(File Photo: Source for Photo: Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez delivers during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Cristopher Sánchez struck out a career-high 13 while picking up the second shutout of his big league career as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-0 on Saturday to reach .500 for the first time since mid-April.

Sánchez (5-2), the National League Cy Young Award runner-up a year ago, allowed five hits and didn’t issue a walk while extending his scoreless streak to 29 2/3 innings. He dropped his ERA to 1.82 with the fifth complete game and third shutout in the major leagues this season.

Philadelphia (23-23) improved to 14-4 since Don Mattingly replaced Rob Thomson as manager and made bench coach Dusty Wathan a winner during his managerial debut. Wathan filled in while Mattingly attended a son’s college graduation.

Bryce Harper hit a 457-foot three-run homer off the batter’s eye in the first inning off Bubba Chandler (1-5). Trea Turner and Alec Bohm had two hits apiece. Kyle Schwarber, baseball’s leading home run hitter, added an RBI single as the Phillies gave Sanchez an early five-run lead and cruised.

One night after the Phillies rallied from six down to stun Pittsburgh in extra innings, Sanchez made sure no comeback was needed. He retired the first 11 batters he faced and never really ran into trouble until the ninth inning, when the Pirates put runners on first and third with one out.

With a reliever warming up in the bullpen, Sanchez struck out Marcell Ozuna to reach 13 strikeouts for the first time and then retired Nick Yorke on a groundball to end it.

While Sanchez was crisp, Chandler was not. The hard-throwing 23-year-old, considered an important part of Pittsburgh’s future, continued to struggle with his command. Chandler issued four walks in his three innings of work, pushing his total on the season to a major league-leading 31.

And when Chandler did find the strike zone, Schwarber and Harper made him pay.

It took Philadelphia all of three batters to take control. Turner led off with a single. Schwarber walked, and Harper followed with his 11th homer of the season, a monster shot that made the significant chunk of the PNC Park crowd who made the five-hour drive across the state roar with approval.

Up next

The series wraps up on Sunday when reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes (6-2, 1.98 ERA) starts for Pittsburgh against Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler (2-0, 2.55).

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers looks on after defeating the Baltimore Ravens in an NFL football game, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Aaron Rodgers isn’t done yet.

After another lengthy decision-making process, the four-time MVP is expected to sign a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers worth up to $25 million, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday night.

The contract is expected to include a base salary between $22 million and $23 million, with several million more available through incentives, according to sources.

Rodgers, 42, recently returned to the Pittsburgh area ahead of Monday’s organized team activities and was seen getting ice cream with several teammates at a local shop Friday night.

He is expected to report for Monday’s OTAs, sources told Schefter.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber, right, rounds third base to greetings from third base coach Anth Contreras (88) after hitting a two-run home run off Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Braxton Ashcraft during the fifth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Red-hot slugger Kyle Schwarber homered twice to boost his majors-leading total to 20 and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-9 in 10 innings Friday night.

Philadelphia trailed by six early. Schwarber led the comeback, smashing a pair of two-run homers. The designated hitter went deep off Braxton Ashcraft in the fifth and again off Mason Montgomery in the seventh.

Schwarber has nine home runs in the past eight games, the second time in his career he’s achieved that feat. He also did it in 2021 while playing for Washington. Albert Belle is the only other player in MLB history to hit nine homers in an eight-game stretch twice.

The Pirates were so wary of Schwarber while holding onto a three-run lead in the ninth that closer Gregory Soto walked him on four pitches with the bases loaded. Bryce Harper followed with a two-run single off the top of the wall in right center to pull Philadelphia even.

The Phillies pounced on Pirates reliever Dennis Santana (2-3) in the 10th. Brandon Marsh led off with an RBI single and Rafael Marchán followed with a two-run single. Jose Alvarado (1-1) pitched a scoreless ninth. Orion Kerkering worked the 10th for his first save as Philadelphia won for the fifth time in six games to improve to 13-4 since Don Mattingly replaced Rob Thomson as manager last month.

Brandon Lowe homered twice for the Pirates. Marcell Ozuna added a 438-shot to the Pirates’ bullpen that reliever Yohan Ramirez caught with a traffic cone.

