The Blue Jays dropped a 6-5 decision to the Texas Rangers after Gausman (4-6) spotted the visitors six runs thanks to three homers over the first three innings on Thursday.

Guerrero, meanwhile, went 0 for 4 in the opener of the four-game series. He hit into a double play in the first inning and struck out twice, including an 11-pitch strikeout against closer Jacob Latz with American League all-star Ernie Clement on first base with none out in the ninth.

“Weird, really, really weird,” said Toronto manager John Schneider, addressing Guerrero’s lack of power at Rogers Centre in 2026. “Baseball is a weird game. I know the fans are waiting for him to put on the (home run) jacket here. I know he is. I know we are. You know, it'll turn.

“I'll put a dollar on it with you, that's he'll hit at least one here before the season is over.”

Kazuma Okamoto cashed in Clement with a homer to straightaway centre field for his team-leading 18th long ball in 2026 to pull the Blue Jays (39-42) to within a run. But Gausman put his teammates in a hole that was too difficult to climb out of.

“I don't think there are many positives you can take from giving up 10 hits and three homers,” the 35-year-old Gausman said. “You're just not going to have success with those types of numbers. I just need to be better.”

Gausman persevered to extend his outing to six innings. He begged Schneider for one final inning in order to ease the pain on a taxed bullpen.

“At that point, I kind of told Schneids, ‘Just give me over 100 pitches at this point,’ to try to save as many (bullpen arms) out there as we can,” Gausman said.

Gausman got to 99 pitches before his night before 35,273 concluded. Joc Pederson, Wyatt Langford and Jake Burger hit homers for the Rangers (39-42).

The outing came less than a week after a poor outing against the Chicago Cubs. He lasted only two innings in that appearance and gave up seven runs.

He pinpointed his delivery, specifically his landing foot, as something he’ll work on in the hopes of a return to form in his next start.

Schneider didn’t see any similarities between the two appearances.

“I think the one in Chicago was just a lack of command,” Schneider said. “Today, I mean, you've got to give credit to Joc for that at-bat, 11 pitches in the first at-bat of the game. And then the slider to Langford, and then just kind of a hanging split to Burger.

"I don't think it's a common denominator. I think they were kind of different games in terms of walks, his command.”

And where does Schneider believe his team, which is in a four-way tie for the third and final wild-card spot in the American League, sits at the halfway mark?

“It's been a grind, it's been a challenge, not just for us, but I think for a lot of teams,” Schneider said. "The fact that where we are where we are speaks volumes to the character of the guys in the clubhouse. I think our best baseball is in front of us. I really do.

"In terms of getting healthy, and in terms of guys turning the corner to perform, whether it's pitching, or whether it's defence, or whether it's at the plate. That gives me comfort going to bed each night.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.

Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press

Pederson led off the game with a solo blast. Langford hit a three-run shot and Burger had a two-run blast in the third inning as Texas (39-42) halted a two-game slide and extended the Blue Jays' losing streak to three games before 35,273 at Rogers Centre.

All the homers came off Toronto starter Kevin Gausman (4-6), who was coming off a season-worst outing last Friday in which he surrendered seven runs in two innings against the Chicago Cubs.

Gausman lasted six innings, but gave up six runs on 10 hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Lefty MacKenzie Gore (5-6) won for the first time since May 29. He went seven innings, allowing three runs on four hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

Jacob Latz registered his 15th save, despite surrendering a two-run homer to straightaway centre field from Kazuma Okamoto in the ninth. It was Okamoto’s team-leading 18th long ball.

The Blue Jays (39-42) loaded the bases with none out in the fifth inning. A Davis Schneider sacrifice fly and a two-run double from Myles Straw cashed in Toronto’s other runs.

Takeaways

Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit into a double play in the first inning, struck out in the fourth, grounded out in the sixth and struck out again in the ninth.

Rangers: Shortstop Corey Seager, a two-time World Series MVP, returned to the lineup after suffering a concussion on June 11.

Key moment

After Nicky Lopez and Pederson hit back-to-back one-out singles, Langford went deep to give the visitors a 4-0 advantage.

Key stat

The Blue Jays have lost five of six at home for a middling 22-21 record at Rogers Centre.

Up next

The four-game series continues Friday. Toronto left-hander Patrick Corbin (2-3) was scheduled to face right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (7-7).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.

Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press

“53 points?!” she exclaimed. “I thought I had 35.”

The Toronto Tempo star may have been the only person unaware of the history she made at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Thursday.

Mabrey’s 53 points matched the single-game WNBA scoring record as the Tempo routed the Los Angeles Sparks 125-97.

