Author: Gulf News Week
ATLANTA (news agencies) — Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes will start his second straight All-Star Game for the National League and Detroit’s Tarik Skubal will open for the American League on Tuesday night at Truist Park.Major League Baseball made the announcement Saturday night.Skenes will become the first pitcher to start consecutive All-Star Games since Washington’s Max Scherzer and Boston’s Chris Sale in 2017 and ’18. Sale started three in a row beginning in 2016.Skenes and Skubal are 1-2 in average four-seam fastball velocity among those with 1,500 or more pitches this season, Skenes at 98.2 mph and Skubal at 97.6 mph, according…
KERRVILLE, Texas (news agencies) — President Donald Trump on Friday toured the devastation from catastrophic flooding in Texas and lauded state and local officials, even amid mounting criticism that they may have failed to warn residents quickly enough that a deadly wall of water was coming their way.Trump has repeatedly promised to do away with the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of his larger pledges to dramatically shrink the size of government, and he’s fond of decrying officials in Democrat-run states hit by past natural disasters and tragedy. But the president struck a far more somber and sympathetic tone…
CHICAGO (news agencies) — White Sox great Paul Konerko got a present from one No. 14 to another in honor of the 20th anniversary of the 2005 World Series championship run — a jersey signed by noted Chicago fan Pope Leo XIV.Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, presented Konerko a jersey with the new pontiff’s signature on the back during a ceremony prior to the game against the Cleveland Guardians. It had the six-time All-Star’s last name and “Pope Leo” above the No. 14.“It’s kind of surreal,” he said. “I’m sure my mom will ask for dibs on it.”Konerko…
SAN FRANCISCO (news agencies) — Shohei Ohtani pitched three scoreless innings against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday as the Dodgers star continues to work his way back from elbow surgery.Working as an opener for the fifth time this season after not pitching in all of 2024, Ohtani threw 36 pitches, 25 for strikes while serving as Los Angeles’ opener for the fifth time this season. He allowed one hit and struck out the side on 12 pitches in the first inning when his fastball was twice clocked at 99.9 mph.“Overall a very efficient outing,” Ohtani said through an interpreter.…
MINNEnews agenciesOLIS (news agencies) — Minnesota Twins All-Star center fielder Byron Buxton admitted to feeling a little added pressure before Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was his bobblehead day, meaning the first 10,000 fans to walk through the gates at Target Field would receive a replica of Buxton doing his “Buck Truck” home run celebration.“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous before the game started, just knowing it was bobblehead day,” Buxton said. “Obviously you want to come out and do something good.”Buxton did more than something good. He became the first player to hit for…
WASHINGTON (news agencies) — Just months after President Donald Trump returned to office amid a wave of anti-immigration sentiment, the share of U.S. adults saying immigration is a “good thing” for the country has jumped substantially — including among Republicans, according to new Gallup polling.About 8 in 10 Americans, 79%, say immigration is “a good thing” for the country today, an increase from 64% a year ago and a high point in the nearly 25-year trend. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say immigration is a bad thing right now, down from 32% last year.During Democratic President Joe Biden’s…
NEW YORK (news agencies) — Aaron Judge didn’t just become the fastest player to hit 350 home runs, he did it in 192 fewer games than Mark McGwire.“I just think he’s playing in a different league,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Judge’s ninth-inning drive in Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs.Judge homered to right-center on a high 0-2 fastball from Brad Keller, a two-run shot a couple of rows into the right-center field seats.He reached 350 in his 1,088th game. McGwire hit No. 350 in his 1,280th game, against Detroit’s Brian Moehle on June 2, 1997, bettering Harmon…
Advocates say 20-year-old American citizen Sayfollah Musallet was ‘lynched’ while US officials stay silent.Washington, DC – The family of Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old United States citizen from Florida who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, is calling on Washington to launch its own probe into the incident and to hold the perpetrators accountable. Musallet’s family said in a statement that Israeli settlers surrounded him for three hours during the assault on Friday and attacked medics who were attempting to reach him. The slain young man, known as Saif, was a “kind, hard-working, and deeply-respected young man,…
LONDON (news agencies) — A two-week-long music festival in central London has cancelled its final night after Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra pulled out of the headline slot on Sunday. Lynne, 77, who was billed to play alongside his band Sunday at the The BST Hyde Park festival, withdrew on Saturday on the advice of doctors as a result of what was termed a “systemic infection.”In a statement, the festival organizers said the event will “sadly be cancelled” and that ticket holders will be refunded and contacted directly by their ticket agent with further details.Stevie Wonder will be taking to…
BOSTON (news agencies) — Red Sox right-hander Hunter Dobbins said on Saturday he knew his season was probably over when he felt a familiar feeling in his knee.He was right. Dobbins was diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, his second ACL tear in his right knee. “Yeah. I’ve torn my ACL in this knee before and it was the same feeling,” he said, standing in the middle of Boston’s clubhouse with a red sleeve on his right leg. “Kind of some denial went into it, tried to go through that warm-up pitch, felt the same sensation again so, at…