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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mike Trout, on the injured list after sustaining a bone bruise in his surgically repaired left knee, said Friday that he’s “feeling a lot better” and is hopeful of returning to the Los Angeles Angels‘ lineup as soon as eligible.

Trout had two surgeries to repair two separate meniscus tears in his left knee last year and said he was feeling good until the third inning of Wednesday’s game at Seattle, when the Angels’ star outfielder lunged toward first base with his left foot in an effort to beat out an infield single and felt discomfort.

Trout exited an inning later and underwent further evaluation when the team returned to Southern California the next day. Imaging did not reveal any structural damage.

“Talking to the doctors, I’ve had two meniscuses shaved down, and I just hit it perfectly on the bag,” Trout said. “Both bones hit each other, and I bruised both of them.”

Trout, who was wearing a sleeve on his left leg, was told to stay off his legs for “a couple days,” then ramp up slowly. Asked if he believes he can return after the 10-day minimum on the IL is up, Trout said, “Yeah, it’s certainly possible.”

Regardless of his length of stay, the 2025 season will mark the fifth straight year with Trout on the IL. Most of those stints have been defined by instances when he hoped to return a lot sooner than he ultimately did. In 2021, a torn calf muscle suffered in the middle of May kept him out for the rest of the year. In 2023, he missed seven weeks with a fractured bone in his wrist, came back for one game on Aug. 22 and missed the rest of the season.

The 2024 campaign was probably the most confounding of all. Trout suffered an initial meniscus tear April 29, underwent surgery four days later and began a rehab assignment 11 weeks later. Once he did, on July 23, he exited after one plate appearance and underwent an MRI that he said came back clean. Then Trout began to ramp back up, felt continual discomfort and underwent another MRI that revealed an additional tear, prompting season-ending surgery.

From 2021 to 2024, Trout — the three-time MVP, 11-time All-Star and nine-time Silver Slugger who was Major League Baseball’s best player throughout the 2010s — played in only 41% of the Angels’ games.

This time, though, Trout said he’s “not concerned at all” that he’ll be out for a prolonged stretch.

“No structural damage,” Trout said when asked why he thinks his optimism will be validated this time, “and the progress I’ve made from yesterday to today.”

Trout homered nine times in his first 29 games in 2025, but he also accumulated 36 strikeouts and batted only .179. His season is an embodiment of the Angels’ entire offense. Going into a matchup against reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, the Angels had the second-highest strikeout rate in the majors and the lowest walk rate. Their .662 OPS ranked 24th.

While Trout is out, the Angels will use Jorge Soler, Jo Adell and Gustavo Campero in right field, the position Trout transitioned to this spring in an effort to take some of the burden off his legs after a career spent in center. Trout has also made seven starts at designated hitter this year. The Angels have not determined whether he’ll have to do so more frequently upon return.

“That decision we’ll make when we sit down and talk to him and have him involved in that decision,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “We’re not going to make that decision just us. We’re going to include Mike. We just gotta see when he comes back. If for some reason that’s the case, he’ll get the DH slot. I’m not going to deny it to him.”

Trout seemed to chalk the injury up to a freak play and not the result of a chronic issue he will continually have to monitor. But last year’s surgeries have left Trout with less cushion in his left knee, altering joint mechanics and resulting in increased bone contact, making him more susceptible to these types of injuries.

“I’ll just try not to lunge at the bags, I guess,” Trout said. “Yeah, obviously, I gotta be a little bit careful, don’t do anything crazy. Talking to the doctors, they said once it fully heals, I’ll be good to go.”

ESPN’s Stephania Bell contributed to this report.

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Oilers’ 5th comeback win in row sets NHL record

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Oilers' 5th comeback win in row sets NHL record

LAS VEGAS — Zach Hyman scored from just above the right circle with 3:02 left to put his team ahead for good, and the Edmonton Oilers rallied yet again this postseason to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the second-round series.

The Oilers, the defending Western Conference champions who came back from 2-0 down, set an NHL record with their fifth consecutive playoff comeback victory.

“We’re a patient group, we’re a veteran team. The guys here have been playing a lot of playoffs throughout the years,” Edmonton defenseman John Klingberg said. “They know what it takes. Just stick to our game, and take it game by game.”

Vegas, which had just seven shots on goal over the final two periods, lost a playoff game in regulation after leading by at least two goals for the first time. The Golden Knights are 47-4 overall in the postseason with that kind of lead.

Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, and Corey Perry and Connor Brown scored the other goals. Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid each had two assists. McDavid now has four consecutive postseasons with at least 10 assists for fourth best in league history. Calvin Pickard was barely tested after the first period and finished with 15 shots.

“It gives you a great opportunity,” Hyman said of winning the opener on the road. “You steal one in their rink, and now, you have a chance to take both. We haven’t been in that spot a lot. It’s nice to get the first one out of the way early.”

Mark Stone scored both goals for the Golden Knights to tie Jonathan Marchessault‘s franchise record with 36 for his Vegas career. It also extended his goal-scoring streak to three games. Adin Hill made 24 saves.

Both star-studded top lines delivered in the first period, with Stone scoring twice, the first on a double-minor power play. Edmonton’s top unit cut the deficit in half with 3:34 left when Perry deked Hill for an open net with McDavid and Draisaitl getting assists on the play.

