Orioles catcher Maverick Handley leaves game after collision with Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr.
NEW YORK (AP) — Baltimore Orioles backup catcher Maverick Handley left Sunday's game against the New York Yankees after being knocked over in a collision at the plate with Jazz Chisholm Jr.
With Baltimore ahead 2-0, Chisholm hit a two-out double off Dean Kremer and went home on DJ LeMahieu's single to left.
Colton Cowser's throw was up the third-base line. Handley moved to his left for the throw, arriving for the ball at the same time as Chisholm, who tried to veer to the inside to avoid contact.
Chisholm, whose left cleat had come off as he speeded down the line, smacked into Handley, fell past the plate and had to come back to touch it.
Handley, a 27-year-old who debuted in April, got up slowly and was removed after a discussion with interim manager Tony Masolino and head athletic trainer Scott Barringer. Baltimore replaced Handley with former Yankees player Gary Sánchez.
Baltimore already is without All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman, who strained his left oblique and is on the injured list for the first time in his major league career.
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Indianapolis Star
an hour ago
- Indianapolis Star
'It sucked the soul out of us': Tyrese Haliburton's injury brings tragic end to magical season
OKLAHOMA CITY – Tyrese Haliburton was standing just a few feet back from the spot where he stumbled and fell on a drive in Game 5 of the NBA Finals when he began the drive that would end his season. With just more than 5 minutes to go in the first quarter of Game 7, the Pacers All-Star point guard caught a pass from teammate Obi Toppin a few feet above the 3-point arc and tried to push off of his right foot to drive and immediately crumpled to the floor again. In Game 5 -- though clearly hobbled with what was later diagnosed as a right calf strain -- he got up. This time, he didn't. Haliburton still had enough presence of mind to try to pass the basketball instead of simply taking a travel, but once he let it go and the Thunder stole the ball anyway, he became instantly and acutely aware that his sometimes trying but ultimately magical 2024-25 campaign was over and he'd made his last on-court contribution to the Pacers' first NBA Finals run in 25 years. He slapped the floor over and over again with his right hand, stopped to put his forearm under his face and then pounded the floor with his fist. After a timeout, his ashen-faced teammates circled around him and then carried him off the floor to the locker room. Re-live the Pacers incredible postseason run with our commemorative book Game 7 changed in that moment and it's possible much more about the Pacers' short-to-mid-term future did too. They fought on without Haliburton and actually went into halftime with a one-point lead. But they were ultimately overwhelmed by the Thunder's defense in a 103-91 defeat, allowing Oklahoma City to claim its first NBA title and missing out on the Pacers' best chance at one since they moved to the NBA from the ABA in 1976. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said in his postgame press conference that he did not have a diagnosis on Haliburton to provide. Pacers public relations staff only released during the game that it was a lower right leg injury and that he would not return. "What happened with Tyrese, all of our hearts dropped," Carlisle said. "But he will be back. I don't have any medical information about what may or may not have happened, but he'll be back in time, and I believe he'll make a full recovery." However, Haliburton's father, John, told Lisa Salters -- sideline reporter for the broadcast for ABC and ESPN -- that it was an Achilles tendon injury and Haliburton was seen in the hallway of the Paycom Center on crutches. There was no confirmation yet Sunday night that the tendon had torn, but the fear of such a devastating injury that could cost the face of the Pacers' franchise not just his offseason but most if not all of next season was palpable in and around the Pacers' locker room. There is always a solemn feel to a locker room and its surroundings when a season ends, especially when it happens somewhat unexpectedly in a winner-take-all game. However, there were scenes in the hallway outside the Pacers' locker room before it opened to the media that matched what one would expect to see in a funeral home. There were support staff members in tears and men in suit jackets who couldn't find the words for the moment instead exchanging knowing hugs. Inside Haliburton's teammates acknowledged that as badly as they wanted to win for Haliburton when he went down, they were shaken by seeing a teammate, and a close friend, in that state. They were still shaken afterwards knowing that if he is, in fact, out for all or most of the 2025-26 season, the trajectory of the franchise could change drastically. Haliburton is the cornerstone of everything the Pacers have built over the past three seasons to turn what was a 25-win lottery team in 2021-22 into the second Pacers team to reach the NBA Finals. In the first two months after he was acquired from the Kings in a Feb. 2022 trade, the flashy but precise playmaker convinced the Pacers coaching staff and front office that instead of ripping the team all the way down to the studs and trying to stockpile draft picks by avoiding playoff contention