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Crawford homers, Kelenic drives in two to back Castillo’s win as Mariners beat A’s 7-2

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Even out on Puget Sound during an off-day fishing excursion last week, Luis Castillo did his share of winning: He pulled in the most salmon and left Mariners manager Scott Servais in awe and admiring his skill set yet again.No surprise to anybody in Seattle the way Castillo’s spectacular season is going.“I’m a guy who loves to fish,” Castillo explained with a smile after his latest pitching gem. “There’s always been the saying out there that in the sea life is sweeter. It was a happy moment with Scott and the pitching coach. We had a beautiful morning.” J.P. Crawford homered in the ninth inning and Jarred Kelenic hit a pair of RBI singles to support Castillo’s eighth consecutive winning decision, leading Seattle past the Oakland Athletics 7-2 on Tuesday night. Castillo (14-7) struck out eight over seven innings, topping 200 Ks while pushing toward 200 innings — a mark that will mean more to him given it shows how dependable and co...

Snell pitches 7 hitless innings and Ks 10 as the Padres top the Rockies 2-0 on Bogaerts’ homer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — If this was Blake Snell’s final start for the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, it sure was a memorable one.The NL Cy Young Award contender lowered his big league-leading ERA to 2.33 and struck out 10 in seven brilliant innings for the Padres, who took a combined no-hitter into the ninth before beating the Colorado Rockies 2-0 on Tuesday night.Snell, Robert Suarez and All-Star closer Josh Hader finished with a two-hitter. Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth to lift the Padres to their season-high sixth straight win.San Diego manager Bob Melvin said it wasn’t a difficult decision to take out Snell after seven innings.“He was pretty realistic. He even said to me, ‘It’s going to be tough for me to finish nine.’ Over 100 pitches, seven innings, pretty good inning. It wasn’t that tough,” Melvin said.Snell, who has never gone eight innings in the majors, threw 104 pitches before making way for Suarez, who worked a perfect eighth. Hader (1-3)...

Muncy’s base hit in 9th lifts Dodgers to 3-2 win over Tigers and extends winning streak to 5

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Max Muncy’s base hit with two outs in the ninth inning Tuesday night scored Mookie Betts and gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers, extending their winning streak to five games.Betts got aboard with a single to center for his third hit of the night. He advanced to second after Will Smith was hit by a pitch. Muncy then lined a curveball from Alex Lange (7-5) into right field. Kerry Carpenter threw home on one bounce as Betts rounded third, but Betts beat the tag when his left hand crossed the plate.Alex Vesia (2-5) got the win with a scoreless ninth as the NL West champions reduced their magic number to three for a first-round bye. J.D. Martinez homered and had a pair of hits.Spencer Torkelson and Parker Meadows homered for the Tigers, who dropped to 3-2 on their West Coast road trip.Torkelson, the game’s third batter, drove a cutter by Caleb Ferguson into the stands in left center for a solo shot. The top pick in the 2020 a...

AP PHOTOS: Traditional autumn fair brings color and joy into everyday lives of Romania’s poor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

HAGIOAICA, Romania (AP) — It’s a festival of joy that offers an escape from everyday hardships for some of Romania’s poorest residents. The traditional autumn fair is again drawing huge crowds of visitors in the eastern European country after the event was suspended during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021.The fair near the central city of Titu, northwest of the capital of Bucharest, has existed for nearly 200 years — a testimony to its importance to the community.And though much has changed since the 19th century, when autumn fairs like the Titu Fair were the sole public events in rural Romania, the purpose of the tradition — bringing the local community together — has remained the same. Over the weekend, visitors flocked to the fairground, set up in a field in the small village of Hagioaica outside Titu, hungry for entertainment — smiling children clutched toys, men swirled on merry-go-rounds and families mingled.Deafening music blared from the fairground as amusement park...

Hays’ two homers lead Orioles to 9-5 win over slumping Astros

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

Baltimore Orioles' Cedric Mullins (31) celebrates with Austin Hays (21) after both scored on Mullins' three-run home run against the Houston Astros during the ninth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)(AP/David J. Phillip) Baltimore Orioles' Cedric Mullins (31) celebrates with Austin Hays (21) after both scored on Mullins' three-run home run against the Houston Astros during the ninth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)(AP/David J. Phillip) HOUSTON (AP) — Austin Hays hit two homers and had four RBIs for the Baltimore Orioles in a 9-5 victory over slumping Houston on Tuesday night, cutting the Astros’ AL West ...

