Latest news with #Springer
Canada News.Net
2 days ago
- Sport
- Canada News.Net
Blue Jays pour it on late to win third straight in Detroit
(Photo credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images) Bo Bichette broke a scoreless deadlock with a two-run single in the eighth inning and the streaking Toronto Blue Jays downed the host Detroit Tigers 6-1 on Saturday. Nathan Lukes supplied a two-run homer and George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added solo homers for Toronto, which has won four straight and eight of nine since the All-Star break. Braydon Fisher (4-0) notched the win in relief. The Tigers have dropped six straight and 12 of their last 13. The game featured a pitchers' duel between starters Kevin Gausman and Tarik Skubal. Gausman limited the Tigers to one hit and one walk with 10 strikeouts in six innings. Skubal allowed five hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in six innings. Toronto's Alejandro Kirk, who doubled to right with two out in the second, served as the game's first baserunner. Jake Rogers was the Tigers' first baserunner after hitting a single with two outs in the third. Toronto had runners in scoring position the next inning as Guerrero Jr. singled with one out and Bichette followed with a double. Catcher Rogers picked off Guerrero to get the second out. A huge defensive play by Detroit center fielder Matt Vierling in the sixth kept the game scoreless. The Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out as Springer singled and Guerrero and Bichette drew walks. Tyler Heineman then smacked a seemingly go-ahead hit to center. The ball dropped in front of Vierling, but he scooped it and gunned it home in time for Rogers to tag out Springer. Addison Barger then struck out to leave the bases loaded. In the top of the eighth, Joey Loperfido led off with a pinch-hit single against Will Vest (5-2). Springer followed with another single and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. After a groundout, Bichette smacked a single to knock in both runners. Toronto padded its lead in the ninth against Chase Lee. After Ernie Clement hit a leadoff single, Lukes smashed a homer to right. With two out, Springer and Guerrero blasted consecutive solo shots to make it 6-0. Riley Greene's RBI groundout in the ninth prevented the shutout.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Bichette lifts surging Blue Jays to 6-1 win over slumping Tigers
DETROIT (AP) — Bo Bichette's two-run single broke a scoreless tie in the eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the slumping Detroit Tigers 6-1 on Saturday night. Nathan Lukes, George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered in a four-run ninth as the Blue Jays won their fourth in a row and increased their AL East lead to 6 1/2 games over the New York Yankees. The Tigers have lost six straight and 12 of 13, but still hold a comfortable lead in the AL Central. They've scored only 33 runs during that stretch (2.5 per game) and were held to a pair of Jake Rogers singles on Saturday. Four Toronto pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts and one walk. The Blue Jays are 8-1 since the All-Star break and have won 21 of 26 overall. Riley Greene's ninth-inning groundout plated Detroit's only run. Tarik Skubal allowed five hits in six scoreless innings for the Tigers. He walked three and struck out seven. Toronto starter Kevin Gausman permitted one hit and one walk in six shutout innings, striking out 10. Braydon Fisher (4-0) pitched a perfect seventh for the win. Detroit threw out a runner at the plate on an unusual play in the sixth. With the bases loaded and one out, Tyler Heineman hit a soft flare into center field that Matt Vierling grabbed on a short hop. Springer had to hold up at third to see if the ball would be caught on a fly, and Vierling's throw home was in time to get him. Key moment Pinch-hitter Joey Loperfido and Springer started the eighth with singles and moved up on a wild pitch by Will Vest (5-2). Guerrero grounded out before Bichette hit a two-run single past diving second baseman Gleyber Torres. Up next ___
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
Big landslide rise on Char Dham route, ‘unscientific' hill cuts to blame: Study
Dehradun: Aggressive and steep hill cutting using heavy machinery for the all-weather Char Dham highway project is driving a sharp rise in landslides in the yatra routes in Uttarakhand, a new study has found. Published in Springer's peer-reviewed journal Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, the study was conducted by Soumik Saha and Biswajit Bera of West Bengal's Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University. The researchers tracked over 800 km of pilgrimage routes to Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri, identifying 811 landslides, 81% of which occurred within just 100m of the highway. More than 500 landslides were linked to slopes cut at angles steeper than 80°, well beyond safe engineering limits. The Rishikesh–Dharasu stretch (NH-34) emerged as a major hotspot, with a significant cluster of landslides. Schmidt hammer tests (used to assess rock strength) revealed highly weathered and unstable phyllite-rich zones, particularly near Tehri and Rudraprayag. Monsoon rains, worsened by poor drainage and exposed cut slopes, have intensified slope failures. The study notes a marked increase in landslides between 2013 and 2023, coinciding with implementation of the highway project. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like American Investor Warren Buffett Recommends: 5 Books For Turning Your Life Around Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo The researchers said that human-induced disturbances, rather than natural seismicity, are now the primary cause of slope collapses across many stretches. The Rs 12,000 crore Char Dham highway project involves widening 890km of roads and constructing bridges, flyovers, bypasses, and culverts. It has likely led to the loss of 690 hectares of forest, felling of over 55,000 trees, and displacement of nearly 20 million cubic metres of soil, significantly altering local ecology and slope stability, the study notes. To counter these impacts, the study recommends deployment of grouted tiebacks—a slope-stabilising technique that strengthens cut faces by anchoring them into bedrock. "With a record 46.5 lakh pilgrims visiting Char Dham in 2022, and projections of 60 lakh in the coming years, the risk to human lives, infrastructure, and the environment is growing," said Bera. "The Himalayas are not just rocks to be carved through. They are living, breathing ecosystems. Reckless excavation is turning these highways into potential death traps." "The steep road-cut slopes reduce the FoS and lower the minimum rainfall threshold required to trigger a failure," added Saha. The study urges policymakers to rethink their approach so the ecological integrity of fragile mountain landscapes are not compromised in the rush to boost connectivity and promote tourism.