The traffic cones have become a fixture in both the Pittsburgh dugout and the stands at PNC Park this season in Pittsburgh after outfielder Jake Mangum brought one into the clubhouse in Cincinnati in early April, which coincided with an offensive explosion in a victory over the Reds.

Up next

The series continues Saturday. NL Cy Young runner-up Cristopher Sánchez (4-2, 2.11 ERA) was set to start for the Phillies against Pittsburgh’s Bubba Chandler (1-4, 4.62).

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Canada’s Sidney Crosby (87) reacts after Canada lost to the United States in a men’s ice hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

(Zurich, Switzerland-AP) Macklin Celebrini will stay Canada’s captain after Sidney Crosby joined the team at for the world hockey championship in Switzerland.

Hockey Canada announced since joining, Crosby has been added to the leadership group for Canada’s National Men’s Team and will serve as one of three alternate captains.

Celebrini, the 19-year-old teenage star of the San Jose Sharks, is the youngest-ever Canada captain and the youngest on the team’s roster for the worlds, which open Friday in the cities of Zurich and Fribourg.

He has had a year to remember. In only his second NHL season, the center recorded staggering numbers, setting a record for the Sharks with 115 points for 45 goals and 70 assists in 82 regular-season games.

Celebrini finished fourth in the league and was a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award along with established stars Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Only two teenagers have reached the 50-point mark faster in a season than Celebrini, two of the greatest players in NHL history: Crosby and Wayne Gretzky.

Celebrini’s performances have earned him a place on a Canada team that had to settle for silver at this year’s Milan Cortina Olympics.

Canada is the most successful nation at the worlds, with 28 titles, and is one of the favorites every year no matter who is available at the time of the NHL playoffs.

Celebrini joins forces with Crosby and two 35-year-old alternate captains, John Tavares of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ryan O’Reilly of the Nashville Predators.

The last-minute addition of Crosby for his fourth appearance at the tournament is a boost for Canada, which is hoping to rebound from a disappointing fifth-place finish last year.

Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, was at the 2025 tournament on a team that included Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon, but the Canadians were stunned 2-1 by Denmark in the quarterfinals.

Canada last won the trophy in 2023.

Format

The 16 teams are divided into two groups for the preliminary round.

The United States is in Group A in Zurich with Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Austria, Hungary and newcomer Britain. Group B in Fribourg includes Canada, Sweden, Czechia, Denmark, Slovakia, Norway, Slovenia and another newcomer, Italy.

The top four in each group make the quarterfinals. The final and bronze-medal games are scheduled for May 31.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Pirates’ Endy Rodriguez celebrates after driving in two runs with a single off Colorado Rockies pitcher Chase Dollander in the third inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Before Paul Skenes. Before Konnor Griffin. Before Bubba Chandler. Before Henry Davis, there was Endy Rodriguez.

An athlete behind the plate who hit 25 homers as a 22-year-old in the minors, Rodriguez was one of the foundational pieces the Pittsburgh Pirates planned to build their future around. He arrived in the big leagues in 2023, bringing energy and swagger to a clubhouse in serious need of both.

Then, thanks to one weird swing in the Arizona Fall League in late 2023, Rodriguez shredded his left elbow, costing him all of 2024. He returned in early 2025 — and oddly found himself moonlighting at first base — only to have his right elbow give out.

As he rehabbed, the Pirates grew up without him. The fear of missing out was real, which made the feeling as Rodriguez stood on second base after his first big-league hit in nearly a year during a 7-2 win over Colorado on Thursday so sweet.

“It feels good to be back,” Rodriguez said.

Perhaps just as importantly, it feels good to be remembered. The team he returned to earlier this week, when Joey Bart went on the 10-day injured list with a left foot infection, isn’t the one he left last June.

The future the Pirates have been talking about since Ben Cherington took over as general manager in late 2019 has finally arrived. Pittsburgh is 24-20 and firmly in the mix a quarter of the way through the season, with perhaps the best young pitching staff in baseball anchored by the sublimely talented Skenes and an offense far better suited to compete.

Rodriguez’s spot in the present — let alone the future — is hardly assured. It didn’t used to be that way.

