Yelich’s fifth home run this season and first grand slam in more than three years came on a 2-2 fastball from reliever Lou Trivino and broke open what had been a close game. Three batters later, Bauers went deep for his second homer of the season.

Brice Turang added four hits for Milwaukee. Bauers had three hits and William Contreras drove in two runs to help the Brewers win for the fourth time in 11 road games this season.

Pitching Performances

Jose Quintana (3-0) remained unbeaten after allowing one run and six hits in six innings. Quintana, who was a reliever for the Giants in 2021, had three strikeouts and two walks.

Grant Anderson, Bryan Hudson and Joel Payamps each retired three batters to complete the win for the Brewers.

Wilmer Flores had three hits and an RBI for San Francisco.

Giants starter Jordan Hicks (1-3) allowed eight hits and six runs, five earned, in five innings. Since throwing six scoreless innings in his first start of the season, Hicks has been tagged for 20 runs over 21 1/3 innings (8.44 ERA).

Key Moment

With runners at first and second in the sixth inning, Giants catcher Patrick Bailey was charged with a passed ball and then threw wildly into right field for an error that allowed one run to score.

Key Stat

The Giants hit into three double plays.

Up Next

Giants RHP Logan Webb (2-1, 2.40 ERA) faces Brewers RHP Freddy Peralta (2-1, 1.91) on Wednesday.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

The post Yelich’s 5th Career Slam and Bauers’ 2-Run Homer Power the Brewers to Win Over the Giants appeared first on GV Wire.

The Cubs were down to their last out in the ninth when Miguel Amaya hit a solo homer off Tanner Scott that landed in the basket in center field, sending a charge through the crowd of 36,425 at Wrigley Field.

After Porter Hodge (2-0) escaped a jam in the top of the 10th, Happ grounded the first pitch from Noah Davis (0-1) into right field. Vidal Bruján scored easily from second as the Cubs poured out of the dugout to celebrate.

Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong homered as Chicago improved to 3-1 on an eight-game homestand. Happ finished with four hits and scored twice.

Tommy Edman, Andy Pages and Will Smith went deep for Los Angeles, which had won five of six. Edman finished with four RBIs.

The Dodgers scored five times in the seventh to take a 10-7 lead. Freddie Freeman had the big blow, a double to left that drove in Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts.

Chicago got two back when Tucker homered against Alex Vesia in the eighth. Then Amaya had the tying shot in the ninth.

The Cubs improved to 3-3 against the Dodgers. The teams close out their season series on Wednesday night.

Crow-Armstrong’s two-run shot off Dustin May made it 7-4 in the fifth. Crow-Armstrong is batting .367 (18 for 49) in his last 12 games.

Key Moment

Pages threw out Happ when he tried to score on Michael Busch’s fly ball to left in the sixth. Happ was originally ruled safe, but the call was overturned after the Dodgers challenged the play.

Key Stat

Edman’s three-run drive in the first was his 15th homer against the Cubs. He has 67 career homers.

Up Next

Matthew Boyd (1-2, 2.01 ERA) starts for the Cubs on Wednesday night. The Dodgers are going with a bullpen game.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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McCaffrey missed the first eight games of the season with Achilles tendinitis and then went down with a right knee injury that sidelined him for the final five games.

“I’m feeling great,” McCaffrey said Tuesday on the first day of the offseason program for the 49ers. “It’s been such a smooth process, a lot of hard work. As soon as that injury happened in Buffalo, this was my goal to not miss a day of OTAs, be back ready to go with nothing hindering me. That’s where I’m at.”

McCaffrey said he was fully healed from the Achilles injury and the posterior cruciate ligament injury suffered in Buffalo on Dec. 1 by early in the offseason and was able to train at “full speed.”

It’s been an eventful offseason for McCaffrey, with his wife, Olivia Culpo, expecting the couple’s first child.

Related Story: Brock Purdy Reports to 49ers Spring Camp, but Where Is George Kittle?

Frustrating 2024 Season

That follows the frustrating 2024 season. McCaffrey injured his Achilles tendon early in training camp and missed the first eight games of the season. He rushed for just 202 yards on 50 carries in four games before getting hurt again as he was unable to match his sensational 2023 season.

McCaffrey won the AP Offensive Player of the Year that season after leading the NFL with 2,023 yards from scrimmage and tying for the league lead with 21 touchdowns.

