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TORONTO (AP) — This weekend is turning into quite a homecoming for Denzel Clarke. The Athletics’ 25-year-old rookie hit his first major-league home run Saturday, going deep at Rogers Centre in his hometown of Toronto. Clarke told reporters last week he expected 150-200 friends and family to attend the four-game series, and he’s given them plenty to cheer so far. After going 1 for 19 with 15 strikeouts over his first six games as a big-leaguer, he singled twice and recorded his first major-league RBI in an 11-7 loss Friday night. He also made a flashy defensive play when he leapt at the center field wall to rob Alejandro Kirk of a home run in the fourth inning. Oakland was down 4-3 in the top of the second Saturday when Clarke, batting No. 9 in the order, stepped to the plate against Braydon Fisher with a man on base and one out. Clarke hammered Fisher’s first pitch 406 feet into the left-field seats for a 5-4 lead. Clarke, the cousin of Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Josh Naylor and Cleveland Guardians catcher Bo Naylor, played college baseball at Cal State Northridge and was a fourth-round draft pick of the Athletics in 2021. He was playing at Triple-A Las Vegas when he was called up to the majors on May 23. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Panthers don’t play hockey every day. It only seems like that’s the case. When the Panthers take the ice for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final in Edmonton on Wednesday night, it will be the team’s 309th game over the past three seasons and one that ties the NHL record for most games in a three-year span. And that, obviously, means they’ll break the record in Game 2 on Friday. There is no downside to making the Stanley Cup Final in three consecutive seasons, though there has been one unintended consequence — the Panthers are playing a ton of hockey. It’s simultaneously tiring and exhilarating. “We will have more energy for this series than any of the three prior,” coach Paul Maurice said. “And I’m sure it’s true of Edmonton as well. But the regular season was more of a grind for us this year than either of the two previous. And then in each round, it seemed a bigger build to excitement just because the light is at the end of the tunnel. There are no more than seven games left to this season, no matter what. So, you will see a new energy source from both teams in this series.” Dallas (1997-98 through 1999-2000) and Detroit (2006-07 through 2008-09) hold the record for most games in a three-year span with 309; the Panthers’ Game 5 win in Carolina to clinch the Eastern Conference title was their 308th in three seasons, putting them on the brink of passing those clubs. And two Panthers players — Sam Reinhart and Gustav Forsling — have played almost every one of those games. Both have made 303 appearances for Florida in these three years; they have a chance to pass Pittsburgh’s Phil Kessel for the most by any NHL player ever in a three-year span. Kessel played in all 307 of Pittsburgh’s games from 2015-16 through 2017-18. “That is crazy,” Forsling said. “I didn’t know that stat. That is crazy, for sure. It’s a lot of preparation and a lot of recovery and you have to do the right things. Otherwise, you’re going to be struggling out there — because that’s a lot of hockey. And mentally, you’ve got to take days off and not think about hockey as much. I have a son now; that takes my mind off things.” Edmonton is going to fly up the most-games list as this series goes on as well. Game 1 against Florida will be the Oilers’ 300th in the last three years; if the series goes seven games, Edmonton’s 306 games would be the seventh most in a three-year span behind the Panthers, those Dallas and Detroit teams with 309, along with Pittsburgh (2015-16 through 2017-18), Colorado (1999-2000 through 2001-02) and Detroit (1995-96 through 1997-98) with 307 each. “This last stretch of the last couple of years has been some of the most fun I’ve had playing hockey,” Oilers star Connor McDavid said after the Western Conference final. “I look forward to what’s going to be an exciting month.” The Oilers and Panthers have superstars atop the lineups, but both teams know they got here with depth. Both have had 19 different goal scorers in the playoffs. “That’s what’s been winning us hockey games,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said. “And you need that this time of year. We knew we were going to need everybody. … Our depth has been incredible.” The Panthers set the tone for deep runs with grueling training camps, though that’s just one small part of the story. Strength and conditioning is an everyday thing during the season as well, along with constant advising from nutritionists, a sports science department and others tasked with drawing out the best path to peak performance. The Panthers will be up to about 67,000 air miles logged this season — far more than most NHL teams — after the first two games of the Cup final; they tend to stay in cities after games instead of flying home late at night in order to keep some semblance of a normal sleep schedule. “It is before practice, after practice, every day, so that’s kind of the mindset and culture that we build here,” Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “A lot of guys on this team don’t even drink anymore. It isn’t the old NHL where you have beers after games every game. We can’t afford that because we cannot afford to get behind the eight ball at all during the season. That’s where our team is at now.” ___ AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

