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MIAMI — Kodai Senga struck out eight in his major league debut, wearing a glove with an image of a ghost and a pitchfork in reference to his “ghost forkball,” leading the New York Mets over the Miami Marlins 5-1 on Sunday.

The 30-year-old left-hander agreed to a $75 million, five-year contract after going 87-44 with a 2.59 ERA in 11 seasons with the Pacific League’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He overcame a difficult first inning and allowed one run, three hits and three walks in 5⅓ innings.

“First inning, definitely a lot of nerves,” Senga said through a translator. “My legs felt like a ghost. Once I got into a little bit of a pinch, I started to settle down and calm myself down.”

Senga averaged 96.8 mph with 32 fastballs — the fastest 99 mph — and threw 26 forkballs, 18 sweepers and 12 cutters. His eight strikeouts tied Kenshin Kawakami and Masahiro Tanaka for the fourth most by a Japanese pitcher in an MLB debut, trailing only Kazuhisa Ishii and Daisuke Matsuzaka (10 each) and Hideki Irabu (nine).

“It was a gradual thing, more step by step,” Senga said. “I got more used to the moment. A lot of guys kept pushing my back, giving me words of confidence.”

Senga’s day ended on his 88th pitch, a strikeout of Jazz Chisholm Jr. to lead off the sixth. The large contingent of Mets fans at LoanDepot Park cheered Senga while he returned to the dugout.

Dennis Santana, John Curtiss and Stephen Nogosek completed the four-hitter.

Tommy Pham had three hits and three RBIs, finishing a triple shy of the cycle as the Mets won for the third time in the four-game opening series.

Pham, who has dealt with a cornea thinning condition since 2008, said he was fitted with new set of contact lenses Friday.

“I feel I’m seeing the ball better,” Pham said. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say my eye doctor here fine-tuned my lenses for me. I felt everything was different in a good way.”

Trevor Rogers (0-1) gave up 4 runs, 4 hits and 2 walks with two hit batters in 4⅓ innings.

After four-pitch walks in the first to Pete Alonso and Mark Canha loaded the bases, Jeff McNeil hit a dribbler between the mound and first. Rogers flipped the ball past first baseman Yuli Gurriel as two runs scored.

“Just really amped up that first inning,” Rogers said. “Had a tough time really getting my heart rate under control. Kind of got my command out of whack. Really just got to clean that up.”

Luis Arraez had three multi-hit games in the series for the Marlins. The reigning American League batting champion, acquired in an offseason trade, is hitting .563 at a 9-for-16 clip to start the season. The rest of the team is 20-for-111 for a .180 average.

Senga labored through a 36-pitch bottom half as Miami’s first five batters reached and narrowed the deficit on Jorge Soler’s RBI double. But Senga escaped a bases-loaded jam by striking out Gurriel and Jesus Sanchez, then retiring Jon Berti on a line drive to right.

“He started getting command of some pitches, getting some counts in his favor and making them rush to get to the fastball,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said of Senga’s adjustment. “That opened up a lot of avenues for him.”

Pham hit his first homer for the Mets, a two-run drive in the fifth, and had an RBI double in the seventh when his sinking line drive to center eluded a diving Chisholm.

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Love’s DQ gives Smith Xfinity win at Rockingham

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Love's DQ gives Smith Xfinity win at Rockingham

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith was declared the winner of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday at Rockingham Speedway.

Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love initially was announced as winning the race, but he was disqualified in postrace technical inspection for issues on the rear suspension and credited with a 37th-place finish.

Smith also picked up the final $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus prize of the year at the first Xfinity Series race at Rockingham Speedway in over two decades.

With Love’s disqualification, Alpha Prime Racing’s Parker Retzlaff was promoted to second place, a career best. Harrison Burton, Brennan Poole and Taylor Gray rounded out the top five.

Austin Hill, Josh Williams, Jeb Burton, Daniel Dye and Jeremy Clements completed the top 10.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Justin Bonsignore also was disqualified from the race for three or more lug nuts not safe and secure, dropping the No. 19 Toyota from 36th place to 38th.

