Twins overcome 14 Ks, rally to defeat Reds
CINCINNATI — Jorge Polanco capped a three-run ninth inning with a go-ahead single, helping the Minnesota Twins overcome Hunter Greene's 14 strikeouts to beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 Wednesday.
The Twins (81-72) cut their magic number to clinch the AL Central to two games.
With Minnesota trailing 3-2, Willi Castro singled leading off the ninth against Alexis Díaz (9-5), then stole second and took third on catcher Luke Maile's throwing error. Kyle Farmer followed with a tying single.
Polanco followed with a basesloaded, two-out single off Sam Moll a few batters later that scored Farmer and Christian Vázquez. Griffin Jax pitched the bottom of the inning for his third save.
Greene allowed one run — Castro's second home run in two days in the seventh — and three hits with one walk over seven innings. Greene improved to 3-0 over his last five starts. Ian Gibaut allowed a run on three hits in the eighth, setting the stage for Minnesota's ninth-inning rally.
Jhoan Duran (3-6) allowed a walk with two strikeouts to get the win.
Cincinnati (79-75) went into the game fifth in the NL wild-card race with nine to play, a half-game behind fourth-place Miami and one game behind the Cubs for the third and final wild-card slot. The Marlins and Chicago both played Wednesday night.
Christian Encarnacion-strand homered and Will Benson tripled and scored twice to help the Reds take a 3-1 lead into the eighth.
Minnesota starter Bailey Ober allowed three hits and two runs with three walks and three strikeouts over five innings.
OSU schedules 2025 game against Ohio
Ohio State is scheduling a nonconference game against Ohio.
Fbschedules.com reported Tuesday that the Buckeyes will host the Bobcats on Sept. 13, 2025, after obtaining a copy of the game contract through a public records request.
They will pay a $1.9 million guarantee to OU for the game, according to the report.
The matchup completes the Buckeyes' nonconference schedule for that year, a slate that also includes games against Texas on Aug. 30 and Connecticut on Oct. 18. All three nonconference games are to be held at Ohio Stadium.
The last game between Ohio State and Ohio was in 2010 following previous contests in 2008 and 1999. The Buckeyes have won all three times these teams have played.
LSU safety Brooks has surgery to have brain tumor removed
BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU safety Greg Brooks has undergone surgery to remove “a large brain tumor,” his family announced Wednesday.
“Doctors successfully performed the procedure Friday to remove the mass,” the family said in a social media post that was verified by LSU athletics spokesman Michael Bonnette. “We are awaiting biopsy results.”
Brooks abruptly left the team last week and missed the 12th-ranked Tigers' 41-14 victory at Mississippi State.
– Wire reports