“He’s a special player,” said pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski, who came up through the minors with Rodriguez before being reunited on Thursday. “I want to say he got swept under the rug a little bit in a sense, but he was like a superstar coming up.”

Acquired from the New York Mets as part of a three-team swap that sent pitcher Joe Musgrove from the Pirates to San Diego, Rodriguez was Pittsburgh’s Minor League Player of the Year in 2022 when he smashed 25 homers and drove in 95 runs while sprinting through the club’s farm system.

Rodriguez reached the majors in 2023, where he showed he was capable of handling a big-league pitching staff and flashes of what could be possible at the plate.

Then the injuries hit, the Pirates brought in Bart to pair with Davis, and Rodriguez became somewhat of an afterthought.

Asked if it felt like he was being left behind while Skenes, Griffin and Chandler morphed from prospects into cornerstones in what felt like a flash, Rodriguez shrugged.

“It’s a good question,” he said. “It’s been a little tough because they’ve really grown fast. They’re smart boys. They compete every day. I just have to follow them.”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. No one knows that better than Rodriguez, who turns 26 early next month. Rehabbing from one season-ending injury is difficult enough. Trying doing it twice and being forced to watch from afar as the rebuild you were supposed to be a part of goes on without you.

“Being out, it takes more out of you than you think,” he said. “Mental stuff and body-wise, it’s hard.”

Rodriguez wasn’t exactly knocking down the door for a return at the time of his callup. He was hitting just .221 with one homer and 16 RBIs at Triple-A when Bart saw some discoloration in his left foot that has sidelined him indefinitely.

Whether Rodriguez will have the chance to get a nice, long look is anyone’s guess. He made a solid first impression, doubling off the wall in right leading off the second inning, then providing a two-run single in the third for his first multi-RBI game since June 2023.

Back then, the future was wide open. It doesn’t quite feel that way now. Not that Rodriguez tries to linger on what might have been. The way he looks at it, it’s better to focus on what still could be.

“Watching them, it made me feel like, I’ve got to give more, even if I give 100%, I’ve got to give more,” he said. “It’s pushed me to be better.”

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Pirates’ Endy Rodriguez singles off Colorado Rockies pitcher Chase Dollander, driving in two runs, during the third inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Endy Rodriguez had two hits and drove in a pair of runs in his return to the majors and the Pittsburgh Pirates breezed past the Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Thursday.

Rodriguez, a catcher once considered among the top prospects in Pittsburgh’s farm system before missing all of 2024 and most of 2025 due to a pair of elbow injuries, doubled off Chase Dollander (3-3) in the second and added a two-run single in the third in his first big league appearance since June 6, 2025.

Ryan O’Hearn had three hits for Pittsburgh, including a two-run homer in the first as the Pirates raced to an early lead and cruised. Rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin and Jared Triolo added two hits each as Pittsburgh began a six-game homestand by taking two of three from the Rockies.

Carmen Mlodzinski (3-3) allowed two runs in five innings after coming on after left-handed relievers Mason Montgomery and Evan Sisk. Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly opted to use Montgomery and Sisk early to offset the lefty-heavy portion of Colorado’s lineup. The right-handed Mlodzinski has struggled at times this year against lefties, but by the time he came on in the third, he’d been staked to a comfortable 6-0 lead.

Dollander, a first-round pick by the Rockies in 2023 who has been solid early in the season, struggled in the first and was removed just two batters into the second with what the club described as right arm tightness.

Troy Johnston hit a two-run double for Colorado, but the Rockies lost for the sixth time in their last seven games at PNC Park after the Pirates took quick command.

Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz started with a double to left that Rockies left fielder Jordan Beck appeared to lose in the lights. The ball fell for a hit, Cruz jogged to second, then scored on an RBI single by Bryan Reynolds. O’Hearn followed with his eighth homer of the season, and the rout was on.

Up next

Rockies: return home for a three-game set against Arizona beginning Friday.

Pirates: host cross-state rival Philadelphia for a three-game series starting Friday.

