WWE FANS INSIDE the Barclays Center exploded from their seats at SummerSlam 2018. It was the epitome of real life striking the performance art of professional wrestling at just the right angle to create lightning in a bottle. Becky Lynch had turned on her longtime friend, Charlotte Flair, and in that moment -- one of shock and elation for wrestling fans -- "The Man" had finally arrived.

Lynch was the fans' choice who had gotten pushed aside one too many times. Even as WWE scrambled to figure out how best to harness her energy and momentum, Lynch was already well on her way to seizing the opportunity she long felt she deserved: a history-making match to close out the biggest wrestling show of the year.

WWE had stumbled into a generational star in this Irishwoman -- a former teenage prodigy whose immeasurable drive traces back to watching her childhood dreams slip away for seven years. Given the chance to reclaim them, Lynch fought with every fiber of her being and ultimately clawed her way to the top of the WWE.

"This girl that was failing P.E. at 15 years old has somehow become the best sports entertainer in the world," Lynch said. "So much so that they couldn't deny her the main event of WrestleMania."

LYNCH, BORN REBECCA Quin on Jan. 30, 1987, in Limerick, Ireland, and raised in Dublin, was a rambunctious child whose early memories include wrestling-inspired scraps with her brother. She can trace her love of wrestling to the WWE's meteoric rise in popularity during the "attitude era" and the underdog narrative of Mick Foley -- one that bares more than a passing resemblance to her own WWE journey.

At a time when everything else seemed to be going sideways, wrestling became a consistent joy in her life.

"I was completely out of shape. I had no drive. I was drinking. I was smoking things you shouldn't be smoking," Lynch recalled. "And I [thought], 'This is ridiculous. I'm 15 years old -- I need to get it together.'"

She and her older brother, Richy, who was also a lifelong fan with a deep connection to wrestling, talked about making pro wrestling more than just a passion and a hobby. When Richy considered attending a wrestling school based out of England, Becky was only 15 at the time.

Almost serendipitously, word spread that a couple of Irish wrestlers, who were students of that English wrestling school, were opening their own camp far closer to home. Becky knew she had to see it.

On an otherwise unremarkable day in 2002, two of the most popular stars in the WWE today met for the first time with little idea of everything that was to come.

"I show up to this little gymnasium in a school hall," Lynch recalled. "There's six blue padded mats on the ground. Finn [Balor], at the time, was skinny as a rake, big smiley head on him. 'How are you, lads?' And I walked in.

"That was my introduction to wrestling."

Lynch had expected to walk into a giant warehouse with WWE-ready stars battling for a chance at the big time, a la "Tough Enough," the reality show that debuted in 2001 and offered WWE hopefuls a chance to compete for a contract to become a wrestler. Instead, the small gym wouldn't even have a ring for the first three months. Regardless, Lynch was hooked.

"She wanted it so bad that she actually lied to join the school, because she was underage," Balor recalled. "I think she was 15 and she might have lied about her age and told us she was 16, because you had to be 16 to train at the time."

There was also the small matter of walking in off the street without a shred of physical fitness or a clue of how big a task lied ahead.

"I was terrible. It was so foreign to me," said Lynch. "I wasn't an athlete, and I was a chilled-out kid, you know? I was tough, I had never done anything like this but I just wanted to work. I remember at one stage crying to [Finn] and being like, 'I just want to be as good as any of the guys.' And he was like, 'Well, that's what I'm trying to make you do.'"

"We had something special in Becky -- even if she wasn't as aware of it as everyone else. She was the only girl out of about 40 guys, [and] she outworked every single one of them, every single day at training," Balor said. "I think Becky gives me too much credit. I think she says that I trained her, but really, Becky, in my opinion, trained herself. She just needed a little guidance and a little motivation with regards to where to go and what to do."

Lynch made her pro wrestling debut on Nov. 11, 2002, and in February 2004, at age 16, had her first one-on-one match. She spent as much time as she could working toward her wrestling goals while juggling her schoolwork and other responsibilities. She had limited wrestling opportunities and in an attempt to build her profile, she rebranded herself as Rebecca Knox as she expanded her reach to England and France.

