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DENVER — Jared Bednar’s job on the bench appears perfectly safe after the Colorado Avalanche were ousted in the early rounds yet again.

General manager Chris MacFarland gave Bednar a vote of confidence Tuesday — “100% confident Jared’s our head coach,” MacFarland exclaimed in a deconstruct-what-went-sideways news conference.

This first-round playoff exit to the Dallas Stars, though, was particularly tough to swallow for MacFarland and team president/Hall of Famer Joe Sakic. Not just because former Avalanche forward turned Stars series saver Mikko Rantanen was the one to send them packing with a hat trick in Game 7. It was more because the front office firmly believed they had assembled a team that could win another Stanley Cup title, just like they did in 2022.

“This one stings. I’m not going to lie to you,” Sakic said. “We knew we had the team to do it. We feel like this year’s team was on that (2022) level. So that’s why this one’s going to sting. It’s going to sting a little longer than other years.

“We’ll regroup. Great players here, great character. They want to win and we’re going to find a way next year to be in the situation again and try and compete for the Cup.”

One change the Avalanche made in the aftermath of the Dallas loss was letting go of assistant coach Ray Bennett, who oversaw the power play. The Avalanche were 3 of 22 with the man advantage against the Stars.

“They (Stars) did everything they needed to be dangerous and scored (in) key moments of the game,” Sakic said. “We just didn’t have it at the right time. So at the end of the day, when you look at it all, that was the difference.”

The Avalanche have been to the postseason eight straight years under Bednar, who’s the winningest coach in franchise history. During that stretch, they’ve only made it past the second round when they won it all in 2022.

“I went through it as a player as well. Sometimes things just aren’t going to go your way,” Sakic said of a series. “We just missed on some opportunities and we didn’t capitalize. But we’ll get back at this again next year.”

Sakic said he was involved in the deal that sent Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24, in a transaction that brought Martin Necas and Jack Drury to Colorado. Rantanen was then sent by Carolina to Dallas on March 7 at the trade deadline.

Rantanen tormented the Avalanche in the series — five goals, seven assists — and will continue to do so for years to come after agreeing to an eight-year, $96 million contract.

“What’s done is done. That happened. We move forward,” Sakic said. “We were very confident with the group we have here. Listen, we had a really good team here. … It was a lot deeper, a lot stronger than it was to start the year or Christmastime. We didn’t get it done.”

Through all the squandered third-period leads in the series, Colorado was still 6:14 away from advancing — before Rantanen tied it up.

“Everybody’s frustrated,” Sakic said. “Everybody’s disappointed, just because we felt we were this close to moving on.”

Now, some decisions. Forwards Jonathan Drouin, Joel Kiviranta, Jimmy Vesey and Brock Nelson along with defensemen Ryan Lindgren and Erik Johnson are set to be free agents. Many of those players — including Vesey, who did not play in the postsesson, and Johnson, who only played twice — were trade deadline acquisitions by Colorado.

MacFarland isn’t opposed to running it back, especially with a nucleus of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Devon Toews, along with the return of their captain, Gabriel Landeskog.

Landeskog made it back for Game 3 after not playing in an NHL game for nearly three years. He’s been sidelined by a chronically injured right knee since helping the Avalanche to the 2022 title. Showing no signs of rust, Landeskog had one goal and three assists over five playoff games.

“Listen, nobody knew if he would be able to come back, not even himself,” Sakic said. “To come back the way he did, it was pretty inspiring.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Yelich fuels rally, Brewers extend win streak to 13

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Yelich fuels rally, Brewers extend win streak to 13

CINCINNATI — Christian Yelich had two homers among his four hits and drove in five runs as the Milwaukee Brewers overcame a seven-run deficit to beat the Cincinnati Reds 10-8 Friday night for their club record-tying 13th straight victory.

The Brewers became the first team in 94 years to extend a double-digit win streak with a comeback win of seven or more runs, according to ESPN Research.

The Reds chased Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski – making his first start since July 28 – with a seven-run seventh inning to take an 8-1 lead.

Yelich homered leading off the second against Nick Martinez for Milwaukee’s first run. He had an RBI double in the third before Andrew Vaughn hit his 14th homer – a three-run shot – and Brice Turang‘s RBI double to cut it to 8-6. Yelich had a two-run single in the fourth to tie it at 8-all and then hit his 26th homer – a one-out, solo shot off Scott Barlow (6-1) in the sixth to give the Brewers the lead.

Yelich did his damage with a bat honoring the late Bob Uecker. It had the home run call of the former catcher and longtime Brewers’ announcer written on it.

