Tag: Sports Radio Service

A’Ja Wilson Leads Aces Past Sparks For Third Win This Season 96-81

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Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson (22) celebrates after a play against the Los Angeles Sparks in first half action at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas on Fri May 30, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Rich Perez

LAS VEGAS–It got a bit shaky in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter but the Las Vegas Aces (3-2) were able to beat the Los Angeles Sparks (2-5) 96-81 with some nice closing possessions.

Aces points leader A’Ja Wilson was brilliant with 35 points and 13 rebounds for her 103rd double double. Wilson continues to amaze. Jackie Young finished with 26 points and Chelsea Gray had 15 points and four rebounds. They improved their season record to 3-2 with this win.

Game recap: It was a bit of a slow start for both teams but started to really build steam as the quarter wore on. By the end of the first quarter, the Aces had taken a 28-21 lead. Las Vegas would build on that lead winning the second quarter 29-21 taking a 57-42 lead at the half.

The Aces after having outscored the Sparks in the first and second quarter continued on this path winning the third quarter 23-17 and leading 80-59 going into the fourth quarter. There was without doubt more energy in this game than the Aces have seen all season.

After three quarters Wilson had scored 25 points. She had her 103rd double double in this game with ten rebounds along with the 25 points and with still one more quarter left in the game. The defensive energy from Las Vegas in this game was really amped up, a prelude of good things to come for the Aces.

The Sparks got a jump on Las Vegas outscoring them 11-4 mid-way through the quarter but they had a lot of ground to make up and were fighting to make this game interesting. After letting a 20+ point lead shrink to a 14 point lead, the Aces Head Coach Becky Hammon called a time out after Los Angeles went on a 9-0 run.

The Sparks continued to shrink the Aces lead and with 3:50 left in the game the Aces were hanging onto a ten-point lead after leading by more than 20 points. Las Vegas had to tighten it up and they did exactly that pushing their lead back out to 14 points 90-76 with 2 1/2 minutes left in the game. When the game got a bit shaky for Las Vegas they hunkered down and took care of business winning their third game of the season 96-81.

The Sparks fought to make a move mid-way through the fourth quarter but fell short. Four of their starters scored in double digits. Kelsey Plum had the team high with 17 points. Dearica Hamby, Odyssey Sims and Azura Stevens all had double digits.

The Aces had a breakout game with Wilson finishing with 35 points and 13 rebounds. Young was also terrific with 26 points and Gray had 15 points and four rebounds.

Game notes: Friday night the Aces hosted the Sparks at Michelob ULTRA Arena. The temperature outside was sizzling with a high of 103 degrees but inside the arena the Aces were cool and primed to advance their season record.

The Aces has suffered a couple of loses to the defending champion Liberty and also to the Storm. They will be meeting the Storm this Sunday for a little payback. They will first be looking to get past the Sparks in Friday night’s game.

The Aces have not had the best start but the two losses were against last seasons champs and also a very solid Seattle Storm. They have gotten slow starts in seasons past and Friday night’s game is pivotal after a few weeks in the 2025 season. They came into this game after getting beaten pretty soundly by the Seattle Storm 102-82 last Sunday at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

The Aces will now hop on a plane for a re-match with the Seattle Storm. Both teams have identical 3-2 records. Las Vegas will be looking to bring the same kind of energy that won this game for them Friday night.

The Aces defensive effort was their best so far this year and they will be looking for a whole lot more Sunday afternoon. TIp-off for this game is scheduled for 12:00 PM at Climate Pledge Arena.

Giants Win Game One of Series Over Marlins In 2-0 Shutout

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San Francisco Giants starter Kyle Harrison pitched five innings of shutout ball against the Miami Marlins at Loan Depot Park in Miami on Fri May 30, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The San Francisco Giants (31-25) had 11 hits in Friday’s game beating the Miami Marlins (22-32) 2-0. They had a better offensive effort but they continue to leave a lot of runners in scoring position on base.