"I was just like, 'Give me as much wrestling as I can, because I love this and I just want to get as good as possible,'" Lynch said. "There's nothing in my life that I've ever felt like that about."

The dream was to find a way to get to the WWE, but there wasn't a clear path in that era. At the same time, wrestling outside of WWE was starting to grow in North America with a handful of all-women's promotions starting to pop up. It was worlds ahead of where European wrestling was at the time and so, at 18 years old with $2,000 in the bank and no real plan for what she'd do once she arrived, Lynch applied for a visa and then moved her entire life to western Canada -- searching for that big break.

BY MID-2005, LYNCH had started to make some serious waves within the industry. While wrestling in Vancouver and the United States, she was offered her first tour of Japan, an opportunity that included a solid payday and matches against a variety of up-and-coming stars, including a young Canadian named Natalya Neidhart.

Around that same time, an upstart women's wrestling company in Berwyn, Illinois, called SHIMMER Women Athletes started to gain momentum. Co-founder and promoter Dave Prazak was building up a roster of some of the most talented women in independent wrestling, which then included WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix and current assistant head coach of the WWE Performance Center, Sara Amato (then Sara Del Rey), among other stars of the era.

Then Prazak heard the buzz surrounding Rebecca Knox.

"Lexie Fyfe, who has played a key role in the development of women's wrestling in the United States over the past 15 years, passed along a DVD of a few Rebecca Knox matches to me during late 2005," Prazak recalled. "One of the matches on the disc was a training match, in front of no audience, against Fergal Devitt [Finn Balor]. Even though Becky was still very new to wrestling at the time, I was immediately impressed with her skill level and wanted to make her a part of our events."

The two shows Lynch wrestled on for SHIMMER in May 2006 featured her in a pair of intense matches more than 25 minutes long. They were eye-openers for anyone paying attention, as they showcased Lynch's true potential.

They were also Lynch's last matches in the United States for seven and a half years.

Lynch's visa expired shortly afterward and she returned to Europe. The wrestling paychecks were smaller and Lynch started to look for other career possibilities, which eventually saw her pursue competitive bodybuilding, as she told Brid Heffernan in a 2013 interview. The dramatic weight loss Lynch needed to get down to her leanest point altered her mood and her overall wellness, and she would ultimately identify those physical and mental changes as one of the primary factors that derailed her wrestling career.

IN SEPTEMBER 2006, Lynch was in Germany wrestling a Finnish woman named Kisu when a slip-up in the ring changed the course of her life.

"I just grabbed her and I German suplexed her but, I think it was out of a rush, I just landed her right on my head," Lynch told Maria Menounos in July 2018. "Busted my head open and gave myself a nice little concussion."

Lynch got stitched up and felt well enough for a short match the next day in England, facing Sweet Saraya Knight, Paige's mother, but in the days and weeks that followed, more serious complications emerged.

She canceled all of her wrestling bookings, and for the first time since Lynch was 15, she began to doubt her future in the ring. In a post on her website in October 2006, Lynch made her first public comments on the matter. She claimed headaches, buzzing in her ear, vision problems and a potential diagnosis of damage to her eighth cranial nerve. At that point, she didn't know if she'd be out of wrestling for months, years, or ever wrestle again, but it was the start of a downward spiral that began to carry her further and further away from her dream.

AS LYNCH SEARCHED for her next move, she returned to Dublin and found support from family. Lynch's mother, then a flight attendant for Aer Lingus, asked Becky if she would be interested in the same line of work. With limited options at the time, at least in her own mind, Lynch agreed. Becky spent the next two and a half years as a flight attendant.

Although she occasionally made plans to return to the world of wrestling, nothing seemed to line up right.

"I think that was some of the toughest years of my life," Lynch said. "It was humbling. I certainly went through spats of depression. I had known what it was to have a drive and have an ambition and a purpose, and an identity. I was, at the time, Rebecca Knox the wrestler. And then all of a sudden, well, now who am I?

