SATURDAY SPORTS PAGE: RATTLERS ELIMINATED

CEBL

The Calgary Surge (12-8) kept their chances at the number one seed in the western conference alive with a 92-89 victory over the Saskatchewan Rattlers (8-12) at the SaskTel Centre Friday evening.
 
The win also eliminated the Rattlers from playoff contention, and gave the idle Edmonton Stingers the final play-in spot in the CEBL playoffs next week.

On Saturday night the Winnipeg Sea Bears (12-7) (-154) will look to punch their ticket to the western conference quarterfinals in a matchup against the Edmonton Stingers (8-11) (+113) at 8:00 p.m. ET/7:00 local at the Canada Life Centre. The game will also be available for streaming on TSN+, CEBL+  and on the CEBL Mobile app available on iOS and Android devices.

Calgary’s victory Friday night at Sask also moved the Surge to within one half game of Winnipeg for first place in the western conference. And if the Sea Bears fall tonight, Calgary will vault past Winnipeg into top spot and avoid the play-in round all together. 

Winnipeg, however, can remain in first place with a win, and set themselves up with a chance to win one home game next week to advance to Championship Weekend in Vancouver. 

CFL

Bo Levi Mitchell threw for 353 yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions in his return and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats beat the Ottawa Redblacks 16-12. Mitchell had come back from a four-game absence after being placed on the six-game injured list due to a hip ailment in June. But he got hurt late in the game and was in the tunnel post-game on crutches in a walking boot.

– Touchdown Atlantic is back. The Toronto Argonauts will take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Halifax this afternoon in CFL action. The two sides played each other in Wolfville, Nova Scotia last season, a 30-24 win for Toronto. The Argos are undefeated at 5-0 and sit atop the East Division, while the Riders are 3-3 and third in the West.

– The West Division-leading BC Lions aim to make it three wins in a row when they visit the winless Edmonton Elks. The 5-1 Lions’ lone loss this season came at the hands of the undefeated Toronto Argonauts on June 3. The 0-7 Elks are the lone CFL team without a win.

MLB

Kevin Gausman added to his American League-leading total of 171 with nine strikeouts and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-1. He got the help of Whit Merrifield who went 3 for 4, including a home run. Matt Chapman and Danny Jansen also homered, while Bo Bichette scored Merrifield with a double in the sixth inning.

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Anthony Santander homered in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Baltimore Orioles a 1-0 win over New York, spoiling Aaron Judge’s return for the Yankees. Judge walked three times in his first game back from a toe injury.

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Triston Casas homered and hit an R-B-I double to back Kutter Crawford, and the Boston Red Sox beat the San Francisco Giants 3-2 for their fifth straight win. Crawford had seven strikeouts with one walk, while allowing one run on three hits over five and two-thirds innings. Crawford surrendered only Michael Conforto’s R-B-I single in the sixth.

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Cal Raleigh and Tom Murphy hit back-to-back, two-run doubles in a four-run first, Logan Gilbert threw six and one-third strong innings and the Seattle Mariners beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-2. The Mariners have won three straight and have an 8-and-6 mark since the All-Star break. The Diamondbacks continued their extended slide, falling to 6-and-15 in July.

(CEBL PR, Canadian Press)