9/27/24 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Friday
27 September 2024 Sports
Aaron Civale pitched six scoreless innings in his last start before the postseason and Joey Ortiz was a home run short of the cycle as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 on Thursday.
Civale (8-9) allowed three hits, struck out five and walked one. He is 6-1 with a 2.57 ERA in his last nine starts.
“He just continues to impress me as a pitcher,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “In this day and age to see a pitcher like that … he had pinpoint control today.”
Ortiz, a rookie third baseman, tripled in third inning and came home on Brice Turang’s ground out to open the scoring. Ortiz also doubled in a run in the sixth to increase the Brewers’ lead to 5-0.
The National League Central champion Brewers will open a best-of-three NL Wild Card Series at home starting next Tuesday. They finish the regular season by hosting the contending New York Mets in a three-game series that begins Friday night.
Murphy would not commit to having Civale start in the wild-card round but sounded like he is leaning that way.
The Brewers have won five of their last seven games and went 46-35 on the road this season.
Blake Perkins and Gary Sanchez had two hits each for the Brewers and Turang drove in two runs. Devin Williams pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 14th save in 15 opportunities.
Mitch Keller (11-12) lost his final start of the year, giving up three runs and six hits in five innings in the Pirates’ home finale. After the All-Star break, Keller went 1-7 with a 5.65 ERA in 12 starts.
Eric Haase doubled in a run in the fifth inning then scored on Turang’s single to make it 3-0. Milwaukee added to the lead in the sixth on RBI doubles by Perkins and Ortiz.
Bryan De La Cruz broke up the Brewers’ shutout bid with a two-run home run in the seventh inning off Nick Mears, but the Pirates lost for the ninth time in 13 games. They finished with a 39-42 home record.
Nick Gonzales had two hits for the Pirates.
The Pirates had a season attendance of 1,720,321, nearly 100,000 more than last year and their best mark since 2017. Much of the attendance spike was attributable to the emergence of rookie pitcher Paul Skenes.
Brewers: RHP Frankie Montas (7-11, 4.85) will start Friday night for Milwaukee while the Mets are undecided on a pitcher after being rained out Wednesday and Thursday in Atlanta. First pitch is at 7:10.
Elsewhere in the NL Central the Rockies beat the Cardinals 10-8.
Jordan Love was once again limited as the Packers continued to prepare for this week’s meeting with the Vikings.
Love sat out one individual drill with the running backs while the media was present on Thursday. He returned for the next drill to throw with the wide receivers and tight ends.
Head coach Matt LaFleur said after the game they would give Love all the way up until game-time on Sunday.
While there’s continued uncertainty about the Packers offense, at least in terms of Love, Green Bay’s defense knows the task at hand.
Starting with Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson. This year Jefferson already has 273 yards and three touchdowns through the first three games. He’s also been a handful for the Packers defense, averaging 76 yards a contest with four touchdowns in his career against Green Bay.
One way to slow down Jefferson is to keep him from getting the ball in the first place. The Packers defense is fresh off an eight sack performance against Tennessee. That includes two sacks by veteran Preston Smith, who has seen plenty of success against the Vikings as well.
Last season Smith had three sacks over two games, bringing his career total to 8.5 against Minnesota. The most against any team in his career.
Quarterback Sam Darnold is playing for his fourth team in seven years, and has seemingly found a fit in Minnesota. This season he’s completing a career high 67% of his passes, and has eight touchdowns.
In Thursday Night Football the Cowboys hung on to beat the Giants 20-15 in the Meadowlands in a penalty filled game.
Dallas quarterback Zak Prescott completed 22 of 27 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns. Cee Dee Lamb caught seven passes for 8 yards and a touchdown.
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones was 29 of 40 for 281 yards, no touchdowns and one interception as New York had to settle for five field goals.
The Cowboys improved to 2-2 while the Giants fell to 1-3.
The Wisconsin Herd and Milwaukee Bucks are mourning the loss of one of their assistant coaches.