Camilo Doval finished off the Marlins pitching 1 1/3 innings with his mother watching her son for the first time in person. Matt Chapman and Wilmer Flores each had two hits and Tyler Fitzgerald had three hits.

Game recap: Wilmer Flores continues to impress playing some very good baseball lately and he got this game going in the right direction. He singled driving Heliot Ramos home taking the early one-run lead 1-0. San Francisco’s Chapman hit a solo home run in the fourth inning for a 2-0 lead. After six innings, the Giants had eight hits while the Marlins only had a single hit. San Francisco was two for nine with runners in scoring position and so these struggles continue.

Giant’s pitcher Kyle Harrison went for five innings with only one hit, no runs three walks and five strikeouts in a pretty decent outing. He was relieved by Tristan Beck in the sixth inning who had a couple of walks but no hits and no runs.

The Marlins started the bottom of the seventh inning putting a couple of runners on base with no outs. Miami hit a double, got a walk and was threatening. The Marlins first run of the game was 90 feet away.

It would be up to relief pitcher Erik Miller to get the Giants out of the inning with runners on second and third base. Miller did not get the chance to finish the inning and was relieved by Tyler Rodgers who needed one more out to finish off the inning. Rodgers got the strike out and San Francisco was six outs away from getting this series off on the right foot.

Patrick Bailey and Chapman each had a couple of hits through eight innings and Tyler Fitzgerald had three hits. Both Flores and Chapman had RBIs. Flores and Chapman have been consistently producing at the plate lately and Heliot Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee, Flores and Willie Adames all had hits.

More offense was exactly what San Francisco has been looking for. Camilo Doval took the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning with two outs. He made short work of the Marlin’s Connor Norby who flied out to end the inning and it was on to the ninth inning.

San Francisco’s Fitzgerald singled in the ninth stealing second base and with only one out the Giants had another runner in scoring position. The game went into the bottom of the ninth inning and San Francisco was three outs away from winning game one.

Doval would be looking to close out this game with his mother in the stands watching him for the first time as a pro. The pride on her face was undeniable as she watched him save this game for San Francisco. The final was 2-0 as the Giants took the first game of the series. The Giants had broken their three-game losing streak.

Game notes: After getting swept by the Detroit Tigers, the Giants traveled east for a three game series with the Marlins at Loan Depot Park in Miami. The Giants left behind the windy conditions in Detroit trading for some very toasty weather, 87 degrees at first pitch, but even warmer down on the field.

After losing to the Tigers, the Giants got back on the winning track, and got some better offensive production. They had really been struggling with not only quiet bats but leaving far too many runners in scoring position on base particularly in their last series.

San Francisco who got the shutout 2-0 got a quality start from Kyle Harrison who pitched five innings and allowed only one hit for the win. Harrison struck out five batters and walked three. Miami starter Cal Quantrill went five innings, allowing eight hits and two runs on Friday.

San Francisco finished the game with 11 hits. The Giants flooded the mound with pitchers going through seven in this game. They continue to leave runners in scoring positions but they managed a win in this opening game of the series.

They will be looking to carry this improved offense into game two and assure a series win Saturday. San Francisco will start Robbie Ray who has been lights out with a 2.56 ERA, 7-0 win/loss record looking to add another win. Edward Cabrera will take the mound for Miami who has a 1-1 win/loss record and a 4.73 ERA. First pitch for this game is scheduled for 1:10 PM PDT.

NHL Stanley Cup Final podcast Len Shapiro: It all gets underway Wednesday night with Panthers-Oilers in Edmonton for game 1

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Edmonton Oilers right wing Corey Perry (right) and center Connor McDavid celebrate after Perry scoring in the first period in game 5 against the Dallas Stars of the NHL Western Conference Finals in Dallas on Thu May 29, 2025 (AP News photo)

NHL Stanley Cup Finals podcast Len Shapiro:

#1 The Edmonton Oilers who had pretty much dominated the Stanley Cup Western Conference finals against the Dallas Stars won the series 4-1 with a convincing 6-3 win in Dallas.

