Lindor leads Puerto Rico to WBC win BUFFALO BUMP
Panarin, Rangers ice Sabres in OT
Francisco Lindor scored twice and hit an RBI single as Puerto Rico won its 2023 WBC debut, 9-1, over Nicaragua in Miami. Lindor singled and scored in the first inning. Elian Miranda hit a homer off starter Marcus Stroman in the fifth to tie it at 1. Puerto Rico retook the lead in the bottom half with a five-run inning against JC Ramirez.
Lindor and Javier Baez both drove in runs in the fifth, Kike Hernandez scored and MJ Melendez hit a two-run single to give Puerto Rico a 6-1 lead.
JAPAN 10, CZECH REPUBLIC 2
Shohei Ohtani had another RBI double, 21-year-old right-hander Roki Sasaki reached 100 mph 21 times in 66 pitches and Japan clinched a quarterfinal berth in the World Baseball Classic.
Shugo Maki hit his second home run of the tournament and new Boston Red Sox oufielder Masataka Yoshida had three RBIs, including a go-ahead, two-run double in the third inning off loser Ondrej Satoria as the Samurai Warriors overcame a 1-0 deficit.
Ohtani went 1 for 3 with a walk before a crowd of 41,637 in the Tokyo Dome, leaving for a pinch hitter in the eighth inning. He is 5 for 10 with three doubles, four RBIs and five walks for Japan (3-0), which has one more group game and will host a quarterfinal on Wednesday or Thursday. He also has pitched four scoreless innings.
Sasaki struck out eight in 3⅔ innings and got the win. He allowed an unearned run, two hits and two walks.
AUSTRALIA 12, CHINA 2
Rixon Wingrove hit a three-run double off loser Xin Qi in the first inning and added an RBI single in a five-run fourth as the Southern Thunder opened a 10-2 lead.
Robbie Glendinning hit his second homer of the tournament, a two-run drive in the fourth against Weiyi Wang.
Winner Kyle Glogoski allowed one hit in 2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and three walks. Coen Wynne pitched 2 hitless innings and Todd Van Steensel threw a perfect seventh as four pitchers combined on a five-hitter.
PANAMA 2, ITALY 0
Jose Ramos homered off loser Michele Vassalotti leading off the second inning and scored on Allen Cordoba’s seventh-inning single against Sam Gaviglio. Ramos is hitting .313 (5 for 16).
Italy put runners at the corners in the ninth when Javy Guerra walked Dominic Fletcher leading off and Brett Sullivan singled, but John Valente struck out and Nicky Lopez hit a comebacker that Panama turned into a game-ending double play.
TAIWAN 9, NETHERLANDS 5
Boston Red Sox’s Yu Chang homered off Derek West after Li Lin’s tying RBI single against loser Lars Huijer. Chang hit a two-run homer in the 11-7 victory over Italy and is 6 for 12 with seven RBIs in the tournament.
Didi Gregorius had two RBIs for the Netherlands, including a first-inning RBI single, and Xander Bogaerts went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts and two walks.
BUFFALO — Igor Shesterkin bailed out the Rangers by stopping 32 shots to force overtime, and Artemi Panarin scored a power-play goal 2:02 into the extra period for a 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.
Patrick Kane scored his second goal in four games since being acquired by the Rangers in a trade with Chicago, but much of the credit for the Blueshirts’ fourth win in six outings went to Shesterkin.
“When he’s on his game, we’re a hard team to beat,” defenseman Adam Fox said. “You never want to force him to bail us out, but that’s just what he does.”
Despite making a near costly miscue on a Sabres’ goal waved off because the play was offside in the second period, Shesterkin stopped the final 21 shots he faced, including 14 in the third period. His best save came with 65 seconds remaining in regulation, getting across to foil Victor Olofsson, who was set up alone at the left post.
Jeff Skinner scored and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 24 shots for Buffalo, which continues slipping out of the Eastern Conference playoff race. In dropping to 1-5-1 in their past seven, the Sabres showed resolve in attempting to bounce back from a 10-4 drubbing to the Dallas Stars on Thursday.
The Rangers never led until the final score for a second straight outing, after rallying to beat Montreal 4-3 in a shootout on Thursday.
Panarin’s goal came 50 seconds after Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was penalized for hooking Mika Zibanejad.
Fox set up the play when he drove into the high slot before having his shot blocked by the stick of Buffalo’s Zemgus Girgensons. With Luukkonen leaning to his left, the puck rolled the other way and directly to Panarin, who snapped it into the open side.
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant credited his team for playing better defensively after allowing 12 goals in its previous three outings, while expressing concern with the chances New York gave up in the final minutes of regulation.
“Late in the period like that in a 1-1 hockey game to give those chances, it’s not acceptable for our group,” Gallant said. “A lot of guys in there should be thankful that Igor made those saves for them.”
With the score tied at 1, the Sabres initially appeared to take the lead with 7:49 left in the second period on a strange turn of events, which led to the goal being waved off.
Shesterkin played the puck in the circle to his right. Instead of passing it to his closest teammate, the goalie fire it up the ice. Buffalo’s Tyson Jost gloved the puck down just outside the Rangers blue line and fired it into the untended net, just before Shesterkin had time to scramble into position.
The goal, however, was immediately disallowed because Olofsson was offside as he was a step from the Sabres bench door while making a line change before Jost crossed the blue line.