"I went searching, and [it] turns out that the grass wasn't greener, that there was always that part of me. I would write in my journal, 'I'm not doing what I'm meant to do. I feel like I'm supposed to be in the WWE, but I don't know how to get there. I feel like I've burned bridges, and I feel like this time's passing and I just ... I need to get over it.'"

In between flights, Lynch chased anything she thought might alleviate the giant hole that wrestling had left in her life. She got involved in martial arts and gymnastics, and even got a diving license. Lynch eventually tired of work as a flight attendant and elected to go back to school. She pursued an acting degree at the Dublin Institute of Technology to try to tap into some of the same skills she utilized as a wrestler.

Lynch eventually took advantage of DIT's relationship with Columbia College in Chicago, which facilitated her return to the United States. Despite feeling as far away from wrestling as she'd been in her adult life, living in Chicago placed her directly onto her former SHIMMER stomping grounds.

Prazak offered her the chance to manage Paige and her mother Saraya on a few SHIMMER shows in 2011, and after thinking it through, Lynch accepted. A few awkward moments aside, it allowed Lynch an opportunity to dip her toe back into the world of wrestling.

"It was just like, 'Oh, OK -- maybe I can be welcomed back in here.'"

IN THE SUMMER of 2012, Lynch met up with Balor, who had since become a superstar in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Lynch, despite being out of wrestling for six years at this point, was still only 25 years old.

"[Finn and I] sat down," Lynch recalled. "We had lunch on Wicklow Street, off Grafton Street in Dublin, and I said to him, 'I feel like I should go back to wrestling, but I don't know -- I'm doing this acting thing.' And he was like, 'Well, go back now, because I'm not sitting here with you in 10 years and you're going to be wishing that you had."

Weighing two potential futures in her head, Lynch got one final push that sent her back into wrestling. Lynch submitted her resume to "Vikings," which was filming in Ireland, in 2012 -- hoping to pick up her first big acting job. With one look at her work and life experience, they said they had a role they thought she'd be perfect for -- stuntwoman.

With no previous experience in stunts, Lynch decided she should practice throwing people around and taking some hard landings to prepare. Conveniently enough, the stunt job was located in Wicklow, in close proximity to where her wrestling training had begun a decade prior.

The moment she stepped into the ring, the final barrier between Lynch and a return to wrestling had fallen.

"The guy who was teaching the class, Joe Cabray, had just gotten signed to NXT. He was like, 'Dude, you still have it. Would you think about going for a tryout? ... You know, I think you'd get it.'"

That validation was the last piece of the puzzle. Lynch was ultimately credited for stuntwork on one episode of "Vikings," but that was it. She reached out to WWE trainer Robbie Brookside and, before she knew it, she had a tryout scheduled in Florida.

Lynch was done denying she was a wrestler.

"I KNEW THERE was no way I wasn't getting it," Lynch said of her thoughts heading into her WWE tryout. "I knew everything that happened, everything that had led me to that moment, all the jobs that I had done in between -- the degree in acting, the stunt work, just everything -- was going to bring me back to this. It was too meant to be.

"It didn't matter if you had the world's most elite athletes and freaking Victoria Secret models, or whatever they were looking for at the time -- I was getting in."

Putting aside all of the other obstacles in her way, Lynch left it all on the mat in the tryout, convinced she'd done enough to make it.

In April 2013, Lynch signed her WWE contract and reported to Florida to begin her training in NXT. As the adrenaline that came with her sudden charge from seven years out of wrestling to a job in WWE wore off, the reality of the task at hand brought Lynch back down to earth.

Wrestling did not come back as naturally as she'd hoped, and the effort to regain her previous form became a daunting task. Gone was the effortless confidence from early in her career; instead, she got lost in trying to conform to what she thought WWE wanted.