McCaffrey had missed just one game combined in 2022-23 — a meaningless Week 18 game in the 2023 season for San Francisco when he had a sore calf — after missing 23 games because of injuries in his final two full seasons with Carolina.

Warner Says He’s in Good Health, Too

Niners star linebacker Fred Warner said he has fully recovered from a broken bone in his ankle that hampered him for most of last season. Warner played through the injury without missing any games and earned his third straight All-Pro honors.

I feel great. Ankle’s a thing of the past now, thank God, because that was tough, trying to deal with that all season. But I feel great now.

“I feel great,” he said. “The ankle injury is a thing of the past.”

NOTES: DL Evan Anderson, DL Alex Barrett, LB Jalen Graham and TE Brayden Willis signed their one-year exclusive rights contracts. … Dustin Perry has been prompted to vice president of player health and performance. Perry is entering his ninth season with the 49ers and was the team’s head strength and conditioning coach the past six seasons.

The post Great News for 49ers: Christian McCaffrey Says He’s Fully Healed appeared first on GV Wire.

The Lakers said they collectively got smacked in the mouth by the blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in their first-round series opener. Game 2 was all about their response — and LeBron James loved his team’s tenacity.

Luka Doncic had 31 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, and the Lakers fought back to even their series with Minnesota with a 94-85 victory Tuesday night.

“We looked at what we didn’t do so well, which is a lot of things in Game 1,” said James, who scored 21 points and made a key steal in the fourth quarter. “We took it to heart, held each other accountable and had a much better result.”

Game 3 is Friday night in Minneapolis.

Austin Reaves added 16 for the third-seeded Lakers, who jumped to an early 22-point lead and hung on through a physical matchup with sixth-seeded Minnesota.

We Played With Urgency: JJ Redick

Los Angeles scored only 60 points in the final three quarters, but the Wolves never got closer than nine points. Coach JJ Redick was proud of his players’ response — even if he had to unload on them in the fourth quarter during a profanity-laden timeout to maintain their focus down the stretch.

“I think tonight was just more about getting that urgency button switched back on,” Redick said.

Julius Randle scored 27 points and Anthony Edwards had 25 for the Timberwolves, who lost most of their offensive fluidity from Game 1. Edwards said the Lakers’ defensive adjustments made it “kind of hard” on him.

“The way that they’re guarding us, when I catch the ball, they kind of go zone, and when I try to attack a gap, it’s like three people,” Edwards said. “I’ve just got to make my decisions a little quicker, and we’ll be all right.”

James added 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Lakers, who never lost control of a chippy, choppy game with 46 personal fouls and multiple video reviews. James and Hachimura both took hard shots to the face, and Hachimura donned a second mask after halftime.

The Wolves hit 21 3-pointers while blowing out the Lakers 117-95 in Game 1. Los Angeles went up by 19 in the first quarter of Game 2 while Doncic exploited isolations on Rudy Gobert.

“We knew they would come with high intensity, with energy,” Randle said. “We knew it was going to be physical. … We were stagnant, missed open looks, missed layups. They were just in a rhythm.”

The post Lakers Muscle Up to Even Playoff Series With Timberwolves appeared first on GV Wire.

Purdy and Kittle are entering the final years of their contracts and are seeking extensions, leading to speculation about whether they would report for the offseason program.

A person familiar with the situation confirmed that Purdy reported to the team facility on Tuesday and that Kittle had not. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team hadn’t made any announcement.

The Niners have had offseason contract disputes last deep into the summer the past three seasons. Deebo Samuel missed the first few training camp practices in 2022 before signing an extension, while Nick Bosa didn’t get his deal done in 2023 until just days before the season opener, and Brandon Aiyuk missed all of training camp practice last summer waiting for a new deal.

Purdy said at the end of the season in January that he hoped to have a new deal done before the start of the offseason program. That hasn’t happened yet but he chose not to hold out as he tries to help the Niners rebound from a 6-11 season.

Related Story: Owner Jed York says 49ers Will ‘Do Everything’ to Keep QB Brock ...

Purdy and Kittle Salary Situations

Purdy has made less than $1 million a year for his first three seasons and is set to get a small raise in 2025 to about $5.2 million under the league’s proven performance escalator for making the Pro Bowl last season.

