Braves square off against the Pirates in series rubber match

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:11:44 GMT

Braves square off against the Pirates in series rubber match Pittsburgh Pirates (66-76, fourth in the NL Central) vs. Atlanta Braves (92-49, first in the NL East)Atlanta; Sunday, 1:35 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Luis L. Ortiz (4-4, 4.90 ERA, 1.74 WHIP, 48 strikeouts); Braves: Allan Winans (0-0)BOTTOM LINE: The Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates play on Sunday with the three-game series tied 1-1.Atlanta is 46-25 at home and 92-49 overall. Braves hitters are batting a collective .276, the best team batting average in MLB play.Pittsburgh has a 32-39 record on the road and a 66-76 record overall. The Pirates are 27-8 in games when they hit two or more home runs.The matchup Sunday is the seventh meeting between these teams this season. The season series is tied 3-3.TOP PERFORMERS: Matt Olson leads Atlanta with 48 home runs while slugging .603. Ronald Acuna Jr. is 15-for-44 with six home runs and 12 RBI over the last 10 games.Bryan Reynolds leads the Pirates with a .268 batting average, and has 30 doubles, five triples, 20 home runs, 43...

DC area prepares for another round of afternoon storms

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:11:44 GMT

DC area prepares for another round of afternoon storms Ominous storm clouds were captured overhead on Saturday afternoon Sept. 9, 2023. (Courtesy, Carol Brown)(Courtesy Carol Brown) Ominous storm clouds were captured overhead on Saturday afternoon Sept. 9, 2023. (Courtesy, Carol Brown)(Courtesy Carol Brown) Forecasters expect another round of wet weather on Sunday after severe storms brought flash flood warnings and widespread power outages to the D.C. area. Here’s what you need to know.WTOP Meteorologist Briana Bermensolo said Sunday’s weather will likely include another chance for storms with “pockets of steady rainfall.” Those rains could bring about another wave of watches for the area.“Heavy downpours and storms will continue through...

Brayden Schager throws 4 TD passes to help Hawaii beat Albany 31-20

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:11:44 GMT

Brayden Schager throws 4 TD passes to help Hawaii beat Albany 31-20 HONOLULU (AP) — Brayden Schager completed 23 of 40 passes for 266 yards and four touchdowns to help Hawaii beat Albany 31-20 Saturday night. Schager threw a 34-yard scoring strike down the right sideline to Jalen Walthall, who made a one-hand finger-tips catch as he dragged a defender into the end zone to give the Rainbow Warriors a 24-17 lead with 6:10 left in the third quarter. Schager threw a 4-yard touchdown pass that capped a nine-play, 74-yard drive and gave Hawaii a 10-7 lead with 7 second left in the first quarter and, after Albany’s Larry Walker Jr. returned an interception — one of three thrown by Schager on the day — 35 yards for a touchdown in the second, connected with Steven McBride for a 30-yard touchdown strike before John Opalko kicked a 47-yard field goal to make it 17-all as time expired in the first half. Opalka added a 32-yard field goal with 3:32 left in the third quarter that trimmed the deficit to 24-20 but Schager found McBride for another TD, this tim...

Caleb Williams propels No. 6 USC to a 49-point first half in a 56-10 victory over Stanford

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:11:44 GMT

Caleb Williams propels No. 6 USC to a 49-point first half in a 56-10 victory over Stanford LOS ANGELES (AP) — After well over a century of competition, nobody knows when Southern California and Stanford will meet again on a football field.The Trojans are headed into this rivalry’s hiatus with all of the bragging rights after a blowout victory that demonstrated both programs’ current place in the process of building a champion.Caleb Williams passed for 281 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score while playing only the first half, Zachariah Branch returned a punt 75 yards for a TD, and No. 6 USC routed Stanford 56-10 on Saturday night.MarShawn Lloyd and Austin Jones also rushed for scores, and Dorian Singer, Brenden Rice and Lake McRee caught TD passes while their Heisman Trophy winner led USC (3-0, 1-0 Pac-12) to one of the most prolific first halves in school history.“That was one of our more complete halves, where guys were firing on all cylinders,” coach Lincoln Riley said. “All three sides of the ball just surged and got the momentum and kept i...

Oklahoma State stymies Arizona State defensively for 27-15 win

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:11:44 GMT

Oklahoma State stymies Arizona State defensively for 27-15 win TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Oklahoma State played to the sticks a stuck it to Arizona State.Garret Rangel found a wide-open Brennan Presley on a 16-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter after Oklahoma State’s final fourth-down stop, clinching a 27-15 win over the Sun Devils on Saturday night.“We’ve got to play the sticks,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said of defending fourth downs. “We practiced it 20 times more than I’ve ever practiced in my 19 years as coach and so I feel like we’re better at it. I think it paid off for us tonight.”The Cowboys (2-0) were one of the FBS’ worst teams at stopping teams on fourth downs last season, in part because they didn’t practice it.Gundy and his staff ingrained the way to play on fourth down — don’t let the offensive player get to the first-down stick — throughout spring and fall practice.It paid off in one of the hottest games in Arizona State history — 104 degrees at kickoff.Oklahoma State had an interception...

