The Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers featured five home run blasts in front of a Fourth of July crowd of 51,487. The Dodgers hit four of them, but the Pirates rallied for three runs in the ninth inning to walk away with a 9-7 victory.
Pittsburgh Pirates closer David Bednar on Tuesday was added to the National League roster for the All-Star Game.
It will be Bednar’s second consecutive appearance in the All-Star Game, which is 8 p.m. July 11 in Seattle.
Bednar, a Mars graduate, will replace Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, a 10-time All-Star selection and three-time Cy Young winner, who will miss the game because of shoulder soreness. Kershaw missed his scheduled start Monday in Los Angeles against the Pirates and was placed on the injured list.
As a gesture of thanks before the game, Bednar sent a cooler of IC Light to the Dodgers clubhouse for Kershaw, with a note that read, “Mr. Kershaw, Pittsburgh’s finest beer. Enjoy.”
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed unrestricted free agent defenseman Will Butcher to a one-year, two-way contract that carries a salary cap hit of $775,000.
A veteran of five NHL seasons, the 28-year-old spent the entire 2022-23 campaign with the Texas Stars, American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Dallas Stars.
JOEY CHESTNUT WAITS OUT RAIN, WINS 16TH MUSTARD BELT:
Eating superstar Joey “Jaws” Chestnut shook off a rain delay and gobbled his way to another win at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, downing 62 franks and buns in 10 minutes.
Chestnut out ate runner-up Geoffrey Esper and the rest of an international field of 15 competitive eaters by double digits to clinch his eighth straight Mustard Belt and 16th overall. Esper, of Oxford, Massachusetts, managed to ingest 49 hot dogs and buns.
FORMER CARDINALS HEAD COACH VINCE TOBIN DIES AT AGE 79:
Former Arizona Cardinals head coach Vince Tobin, who helped the franchise end a 50-plus year playoff victory drought, died Monday. He was 79.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
Tobin led the Cardinals to a playoff berth in 1998 and a 20-7 upset victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card round. It was the Cardinals’ first postseason victory since 1947.