Adley Rutschman tormented his former team in his first game back at Camden Yards, hitting two home runs and leading the Red Sox to a 6-5 win in Baltimore.

Batting third for Boston, Rutschman received a standing ovation from the Camden Yards faithful in the 1st, tipping his helmet to the fans who still had plenty of love for the former Oriole. He then repaid that love by launching Brandon Young’s hanging curveball onto the flag court for an early 1-0 lead for Boston.

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The Orioles would tie the game in the first on a Pete Alonso sac fly, before Alonso and Luis Robert Jr. provided some fireworks of their own in the 4th. Robert, the newest Oriole, marked his Camden Yards debut by blasting a Jack Bennett fastball into the left-field stands. The Polar Bear then followed suit, golfing a changeup below his knees just out of the reach of Boston’s CF for his 33rd long ball of the season.

Those back-to-back jacks put the Orioles up 3-1, a lead they held until Rutschman came back up in the 6th. With one out and the bases empty, Young tried to challenge his former teammate with a fastball up and in. Rutschman turned on the heater and sent another solo shot to right field to cut the Orioles’ lead in half.

After the Red Sox tied the game at 3-3 in the 7th, the former Baltimore backstop was then in the heart of another rally in the 8th. Jahmai Jones led off the inning with a single to left, bringing up Rutschman with the winning run on first. The three-time All-Star bounced a would-be double-play ball to third; however, a hard slide by Jones at second caused Blaze Alexander’s throw to skip off Alonso’s forearm and allowed Rutschman to go to second.

Like on his home run trots, the Boston catcher didn’t have to run hard to score his third run of the day. Two batters later, Nick Sogard homered off a Yennier Cano sinker at the knees to put the Red Sox up 5-3. The Sogard blast ended Cano’s streak of 48 straight appearances without allowing a homer. Roman Anthony would then take Albert Suárez deep in the 9th for the Red Sox’s fourth homer of the evening, putting Boston up 6-3.

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Unexpectedly, that insurance run would prove important as Aroldis Chapman came in for the save in the 9th. After Alonso struck out to begin the frame, Gunnar Henderson slapped a belt-high fastball to left to give the Orioles some hope. That hope grew even more two pitches later, as Christian Encarnacion-Strand turned on a fastball at the top of the zone, blasting a two-run homer to left to chop Boston’s lead down to one.

The thoughts of a comeback quickly faded, however. The future Hall of Fame closer got Leody Taveras to fly out to center for the second out of the inning. Chapman then got ahead of Dylan Beavers 0-2 before blowing a 100mph fastball past the rookie outfielder to secure Boston’s win.

Outside of the two mistakes to Rutschman, Young was excellent for 6.2 innings on Thursday. He struck out the first two batters he faced, fanning Roman Anthony and Mickey Gasper on low splitters. He’d get two quick outs in the 2nd before punching out Jarren Duran on a splitter just off the outside corner.

After Rutschman’s first homer, Young set down the next six Red Sox he faced, with the streak ending on a two-out walk to Anthony in the 3rd. BY would cap that inning with a Gasper flyout to finish the first three innings with only two baserunners and three strikeouts.

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The Orioles’ big right-hander ran into his first real jam in the 4th thanks to a brief lapse of control. After two flyouts to start the inning, Nick Sogard walked on four pitches to extend the frame. Young then tried to run a sinker in on the hands of Caleb Durbin, but clipped the Red Sox’s 3B to give Boston two on with two outs. The big Texan got out of the jam by getting Duran to fly out on a high fastball, stranding both runners.

Young breezed through a 1-2-3 5th inning on just 12 pitches. Rutschman’s second homer of the night snapped a streak of 17 straight Red Sox plate appearances without a hit. Young rebounded from that blast by striking out Wilyer Abreu looking on a curveball at the knees. Sogard then lined out to close out another strong frame from the 28-year-old righty.

Having only thrown 81 pitches through six innings, Young got the green light from manager Craig Albernaz to go back out for the 7th. At first, it looked like the right decision, with Durbin lining out after two pitches and Duran striking out on a 3-2 splitter at the knees. However, with two outs, Boston outfielder Eli White poked a first-pitch fastball down the right-field line to put the tying run on second. Albernaz let Young pitch to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who bounced another ball through the right side. The single scored White, tied the game at three and chased Young from the game.

The Orioles’ most reliable starter finished with a line that doesn’t accurately reflect how good he was Thursday. Finishing with 6.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB and 7 Ks, his stats paint the picture of a good but not great start from BY. At times, however, he was untouchable, generating 12 swings and misses and producing 5 Ks on his splitter alone. If not for two mistakes to Rutschman, Young might have earned a win; instead, he finished with a somewhat unjust No Decision.