This was also Yelich’s third career game with four hits and two home runs, tying Ryan Braun and Willy Adames for most in franchise history, according to ESPN Research.

Brandon Lockridge went 3 for 5 and doubled off Sam Moll with two outs in the seventh before scoring on a wild pitch for an insurance run.

Misiorowski loaded the bases with one out in the second on a hit batter and two walks and left after walking Spencer Steer to force in a run. Elly De La Cruz had the first hit in the inning – a two-run double off DL Hall for a 4-1 lead. Four straight singles increased the lead to 8-1.

Misiorowski was charged with five runs on four hits and three walks in 1 1/3 innings hours after coming off the injured list. Nick Mears (4-3) pitched a scoreless fifth. Trevor Megill struck out two in the ninth for his 29th save. Six relievers combined to retire the final 23 Reds in order.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Slumping Dodgers lose 3B Muncy (oblique) to IL

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Slumping Dodgers lose 3B Muncy (oblique) to IL

LOS ANGELES — Third baseman Max Muncy was diagnosed with a Grade 1 oblique strain and landed on the injured list Friday, a major blow to a Los Angeles Dodgers team that finds itself fading in the standings.

Muncy was originally a late scratch from Wednesday’s lineup after feeling soreness in his right side during pregame batting practice. The Dodgers’ hope was that sitting out for the finale from Angel Stadium, then getting extra rest during the Thursday off day, would allow Muncy to return for a critical series against the division-rival San Diego Padres, who have taken a one-game lead in the National League West.

But Muncy will miss this weekend’s series from Dodger Stadium, as well as the following series from San Diego’s Petco Park next weekend.

“I don’t think anyone expects it to be season-ending,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “but hopefully it’s sooner than later.”

Roberts doesn’t believe the current oblique injury is as bad as the one that forced Muncy to miss about two months last year, but even in a best-case scenario, the Dodgers might be without their third baseman and left-handed power hitter until around mid-September.

Muncy got off to a bad start this year before turning it on in the middle of May, slashing .312/.438/.616 with 11 home runs in a stretch of 41 games. Muncy then injured his left knee during a scary collision at third base and wound up missing most of July. He returned Aug. 4, went 8-for-23 with four home runs over the course of eight games, and now he’s out again — at a time when the reigning World Series champs could really use some reinforcements.

The Dodgers held a nine-game lead in the NL West as of July 3 and have since gone 12-21 to fall a game back of a surging Padres team that arrived in L.A. on the heels of a five-game winning streak. As many as six high-leverage relievers reside on the Dodgers’ IL, though three of them — Michael Kopech, Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott — are nearing returns. The offense, meanwhile, has been mostly unproductive over the past six weeks, posting an 0.708 OPS that ranks 22nd in the major leagues.

During Muncy’s absence, the Dodgers will use Alex Freeland, a switch-hitting rookie who’s batting .176 in his first 12 games, and Buddy Kennedy, a right-handed-hitting journeyman with a career .193 batting average. Other potential reinforcements like Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim and Enrique Hernandez remain on the IL and aren’t close enough to a return.

“It’s certainly a tough loss,” Roberts said. “I think it’s just guys got to continue to perform to their abilities. It’s hard to kind of backfill Max, what he means, as far as the plate discipline, the slug, the on-base, all that stuff. I feel good about our lineup, the guys that we have, and they just have to go out there and take good at-bats. That’s all we can do right now.”

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Phils’ Duran takes liner off foot; X-rays negative

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Phils' Duran takes liner off foot; X-rays negative

WASHINGTON — Philadelphia Phillies closer Jhoan Duran was carted off the field after he took a comebacker off his right foot in the ninth inning of a 6-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday night.

The Phillies said that initial X-rays were negative and that Duran would be evaluated further Saturday.

Pitching in a non-save situation after four days off, Duran began the ninth by facing Paul DeJong, who hit a sharp grounder to the mound on his fourth pitch. The ball deflected off Duran’s foot and into foul territory for a single.

Duran ran toward the ball but began limping as he approached the foul line. After a lengthy visit by team trainers, he took a seat in the Nationals’ bullpen cart and was driven off the field.

“He ran like a shot to retrieve the ball, and once he got there, I think the adrenaline wore off and the pain set in,” Thomson said. “But before the cart came out, he said, ‘I actually feel better, I think I can walk over to the dugout.’ But we got all these steps up here, so we just wanted to use the cart and take him all the way around, so he didn’t have to go up the steps.”

Acquired from Minnesota at the trade deadline, Duran is 4-for-4 in save opportunities with the Phillies.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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