#2 Connor McDavid got a crucial goal in the second period and got an assist on 40 year old Corey Perry’s goal as the Oilers head to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.

#3 The Oilers wrapped up this series in a very neat package doing it in five games and the Stars are no easy customer to beat needless to say in Dallas either.

#4 The Oilers will rematch last season’s final with the Florida Panthers that went seven games. The Panthers who won the first three games of the series, the Oilers came back and tied up the series 3-3 and the Panthers took game 7 to win the Stanley Cup.

#5 The Oilers have home ice for game 1 on Wednesday night in Edmonton. The Panthers took out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games 4-1. Do you see this being another back and forth series last season’s final was really a tough act to follow.

Join Len Shapiro for the NHL Stanley Cup Finals podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

The Blue Jays Fly Away with an 11-7 Win over A’s

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Toronto Blue Jays Ernie Clement (22) dives into home plate safely as Sacramento A’s catcher Shea Langeliers (23) is too late with the tag in the bottom of the second inning at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Fri May 30, 2025 (Canadian Press via AP photo)

By Mauricio Segura

The Sacramento Athletics’ struggles continued Friday night at Rogers Centre as they fell to the Toronto Blue Jays 11-7 in a game marked by early power and persistent Toronto offense. Tyler Soderstrom provided the first jolt for the green and gold with a towering solo home run in the second inning, his 11th of the season, to open the scoring.

But Toronto immediately answered, tying it in the bottom of the frame and taking the lead for good in the second inning. Jeffrey Springs, who entered the game with a 3.97 ERA, was tagged for six runs in three innings.

Ernie Clement doubled and later homered, while Myles Straw contributed a run-scoring double that gave the Blue Jays the edge. Springs issued multiple walks, adding to a tough night for an A’s staff that had already posted the second highest ERA in the majors this season.

The Athletics’ bullpen, which came in with a 6.07 ERA, couldn’t contain the Blue Jays’ offense either. In the fifth inning, George Springer delivered an RBI single and Alejandro Kirk followed with a two-run single to push Toronto’s advantage to 9-5. A’s pitchers combined for nine walks on the night, consistently putting pressure on the defense.

Shea Langeliers briefly cut into the deficit with a solo home run in the fourth, his tenth of the year, while Brent Rooker added a two-run double in the fifth. Lawrence Butler extended his hitting streak in the ninth with an RBI double that scored Denzel Clarke, who had singled moments earlier. Miguel Andujar also doubled and came around to score in the ninth, highlighting a late rally that ultimately fell short.

Jacob Wilson, who has been one of the bright spots for the A’s this season, delivered an RBI single in the third that plated Butler. Wilson, batting over .340 in May, continued to show his potential as a key contributor for the green and gold. Despite these efforts, the Athletics never managed to hold a lead at any point in the game.

The defeat dropped the Athletics to 23-35, now 11 games under .500. They have lost 15 of their last 17 games and are 3-18 over their last 21 contests. In addition, they’ve allowed 50 home runs in May alone, the most in the majors. Friday’s game also extended the A’s streak to 11 straight games allowing at least one home run, with Clement and Barger both going deep for Toronto.

The A’s will look to snap their eight-game road losing streak Saturday as RHP Gunnar Hoglund (1-2 ERA 5.13) takes the mound in search of his second win of the season. With a team ERA that ranks second highest in the majors and a bullpen that has struggled to hold leads, Hoglund will need to set the tone early to give the Athletics a chance. The Blue Jays will counter with RHP Braydon Fisher (1-0 ERA 0.00) first pitch 12:07pm PDT.

Costa Rican-born Mauricio Segura has been covering sports in the Bay Area since 2001 for a variety of magazines and newspapers, as well as his own publication, Golden Bay Times.