But Purdy’s play has far exceeded that salary and he is eligible this offseason to negotiate an extension for the first time and could be in line for a contract that will pay him in excess of $50 million a year.

After finishing fourth in MVP voting in his first full season as a starter in 2023, Purdy was far less productive last season as injuries to several key playmakers had a major impact on the Niners offense.

Purdy’s passer rating dropped nearly 17 points to 96.1, he had only 20 TD passes and 12 interceptions on the season, and also came up short in several late-game scenarios when the 49ers had a chance for a comeback win.

But the belief in Purdy from the organization remains as strong as it has been from owner Jed York, to general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan.

The 31-year-old Kittle is entering the final year of a five-year, $75 million extension that he signed in 2020. He is owed $14.4 million in base salary for this season. The tight end market got re-set this offseason when Arizona signed Trey McBride to a $76 million, four-year extension for the highest annual value for any tight end.

Kittle was a second-team All-Pro last season when he had 78 catches for 1,106 yards and eight TDs. Since being drafted in the fifth round in 2017, Kittle has been a first or second-team All-Pro five times in eight seasons and has 538 catches for 7,380 yards and 45 TDs.

The post Brock Purdy Reports to 49ers Spring Camp, but Where Is George Kittle? appeared first on GV Wire.

The nine proposals passed by the NCAA board were largely expected but still mark a defining day in the history of college sports. An athlete’s ability to be paid directly by his or her university is on track to be enshrined in a rulebook that has forbidden that kind of relationship for decades.

For the NCAA rules to officially go into effect, the changes prescribed by the House settlement still have to be granted final approval by a federal judge, whose hearing earlier this month led to questions about potential tweaks before the new guidelines are supposed to go into play on July 1.

Changes to Eliminate Near 150 NCAA Rules

The changes will eliminate around 150 rules and alter many others in the NCAA’s sprawling rulebook. They essentially codify measures set up by the settlement, including:

• Modifying bylaws to allow schools to pay the athletes directly.
• Eliminating scholarship limits for teams, while also setting roster limits that are designed to replace the scholarship caps. Some details of the roster limits, which were a key sticking point in the April 7 hearing, will be finalized later.
• Establishing annual reporting requirements for schools that pay athletes; a payment pool is set to be approximately $20.5 million for the biggest schools beginning next academic year.
• Setting up a clearinghouse for all name, image and likeness (NIL) deals that come from third parties and are worth $600 or more.
• Granting authority to an enforcement body being developed by the conferences named as defendants in the lawsuit to enforce the new rules passed to implement terms of the settlement. This includes compliance with all the new facets coming into play in college sports — roster limits, payment of direct benefits to players and meeting requirements for the third-party deals.

One change allows for the creation of technology platforms for schools to monitor payments to athletes and for the athletes to report their third-party NIL deals.

The board also approved a requirement for athletes to be enrolled full-time and meeting requirements toward their degree to receive the benefits.

The board received updates from a working group designed to propose ways to streamline NCAA governance — a topic that has come up as the bigger conferences have sought more decision-making power in some areas.

The post NCAA Passes Series of Rules That Sets Table for Schools to Pay Players Directly appeared first on GV Wire.

After that, it’s anyone’s guess.

Colorado’s two-way star, Travis Hunter, and quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Penn State’s Abdul Carter, Michigan’s Mason Graham and LSU’s Will Campbell are all expected to be selected early. There’s also a bit of a running back renaissance in the NFL these days, with teams eyeing Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton in the first round.

Ward has tried to solidify his status as the top pick over the last few months, working out for all 32 NFL teams at Miami’s on-campus pro day.

“They finally got to see me throw in person. That should be all they need to see,” Ward said. “At the end of the day, if they want to give me the pick or not, I’m going to be happy with whatever team I go to. I just want to play football.”

Advanced analytics have de-emphasized the running back position over the past decade, but the performances of stars like Philadelphia’s Saquon Barkley and Baltimore’s Derrick Henry have front offices thinking more about spending a high pick on the position.

The three-day draft will be held at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which is the home of the Green Bay Packers.

Here are a few things to know about the upcoming draft:

When Is the NFL Draft?

The first round will be on Thursday beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

The second and third rounds are on Friday beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

The fourth through seventh rounds are on Saturday beginning at noon ET.

How Do I Watch the NFL Draft?

