Connect with us

Published

on

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays are putting together one of the best starts ever.

The Rays routed the Oakland Athletics 11-0 Sunday to improve to 9-0 as Drew Rasmussen combined on a one-hitter and Brandon Lowe hit a grand slam. Tampa Bay is the first team to win its first nine games since the 2003 Kansas City Royals.

“Essentially, everything is going exactly the way that we want to,” Lowe said. “This is incredible baseball that we’re playing.”

Tampa Bay has outscored opponents 75-18, scoring the most runs in the big leagues and allowing the fewest.

“It just opens things up,” Rasmussen said of the Rays’ offense. “The way they’re going right now, it’s unbelievable.”

The Rays have won every game by four or more runs, trailing only a 13-game run by the 1884 St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association as the longest at a season’s start. The streak is the longest at any point of a season since 10 by the 1939 New York Yankees.

The longest winning streak at a season’s start is 13 by the 1982 Atlanta Braves and 1987 Milwaukee Brewers.

Oakland has lost seven of nine. The Athletics were outscored 22-0 in the final two games of the series and limited to four hits, dropping their batting average to .192. The team ERA jumped from 7.00 to 7.54.

The Athletics run differential of minus-45 through nine games is the third worse since 1900, only behind the 1955 Kansas City Athletics (minus-55) and the 1988 Baltimore Orioles (minus-48).

“I think we’ve got to put this series behind us,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “We’ll talk about it, how we get better going forward.”

Wander Franco and Harold Ramírez also homered for the Rays, who have hit a big league-leading 24 long balls.

Rasmussen (2-0) allowed his only runner on Ramon Laureano‘s two-out double in the second and has given up three hits over 13 scoreless innings in two starts. He struck out eight and walked none.

Ryan Thompson got three straight outs, and Jason Adam worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth.

James Kaprielian (0-1) allowed seven runs, seven hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings. Oakland pitchers walked seven and hit two batters.

“It’s fundamentals that we’re failing at right now,” Kotsay said. “Again, today we walk seven, hit two, so the storyline here is we need to be better on the mound as well.”

Lowe’s drive was the only hit in the fourth to leave the infield as Tampa Bay took a 5-0 lead.

Isaac Paredes was hit by pitch starting the fourth, and Ramírez was credited with a single when third baseman Jace Peterson looked at second after fielding a ball and threw late to first.

Christian Bethancourt reached on a two-out fielder’s choice when Ramírez beat Aledmys Díaz’s throw to second base from deep in the shortstop hole. Lowe then connected for his his third career slam.

Ramirez said he was told by first base coach Chris Prieto the pitch before you’ve got to get second on a groundball.

“I don’t get that at-bat without Harold,” Lowe said. “I think owe him a steak later in this year.”

Paredes drew a two-out walk in the fifth and came on Ramírez’s homer.

Randy Arozarena had a RBI single in a two-run sixth that was set up when second baseman Tony Kemp caught a pop up by Franco but threw to an undercovered first base trying to double up Lowe.

Franco had a solo shot in the first.

Continue Reading

Sports

Sources: Sooners DT Stone hits transfer portal

Published

on

By

Sources: Sooners DT Stone hits transfer portal

Oklahoma defensive tackle David Stone entered the NCAA transfer portal Friday, sources told ESPN.

Stone, a former five-star recruit and the No. 6 overall player in the ESPN 300 for the 2024 class, made the surprising decision to enter the portal after playing in all 13 games as a true freshman with the Sooners. The 6-foot-3 313-pounder saw limited playing time, playing 88 snaps and recording 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and 1 sack.

Stone was expected to compete for a more significant role as a sophomore, and Oklahoma coach Brent Venables recently praised him as the Sooners’ most improved defensive tackle this offseason.

The Oklahoma native finished his high school career at IMG Academy in Florida and was a significant recruiting victory for Venables and his coaching staff in August 2023. Stone chose the Sooners over Texas A&M, Oregon, Florida, Miami and Michigan State.

The SEC does not grant immediate eligibility to players who transfer within the conference during the spring transfer window, so Stone would need to sit out the 2025 season if he moves on to another SEC program.