FLIN FLON, Manitoba (AP) — Roughly 17,000 residents in the Canadian province of Manitoba have been evacuated because of nearly two dozen active wildfires, officials said Saturday. More than 5,000 of those are from Flin Flon, where there is no rain in the immediate forecast. There have been no structure fires in the city located nearly 645 kilometers (400 miles) northwest of the provincial capital of Winnipeg as of Saturday morning, but officials worry that a change in wind direction could bring the fire into town. Manitoba declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as the fires burning from the northwest to the southeast forced evacuations in several communities in the province directly north of the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota. Smoke from the fires is being pushed south into some parts of the U.S., worsening air quality. Thousands have also been affected by wildfires in Saskatchewan and Alberta, with 1,300 people in the community of Swan Hills northwest of Edmonton forced from their homes. In northern Manitoba, fire knocked out power to the community of Cranberry Portage, forcing a mandatory evacuation order Saturday for about 600 residents. People living in smaller nearby communities were told to prepare to evacuate after a fire jumped a highway. “Please start getting ready and making plans to stay with family and friends as accommodations are extremely limited,” Lori Forbes, the emergency coordinator for the Rural Municipality of Kelsey, posted on social media. Evacuation centers have opened across the province for those fleeing the fires, including one as far south as Winkler, Manitoba, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the U.S. border. Evacuations that started earlier in the week for Pimicikamak Cree Nation ramped up Saturday, when five flights were expected to take residents to Winnipeg. “The wildfire has crossed the main road, and the area remains filled with smoke and ash,” Chief David Monias wrote on social media. Winnipeg has opened up public buildings for evacuees as it deals with hotels already crammed with other fire refugees, vacationers, business people and convention-goers. The fire menacing Flin Flon began Monday near Creighton, Saskatchewan, and quickly jumped the boundary into Manitoba. Crews have struggled to contain it. Water bombers have been intermittently grounded due to heavy smoke and a drone incursion. The 1,200 or so residents of Creighton have also been ordered out, many of whom have gone to nearby Nipawin, Saskatchewan. In total, more than 8,000 people have fled wildfires in Saskatchewan. Canada’s wildfire season runs from May through September. Its worst-ever wildfire season was in 2023. It choked much of North America with dangerous smoke for months. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

CAIRO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his Omani counterpart presented elements of a U.S. proposal for a nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington during a short visit to Tehran on Saturday. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said later on Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff “has sent a detailed and acceptable proposal to the Iranian regime, and it’s in their best interest to accept it.” Araqchi said in a post on X that Iran “will respond to the U.S. proposal in line with the principles, national interests and rights of people of Iran”. His statement came ahead of an anticipated sixth round of talks between Washington and Tehran to resolve a decades-long dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme. The date and venue of the talks have not been announced yet.   “President Trump has made it clear that Iran can never obtain a nuclear bomb,'” Leavitt said in a statement, confirming that the U.S proposal had been communicated to Iran. She declined to provide further details. Trump said on Friday that an Iran deal was possible in the “not-too-distant future.” Earlier in the week, Trump told reporters he had recently warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to take actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran. Those comments appeared to signal U.S. concern that Israel might strike Iran’s nuclear facilities while U.S. diplomatic efforts were under way. Trump himself has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails to achieve a deal. One of the main sticking points in the talks between U.S. and Iranian officials has been U.S. insistence that Iran give up its nuclear enrichment facilities, a demand Iran rejects.    Trump, who has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran. In the intervening years, Tehran has steadily overstepped the 2015 agreement’s limits on its nuclear programme, designed to make it harder to develop an atomic bomb. Tehran denies it is seeking a nuclear weapon. (Reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din, Muhammed Al Gebaly and Matt Spetalnick;Editing by Frances Kerry and Chizu Nomiyama ) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

PARIS (Reuters) -Novak Djokovic notched his 99th career French Open win with a clinical 6-3 6-4 6-2 defeat of Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic to reach the fourth round on a memorable Saturday night in Paris. As 40,000 fans watched Paris St Germain’s Champions League final on video screens across the road at the Parc des Princes, the 38-year-old turned on the style on Court Philippe Chatrier. Three-time champion Djokovic, bidding for an historic 25th Grand Slam title, was given a thorough workout at times by his 23-year-old opponent but more than matched Misolic’s power and always looked in complete control. Djokovic failed to convert nine break points early on but made the breakthrough for a 4-2 lead after showing incredible defensive skills to retrieve a barrage of smashes. The Serb saved a break point at 1-2 in the second set and then earned applause from the fans as he sportingly dusted his opponent down after Misolic tumbled over and got his sweat-soaked shirt coated in clay. He soon showed his ruthless side though to break serve with a backhand winner as he raced into a two-set lead. The sixth seed was in no mood for a late night as exploding fireworks and roars rang out from across the road and the third set followed the same pattern as the first two as he cruised through to a last-16 clash against Britain’s Cameron Norrie. (Reporting by Martyn Herman in LondonEditing by Toby Davis) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com