Morocco mourns earthquake victims as death toll passes 2,000

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:11:44 GMT

Morocco mourns earthquake victims as death toll passes 2,000 Moroccan citizens on Sunday mourned the victims of a powerful earthquake that has killed more than 2,000 people and injured hundreds more.Rescue teams struggled to reach thousands in hard-hit areas who were injured by the quake Friday night, the biggest to hit Morocco in 120 years, AFP reported. Survivors are being forced to sleep rough this weekend as relief efforts continue.At least 2,012 people have died and more than 2,059 injured in the disaster, according to the interior ministry, with 1,404 in critical condition.The magnitude 6.8 earthquake’s epicenter was in the High Atlas Mountains southwest of Marrakesh, devastating the historic city and wiping out some rural villages, according to the BBC. The quake was also felt in Rabat and Casablanca. Morocco’s Al Haouz province has the highest death toll, according to the interior ministry, followed by Taroudant.“The next 24 to 48 hours will be critical in terms of saving lives,” Caroline Holt, Global Director ...

Australian and Indonesian forces deploy battle tanks in US-led combat drills amid Chinese concern

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:11:44 GMT

Australian and Indonesian forces deploy battle tanks in US-led combat drills amid Chinese concern BANYUWANGI, Indonesia (AP) — Thousands of soldiers from the United States, Indonesia, Australia and other allied forces demonstrated their armor capabilities on Sunday in combat drills on the Indonesian island of Java at a time of increased Chinese aggression in the region. President Joe Biden’s administration has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to reassure allies alarmed by Beijing’s increasingly provocative actions in the disputed South China Sea, which has become a battleground for U.S-Chinese rivalries.During the drills, Australian forces deployed five M1A1 Abrams battle tanks and the Indonesian military, deployed two Leopard-2 tanks for the two-week combat exercises in Banyuwangi, a coastal district in East Java province which began Sept. 1. It will include live-fire drills.It was the first time Australia deployed battle tanks outside its territory since the Vietnam war.The Garuda Shield drills have been held annually between American a...

Local elections take place across Russia, but Ukraine is ‘not on the agenda’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:11:44 GMT

Local elections take place across Russia, but Ukraine is ‘not on the agenda’ Local elections kicked off in Russia this weekend in 79 regions, with voters are casting their ballots for governors, regional legislatures, city and municipal councils.Russian authorities are also holding local elections in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow annexed illegally last year — the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia provinces. Voting for federal and local legislators is also underway on the Crimean peninsula, which the Kremlin annexed in 2014. Balloting in the occupied areas of Ukraine has been denounced by Kyiv and the West as a sham and a violation of international law.In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s seat is up for grabs, although he is running for re-election again and is unlikely to lose a race in which all contenders come from Kremlin-backed parties. Sobyanin was appointed mayor in 2010 and has since won mayoral elections twice: in 2013, despite now-imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny running against him, and 2018. Governors in 20 other Russia...

India forges compromise among divided world powers at the G20 summit in a diplomatic win for Modi

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:11:44 GMT

India forges compromise among divided world powers at the G20 summit in a diplomatic win for Modi NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi touted his country as well-placed to bridge gaps in the Group of 20 top economies and solve global problems, but many were skeptical ahead of the weekend’s summit given grave divisions within the bloc over the Russia’s war in Ukraine.He was able to dispel those doubts, announcing a unanimous final agreement a day before the G20 summit ended Sunday that included language on the European war which both Russia and China signed off on.British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the group agreed to a “very strong” message. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called it a “success of Indian diplomacy,” adding “many did not think that would be possible beforehand.” And India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said the declaration “responds to the situation as it stands today.”The statement had softer wording than last year’s G20 communique and failed to directly denounce Moscow. Instead, it cited a United Nations charter, saying “a...

Horoscopes Sept. 10, 2023: Sarah Levy, hesitation will ruin your timing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:11:44 GMT

Horoscopes Sept. 10, 2023: Sarah Levy, hesitation will ruin your timing CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Paulina Alexis, 23; Sarah Levy, 37; Ryan Phillippe, 49; Joe Perry, 73.Happy Birthday: Get on board and ride the wave. You’ll have plenty of opportunities if you show your worth and contribute what you have to offer. Use your discipline, insight and influence to turn what you want into something spectacular. Don’t be shy when your objective is to follow your heart and turn your dreams into a reality. Keep moving; hesitation will ruin your timing. Your numbers are 6, 17, 25, 27, 31, 36, 48.ARIES (March 21-April 19): The little things count, like being good to yourself. Putter around the house, go hiking or spend time with someone you love, and it will improve your frame of mind and help you sort through the changes you want to make. 5 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Socializing will get you out of the house and away from any drama or tension you are feeling. Sign up for something that interests you or can help give you a different perspective o...