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FORT WORTH, Texas — Brad Keselowski has his first pole as an owner-driver at NASCAR’s highest level, a week after RFK Racing’s other car went to Victory Lane.

While never in playoff contention after joining a rebranded team with longtime owner Jack Roush this season, 2012 Cup champion Keselowski had a qualifying lap of 189.99 mph on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway. It came a week after he got his first stage win of the season at Bristol, where RKF driver Chris Buescher won the race.

After non-playoff drivers won the first three races of the postseason, Keselowski starts in front Sunday in the race that will start NASCAR’s round of 12 .

Joey Logano, who is second in the standings, will start on the front row beside Keselowski after his lap of 188.05 mph. Playoff contender William Byron starts third, while points leader Chase Elliott starts sixth. Buescher qualified 13th for the race at his hometown track.

“It’s been a whirlwind winning and Bristol with Chris and running up front, have some good moments there,” Keselowski said.

Keselowski had a successful career at Team Penske before joining Roush, who until last week hadn’t won a points-paying race since Daytona in 2017 when the team was called Roush Fenway.

“Super exciting time for and for our company here at RFK with a lot of the progress we’ve made over the last few months, and now it’s actually starting to show up,” Keselowski said. “It’s been a painful journey, but a good one, so I’m proud of our lap.”

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Heroic debut: Soto’s throw saves Yankees in 9th

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Heroic debut: Soto's throw saves Yankees in 9th

HOUSTON — That Juan Soto‘s first signature Yankee moment happened in his debut on Opening Day wasn’t far-fetched for a superstar with an uncanny ability to show out in the biggest moments.

But for that moment to happen on a game-saving defensive play? That wasn’t a part of the script anyone, at least on the outside, envisioned for Soto, whose defense has been a knock on him, especially over the past two seasons.

That’s what happened Thursday afternoon against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. With one out and two runners on in the ninth inning and the Yankees nursing a one-run lead, Kyle Tucker smashed a single to Soto in right field. Soto’s route to the ball was clean, he gathered it smoothly and let it rip — a one-hop missile to home plate that catcher Jose Trevino caught before spinning around to apply a difficult tag on Mauricio Dubon.

Soto pounded his chest and released a few screams. The play, confirmed after a lengthy review, prevented the Astros from tying the score and potentially snowballing the momentum to win it. Moments later, Clay Holmes closed the door, securing the Yankees’ 5-4 comeback victory.

Moments before the play, according to center fielder Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ outfielders had talked about the situation and how they had to come up throwing to save the game.

“That was a Yankee classic right there,” Judge said. “Juan’s debut, that was pretty special out of him.”

That debut also included typical Soto things. An eight-pitch walk in his first Yankees plate appearance. An RBI single in a tough lefty-on-lefty matchup against Framber Valdez. Another walk.

But the throw home was the difference.

“His process and work ethic and care factor about not just hitting, he takes a lot of pride in his defense,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He wants to be great on defense. He wants to be really good on the bases. And he made a big-time winning play today on defense.”

Defense has been the only blemish on Soto’s résumé. The data says he has been below average or worse in recent years, and the eyes confirmed it.

He knew improving was necessary to maximize not only his worth to the Yankees but in free agency next winter. So he made defense a priority in spring training.

The first step was acclimating himself to right field again after playing all 154 games last season in left field for the San Diego Padres — the routes, the throwing angles. Yankees third-base coach Luis Rojas was a resource.

That work paid off in the ninth inning Thursday.

“It’s just a great feeling,” Soto said. “It tells you I’m going the right way, what I’ve been doing, and I’m more excited to keep going.”

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Ohtani welcomed, helps Betts, Freeman drive win

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Ohtani welcomed, helps Betts, Freeman drive win

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani was pleased with the quality of his at-bats and “grateful” for the warm reception he received from the sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd on Opening Day — but he came away from it all with one regret.

“I was the only guy who couldn’t hit a homer,” Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, said with a slight chuckle after the Los Angeles Dodgers breezed to a 7-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday afternoon.

Ohtani was referring to the superstar trio atop the Dodgers’ lineup, of which he is at the center. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the two hitters who flank Ohtani, each homered off Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas in the third inning. But all three of them placed their imprint on the Dodgers’ home debut, combining for 5 hits, 4 walks and 4 RBIs while scoring each of the Dodgers’ first six runs.

Through the season’s first three games — the team opened with a two-game series against the San Diego Padres in South Korea last week — Betts, Ohtani and Freeman are slashing .455/.578/.788 while driving in 13 of the Dodgers’ 23 runs.

“There’s been a lot of expectations on the outside,” Betts said, “but internally nobody expects anything more than what Freddie, Mookie, Shohei and everybody down the lineup can do. We’re just going to do what we can.”

