BASEBALL
Devlin Granberg had four hits, including a grand slam in the sixth inning, and drove in five runs as the Portland Sea Dogs won for the 11th time in 12 games with a 12-5 victory over the Hartford Yard Goats on Saturday night in Hartford, Connecticut.
Triston Casas added a two-run homer and had three RBI for the Sea Dogs, who play their final game of the season on Sunday in Hartford.
Pedro Castellanos also had four hits and scored three runs.
Jay Groome, making his third start with Portland, allowed four runs on eight hits in 42/3 innings. Groome hadn’t allowed a start in his first two starts with the Sea Dogs.
HOCKEY
NHL: Zdeno Chara agreed to terms with the New York Islanders on a one-year deal, returning 25 years later to the organization that drafted him, to chase the Stanley Cup one more time at age 44.
“It’s kind of full circle,” Chara said. “Who would know that this would kind of work out the way it did after 20-some years?”
It worked out with the Islanders after Chara ultimately decided not to hang up his skates and picked them over other interested teams. Playing on Long Island allows Chara to be somewhat close to his family in Boston and contribute for a contender that has been on the verge of reaching the final the past two playoffs.
Chara was a third-round pick of the Islanders in 1996 and made his debut with them the next year before being traded to Ottawa in 2001. He still feels grateful for that opportunity.
The big Slovak defenseman will look to win the Cup again just over a decade since hoisting it as Boston’s captain. The Bruins let their longtime captain leave in free agency last fall following 14 seasons, and Chara went to Washington to play for a year with the Capitals.
SOCCER
MLS: Gyasi Zardes scored in the 58th minute, Eloy Room had six saves and the Columbus Crew tied 1-1 with the New England Revolution in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Room was obviously favoring his right leg late in the closing minutes but managed to knock away back-to-back shots by Adam Buksa. Room deflected the first with his lower body in the 90th minute and 10 seconds later – after gingerly getting off the ground and limping to the center of goal – parried a header.
Harrison Afful played a bending 20-yard ball-in to Zardes for a header that deflected off the hand of diving goalkeeper Matt Turner and banged off the post before skipping into the net to open the scoring in the 58th minute. A careless pass by Jonathan Mensah was intercepted by Buksa, who took a couple dribbles before beating Room one-on-one to level the score in the 62nd.
The points leader in all MLS with 56, New England (17-4-5) is unbeaten in three straight games. Columbus (8-11-9), the defending MLS Cup champion, is 10th in the Eastern Conference with 31.
ENGLAND: Leon Bailey’s explosive 20-minute cameo propelled Aston Villa to a 3-0 win over Everton, as Rafa Benitez was dealt his first loss in charge of the visitors.
Bailey, signed from Bayer Leverkusen in the offseason, came on in 61st minute when the score was 0-0 and went off with a muscle injury in the 81st, by which time Villa had scored all of its goals.
• Martin Odegaard’s first-half free kick clinched Arsenal a 1-0 win at Burnley, whose winless run at home was extended to 13 matches.
• A near-capacity crowd failed to inspire Manchester City as the reigning champion was held by Southampton to a frustrating 0-0 at Etihad Stadium.
• Ismaila Sarr scored twice as Norwich’s losing start to the Premier League season extended to five games with a 3-1 defeat to Watford.
• Sadio Mane scored for the ninth straight time against Crystal Palace and reached 100 goals for Liverpool to set his team on its way to a 3-0 win.
FRANCE: A match between Lens and defending champion Lille was interrupted for about 30 minutes when fans from the northern rivals clashed at halftime.
After the first half ended, a large group of Lens supporters invaded the field and ran to the away section where they fought with Lille fans. Riot police and stewards intervened and escorted them off the field. An emergency meeting took place to decide whether the match at Stade Bollaert should continue.
But after the second half got underway there was no further disorder and the match ended 1-0 to Lens, which is unbeaten under coach Franck Haise and moved up to second place.
GOLF
PGA: Jim Knous shot a 7-under 65 for a share of the lead with Maverick McNealy after three rounds of the Fortinet Championship in Napa, California.
Knous and McNealy (70) were at 14 under, two strokes ahead of Max Homa (65), Scott Stallings (67), Mito Pereira (70), Troy Merritt (69) and Beau Hossler (70).
EUROPEAN TOUR: Kristoffer Broberg of Sweden smashed the course record he set a day earlier with an 11-under 61, in Cromvoirt, Netherlands, to open an eight-shot lead after three rounds of the Dutch Open.
The 772nd-ranked Broberg opened with four birdies and an eagle in his first six holes in benign conditions at the Bernardus club in Cromvoirt and had six more birdies in a bogey-free back nine.
The 35-year-old Swede moved to 23 under overall. He set the course record for the first time Friday with a 64.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: K.J. Choi shot a 4-under 66 to take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Stanford International in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Tied for the first-round lead with Darren Clarke after a 63, Choi had five birdies and bogey to reach 11 under at Minnehaha Country Club. The 51-year-old South Korean player won eight times on the PGA Tour.
Paul Stankowski (63), Alex Cejka (64) and Rod Pampling (67) were second, and Steve Flesch (65) and Mario Tiziani (67) were another stroke back.
LPGA: The third round of Cambia Portland Classic was postponed because of wet conditions at Oregon Golf Club in West Linn, Oregon, and the event was cut to 54 holes.
The hilly course was soaked with more than 1.5 inches of rain overnight.
FOOTBALL
NFL: The Las Vegas Raiders placed backup quarterback Marcus Mariota on injured reserve after he hurt his quadriceps on his only snap in the season opener.
• The San Francisco 49ers placed linebacker Dre Greenlaw on injured reserve with a groin injury that will likely sideline him for at least a month.
• Steve McMichael, a beloved member of the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears, received the first ALS Courage Award.
McMichael, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, was honored during the 20th anniversary of the Les Turner ALS Foundation’s Walk for Life, a fundraising event.
“One of these days, we’ll cure this,” McMichael said.
• Green Bay Packers defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery won’t be with the team for its Monday night home opener with the Detroit Lions due to COVID-19 protocols.
AUTO RACING
INDYCAR: Colton Herta won the pole at Laguna Seca for the second-consecutive race and will try Sunday to tie his father as a two-time winner at the rolling California road course in Monterey, California.
The win would actually give him the family throne on the overall victories list.
Herta won from the pole in 2019 when Laguna Seca returned to the IndyCar schedule. The race was canceled during the pandemic last year but returned this weekend as the penultimate race in the IndyCar championship.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.