for years, they should instead build the team in his image and they could get back to contention much quicker. That meant creating a team that would be selfless enough to run hard down the floor every play and keep the ball constantly moving until it found the man with the best shot. It meant a team full of players with chips on their shoulders from years of being doubted who also didn't get too caught up in their personal pursuits of validation to contribute to and celebrate each other's victories. Having Haliburton as the team's point guard and franchise player allowed the Pacers to create arguably the most joyful playing style of any team in the NBA and it took them further faster than they had ever expected with an Eastern Conference Finals run in 2023-24 then this season's trip to the NBA Finals. They had won games without him before due to injury, but seeing him go down with the season so close to its end was decidedly more tragic. It was even worse because Haliburton had started the game hot, knocking down three 3-pointers for nine points in the first seven minutes of the first quarter. "It's heart-breaking, man," center Thomas Bryant said. "You never want to see that with any of our players, especially with Ty. He's the heart and soul of our team. He's our point guard. He's our point god, you know? We all gathered around each other when he went down and said we're trying to do this for him, man. And it just sucks that we couldn't get that accomplished." It was more painful because the injury itself was the ultimate evidence of how badly Haliburton wanted to win for them and the risks he was willing to take to get the Pacers a championship. Haliburton played through the calf strain in Game 5, playing 34 minutes despite suffering the injury in the first quarter. He was clearly affected, scoring just four points on 0 of 6 shooting in a 120-109 loss, but he was adamant at halftime about staying in the game. He said afterward, "If I can walk, then I want to play." He took the same stance after an MRI the next day showed the calf strain. He spent three days going through treatment leading up to Game 6 and was in constant consultation with the team's athletic training staff. He also had meetings with his agents, coaches and members of the front office to make sure everyone was on the same page. Ultimately, he was given the go ahead to take a chance and play if he wanted, but it was made clear to him that there was risk of further injury involved. After Game 6 when he posted 14 points and five assists and the Pacers won to force a Game 7 and get within a game of a title for the first time in their NBA history, the risk felt validated. "I just look at it as I want to be out there to compete with my brothers," Haliburton said after Game 6. "These are guys that I'm willing to go to war with and we've had such a special year, and we have a special bond as a group, and you know, I think I'd beat myself up if I didn't give it a chance." But playing in Game 7 meant another spin of the roulette wheel with the Pacers' season but also the health of his leg on the line. For the first seven minutes he actually seemed less affected by the injury than he was in Game 6 right up until the point that he could no longer walk. Even after the injury Haliburton still stayed in the locker room at halftime and talked to the team to try to keep their spirits up. "He went out there and gave it his all," forward Obi Toppin said. "He definitely wanted to be there and we felt that. He was a soldier. He went until he couldn't." When he couldn't, the Pacers initially responded with force. The game was tied at 16 when Haliburton was injured and they fell behind 25-22 at the end of the first quarter. However, they won the second period 26-22 thanks to their defense, holding the Thunder to 7 of 22 shooting in the quarter including 2 of 13 from 3-point range. The Pacers also forced four turnovers and held the Thunder to 0.82 points per possession, taking a 48-47 lead at the break with an Andrew Nembhard 3-pointer with four seconds to go. They unraveled in the third, however, losing the period 34-20 with seven turnovers against eight field goals. Veteran backup point guard T.J. McConnell made six of the eight field goals in the period and scored 12 of the 20 points but also committed three of the turnovers. The Thunder defense, which led the NBA in steals this season, blitzed and otherwise harassed ball-handlers to force them into bad decisions. Oklahoma City finished the game with 14 steals and 23 turnovers caused which led to 32 points. "Up until they went on their run, we were moving the ball, taking care of it," McConnell said. "I didn't take care of it so well, obviously. Their pressure can really get to you but I was just trying to be aggressive and had some uncharacteristic turnovers but that happens. Just proud of the fight. We fought to the end. Credit to OKC. They are just really good." Some of the Pacers acknowledged that they couldn't really get past the injury. Toppin in particular struggled, having been so close to the injury. He ended up going scoreless in the game with on 0 of 4 shooting with three turnovers. "We needed Ty out there," Toppin said. "He's been good for us all year. For him to go down at the beginning of the game like that, it sucked the soul out of us. I'm not going to say everybody but I don't feel like I played good because I felt like I was thinking about it the whole