Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill is set to make his season debut Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday.

Hill hasn't pitched since straining his left knee during spring training and started the season on the injured list.

Ahead of his debut, Hill was dominant in his final planned workout Monday. He told reporters that he had 16 strikeouts in six innings at the team's Camelback Ranch facility.

"I'm ready to get out there," Hill said. "I'm excited. Obviously, we've been playing great. ... You want to be a part of it and contribute and earn your keep, so to speak."

Hill said he isn't feeling any pain but will continue to wear a knee brace as recommended.

Ross Stripling will move to the bullpen with Hill's return. Stripling is 1-1 with a 3.07 ERA in five starts this season. He is set to start Thursday against the Chicago Cubs.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- All throughout the day Tuesday, Mike Ford found himself the butt of the same joke told by his New York Yankees teammates.

"The running joke was I might have been the only guy in major league history to have two intentional walks and just one hit," the first baseman said, laughing.

Indeed, the Los Angeles Angels walked Ford intentionally twice in Monday's series opener at Angel Stadium, despite the fact the longtime minor leaguer hadn't yet shown off his power at the major league level.

Typically the big boppers with proven pop get the intentional free passes.

After Tuesday's big fly off Ford's bat, maybe he'll start earning more of them. Keep swinging -- and winning -- the way he and the rest of the replacement Yankees have this past week, and few opposing pitchers will want to face any of them.

It was in the fifth inning of Tuesday's 7-5 Yankees win over the Angels when Ford, one of the slew of fill-ins called up from New York's Triple-A affiliate in recent weeks, lined his first career homer into the seats above the massive wall in right field. The ball came to rest into a pair of fans' hands 419 feet away.

Soon, that very same ball, after being scooped up by the Yankees, will be in New Jersey, and in the possession of Ford's parents, Bob and Barb.

"They've supported me through everything," Ford said. "[Want to] give it to them, share the moment with them."

It took Ford 561 career minor league games to make it to the majors. For infielder Thairo Estrada, it took slightly less time. Estrada, a 23-year-old native of Venezuela, was just under 400 career minor league games when he was first called up to the Yankees' big league squad this season.

On Sunday, he had his first major league plate appearance, laying down a crucial sacrifice bunt ahead of catcher Austin Romine's walk-off heroics.

On Tuesday, Estrada started for the first time in the majors and picked up his first and second major league hits.

"Everyone tells me he rakes," Yankees first baseman and designated hitter Luke Voit said, "so it's pretty awesome to see that. And to see him hit two (liners) back-to-back was pretty cool."

After Estrada was thrown out via a force following his first hit, cameras caught him and Ford in the Yankees' dugout sharing smiles and a quick hug. Three weeks ago, it was hard for either of them to fathom collecting such milestone hits in an MLB stadium.

With 13 players on their injured list, the Bronx Bombers have had to get creative with how they've been able to field a team. As a whopping two-thirds of the Yankees' Opening Day lineup -- the likes of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, Troy Tulowitzki, Greg Bird and Miguel Andujar among them -- sits shelved on the IL, the team has had to rely on unfamiliar names like Ford and Estrada.

Another name even the most casual of baseball observers might not recognize is Domingo German, who might not be ace Luis Severino but still has been extraordinarily effective to this point in the season, recording a 1.75 ERA through his first five appearances.

German, 26, was particularly dominant Tuesday, giving up an unearned run and four hits in a five-strikeout, 6⅔-inning performance.

"It wasn't real easy for him the first couple of innings. It wasn't his sharpest breaking ball -- certainly that he's had -- but he pitched," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "He keeps showing us that even when he's not necessarily at his best, he's still able to go out and have a performance like he did."

Combine an outing like German's with contributions from the newest Yankees, and sprinkle in a breakout game from a pair of the most veteran hitters in the lineup, and there's a recipe for a win. Tuesday's victory was the Yankees' seventh in eight games.

Longtime Yankee Brett Gardner shined batting third, going 4-for-5 and coming a home run shy of a cycle. Voit, much less tenured though the most recognizable power bat in Tuesday's lineup, also had a big evening, collecting his first multihit game of the season.

Going 2-for-4, Voit posted his third career multihomer game in pinstripes, and his first this season. He also reached base in his 34th consecutive game (dating to last season). It's the longest active such streak in baseball.

"It's pretty cool," Voit said of the streak.

Much of his offensive success this season has come in the first inning. His 22 total bases in that inning this year leads all of baseball. His four first-inning homers are tied with Christian Yelich for the most in MLB. His seven first-inning RBIs also are tied with Yelich and Alex Gordon for the most in the league.

