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Dominic Smith, Braves try for encore in rematch vs. D-backs

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MLB: Atlanta Braves at Arizona DiamondbacksApr 2, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Atlanta Braves designated hitter Dominic Smith (8) celebrates a home run during the third inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images

When Dominic Smith signed a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves in mid-February, it was hard envisioning him having much of a role with the team.

After all, Smith’s best defensive position is first base and the Braves feature Matt Olson at that spot, and Olson hasn’t missed a single game in four-plus seasons with the team. He has failed to start a game just once, back in 2022.

But Smith is finding ways to contribute and quickly impressing the organization as Atlanta enters the second contest of a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night in Phoenix.

Smith homered and scored twice as the Braves routed the Diamondbacks 17-2 in Thursday’s series opener. It was the most runs Atlanta has ever scored in Phoenix, topping a 14-0 victory on July 29, 2007.

Smith, 30, is batting .375 with two homers and five RBIs in five appearances – four at designated hitter and one in the outfield.

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Of course, Smith etched himself into baseball history by hitting a walk-off grand slam in a 6-2 win against the Kansas City Royals last Saturday. That made him the first player to ever end a game in such a fashion in his team debut.

Smith will continue to get starts at designated hitter due to the season-long suspension of Jurickson Profar, who was disciplined for a positive test of performance-enhancing drugs for the second time in his career.

Suddenly, lots of at-bats were available.

“When the suspension happened, I said there would be an opportunity for some guys, and guys are going to step up and shine and he’s certainly doing that,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said after Thursday’s one-sided affair. “Dom is taking advantage of the opportunity and we always talk about him giving a professional at-bat. He’s showing off some power too.”

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The Braves are Smith’s sixth team and fifth in the past four seasons. Thursday’s homer was his 71st in 761 career games.

Olson also had a big game Thursday by going 3-for-5 with a homer, two doubles, three RBIs and three runs.

Mauricio Dubon and Jorge Mateo also went deep as Atlanta won for the fifth time in seven games this season.

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Arizona had a three-game winning streak halted and the game got away when it allowed eight runs in the fifth inning.

“It’s about execution, that’s the bottom line,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “If you don’t execute, you’re going to have games like this.”

Jordan Lawlar slugged his first career homer for Arizona but later was hit by a pitch on his right wrist in the bottom of the seventh and exited at the end of that inning.

X-rays were negative, and Lovullo said Lawlar will undergo a CT scan on Friday.

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Lawlar preferred talking about homer No. 1.

“It didn’t really feel like anything coming off the bat,” Lawlar said. “… I ran around the bases and got the silent treatment in the dugout. That was pretty cool.”

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his second start of the season for the Diamondbacks.

He received a no-decision in his first turn when he was charged with one unearned run and four hits in five-plus innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers last Saturday.

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Rodriguez, who turns 33 on Tuesday, is 1-0 with a 5.59 ERA in two career starts against Atlanta.

Right-hander Grant Holmes (0-1, 5.40) gave up three runs and five runs over five innings in a Atlanta’s loss to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.

Holmes, 30, has a 6.08 ERA in four appearances (two starts) against Arizona. Both starts occurred last season when he gave up nine runs in nine overall innings.

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–Field Level Media

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Disappointment in Detroit:Justin Verlander lands on IL, will miss start against Cardinals

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MLB: Detroit Tigers at Arizona DiamondbacksMar 30, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander (35) throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

The first Sunday night game at Comerica Park in Detroit this season was supposed to be a special event. Then came the bad news on Saturday afternoon.

Justin Verlander was scheduled to make his home first start in a Detroit Tigers uniform since Aug. 20, 2017, against the St. Louis Cardinals. However, the 43-year-old right-hander was placed on the 15-day injured list due to left hip inflammation.

Verlander said the injury wasn’t serious but the organization didn’t want to take any chances this early in the season.

“It’s frustrating for me, obviously,” he said. “I also know a lot of fans were excited about [Sunday] night.”

Verlander won the first of his three Cy Young Awards in 2011 with the Tigers. He pitched in Detroit from 2005-17 and later played for the Houston Astros, New York Mets and San Francisco Giants before returning to Detroit as a free agent. Of his 266 career wins, 183 came as a member of the Tigers.

