goal on 20 shots.

There were a lot of things to like about the Penguins in this game, and the youngsters certainly showed up. Here are some thoughts and observations from Monday’s pre-season opener.

– Broz really showed up to the rink tonight in all three zones.

He made some really solid reads on the penalty kill all night long, he was on the second power play unit and put home a rocket on a nice, quick feed from Valtteri Puustinen, and he was showing off his 200-foot game and hockey smarts during five-on-five play.

When folks talk about the Penguins’ top prospects and who has a shot at the opening night NHL roster, Broz is sometimes left out of those conversations. But he shouldn’t be counted out. I’m not sure there’s another player like Broz in the Penguins’ organization in terms of his versatility, his smarts, his ability to finish, and his effectiveness on the defensive side of the puck.

He’s just a solid all-around player, and the strides he made at the center position in the AHL last season have certainly shown in his game. If this guy hits his ceiling, he could be a reliable second- or third-line center option for the Penguins in the very near future.

– Another two-way player who looked solid Monday was Tommy Novak.

Novak, 28, was acquired at the trade deadline from the Nashville Predators, and a post-deadline injury only let him see two games with Pittsburgh last season. He finished the season with 13 goals and 22 points in 54 games.

I knew Novak was a decent skater, but I was surprised by how fast he looked out there. On a third-period penalty kill, he killed about 20 seconds off the clock by skating in circles around the offensive zone with the puck, and he was able to get himself back into almost every play.

There is a lot that still needs to work itself out in the duration of training camp. It’s unclear at this point whether Novak might play in a top-six role next to Evgeni Malkin or if he’s going to be this team’s third-line center. Either way, I think he is going to be a solid, reliable player for the Penguins this season, and his role may end up being influenced by whether or not youngsters like Broz and Filip Hallander push for roster spots.

I’m eager to see more from him this season.

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– I can’t say enough how good Murashov was in this game.

First and foremost, it would be unfair to take anything away from Blomqvist, too. He wasn’t tested as much as Murashov was, but anytime you don’t allow a goal against in an outing, it’s a good day. Blomqvist did his job – and did it well – then handed the keys to Murashov to close out the game.

I wrote about this Sunday, but it’s amazing to me just how easy and effortless Murashov makes goaltending look. The easy saves are second-nature, the hard saves look easy, and the very hard saves are being made almost every time.

Even on the goal against, Murashov made two or three saves before that, and Matt Dumba’s stick was a culprit in the puck finally sneaking past him. He made a ridiculous cross-crease toe save in overtime, and he didn’t even flinch when Ivan Demidov – a likely Calder candidate for the Habs next season – tried to deke him out in the shootout.

His poise, confidence, and ability far exceed his age of 21. If he’s not the starting goaltender in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) this season, the Penguins are doing something wrong. This kid just has it.

– Some snippets of new head coach Dan Muse’s system were slipping through the cracks during the exhibition game. I can’t claim to be an expert in the field of systems work, but one big difference that I did notice was that there is a lot more movement in general.

A lot more.

There seemed to be a lot less perimeter play and more center drive. The power play was a constant rotation with no one standing dormant or stagnating. There is definitely an emphasis on an attack mentality in all three zones and on swarming the puck carrier defensively.

I’m curious to see how these changes look with some of the more veteran players on the roster. But there seems to be buy-in from the younger guys, and the emphasis on movement was refreshing to watch.

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– It is very important to emphasize that this was only one pre-season game, and it was the first pre-season game. The Canadiens’ lineup wasn’t stacked – even if there were a few higher-profile players like Patrik Laine and Noah Dobson in the lineup – and neither was the Penguins.’

But it’s hard to ignore the performance that Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunicke put on together as a pairing.

Pickering really looks like he has the potential to develop into a solid, reliable, hard-to-play-against top-four blueliner. He has figured out a way to use his 6-foot-5 frame more advantageously, and he routinely shut down opposing scoring chances all night long. He, like Brunicke, is also good in transition and knows how to man the offensive blue line.

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And Brunicke? I don’t know what else there is to say about this kid.

Just when I thought there were times in the first three training camp practices when he was trying to do too much, he went out in a competitive setting and made that a distant memory. His secondary assist on Broz’s power play goal was a thing of beauty, as he faked a shot and made the Canadiens’ defense overcommit, exposing a wide-open passing lane to Broz, who quickly dished it to Puustinen, who quickly dished it back.

Brunicke also looked solid on the defensive side of the puck, using a strong stick to disrupt and his hockey sense to read angles and cut them off. He saw a few shifts in overtime, too, and was one of three Penguins’ defensemen to see the ice – the others being Dumba and Ryan Shea.

There is still a lot of pre-season left. Six more games, to be exact. But these two already look comfortable playing together and have chemistry, and they were the best defensive pairing on the ice Monday by a mile. And that’s saying something, since Dumba and Connor Clifton were solid, too.

If they carry this play through the end of the pre-season – and against better competition – there is no way they should be leaving the city of Pittsburgh when final roster cuts are made.

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