Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco homered as the Phillies beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 in their spring training opener on Friday at the Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, Florida.
Shaking off an off-season of trade rumors and uncertainty as his team publicly courted and signed free agent infielder Manny Machado, Franco knocked in two runs for the Phillies.
Tommy Pham doubled twice in three at-bats for the Rays.
Photo: AFP
Mitch Haniger slugged a first-inning home run and drove in two runs as the Seattle Mariners opened their spring schedule by routing the Oakland Athletics 8-1.
Kyle Seager went two-for-two with a double, and minor-leaguer Tim Lopes had three hits for Seattle. Sean Murphy homered for the Athletics.
On Thursday, the two teams were rained out in what was supposed to be their spring opener.
FIFA on Friday blamed the empty seats during the FIFA World Cup match between South Korea and the Czech Republic in Guadalajara, Mexico, on fans who watched from the concourses. There were many visible empty spots at the 45,664-capacity Guadalajara Stadium, with sections in the middle of the stands showing many unoccupied spaces and with other empty seats scattered around the venue. The announced attendance was 44,985 — including FIFA president Gianni Infantino. “Official attendance figures reflect the number of tickets scanned and spectators present within the stadium footprint, rather than visual assessments of seating occupancy at any given moment
Japan captain Wataru Endo on Thursday was ruled out of the FIFA World Cup with injury and announced his international retirement, three days before his team’s opener against the Netherlands. The Liverpool midfielder pulled out of the tournament after failing to recover from a foot injury and was replaced in Japan’s squad by Shuto Machino. The 33-year-old Endo said on social media that he was “frustrated” at not being able to play, but backed his team to impress in Group F, where they face the Netherlands, Tunisia and Sweden. “There will definitely come a time in the future when Japan win the World
Taiwanese powerlifter Fan Chun- chia (范峻嘉) won the gold medal in the men’s 74-kilogram class bench press at the 2026 International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Classic Open Powerlifting Championships in Lithuania on Monday (local time), with a world record breaking 216-kilogram lift. The 27-year-old Fan was one of 23 competitors in the men’s 74-kilogram class, in which competitors’ final results are calculated from the combined amount lifted in three separate categories -- bench press, squat lift and deadlift. Fan opened the event by lifting 262.5 kilograms in the squat, placing him in fifth place overall. In the bench press, Fan started with 205-kilogram,
A rotting body was found on Friday in the trunk of a car parked near the stadium where Iran’s FIFA World Cup team is training in Mexico. The gruesome discovery came with games under way in the tournament, which is being jointly hosted by Mexico, the US and Canada. Reporters watched as police in Tijuana opened the trunk of the gray Toyota SUV, which had California plates, in the parking lot of a supermarket directly across from the Caliente Stadium, where Team Melli are training as they prepare for three games in the US. Specialists in white protective suits worked
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