game. I felt like it was my fault." The Pacers still fought back to cut a lead that was as great as 22 points in the fourth quarter down to 10 with 2:16 to play, and at other critical junctions in these playoffs, that was enough time for Haliburton to make miracles happen. After a brutal stretch to start the season, Haliburton was one of the most clutch performers in the league toward the end of the regular season and the shots he hit to either win or tie games in the postseason were the story of the playoffs. In Game 5 against the Bucks in the first round, Haliburton helped the Pacers come back from a seven-point deficit with 40 seconds to go in overtime, scoring the last five points with a 3-point play and then a game-winning layup with 1.1 seconds to go that clinched that series. In Game 2 against the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, he helped the Pacers rally from a 14-point deficit to start the fourth quarter and hit a game-winning 3-pointer after grabbing a rebound on his own missed free throw to get the win. He sent Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Knicks into overtime with a buzzer-beating jumper after the Pacers trailed by 14 points with just 2:15 to play. And in Game 1 of Finals, he hit a game-winning jumper with 0.3 seconds left after the Pacers trailed by 14 with 8:58 left. But in Game 7, he wasn't available for another comeback and the Pacers had to watch blue and orange confetti come down around them as they went back to see him in the locker room. "He authored one of the great individual playoff runs in the history of the NBA with dramatic play after dramatic play," Carlisle said. "It was just something that no one's ever seen and did it as 1 of 17. You know, that's the beautiful thing about him. As great a player as he is, it's always a team thing. And so, our hearts go out to him."
Indianapolis Star
an hour ago
- Indianapolis Star
Why this Thunder title has the inspiration and path for Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers
This Pacers 2025 playoff run can be remembered two ways: There's the before Haliburton Achilles injury and after Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Tyrese Haliburton: 'My heart dropped for him. I couldn't imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening' This could be a missed window in a chaotic Eastern Conference playoff season, a 'what if?' for all of time OKLAHOMA CITY – It's so hard to look at, that hope and upside and fury and pain crashing to the floor as Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton screamed into it and everyone in Indiana collectively wondered, 'Why us? Why now?' Nobody can blame you if you just want to look away. But there's hope and sustainability on this court at Paycom Center, where the Thunder just dropped confetti from the skies and celebrated its first NBA championship. It's there if you want to see it, and in the aftermath of Haliburton clanking one crutch after another to leave this place and head into the unknown, maybe that's where serenity lies. It's at least worth dreaming on, even if just to chase away the nightmare. This Pacers 2025 playoff run can be remembered two ways: There's the before Haliburton Achilles injury and after. One place suspends disbelief and makes the impossible real, with game-winning shots and historic comebacks in all four playoff series. The other is dark and confusing, like the cement hallway of an arena, away from where a city in the middle of the country is trying to have the party of a lifetime. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. But it's in this hallway between the Thunder's celebratory press conferences and the dim scene in the Pacers locker room where it all connects. It hurts and inspires here. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is walking off a podium where he just put into words one of the greatest guard seasons ever, where he followed up a league MVP with a Finals MVP for the first time since LeBron James did it 12 years ago. And his first step as a champion, with that MVP trophy in his arms, is to find the Pacers locker room. He leads a parade of camera men and hangers-on in and spends less than a minute. There's Haliburton's locker, in the back left corner, with the Pacers letterman jacket and black T-Shirt and blue jeans he wore to the game hanging up and a black camera sitting at the bottom to capture a moment that would end in victory or agony but doesn't have him. Moments later, he'd hobble down that same hallway on crutches, wearing the things that are more feasible when you can hardly walk. Gilgeous-Alexander didn't get the chance to say something to the All-Star point guard who dueled him for seven games and pushed this 68-win team to the brink for seven games. And so he ducks back out, grabs the MVP trophy and continues a victory march that is happy but a little subdued. Moments before, he was at that podium reflecting on this seminal moment, and his thoughts were with Haliburton. 'My heart dropped for him,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'I couldn't imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. 'It's not fair. But competition isn't fair sometimes.' Game 7 in Oklahoma City featured a coronation of sorts for what could be a budding dynasty for one of the youngest championship teams ever. It also had a melancholy feel, so much so that the Thunder crowd felt stunned for minutes after Haliburton hobbled through that tunnel and left their post-game locker-room as muted as they come amiss the passing bottles of beer, as the Athletic's Marcus Thompson II reported from the scene. 