The red flag came out after a wreck on the restart with 10 laps remaining. With drivers close on fuel, Kaulig Racing’s Christian Eckes sputtered coming up to speed, causing a multicar incident that swept up Dash 4 Cash drivers Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones. That led to another late-race stoppage.

Jones and Allgaier finished 12th and 21st, respectively. The final Dash 4 Cash competitor, Carson Kvapil, finished 16th.

Love led 53 laps and Ryan Sieg, who finished 18th, a race-best 77 laps.

The Xfinity Series returns to action next Saturday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway for the Ag-Pro 300 (4 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

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Stanley Cup playoffs daily: Previewing Sunday’s three Game 1s

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Stanley Cup playoffs daily: Previewing Sunday's three Game 1s

After a two-game opening night, the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs continue Sunday with a trio of Game 1s:

Which teams will earn the early edge in their series? Who are the key players to watch?

Read on for game previews, recaps of what went down last night, and the Three Stars of the Night from Arda Öcal.

Matchup notes

New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes
Game 1 | 3 p.m. ET, ESPN

These two teams split the regular-season series with two wins apiece; notably, all four of those games were played before Devils star Jack Hughes sustained a season-ending injury. The Hurricanes were led in scoring this season by Finland native Sebastian Aho (29 goals, 45 assists), while Sweden’s Jesper Bratt was the Devils’ leading scorer (21 goals, 67 assists). The two teams’ most recent postseason clash occurred in 2023, which the Canes won 4-1.

Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs
Game 1 | 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2

The opening skirmish in the Battle of Ontario is the first postseason appearance for the Senators since 2017 — and the first ever for Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk. On the other side, this will be the Maple Leafs’ ninth consecutive playoff appearance — with just one series win to show for it. Toronto has had its scoring prowess vanish in past postseasons, so leading scorer Mitch Marner (27 goals, 75 assists) & Co. will hope to reverse that trend. And while Toronto is the favorite in the series, Ottawa won all three regular-season games between the teams.

Minnesota Wild at Vegas Golden Knights
Game 1 | 10 p.m. ET, ESPN

Sunday’s nightcap sees the wild-card Wild face one of the more complete teams in the West. Newly signed Minnesota defenseman Zeev Buium — fresh off a run to the NCAA Frozen Four final with the University of Denver — didn’t see action in the regular-season finale; how much will he be deployed in this series? The Knights will come at the Wild in waves, led by center Jack Eichel, who earned some Hart Trophy votes in the final edition of ESPN’s NHL Awards Watch. Vegas won all three regular-season games between the two clubs, by an aggregate score of 12-4.


Arda’s Three Stars of Saturday

A goal and two assists for Connor, who kept the Jets’ offense soaring in a game that set the tone for Winnipeg in this series — including a third period comeback. This team is still motivated by a five-game first-round exit last postseason, and they also want to keep the Presidents’ Trophy vibes going.

One of the best players of the game, and he showed up Saturday. Three points in Game 1 (on the road, no less), including the eventual game-winning goal and an empty-netter to help the Avalanche take the early lead in the series.

The chemistry between Scheifele and Connor was on display. The center finished with three points in Game 1, including a great play to get Connor the puck late in the third period on the game-winning goal.


Saturday’s results

Winnipeg Jets 5, St. Louis Blues 3
Jets lead series 1-0

A furious first period included a pair of goals for both teams, as the clubs elected to throw haymakers at the start of the series instead of patiently reading their opponents. The Blues carried a 3-2 lead into the third after a second-period tally from Jordan Kyrou, but the Jets took over the third — first with the momentum in front of a “White Out” crowd, and then with a trio of goals. Alex Iafallo had the game-tying score at 9:18 of the third, followed by the game-winner by Kyle Connor with 1:36 left and an empty-net goal by Adam Lowry to put the game away.