Voit's 1.768 first-inning OPS trails only Shin-Soo Choo's 1.825.

"I guess maybe more in the first inning [opposing pitchers] are trying to get more ahead, establish their stuff and maybe they're a little more liable to make mistakes," Voit said. "But I'm just trying to stay in my back side, not pull off, not to get too big and stay with that up the middle approach, right field."

Boone says he feels proud of the contributions from less-heralded players such as Voit, among others throughout his banged-up, depleted roster.

"When you're a little beat up and facing adversity and things are a little difficult, you need everyone to kind of pull their weight," Boone said. "You need everyone to contribute and chip in on a given night, and that's been one of the common themes over the last week, really, is a lot of different people doing their job and having an impact on helping us win a game."

CLEVELAND -- Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco is not expected to miss any time with a left leg injury that the team initially feared was serious.

Carrasco was hurt Tuesday night while covering first base in the fourth inning against Miami. He stumbled and fell as he attempted to catch an off-target throw from first baseman Carlos Santana. Carrasco did a somersault and got up with a slight limp.

He finished the inning but was replaced when the leg tightened up while the Indians batted. Carrasco had an MRI after the game, and it didn't show any damage.

The Indians are optimistic he'll make his next scheduled start.

Cleveland couldn't afford to lose Carrasco, a 17-game winner last season, for any period. The team is already without starter Mike Clevinger, who is expected to miss two more months with a strained upper back muscle.

Long before radar and camera systems that log every imaginable measurement became necessities at minor league affiliates across baseball, they were like Christmas morning toys to those who understood where the game was going. And in the Atlanta Braves organization, the most curious minds in the front office wanted to know whether their eyes were telling them the truth. That the 17-year-old who stood 6 feet tall and weighed 180 pounds really did hit the ball like grown men five inches taller and 75 pounds heavier.

A Trackman unit, used to evaluate players, was sent to Danville, Virginia, where the kid was spending the last three weeks of the 2015 season in rookie ball. About a year earlier, Ronald Acuña Jr. signed with the Braves for $100,000. He was supposed to be a Kansas City Royal, but the Braves swooped in on international signing day, July 2, with a heftier bonus offer. Atlanta soon recognized its fortune. The entire industry, which devoted tens of millions of dollars annually to teenagers from Latin America, had whiffed on Acuña. He was the Braves' little secret.

And after Danville, Atlanta knew he wouldn't remain a secret too much longer. The hands didn't just look fast. The sound when he made contact wasn't just loud. There were actual numbers to contextualize who Acuña was. The Braves combed data from batting practice. The ball was leaving his bat at 110 mph-plus. In games, triple-digit exit velocities were common. Acuña was essentially a senior in high school whose data resembled that of a big leaguer.

So for those who had that early look behind the curtain, the proof of his abilities is in everything that has come since. The next year, when other teams got hip to Acuña. And the year after, when he leapt from Class A to Triple-A, getting better every step of the way, and the baseball world understood how special he could be. Then last year, when he arrived in the major leagues still unable to legally buy a drink and exceeded expectations that couldn't have been much higher.

And now, a year after his debut, when he has guaranteed himself 1,000 times that original signing bonus and established himself as everything the Braves thought he could be and more, and all that's left for him to capture are the game's crown jewels -- the MVP trophy, the World Series ring and the title that can be held by just one person at a time.

Best Player in Baseball.

Some facts about the game. The ball weighs approximately five ounces. The mound is 60 feet, 6 inches from home plate. There is always a matchup between a pitcher and a batter. Mike Trout is the Best Player in Baseball.

The first three are written into baseball's rules. At this point, the fourth might as well be. Since he arrived in the major leagues for good at 20 years old, Trout has worn that designation like a Miss America sash. It is on him everywhere he goes, and he must live up to its standard daily. And for eight years running, Trout has. At some point, though, something will catch up. It could be age. It could be opponents. It could even be someone. And if it is someone, Acuña stands as good a chance as anyone.

His all-around game mirrors Trout's as much as any young player's. By the time Trout abdicates, some of his contemporaries -- Francisco Lindor, Mookie Betts, Nolan Arenado, Christian Yelich, Javier Baez -- might have aged out of contention. Of the other candidates who bring skills and youth -- Alex Bregman, Cody Bellinger, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto -- none combines the precociousness of both quite like Acuña. Look at last year. He became the seventh player to hit 25 home runs in a season before his 21st birthday -- and the fastest to reach that mark, in 92 games. The other six on the list: Mel Ott, Frank Robinson, Al Kaline, Orlando Cepeda, Eddie Mathews and Tony Conigliaro. The first five are Hall of Famers.

