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PRAGUE — Brady Tkachuk scored a goal and added three assists, Cole Caufield scored twice and the United States clinched a playoff-round berth with a 4-1 win over Poland in preliminary round play at the men’s world hockey championships on Friday.

Michigan State goalie Trey Augustine stopped 20 shots, including all 11 he faced in a scoreless first period. Michael Kesselring also scored for the Americans, who improved to 3-1-1 and moved into second place in the Group B standings.

John Murray, who has Polish roots and is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, stopped 53 shots, including 34 of the first 36 he faced through two periods to keep the score tight. Grzegorz Pasiut scored Poland’s lone goal, briefly cutting the U.S. lead to 3-1 with 13:38 left in the third period.

Poland dropped to 0-4-1 and is in jeopardy of facing relegation.

Kesselring, a defenseman for NHL Utah, was set up by Tkachuk on a 3-on-1 rush to open the scoring 9:49 into the second period.

Tkachuk, the U.S. and Ottawa Senators captain, then made it 2-0 with 42 seconds left in the frame on a 2-on-1 break. Murray made the initial stop on Shane Pinto, and the puck got caught up in Tkachuk’s skate and went in as the forward was pushed from behind and crashed into the net.

The Americans close preliminary round play facing Kazakhstan on Sunday and Latvia on Tuesday.

In Group A play, Dominik Kubalik and Jakub Flek scored second-period goals 64 seconds apart, and the Czech Republic beat Austria 4-0. Petr Mrazek, who plays goal for the Chicago Blackhawks, picked up the shutout with 21 saves, and the host Czechs improved to 3-1-1 to take over first place in their pool.

Austria dropped to 1-3-1.

Earlier in the day, JJ Peterka had a goal and three assists, Wojciech Stachowiak set up four goals, and Germany clinched a Group B playoff berth with an 8-2 rout of Kazakhstan.

Philipp Grubauer, who plays for the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, stopped 18 shots. Peterka, a member of the Buffalo Sabres, scored the eventual game-winning goal in putting the Germans ahead 3-1 at the 1:11 mark of the second period.

Roman Starchenko and Artyom Korolyov scored for Kazakhstan, which is in jeopardy of facing relegation after dropping to 1-4. Andrey Shutov allowed three goals on 10 shots before being replaced by Nikita Boyarkin, who stopped 20 of 25 shots.

In Group A preliminary round play, Christian Wejse scored the decisive goal with 7:59 left in regulation of Denmark’s 4-3 win over winless Britain.

Mikkel Aagaard scored twice and Phillip Bruggisser had a goal and assist for the Danes, who snapped a three-game skid to improve to 2-3. Frederik Dichow made 28 saves in the victory.

Liam Kirk, Cade Neilson and Nathanael Halbert scored for Britain, which dropped to 0-4. Jackson Whistle finished with 24 saves for a team that’s been competitive despite its record, and opened the worlds with a 4-2 loss to Canada.

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Greene returning to Reds rotation for playoff push

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Greene returning to Reds rotation for playoff push

Hunter Greene will return to the Cincinnati Reds‘ rotation Wednesday night.

The right-hander will start against visiting Philadelphia after being out since June 4 with a strained right groin. The same injury sidelined Greene for two weeks in May.

Greene is 4-3 with a 2.72 ERA in 11 starts this season. The 26-year-old was selected to the All-Star Game last year for the first time.

In three rehab starts for Triple-A Louisville, Greene allowed 11 runs in 11 innings.

Cincinnati (61-57) entered Sunday 2½ games behind the New York Mets for the third wild-card spot in the National League.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Phillies call up Robertson, 40, for bullpen assist

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Phillies call up Robertson, 40, for bullpen assist

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Philadelphia Phillies recalled 40-year-old reliever David Robertson from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Sunday, three weeks after he signed a free agent deal with the National League East leaders.

Robertson made six relief appearances with Lehigh Valley and had a 10.13 ERA, though he had four scoreless outings. He struck out six, walked one and allowed 11 hits and six runs in 5⅓ innings.

The Phillies made the move before their series finale at Texas, where Robertson was 3-4 with a 3.00 ERA in 68 games last season.

Right-hander Alan Rangel was optioned to Triple-A to make room on the 26-man roster.

Over his 16-year major league career, Robertson has a 2.91 ERA in 861 games, all but one of those in relief. This is his third stint with the Phillies, first as a free agent before the 2019 season and then after being acquired in a trade from the Chicago Cubs in 2022. He played nine seasons with the Yankees over two different times in New York, which drafted him in the 17th round of the 2006 amateur draft.

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Ohtani hits 40-HR mark for 4th time in career

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Ohtani hits 40-HR mark for 4th time in career

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani hit his 40th home run of the season Saturday night in the fifth inning of the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ 9-1 win against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Ohtani hit a solo shot 417 feet to center off starter Chris Bassitt to give the Dodgers a three-run lead.

“That was one of those swings where he was behind the ball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He stayed into the ground. I know he and the hitting guys have been working on some things mechanically. That was as good of a swing as you’re going to see.”

Ohtani was not made available to the media.

The two-way Japanese star reached 40 homers for the fourth time in his career — and the third straight season — after winning MVP awards in each of the previous three years he did it.

He is the third player with multiple 40-HR seasons in the American League and National League, joining Jim Thome and Mark McGwire.

He did it this time in his 115th game, the fewest needed to reach the mark in a season in Dodgers history.

With 45 regular-season games left, Roberts was asked if he thought Ohtani could reach 55.

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Roberts said. “Guys like Shohei always look for something to motivate them. He likes round numbers. I know 50 is on his radar. We’ll see how it goes.”

Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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