Only A’Ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces (Aug. 22, 2023) and Liz Cambage of the Dallas Wings (July 17, 2018) had previously hit that mark. In the short history of the Tempo, the 53 points are also 15 clear of the previous franchise best, scored on two occasions by Brittney Sykes.

Mabrey become the sixth player in Toronto professional basketball history to reach the 50-point mark. Her nine three-pointers matched a WNBA record — one she already shared from a game earlier this month.

She said she was unaware of the scoring record until sister Michaela Mabrey, sitting on the sidelines, told her she was three points away.

“There’s no stat board in our gym. … After you get into a state like that, it’s kind of hard to know what you’re really doing, but my teammates made it known, so I knew I was doing something good,” Mabrey said.

The Tempo star finished her night shooting 17 of 28 from the field, nine of 18 from deep and 10 of 12 from the free-throw line. She added six rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes.

Toronto (9-9) climbed back to .500 with the win, while Los Angeles (8-9) fell just under the mark.

“I think tonight was just my night from the three-point line, and from honestly everywhere,” Mabrey laughed. “And then the fans, to end up chanting MVP, I don’t know that I ever imagined that. But it was really a good feeling.”

Head coach Sandy Brondello was equally awed.

“I’ve been doing this for quite some time," she said. "I’ve never seen that. (Not even from WNBA legend) Diana Taurasi, and she could shoot it really well. I mean, to witness that was amazing.”

Mabrey-mania started right from the first possession of the game as she scored her first basket on a two-point jumper. The 29-year-old poured in 19 points in the frame, a team record for the first quarter.

She now owns the three highest-scoring quarters in the WNBA this season, having also put up 21 in the fourth quarter on June 19 against the Connecticut Sun and 18 in the final frame against the Washington Mystics on June 12.

“I think it’s part of my game," Mabrey said. "I score in bunches and then sometimes kind of just level out and score in bunches again. But I can’t say enough about my teammates.

"It’s so easy when they’re continually screening for you.”

One of those teammates, Julie Allemand, set a team record of her own by dishing 14 assists without a turnover. She completed the second double-double in Tempo history with 13 points and added six rebounds to boot.

“Julie literally throws the ball right to my pocket, it’s actually wild,” Mabrey said.

It was fitting, then, that the record-tying triple came on a feed from Allemand late in the fourth quarter, leading to a standing ovation from the crowd and a timeout from the Sparks.

Nneka Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby had 21 points apiece for Los Angeles.

Allemand said her main priority throughout the game was to get the ball to Mabrey — even at the expense of other open teammates.

“I love to pass the ball, obviously," she said. "And when you have Marina shooting like that, you just want to pass her the ball. I think (teammate) Maria (Conde) got mad at me three times during the game because she had an open layup, but I was like, ‘No, sorry, it’s not for you tonight.’ Because Marina was feeling it.”

The Tempo and Sparks split a pair of games last May in Los Angeles.

It also tipped off a season-long nine-game homestand for the Tempo, which will continue Saturday at Scotiabank Arena against the Phoenix Mercury and include two contests at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

“I do think we can build a lot of momentum,” Brondello said on using Mabrey’s big night to propel the team forward.

For now, though, the team can bask in a night that won’t soon be forgotten from the expansion team’s first season.

As 41 points became 43, 45, 48 and 50, and Mabrey continued to be unaware of the new-found stakes, the buzz in the crowd began to build. When she hit 53, it brought the house down.

Mabrey, though, was exhausted. Plus, the game was out of reach.

“She wanted to come out,” Brondello said. “I said ‘No, no you’ve got to stay in for this record.”

Mabrey did as the coach said, firing up two more three-pointers, which both missed. Then, it was time.

“She was done. She goes, ‘I’m out,’” Brondello said.

When she checked out with one minute remaining, fans briefly booed before erupting into cheers in acknowledgment of her big night. The clock ticked down to zero with chants of ‘We Want Mabrey!’

“Next time,” Mabrey said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.

Myles Dichter, The Canadian Press

Japan is advancing out of the group stage for the third consecutive World Cup and fifth time in seven tries since first reaching the round of 16 as co-hosts in 2002. The Japanese team finished second in Group F behind the Netherlands and will play Brazil in Houston on Monday.

The Swedes have advanced to the knockout round the past four times they’ve qualified for the World Cup going back to 1994 — when they reached the semifinals the last time the U.S. hosted soccer’s biggest event.

