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Kyle Hurt made his major league debut with two perfect innings of relief for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who promoted the hard-throwing San Diego County native and USC product before Tuesday night’s game against the Padres.

Hurt, 25, retired Fernando Tatís Jr., Juan Soto and Manny Machado in order on nine pitches in the eighth inning before striking out the side in the ninth, showing a 98 mph fastball. The Dodgers won 11-2.

Hurt didn’t get to Dodger Stadium until 25 minutes before first pitch, thanks to a late-night call-up, a long flight and L.A. traffic. His girlfriend, parents and plenty of friends made it to Chavez Ravine to see his 24-pitch gem.

“Every single guy in the bullpen that talked to me during the game, they just said, ‘Be yourself, don’t change a thing,'” Hurt said. “And that’s what I did. … I’ve been talking with my buddies for a long time about this, and my family. It’s just so cool to be a part of it.”

The minor league leader in strikeout rate, Hurt had 145 strikeouts in 88⅓ innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season and mixes a high-90s fastball with three other swing-and-miss pitches. He joins a Dodgers relief corps that has weathered injuries to put up the second-best ERA in the National League behind Atlanta.

In related roster moves, the Dodgers optioned left-hander Victor Gonzalez to Triple-A Oklahoma City and placed right-hander Gus Varland on the 60-day injured list.

The Dodgers acquired Hurt and left-hander Alex Vesia in an early 2021 trade with Miami for right-hander Dylan Floro. Miami had selected him in the fifth round of the shortened 2020 draft out of USC, where his size (6-foot-3, 240 pounds) and stuff were ahead of his production.

Hurt emerged as a prospect last year and accelerated significantly this season, striking out 110 in 65 innings before his promotion to Triple-A Oklahoma City. In six outings there, he has struck out 35 in 23⅓ innings with a 3.09 ERA — with five of those appearances coming out of the bullpen.

Despite injuries that have Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen, Joe Kelly, Yency Almonte, J.P. Feyereisen, Alex Reyes and others on the IL, the first-place Dodgers have cobbled together a top-performing group of relievers that has maintained its excellence into September, where it has a 2.89 ERA.

Former Red Sox right-hander Ryan Brasier, who signed a minor league deal with Los Angeles in June, has allowed one run in 24 second-half innings, and Brusdar Graterol, the hard-throwing righty, has yielded one in 21⅔.

Their performances, along with closer Evan Phillips, stabilized a bullpen whose importance is that much more acute with left-handed starter Julio Urias on administrative leave after a domestic violence arrest, right-handed starter Walker Buehler cutting short his attempt to return from Tommy John surgery this season and a rotation that consists of veterans Clayton Kershaw and Lance Lynn, plus a group of young right-handers that includes Bobby Miller and Ryan Pepiot.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Knights score with 0.4 left to stun Oilers in Game 3

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Knights score with 0.4 left to stun Oilers in Game 3

EDMONTON, Alberta — Reilly Smith scored with 0.4 seconds left on a shot that deflected in off Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl‘s stick to give the Vegas Golden Knights a stunning 4-3 victory in Game 3 on Saturday night.

Smith’s goal is tied for the latest game winner in regulation in Stanley Cup playoffs history along with Nazem Kadri‘s goal for the Colorado Avalanche in 2020 and Jussi Jokinen’s goal for the Carolina Hurricanes in 2009, according to ESPN Research.

“Honestly, I’ve seen [Vegas forward William Karlsson] use that play a few times where he forechecks and spins it out in front of the net, jumping off the bench,” Smith said when asked about the play. “I think there was around seven seconds. I just tried. And being first on it. … So I thought there was a chance. And once it popped out I saw a lot of guys sell out. So I just hope that I had enough time to kind of pump-fake and find a lane and, you know, worked out.”

The game-winning goal came after Oilers star Connor McDavid tied it with 3:02 to go with a centering pass that went in off defender Brayden McNabb‘s skate.

“We didn’t sort it out very well to let the puck get into the slot. After that, it’s unlucky, it’s unfortunate,” Draisaitl said of the game-winning goal. “It goes off my stick, and I’m just trying to keep it out of the net. It’s just a bad bounce.”

After Corey Perry gave Edmonton an early 2-0 lead, Nicolas Roy and Smith tied it with goals in a 54-second span late in the first period. Karlsson put the Golden Knights in front with 2:55 left in the second, beating goalie Stuart Skinner off a give-and-go play with Noah Hanifin. And Adin Hill made 17 saves for Vegas.

The Golden Knights’ win Saturday cut Edmonton’s lead to 2-1 in the Western Conference semifinal series. Game 4 is Monday night in Edmonton.

“Before the series starts, if you were to tell us that we were gonna be up 2-1 after three, we’d be happy,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We’d be pleased with that, not only up 2-1, but Game 4 at home.”

