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SINGAPORE - Former Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe placed seventh in the 100-metre individual medley final at a World Cup event in Singapore on Friday in his first competitive race in five years. Everson Griffen Vikings Jersey . The Australian finished in 56.33 seconds — which was better than his heat time of 56.74 seconds — but well behind South African winner Chad Le Clos time of 53.06 seconds. The 29-year-old Thorpe retired in 2006 after winning five Olympic gold medals and 11 world titles and setting 13 individual world records. He announced his comeback in February. Thorpe is also set to race in the 100-metre butterfly event on Saturday. Tom Johnson Vikings Jersey . -- Reginas Mark McMorris is taking home a silver medal and a fractured rib from Saturdays slopestyle event at the Winter X Games. Jarius Wright Vikings Jersey . The Nets continued their winning ways Tuesday by sweeping a back-to-back set for the first time this season, beating the Orlando Magic 101-90 a night after routing the crosstown rival New York Knicks.The Toronto Blue Jays make their second stop of an eight-game road swing tonight when they pay a visit to PNC Park to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of a weekend interleague series. Toronto has lost six of its last eight games but is coming off Thursdays 7-3 victory at Kansas City. Juan Francisco and Colby Rasmus both went deep for the Blue Jays, who are second in the American League with 34 home runs on the season. Starter Mark Buehrle went 6 2/3 innings and gave up two earned runs. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh is back home to kick off a nine-game homestand. It has been a rough start to the season for a Pirates team that was coming off their first trip to the playoffs in 21 years. Things have been much different through the first month in 2014, as the Pirates have dropped seven of their last eight games and sit at 10-18 overall. They lost both games of a doubleheader at Baltimore on Thursday. In the first game, the bats were held in check for a 5-1 setback. The offense showed a bit of life in the nightcap, but Baltimores Matt Wieters sealed the outcome near 1 a.m. ET with a walkoff home run in the 10th inning. "Its been rough," first baseman Ike Davis said. "(Friday) is a new day. Hopefully, we can get some sleep aand come out swinging and regroup a little bit. Harrison Smith Jersey. . As long we can give ourselves opportunities the whole season, were going to score runs." So far this season, the offense has largely failed to deliver in such opportunities. Pittsburgh stranded 28 runners during Thursdays doubleheader. "We keep fighting and fighting and putting ourselves in scoring position, but we havent been able to cash in the way we need to," manager Clint Hurdle said. "We keep showing up. The bats were better throughout the series. We had men on base throughout the game. Were still looking for that big hit." The Pirates hope to get another quality start from Gerrit Cole on Friday night. Over his last two starts, the right-hander has given up a total of only two earned runs in a span of 15 innings. He took the loss at St. Louis his last time out despite yielding just one run in seven frames. This will be Coles first-ever time facing the Blue Jays. His counterpart, Brandon Morrow, will try to forget his last outing against Boston, in which he issued a career-high eight walks and allowed four earned runs despite not giving up a hit. He was pulled after just 2 2/3 innings. After five times through the rotation, Morrows ERA sits at 6.04. ' ' ' |