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Right-hander Keider Montero was recalled from Triple-A Toledo and is expected to take the mound in Verlander’s place during the finale of a three-game series.

The team had marketed the nationally televised event as Verlander’s long-awaited return, but the fans and TV audience will have to settle for Montero’s 29th start in a Tigers uniform.

Montero was 5-3 with a 4.37 ERA in 20 appearances with Detroit last season, including 12 starts. He gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings of relief in his lone career outing against the Cardinals last May but didn’t figure into the decision in the 11-4 loss.

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“We didn’t anticipate needing rotation help this week,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “But it came up and we have someone who arguably could have been on the team from the get-go. And now he gets an opportunity to help us. We’re very lucky to have someone of his caliber, who’s pitched in some of the biggest moments in the last couple of years to come up and be ready to go.”

The Tigers will be looking for a sweep. Detroit’s bats heated up on Saturday, as it clobbered four home runs in an 11-6, rain-delayed victory.

Kerry Carpenter, Zach McKinstry, Gleyber Torres and Matt Vierling each supplied their first home runs of the season. The Tigers had just two home runs, both by catcher Dillon Dingler, in their first seven games.

Montero will be opposed by right-hander Kyle Leahy (0-1, 7.20 ERA). In his first start this season, Leahy gave up four runs and eight hits in five innings in a 4-2 to the New York Mets on Monday.

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“I made a lot of good pitches with runners on, but then I made some not-great pitches to let those runners get on,” Leahy said. “Definitely, a lot to learn from this one and be better as it goes.”

Leahy’s fastball velocity went down from the first inning, when he averaged 95.8 mph. It was closer to 93 mph the rest of the way. Leahy is still getting used to starting after being used as a reliever his first three seasons.

“That’s just part of the transition for my body getting used to this again,” Leahy said. “I felt really good early, and I thought I pitched with not my best stuff (Monday) and still competed as hard as I could. That’s just a build-up thing, and hopefully I’ll be better off as the year goes.”

Leahy has made two relief appearances against Detroit in his career and was tagged with a loss both times. His ERA in those games is 10.13 after allowing three runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings.

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Erling Haaland the hat-trick hero as Manchester City thrash Liverpool in FA Cup – Sports

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Manchester City cruised into the FA Cup semi-finals with a 4-0 thrashing of Liverpool on Saturday afternoon, with Erling Haaland finding the net three times.

Having lost the League Cup final two weeks ago, Arsenal squandered another chance of silverware by falling to a surprise defeat against Championship side Southampton.

In Ligue 1‘s Derby du Nord, it was Lille who flattened arch-rivals Lens with a 3-0 win at home. While the visitors lost ground on league leaders Paris Saint-Germain, Lille provisionally climbed back up to third place in the table.

Barcelona are well on their way to retaining their La Liga title after a late Robert Lewandowski goal saw off ten-man Atlético Madrid on Saturday evening and establish a seven-point lead. Real Madrid, who lost to Mallorca earlier in the day, are now seven points adrift of the Catalans.

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The spoils were shared at this year’s Boat Race between Cambridge and Oxford students, as the latter university put an end to an eight-year losing streak in the women’s race. French rower Noam Mouelle later led his Cambridge teammates to a fourth consecutive victory in the men’s race.

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Blue Jays option Little, Estrada to triple-A, select Mantiply, Voth

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The Toronto Blue Jays are making some changes in their bullpen ahead of Sunday’s series finale in Chicago.

Relievers Brendon Little and Lazaro Estrada were optioned to triple-A Buffalo, the Blue Jays announced, with Joe Mantiply and Austin Voth selected to the major-league roster in their place.

To make room for the new pitchers on the 40-man roster, Cody Ponce and Anthony Santander were transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Little has struggled mightily for the Blue Jays in 2026, allowing 10 earned runs in 3.2 innings and earning two losses. Three of those runs came on Saturday, when Little allowed two home runs to left-handed batters and coughed up Toronto’s lead.

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The 29-year-old will head to triple-A and look to recapture his form from the first half of 2025, when he struck out 65 batters in 44.1 innings and carried a 2.03 ERA.

