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Kevin Plawecki’s walk-off homer lifts Red Wings over Saints, 2-1

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:41:25 GMT

Same story, same score, different day.After making a tough-luck loser out of Simeon Woods Richardson, who carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning Friday, the Rochester Red Wings ruined a solid start from St. Paul Saints starting pitcher Randy Dobnak when Kevin Plawecki drove a 3-2 pitch from Jorge Alcala 411 feet into left-center field for a walk-off, 2-1 Red Wings victory Saturday afternoon at Innovative Field in Rochester, N.Y.The home run was Plawecki’s first of the season, and just his ninth since 2019.Dobnak gave the Saints (15-10) four solid innings, leaving runners stranded in the first, second and third innings before allowing his lone run in the fourth on a solo homer from Nomar Mazara. Dobnak gave up five hits in all, striking out one and not giving up a walk in his start. Alcala took the loss.The Red Wings (9-16) carried the 1-0 lead into the eighth inning, but the St. Paul offense finally came alive in the frame, when Andrew Stevenson singled and Ryan LaMarre cru...

As he nears the end of his rehab assignment, Twins have a decision to make with Alex Kirilloff

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:41:25 GMT

The Twins will soon have a decision to make.Alex Kirilloff hit a major milestone in his rehab from his second consecutive season-ending wrist surgery on Friday, playing in a full nine-inning game on back-to-back days for the first time.With his 20-day rehab clock ending, the Twins now must decide whether they are going to activate him from the injured list or option him to Triple-A, which they could decide to do with no clear path to regular playing time in the majors at the moment.In seven rehab games with the Triple-A Saints, Kirilloff is hitting .346 with a 1.200 OPS and three home runs, proving his ability to drive the ball, while also playing both corner outfield spots and first base. He is said to be responding well to everything he has been asked to do.“That was the most important thing for us, to be able to see the things he used to be able to do naturally,” head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said.On his side of things, Paparesta said playing nine-inning games on back-to-b...

Where did it all go wrong for the Wild this time around?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:41:25 GMT

Wild coach Dean Evason was at a loss on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center roughly 30 minutes after the latest disappointing playoff result.He truly felt his team took steps forward this season, yet when the pressure got ramped up, things came crashing down like they always seem to do in Minnesota.Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson defends against Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz (24) during the second period of Game 6 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series Friday, April 28, 2023, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)“Were we a little more resilient this year? I think so,” Evason said. “It wasn’t like we rolled over or anything like that. We were in every hockey game as far as our compete level. I think we improved in that area.”He paused before delivering his final thought, a sentence that perfectly encapsulated the Wild in a nutshell, concluding, “Obviously there’s a lot of areas that were the same.”Indeed. The more things c...

Emerging Trends: Are Smartwatch Casinos the Future of Gaming?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:41:25 GMT

Smartwatches are already being used for various purposes, including fitness tracking, communication, and mobile payments, but who would have ever imagined that they could also be used for gaming? Today we are not only talking about playing games on smartwatches but also about smartwatch casinos.The emergency of SmartwatchesSmartwatches are wearable devices equipped with computing power and connectivity, allowing them to perform various functions like a smartphone, such as connecting to the Internet, making phone calls, and sending text messages.Smartwatches have been around since the early 2010s, but it wasn't until later in the decade that they started to gain widespread adoption. One of the early pioneers in the smartwatch was Apple, which released its first, the Apple Watch, in 2015. Since then, a number of other companies have entered the smartwatch market, including Samsung, Garmin, and Fitbit.Smartwatch Casinos and How They OperateSmartwatches are a relatively recent technolog...

Looted monastery manuscripts rediscovered during office renovation

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:41:25 GMT

NEW YORK — In 2008, Swann Auction Galleries in Manhattan sold three Greek-language manuscripts from the 16th and 17th centuries to an antiquities dealer who returned them two years later after concluding they might have been looted.The dealer was reimbursed, but the auction house, its officials said, was unable to reach the person who had consigned the items. So, they sat on a shelf for more than a decade, all but lost in the shuffle of daily operations.Three months ago, though, the manuscripts resurfaced when Swann’s chief financial officer went through his office before a renovation. There on a shelf in a long-forgotten plastic bag were the manuscripts, which are believed to have been stolen from a Greek monastery in the midst of World War I.They are thought to have been lost in 1917 when Bulgarian combatants are said to have plundered nearly 900 items from the Theotokos Eikosiphoinissa Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery, often called Kosinitza, in northern Greece.The manuscri...

