Feb 4, 2019 4 min read

Pirates bring back Liriano

Francisco Liriano is back with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The 35-year-old left-hander agreed to a minor league contract with the team Monday that includes an invitation to big league camp.

He pitched for Pittsburgh from 2013-16, going 41-36 with a 3.67 ERA and 659 strikeouts in 107 starts. He earned the victory in Pittsburgh’s win over Cincinnati in the 2013 NL wild card game, allowing one run over seven innings.

Pittsburgh traded Liriano to Toronto on Aug. 1, 2016. He went from Toronto to Houston at the 2017 trade deadline and earned a World Series ring while working out of the bullpen for the Astros. Liriano spent 2018 with the Detroit Tigers, going 5-12 with a 4.58 ERA in 27 games.

The Pirates appear set at the top of their rotation with Jameson Taillon, Chris Archer, Trevor Williams and Joe Musgrove. Liriano could pitch his way into the mix for the fifth spot if he can regain the form he showed during his first tour with Pittsburgh.

Super Bowl ratings drop

The New England Patriots’ competitive but action-starved Super Bowl victory over the Los Angeles Rams was seen by 100.7 million people on television and streaming services, the smallest audience for football’s annual spectacle in a decade.

A boycott by disgruntled New Orleans Saints fans, a campaign by fans of quarterback Colin Kaepernick and a game with only one touchdown combined to shrink the audience. On CBS alone, the game was seen by 98.2 million people, compared to 103.4 million who watched on NBC last year, according to Nielsen.

Since reaching a peak of 114.4 million viewers for the Patriots’ 2015 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, the Super Bowl audience has slipped each year since. The Super Bowl is traditionally the most-watched television event of the year in the U.S., and its audience hadn’t dipped below 100 million since the Pittsburgh Steelers-Arizona Cardinals game in 2009.

In the NHL

Andreas Johnsson had two goals and two assists, Jake Muzzin added a goal and two assists and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-1 Monday night.

William Nylander and John Tavares each had a goal and an assist, and Connor Brown also scored for Toronto, which has won three in a row at Scotiabank Arena after dropping six of their previous seven home games.

• Carter Hart made 41 saves, Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek scored, and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 for their eighth straight victory.

The Flyers pulled within five points of a playoff spot after having the NHL’s worst record on Jan. 9 – they were 14 points out of a postseason berth during the All-Star break just over a week ago. Philadelphia also became the first NHL expansion club to reach 2,000 victories.

• Tyler Toffoli scored 25 seconds into overtime and the Los Angeles Kings rallied to beat the New York Rangers, 4-3.

Toffoli’s ninth goal of the season came moments after the Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad rang the puck off the post behind Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick. Toffoli was mobbed by his teammates as Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist skated away in disgust.

In the NBA

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists, and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the cold-shooting Brooklyn Nets 113-94 Monday night.

The injury-depleted Nets missed 19 of their first 20 3-point attempts, making it another easy night for the team with the NBA’s best record. Brooklyn finished 5 for 42 (11.9 percent) behind the arc.

• Taurean Prince scored 12 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and hit five of Atlanta’s 20 3-pointers, helping the Hawks defeat the Washington Wizards, 137-129.