Feb 16, 2019 4 min read

Bucs’ Taillon to start season opener

Jameson Taillon will be the Pittsburgh Pirates’ opening-day starter.

The right-hander will pitch March 28 against the Reds at Cincinnati, manager Clint Hurdle said Saturday. It will be the first opening-day start of Taillon’s four-year career.

Taillon was 14-10 with a 3.20 ERA in 32 starts last season.

“It’s a big honor to kick off the season for the boys, try to set the tone,” Taillon said at the Pirates’ spring training camp. “Obviously, I care about the body of work but it’s a big honor. Growing up as a fan of baseball, there was a certain (aura) about being the opening-day starter.”

Chris Archer will start the home opener April 1 against the St. Louis Cardinals.

“We put two men in play to represent the club and get us out of the blocks well in the first four games of the season,” Hurdle said.

Trevor Williams and Joe Musgrove will pitch the second and third games at Cincinnati. The Pirates are undecided on a fifth starter.

Browns calls out

Big Ben, Tomlin

Antonio Brown’s laundry list of issues with the Pittsburgh Steelers appears to include a problem with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s leadership style and how head coach Mike Tomlin treated the Pro Bowl wide receiver during the regular-season finale against Cincinnati.

Brown, who has requested a trade, took to Twitter on Saturday to vent in what amounted to his first expanded public comments since a falling out with the organization that has left his future with the club very much in doubt.

Asked by a Twitter user about the root of his conflict with Roethlisberger, Brown responded “No conflict just a matter of respect! Mutual respect! He has a owner mentality like he can call out anybody including coaches. Players know but they can’t say anything about it otherwise they meal ticket gone. It’s a dirty game within a game. #truth.”

Brown also called out Tomlin for the way he handled Brown during the course of the final week of the regular season. The team sent Brown home two days before the game and ordered him to get some rest and have his knee examined. Tomlin said afterward Brown did not have the exam and did not communicate with the team until early on the morning of the day of the game when his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, contacted Tomlin and said Brown would be available to play.

“After the coach tell the team I quit while nursing some bumps then invite me to watch the show with same guys thinking I quit,” Brown tweeted. “I can not stand with that! I’m the bad guy doe (sic) we miss post season think about it.”

Brown tweeted he “Loves Steelers Nation everything to my heart” but said “no more” when asked any comeback might be in the offing.

In the NHL

Travis Konecny scored his second goal of the game 1:27 into overtime and the Philadelphia Flyers bounced back from squandering a big lead to beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-5 on Saturday.

Despite overcoming a four-goal lead in the third period, Detroit remained winless in Philadelphia for more than 20 years. The Flyers are 15-0-1 on home ice against the Red Wings since getting swept by them in the 1997 Stanley Cup Final.

The Flyers led 5-1 with 19 minutes left in the third period. The Red Wings tied it on Anthony Mantha’s second goal of the game with seven seconds remaining in regulation.

• Jake Allen made 32 saves, Vladimir Tarasenko and Zach Sanford scored 57 seconds apart in the third period and the St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 for their ninth straight victory.

The winning streak is St. Louis’ longest since also winning nine in a row from Oct. 15-Nov. 5, 2002.