Maeda scored Japan’s seventh goal of the tournament, the country’s most for an entire World Cup. That topped the six the Japanese scored while reaching the round of 16 in Russia eight years ago.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Schuyler Dixon, The Associated Press

The Netherlands began the day tied atop the group with Japan. But when the Samurai Blue could only manage a draw with Sweden in Arlington, Texas, it left Virgil van Dijk and his teammates looking forward to a matchup with Group C runner-up Morocco on Monday — and Japan with the heavy task of playing powerhouse Brazil in the Round of 32.

Tunisia, which sacked its coach after a loss to open the World Cup, had already been eliminated from the tournament.

The Eagles of Carthage gave the Dutch the lead in the second minute when captain Ellys Skhiri's sloppy clear found the back of their own goal. Brobbey made it 2-0 in the seventh minute and, after Tunisia clawed back in the second half on a goal by Hazem Mastouri, Jan Paul van Hecke’s header off a corner glanced off Anis Slimane and into the Tunisian net to make it 3-1.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here.

Dave Skretta, The Associated Press

Yoon, a 23-year-old South Korean seeking her first LPGA Tour victory, birdied five of her last six holes at Hazeltine National Golf Club with a putter that was consistently on point.

Nelly Korda, who’s aiming to become just the third women to win the first three major tournaments on the schedule, had a 70.

Davidson, who finished more than four hours after Yoon, had eight birdies on the way to a career-best 65 on a calm and partly cloudy afternoon that yielded a bevy of low scores on the long course southwest of Minneapolis that requires accuracy and muscle off the tee.

Alexa Pano and A Lim Kim were tied for third 67, and Aline Krauter, Hye-Jin Choi and Megan Kang followed at 68.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., was the top Canadian at 3-under 69.

Korda (second round in 2021) and Patty Sheehan (third round in 1984) also posted 9-under 63s at previous Women’s PGA Championships.

Yoon logged the fourth-best first-round score at any major since at least 1980, trailing Hyo Joo Kim at the Evian Championship in 2014 (10-under 61), Mirim Lee at the Women’s British Open in 2016 (10-under 61), and Lorena Ochoa at the Kraft Nabisco Championship (10-under 62).

The 39th-ranked player in the world, Yoon sounded like she surprised even herself with the stellar start.

“I just hit the golf ball and it just dropped in the hole and it was really an awesome experience,” Yoon said, later explaining her mental approach: “Just try to think nothing. Focus on what I need to do. Focus on process. That part I think I did great today.”

Davidson, who has made cuts in 15 straight tournaments for the third-longest active streak on tour behind Korda (31) and Celine Boutier (20), is also seeking her first career victory.

“Hit a lot of fairways. Hit a lot of greens. Putting was pretty on today. Really felt like I was going to hole everything,” Davidson said. “So it was a pretty perfect round.”

Davidson, a 27-year-old Australian, had her best finish earlier this year with a tie for fifth at the Aramco Championship in April. Fellow countrymate and close friend Hannah Green won the Women’s PGA Championship in 2019, the last time it was at Hazeltine.

Jeeno Thitikul, the second-ranked player in the world who's seeking her first career major, shot a 69. This is the fifth time she has finished the first round in the top 10 in a major, including the Women's PGA Championship last year. The Thai star broke 70 in official regular stroke play last season 45 times, the second-highest total on tour.

The runaway LPGA tour scoring leader at the midpoint of the season, Korda double-bogeyed the lakeside 16th hole with “one bad swing” that landed in a pond to the left for a first-shot penalty stroke.

“I just overturned it. By now you just feel it when it’s bad. So the wind was off the right and I actually I think just made a too fast of a swing and I was kind of in between clubs,” Korda said. “It’s a pretty intimidating tee shot, and I just didn’t really like the way I hit it off the start.”

Korda's 19-foot putt on the 18th green stopped an inch from the hole before she tapped in for par, finishing about the same time as Yoon, who wrapped up nearby on the ninth hole. Inbee Park (2013) and Babe Zaharias (1950) are the only women in golf history to win the first three majors in one calendar year.

Amanda Doherty had hole-in-one on the 17th in a 72.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Dave Campbell, The Associated Press

Wyndham Clark found the gallery a lot kinder and the course a lot softer than when he won his second U.S. Open last week at Shinnecock Hills. His only battle was with the 12th hole when he put his tee shot out of play and made triple bogey in his round of 68.

“They were finally rooting for me instead of against me, so we like the Connecticut fans,” Clark said.

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., was the top Canadian at 5-under 65.

Scheffler, who hasn't won since his first start of the year in January, at least got off to a good start. He played bogey-free in an efficient round of 64 that left him one shot behind along with Matt Fitzpatrick, Ben Griffin, Nico Echavarria, Bud Cauley and Kristoffer Reitan.

