Category: Saturday Sports Slam

Penguins reacquire F Kapanen from Maple Leafs

Penguins reacquire F Kapanen from Maple Leafs
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The retooling of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ roster is underway. The Penguins acquired forward Kasperi Kapanen from Toronto as the centerpiece of a trade between the two clubs that reunites the 24-year-old Kapanen with the team that originally drafted him with the 22nd overall pick in 2014. The Maple Leafs sent Kapanen, well-traveled forward Pontus Aberg and defensive prospect Jesper Lindgren to the Penguins for Pittsburgh’s first-round pick in this year’s draft as well as forward Evan Rodrigues, defenseman David Warsofsky and Swedish forward Filip Hallander.

Harvick dominates at Dover for 7th Cup victory of the season

Harvick dominates at Dover for 7th Cup victory of the season
By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Kevin Harvick regained the NASCAR Cup Series victory lead with his seventh, dominating Sunday at Dover International Speedway. A day after Denny Hamlin opened with doubleheader weekend with his sixth win to match Harvick, the Stewart-Haas racing driver one-upped his closest rival to claim NASCAR’s regular-season title. Harvick has 56 career Cup victories to tied Kyle Busch for ninth on the career list. Harvick swept the stages in the No. 4 Ford and won for the third time in seven races. He gave Ford its 700th Cup victory. Martin Truex Jr. was second and Jimmie Johnson, Dover’s career winner with 11, was third. Johnson’s No. 48 team gambled on a late two-tire pit stop that gave the seven-time champion a late surge.

Bucs Win Third Straight, Polanco’s Late Homerun Lifts Pirates To Sweep of Brew Crew

Polanco’s home run lifts Pirates to sweep of Brewers
JOHN PERROTTO Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Slumping Gregory Polanco’s bat showed signs of life for a second straight day as his two-run home run in the eighth inning lifted the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and a three-game series sweep. Polanco connected off David Phelps for his fourth homer of the season and finished 2 for 3 with a walk. It was Polanco’s second two-hit game in as many days, lifting his batting average from .085 to .151. The Pirates nearly doubled their season win total in one weekend. They entered the series with a 4-17 record, worst in the major leagues.

Takuma Sato wins his second Indianapolis 500

Takuma Sato has won his second Indianapolis 500 after Spencer Pigot crashed heavily exiting Turn 4, bringing out the caution with five laps remaining and forcing what had been a thrilling race to end under caution.

After dominating most of the race, Scott Dixon had been chasing Sato for about 15 laps and was starting to bite into a gap that had emerged in lapped traffic. But the race ended when Pigot spun into the outside wall, then crossed back across the track and slammed into the safety tires that guard the entrance to pit lane.

Pigot exited the car but was helped onto a stretcher. His car was left in pieces across the front stretch.

Dixon pulled up alongside Sato with Graham Rahal, his teammate, on the other side to finish third.

Briscoe calls shot at Dover to win Xfinity Series race

Briscoe calls shot at Dover to win Xfinity Series race
By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Chase Briscoe called his shot at Dover International Speedway and won his sixth Xfinity Series race of the season. Briscoe won five of the first 13 races this season but was winless in the last seven. That streak ended at Dover not long after Briscoe called his wife and promised he would win Sunday’s race. He went out and delivered in what he called his best Ford of the season. Briscoe won for the eighth time in his career.

Capitals fire coach Todd Reirden after 2 postseason letdowns

Capitals fire coach Todd Reirden after 2 postseason letdowns
By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer
The Washington Capitals have fired coach Todd Reirden after a second consecutive first-round exit in the playoffs. General manager Brian MacLellan announced the move three days after the Capitals lost to former coach Barry Trotz’s New York Islanders in a five-game series. Washington opted to promote Reirden from the top assistant job and let Trotz leave rather than give him a raise after winning the Stanley Cup in 2018. Reirden likely would have left to seek a head coaching position elsewhere. Trotz’s Islanders reached the second round of the postseason for a second consecutive season.

NFL positive COVID-19 tests from NJ lab could be false

NFL positive COVID-19 tests from NJ lab could be false
By BARRY WILNER AP Pro Football Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL revealed Sunday that several positive COVID-19 tests were found a day earlier by one of its testing partners. Among teams reporting false positives, the Minnesota Vikings said they had 12, the New York Jets 10 and the Chicago Bears nine. The league has asked the New Jersey lab BioReference to investigate the results “while the clubs work to confirm or rule out the positive tests.” The NFL did not identify the teams or say how many tests were positive. Other teams that were affected are the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns. The NFL uses BioReference for all of its COVID-19 testing, though tests are handled by labs throughout the nation to ensure teams get results quickly.

ESPN, LLWS announce media-rights extension through 2030

ESPN, LLWS announce media-rights extension through 2030
By The Associated Press undefined
ESPN will continue to air the Little League Baseball World Series as well as other events through 2030 as part of an eight-year extension. The agreement was announced by both parties on Sunday, which would have marked the first weekend of this year’s World Series. The event was canceled in the spring because of the coronavirus pandemic. The eight-year extension, which covers domestic, international and streaming platforms, makes ESPN the exclusive global rights holder for Little League baseball and softball. ESPN will carry more than 300 games yearly. ESPN started televising Little League games in 1983 and each year since 1987.

Andretti savoring his own Indianapolis 500 spotlight

Andretti savoring his own Indianapolis 500 spotlight
By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Marco Andretti has hard a rough racing career in which he’s never answered the expectations of his famous racing family. He has two victories in 15 seasons and hasn’t won a race since 2011. He will try to snap the so-called “Andretti Curse” in the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. Andretti will lead the field to the green, the first Andretti to do so since grandfather Mario in 1987. He’s under an enormous spotlight but is comfortable in his skin and accepts the pressure.

Bumpy 2019 over, Steelers’ Rudolph eager to “push” Big Ben

Bumpy 2019 over, Steelers’ Rudolph eager to “push” Big Ben
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph believes he can be a starter in the NFL despite a rocky 2019. Rudolph was thrust into a starting role last fall after Ben Roethlisberger was lost for the season due to a right elbow injury. The team went 5-3 during his starts, but his season was side-tracked following an incident with Cleveland defensive star Myles Garrett. The two fought near the end of a Browns’ victory, with Garrett ripping off Rudolph’s helmet and hitting him with it. Garrett claimed Rudolph used a racist slur, a slur the NFL found no evidence of. Rudolph says he’s focused on getting better in 2020.