Estrada will head back to Buffalo after four hitless innings on Saturday. The 26-year-old was recalled after Cody Ponce’s injury earlier in the week and figured to give the Blue Jays some bulk innings in relief.

But after tossing 66 pitches on Saturday, Toronto is opting for some fresh arms for the coming days.

Mantiply and Voth, a pair of veteran pitchers, arrived with the Blue Jays after inking minor-league deals with the club earlier in the spring.

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Mantiply, 35, was let go by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2025 after allowing 17 earned runs in 9.2 innings. An all-star in 2022, the left-hander landed with Toronto later in the season and posted a 3.45 ERA over 15.2 triple-A innings.

This season, Mantiply has allowed one earned run in 3.2 innings, striking out three and walking none for the Bisons.

Voth, meanwhile, last pitched in the majors in 2024 with the Seattle Mariners and spent 2025 pitching in Nippon Professional Baseball.

He had made just one triple-A appearance in 2026, allowing two runs in 3.0 innings of work.

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FA Cup semi-final draw LIVE: Man City to find out opponents after thrashing Liverpool

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the draw for this season’s FA Cup semi-finals. Manchester City are here again, having reached eight consecutive semi-finals in the world’s oldest domestic cup competition.

Pep Guardiola’s team have an excellent record in the last four – having not lost an FA Cup semi since 2022. The team that beat them on that occasion, Liverpool, were well beaten by the Blues on Saturday and after Arsenal’s shock exit yesterday – City will fancy their chances of another trophy.

Keep up to date with all the latest in our live blog throughout the afternoon and evening to discover who plays who in the FA Cup semi-finals later this month.

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When will You, Me & Tuscany (2026) premiere? Release date, cast details, first look, and more

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Directed by Kat Coiro, You, Me & Tuscany is scheduled for release on April 10, 2026. The film stars Halle Bailey in the lead role, alongside Regé-Jean Page, with supporting roles from Marco Calvani, Aziza Scott, and Nia Vardalos, among others. The film’s official synopsis reads:

“When Anna loses her house-sitting job (and housing) in one fell swoop, a chance encounter with Matteo—a handsome Italian who happens to have a villa sitting empty in Tuscany—will inspire her to jet off for Italy, against the advice of her always-honest bestie, Claire”


You, Me & Tuscany plot, cast details and more

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You, Me & Tuscany follows Anna, who has lost touch with her dream of becoming a chef. After losing her job and home, she meets an Italian man, Matteo, and decides to travel to Italy on an impulse. She plans to stay one night in his empty villa, but things take a twisted turn when his mother arrives unexpectedly.

Out of panic, Anna pretends to be Matteo’s fiancée. The situation grows complicated when his cousin Michael, shows up. As Anna and Michael grow closer, her lie becomes harder to keep, forcing her to face the truth and decide what she really wants in life and love.

You, Me & Tuscany is led by actress Halle Bailey. Bailey became a household name with her breakout role as Sky Forster in the hit series Grown-ish, but she earned global fame as Ariel in the live-action reimagining of The Little Mermaid. In an interview with People, Bailey shared her personal connection to the project and what drew her to the lead role. She said:

“I was very intrigued by Anna’s storyline, by her character, by her vision and passion that she has and the wants and goals for herself. … It’s a really feel-good movie.”

Opposite her is Regé-Jean Page, whom we best know as the Duke of Hastings, in the first season of Bridgerton. Recalling how quickly he signed on to the film, Page shared a lighthearted moment about his conversation with producer Will Packer, revealing just how simple the decision was for him. In the same interview, he said:

“Will [Packer] and I had a real short conversation and then he just texted me ‘Tuscany in the summer’ with a question mark. End of message. I was like, ‘Yeah, I think we can do that.’ “

The script for You, Me & Tuscany was written by Ryan Engle, based on an original story he developed with Kristin N. Engle. It is produced by Will Packer, known for his work on Girls Trip, alongside Johanna Byer.

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The filming took place in Italy across locations such as Pienza, Montalcino, and the Amalfi Coast. It is set to premiere in theaters on April 10, 2026.