Neither team scored in the second period even though the Oilers outshot Vegas 12-1. The Golden Knights had never been held to fewer than two shots on goal in a regulation playoff period.

Edmonton didn’t waste a chance early in the third, tying the score 57 seconds in when Draisaitl backhanded a shot off the boards and off Hill.

Hyman, who earlier in the shift took a stick to the face from Kaedan Korczak, broke the tie in the closing minutes, and Brown sealed the win 1:16 later.

“We were kind of all over the place in the first 10 minutes,” Perry said in speaking with Sportsnet after the win. “But we found our footing, found our game. We started moving the puck, and making plays. And then, we played well defensively, and kept the puck out of our net.”

Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo did not play because of an illness, allowing Korczak to make his first career postseason start. Vegas also was without Pavel Dorofeyev, who led the team with 35 goals this season, for the second game in a row because of an undisclosed injury. Coach Bruce Cassidy has described him as day to day.

Game 2 is Thursday night in Las Vegas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Canes’ dominant 33-shot effort ‘paid off’ in OT

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Canes' dominant 33-shot effort 'paid off' in OT

WASHINGTON — Jaccob Slavin scored in overtime, Frederik Andersen made 13 saves in his return from injury and the Carolina Hurricanes outlasted the Washington Capitals 2-1 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series on Tuesday night.

Logan Stankoven started the comeback with his goal midway through the third period off a turnover, beating Logan Thompson after Aliaksei Protas‘ errant pass off Washington teammate Alex Alexeyev‘s right skate put the puck on Jesperi Kotkaniemi‘s stick. After failing to score on a power play late in regulation, Slavin scored 3:06 into OT from just inside the blue line to give Carolina the series lead.

The result capped a dominant effort by the road team, despite the fact that it trailed for most of the game. Carolina finished with 33 shots on net, compared with just 14 for Washington. All told, six Hurricanes had at least three shots on net, including Slavin, who finished with five.

“We were all over it, and we knew we had to just throw everything at the net,” Slavin said. “That mentality paid off there at the end.”

Andersen, who wasn’t tested much, allowed only an early second-period goal to Protas in improving to 4-1 this postseason. Andersen was back after getting knocked out of Game 4 and missing Game 5 of the first round against the New Jersey Devils with an apparent head injury.

“Just trying to take what comes my way and be in that moment all the time and just stay with it,” Andersen said. “You don’t know when that next big save’s going to happen.”

Just a week ago, Andersen had to sit and watch as his teammates defeated the Devils in double overtime of Game 5 to secure the series. A week later, he was back, delivering the kind of quality goaltending Carolina has gotten from him whenever he has been healthy.

“Just really been looking forward to this for a while,” Andersen said. “Happy we could start off on the right foot.”

Carolina remained the only team perfect on the penalty kill this postseason, keeping Washington’s power play off the board twice to improve to 17-of-17. That, along with Kotkaniemi and Stankoven taking advantage of Protas’ mistake and Slavin scoring with Seth Jarvis screening Thompson, was the difference.

“I thought our guys played hard every shift. Right from the start of the game, I liked how we were playing,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Obviously, we were down, but yeah, there’s a certain game plan. And I thought we were on it tonight.”

Game 2 is Thursday night in Washington.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Giants’ 9-run 11th sets Wrigley record, KO’s Cubs

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Giants' 9-run 11th sets Wrigley record, KO's Cubs

CHICAGO — Patrick Bailey hit a tiebreaking single in San Francisco‘s nine-run 11th inning, and the Giants beat the Chicago Cubs 14-5 on Tuesday night.

Bailey drove in Christian Koss with a liner to center against Ryan Pressly (2-2). Jung Hoo Lee had a run-scoring single, and Matt Chapman singled home two more runs in San Francisco’s highest-scoring inning of the season.

The nine runs are the most in an extra inning since the Angels scored nine in the 13th inning on Aug. 16, 2009. It is also the highest-scoring extra inning at Wrigley Field, surpassing the seven-run 10th by the New York Giants on June 18, 1921.

Lee also hit a two-run homer as San Francisco bounced back from an ugly 9-2 loss to Chicago on Monday night. Chapman, who committed two of the Giants’ four errors in the series opener, had three hits and scored twice.

The Cubs trailed 5-3 before rallying in the ninth, handing Justin Verlander another no-decision after he was in position for his first win with the Giants.

Justin Turner bounced a pinch-hit RBI single into right field against Ryan Walker. After Ian Happ struck out swinging for the second out, Kyle Tucker greeted Erik Miller (2-0) with a hard grounder back up the middle, bringing home the tying run.

Verlander pitched five innings of three-run ball. The three-time AL Cy Young Award winner signed a $15 million, one-year contract with the Giants in January.

Verlander, 42, is winless in eight consecutive starts for the first time in his 20 major league seasons.

Miguel Amaya hit a two-run homer for NL Central-leading Chicago, which had won four of five. Dansby Swanson had two hits and scored twice while extending his hitting streak to eight games.

Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong robbed Mike Yastrzemski of extra bases with a leaping grab at the wall in the third. Crow-Armstrong also took a hit away from Lee with a sliding catch in the fifth.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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