Acuña became the youngest player to homer in five straight games. And he tied Ott for the most home runs in a month for a player 20 or younger with 11 in August. He was the youngest player in baseball history to receive a nine-figure contract, when he agreed three weeks ago to an eight-year deal that includes a pair of club options and, remarkably, was seen throughout the industry as an extreme bargain despite guaranteeing Acuña $100 million.

Everything is seen through the prism of Acuña's youth because what he's doing is so extraordinary for someone this young. Baseball is a sport that never has shied away from promoting its youngest players, so for Acuña to position himself amid that group -- and to do it as consistently as he has -- speaks to the scouting community's belief that he is Trout's heir.

His start to 2019 has done nothing to dissuade them. In the second half last season, Acuña hit .322/.403/.625 with 19 home runs. Thus far this year, he is hitting .307/.429/.600 with six home runs. Yes: That's a 1.028 OPS in the second half of 2018 and a 1.029 OPS so far in 2019. Acuña's walk rate is up 40 percent this year. He's hitting more home runs per plate appearance. He's one of the 15 fastest players in the game. He could play center field, and play it well, if not for Ender Inciarte, who for the last three years has played it extremely well for Atlanta.

He is everything everyone wants in a baseball player. And he turned 21 four months ago.

Here's the cynical part -- and there needs to be a cynical part because Ronald Acuña Jr. is human, and because baseball is baseball, and because failure is so inherent in both, and because it is even more acute when the standard is Best Player In Baseball.

Acuña is from a baseball family, and nearly everyone in it, from his father Ronald Sr. to his cousins Kelvim and Alcides Escobar, was done around age 30. Maybe it was genes, or maybe it was something entirely different for each that has nothing whatsoever to do with Acuña, who he is and how he intends to combat whatever befell his relations.

It is true, too, that Acuña is young and rich, and the marriage of those two qualities can be complicated and problematic, and that the highway to superstardom that he hopped aboard last season is rife with traps. Believing natural talent is enough and ignoring the value of hard work and not recognizing the necessity of evolution are chief among the traps. Mike Trout is not the Best Player In Baseball because he's the most talented. He's the Best Player In Baseball because he is the most talented and he snuffs out whatever minuscule weaknesses he might have before anyone else can find them.

Acuña is lucky enough to already have something that Trout never has had: a representative young core surrounding him. One of Acuña's best friends, second baseman Ozzie Albies, will be in Atlanta for the next nine seasons after signing a deal that is even more team-friendly than Acuña's. Freddie Freeman is the franchise linchpin at first base. Dansby Swanson is finally looking like the shortstop of the future. The Braves' young pitching talent borders on unfair. Cristian Pache and Drew Waters, both 20, aren't quite Acuña, but they are each at Double-A and look like the respective center and right fielders of the future, potential All-Stars themselves.

At the heart of it all is Acuña. He is that special, that different, spoken of in reverential terms from wizened baseball men who aren't prone to hyperbole. And it's only a year in. At the one-year mark of his career, Trout was just getting into a groove, showing that his struggles as a 19-year-old were anomalous and that his talent really was transcendent. Acuña never tripped. He was good from the jump and great soon thereafter.

Can he be more? The kid hitting those 110 mph shots in rookie ball is now a man hitting them even harder. He's already one of the best. And it might just be a matter of time before you can strike "one of" from that assessment.

Ahead of this year’s London Marathon, we reflect on Kipchoge’s 2016 course record and Keitany’s 2017 women-only world record by featuring Professor Sean Hartnett’s fascinating race maps

Sean Hartnett is the ‘Professor of the Marathon’ – an expert on the 26.2-mile event and major marathon courses across the world.

Since 1984 Professor Hartnett has taught geography at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and served as a marathon correspondent for Track & Field News. He has attended and reported on over 250 marathon competitions, produced over 30 ‘How the Race Was Won’ maps and created elevation profile maps of the Boston, New York and London Olympic marathon routes.

During competitions, Professor Hartnett and his colleague Professor Helmut Winter also record split data from a lead vehicle and display the pace information for the leaders of the men’s and women’s races.