'First, I want to say I hope Tyrese is okay. I haven't looked at my phone,' Jalen Williams said in his first comments next to the Larry O'Brien Trophy. 'Obviously, that changes the outcome of the game a little bit, changes the dynamic of the game.' These Thunder players are too young to have felt these things, but the franchise's rise to this moment has created cosmic empathy for the spot the Pacers are in. Indiana arrived on this stage early, as the No. 4 seed in an Eastern Conference where either the reigning champion Celtics and 64-win Cavaliers were supposed to be in this duel. When it wound up being the Pacers, a favorite like the Thunder might have felt like it had a moment to breathe but never did after Indiana stole Game 1 on this court with a ferocious comeback, capped off by Haliburton's 21-foot jump shot with 0.3 seconds left. These Pacers pushed the series to seven games, but in the aftermath of a Finals loss, it felt a lot like that other Western Conference championship banner the Thunder have hanging here from 2011-2012, when they lost to James and the Heat in four games. That was a squad with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden all under the age of 25. Haliburton turned 25 in February. There's a way to see this Pacers franchise in two lights, the same as with this playoff run. You could see a team with a 25-year-old point guard, a veteran playoff coach in Rick Carlisle and a front office led by Kevin Pritchard that had the willingness to blow up the path to reinvent and create this team that went 15-8 in this year's postseason. They were playing with house money in a conference seemingly run by the Celtics and Cavaliers. And, in light of Jayson Tatum's Achilles tear and taking down those Cavs in five games, the future felt as bright as ever. You could also see a team that got as close as the Pacers ever have to an NBA title, fell short and now will face a lengthy and uncertain recovery for Haliburton that will end around when Tatum returns. Is it an opportunity gained or an opportunity squandered? Those same questions wrestled in these Thunder for a decade and a half until Sunday night. After all, they once had Durant, Westbrook and Harden all under the age of 25, only to not win a title and lose them all, only to trudge forward as an NBA team in 'flyover country.' Those Thunder used to stare at a world built around 'Big Three' constructs and wonder what a new path forward was. They, too, got bold like Pritchard did and reinvented themselves with a trade for a foundational guard in Gilgeous-Alexander, only to build their own version of a 'Big Three' in him, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. But the Pacers don't have to reinvent. They have Haliburton under contract through 2028-2029, and he loves being the face of a franchise that wants him, unlike the Kings franchise that drafted him. It's a missed opportunity, to be sure. Indiana faces questions about whether to retain Myles Turner, who had a dreadful Finals; and about TJ McConnell's longevity after a tremendous playoff run at age 33. Letting a year of Haliburton's recovery pass can feel like ages in a league where Giannis Antetokounmpo could get traded to another contender and for a Midwestern franchise that will likely only dip into the luxury tax in the right moments. The trickiest thought exercise in pro sports is to think that one near miss is the start of many more, as the Thunder learned with Durant, Westbrook and Harden. But Oklahoma City provides a model, too, in the way it didn't have to age with ownership, leadership and the foresight that comes with that. Their young version of the 'Big Three' didn't find glory. But thanks to an changing collective bargaining agreement, the league has since evolved out of those constructs to where almost every champion of late is organically built, from this year's Thunder to last year's Celtics to the 2023 Nuggets to the 2022 Bucks. This is a league where the prime free agents and top trade targets used to ignore the teams in the middle of the country. But that's how Haliburton and Pascal Siakam got here. And it's how the Pacers will plunge forward, too. Nobody knows quite how this Pacers franchise will age. This could be a missed window in a chaotic Eastern Conference playoff season, a 'what if?' for all of time. But a 'what if?' can lay the groundwork for a champion sometimes, as the Thunder have shown. Stable leadership that doesn't age on the court the way players do can pay dividends not seen when those bodies crash to the hardwood. Haliburton is 25. Siakam is 31, but he too found new life here, is signed for three more seasons and continued to show in this series that he is built to be a Robin to a Batman on a title team, so long as that Batman is there. It stings that the 2025-2026 season is so up in the air. The landscape of the Eastern Conference is impossible to predict beyond that. But Indiana has a star who seems intent on staying whose aura is so strong it lived in those Thunder celebrations of a first title. And so as Haliburton hobbled out of the arena on crutches on Sunday night, the question could be about the opportunity he's leaving or what he'll take forward into the next one. That story has yet to be written.
