logo
Red Sox hit 3 home runs, power past Rockies 9-3 to post 4th straight victory

Red Sox hit 3 home runs, power past Rockies 9-3 to post 4th straight victory

Fox Sports18 hours ago
Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Roman Anthony hit a two-run home run, Ceddanne Rafaela homered for the third straight game and the Boston Red beat the the Colorado Rockies 9-3 on Monday night.
Boston rookie Richard Fitts (1-3) allowed five hits, two earned runs and struck out six over 5 2/3 innings to notch his first major league victory.
Romy Gonzalez added a solo homer, and Abraham Toro had a two-run double to help Boston post its fourth straight win and seventh in nine games.
Rockies starter Austin Gomber (0-2) exited after 4 2/3 innings, yielding five runs and seven hits, including Anthony's homer.
Colorado's first run of the game was set up by a throwing error on Boston shortstop Trevor Story. In the sixth inning, the Rockies pulled to 5-3 on a fielder's choice RBI by Michael Toglia and RBI single by Ryan McMahon.
But Boston added to its lead an inning later via RBI singles by Jarren Duran and Carlos Narvaez Key moment
With the score tied 1-1 in the second, Toro hit a line drive double over the head of Toglia, scoring Tyler Freeman and Carlos Narváez. It capped a three-run inning. Key stat
Gonzalez's home run, which cleared the Green Monster, traveled 454 feet according to Statcast, trying Mike Trout (June 2) for the longest this season at Fenway Park. Up next
Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (1-9, 5.49 ERA) will face Red Sox RHP Brayan Bello (4-3, 3.42) on Tuesday.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
recommended
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Celtics' Brad Stevens shuns idea team is in a rebuild with Jayson Tatum out
Celtics' Brad Stevens shuns idea team is in a rebuild with Jayson Tatum out

Fox Sports

time27 minutes ago

  • Fox Sports

Celtics' Brad Stevens shuns idea team is in a rebuild with Jayson Tatum out

Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Even before Jayson Tatum limped off the court with a torn Achilles tendon during the Celtics' Eastern Conference semifinals loss to the New York Knicks, Brad Stevens knew big changes would be on tap for the franchise this offseason. Yes, big spending on free agents and contracts had lured in key players like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis who, combined with stars Tatum and Jaylen Brown, ultimately helped Boston capture the NBA championship in 2024. But keeping the core of that roster intact next season with Tatum possibly missing all of it while rehabbing from his injury would have come with a combined payroll and luxury tax bill of more than $500 million. And as a team exceeding the second apron of the salary cap, it would have also meant additional penalties limiting ways they could sign or trade for players. 'We've known for a long time that hard decisions were coming,' Stevens said Tuesday on the decisions to trade both Holiday and Porzingis, which both became official this week. 'The second apron is why those trades happened. I think that is pretty obvious. And the basketball penalties associated with those are real. ... So that was part of making the decision to push and put our chips on the table and go for the last two years.' Now under that dreaded second apron, it's also brought about a different way of looking at what's next for the Celtics. As the team's president of basketball operations, Stevens knows their approach will have to change while Tatum is out. But as a former coach, he also said he's never going to put a ceiling on any team's potential. 'My expectations are always the same — compete like hell to win the next game,' he said. Stevens said he doesn't want to hear any mention of the term 'rebuild' this upcoming season. 'That's not going to be part of the lexicon in our building, and that's the way we're going to focus moving forward,' he said. While the team could make additional moves to get completely out of the luxury tax, Stevens said it's not the mandate he's been given by incoming team owner Bill Chisholm. 'Bill has been pretty clear from the get go that he wants to make sure that we're prioritizing basketball assets and the ability to retool this thing at the highest level that we can,' Stevens said. 'The most important acquisition that we're going to be able to make in the next couple of years is getting Tatum out of a (walking) boot. We're not beating that one. So that's going to be the best thing that can happen for us.' Both Tatum and Brown, who had minor knee surgery last month, were in the Celtics' facility on Tuesday rehabbing. According to Stevens, Tatum was moving 'really fast' in his walking boot, while Brown was already getting shots up and is expected to get full clearance for basketball activities soon. In the meantime, Stevens said he's completely comfortable with Brown being the team's focal point on the court. He thinks it's a challenge that Brown welcomes and one that he's proven an ability to excel in during previous times Tatum has been sidelined by injury. 'He's ready for any challenge and he always has been,' Stevens said. ___ AP NBA: recommended Item 1 of 3