Ahead of Sunday’s Virgin Money London Marathon, we reflect on two of the event’s stand-out performances – Eliud Kipchoge’s course record from 2016 and Mary Keitany’s women-only world record from 2017 – by featuring Professor Hartnett’s fascinating course maps, which include detailed splits, pace graphs, elevation profiles and more.

Click on the image of each map to view.

Nike unveils intriguing upgrade to road racing shoe on eve of London Marathon with Vaporfly Next%

It is almost two years since Eliud Kipchoge came within 25 seconds of breaking the two-hour barrier for the marathon. The ‘Breaking2’ time trial on the Monza motor racing track in Italy was further proof that Kipchoge is the world’s best marathoner and it introduced the world to the Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4%.

Since then thousands of ordinary runners have paid more than £200 (the latest model is £239.99) for these shoes in the hope they will propel them to a PB. As editor of Britain’s only track and field athletics magazine, over the years it is easy to become immune to the hype surrounding new shoe launches. Yet the springy midsole in the Vaporfly actually does seem to ‘work’ and on Sunday we will see Kipchoge and Mo Farah (pictured above) racing for the first time in the latest incarnation of the shoe – the Vaporfly Next% – and to crank up the anticipation Nike has this week released a short video showing the Briton training in the footwear in Ethiopia.

The new bright green or ‘phantom glow’ coloured model (pictured below) features 15% more ZoomX foam in the midsole, a lighter upper made out of ‘Vaporweave’ plus, of course, the carbon fibre plate that somewhat controversially gives the shoe its spring. With comfort in mind, laces are offset to the side to reduce pressure on the top of the foot and there is more padding to protect the Achilles. Feedback from elite athletes also led to traction being improved on the outsole, which could be vital on Sunday if the roads of London become wet with rain.

Back in the winter one of Britain’s leading distance runners told me the consensus among elite athletes is that it makes a difference of about a minute to your marathon time and that even non-Nike sponsored athletes are occasionally wearing them. However, if Nike’s claim of a 4% improvement in ‘efficiency’ translates to a 4% better time, then a mere minute is a conservative estimate.

Runners are forever fascinated by shoes and during my time at AW I’ve seen the growth of trail-specific shoes, a trend toward shoes with a ‘barefoot feel’ and, most of all, a preponderance of motion control footwear. Even interviewing Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March, my eye was drawn to what seemed incredibly tight Nike spikes, with his feet almost bulging out of the toe box.

As a middle-aged plodder with dodgy knees, I’m not the best person to test the Vaporfly shoes. But earlier this year I ran more than a minute quicker in a pair of Vaporfly 4% shoes on the Eden Project parkrun than I did when wearing non-Nike shoes at the flat, grassy Wanstead Flats parkrun in London. Speed aside, they are super-comfortable too.

My one-off experience aside, the New York Times studied data from half a million races last year and, apart from discovering that Strava users spelt Vaporfly in 147 different ways, the newspaper surmised that runners did benefit from a 4% improvement, although the percentage varied from one runner to the next.

Not surprisingly, the IAAF is looking into whether they break any rules. Questions have also been raised lately over Laura Muir’s track spikes, which feature similar technology.

Of course, plenty of races are still being won by athletes wearing different brands. But, if money is no object, then an increasing number seem to be following, quite literally, in Kipchoge’s footsteps.

Farag and Momen set up world final repeat
By MATT COLES

World No.12 Amanda Sobhy is through to the semi finals of the El Gouna International, PSA World Tour Platinum tournament after sensationally coming back from two games down against World No.3 Nour El Tayeb on the at Abu Tig Marina earlier today.

Egypt’s El Tayeb took the first couple of games with ease but a change of game plan saw the American fight her way back into it as she showed more attacking intent.

She took the third and the fourth, and made a strong start to the decider, as El Tayeb lost her composure completely, resulting in her breaking her racket against her own leg after falling 4-1 behind. After the World No.3 returned to court, a conduct stroke was given against Tayeb, with the American taking full advantage to go on and secure victory.

Sobhy will face Egypt’s World No.1 Raneem El Welily on Thursday (April 25) for a place in the final.

The American left-hander said: “I wasn’t thinking I had a chance to win, I was thinking about not getting slaughtered and trying not to embarrassing myself. It is a quarter final … and Tayeb was playing well, but I told myself to give it everything I had.

“There was some rage, some anger fuelling me, and I just tried to power through. Fortunately I got a good lead in both the third and fourth and in the fifth, I wasn’t event thinking about how I had come back, I kept thinking I needed to keep my head down and to keep going.