All three days will be televised on ESPN, ABC and NFL Network.

Who Will Be the Top Picks in the NFL Draft?

Ward and Sanders are the top quarterback prospects, though they won’t necessarily be the first two picks like Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels in 2024 and Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud in 2023.

Carter and Hunter are also highly rated prospects, meaning that a non-QB could be the No. 1 overall selection for the first time since defensive end Travon Walker was the top pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2022.

For more information on the top picks, here is the mock draft by AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi.

What Is the NFL Draft Order?

These were the selections in the first round of the 2024 draft. Here are the teams that currently possess the top 10 picks of the upcoming draft.

1. Tennessee Titans
2. Cleveland Browns
3. New York Giants
4. New England Patriots
5. Jacksonville Jaguars
6. Las Vegas Raiders
7. New York Jets
8. Carolina Panthers
9. New Orleans Saints
10. Chicago Bears

The post NFL Draft: How to Watch, Dates, Draft Order and Potential Top Picks appeared first on GV Wire.

Flores connected off Grant Anderson (1-1) with two outs.

Caleb Durbin hit his first career home run with a two-run drive in the first against San Francisco starter Robbie Ray, who allowed two runs and five hits. He struck out four and walked three over five solid innings.

Hayden Birdsong (1-0) struck out four in three innings of relief to win for the Giants, who had lost three of the last four on their recent 10-game trip. Camilo Doval pitched a perfect ninth for his third save.

Quinn Priester walked a season-high four batters over four innings in his third 2025 start as Milwaukee began a season-long 10-game trip spanning 11 days.

Patrick Bailey hit an RBI single in the second and a sacrifice fly in the eighth for San Francisco, which will be without infielder Casey Schmitt for at least a month after an MRI exam Monday showed a Grade 2 left oblique strain.

Tyler Fitzgerald scored the tying run in the fifth when Willy Adames grounded into a forceout.

Key Moment

Birdsong allowed a leadoff single to Rhys Hoskins in the sixth — the first batter he faced after replacing Ray — but then retired Sal Frelick on a line drive and got Joey Ortiz to ground into an inning-ending double play. The Giants went ahead in the bottom half.

Key Stat

Brewers catcher William Contreras caught a pair of baserunners trying to steal: Mike Yastrzemski in the first and Matt Chapman in the second.

Up Next

Brewers LHP Jose Quintana (2-0, 0.71 ERA) pitches the second game of the four-game series Tuesday night opposite RHP Jordan Hicks (1-2, 8.04).

The post Flores Launches Go-Ahead Homer as Lee, Birdsong Help Lift Giants Over Brewers appeared first on GV Wire.

The ingredients could be in place for a bit of a change this year thanks to one of the deepest classes of running backs in years following a season when game-changing backs such as Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry became the biggest free agent hits.

“When I was a kid, running back was arguably the most important position on the field,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said at the scouting combine. “I grew up a Cowboys fan — Tony Dorsett, Emmitt Smith, guys like that were my idols. Then we went through this period over the last five, 10 years, where the analytics certainly de-emphasized the position. I think last year, you saw the impact that some of these guys had. … I think (running backs) are looked at as probably replaceable by some people, but if you have a great one, you’ve got a historic one, you just can’t replace those guys.”

Will Teams View Running Back Prospects as Premium Picks?

The big question headed into the draft Thursday is whether teams view prospects such as Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton as those types of backs worthy of being taken with a premium pick.

Jeanty was projected in the final AP mock draft to go sixth to Las Vegas, which would be the highest pick for a running back since Barkley was taken second overall in 2018 by the New York Giants.

“We just saw Saquon Barkley just change the Eagles in one year,” Raiders GM John Spytek said. “Now they had a great team around him and it was adding an elite player. I think when you sit where we sit, I mean the idea is to add elite players at any position. I don’t try to devalue any certain position. … There’s certain ways to build a team, and I don’t know where we got to a place where we don’t feel like running backs are valued. I come from the University of Michigan to my core, and those guys were certainly really valued there. So, it’s hard for me to get away from that.”

Only one running back in the past six drafts was taken in the top 10 with Bijan Robinson going eighth to Atlanta in 2023. Five running backs were top-10 picks from 2015-18 with two being taken that high in 2017 when Leonard Fournette went fourth and Christian McCaffrey went eighth.

