Brewers first baseman Jon Singleton went 1 for 4 and scored a run in his first major league game since 2015 in helping Milwaukee hold off the Cincinnati Reds 10-8 on Saturday.
The Brewers called up Singleton and outfielder Blake Perkins from Triple-A Nashville on Saturday and put first baseman Darin Ruf (right knee laceration) and outfielder Tyrone Taylor (elbow sprain) on the 10-day injured list.
“It’s been a long journey,” said Singleton, who started Saturday’s game and batted sixth vs. the Reds. “Right now, I really can’t even describe my emotions, my feelings. Definitely grateful.”
Perkins, for his part, made a major impact in his recall to the Brewers, hitting a grand slam for his first career homer and driving in five runs.
Perkins hit an RBI single in the second and then capped Milwaukee’s five-run third with a drive to right that gave the Brewers a 9-1 lead. He went 1 for 12 and scored a run over his first 10 major league games.
“I was just glad I got the ball in the air,” Perkins said. “Then I saw (right fielder Jake Fraley) and I was thinking, ‘I hope it goes.’ That’s out. My mind was completely blank. I don’t have words.”
Singleton, 31, was such a heralded prospect early in his pro career that he signed a $10 million long-term deal with the Houston Astros in 2014 before ever playing a big league game, but off-field issues hampered his development.
Singleton told reporters he learned about his promotion from Nashville Sounds manager Rick Sweet during the ninth inning of Friday’s game.
“When Rick told me, I was just mind-blown, to be honest,” Singleton said. “It was something that came so unexpectedly at that moment. It was definitely a long time coming.”
Singleton batted a combined .171 with a .290 on-base percentage, 14 homers and 50 RBIs with the Astros from 2014 to ’15. The Astros released Singleton in 2018 while he was serving a 100-game suspension under baseball’s minor league drug program after a third positive test for a drug of abuse.
“Once I had time to step away and consider what life really was and what it meant to me, it helped maybe put things in perspective,” Singleton said Saturday.
The Brewers signed Singleton to a minor league contract in 2021, after he had batted .321 with 15 homers and a 1.196 OPS in 46 games in the Mexican League earlier that year.
He was hitting .258 with a .384 on-base percentage, .483 slugging percentage, 10 homers and 29 RBIs in 49 games with Nashville this season. That followed a 2021 campaign in which he batted .219 with a .375 on-base percentage, 24 homers, 87 RBIs and 117 walks in 134 games with Nashville.
“It’s definitely rewarding,” Singleton said about making his return. “There’s been a lot of hard work that I’ve put in. There’s been a lot of things I’ve done emotionally, physically and spiritually to get to this point. Very, very grateful.”
Hockey fans often hear about the dreaded Stanley Cup hangover, when a team falters in the season after their championship. But a Presidents’ Trophy hangover?
Last season, the New York Rangers finished on top of the regular-season standings. This season, it’s looking less likely by the day that they’ll even make the playoffs.
When play begins Monday, the Rangers will be six points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. With only six games left, they’ll need to come close to running the table, and will also need help from Montreal’s opponents.
Monday’s game is home against the Tampa Bay Lightning (7 p.m. ET, ESPN+). The Lightning have clinched a berth but will still be playing hard as they have a chance to catch the Toronto Maple Leafs for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.
As noted, New York will need to gin up a winning streak here to bolster its chances. As for the Canadiens, they close out with a somewhat easier schedule: home against the Detroit Red Wings, at the Ottawa Senators and Maple Leafs, then home for the Chicago Blackhawks and the Hurricanes.
So that’s the task ahead for the Blueshirts. Will they come through?
With the regular season ending April 17, we’ll help you track it all with the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide details on all the playoff races, along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Points: 83 Regulation wins: 27 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 5 Points pace: 88.4 Next game: @ DAL (Tuesday) Playoff chances: 1.4% Tragic number: 2
Points: 74 Regulation wins: 23 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 6 Points pace: 79.8 Next game: vs. EDM (Monday) Playoff chances: 0% Tragic number: E
Points: 72 Regulation wins: 27 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 5 Points pace: 76.7 Next game: @ LA (Monday) Playoff chances: 0% Tragic number: E
Points: 50 Regulation wins: 14 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 6 Points pace: 54.0 Next game: vs. CGY (Monday) Playoff chances: 0% Tragic number: E
Note: An “x” means that the team has clinched a playoff berth. An “e” means that the team has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process are here. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters, is No. 1 on the draft board.
The Utah Hockey Club will open a new practice and training facility for team use on Sept. 1, the team announced Monday.
The 115,780-square-foot facility, built on the southeastern end of a Sandy shopping mall, will house two NHL standard ice sheets. It will also include training, medical and dining facilities as well as team locker rooms.
Building a practice facility quickly was one of the immediate challenges Utah owner Ryan Smith faced in bringing an NHL team to the Beehive State. The Utah Olympic Oval, which is primarily used for speedskating events, served as the team’s practice facility this season, but it was intended to be only a temporary solution.
“We want to be competitive in the NHL, and to do that you got to have a place where these guys can practice and they can recover, and it’s home,” Smith said. “We did a miraculous job with the Oval, but at the same time that’s not this.”
Players on Utah’s roster had input on the practice facility’s design from the dining areas to the locker rooms. The facility incorporates many of their suggestions.
“We tried to involve them as much as we can in every part of this,” Smith said.
Utah’s practice facility will also be ready for public use next January. It will feature event venues, eight community locker rooms, equipment rentals and a team store. The ice rinks will be available to the public when not in use by the team.
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Alex Ovechkin for setting an “outstanding record” as the NHL’s top career goal scorer.
In a message after Ovechkin’s 895th career goal broke a tie for the record with Wayne Gretzky in the Washington Capitals‘ game Sunday against the New York Islanders, Putin said the achievement was something Russians would celebrate.
“I congratulate you on your outstanding record. You have surpassed legendary masters in the number of goals scored in National Hockey League regular-season games,” Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin on Monday.
Breaking Gretzky’s record “has become not only your personal success, but also a real celebration for fans in Russia and abroad,” Putin added. “I wish you health, good fortune [and] fighting spirit to conquer new heights in life and in sports.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Putin and Ovechkin had not yet spoken by phone but that Putin’s message of congratulations showed the president “highly values Ovechkin’s sporting result.”
Ovechkin has been a backer of Putin in the past and in 2017 set up a group called Putin Team on social media to show support for the Russian president, who was reelected the following year.
At the time, Ovechkin told The Associated Press and The Washington Post, “I just support my country,” and said, “It’s not about political stuff.”
Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev referred to that moment in his own statement of congratulations after Ovechkin broke the record Sunday.
He posted on social media that Ovechkin “remains a member of the Putin team and at the same time one of the main faces of world hockey, a favorite of millions and the NHL top scorer.”