Joe Root 67 gives Yorkshire edge on 17-wicket day
Sussex hit back after being bundled out for 150 on lively surface
Former Blues coach Berube gets Maple Leafs job
The Maple Leafs are hiring former Blues coach Craig Berube to replace Sheldon Keefe.
England spinners apply the squeeze as Pakistan slump to series-ending 65-run loss
Dominant display with ball ensures that first-innings 144 for 6 is ample for 2-0 series lead
What's at stake in the top leagues: Titles, European places, relegation battles
The European soccer season is coming to a close, but who is in the race for the titles, European qualification -- and who's fighting relegation?
Nats activate Gallo (shoulder) from 10-day IL
The Washington Nationals on Friday activated first baseman/designated hitter Joey Gallo from the 10-day injured list, after he missed the past 17 games with a sprained right shoulder.
Yorkshire 176 for 7 (Root 67, Hunt 3-61) lead Sussex 150 (Hill 4-22) by 26 runs
Seventeen wickets fell on the first day at Hove as second division leaders Sussex hit back after they were bowled out for 150 by Yorkshire in the Vitality County Championship.
Joe Root showed his class with 67 but no one else made more than Sussex's top scorer James Coles (38). Yorkshire were 176 for 7 at stumps and how much they can add to their lead of 26 will be crucial to their efforts of securing a first victory of the season.
Root enjoyed an absorbing battle with England team-mate Ollie Robinson, who bowled two quality spells and was unlucky not to pick up more than one wicket.
Root shared stands of 42 for the fifth wicket with James Wharton and 58 for the sixth wicket with Jonathan Tattersall, as he passed 50 for the fourth time in seven Championship innings which have now brought him 432 runs in his preparations for the international summer. But having moved to 67 off 88 balls a misjudgement saw him struck on the back leg by Tom Haines working into the on side.
For the other batters it was hard work. On a well-grassed pitch the ball moved lavishly off the seam at times, but there were some loose shots too and 12 of the wickets fell to slip catches.
Sussex weren't surprised to be put in, but Haines and Tom Clark serenely added 42 in 6.5 overs. It proved a false dawn, though, and apart from a fifth-wicket stand of 30 between Cheteshwar Pujara and Coles, Yorkshire's disciplined all-seam attack held sway.
George Hill led the way with 4 for 22 including two in five balls in his opening spell as Haines was taken at second slip and Alsop at third playing at deliveries which nipped off the seam. He returned after lunch to pick up Danny Lamb with his first ball back and then removed Jack Carson in the same over.
Hill got good support, notably from Ben Coad (3 for 47). Coad had angled one in which seamed away to make the breakthrough when he removed Clark. Sussex skipper John Simpson made his fourth successive single-figure score before he was lbw shuffling forward and Tattersall dived in front of slip to remove Fynn Hudson-Prentice.
Arguably the crucial wicket was claimed by the highly-regarded Dom Leech with the ninth ball of his first appearance of the season when Pujara was superbly caught by Tattersall, again diving in front of first slip. Coles then watched as four wickets fell for 18 runs in 8.1 overs before he was last out, holing out to mid-on.
Sussex had been dismissed in 44.1 overs but their bowlers soon hit back. Robinson beat the bat on numerous occasions with the new ball, but it was left-armer Sean Hunt who made the breakthrough with his fifth delivery which Finlay Bean edged to second slip. Adam Lyth was taken at third slip before Robinson was rewarded in his sixth over with the crucial wicket of skipper Shan Masood, fencing to third slip
Hill played a loose drive at Hudson-Prentice to the last ball before tea but by then Root had begun to get the measure of the conditions. Wharton gave him good support until hitting across the line to a yorker-length ball which gave Hudson-Prentice his second wicket and Hunt returned to have Tattersall caught at third slip just before the close.
Tom Banton, James Rew Drive Somerset With Twin Centuries
TORONTO -- — Tyler Alexander took a perfect game bid into the eighth inning before Danny Jansen blooped an opposite-field, one-out single, and the Tampa Bay Rays hung on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Friday night.
Richie Palacios hit a two-run home run as the Rays built a 4-0 lead and hung on for their 10th win in 14 games.
“He was mixing it up, spotting it up,” Palacios said of Alexander. “That was awesome.”
Tampa Bay has won five of its past six series openers.
“Winning the first one definitely leaves a statement that we’re here to play good baseball,” Lowe said.
Alexander (2-2) retired his first 22 batters before Jansen hit a 1-0 changeup near the low, outside corner off the end of his bat. The ball landed cleanly 206 feet from the plate, between right fielder Josh Lowe and Palacios at second.
“He blooped it in perfectly,” Lowe said.
Alexander gave up a season-high six runs, including three home runs, in his previous start, but Rays catcher Ben Rortvedt said he knew early Friday that Alexander had good stuff.
“In the bullpen I could tell he was feeling it,” Rortvedt said. “He was throwing all his pitches to all quadrants of the zone.”
Alexander said he knew what was at stake as he got deeper into the game.
“I was very aware of what I was doing,” Alexander said. “I was just trying not to over-try, I guess. Just trying to stay within myself.”
The single came on Alexander’s 97th pitch. Davis Schneider homered two pitches later, cutting Toronto’s deficit to 4-2, and Daulton Varsho singled on Alexander’s 105th and final pitch, three more than Alexander’s previous career high.
“That was a really impressive outing,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Happy for him.”
Alexander needed 23 pitches to get through the seventh inning, going to three-ball counts on all three batters. He struck out four and walked none in his seventh start and ninth appearance this season.
“As the game went on, I think he got better,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of Alexander. “ He was really locating in, out, up, down.”
Lowe had gone down on one knee to make a sliding catch on Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s sinking liner for the second out of the sixth.
A 29-year-old in his sixth major league season, Alexander does not have a complete game in 49 major league starts. His previous high for innings was seven.
Right-hander Matt Garza threw the only no-hitter in Rays history, beating Detroit 5-0 at Tropicana Field on July 26, 2010.
Manuel Rodríguez replaced Alexander (2-2) and pinch hitter Daniel Vogelbach reached on a fielder’s choice, with Varsho advancing to third on Díaz’s errant throw.
Pinch-hitter Cavan Biggio pulled Toronto within a run with an RBI single off Manuel Rodríguez, and George Springer grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Pete Fairbanks pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in five chances.
Isaac Paredes walked three times to extend his career-best streak of reaching safely to 16 games.
Tampa Bay scored three runs in the sixth. Randy Arozarena doubled and came home on a throwing error by Guerrero at first. Paredes walked and Palacios hit a two-run homer off Chris Bassitt, his fourth.
Díaz had an RBI single in the seventh.
Bassitt (3-6) allowed three runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander has lost four of his past five starts.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: 2B Brandon Lowe (strained right oblique) will play at Triple-A Durham this weekend and could rejoin the team as early as Monday, Cash said.
Blue Jays: 1B Joey Votto (right ankle) has started facing live pitching, Schneider said. Votto injured his ankle during spring training in March and has not played since.
UP NEXT
Rays RHP Zach Eflin (3-4, 3.91 ERA) seeks a third consecutive victory when he faces the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon. RHP Kevin Gausman (2-3, 4.95) starts for Toronto.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