(Caption for Photo: The Millcreek Township School District in Erie County received 10 automated external defibrillators in 2025 to place at each of the district’s buildings. The cost was covered by AEDGrant.com and LECOM Health. Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of Millcreek Education Foundation)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) Pennsylvania schools will be required to ensure defibrillators are available at all Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association sporting events and to develop emergency response plans for cardiac arrests under new statewide safety requirements.

Governor Josh Shapiro signed the measure Wednesday. The law is named for a Monroe County teenager who suffered cardiac arrest and died during a high school basketball game more than 25 years ago.

Following his death, his mother has advocated for expanded access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in schools and public gathering spaces.

The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Rosemary Brown, requires AEDs at all PIAA-sanctioned competitions and practices. It also mandates that schools develop cardiac emergency response plans and conduct annual drills.

(Caption for Photo: (L-R) Duck Hodges and Lainey Wilson attend the Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool SXSW Premiere on March 17, 2026 in Austin, Texas.(Photo Credit: Robin Marchant)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Dickson, TN) Country music star Lainey Wilson and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges tied the knot in Tennessee over the weekend.

The couple announced the news in a joint Instagram post Thursday, sharing 20 photos from the ceremony with the caption: “we’re hitched!”

The wedding took place Sunday at Ruskin Cave in Dickson, Tennessee, according to Vogue.

Wilson and Hodges, who became engaged in February 2025, made their public debut as a couple at the 2023 ACM Awards. Earlier, romance rumors circulated after Wilson was seen wearing a Hodges jersey while in Pittsburgh during Luke Combs’ world tour. In a past interview, Wilson said the couple kept their relationship private for about two and a half years before going public.

Hodges became a fan favorite in Pittsburgh during the 2019 season after injuries to Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph opened the door for playing time.

Known for his quirky nickname and viral popularity, Hodges inspired memes and merchandise during his brief NFL run. The Pittsburgh Steelers released him in 2020, and he did not appear in another NFL game. He announced his retirement in 2022.

Wilson has earned her spot as a country music superstar, winning nine Country Music Association Awards. She also won its top honor of Entertainer of the Year in 2023 and 2025. Her accolades also include a 2025 Grammy Award and sixteen Academy of Country Music Awards.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt is introduced prior to an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The full 2026 National Football League schedule was released Thursday night. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers will once again face their AFC North rivals — the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns — twice each during the regular season. 

Other notable games for the Steelers include a road matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles and an international game in Paris against the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 25. The Saints will serve as the designated home team for the game. The Steelers’ schedule for the preseason and the 2026 regular season is as follows:

PRESEASON 

WEEK 1 – Aug. 13 vs. Green Bay Packers 7 p.m. 

WEEK 2 – Aug. 21 vs. New York Jets 7 p.m. 

WEEK 3 – Aug. 27 at Buffalo Bills 7 p.m. 

REGULAR SEASON 

WEEK 1 – Sept. 13 vs. Atlanta Falcons 1 p.m. 

WEEK 2 – Sept. 20 at New England Patriots 1 p.m. 

WEEK 3 – Sept. 27 vs. Cincinnati Bengals 1 p.m. 

WEEK 4 – Oct. 1 at Cleveland Browns (Thursday) 8:15 p.m. 

WEEK 5 – Oct. 11 vs. Indianapolis Colts 1 p.m. 

WEEK 6 – Oct. 18 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1 p.m. 

WEEK 7 – Oct. 25 vs. New Orleans Saints (Paris) 9:30 a.m. 

WEEK 8 – Nov. 1 vs. Cleveland Browns 1 p.m. 

WEEK 9 – BYE 

WEEK 10 – Nov. 15 at Cincinnati Bengals 8:20 p.m. 

WEEK 11 – Nov. 22 at Philadelphia Eagles 4:25 p.m. 

WEEK 12 – Nov. 27 vs. Denver Broncos (Friday) 3 p.m. 

WEEK 13 – Dec. 6 vs. Houston Texans 8:20 p.m. 

WEEK 14 – Dec. 14 at Jacksonville Jaguars (Monday) 8:15 p.m. 

WEEK 15 – Dec. 20 vs. Baltimore Ravens 1 p.m. 

WEEK 16 – vs. Carolina Panthers (TBD) 

WEEK 17 – Jan. 3 at Tennessee Titans 1 p.m. 