Vegas rallied in the first period after Golden Knights forward Mark Stone left because of an upper-body injury.

“Big win for our team,” Smith said. “We need to use the momentum in front of us to push forward, but focus one game at a time. That’s kind of always been the mindset for this group. We have a lot of resiliency. So as long as you focus on that next game and get a little bit better every night.”

Roy, playing a day after being fined but not suspended for cross-checking Trent Frederic in the face in overtime in Game 2, cut it to 2-1 off a rebound with 4:43 left in the first. Smith then slipped a backhander through Skinner’s legs with 3:49 to go in the period.

Skinner stopped 20 shots, taking over in goal for the injured Calvin Pickard. Pickard appeared uncomfortable and was seen shaking out his left leg after Vegas forward Tomas Hertl landed on his left pad in Game 2.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Cubs? White Sox? Villanova? Different claims made to Pope Leo XIV’s fandom after election

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Cubs? White Sox? Villanova? Different claims made to Pope Leo XIV's fandom after election

History was made in Vatican City on Thursday, when Pope Leo XIV was introduced as the first American to be elected pontiff.

Leo XIV (birth name Robert Francis Prevost) was born and raised in southern Chicagoland, where he served as an altar boy in the St. Mary of the Assumption parish. Now, as he ascends to the papacy, an unlikely Second City staple is celebrating the moment: the Chicago Cubs.

After his election, ABC reported that Leo XIV was a fan of the Cubs.

But John Prevost — Leo XIV’s brother — had a different view. Prevost spoke to WGN News in Chicago after Leo XIV’s election and rebuked the idea that the Pope was a Cubs fan.

“He was never, ever a Cubs fan,” Prevost said. “So I don’t know where that came from. He was always a [Chicago White] Sox fan.”

Later on Thursday, Chicago’s ABC7 affiliate also reported on Leo XIV’s White Sox fandom. The White Sox themselves got in on the action, posting their own video board celebration and a clip of Prevost’s interview with WGN.

Prevost’s theory for the possible confusion? Their mother, whose family was from the north side of the city, was a Cubs fan.

The lone team that can conclusively claim to hold the rights to the new Pope’s fandom until further clarification is the Villanova Wildcats. Leo XIV graduated from the university as part of the Class of 1977.

“Roommates Show,” a podcast hosted by Wildcats-turned-New York Knicks teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, joked that they’d be having their fellow Villanova alumnus on the show in the near future.

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No timetable for DH Bryant’s return to Rockies

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No timetable for DH Bryant's return to Rockies

DENVER — For the next week or so, Kris Bryant will be restricted to not much more than a casual walk as he recovers from a procedure to fix his chronically bothersome back.

The Colorado Rockies designated hitter just hopes this finally alleviates the pain. Bryant returned to town after recently traveling to Los Angeles to undergo a procedure referred to as an ablation, which is designed to interrupt pain signals being sent from the back to the brain. He explained Saturday that it took roughly 45 minutes.

“I feel like I got stabbed in the back right now,” Bryant said before the Rockies played the San Diego Padres. “Not ideal, but I’m in good spirits.”

Once he’s cleared for more than a light stroll, Bryant will return to the weight room in an effort to build strength. There’s no timetable for a return to baseball activities quite yet.

“Just got to let nature take its course,” manager Bud Black explained.

Bryant’s currently on the injured list with lumbar degenerative disk disease, which involves the deterioration of the spinal disks that act as cushions between the vertebrae. It’s his ninth stint on the IL since 2022 due to a series of health issues.

His back has gotten to the point where cortisone shots no longer work. That’s why he had the ablation procedure. Anything to avoid back surgery.

“I don’t want to get to that point. I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Bryant said. “Just trying to check boxes as they go. We tried all the other, I guess you say, conservative treatments, or more traditional approaches with cortisone shots. They just didn’t work for me. So this was another step along the way.”

“I’m willing to try anything,” added Bryant, whose pain at times has brought on nausea. “It’s weighed on me, for sure. It just sucks.”

The 33-year-old Bryant is hitting .154 this season with no homers, one RBI, 13 strikeouts in 11 games.

Bryant has been limited to 170 games with Colorado since signing a $182 million, seven-year contract before the 2022 season. He’s suffered from an array of injuries, including plantar fasciitis, a bone bruise in his foot, heel issues, a broken finger, a back strain, a lower rib contusion and back problems.

“Right now I feel like I’m in a good spot,” said Bryant, the 2016 NL MVP with the Chicago Cubs. “It just wears on you. It’s not an easy thing for me to deal with but doing the best I can with a pretty crappy situation.”

He hasn’t set any sort of baseball goals quite yet.

“It’s really just one day at a time,” Bryant said. “Just continuing to do everything I can that’s in my power — and the training staff’s power — to find a way to navigate this.”

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