LOCAL SPORTS
Maritime Junior Hockey League: South Shore Lumberjacks at Pictou County Weeks Crushers 7 p.m.
Nova Scotia Under 18 Major Hockey League: The Cape Breton West Islanders host the Pictou Weeks Majors tonight at 7pm at the Al MacInnis Sports Centre in Port Hood. Because we are still in Phase 4, attendance is restricted to season passes. However, the game will be live streamed on the Islanders Facebook page – U18 Cape Breton West Islanders Hockey Club.
NATIONAL SPORTS
The race for American League wild-card spots has grown tighter. The Boston Red Sox are back within a game of the New York Yankees for the first berth, with the Blue Jays one game behind the Bosox. Bo Bichette homered twice to earn Toronto a crucial 6-5 victory over the Yankees yesterday.
Drew Rasmussen and three relievers combined for a three-hitter, Brandon Lowe and Ji-Man Choi both homered and Tampa Bay coasted past Houston 7-zip to earn the number one seed in the American League playoffs. Tampa Bay improved to 98-60, outdoing the 2008 team for most wins in franchise history. The Astros lost for the fifth time in six games.
Marcus Semien has blasted his way into the record books. The Blue Jays slugger hit his 44th home run of the year against the Yankees, setting a single-season record for homers by a second baseman. The previous mark was set by Davey Johnson, who hit 43 with Atlanta Braves in 1973.
Michael Bunting scored a hat trick and the Maple Leafs shutout the Senators 4-nil in pre-season action. Bunting, a former Arizona Coyote, signed a two-year deal with Toronto over the summer and says he’ll be playing hard no matter what line he ends up on this year. David Kampf also scored for the Leafs while Josh Ho-Sang picked up two assists.
Jansen Harkins had two goals and an assist as the Winnipeg Jets trounced the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in pre-season play. Harkins’ linemate Evgeny Svechnikov also put up three points _ a goal and two assists _ while Austin Poganski and Kyle Connor rounded out the scoring for Winnipeg. Brad Malone had the Oilers’ lone goal.
Mixed results for Canadian M-L-S clubs last night. Toronto F-C rallied to beat F-C Cincinnati 3-2, but C-F Montreal took a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of the league-leading New England Revolution. The Vancouver Whitecaps came up short in Texas, battling the Houston Dynamo to a scoreless draw.
Wednesday’s Games
MLB
American League
Toronto 6 N.Y. Yankees 5
Boston 6 Baltimore 0
Minnesota 5 Detroit 2
L.A. Angels 7 Texas 2
Kansas City 10 Cleveland 5
Tampa Bay 7 Houston 0
Seattle 4 Oakland 2
National League
Colorado 10 Washington 5
Miami 3 N.Y. Mets 2
Chicago Cubs 3 Pittsburgh 2
Atlanta 7 Philadelphia 2
Milwaukee 4 St. Louis 0
San Francisco 1 Arizona 0
L.A. Dodgers 11 San Diego 9
Interleague
Chicago White Sox 6 Cincinnati 1
NHL Pre-Season
Columbus 5 St. Louis 2
Toronto 4 Ottawa 0
New Jersey 5 Washington 4
Winnipeg 5 Edmonton 1
Florida 4 Dallas 3 (SO)
Detroit 4 Chicago 3 (SO)
Seattle 4 Calgary 3 (SO)
Arizona 4 Anaheim 1
MLS
Toronto FC 3 Cincinnati 2
Atlanta 1 Miami 0
New England 4 CF Montreal 1
D.C. United 3 Minnesota 1
Philadelphia 1 New York 1
Sporting Kansas City 3 FC Dallas 1
Chicago 2 New York City FC 0
Orlando City 2 Nashville 2
Colorado 3 Austin FC 0
Vancouver 0 Houston 0
Real Salt Lake 2 L.A. Galaxy 1
Portland 2 Los Angeles FC 1
Seattle 3 San Jose 1
Thursday’s Games (All Times Eastern)
MLB
American League
L.A. Angels (Cobb 8-3) at Texas (Otto 0-3), 2:05 p.m.
Boston (Pivetta 9-7) at Baltimore (Wells 1-3), 7:05 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Kluber 5-3) at Toronto (Ray 13-6), 7:07 p.m.
Tampa Bay (TBD) at Houston (McCullers Jr. 12-5), 7:10 p.m.
Detroit (Skubal 8-12) at Minnesota (Ryan 2-1), 7:40 p.m.
Cleveland (Bieber 7-4) at Kansas City (TBD), 8:10 p.m.
National League
Milwaukee (Anderson 4-9) at St. Louis (Happ 9-8), 1:15 p.m.
Chicago Cubs (Steele 3-4) at Pittsburgh (TBD), 6:35 p.m.
Miami (Cabrera 0-3) at N.Y. Mets (Megill 3-6), 7:10 p.m.
Philadelphia (Gibson 10-8) at Atlanta (Anderson 8-5), 7:20 p.m.
Arizona (Bumgarner 7-10) at San Francisco (TBD), 9:45 p.m.
San Diego (Velasquez 3-8) at L.A. Dodgers (Gonsolin 4-1), 10:10 p.m.
NHL Pre-Season
Nashville at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m.
Buffalo at Detroit, 7:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at Boston, 7:30 p.m.
Minnesota at Colorado, 9 p.m.
San Jose at Anaheim, 10 p.m.
Vegas vs. Los Angeles at Vivint Smart Home Arena, 10 p.m.