Ballers get quality start from Matsuoka in 9-1 win over Grand Junction

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Oakland Ballers pitcher Dylan Matsuoka was dealing pitching five innings of three hit, one run baseball against the Grand Junction Jackalopes at Raimondi Park in West Oakland on Thu May 29, 2025 (Oakland Ballers photo)

Grand Junction Jackalopes (2-7) 001 000 000 1 6 1

Oakland Ballers (5-4) 300 014 10x 9 14 0

Time: 2:44

Attendance:1,229

Thursday, May 29, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The Ballers’ romp through the 8-1/2 innings of this Thursday evening’s 9-1 resounding victory over the Grand Junction Jackalopes began as if the visitors were picking up where they had left off on Wednesday, when they dominated their hosts, 5-0.

While the air still was warm and the sun brilliant,, the ‘lopes loaded the bases with one out, only to return to the dugout two batters later with nothing more than a goose egg in the run column to show for it. The B’s came up in their half of the first and returned with a two spot on the board, and they were off and running over the .500 line, leaving Grand Junction in the dust behind them and ending the day at 5-4 .

Tremayne Cobb, Jr., who had seen his eight game hitting streak end on Wednesday, re-established himself as a two threat by going three for four, which brought his batting average up to .439, and showing off some pretty flashy glove work along with getting off a few strong and accurate throws.

Cobb’s partner on the left side of the infield, Davis Drewek, also had a multi-hit evening, going two for four. Those two hits were a fifth inning homer to right center and a sixth inning, two RBI double. All told, the B’s third baseman drove in three tallies. Christian Almanza and Daniel Harris IV also cleared the fences. Lou Helmig and Cam Buffard joined Drewek, Almanza, and Harris as run producers.

The win went to the Ballers’ starter, Dylan Matsuoka, who now is 2-0, 1.80. He allowed the only Jackalope run, which was earned, surrendering three hits and a walk against seven strikeouts and a wild pitch. His pitch count was 89, and he faced 28 batters.

Caleb Franzen relieved him for the sixth and allowed nothing more than a lead off single. Alec Rodríguez gave up a hit another else over the seventh and eighth episodes, and James Colyer closed out the rout with two strikeouts, a couple of walks, and then a a backward K that sent the dwindling crowd (if that noun can be used to describe what was left of the 1,229 paying customers) happy.

The loss was charged to Grand Canyon’s starter, Riley Egloff, whose record dropped from 0-0, 3,00 to 0-1, 5.23, The four runs he allowed in his 4-1/3 inning long stint were earned and came on nine hits, two of the yard, two walks and a wild pitch.

Ethan Brown also gave up four runs, all of them earned. He managed to do this on 34 pitches over 1-1/3 frames. This was after Tai Atkins, Egloff’s replacement had retired the two B’s he faced. Ethan Brown (four runs, all earned, on three hits in 2-1/3 innings) and Cade Flaherty, who gave up Harris’s round tripper in the bottom of the eighth, completed the list of sacrificial lambs that Grand Junction sacrificed on the altar of the pitching rubber).

Which way will the pendulum swing Friday the 30th? We’ll know after the game, scheduled for a 6:35 start, is over.

MLB The Show podcast Michael Duca Fri May 30, 2025: Trout expected back in line up tonight for Angels; Braves Sale strikes out 2,500th batter; plus more news

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Mike Trout (right) talks with batting coach Johnny Washington (left) in the Los Angeles Angels dugout before their game against the Seattle Mariners on Wed April 30, 2025 at T Mobile Field in Seattle. Trout is expected back in the line up for Fri May 30, 2025 game against the Cleveland Guardians after suffering a left knee injury. (AP News photo)

MLB The Show podcast Michael Duca Fri May 30, 2025:

#1 The Los Angeles Angels are expected to activate outfielder Mike Trout Friday night before their game against the Cleveland Guardians. The Angels have optioned Matthew Lugo to Triple-A Salt Lake City on Thursday. Trout suffered left knee soreness on April 30th and had to leave the game against the Seattle Mariners in the fourth inning. Trout last season had to have two surgeries on the knee due to a meniscus tear.