Oklahoma returns its top three defensive tackles from 2024 in Damonic Williams, Gracen Halton and Jayden Jackson. It also added Trent Wilson, the No. 164 recruit in the ESPN 300 for 2025, as an early enrollee this spring.

Continue Reading

Sports

QB Browne returns to Purdue after brief UNC stint

Published

on

By

QB Browne returns to Purdue after brief UNC stint

Quarterback Ryan Browne has decided to transfer back to Purdue after joining North Carolina earlier this offseason.

Browne committed to rejoining the Boilermakers on Friday after entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal Wednesday.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt sophomore started two games for Purdue in 2024 but moved on amid the program’s head coaching change and went through spring practice under new Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick.

North Carolina landed a commitment from South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez on Thursday.

Browne and freshman Bryce Baker were North Carolina’s lone scholarship quarterbacks available for spring practice and were competing with three walk-ons while sixth-year senior Max Johnson recovers from a broken leg.

Browne threw for 636 yards, rushed for 240 yards and scored four touchdowns while appearing in nine games as Hudson Card’s backup over the past two seasons at Purdue, earning starts in losses to Illinois and Oregon.

By returning to West Lafayette, Browne will get an opportunity to compete for a starting job with Arkansas transfer Malachi Singleton, Washington State transfer Evans Chuba and Bennett Meredith, a former Arizona State transfer.

The Boilermakers lost one quarterback, EJ Colson, to the transfer portal earlier this week.

Continue Reading

Sports

U-M’s Underwood has up-and-down spring game

Published

on

By

U-M's Underwood has up-and-down spring game

Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood showed glimpses of the growing pains he will experience as a freshman and flashes of the promise that made him the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in the Wolverines’ spring game Saturday.

Underwood was 12 of 26 for 187 yards with a scrimmage-ending, 88-yard pass to tight end Jalen Hoffman on a reverse flea-flicker in a 17-0 win for the Blue over the Maize.

He also recovered his fumble, had a pair of delay-of-game penalties, several errant throws – high and wide – and some dropped. Underwood lost 12 yards on two sacks and gained 17 yards on three runs.

“He did well,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “Made some really, good throws and had some things we need to clean up and get better at.”

As the Wolverines wrapped up spring football in front of about 40,000 fans at the Big House, all eyes were on Underwood and he has become comfortable with that.

“It’s just the pressure that came with my arm,” Underwood told The Detroit News earlier this spring. “I can’t stop that.”

Underwood was sacked on his first snap and his first completion went for a loss. He did throw some darts, usually in the flat, and was quick enough to escape collapsed pockets to pick up yardage with his feet.

Underwood is expected to compete with sophomore Jadyn Davis and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene for playing time ahead of the season-opening game on Aug. 30 at home against Fresno State.

“It’s a battle,” Moore said. “It’s going to go all the way to fall camp.”

Underwood is motivated to start and kick off a legacy-building career with lofty goals.

“A couple of Heismans and at least one natty,” Underwood said last month in an interview on the Rich Eisen Show.

Underwood knows there will be people doubting he can live up to the hype.

‘He’s just a freshman. He won’t be good enough,'” Underwood said. “I might keep that chip my whole three years.”

He attended at Belleville High School, which is about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, and flipped his commitment to Michigan after telling LSU coaches last year he intended to play there.

Tom Brady, a former Wolverine and seven-time Super Bowl winner, talked with Underwood during the school’s recruitment via FaceTime and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, also connected with him.

Jay Underwood told the Wall Street Journal that his son is expected to make more than $15 million at Michigan, but that doesn’t guarantee he will take the first snap next fall.

“He wants to earn everything,” Moore has said. “He doesn’t want to be given anything.”

Hoffman said Underwood has simply blended in with his teammates.

“He’s really humble, like not a big head, ego, nothing like that,” he said. “Comes into work and every day, he wants to get better every day. He’s not riding off his success in high school. He’s really trying to be one of those top players in college football.”

Underwood participated in practices with the team before it beat Alabama in a bowl game, enrolled in classes in January and gained a lot experience in 14 private practices before a public scrimmage.

“Football is football,” he told MLive.com. “School is a little bit more overwhelming now.”

Continue Reading

Trending