Joe Wolf, a native of Kohler, Wisconsin, and an assistant coach on the Wisconsin Herd passed away unexpectedly, according to a statement from the team on Thursday evening.
“The Milwaukee Bucks and Wisconsin Herd are deeply saddened by the unexpected passing of Herd assistant coach and Kohler native Joe Wolf. Throughout his life, Joe touched many lives and was a highly respected, adored, and dedicated coach and player across the NBA. His well-regarded talent was instrumental for the Bucks and Herd over eight years with the organization, including as a player and coach,” the team said in the statement. Wolf played 12 years in the NBA after being drafted 13th overall in 1987 by the Los Angeles Clippers. Before being drafted, Wolf led Kohler High School to three state titles and was named Wisconsin’s greatest high school basketball player ever by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2005. He played college basketball at the University of North Carolina, where he was an All-ACC player and appeared in four NCAA tournaments. After his playing days, Wolf coached 25 years across the NCAA, CBA, G-League, and NBA levels.
“We send our deepest condolences to Joe’s family and friends. The Bucks and Herd will always be grateful to Joe for his hard work and commitment to our organization. He will be missed,” the team said.
Junior Bridgeman played for the Milwaukee Bucks long enough to retire as the team leader in games played and performed well enough that his jersey hangs from the Fiserv Forum rafters.
Now the basketball player-turned-entrepreneur has purchased a stake in the team.
The Bucks announced Bridgeman’s purchase in a news conference that included co-owner Jimmy Haslam, coach Doc Rivers, general manager Jon Horst and most of the team’s current players. Bridgeman said after the news conference he has a 10% stake in the team.
“The opportunity to get back involved with the team in a different way and take advantage of it was something that was kind of a dream,” Bridgeman said.
Bridgeman’s 711 career games played for Milwaukee ranks him third in franchise history, behind only current Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton. His No. 2 jersey was retired by the Bucks in 1988.
He now joins a Bucks ownership group that includes Haslam and his wife Dee, Wes Edens, Jamie Dinan and Mike Fascitelli. Haslam praised the move by citing Bridgeman’s longstanding connections to Milwaukee and his success as a player and businessman as well as his character.
Bridgeman’s ties to Milwaukee go back half a century.
After the Los Angeles Lakers selected Bridgeman out of Louisville with the eighth pick in the 1975 draft, they sent him to Milwaukee as part of the blockbuster trade that brought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the West Coast. Bridgeman, 71, played for the Bucks from 1975-84 and then spent two years with the Los Angeles Clippers before coming back to Milwaukee for his final NBA season in
1986-87. He ranks seventh in Bucks history in field goals made (4,142), ninth in points (9,892) and 10th in minutes (18,054).
Bridgeman has been even more successful off the floor.
After his playing career, Bridgeman began investing in restaurants and eventually became owner and CEO of Bridgeman Foods, which operated more than 450 Wendy’s and Chili’s restaurants in 20 states until 2016. He also has been an independent bottler for Coca-Cola. His family owns Ebony and Jet magazines.
The Badgers (2-1) open the Big Ten Season at No. 13 Southern California (2-1, 0-1) Saturday. USC leads in the overall series 6-1.
Wisconsin’s Braedyn Locke, a third-year sophomore, was overwhelmed after being forced into action against Alabama, going 13-of-26 passing for 125 yards and one touchdown. He did make three starts in 2023 and was named Big Ten freshman of the week for leading a comeback win at Illinois.
USC RB Woody Marks had 100 yards rushing for the second straight game, ripping off a 65-yard scamper to salvage a day where the Trojans’ offensive line was manhandled. Marks added five receptions for 40 yards, giving him a catch in all 48 career college games he has played in.
The pregame starts at noon with the kickoff at 2:30 CDT and can be heard on AM 1600/93. FM, WRPN, The Wave.
In High School football tonight, Ripon is at Berlin. The pregame starts at 6:45 with the kickoff at 7:00 on AM 1600/93.1 FM, WPRN, The Wave.
Waupun at Nekoosa
Wisconsin Dells at Wautoma
Winneconne at Xavier
Markesan at Poynette
Share |