"When I first came over to WWE, I mean, just so full of hopes and dreams, but I also had to build myself up again from scratch, right?" Lynch said. "I didn't want to come in acting like I was full of bravado, because I hadn't wrestled in seven years. I really downplayed myself, to a fault. I acted like I didn't know anything -- it was a complete mind game. I had messed with my own head so much that I could barely do a lockup anymore. ... It was just me versus me, really."

By late 2013 Lynch had shaped up enough to start having matches again on the NXT live touring circuit in Florida, in front of small crowds. Before she ever made her NXT TV debut in May 2014, however, Lynch felt like her job was on the line. "I know I was on the chopping block a lot, and I know that if it wasn't for Dusty Rhodes really believing in me, and encouraging me and my wild promos that I would do on Wednesdays, then I don't know that I'd still be here," Lynch admitted.

Even though things weren't going well in those days, having an advocate like wrestling legend Rhodes was enough to carry her through for the time being. Although her character started out as a jarringly one-dimensional, Irish-dancing, bright-green-wearing caricature, change was on its way. Lynch ultimately found her stride in teaming with and opposing a trio of other hopefuls training to become WWE stars -- Sasha Banks, Bayley and Charlotte Flair.

The "Four Horsewomen," as they'd come to call themselves, would ultimately become the backbone of the landscape-shifting women's movement in WWE. In this era, they proved themselves often enough on a growing platform away from the brightest lights of WWE that Paul "Triple H" Levesque -- the WWE Hall of Famer who became the guiding creative force behind NXT -- soon realized the potential he had on his hands with women's wrestling.

Their Fatal 4-Way match at NXT TakeOver: Rival in February 2015 was an eye-opening moment that elevated Lynch to the same tier as her Four Horsewomen compatriots. Lynch's one-on-one NXT women's title shot against Banks that followed in May at TakeOver: Unstoppable was the first moment she got the chance to stand on her own as she continued her upward trajectory.

It was the first time Lynch wore steampunk-inspired gear, and had bright orange hair -- imagery that would become synonymous with her character -- but she was still working her way up. At that moment, Banks, Bayley and Flair all had well-defined characters and established relationships with the crowd, while Lynch was more like an underground rock band -- showing flashes of limitless potential, but still building up her following through the grassroots.

With Banks and Flair set to make a move to Raw and SmackDown that summer, Levesque was looking forward to what he had with Lynch and Bayley as his anchors for a new era in NXT. After a long stretch with Flair and Banks as the focal points of their women's division, Lynch would finally get a chance to grow as a featured star before making her move to the "big time" of the main roster.

Then Lynch got the news that she, too, would be making her debut on "Monday Night Raw."

"She got called up in a period where I was thinking she was going to stay for a minute, and I was going to really have the hands-on time to make her something more," Levesque said. "That's one of the ones where I go, 'Oh man.' She got called up as well, and I never got the chance to do those developmental things with her that I wanted to. Then you see her on the main roster, and it gets started one way, and then it goes in a different direction."

Being dropped into one of the most chaotic transition periods in women's wrestling was as daunting a task as Lynch could've been faced with. With fans clamoring for WWE to #GiveDivasAChance, Lynch was paired with Flair and her old friend Paige as Team PCB. Lynch was the clear third wheel during the early portion of her main roster tenure -- a trend that, despite her growing connection with the WWE audience, would repeat itself several times over the next few years.

The first spike in Lynch's WWE career that made people stand up and notice was, appropriately enough, her rivalry with Flair in late 2015 into early 2016. That rolled right into Lynch's first WrestleMania match, in Dallas, in a triple-threat match for the newly reinvented WWE women's championship. Lynch didn't get the win on that night either, once again ceding the spotlight to Flair.

There were successes along the way, like the night Lynch became the first ever SmackDown women's champion. That title reign didn't last, though, and from there it was a long, slow slide down the pecking order.

THERE WERE MORE downs than ups over the year and a half that followed, and as fans became more vocal with their frustration over Lynch's positioning and lack of opportunities, she began to tap into that energy.