Celtics' Brad Stevens shuns idea team is in a rebuild with Jayson Tatum out
Celtics' Brad Stevens shuns idea team is in a rebuild with Jayson Tatum out

Associated Press

time32 minutes ago

  • Associated Press

Celtics' Brad Stevens shuns idea team is in a rebuild with Jayson Tatum out

BOSTON (AP) — Even before Jayson Tatum limped off the court with a torn Achilles tendon during the Celtics' Eastern Conference semifinals loss to the New York Knicks, Brad Stevens knew big changes would be on tap for the franchise this offseason. Yes, big spending on free agents and contracts had lured in key players like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis who, combined with stars Tatum and Jaylen Brown, ultimately helped Boston capture the NBA championship in 2024. But keeping the core of that roster intact next season with Tatum possibly missing all of it while rehabbing from his injury would have come with a combined payroll and luxury tax bill of more than $500 million. And as a team exceeding the second apron of the salary cap, it would have also meant additional penalties limiting ways they could sign or trade for players. 'We've known for a long time that hard decisions were coming,' Stevens said Tuesday on the decisions to trade both Holiday and Porzingis, which both became official this week. 'The second apron is why those trades happened. I think that is pretty obvious. And the basketball penalties associated with those are real. ... So that was part of making the decision to push and put our chips on the table and go for the last two years.' Now under that dreaded second apron, it's also brought about a different way of looking at what's next for the Celtics. As the team's president of basketball operations, Stevens knows their approach will have to change while Tatum is out. But as a former coach, he also said he's never going to put a ceiling on any team's potential. 'My expectations are always the same — compete like hell to win the next game,' he said. Stevens said he doesn't want to hear any mention of the term 'rebuild' this upcoming season. 'That's not going to be part of the lexicon in our building, and that's the way we're going to focus moving forward,' he said. While the team could make additional moves to get completely out of the luxury tax, Stevens said it's not the mandate he's been given by incoming team owner Bill Chisholm. 'Bill has been pretty clear from the get go that he wants to make sure that we're prioritizing basketball assets and the ability to retool this thing at the highest level that we can,' Stevens said. 'The most important acquisition that we're going to be able to make in the next couple of years is getting Tatum out of a (walking) boot. We're not beating that one. So that's going to be the best thing that can happen for us.' Both Tatum and Brown, who had minor knee surgery last month, were in the Celtics' facility on Tuesday rehabbing. According to Stevens, Tatum was moving 'really fast' in his walking boot, while Brown was already getting shots up and is expected to get full clearance for basketball activities soon. In the meantime, Stevens said he's completely comfortable with Brown being the team's focal point on the court. He thinks it's a challenge that Brown welcomes and one that he's proven an ability to excel in during previous times Tatum has been sidelined by injury. 'He's ready for any challenge and he always has been,' Stevens said. ___ AP NBA:

Celtics might be done with offseason moves, Al Horford's return ‘unlikely'
Celtics might be done with offseason moves, Al Horford's return ‘unlikely'

New York Times

timean hour ago

  • New York Times

Celtics might be done with offseason moves, Al Horford's return ‘unlikely'