Russia shrugs as Azerbaijan attacks Nagorno-Karabakh

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

While Armenia called on Russian peacekeepers to intervene after Azerbaijan launched “anti-terrorist” operations in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Dmitry Medvedev, the chairman of Russia’s security council, wrote cryptically on Telegram about someone from a so-called brotherly country who had flirted with NATO.“Guess what fate awaits him …” added Russia’s former President Medvedev.The thinly veiled verbal jab reflected Russia’s current stance as Turkey-backed Azerbaijan escalated a three-decades-old conflict with Armenia. With a military base in the ex-Soviet country, Russia has long held the role of Armenia’s security guarantor, including managing tensions around Nagorno-Karabakh, which is inside Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized borders and has been held by its ethnic Armenian majority since the fall of the Soviet Union. In 2020, Russia negotiated a ceasefire agreement, monitored by Russian peacekeepers, between the two South Caucasus co...

Red Sox might have something in outfield prospect Wilyer Abreu

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

We’ve been hearing all season about some of Boston’s top prospects. Ceddanne Rafaela regularly went viral for one spectacular defensive play or another. Roman Anthony put the baseball world on notice with his breakout summer. Everyone’s constantly keeping tabs on Marcelo Mayer, and Kyle Teel barely needed a month to put his stamp on the organization.Yet the prospect who might be best positioned to make an impact on next year’s team could turn out to be Wilyer Abreu.Acquired alongside Enmanuel Valdez in last summer’s Christian Vazquez trade, the 24-year-old outfielder quietly put together a spectacular season in Triple-A and has drawn rave reviews since being called up to the big leagues on Aug. 22. Red Sox manager Alex Cora frequently speaks about him in glowing terms, and he’s gotten more playing time since being called up than either Rafaela or Valdez, both of whom have generally held a higher profile.“We knew about the strike zone, we kne...

Chinese officials voice faith in economy and keep interest rates steady as forecasts darken

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

Leading Chinese planners voiced confidence on Wednesday in the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy, holding key interest rates steady amid signs of improvement in some areas such as services. The upbeat tone of officials speaking at a news conference in Beijing was in contrast to forecasts by the Asian Development Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which say weakness in the Chinese economy are expected to further dent global and regional growth. Cong Liang, vice chairman of China’s chief planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, told reporters that the country’s resilience during past crises was grounds for confidence and that improved factory output and tourism figures show the economy is on the mend. He and the other senior economic officials did not present significant new data. They acknowledged daunting challenges in reviving growth, but were united in predicting that the ruling Communist Party will ensure that ...

UK inflation in surprise fall in August, though Bank of England still set to raise rates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Inflation in Britain fell unexpectedly in August to its lowest level since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to sharp rises in energy and food costs.The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that inflation, as measured by the consumer prices index was 6.7% in the year August, down from 6.8% in July. The decline took inflation to its lowest level since February 2022.It said that lower hotel and air fare costs and a moderation in food price rises. They helped offset an increase in energy prices on the back of higher crude oil prices.The decline was unexpected. Most analysts had expected an increase to around 7%.Though the surprise decline was encouraging, inflation remains way above the Bank of England’s target rate of 2% and most economists think it will raise its main borrowing rate once again on Thursday by a quarter of a percentage point to a near 16-year high of 5.5%. Like other central banks around the world, the Bank of Engla...

Pope goes to Marseille to talk migration, but will Europe listen as it scrambles to stem an influx?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Ten years after Pope Francis made a landmark visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa to show solidarity with migrants, he is joining Catholic bishops from the Mediterranean this weekend in France to make the call more united. The question is whether anyone in European corridors of power will listen, as they scramble to stem a new tide of would-be refugees setting off from Africa.Francis’ overnight visit Friday to the French port city of Marseille to close out a meeting of Mediterranean bishops was scheduled months ago. But it comes as Europe’s migrant problem is once again making headlines, given the nearly 7,000 migrants who came ashore on Lampedusa within a day last week, briefly outnumbering the resident population.The drama has sparked another round of hand-wringing and pledges of solidarity from European capitals, with even talk of a naval blockade to prevent departures. It’s a policy Francis has long condemned given that an EU-funded operation to ret...