#2 What a great career for Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale who is the fastest pitcher to strikeout 2,500 batters. Sale pitched six inning of shutout ball against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday in a 9-3 win in the night cap of a doubleheader which which the Phillies won the front game 5-4. In the sixth inning of the second game Sale struck out Edmundo Sosa in the sixth inning it was Sale’s eighth strikeout of the game to reach the 2,500 career strikeouts mark. Sale joins three other active pitchers to have achieved the record, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.

#3 The Seattle Mariners shortstop JP Crawford was livid over a third strike call by umpire Andy Fletcher on Thursday night on a pitch that Crawford argued was outside. Fletcher didn’t waste anytime into the argument and tossed Crawford from the game. With runners at the corners in the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals with a 2-0 lead. Nats pitcher MacKenzie Gore threw a pitch to Crawford that the pitch chart showed was outside. You could hear Crawford on the crowd mic yelling “That’s not a strike man” to which the argument was too close for comfort and manager Dan Wilson had to come out and restrain Crawford.

#3 Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper was out of Thursday’s first game of a doubleheader versus the Atlanta Braves and was also not in the starting line up in the second game. This after being hit in the elbow with a pitch on Tuesday. Harper took a 95.3 fastball in the elbow from Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider. Harper had suffered swelling and pain.

#4 The Sacramento A’s continue to struggle losing their 14 out 15th game on Thursday night against the Toronto Blue Jays 12-0 at Rogers Centre in Toronto. The Jays cut through the A’s pitching like butter with four home runs and a eight run second inning. The first two pitchers for the A’s were lit up. Starter Jacob Lopez in 1.2 innings of work allowed six hits and seven earned runs. A’s reliever Anthony Maldonado pitched an inning allowing four hits and four earned runs. Question how will manager Mark Kotsay stop the bleeding?

#5 The San Francisco Giants Kyle Harrison (0-1 ERA 3.86) gets the start again against the Miami Marlins on Friday night in Miami. Harrison in his last game pitched four innings allowing five hits and two earned runs. Giants have lost six of their last ten games. How do you see Harrison Friday night against the Marlins to open the series?

Join Michael Duca for the MLB The Show podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Finals podcast Mary Lisa: Oilers drill Stars 6-3 in game 5 to advance to Finals

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Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) scores on Dallas Stars goaltender Casey DeSmith (1) and center Roop Hintz (24) in the second period of game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Thu May 29, 2025 (AP News photo)

NHL Stanley Cup Finals podcast Mary Lisa:

#1 The Edmonton Oilers who had pretty much dominated the Stanley Cup Western Conference finals against the Dallas Stars won the series 4-1 with a convincing 6-3 win in Dallas.

#2 Connor McDavid got a crucial goal in the second period and got an assist on 40 year old Corey Perry’s goal as the Oilers head to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.

#3 The Oilers wrapped up this series in a very neat package doing it in five games and the Stars are no easy customer to beat needless to say in Dallas either.

#4 The Oilers will rematch last season’s final with the Florida Panthers that went seven games. The Panthers who won the first three games of the series, the Oilers came back and tied up the series 3-3 and the Panthers took game 7 to win the Stanley Cup.

#5 The Oilers have home ice for game 1 on Wednesday night in Edmonton. The Panthers took out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games 4-1. Do you see this being another back and forth series last season’s final was really a tough act to follow.

Join Mary Lisa for the NHL Stanley Cup Finals podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

A’s Fail to Cage Blue Jays 12-0 at Rogers Centre to open series

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Toronto Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero Jr (27) slugs a two run home run in the bottom of the second inning against the Sacramento A’s at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Thu May 29, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Mauricio Segura

It was a night to forget for the green and gold at Rogers Centre, where the Sacramento Athletics were steamrolled 12-0 by the Toronto Blue Jays in a one-sided affair that started badly and only got worse. This marks the third straight loss for the A’s and their 14th defeat in the last 15 games, during which they’ve been outscored by a staggering 117 to 44.

Things unraveled in the second inning, when the Blue Jays erupted for eight runs off A’s starter Jacob Lopez, who was chased from the game after recording just five outs. Toronto’s Ernie Clement ignited the rally with a three-run homer to left center.