Cole had to withdraw from the final round a year ago — he was 10 shots behind, in the middle of the pack — with what he described as a nasty stomach bug. He has Addison's Disease in which the body doesn't produce enough hormones to handle stress and blood pressure. It was bad enough for him to spend a night in the hospital.

“I’m not sure if it’s redemption, but I’m happy to be here and feeling good,” Cole said.

His only disappointment was missing an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole of a pleasant day that followed steady rain earlier in the week that softened the course.

The TPC River Highlands is built for good scoring in any conditions, and it at times looked like target practice for so much of the day with greens holding shots. The greens became slightly firmer as the round went on.

Cole seized on the opportunity, particularly on the 13th hole. His second shot was just right of the green, and he pitched it on the right line with perfect speed to hole it for eagle.

“From 13 in is really where you can kind of score,” he said.

Scheffler, who won the Travelers two years ago, also played bogey-free and was poised to at least catch Cole on the closing stretch. After a tee shot just short of the green set up birdie on the reachable par-4 15th, he had medium-length birdie chances on the three closing holes and narrowly missed them for his 64.

Even so, it was his lowest opening round since a 63 at The American Express, which he went on to win in the California desert in January.

“When the scoring is lower it can be harder and harder to play catch up,” Scheffler said. “Sometimes here you get so far behind you can only shoot so low on some of these golf courses, so it’s important to keep pace.”

Clark said he was surprised by his energy level considering the drain of a U.S. Open and becoming the first wire-to-wire U.S. Open champion in 12 years. The only issue was an allergic reaction that caused his left eye to get puffy and caused some blurriness.

And the only real issue with his game was the tee shot on the 12th hole.

“I had one bad swing, made a triple,” Clark said. “Other than that we would be at 5 under and in a great spot. So, yeah, I feel really pleased with my round and I felt awesome over everything. Just one bad swing.”

Patrick Cantlay, who has yet to contend this year and missed the cut in the U.S. Open, opened with a 65. It was his lowest start to a tournament since the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.

“I feel like it’s moving in the right direction,” Cantlay said. “Golf’s a funny game. A couple weeks can make the whole season. So just grinding and working on all the things that have historically paid off and we’re coming into a big stretch of golf, so it’s a good time to start playing well.”

Only 11 players in the 72-man field failed to break par in the final signature event of the regular season on the PGA Tour.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

The Associated Press

On Thursday evening, a board he controls made good on that signature pledge.

The city's Rent Guidelines Board, an independent panel of mayoral appointees, approved a rent freeze covering both one-year and two-year leases for people living in about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.

The vote, while expected, is a big win for Mamdani, allowing him to beat back skepticism over his ability to deliver on his affordability agenda. And it came just two days after he made a splash as a budding progressive kingmaker when three congressional candidates he endorsed won their races in stunning fashion, unseating two Democratic incumbents and bucking the party establishment.

In a statement, Mamdani, a Democrat, called the decision “a historic victory for New York City tenants.”

“This is the relief that working people across our city deserve,” he said.

Real estate groups say a rent freeze would pinch landlords, leaving them struggling to afford routine maintenance or other repairs as they face rising costs and inflation. Critics of rent regulation say the policy leads to higher rental costs for non-stabilized units.

“This will only result in more dilapidated housing and potentially more foreclosures and bankruptcies, which the city is wholly unprepared for,” said Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, a landlord lobbying group.

A legal challenge is expected over the board's vote. One of its members, an appointee representing landlords, resigned in protest as she claimed the board's independence had been compromised.

“The Rent Guidelines Board has stopped being a fact-finding body,” former board member Christina Smyth wrote in her resignation letter, which she provided to The Associated Press. “It has become a body that starts with an answer and vibe codes its way backward to justify it.”

Mamdani — who lived in a rent-stabilized apartment in Queens with his wife before moving this year into Gracie Mansion, the city's stately mayoral residence — appointed a majority of the board's members a little over a month into his term, signaling a focus on the freeze.

He has said most New Yorkers are desperately in need of relief from high housing costs.

Around 2 million people live in the highly sought-after rent stabilized units, which comprise about 40% of the city's housing stock. While the apartments are privately owned, the city board votes each year on the maximum allowed rent increase.

The board has frozen rents in the past, most recently under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, but then approved modest increases under Mamdani's predecessor, former Mayor Eric Adams. Last year, the board approved an increase of up to 3% on one-year leases and up to 4.5% on two-year leases.