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Jets score 5 goals in a thrilling Game 1 win over the Blues

The Jets best the Blues 5-3 in Game 1 of their playoff series.

Colorado Avalanche 5, Dallas Stars 2
Avs lead series 1-0

Unlike Saturday’s earlier game, these two contenders started with a 0-0 first period. But from the second period onward, it was all Avalanche. Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring with one of the most unique goals in memory, with the puck going in off of his skate and over Jake Oettinger‘s shoulder — the play was ruled a good goal upon review. Nathan MacKinnon added a power-play tally after Roope Hintz high-sticked him to push it to 2-0 and the Avs never looked back. Although Hintz scored a power-play goal of his own in the third, the Avs got goals from Devon Toews, an empty-netter from MacKinnon and a final tally from Charlie Coyle.

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Avs make easy work of Stars in dominant Game 1 win

The Avalanche put five goals past the Stars to take a 1-0 series lead in dominant fashion.

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MacKinnon keys Avs’ win over Stars in Game 1

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MacKinnon keys Avs' win over Stars in Game 1

DALLAS — Nathan MacKinnon had a part in both of Colorado’s strange goals in the second period before adding an empty-netter late as the Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 5-1 in the opener of their first-round Western Conference playoff series Saturday night.

MacKinnon scored on a shot that deflected off Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin, and knuckled past goalie Jake Oettinger late in the second period. That came during an extended power play, a double minor against the Stars after he took a high stick to the face.

That came after MacKinnon’s assist midway through the second period on a goal by Artturi Lehkonen, who was following his initial shot and falling down after a collision in front of the net when the puck ricocheted off his lower left leg into the top corner of the net. The play was reviewed and officials ruled that there was no kicking motion by Lehkonen while tumbling to the ice with Mavrik Bourque.

“He was really good tonight,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “You know, like, obviously they’re going to key on him — like we do on some of their players — but really strong defensive game from him. And obviously, his get-up-and-go on the offensive side of it, he’s making plays all night. I thought that line was dangerous.”

There wasn’t much Oettinger could do on either of those goals as the Stars lost Game 1 in their eighth consecutive series in the NHL playoffs since 2022. They are 0-7 in series openers under coach Pete DeBoer, six of those coming at home. DeBoer saw progress, however, calling the effort Saturday night “the best game we’ve played in 3-4 weeks.”

Devon Toews gave Colorado a 3-1 lead with 7:04 left. MacKinnon’s empty-net tally for his 50th career playoff goal came with 3:08 left, 11 seconds before Charlie Coyle scored.

This series-opening loss for the Stars came after they finished the regular season on an 0-5-2 stretch that included four losses at home after being 28-5-3 before that.

Game 2 is Monday night in Dallas, before the series shifts to Denver.

Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 23 shots in his first career playoff game.

It was pretty special,” Blackwood said. “I’ve been waiting to play in the playoffs for a long time and it was great to finally get my first one.”

Blackwood was one of 11 players who have seen action since being acquired through Colorado’s eight in-season trades. Those deals included the Avalanche trading Mikko Rantanen on Jan. 24 to Carolina in the East. He played only 13 games before a deadline deal March 7 sent him back to the Central Division with the Stars and included an eight-year, $96 million contract extension.

Rantanen, who had 101 points (34 goals, 67 assists) in 81 playoff games for the Avalanche, had three shots and one block over 18 minutes in his postseason debut with the Stars.

Oettinger had 19 saves, three when Colorado had a two-man advantage in the first period when Cale Makar drew two tripping penalties only 36 seconds apart from each other.

Roope Hintz, who had the penalty against MacKinnon, trimmed the Stars’ deficit to 2-1 on his goal with 13:15 left in the game, just before the end of a power play and about a minute after DeBoer called a timeout.

Bednar got his 50th playoff win with the Avs — in his 82nd postseason game, equal to a full regular season. That broke a tie with Bob Hartley for the most wins by a coach in franchise history. Both won Stanley Cups — Bednar in 2022 and Hartley in 2001.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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