It was his second of the season and only the beginning of what would be a career night. After a pair of singles and another walk, Bo Bichette delivered an RBI double before Vladimir Guerrero Jr. launched a towering two-run shot, his eighth home run of the year, to make it 6-0.

Lopez was replaced by Anthony Maldonado, but the floodgates remained open. Clement returned to the plate and ripped a two-run double, finishing the inning with five RBIs.

Clement’s five-RBI frame tied a Blue Jays franchise record. Only Edwin Encarnacion had ever driven in five runs in a single inning before, doing so in 2014. For Clement, a 28-year-old journeyman with just eight RBIs all season entering the game, it was a career-defining performance.

But the damage didn’t stop there. In the third, Bichette and Springer went back-to-back with solo home runs to left field. That ballooned the lead to 11-0 and cemented what had become a highlight reel for Toronto’s top hitters. Bichette’s blast was his sixth of the year. Springer, who also singled and scored earlier, added his sixth as well.

The A’s offense, meanwhile, never got going. They struck out 14 times and were held to just four hits, two of which came after the game was already well out of reach. Lawrence Butler recorded a single and a walk, and Brent Rooker hit his tenth double of the season, but the A’s never advanced a runner past second base.

Their best chance came in the sixth, when Luis Urías and Logan Davidson reached base with no outs, only for Butler to strike out and the rally to fizzle with a lineout and forceout.

Toronto starter José Berríos dominated from the outset, allowing just two hits across six shutout innings while striking out nine. He improved to 5-4 on the season with a 2.78 ERA. The Blue Jays bullpen combined to retire nine of the final eleven batters.

The Athletics’ pitching struggles were on full display. Lopez was tagged for seven earned runs, while Maldonado allowed four more in his brief appearance. Sean Newcomb and Hogan Harris provided some length out of the bullpen, but by then the damage was irreparable.

The Blue Jays tacked on their final run in the seventh with a sacrifice fly from Alejandro Kirk, scoring Addison Barger, who had reached with a single and moved over on Ali Sánchez’s double. Even Toronto’s substitutions kept producing, highlighting the depth gap between these two clubs.

The Athletics will attempt to regroup and stop the bleeding when the series continues Friday. A’s Left-hander Jeffrey Springs (5-3 ERA 3.97) is slated to start for the green and gold, looking for his sixth win of the season. He’ll be opposed by former A’s pitcher and Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt, who brings a 4-3 record into the matchup with a 3.38 ERA.

Costa Rican-born Mauricio Segura has been covering sports in the Bay Area since 2001 for a variety of magazines and newspapers, as well as his own publication, Golden Bay Times.

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: MLB- Latino Narrative Dominating 

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Minnie Minoso painting by Graig Kreindler. This is a painting of Minoso getting ready for a game with the Chicago White Sox in 1951 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx (Graig Kreindler X photo)

MLB: Latino Narrative Dominating

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

When I first began covering Major League Baseball in the mid-1970s, Latino players made up between 10 and 13% of all players; today, the number is at least 30% and growing. Although the most famous player today, Shohei Ohtani, was born in Japan, Latin culture is ever-present in the game of baseball. Demographics have changed dramatically since the 1970s, and today the total Hispanic population in the U.S. is estimated to be 65.2 million, according to Pew Research Center.

Of all the countries in the world with the most significant number of Spanish-speaking people, the United States of America ranks second, with Mexico having 132 million. One of my long-time friends is Octavio “Cookie” Rojas, who played 16 seasons in the major leagues. Octavio has done it all. Octavio “Cookie” Rojas Rivas (born March 6, 1939) is a Cuban-American former professional baseball player, coach, manager, scout, and radio and television commentator.

He went to La Luz School in Havana (although a few years before me).I also attended that same school. He became a professional player in the old Cuban Winter League with the Leones del Habana. I remember him playing second base, and I recall a television show about baseball on Cuban television that he hosted.