Thanks to Cleveland losing Thursday, the Orioles remain 1.5 GB of the last Wild Card spot in the AL. Shane Baz takes the mound tomorrow night looking to end Baltimore’s three-game skid.

Even Alex Eala’s training sessions are certified sellouts. —KEATS LONDON

There was, for Alex Eala, something a bit unfamiliar about this year’s US Open.

“It felt different, definitely,” she said on Wednesday (Manila time) after her victory over Mary Stoiana in her opening match at Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York.

“It was my first time playing on one of the main stadiums here [at the] US Open, and it was very loud,” the world No. 18 told reporters. “And especially when the roof is covered. So that’s something that adds to the atmosphere, but it’s also something you have to navigate.”

There was also that one bit about coming in as a seeded player, 17th in the women’s field, compared to last year when she won her first main-draw Grand Slam match against a seeded opponent.

“Yeah, of course, coming in as a seeded player and having done pretty good … [during] American swing, it brings a different vibe,” the Filipino superstar said. “Of course, you’re a little more confident.”

“But [that’s] not to say that one is … more challenging than the other. It’s just different circumstances. There’s a little more expectation [this year].”

Eala was playing Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine at press time with a shot at extending her run at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, which is about a seven-minute train ride from Woodside, the Queens neighborhood known as “Little Manila” for its strong Filipino community.

And staying in contention would mean a lot to her fans, mostly immigrants from the Philippines, who take every opportunity to see her in the flesh. Eala Mania has turned every WTA tournament the 21-year-old ace joins into an “it” event. And that’s amplified in New York, where even her practice sessions have been packed to the rafters.

But whether or not she gets an extended stint, playing in the US Open already means so much for Eala, who first played in New York in an eight-under tournament more than a decade ago.

“It’s nice to revisit this place and experience it a little bit differently in different stages of my life,” she said before the tournament started.

Against Stoiana, Eala put on a dominant show, but she admitted that beneath the surface, she dealt with some inner tension.

“[T]here were nerves for sure. And I’m not really sure if I can pinpoint where they came from, if it’s from the noise, if it’s from [playing in] the first round of a Slam,” she said. “But I think with experience, my goal is to, you know, tune it out. And I’ve, I’ve had experience with big crowds, especially in the past year.”

“And in the end, when you get into the groove, get into the rhythm … a match is a match, whether or not I think there are so many people.”

One of the biggest punishments from the NBA was the $30 million fine it imposed on LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. The league concluded its probe into the Clippers’ salary-circumvention scandal involving star forward Kawhi Leonard.

Ballmer has also been banned for a year and will not be able to participate in any team and league activities. The NBA punished more than just the owner of the team. The Clippers’ president of business operations, Gillian Zucker, is suspended for a year without pay, and its president of basketball operations, Lawrence Frank, is suspended for six months without pay.

The Clippers must forfeit five consecutive first-round draft picks spanning from 2029 through 2033. Lastly, Leonard must pay a $700,000 fine.

On Thursday, Filipino-American journalist Pablo Torre gave his candid thoughts on the NBA’s punishments.

“I thought that it could have been more,” Torre said about Steve Ballmer.

“$30 million is change for a guy with $145 billion … but the thing about the scope and the vastness of it, the five first-rounders. I think it was unprecedented in that regard, but also because it was narrow in scope.”

Torre, the journalist who broke the news about the Clippers’ salary circumvention in September 2025, also hinted that investigations might not be over.

“It’s only the beginning, somehow.”

Steve Ballmer has a net worth of $152.7 billion, according to Forbes. As the ninth-wealthiest person in the world, Torre pointed out that $30 million isn’t a massive fine.

After the news about the NBA’s probe findings on Wednesday, the Clippers addressed it through a lengthy statement. The organization wants to “vigorously challenge” the findings and penalties. The team also penned a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, condemning the findings.

Stephen A. Smith Calls Steve Ballmer Lucky for His Punishments

Due to the NBA’s penalties, Steve Ballmer will not be allowed to attend any team meetings or be with the players for a year. On Thursday’s episode of “First Take,” the longtime analyst commented on the Clippers owner.

“Number one, let’s hope that they don’t recover from this for a while,” he said. “Steve Ballmer is lucky that he hasn’t been banned and he’s not being forced to sell the team, if this is true, and it appears that it is. He’s lucky because the fact of the matter is a year suspension, he’s getting off light.”

Smith also addressed the entire salary circumvention as “stupidity” for the Clippers. The ESPN analyst pointed out that the two-time champion collected over $291 million from them, while the Clippers got the worst end of the NBA’s penalties.

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