Gronkowski plans to return; Beckham working with Giants
Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski says he is returning for his ninth NFL season.
Gronkowski made the announcement in a post on Instagram on Tuesday. Gronkowski said he met with coach Bill Belichick to inform him of his intention to return, adding he’s “been working out, staying in shape and feels great.”
Gronk previously hinted at considering retirement following New England’s Super Bowl loss to the Eagles in February.
He appeared in 14 games during the 2017 season and led the team in receiving with 69 catches for 1,084 yards and eight touchdowns.
Gronkowski was knocked out of last season’s AFC Championship game with a concussion but was able to return in time for the Super Bowl. He missed the Patriots’ 2017 Super Bowl win over Atlanta after undergoing back surgery.
Giants: Odell Beckham Jr. has a penchant for popping up in the darndest places, and it can be hard to keep track of him and his globe-trotting lifestyle. But of all the strange and eccentric places for Beckham to be spotted, for many, this one may seem to be the least likely. Beckham is with the Giants, participating as much as he is allowed to in this week’s voluntary veteran minicamp that began Tuesday. He wasn’t traded. He isn’t holding out. He’s not even rehabbing in some glamorous city where he can train during the day and party at night.
After weeks of speculation over what Beckham wants, what the Giants might do, and what their future together holds, Beckham’s presence makes it clear that his intention is to be a member of the organization. Now and probably for the longterm. Showing up at a voluntary minicamp goes a long way toward showing respect to a new coaching staff, assuaging maturity fears from the front office, and extending what may be seen as a peace offering in the early stages of a longterm contract negotiation.
It’s such a gesture that head coach Pat Shurmur, who last spoke about a month ago only vaguely about Beckham’s place on the team in 2018, offered the most concrete assurances of the wide receiver’s status this offseason.
“Absolutely,” Shurmur said on Tuesday when asked if Beckham will be a Giant in the fall. “He’s an excellent player. He’s a part of our team and a very valued member of our team.”
Rams: Picked up their fifth-year contract options for 2019 on running back Todd Gurley and cornerback Marcus Peters.
Gurley led the NFL in all-purpose yards as the league’s Offensive Player of the Year last season, thriving in new coach Sean McVay’s offense. The Rams acquired two-time Pro Bowler Peters from the Chiefs in February, and he is expected to start alongside fellow newcomer Aqib Talib.
Dolphins: Picked up the fifth-year option for wide receiver DeVante Parker. The 2015 first-round pick will earn about $9.3 million for the 2019 season. He has 139 receptions for 1,908 yards and eight touchdowns for his career.
Marcus Semien picks his spots to be aggressive. Leading off the ninth inning for the Oakland Athletics in a tie game was a perfect time.
Semien homered on the first pitch of the ninth, and the surging A’s added five more runs after that in a 9-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night. Oakland has a winning record for the first time since it won the season opener.
“It’s really early, but you know we started off slow, so that means we must be doing OK right now,” Semien said.
Oakland (12-11) has won seven of eight, including Sunday’s series clincher against Boston when Khris Davis hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning of a 4-1 home win.
“It was good to see,” manager Bob Melvin said of the latest last at-bat victory. “And more pass-the-baton type of inning than one blow like KD on Sunday . ... Yeah, we’re capable of doing that.”
Semien’s third homer of the season, off Kevin Jepsen (0-3), snapped a 3-all tie. The rest of the runs were scored with two outs, and after Jed Lowrie beat out an infield single on which
Luis Valbuena and Mike Trout spoiled Gerrit Cole’s unblemished first season with the Astros.
Cole, who started against the Angels on Monday night without a loss and in pursuit of his third win, had commanded 98 mph fastballs, sharp breaking balls and his emotions as well as in any of his previous four outings since joining the Astros this season.
Thirteen batters had failed to reach base before Valbuena, a former Astro, pulled a hanging breaking ball for a single through a shift.
The Angels’ first hit seemed to sap something from Cole, who proceeded to walk Zack Cosart and surrender an RBI single on the ground to Kole Calhoun, who had not gotten a hit in 20 previous at-bats.
The slump-busting single was insidious. Given the Astros’ recent offensive outburst, a one-run deficit seemed easy to overcome. But Trout delivered the hit off Cole that proved baseball’s best hitter could upend the Astros’ most dominant starter in the first of six series between their teams this he was initially called out before a replay review.
“That’s as fast as I’ve seen him. When he can smell a hit, he gets down the line pretty good,” Melvin said. “He even did a little umpiring over there at first, too, to let me know to challenge it.”
Lowrie came home on Matt Chapman’s triple before a pitching change. Jake Smolinski added a two-run triple later in the inning.
“The fastball missed a couple of times and a couple of big hits,” Jepsen said. “With Semien, I know he’s looking season.
With two outs and two strikes, Trout lined a single up the middle. Trout then stole second base and scored on a double off the center-field wall by Justin Upton, which held for the Angels’ 2-0 win.
“Two-strike magic,” Astros manager Hinch called the Angels’ clutch at-bats.
A borderline ball had pushed the count to 3-2 against Upton. A meaty fastball followed. for a heater trying to do what he did. And I know if I put a fastball down and away, I’m safe. It leaked back out over the plate, and he didn’t miss it.”
Ryan Buchter (1-0), the fourth of five Oakland pitchers, retired the only two batters he faced — the last out of the eighth and the first out in the ninth.
The Rangers, who are 3-11 at home this season, tied the game in the fourth when Jurickson Profar drew a twoout walk from Trevor Cahill and Robinson Chirinos followed
Cole watched the double and slowly walked off the mound, clenching his fists and shouting.
“That was probably the most poorly executed pitch all night,” Cole said.
Cole struck out eight batters in seven innings. His 49 strikeouts lead the majors, and his 1.29 ERA ranks fourth. He has not allowed more than two earned runs in a start.
Upon returning from a road trip in which they outscored with his third homer of the season.
Davis had a two-run double in the third to put Oakland up 2-0, giving him 21 RBIs this season. Chad Pinder’s RBI single an inning later made it 3-1.
Rookie second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa doubled in the third for Texas’ first hit and scored on a wild pitch.
No decisions: Both starting pitchers allowed three runs over five innings. Rangers lefty Matt Moore, pulled after giving up a leadoff single in the sixth, struck out two and walked two.
Cahill, who threw seven scoreless innings in his only other start this season, had six strikeouts, two walks and the wild pitch that allowed a run.
Late run: Texas scored in the bottom of the ninth when Adrian Beltre and Joey Gallo had back-to-back doubles.
Short hops: Oakland had the bases loaded in the seventh after reliever Matt Bush walked Davis, the first batter he faced, before inducing an inning-ending grounder. their opponents by 40 runs, the Astros put two runners in scoring position against starter Tyler Skaggs, a left-hander who typically exits games early and exhausts his pitches often.
Except for a double and walk in the first inning, Hinch said, “We didn’t really have two at-bats in a row that ended positively for us.”
After Skaggs completed seven innings, the Astros expected to do better against the Angels’ relievers, who have logged more innings than any in baseball.
“We knew their bullpen had been taxed in the last series,” Hinch said.
The Astros strung together a promising rally off Justin Anderson, who attended Houston’s St. Pius X High School and was making his major league debut.
Consecutive singles put Jose Altuve on first and George Springer on third, with Carlos Correa batting. Correa emerged as the Astros’ hottest hitter on the trip and extended an eightgame hitting streak with a double in the first.
Anderson slung three sliders to leave Correa lunging fruitlessly for an inning-ending strikeout.