It was Octavio, when he was a scout, that sat with me during a broadcast back in the 80’s, that told me, “En 30 años seremos cerca de la mitad Latinos jugando aqui” trans- “In 30 years, half of all the players playing here, will be Latinos”. He wasn’t far from predicting the truth.

In 2011, the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame inducted Octavio”Cookie” Rojas into their Hall of Fame. The museum has been a traveling museum for 26 years, founded as a non-profit in San Francisco, California.

Rojas also played in Venezuela, after Cuba, and of course made his name in the major leagues. We at the HHBM are very proud to have him among other Latino Legends who led the way for us today and made baseball one of the most popular Latino sports in the United States.

Note: I recall when Orestes “Minnie” Miñoso was playing in Cuba with the Mariano Tigers. He became the first Cuban-born player to earn a salary of $25,000 in the major leagues with the Chicago White Sox. In the 1950s, that was a substantial amount of money in baseball.

Recently Dominican-born Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets in December 2024. This contract makes it the largest in the history of professional sports. It also includes a $75 million signing bonus and an average annual salary of $51 million. The most significant contract ever in baseball went to a Latino player.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez – Cuban-born Pi-González is one of the pioneers of Spanish-language baseball play-by-play in America. Began as Oakland A’s Spanish-language voice in 1977 ending in 2024 (interrupted by stops with the Giants, Mariners and Angels). Voice of the Golden State Warriors from 1992 through 1998. 2010 inducted in the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.

 https://goaquaadventure.com

 @Central Park Fremont – Fremont CA

Jackalopes Zaborowski allows one hit in 5-0 shutout of Ballers Wednesday

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Oakland Ballers catcher Tyler Lazano (left) and pitcher Luke Short (right) exchange pleasantries at Raimondi Field as they took on the Grand Junction Jackalopes on Wed May 28, 2025 (Oakland Ballers photo)

Grand Junction Jackalopes (2-6) 200 0200 100 5 8 0]

Oakland Ballers (4-4) 000 000 000 0 3 3

Time: 2:21

Attendance: 1,358

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–What a difference a week makes! After his first start of 2025, the Jackalope’s 22 year old righthander Zach Zaborowski’s numbers were 0-1, 4.76 with a WHIP of 1.41. After he got through frustrating the Ballers in Wednesday night’s contest at Ernie Raimondi Park in a 5-0 shutout, those figures stood at 1-1, 2.13 and 0.87.

Ah, well, Wednesday’s child is full of woe, and the 23 year old from Westfield, IN gave his hosts seven innings of one hit woe before yielding the mound to Aydan Alger, allowed them two hits in the remaining two frames but preserved the shutout, the first the Oakanders have suffered so far this season.

The Jackalopes jumped to an early lead and never looked back. Luke Short, Oakland’s southpaw starter, walked Jeb Roos, the first batter he faced. Center fielder Alex Pimentel followed him in the batting order and cleared the basepaths as both trotted around the diamond on Pimentel’s fence clearing blast to right.

Short held the Jackalopes in check for a while but weakened in the top of the fifth. With the bases loaded and two away, manager Aaron Miles decided that Short had hung around long enough; the bases were loaded with two down.

The skipper called on portsider Brody Eglite to put out the fire. It didn’t work out as he had planned. Evan Scavoto singled to right and continued on to second on Lou Helmig’s error. Kendall Foster, one of the two men on board advanced to third, and the other two, crossed the plate, doubling Grand Junction’s lead to 4-0. One of those runs was unearned, coming on an error by B’s backstop, Tyler Lozano. Both of the runs were charged to Short.

It was all over but the shouting. One of the casualties of defeat, which dropped the Baller’s back down to the .500 mark, Tremayne Cobb’s seven game hitting streak. For all the disappointment the Baller backers suffered, it was the best pitched game played in Raimondi Park in recent memory.

The six game series will continue Thursday, and Friday at 6:35, followed by a 4:35 start on Saturday and the final encounter on Sunday at 1:05.