BOSTON — While acknowledging the benefit of potentially escaping the luxury tax next season, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens suggested Tuesday that no further trades are imminent and the Celtics could be done with significant changes this offseason. 'I'd say that who knows what will happen,' Stevens said, 'but as far as us, we're very comfortable with this group heading into next season.' Advertisement The Celtics, currently about $320,000 above the second apron, still need to do some minor roster maneuvering to push themselves under that threshold. While they have also considered more aggressive cost-cutting moves, which would position them to avoid the luxury tax next season, according to league sources, Stevens suggested he will only opt for such a strategy if he can do so without trading away significant draft capital. He said incoming owner Bill Chisholm 'has been pretty clear from the get-go that he wants to make sure that we're prioritizing basketball assets and the ability to retool this thing at the highest level that we can.' 'The most important acquisition that we're going to be able to make in the next couple of years is getting (Jayson) Tatum out of a boot, right?' Stevens said. 'We're not beating that one, so that's going to be the best thing that can happen for us. Everything else we wanna — we have most of our first-round picks still other than the 2029 one. We have a lot of seconds now, so we have some flexibility there — we don't want to take away our chance to use those to become the best that we can be over the next few years, just to make a move to help save money. That's been very clearly stated to me. We'll continue to look at how we can make things a little bit better or tweak things around the edges and maybe something comes up in the next couple weeks, but that's been our mindset.' Boston has explored the possibility of flipping new acquisitions Anfernee Simons and Georges Niang for further salary cap relief, according to league sources, but Stevens' comments hinted that nothing is brewing on that front at this time. The Celtics would need to trim about $20 million in additional payroll to avoid the luxury tax next season. They would reset the harsh repeater tax by staying under the luxury tax threshold in two consecutive seasons. 'There's benefits to that,' Stevens said, 'but it's not the priority, right? The priority is continuing to make sure that we have our future firsts and all these things that are in play for us so that we can then use those to build.' Advertisement Stevens began Tuesday's press conference by thanking Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porziņģis and Luke Kornet for their contributions to the Celtics and the city of Boston, calling them 'really important people to all of us.' Knowing that the Celtics would need to cut payroll this offseason, Stevens said he let Holiday and Porziņģis know there was a real chance they could be traded about two weeks before the deals happened. Even after those trades, the Boston front office had limited money to offer key big men Luke Kornet and Al Horford. Kornet accepted a bigger offer from the San Antonio Spurs early in free agency, and Stevens sounded prepared to lose Horford as well. Though the beloved veteran hasn't decided on his future yet, Stevens called a return to Boston 'unlikely.' 'The only reason I haven't talked about Al is because that's not final,' Stevens said. 'I could probably talk about Al my whole press conference and not say enough. I don't want to speak in absolute terms until an ultimate decision is made, but (he is) another guy that, if he were to go and play somewhere else, I think, is an all-time Celtic and a winner and did everything he could for this organization.' The threat of the second apron has already done serious damage to Boston's roster. If Horford does leave, the Celtics will have lost four key players from last season's team, including two starters. With Tatum also out indefinitely while rehabbing a ruptured Achilles tendon, much of Boston's rotation will change — and not because Stevens thought those changes would help his team win more games next season. He acknowledged the Celtics traded Holiday and Porziņģis primarily to get under the second apron. Even so, Stevens said the Celtics were 'fortunate because we liked the guys we got back' in those moves. Boston landed Simons in the Holiday trade while acquiring Niang and a 2031 second-round pick in the Porziņģis move. The latter trade also involved the Celtics sending a 2026 second-round pick to Atlanta. 'I think Anfernee is a guy people out here probably don't see as much because of the time that (the Trail Blazers) play,' Stevens said. 'But his ability to score, to shoot the ball, make really hard shots, is pretty elite and you look at a guy that's 26 years old and averaged 20 a game for three straight years, I think he's a really good player, and I think he can get better. That's a big part of it. Then Niang has just added value to winning on each team he's been on. He's a pain to play against, which I very much admire. And he knows what he does well and knows how to bring out the best in his group. It's not a coincidence he was part of the rotation on those really good Philly teams, he was part of the rotation in Cleveland before the trade. The guy's a winner. He knows how to play and knows how to bring out the best in people. So, happy he's here.' The Celtics' free-agent signings of big man Luka Garza and forward Josh Minott became official on Monday. 'We've been limited in what tools we can use with where we are right around the second apron,' Stevens said. 'So we're looking for guys on those contracts that have upside, that are competitors, that are workers, that want to be good, that haven't hit their peak yet but we've seen something in them that we think gives them a chance to be very impactful.' Advertisement After Boston's summer league practice on Tuesday, Garza could be seen at the team's practice facility working on an offensive rebounding drill. Simultaneously, returning center Neemias Queta was going through a workout on a different court. It wasn't clear what other players were around the practice facility at the time, but Stevens said Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been regulars there throughout the early part of the offseason. 'Jayson is working every single day,' said Stevens, who continued to emphasize the Celtics will avoid putting a timeline on the star's return. 'He has literally been here every day, except he took a few days break, but when he takes a few days break, (trainer) Nick (Sang) goes with him. So he's still working every single day. It's been unique to be here in June, and the early part of July, and both Jayson and Jaylen are here. We've played, obviously, late (in the playoffs) and this is usually the time where guys get away. But coming off of each of them having surgery, they've both been here. Jaylen was in this morning, he did a shooting workout, looks good. Jayson was in — moving pretty fast on that boot today. All indications are they are both progressing at incredible rates, which is great. But we're not going to put any pressure on Jayson to get back any time soon. We have no reason to believe that Jaylen won't be all clear and ready to go fairly shortly.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store