“I think I was not prepared for the glass court, and I had over 48 hours of rest. I didn’t do much yesterday apart from a 30-minute hit, so I think it was just that shock to the system of the pace. I had to get the lungs working again, I couldn’t find my lengths and she was all over me. I don’t really know how, but I just told myself to stop being a baby and to push through.”

Defending champion El Welily is through to the semi finals after beating New Zealand’s Joelle King in a high-quality four-game affair.

The pair had met 15 times on the PSA World Tour in the past, with the Egyptian having won 11 of them. However, King had won four of the last six, including the finals of the Hong Kong Open and Cleveland Classic in 2018.

Welily came out strong to win the first game, but the Kiwi pegged her back with some quality squash in the second. The World No.1 found another gear though to claim victory and book her spot in the semi finals.

“I am definitely pleased to be into the semis here in El Gouna. Playing Joelle has not been easy for me lately but to come out with a 3-1 win is definitely something that makes me pleased,” Welily said after her victory.

“I tried to push myself this time to get the first game and I think that made a difference somehow. I am also very happy with the way I pushed myself after the second game. Some things were not going the way I thought they would, so I am very happy with the way I pushed myself mentally to come through.”

Meanwhile, the first men’s semi final will see a repeat of the PSA World Championship final as both World No.1 Ali Farag and World No.3 Tarek Momen booked their places in the last four.

Farag advanced to the semi finals after coming through a tricky match with New Zealand’s Paul Coll.

This was the eighth meeting between the pair, with Farag having won the last six, including at both the World Championships and the Tournament of Champions earlier this year.

Despite the 3-0 scoreline, Farag never had full control of the match, as World No.5 Coll kept himself in the match thanks to his trademark retrieving ability. However, the Egyptian was able to score points at exactly the right times to secure victory, setting up a clash with Momen in the last four as he aims to improve on last year’s runner-up finish to Marwan ElShorbagy.

“Paul is always tough to play against. Even if it is in three, they are always 11-8 or 11-9, so it is never easy.” Farag said.

“He is never going to give you any cheap points, so you have to earn every single point and that is not easy when you play against someone like this. However, I think I had my tactics sorted today, and I tried to make sure I did not get into a physical battle with him, so I am glad to be through in three.”


Egypt’s Momen is through to the last four after a great display of attacking squash helped him defeat Germany’s Simon Rösner to claim his 250th win on the PSA Tour.

Momen took the first two games comfortably, but Rösner fought back, as he aimed to win a third straight match against the Egyptian, a run which includes the 2018 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions final. It was not to be though, as Momen went back on the offensive to reach his first semi-final in El Gouna.

Momen said: “I try to isolate things, I don’t like to get my revenge. Every match I play, I go in for the win. I’m fully committed to getting my win over Ali, irrespective of what happened in the past.

“I don’t want to link between what happened then and what happened now. It’s just a match, he’s a good opponent, and I have to come on court with the right gameplay and execute it to the best of my abilities.”

With both Momen and Farag into the last four, this guarantees an all-Egyptian men’s final, as Fares Dessouky, Karim Abdel Gawad and both ElShorbagy brothers face off in the other two quarter final matches.

Quarter final action continues tomorrow evening (Wednesday April 24) as the bottom half of the draw play their last eight matches on the glass court.

Matches from the glass court will be broadcast live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour (excluding Europe and Japan). Play starts at 18:30 local time (GMT+2).

El Gouna International Open 2019, Abu Tig Marina, El Gouna, Egypt.

Men’s Quarter Finals (Top Half):
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [7] Paul Coll (NZL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 (50m)
[3] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt [5] Simon Rösner (GER) 3-1: 11-5, 11-4, 7-11, 11-3 (41m)

Women’s Quarter Finals (Top Half):
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt [5] Joelle King (NZL) 3-1: 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6 (38m)
[13] Amanda Sobhy (USA) bt [3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) 3-2: 3-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6 (41m)

Men’s Quarter Finals (Bottom Half) Wednesday April 24:
[4] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)
[WC] Fares Dessouky (EGY) v [2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)

Women’s Quarter Finals (Bottom Half) Wednesday April 24:
[4] Camille Serme (FRA) v [6] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
[8] Nouran Gohar (EGY) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)

Men’s Semi Finals (Top Half) Thursday April 25:
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v [3] Tarek Momen (EGY)

Women’s Semi Finals (Top Half) Thursday April 25:
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [13] Amanda Sobhy (USA)

Pictures courtesy of PSA