Mar 1, 2023 3 min read

Tigers walk off Bucs

Nick Maton hit a walk-off solo home run off minor-league callup Osvaldo Bido in the ninth inning Wednesday to give the Detroit Tigers an 8-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in a spring training game played in Lakeland, Fla.

Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz hit his first home run of the spring, a two-run opposite-field shot in the fifth inning.

The Tigers sent seven batters to the plate in a four-run first inning against Pirates right-hander Johan Oviedo.

Wild Things bring back Lagrange

The Washington Wild Things have re-signed outfielder Wagner Lagrange.

Lagrange matched a Wild Things’ single-season hits record last year with 125, and batted .346 with 27 doubles.

“Wagner is a high impact presence in the middle of the lineup. He had a monster a year for us offensively, constantly contributing key and clutch hits when we needed them,” said manager Tom Vaeth. “He is a run producer that the opponent always has to game plan for. He has the ability to change the game with one swing.”

Lagrange led the club in 2022 with 40 multi-hit games.

Belle Vernon falls

Belle Vernon’s boys basketball team came up one win shy of the PIAA playoffs as the Leopards were beaten 68-65 by host South Allegheny in the WPIAL Class 4A seventh-place game Wednesday night.

South Allegheny led 21-15 after one quarter and Belle Vernon (11-14) had to play catchup the rest of the way.

Quinton Martin scored a game-high 30 points for Belle vernon. Zion Moore followed with 17 and Alonzo Wade had 10.

Bryce Epps led South Allegheny (20-6) with 28 points and Michael Michalski had 22.

In the NHL

After a furious rush to beat the clock in 2022, NHL general managers are acting early and often to jockey for the top players available or stockpile future assets in advance of the trade deadline this year.

Following nearly a dozen trades getting done Tuesday, more than a handful more with playoff implications were completed Wednesday.

Columbus got two high draft picks from the Kings, along with veteran goaltender Jonathan Quick, the top candidate to be on the move again – flipped to a contender, and there are plenty in need of help in net.

The reigning champion Avalanche acquired center Lars Eller from the Washington Capitals for a 2025 second-round pick. Eller scored two of the biggest goals on Washington’s 2018 title run, including the game-winner in the clinching game of the final, and can win faceoffs and kill penalties and fill a void down the middle.

In the NFL

NFL coach Brian Flores can press discrimination claims against the league and three teams after a federal judge on Wednesday rejected the option of arbitration, presumably before commissioner Roger Goodell, and offered some stinging observations about the status of racial bias in the sport.

The written decision by Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan clearing the way for Flores to bring his claims to trial also required two other coaches who joined the lawsuit to submit to arbitration. The league had tried to move the Flores claims to arbitration, citing contracts that coaches had signed.

Flores sued the league and three teams a year ago, saying the league was “rife with racism,” particularly in its hiring and promotion of Black coaches.

Caproni wrote that the descriptions by the coaches of their experiences of racial discrimination in a league with a “long history of systematic discrimination toward Black players, coaches, and managers – are incredibly troubling.”