95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports @wsjmsports wsjmsports.com Monday, June 12, 2017
NHL – 2017 Stanley Cup Finals – (best of 7) – Game 6
Last Night
Pittsburgh Penguins 2, Nashville Predators 0 (PIT wins 4-2)
Penguins 2, Predators 0 – Penguins close out another Cup title
The Stanley Cup is staying in the Steel City. The Pittsburgh Penguins are the first team in 19 years to win a second straight Stanley Cup as they completed the feat with a 2-0 shutout of the Predators in Nashville. Neither team scored until former Predator Patric Hornqvist beat Pekka Rinne from a bad angle with 1:35 remaining. Carl Hagelin sealed the win by scoring into an empty net with 14 seconds left. Matt Murray stopped 27 shots in recording his second consecutive shutout. Murray also blanked Nashville in the Penguins’ 6-0 rout in Game 5. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy for a second consecutive year after finishing second to teammate Evgeni Malkin with 27 points. It’s the fifth Stanley Cup for the Penguins, who have won all of their clinchers on the road. The 1998 Red Wings were the last team to win consecutive Cups. Penguins forward Chris Kunitz now leads all active players with four career championships. Nashville was shutout in the final two games in the series.
NHL – Howe/Lindsay’s name will be removed from Stanley Cup this summer
Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay, not etched for all eternity on the Stanley Cup? It’s about to happen. Howe and Lindsay’s last Stanley Cup championship _ with Detroit in 1955 _ will never be erased from history. But it will soon be removed from the Cup, along with 11 other teams when hockey’s silver chalice gets another band of winners’ names retired this summer. When the Cup has no more space for a new team, as will be the case this year when Pittsburgh the lone available space on the trophy, a filled band comes off so it can be replaced by another. It happens every 12 years or so; the removed bands go into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. That means every Cup winning team from 1954 through 1965 will be retired because space is needed this year. That’s six Montreal teams, three from Toronto, two from Detroit and one from Chicago.
MLB – Major League Baseball
Last Night
Detroit Tigers 8, Boston Red Sox 3
Cleveland Indians 4, Chicago White Sox 2
Chicago Cubs 7, Colorado Rockies 5
Tigers 8, Red Sox 3 – Upton’s slam helps Tigers avert sweep; win 8-3 over BoSox
Justin Upton hit a grand slam off the right-field foul pole, Nicholas Castellanos hit a two-run homer and the Detroit Tigers averted a sweep with an 8-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night. The Tigers halted a three-game losing streak in a contest that lasted 4 hours, 6 minutes. Daniel Norris (3-4) held Boston to two runs over five innings, giving up seven hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Drew Pomeranz (6-4) was tagged for six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, snapping his career-best three-game winning streak.
Indians 4, White Sox 2 – Carrasco, bullpen lead Indians past White Sox 4-2
The Indians got 3 2/3 shutout innings from their bullpen in a 4-2 win against the White Sox. Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen shut the door after Carlos Carrasco was pulled following Todd Frazier’s two-run double in the sixth. Erik Gonzalez had two hits and an RBI as Cleveland dealt Chicago its ninth loss in 11 games.
Cubs 7, Rockies 5 – Russell homers, Cubs end Rockies’ 7-game winning streak, 7-5
The Chicago Cubs have reached the .500 mark again and ended the Colorado Rockies’ seven-game winning streak. Addison Russell and Kyle Schwarber had back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning to put Chicago ahead to stay in a 7-5 decision over the Rockies. Miguel Montero and Ben Zobrist (ZOH’-brihst) also connected as the defending champs dropped the Rockies to 41-24, still tops in the National League.
Tonight
Chicago Cubs (Lackey 4-6) at N.Y. Mets (deGrom 4-3), 7:10 p.m.
Baltimore (Miley 2-3) at Chicago White Sox (Pelfrey 2-5), 8:10 p.m.
Tigers are off
NBA – 2017 NBA Finals – (best of 7) – Game 5
Tonight
Cleveland Cavaliers at Golden State Warriors, 9:00 p.m. (GSW leads 3-1)
WNBA – Women’s National Basketball Association
Yesterday
Washington Mystics 88, Indiana Fever 70
Mystics 88, Fever 70 – Delle Donne returns to lead Mystics to 88-70 victory
Elena Delle Donne returned from a one-game absence to score 25 points and lead the Washington Mystics to an 88-70 victory over the Indiana Fever on Sunday. Delle Donne sat out the Mystics’ game on Friday with a groin injury when Washington suffered a 98-73 home loss to the Minnesota Lynx to snap a four-game winning streak. The victory left the Mystics (7-3) a half-game ahead of the New York Liberty in the Eastern Conference. Delle Donne was 9-of-15 shooting, making 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Krystal Thomas had 14 points and 14 rebounds with Washington holding a 43-23 rebounding edge.
Tennis – French Open – Perfect 10: Nadal tops Wawrinka for record 10th French Open
Rafael Nadal has become the first player of the Open era to win the same major 10 times. Nadal took his 10th French Open title and 15th career Grand Slam championship by thumping third seed Stan Wawrinka, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. The 31-year-old Nadal breezed through the tournament by winning every set and dropping just 35 games, the second fewest by any man in a Grand Slam tourney since the Open era began in 1968. The 31-year-old Nadal watched last year’s French Open from home while recovering from a wrist injury. His latest title breaks a tie with Pete Sampras for the second most Grand Slams by a male, three behind Roger Federer.
FIFA – World Cup Qualifying – Yanks tie Mexico
The United States men’s soccer team is unbeaten in its last four World Cup qualifying matches after picking up a rare point in Mexico. Michael Bradley scored a stunning early goal from about 40 yards before the U.S. held on for a 1-1 tie in Mexico City. Bradley put the U.S. ahead in the sixth minute when he deflected a poor backpass by Mexican star Javier Hernandez and created his own breakaway. The Mexicans tied it on Carlos Vela’s 23-yard shot in the 23rd minute. It was just the third point earned by the Americans at Azteca Stadium. The U.S. is now 2-2-2 in the final round of Cup qualifying. Mexico leads the final round of the North and Central American and Caribbean region with 14 points, followed by Costa Rica (eight), which is ahead of the U.S. on goal difference. Panama, Honduras, and Trinidad and Tobago trail. The top three advance to next year’s World Cup in Russia, and the fourth-place team faces Asia’s No. 5 nation in a playoff.
NASCAR – Blaney gets first Cup win
Ryan Blaney has earned his first career NASCAR Cup victory by holding off Kevin Harvick down the stretch at Pocono Raceway. Blaney was exhilarated following a frenetic final 10 laps in which he needed to pass a blocking Kyle Busch with about nine laps left. The 23-year-old Blaney won for the first time in 68 career starts, doing it without a working team radio. Erik Jones was third, followed by Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. Darrell Wallace Jr. finished a lap down in 26th in the first start by a black driver in the Cup series since 2006.
Golf – PGA – Berger wins at St. Jude Classic for second straight year
Daniel Berger shot a 4-under 66 to erase a three-shot deficit and win the St. Jude Classic for a second consecutive year. The 24-year-old is the fourth back-to-back winner at St. Jude and the first since David Toms did it in 2003 and `04. Berger was 10 under for the tournament, one shot ahead of Charl Schwartzel and Whee Kim.
MWL – Midwest League Baseball
Last Night
West Michigan 9, Dayton 2
Great Lakes 4, South Bend 3
Lansing 6, Fort Wayne 5
Today
Dayton at West Michigan, 12 p.m.
Lansing at Fort Wayne, 7:05 p.m.
South Bend at Great Lakes, 7:05 p.m.
