Sports

Avs wrap up Central behind MacKinnon’s hat trick

Published

2 years ago

April 15, 2023

admin

12:53 AM ET

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nathan MacKinnon had three goals and an assist as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 on Friday night to win the Central Division title.

Devon Toews also scored and had an assist and Alexandar Georgiev made 18 saves for Colorado, which finished a point ahead of Dallas in the division. Mikko Rantanen had two assists.

Kiefer Sherwood scored twice, Luke Evangelista added one and Kevin Lankinen made 30 saves for the Predators.

With 1:42 remaining in the third, MacKinnon skated into the Nashville zone on the right side before snapping a wrist shot by Lankinen. His third goal was his 42nd of the season, setting a career high. The hat trick was his first of the season and fourth of his career.

“Obviously, I had some good looks tonight and managed to find the back of the net,” MacKinnon said.

The reigning Stanley Cup-winning Avalanche will begin their championship defense against Seattle in the first round of the playoffs. They will do so without captain Gabriel Landeskog, who announced Thursday that the knee injury that has sidelined him for the entire regular season will keep him out for the playoffs as well.

“These guys have put their heart and soul into this season, this regular season,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Getting stronger and stronger as the year has gone on against whatever adversity we have faced. We’ve had different guys step up at different times and our leaders have been outstanding.”

In a first period where Colorado outshot Nashville 18-4, MacKinnon assisted on Toews’ goal just 28 seconds after the opening faceoff. MacKinnon then scored twice, with his second coming with 6:46 left in the first when he slipped a backhand past Lankinen after splitting a pair of Predators defenders in the slot.

Nashville drew even at 7:08 of the second on a power-play goal from Sherwood. It was his second goal of the game and the first two-goal game of his career. Sherwood played parts of the last two seasons with Colorado.

“That’s kind of the summary of the season,” Sherwood said. “Things don’t always go to plan, but we buckled down and came out and responded well and gave ourselves a chance to win at the end. They’re obviously Stanley Cup champions for a reason and it just shows the character of our group to fight till the end. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win.”

Nashville was eliminated from playoff contention Tuesday night when Winnipeg clinched the Western Conference’s final playoff berth with a victory over Minnesota. The Predators had qualified for the playoffs the last eight seasons, tied with Washington for the second-longest active streaks, trailing just Pittsburgh’s 16. All three teams failed to qualify for this season’s playoffs.

Sports

Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

Published

48 mins ago

July 8, 2025

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Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

Field Level Media

Jul 8, 2025, 04:16 PM ET

Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz accepted an invitation on Tuesday to compete in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Atlanta.

Cruz is the fifth player to commit to the competition, held one day before the All-Star Game. The others are Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, James Wood of the Washington Nationals and Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins.

Cruz, 26, is known for having a powerful bat and regularly delivers some of the hardest-hit homers in the sport. His home run May 25 at home against the Milwaukee Brewers had an exit velocity of 122.9 mph and was the hardest hit homer in the 10-year Statcast era.

But Cruz has never hit more than 21 in a season, and that was in 2024. He’s on track to set a new high this year and has 15 in 80 games.

Cruz has 55 career homers in 324 games with the Pirates.

Cruz will be the first Pittsburgh player to participate in the Derby since Josh Bell in 2019. Other Pirates to be part of the event were Bobby Bonilla (1990), Barry Bonds (1992), Jason Bay (2005), Andrew McCutchen (2012) and Pedro Alvarez (2013).

Overall, Cruz is batting just .203 this season but leads the National League with 28 steals.

Among the players to turn down an invite to the eight-player field are two-time champion Pete Alonso of the New York Mets, Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies and 2024 runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.

Defending champion Teoscar Hernandez of the Los Angeles Dodgers recently turned down a spot as a consideration to nagging injuries.

Top power threats Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers also are expected to skip the event.

Sports

Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

Published

48 mins ago

July 8, 2025

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Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

Field Level Media

Jul 8, 2025, 01:40 PM ET

New York Yankees All-Star Jazz Chisholm Jr., after making 28 starts in a row at third base, is moving back to second base starting with Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners, manager Aaron Boone said.

Boone confirmed the change on the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast on Tuesday.

Chisholm, who is batting .245 with 15 home runs, 38 RBIs and 10 steals in 59 games, has recently been bothered by soreness in his right shoulder, which he said is an issue only on throws.

He said he prefers to play second base and prepared in the offseason to exclusively play in that spot before injuries played havoc with Boone’s lineup card, starting with Chisholm’s oblique injury in May.

Third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera went down with a season-ending ankle injury on May 12.

DJ LeMahieu manned second base while Chisholm was at third, but Boone has a better glove option in Oswald Peraza, a utility man with a stronger arm plus defensive skills across the infield.

LeMahieu, 36, is batting .266 with two home runs and 12 RBIs this season.

Sports

White Sox reinstate OF Robert (hamstring) from IL

Published

48 mins ago

July 8, 2025

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White Sox reinstate OF Robert (hamstring) from IL

Field Level Media

Jul 8, 2025, 03:55 PM ET

The Chicago White Sox reinstated outfielder Luis Robert Jr. (hamstring) from the 10-day injured list Tuesday.

Robert, 27, has struggled this season through career lows in batting average (.185), on-base percentage (.270) and slugging percentage (.313). Through 73 games, he has amassed just 16 extra-base hits (eight doubles, eight home runs) in 285 plate appearances.

He does have 22 stolen bases in 28 attempts and is just one shy of his career- high in steals.

In a corresponding move, the White Sox optioned infielder Tristan Gray to Triple-A Charlotte. Gray was just recalled before Monday night’s game but did not play.