This time, however, the board, now stacked with Mamdani appointees, quickly greenlit the freeze, drawing massive cheers from advocates who packed into an auditorium at a museum along Central Park for the vote.

There are no income limits that determine who can live in rent-stabilized units, and it is not uncommon for higher income people to live in such apartments, which has drawn criticism.

During last year's mayoral race, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on Mamdani — then a state Assembly member earning just under a $150,000 salary — to vacate his rent stabilized unit, calling the arrangement “disgusting” as he argued the apartment should go to someone making less money.

Anthony Izaguirre, The Associated Press

The comment from associate shadow health minister Keith Jorgenson came during a stop in Prince Albert on Thursday, one day after the party released an interim health-care report for the ongoing Your Care Your Say project.

Over the past year, the party has engaged in more than 1,000 discussions with health-care workers, patients, researchers, municipal leaders, organizations, and Indigenous leaders. 

“We’ve heard everywhere we went throughout the province that the health-care system was badly broken and it’s not there for people when they need it to deliver the health care they need, when they need it,” he said. 

The NDP’s report covers a broad range of solutions, including making primary care the foundation of the health-care system and putting patients and communities back at the centre of decision-making. 

“All the time, health-care workers and patients complain the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the government have become disconnected from local health care, the needs of local health care, and ignore the skills and resources local communities have to deliver health care.” 

Other solutions include retention and recruitment, as well as improving transparency, accountability and access to information, such as when a hospital is open and what services are available on a given day. 

Jorgenson also acknowledged the province’s mental health and addictions crisis and said it can have an impact on someone waiting for an ambulance or needing a bed in the emergency room. 

“The mental health and addictions crisis is affecting all aspects of the health-care system here in Prince Albert, and the government has really ignored that crisis and allowed it to spiral out of control.” 

In the coming months, the NDP plans to work further on solutions to address the crisis in mental health and addictions. Jorgenson said he expects more specific policy suggestions to be released in the fall.

Response from the government 

In a statement emailed to paNOW by Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill, the document released by the NDP can hardly be called a health-care plan. 

“It does not actually include anything resembling a plan. It is incredibly vague, relying on statements like ‘make every dollar count,’ with no clear actions, original innovation or timelines,” he said. 

By contrast, Cockrill said the Patients First Health Care Plan is a comprehensive, provincewide strategy with specific actions and goals to improve access to care. 

Some of the government’s key actions include: 

• removing more than 240 clinical policies to allow nurses to practise to their full scope 
• increasing the number of undergraduate medical seats by 20 
• increasing the number of physician residency seats by 10 
• expanding access to virtual care 
• adding six more urgent care centres throughout the province, for a total of seven 
• continuing to recruit, train and increase the number of doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses and other health-care professionals 
• working toward a target of 90 per cent of patients receiving diagnostic scans within 60 days by the end of 2028

“We’re working closely with health-care professionals, municipalities and people across Saskatchewan — and acting on what we hear, delivering on the actions we have identified and making real progress for Saskatchewan patients,” Cockrill said. 

“Promising “big, bold changes,” then delivering a plan this light on details, is exactly why nobody takes the NDP seriously.”

—

nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @nigelmaxwell

The top vote-getter in each league earned an automatic spot on their league's roster for the midsummer classic.

In a far more expected result, Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani received the most votes among National League players.

Clement, who has a .292 average with seven homers and 28 RBIs over 77 games, received 3,232,932 total votes and will be the AL's second baseman.

His total outpaced Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez (2,911,655 votes), Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (2,567,404), Angels outfielder Mike Trout (2,511,587) and Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (2,513,492).

Ohtani, who helped the Dodgers to a seven-game win over the Blue Jays in last year's World Series, had the overall lead with 3,341,257 votes.

“It’s tough coming in second place to the Dodgers again," Clement said Thursday before Toronto opened a four-game series with Texas at Rogers Centre. "That’s my first thought. But he’s one of the greatest players to ever play this game.

“I don’t mind being in the same conversation as these guys. It’s pretty funny to me honestly and it’s really cool. It’s a really cool honour. I feel the love from Canada and all Blue Jays’ fans, and it means a lot.”

The top two Phase 1 finishers at each position (except AL second baseman and NL designated hitter) and the top six outfielders advanced to Phase 2, where they will be subject to a new round of voting.

Toronto has a finalist at every available position, with catcher Alejandro Kirk, first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., third baseman Kazuma Okamoto, shortstop Andrés Gimenez, outfielders Daulton Varsho and Jesus Sanchez and designated hitter George Springer all making the cut.

The all-star game goes July 14 in Philadelphia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.

The Canadian Press