Toulouse earns first trophy in French Cup final thumping

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:41:25 GMT

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Toulouse showed no stage fright in its first French Cup final, blitzing holder Nantes in the opening minutes to lift its first trophy after an impressive 5-1 victory on Saturday.Logan Costa was the unexpected star at Stade de France. The center back played only three games in the French league this season but gave Toulouse a quick 2-0 lead. Thijs Dallinga also scored twice to give them a four-goal cushion by halftime.The triumph is the result of a data-driven strategy for a club operating with a small budget and that was still playing in the second division a year ago.“There’s something illogical, irrational in what we do, that’s the beauty of football,” Toulouse president Damien Comolli told RMC radio. “We spend our days trying to bring rationality into the irrational while also giving emotions to our supporters, our city, and our community. But tonight surpassed everything, we descended into the irrational.”The French Cup also earned Toulouse...

Lions address wide variety of needs in draft, deal Swift

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:41:25 GMT

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Up, down and all around — the Detroit Lions traded picks throughout the NFL draft and wound up adding players to every offensive and defensive unit.General manager Brad Holmes retained only two of his original draft choices as he maneuvered his way to two picks in each of the first three rounds. The draft was highlighted by the Lions’ first-rounders, running back Jahmyr Gibbs and linebacker Jack Campbell.Offensively, the Lions got immediate help in the backfield and at tight end, though not without raising eyebrows along the way.The Lions held the No. 6 overall pick via a 2021 trade with the Los Angeles Rams. Holmes traded down to the No. 12 slot in a five-pick swap with Arizona and chose Alabama’s Gibbs, who acknowledged he was surprised to go so early. Gibbs, who averaged 6.1 yards per carry for the Crimson Tide last season, and free agent signee David Montgomery will form the team’s 1-2 backfield punch.“We didn’t acquire a running ...

Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:41:25 GMT

SaturdayAt zMax Dragway at Charlotte Motor SpeedwayConcord, N.C.Sunday’s PairingsTop Fuel1. Brittany Force, 3.651 seconds, 336.32 mph vs. 16. Doug Foley, 3.803, 323.89 vs. 8. Antron Brown,3.711, 330.47 vs. 9. Clay Millican, 3.712, 331.69; 2. Justin Ashley, 3.662, 332.84 vs. 15. Jacob McNeal,3.793, 320.81 vs. 7. Austin Prock, 3.701, 332.34 vs. 10. Mike Salinas, 3.717, 333.74; 3. Leah Pruett,3.678, 334.65 vs. 14. Pat Dakin, 3.791, 323.66 vs. 6. Doug Kalitta, 3.699, 331.69 vs. 11. ShawnLangdon, 3.727, 332.18; 4. Steve Torrence, 3.679, 335.32 vs. 13. Dan Mercier, 3.752, 318.09 vs. 5. Josh Hart, 3.689, 329.75 vs. 12. Tony Schumacher, 3.741, 326.79. Did Not Qualify: 17. Lex Joon, 3.918, 265.12; 18. Keith Murt, 4.057, 309.84. Funny Car1. Bob Tasca III, Ford Mustang, 3.852, 324.59 vs. 16. Dave Richards, Mustang, 7.537, 87.71 vs. 8. TimWilkerson, Mustang, 3.899, 330.55 vs. 9. Ron Capps, Toyota Supra, 3.899, 330.07; 2. Cruz Pedregon,Dodge Charger, 3.859, 330.23 vs. 15. John Smith, Charg...

Royals win 3-2 on wild pitch, ending 9-game skid at Twins

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:41:25 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jhoan Duran’s wild pitch allowed Edward Olivares to score the tiebreaking run in the ninth inning, and the Kansas City Royals ended a nine-game losing streak at Target Field with a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.Olivares doubled twice and walked on four pitches from Duran (0-1) leading off the ninth. Olivares stole second, and Michael Massey walked for the first time in 81 plate appearances this season when Duran committed a pitch-clock violation with a full count.Nicky Lopez sacrificed and Olivares bounced a 1-0 curveball off the mitt of catcher Ryan Jeffers, the ball bouncing to the warning track in front of the first-base dugout.“You get Duran coming in there throwing 101 (mph). It easy to say, ‘Oh, he wasn’t throwing strikes,’ but you have to gear up and be ready for that, for laying off some of those pitches,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. “Ollie had a really good at-bat. You can’t overstate what Nicky’s bunt did for us there. Throwing...

LeBron sets Lakers on playoff run with limitless possibility

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:41:25 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James didn’t respond at first after Dillon Brooks called him old and questioned his abilities early in the Lakers’ first-round playoff series with Memphis.A day after James and the Lakers eliminated Brooks’ Grizzlies in dominant fashion, James let Jay-Z speak for him.The top scorer in NBA history tweeted some particularly pointed lyrics Saturday from Hova’s 2006 track, “Trouble.” Among several more profane bars was the phrase: “It’s apparent you’re staring at a legend.”Perhaps to everybody except Brooks, James’ legend has been fully secure for years. He is working on another chapter this season, and the league is starting to realize there’s no telling how far James and his Lakers can take the story of his 20th NBA season.The Lakers are on a 14-4 roll after finishing off the 51-win Grizzlies in six games. After becoming the first No. 7 seed in the best-of-seven first-round playoff era to win a series, they̵...