(Milwaukee, WI) — The Brewers bunted three times to score what was the eventual winning run Thursday afternoon. Garrett Mitchell crossed the plate in the seventh inning of a 2-1 victory over Toronto. Lefty Aaron Ashby faced only two batters while earning his league-leading fifth win in relief. Angel Zerpa stranded the tying run at third to save the win and give the series to Milwaukee. The Brewers start a three-game weekend series in Miami tonight (Friday).
Pregame at 5:35pm. First pitch at 6:10pm on AM1240 & 96.5FM
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Wild have entered the playoffs with fully professed confidence in both of their goalies. Their preference is to keep a secret whether Filip Gustavsson or Jesper Wallstedt will start. Coach John Hynes declined after practice on Thursday to answer the question about who will get the net for Game 1 at Dallas. Gustavsson has a 4-6 record in the playoffs and made 49 starts in his third season as the primary starter for the Wild. He gave up four or more goals in five of his last six starts. Wallstedt set Wild rookie records for wins and shutouts.
(Madison, WI) — Badgers outside linebacker coach Matt Mitchell is confident his players will continue to put major pressure on opposing quarterbacks this fall. Mitchell’s top two pass rushers – Mason Reiger and Darryl Peterson – have left the program. He’s pointing to veteran, fifth-year senior Sebastian Cheeks to lead the way. Cheeks only had three sacks last season, but he contributed 27 pressures, six hits, and 20 hurries. Mitchell says it’s possible linebacker Nick Clayton has the most pure talent to make things hot for the other teams’ quarterbacks. Wisconsin had 32 sacks last year.
Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has a reputation for making his best draft picks well after the opening round. That skill should come in handy the next couple of years. Green Bay sent its 2026 and 2027 first-round picks to the Dallas Cowboys last August as part of the package to acquire All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons. The Packers have eight total picks — including two each in the fifth and seventh rounds — and plenty of holes to fill after several departures followed a 9-8-1 season that ended with an NFC wild-card loss in Chicago.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings own nine picks in the NFL draft this year after missing the playoffs last season. That includes four top-100 selections. Interim general manager Rob Brzezinski is unlikely to push for any big splashes next week as the Vikings seek to supplement a talented-yet-incomplete roster following a modest-at-best shopping trip through free agency. Patience and simplicity are the guideposts after former general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was ousted in part because of draft failures. Brzezinski is in his 28th year with the Vikings and has long been one of the league’s most respected salary cap managers and contract negotiators.
(Green Bay, WI) — Packers safety Xavier McKinney is one of three NFL players allegedly victimized in a financial fraud case. Former Alabama Crimson Tide player Luther Davis and a co-defendant are accused of impersonating the players while obtaining loans worth almost 20 million dollars. The other two alleged victims are Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Junior and former Browns tight end David Njoku. A plea hearing is scheduled for later this month.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Lynx have re-signed five-time All-Star forward Napheesa Collier. The team announced the move Thursday night but didn’t provide contract details. ESPN reported that Collier signed a one-year, $1.4 million supermax deal. This comes a day after the Las Vegas Aces re-signed A’ja Wilson to a three-year, $5 million supermax contract, the most lucrative in WNBA history. The 29-year-old Collier averaged a career-high 22.9 points per game last season. She became the first WNBA player to achieve 50/40/90 shooting splits while averaging 20 or more points per game.
(Rosemont, IL) — The Big Ten Conference has announced plans to hold its first postseason volleyball tournament in November. The top 15 teams in the regular-season standings will qualify for the field. Big Ten Commissioner Tony Pettiti made the announcement Thursday. To make room for the tournament, the conference’s regular-season schedule will be reduced from 20 games to 17. The tournament will be played at the Fishers Event Center just outside Indianapolis.
THURSDAY
>>Major League Baseball
–NL Central Division
Toronto @ Milwaukee 2, Toronto 1
FRIDAY
>>Major League Baseball
–NL Central Division
Milwaukee @ Miami
SATURDAY
>>Major League Baseball
–NL Central Division
Milwaukee @ Miami
SUNDAY
>>Major League Baseball
–NL Central Division
Milwaukee @ Miami