Edmonton Journal
3 days ago
- Sport
- Edmonton Journal
Time for Blue Jays to load up at trade deadline: 'We've put ourselves in position'
In what has suddenly been a 12-year major league career, George Springer has seen it all at the flashpoint moment that is baseball's trade deadline. Article content He's seen the Houston Astros attempt to load up for a run at a championship run like they did in 2017, a triumphant season in which the now Blue Jays outfielder/ designated hitter was named World Series MVP. Article content He's seen teams add bit pieces and he's seen other organizations clean house, like the Jays did to some degree on their way to a last-place season just a year ago. Article content Article content And he's seen clubhouses adapt to the changing faces and chemistry that comes along with the pursuit of even bigger goals. Article content Article content 'I think you just keep playing and you keep doing what you need to do,' Springer said in an interview with the Toronto Sun this week, when asked about the mix of anxiety and excitement that builds as the deadline nears. 'You go to war with the guys that are in the locker room every day. And honestly? Whatever happens, happens. Article content 'I can't speak for how anybody else feels, but for me it's just about the guys who are here now and we'll see what happens.' Article content That said, Springer doesn't have his head in the sand. He can read the standing as closely as the next guy. He can feel the buzz building in the city, country and throughout Major League Baseball. And he knows that the Jays have earned the status of pushing general manager Ross Atkins to be an aggressive buyer as next Thursday's deadline rapidly approaches. Article content Article content 'I just think it's cool that we've put ourselves in that position where other people talk about us,' Springer said. 'I know it's not something that's talked about in here. I think guys love each other in here and what we've done so far. I guess (trade deadline talk) is just a byproduct of a lot of hard work and the good things that have come.' Article content When a team keeps winning like the Jays have – now 6-1 out of the All Star break after Thursday's big 11-4 victory over the Tigers in Detroit — it's easy to get excited about the possibilities. Article content 'It's on everybody's mind a little bit,' Jays shortstop Bo Bichette acknowledged during the Yankees series in Toronto earlier in the week. 'We've put ourselves in a position where we think that there should be things done to help us. Article content 'At the same time I think we're so confident in everybody in that room, honestly, that whatever happens we'll continue to come here and just try to win.'
Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Science
- Boston Globe
Scientists in Barbados rediscover world's smallest-known snake
'After a year of searching, you begin to get a little pessimistic,' said Blades, project officer with the Ministry of Environment in Barbados. The snake can fit comfortably on a coin, allowing it to elude scientists for almost 20 years. Too tiny to identify with the naked eye, Blades placed it in a small glass jar and added soil, substrate, and leaf litter. Several hours later, in front of a microscope at the University of the West Indies, Blades looked at the specimen. It wriggled in the petri dish, making it nearly impossible to identify. Advertisement 'It was a struggle,' Blades recalled, adding that he shot a video of the snake and finally identified it thanks to a still image. It had pale yellow dorsal lines running through its body, and its eyes were located on the side of its head. 'I tried to keep a level head,' Blades recalled, knowing that the Barbados threadsnake looks very much like a Brahminy blind snake, best known as the flower pot snake, which is a bit longer and has no dorsal lines. On Wednesday, the Re:wild conservation group, which is collaborating with the local environment ministry, announced the rediscovery of the Barbados threadsnake. 'Rediscovering one of our endemics on many levels is significant,' said Justin Springer, Caribbean program officer for Re:wild, who helped rediscover the snake along with Blades. 'It reminds us that we still have something important left that plays an important role in our ecosystem.' Advertisement The Barbados threadsnake has only been seen a handful of times since 1889. It was on a list of 4,800 plant, animal, and fungi species that Re:wild described as 'lost to science.' The snake is blind, burrows in the ground, eats termites and ants, and lays one single, slender egg. Fully grown, it measures up to four inches or 10 centimeters. 'They're very cryptic,' Blades said. 'You can do a survey for a number of hours, and even if they are there, you may actually not see them.' But on March 20 at around 10:30 a.m., Blades and Springer surrounded a jack-in-the-box tree in central Barbados and started looking under rocks while the rest of the team began measuring the tree, whose distribution is very limited in Barbados. 'That's why the story is so exciting,' Springer said. 'It all happened around the same time.' S. Blair Hedges, a professor at Temple University and director of its center for biology, was the first to identify the Barbados threadsnake. Previously, it was mistakenly lumped in with another species. In 2008, Hedges' discovery was published in a scientific journal, with the snake baptized Tetracheilostoma carlae, in honor of his wife. 'I spent days searching for them,' Hedges recalled. 'Based on my observations and the hundreds of rocks, objects that I turned over looking for this thing without success, I do think it is a rare species.' That was June 2006, and there were only three other such specimens known at the time: two at a London museum and a third at a museum collection in California that was wrongly identified as being from Antigua instead of Barbados, Hedges said. Advertisement Hedges said that he didn't realize he had collected a new species until he did a genetic analysis. 'The aha moment was in the laboratory,' he said, noting that the discovery established the Barbados threadsnake as the world's smallest-known snake. Hedges then became inundated for years with letters, photographs, and emails from people thinking they had found more Barbados threadsnakes. Some of the pictures were of earthworms, he recalled. 'It was literally years of distraction,' he said. Scientists hope the rediscovery means that the Barbados threadsnake could become a champion for the protection of wildlife habitat. A lot of endemic species on the tiny island have gone extinct, including the Barbados racer, the Barbados skink, and a particular species of cave shrimp. 'I hope they can get some interest in protecting it,' Hedges said. 'Barbados is kind of unique in the Caribbean for a bad reason: it has the least amount of original forest, outside of Haiti.'