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Improved of late, the Orioles still face an uphill climb to avoid a lost season
A year ago the Baltimore Orioles looked like a dynasty in the making. Since then, they've been thoroughly mediocre, and even an improved stretch recently hasn't helped their outlook much for 2025. After losing two of three to the Yankees in New York, the Orioles are 11 games under .500. They've gone 17-10 over their last 27, so perhaps the worst is over, but over the last 162 regular-season games, Baltimore is 75-87. It's a remarkable decline for a team that won 101 games in 2023, started 49-25 last year and had a core of standouts that was young and cost controlled. Injuries have been a major factor, with catcher and former No. 1 overall draft pick Adley Rutschman the latest big name to go on the IL. Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez hasn't pitched at all this year. Zach Eflin has made only 11 starts with a 5.46 ERA, and outfielder Colton Cowser and infielder Jordan Westburg have missed significant time as well. The front office has received little sympathy following an offseason in which ace Corbin Burnes departed and the Orioles replaced him with stopgap solutions on one-year deals. Although Baltimore is just 6 1/2 games out of a postseason spot, FanGraphs isn't a believer, giving the Orioles just a 3.7% chance of making the playoffs. Baltimore is one of five 2024 postseason participants that would miss out if this season ended today. Here are the others: SAN DIEGO (42-35 record, 39.3% postseason chance according to FanGraphs): The Padres are a half-game behind resurgent Milwaukee for the last spot in the National League playoffs. San Diego has been treading water since a 23-11 start, and its division just became more interesting after San Francisco acquired Rafael Devers. CLEVELAND (39-37, 34.1%): The Guardians are tied for the final American League spot but would lose a head-to-head tiebreaker to Seattle if the season ended now. Detroit has opened an 8 1/2-game lead in the AL Central, so unless Cleveland can cut into that significantly, it'll be a wild card or bust for the Guardians down the stretch. ATLANTA (35-41, 27.3%): The talent is there, but this past week was typical for the 2025 Braves, who followed up a three-game sweep of the Mets by losing two of three to Miami. KANSAS CITY (38-40, 20.0%): Bobby Witt Jr. can only do so much — only the Pirates have scored fewer runs than the Royals. But the bar in the AL is low, and Kansas City can probably stay in the mix. Trivia time In honor of the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, name the five current major league franchises that have won the World Series in multiple cities. Line of the week Clarke Schmidt threw seven hitless innings for the New York Yankees on Saturday in their 9-0 win over Baltimore. The Orioles managed only one hit on the day — against the New York bullpen. Comeback of the week The Orioles led 8-0 in the third inning at Tampa Bay on Wednesday before the Rays stormed back to win 12-8. Tampa Bay had a 2% chance to win at the start of the third according to Baseball Savant. Yennier Cano allowed four runs in the fifth to tie the game, and he was sent down to the minors later in the week. Andrew Kittredge then allowed four in the seventh. That's the issue for the Orioles. Will their pitching allow the kind of hot streak they'd need to jump back into the playoff race? Trivia answer The Athletics (Philadelphia and Oakland), Braves (Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta), Dodgers (Brooklyn and Los Angeles), Giants (New York and San Francisco) and Twins (Washington and Minnesota). ___