It’s a far cry from earlier eras when running backs were often the top overall pick, including four times in five seasons from 1977-81. No running back has gone first overall since Ki-Jana Carter in 1995.

Teams have been waiting later and later to take running backs with Jonathan Brooks the first to go last year at No. 46 to Carolina. There has been just an average of two running backs taken in the top 50 in the past six drafts, down from a peak of 12 in 1990.

This year’s class of running backs is one of the deepest in recent memory with several players after Jeanty and Hampton projected to be picked either late in the first round or on day two of the draft including Ohio State’s duo of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins; Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson; Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo, Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson; Virginia Tech’s Bhayshul Tuten; and Central Florida’s RJ Harvey.

Shift From Running to Passing League Began With Rule Change

The shift from a running to a passing league began with rule changes in 1978 that made passing easier and has continued for more than four decades.

The rate of running dropped from a post-merger high of nearly 58% in 1977 to a low of just more than 40% in 2014 before undergoing a slight increase in recent years to 43.4% last season.

But the bell-cow back had mostly disappeared as teams went to a backfield by committee. The league featured 13 players in 2003 who had at least 300 carries in a season — matching the nine-year combined total from 2015-23.

Six players hit the 300-carry mark last season led by Barkley and Henry for the most in a season since 2010.

“For a while, the market maybe was suppressed. People were not looking at them as weapons,” Bills GM Brandon Beane said. “I kind of look for them as anyone you add to your offense, what do they bring? What is their skill set? Is it a mismatched player? … Someone asked, I think a year or two ago, what is your philosophy? Would you draft a running back in the first round? I probably wouldn’t draft a running back that is 3 yards and a cloud of dust, but if it’s a weapon like some of these guys were talking about, heck yeah I would.”

With the diminished role of the featured back, the pay at the position has also suffered with Josh Jacobs’ running back-leading $48 million deal with Green Bay ranking tied for 159th among all players. The $13.6 million franchise tag number for running backs — determined by the highest-paid players at each position — is the lowest of any position outside of specialists.

The rookie wage scale put in place in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement determines salaries for the first four seasons solely on draft position, leading teams to use premium picks on high-value positions such as quarterback, tackle, pass rushers and receivers in order to save money compared to veteran contracts.

That’s a big factor that is hard for some teams to overcome.

“It’s an interesting conversation, because the draft pick is about potential ceiling, ability to play at a certain level, while you have those years under contract below free agency market level, your ability to sustain a second contract,” Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said. “There’s all these questions that come into that answer before you pull the card.”

The post Running Backs Could Get a Boost in This Year’s Draft Thanks to Success of Saquon Barkley appeared first on GV Wire.

Two-way star Shohei Ohtani returned to the Dodgers’ lineup after missing the series’ previous two games, activated off the paternity list after his wife gave birth to the couple’s first child in Southern California. Ohtani went 0 for 3 with a walk that helped produce the game’s only run.

Pinch-hitter Will Smith led off the Dodgers’ eighth against Chris Martin (0-3) with a single, the Dodgers’ third and last hit of the game. Smith advanced to second on Ohtani’s walk, moved to third on a deep fly out to right field, and scored on Freeman’s fly to deep left.

Anthony Banda, Ben Casparius (2-0), Jack Dreyer, Evan Phillips and Tanner Scott combined for five shutout innings. Scott earned his eighth save.

Wyatt Langford, who returned to Texas’ lineup after missing nine games with a mild oblique strain, was thrown out trying to steal second base to end the game. The Rangers’ challenge was denied.

Glasnow was visited by manager Dave Roberts and trainer Thomas Albert during the fourth inning but stayed in the game.

Rangers starter Tyler Mahle pitched seven scoreless innings allowing two hits, striking four and walking three.

Key Moment

Phillips struck out Adolis García swinging to end Texas’ eighth inning, leaving the potential tying run at second base.

Key Stat

Mahle lowered his earned run average to 0.68, best in the major leagues. His league-best opponents’ batting average dropped to .112.

Up Next

Both teams will next play Tuesday on the road. Dodgers RHP Dustin May (1-1, 1.06 ERA) will open a series against the Chicago Cubs while Rangers LHP Patrick Corbin (1-0, 3.86) will face Athletics RHP Osvaldo Bido (2-1, 2.61) on Texas’ first trip to Sacramento.

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