Hometown Broadcasting Sports Monday 8/31/20
31 August 2020 Sports
Josh Bell and Gregory Polanco homered off Brandon Woodruff and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Sunday. Bell broke a 1-all tie in the fourth with a towering, two-run blast that hit an SUV parked well above the wall in right-center as part of a promotion.
The Pirates stayed in front the rest of the way to hand Woodruff (2-3) a rare loss at Miller Park. The right-hander entered Sunday having gone 10-0 with a 2.89 ERA in 16 home starts over the past two seasons. He struck out seven but allowed four runs, four hits and three walks in five innings.
Polanco opened the scoring in the second inning with his fifth homer of the year and third against the Brewers. Milwaukee tied it with an unearned run in the third when Keston Hiura’s two-out single brought home Luis Urias after Bell committed an error at first base earlier in the inning.. Bell quickly redeemed himself. After Kevin Newman hit a leadoff single in the fourth, Bell put Pittsburgh back ahead with a drive that bounced off the hood of the promotional SUV.
Pittsburgh extended the lead to 4-1 in the fifth as Newman hit an RBI single after Woodruff issued two-out walks to Erik Gonzalez and Adam Frazier, though a baserunning mistake nearly wiped out the run. The ruling on replay was that Gonzalez crossed the plate moments before Frazier was tagged out at third. The Pirates capped the scoring in the seventh as Frazier’s two-out single brought home Jason Martin.
Pirates starter Steven Brault pitched three innings, and four relievers took over from there. Nick Tropeano (1-0) pitched 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief. Milwaukee left 12 men on base and went 1 of 9 with runners in scoring position. The Brewers’ best shot at a rally came in the seventh.
After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Tropeano walked Jedd Gyorko and hit Ryan Braun with a pitch. Geoff Hartlieb plunked Hiura to load the bases before striking out Justin Smoak to end the threat.
The Pirates and Brewers conclude this four-game series Monday night. Trevor Williams (1-5, 5.34) will pitch for Pittsburgh. Milwaukee hasn’t named a starter. First pitch is at 6:40 and the game can be heard on AM1100/98.3FM, WISS.
Elsewhere in the NL Central on Sunday, the Cubs pounded the Reds 10-1 and the Cardinals beat the Indians 7-2.
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The Milwaukee Bucks open second-round playoff action today against Miami after closing out their first-round series against Orlando on Saturday, with a 118-104 win. The Bucks won the series 4-games-1 after losing the first game. Tipoff today is at 5:30.
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The Packers training camp ended with a game simulation inside Lambeau Field on Sunday. The team moves to a regular-season schedule this week with the season opener the week after. The practice was almost completely unscripted as players practiced in their full-game day uniforms with coaches and referees. Although there was no live tackling, the first-team offense ran 51 plays and head coach Matt LaFleur got to see nearly 100 team reps. .
Afterwards Coach Matt LaFleur said “You know from an offensive perspective it sure seemed like the guys were into it. I think there was good on both sides of the ball. I thought the guys were into it and definitely much cleaner than our last couple practices. So there was an improvement in that respect.”
Offensive lineman Billy Turner did limp off the field at one point but did return to action. Aaron Rodgers also endured a scare after colliding with Jamaal Williams during a handoff. Rodgers stayed down for a few moments but appeared no worse a few minutes later. He continued to practice. The team will practice Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week before cut day on Saturday.
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Jon Rahm won a thrilling BMW Championship on Sunday in a playoff over Dustin Johnson. Rahm sunk a 66’ 5” birdie putt on the first hole and then watched as Dustin almost hit his 30 foot putt to tie it. Johnson had sent the match into the playoff by holing a 45 footer and then the two replayed number 18 in the first playoff hole. Johnson was able to maintain his his number one ranking in the world and the FedEx Cup. Johnson goes into the Tour Championship as the No. 1 seed, meaning he will start the chase for the $15 million prize at East Lake in Atlanta at 10-under par, two ahead of Rahm, who moved up seven spots to the No. 2 seed. It was Rahm’s second win of the season
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Green Bay Packers President Mark Murphy is speaking out on social injustice, and posted a video late Saturday afternoon sharing his thoughts with fans and community members.
The Packers players have asked their bosses to speak out and act out against racism, and although the team doesn’t have an owner, Murphy is stepping up.
“We feel this is an issue that obviously impacts the Black community, but it’s not up to just the Black community to solve this issue. It’s on all of us,” said Murphy. “I often hear from fans we should just stick to sports. I have to respectfully disagree. Sports has a long history of speaking out for positive change- Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson. And right here in Green Bay, Vince Lombardi. He was ahead of his time, signing and supporting Black players when few in the league did. We wouldn’t have our 13 world championships if it wasn’t for Vince Lombardi. He also went to local businesses and said ’If you discriminate against my Black players, your business is off-limits to the entire team.’”
In the video, Murphy also called on NFL owners to help make a difference in fighting racism.
“They are in powerful, privileged positions, and can make a huge difference. And obviously have close relations with everybody in all their organizations. It’s time to make changes. As an organization, we will continue to find ways to support the Black community because Black Lives Matter. Fighting racism is not an issue the Packers will shy away from,” said Murphy.
Murphy also announced an additional $250,000 grant for social justice on top of the $500,000 already pledged in Saturday’s video.
In addition, Murphy announced Johnsonville Tailgate Village will be a polling station for the upcoming November election.
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