WEEK 18 – at Baltimore Ravens (TBD) 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Paul Skenes slowly sauntered back to the Pittsburgh Pirates dugout at the end of the top of the eighth inning on Tuesday night, his loping and deliberate strides giving the PNC Park crowd plenty of time to rise for the kind of standing ovation that’s becoming commonplace at the end of his starts.

The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner tipped his cap, then disappeared from view for a quick debrief with Pirates manager Don Kelly.

Sure, the competitor in Skenes wanted the opportunity to go back out for the ninth in search for the first complete game victory of his big league career. The remarkably mature 23-year-old who is constantly trying to keep things in perspective knew better.

His first pitch of the eighth, a fastball, hit just 93.7 mph, pedestrian by his standards.

So Skenes told Kelly he was done after 98 pitches and eight innings of two-hit brilliance and the chance for that elusive shutout had to wait. Skenes quietly gave way to Gregory Soto, who got the final three outs of a 3-1 win over Colorado that pushed Skenes’ record to 6-2 and whittled his ERA to 1.98.

“It’s a long season,” Skenes said. “That was start nine out of 32, 33 and then hopefully eight or nine more after that. So, just got to see the big picture.”

One that seems to be growing ever brighter for Skenes. Two years and a day after his electric major league debut, Skenes is somehow surpassing the outsized expectations that followed him to Pittsburgh.

Consider this: Skenes took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Rockies, the third time in his last four starts he hasn’t allowed a hit until the fifth or later.

Colorado spent six innings flailing away against Skenes before Mickey Moniak’s sinking line-drive single to left-center with one out in the seventh. Pirates centerfielder Oneil Cruz stretched out every inch of his 6-foot-7 frame to make the grab, only to see it bounce a foot or two in front of his glove.

“I ran so hard that I’ll tell you right now, I would not run after my kids like that,” Cruz said afterward with a laugh.

And while the Pirates remain without a no-hitter since Francisco Cordova and Ricardo Rincon teamed for a 10-inning masterpiece in July 1997 — nearly five years before Skenes was born — there’s a growing sense that it’s not a matter of ‘if’ Skenes will make history, but when.

Kelly turned to pitching coach Bill Murphy at one point as Skenes was retiring 18 of his first 19 hitters and admitted he felt like he was enduring a flashback of sorts to his time as a player in Detroit in the early 2010s, when it seemed like Tigers ace Justin Verlander could do no wrong.

“You were shocked when he gave up a hit,” Kelly said. “And Paul is on that type of run right now. Just the way that he’s throwing the ball, the command in the zone too, and then to be able to mix it up with all of his pitches. Impressive to watch.”

The rookie whose fastball would hit triple-digits with ease has dialed back a bit on the velocity, focusing more on placement and a deep repertoire that keeps opponents off balance. By his count there are seven different pitches he can call upon at any time.

Nearly all of them were working against Colorado. Skenes struck out his first six batters. Willi Castro tried to break Skenes’ rhythm by laying down a bunt to lead off the third.

The ball bounced right back to Skenes, who tossed it to first and said “nice bunt” to no one in particular as the PNC Park crowd booed the attempt.

Skenes didn’t boo. He just thought “it was kind of funny” and then went back to work while becoming the first Pirates pitcher since 1961 to have consecutive starts of eight innings or more while allowing two hits without issuing a walk.

It’s heady territory to be clear. Not that Skenes wants to talk about it. He prefers to bury himself in the process and let the results speak for themselves.

“He’ll tinker with stuff. Wind up. Stretch. Pitches. Pitch grips,” Kelly said. “It’s just really, honestly, the way he goes about it every day, whether it’s with the actual pitching or his conditioning, the way he gets after in the weight room. It’s amazing to watch.”

And he’s still just getting started. Skenes doesn’t turn 24 until later this month. His next turn in the rotation comes on Sunday when Philadelphia visits. When his towering No. 30 takes the hill against the Phillies, what happened on Tuesday night against the Rockies won’t matter. No one knows that better than Skenes.

“Every start is new,” he said. “And you can get humbled real quick.”

Getting hit, however, is another matter entirely.