Betts, Ohtani and Freeman mark the fifth time in major league history that three players who finished within the top three in voting for the previous year’s MVP have begun the ensuing season on the same team, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Ohtani was the unanimous choice in the American League for the second time in three years in 2023; Betts and Freeman finished second and third, respectively, in National League voting.

Betts began the game with a walk, then moved to third on a double by Ohtani — who thought Betts would attempt to score but instead got caught between second and third base — and scored on Freeman’s single. Two innings later, Betts smacked a homer to left, Ohtani drew a walk and Freeman homered to right-center field, giving the Dodgers five runs before recording their seventh out.

“I think in any discussion you can argue that they’re the best hitter in baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Betts, Ohtani and Freeman. “When you talk about those three guys, and you lump another handful or 10 players, they’re in that conversation. We’re fortunate to have three at the top of the order. The first word that comes to mind is ‘daunting.'”

“Daunting” can also be used to describe the events of the past week for Ohtani, amid a betting scandal centered on at least $4.5 million in wire transfers from his bank account to a bookmaking operation that is under federal investigation. Ohtani’s longtime interpreter and good friend, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired by the Dodgers after Ohtani’s camp alleged that he transferred the money without Ohtani’s knowledge, which Ohtani repeated while addressing the matter Monday. Three days later, Ohtani emerged from the center-field fence and strolled down a long blue carpet to punctuate opening ceremonies. He was cheered more loudly than any of his teammates. A similar reception awaited him as he prepared to take his first at-bat.

“Obviously I’ve been here before as an [opposing] player, so it was a little intimidating,” Ohtani said through his new interpreter, Dodgers manager of performance operations Will Ireton. “But I’m very grateful for the fans. And there were a lot of them.”

Dodger Stadium was stuffed with 52,667 fans for one of the most anticipated home openers in recent memory, a reaction to an offseason spending spree that totaled more than $1.2 billion. The focus was on Ohtani and his place within what has been casually referred to as the Big Three. But Tyler Glasnow, another major addition this winter, pitched six innings of one-run ball. And other hitters — specifically Will Smith, Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernandez and James Outman, making up the 4 to 7 spots — also made contributions.

Freeman, speaking from a home clubhouse overflowing with media largely because of Ohtani, wanted to make that clear.

“It’s not just the top of the order,” Freeman said. “There’s nine guys in this lineup. I will deflect that for every single question from here on out. It is nine guys in this lineup. We did a good job today.”

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Manfred eyes ‘short’ time for Ohtani investigation

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Manfred eyes 'short' time for Ohtani investigation

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday the league is committed to its investigation of the scandal surrounding Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and hopes it will take a “short” time to resolve.

Last week Ohtani’s interpreter Ippei Mizuhara was fired after questions surrounding at least $4.5 million in wire transfers sent from the superstar’s bank account to a bookmaking operation.

Ohtani claims his close friend Mizuhara repeatedly took money from his accounts to fund his illegal sports gambling habit. Ohtani also says he was completely unaware of the “massive theft,” as his lawyers termed it, until Mizuhara confessed to him and the Dodgers last week in South Korea, where the team opened its regular season against the Padres.

“Given the way the story unfolded, it’s important in assuring our fans about the integrity of the game that we verify the things that Mr. Ohtani said, it’s really that simple,” Manfred said on Major League Baseball Network’s “High Heat with Chris Russo” on Thursday.

Mizuhara incurred the gambling debts to a Southern California bookmaking operation that is under federal investigation, multiple sources told ESPN. How he came to lose his job started with reporters asking questions about the wire transfers.

“It’s really difficult for the federal authorities to cooperate with us fully when they have their own ongoing investigation so I think this is one where we’ll have to proceed on our own,” Manfred said. “We never have the kind of authority that law enforcement people have but we manage to get these investigations done and find the facts and I’m sure we will on this one.

“I hope [it’s] short, but I just don’t know.”

Ohtani’s camp initially said Ohtani transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara’s debt and presented Mizuhara for an interview with ESPN, during which he laid out the process in detail. The following day, a statement from Berk Brettler LLP, the law firm representing Ohtani in the matter, instead said the two-way star “has been the victim of massive theft.” Mizuhara then told ESPN that Ohtani had no knowledge of his debt and that Ohtani had not transferred the money.

Ohtani’s representatives declined again Tuesday to answer ESPN’s questions about which authorities they have contacted to report their allegation of theft against Ohtani’s former interpreter.

ESPN has been asking repeatedly for the information since Ohtani’s lawyers first issued a statement last week alleging that “Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities.”

When asked Tuesday to provide proof that Ohtani or his representatives have reported the theft to an investigating agency, a spokesperson for Ohtani declined to comment.

ESPN received no confirmation from any of the likely local, state or federal agencies that could investigate allegations of theft that they received a report from Ohtani’s camp.

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