A’s lefty Waldichuk has elbow surgery to remove scar tissue

OAKLAND — A’s lefty Ken Waldichuk underwent a procedure to remove scar tissue from his pitching elbow to help alleviate pain he experienced after his final start this past season.

Waldichuk pitched Sept. 29 on the road against the Los Angeles Angels and then began experiencing discomfort. He was later diagnosed with a flexor tendon strain and ulnar collateral ligament sprain following an MRI exam, the A’s said Friday.

The 25-year-old Waldichuk was first examined by Dr. Mike Freehill at Stanford

and then also by Dr. Neil ElAttrache. Waldichuk chose to go the conservative route for rehab and had the Tenex procedure with Dr. Steve Yoon on Oct. 17 to remove the scar tissue. He had a follow-up PRP injection to the flexor tendon on Oct. 24 and is now receiving physical therapy.

Waldichuk was 4-9 with a 5.36 ERA in 35 appearances and 22 starts with one save over 141 innings for the A’s in 2023.

Also Friday, The Reds finalized a $26 million, twoyear contract with pitcher Nick Martinez on Friday and a $16 million, two-year deal with reliever Emilio Pagán.

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Sharks top Devils for first road win

Jacob MacDonald and Anthony Duclair each scored twice, and Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 44 shots as the San Jose Sharks beat the New Jersey Devils 6-3 on Friday night in Newark, N.J. for their first road win this season.

Mikael Granlund had a goal and two assists and William Eklund also scored for San Jose, which improved to 6-16-2 overall. The league-worst Sharks came in 0-10-0 away from home with just six goals in those games.

Dawson Mercer, Jack Hughes and Ondrej Palat scored for New Jersey, which had its three-game winning streak snapped. Defenseman Simon Nemec had two assists for the Devils in his debut.

College football: Washington State’s Cameron Ward became the latest bigname quarterback to enter the transfer portal, and James Madison’s Jordan McCloud announced Friday he plans to transfer a third time after helping the Dukes go 11-1.

Ward posted on social media that he would also be evaluating his prospects for the NFL draft while his name is in the portal as a graduate transfer.

NBA: Franz Wagner scored 31 points, Paolo Banchero had 28 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists and the Magic won their ninth straight to tie the franchise record, beating the Wizards 130-125 on Friday night at home . ... Desmond Bane scored 30 points and the Grizzlies beat the Mavericks in Dallas 108-94.

College water polo: Wyatt Mundelius scored five goals as second-seeded Cal, the defending national champs, advanced to the NCAA men’s water polo semifinals in Los Angeles with a 16-6 win over Fordham. The Bears faced USC, an 18-10 win over San Jose State, on Saturday. The other semifinal pitted UCLA against Princeton. College soccer: Allie Montoya and Maya Doms scored in the first five minutes of play as Stanford advanced to the Women’s College Cup final with a 2-0 win over BYU in Cary, N.C., on Friday night. The Cardinal, who won the NCAA title in their most recent College Cup appearance in 2019, will face Florida State in the final on Monday.