Crowd reactions got louder with every near-miss, like when Lynch narrowly missed out on winning the Money in the Bank briefcase in June 2018. Lynch stoked the flames by putting in extra work and showcasing her creativity through social media posts.

In the lead-up to SummerSlam 2018, it seemed as though Lynch had finally harnessed enough of the groundswell of fan support for WWE to recognize the momentum and once again make her the SmackDown women's champion. Fans inside Barclays Center were on the edge of their seats as Lynch nearly defeated Flair and Carmella on several occasions. Finally, with Carmella locked in Lynch's finishing submission, the Dis-Arm-Her, and victory nearly achieved, Flair charged back into the ring, slammed Lynch's head to the mat and once again swooped in to claim a moment most WWE fans believed Lynch had earned.

In the immediate aftermath, it felt like the air was let out of a balloon. Now a seven-time WWE women's champion, Flair stood in the center of the ring after the match and stared at her friend Lynch for a long moment. The crowd began to boo, and as faint "Becky" chants began to break out, they embraced in a hug in the middle of the ring. The boos grew louder, and in a shrewd, knowing moment, Lynch and Flair hugged a second time to further rile up the crowd.

After they separated, Lynch paused for just a moment, and then wound up and unleashed a mighty slap across Flair's face. The sound echoing through the arena might as well have been a lightning strike, because the uproarious celebration that followed was a fitting thunderclap. Lynch unleashed more than five years of frustrations in that moment, and the fans were eating it up by the spoonful.

Never mind the fact that Lynch was positioned as the villain in this scenario, in a wild miscalculation by WWE. Even as the commentary team tried to vilify Lynch for the viewing audience at home, Lynch tossed Flair all over the ring and, eventually, over that very same commentary table. She soaked in every ounce of that moment, and as fans continued to chant her name, it was clear that it would be a moment that would come to define Lynch's career -- and there was no turning back.

As WWE reshuffled their plans, Lynch won the SmackDown women's title back from Flair in September 2018. Then, in October, Flair and Lynch took center stage leading into the WWE's first ever all-women's pay-per-view event, "Evolution."

The tides had turned by that point, and WWE fully bought into Lynch and "The Man" as a character. Given almost 30 minutes to prove what she and Flair were capable of in a Last Woman Standing match, Lynch was as locked in as she'd ever been as a wrestler -- and it showed.

"I think Evolution, the Last Woman Standing match -- probably my favorite match of my career -- it's probably the most fun I've ever had in the ring," said Lynch. "I've never been more present, more aware and in every second of it."

Even moments when Lynch's ascent could have crumbled into dust became iconic. An intensely built Survivor Series match against Ronda Rousey was scuttled by a stray punch from Nia Jax on "Monday Night Raw" (which concussed Lynch), but that night gave us a singular image of Lynch at her very best -- her face covered in blood, towering over Rousey in victory.

Irish war paint. pic.twitter.com/AmW4ufsbUW

- The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) November 13, 2018

It also made fans hungrier for Lynch and Rousey to meet in a WrestleMania main event. Despite being on different shows, they fanned the flames via social media as Lynch flexed her creative muscles in a different way

She stumbled through TLC, when Rousey reappeared to cost both Lynch and Flair the SmackDown women's championship, and then failed to regain the title in another stunning outing against Asuka to open up the "Royal Rumble" pay-per-view in January. Lynch returned later in the show and triumphantly brought the WWE audience to its feet in celebration once more by winning the women's Royal Rumble, guaranteeing her a title match at WrestleMania.

It was the moment when everything she had worked for as a teenager, and reclaimed since joining WWE, became real as she let the postmatch reaction wash over her.

"It is the biggest night of my life, and what this means going forward is not wasted on me for a single second," Lynch said in the immediate aftermath.

Some of the in-between has been a little harder to follow, and Flair was ultimately added to the mix to make the match a triple threat, but along every step of the way, Lynch's ability to tap into something deep within herself has allowed her to connect with fans around the world in a variety of meaningful ways.

Lynch is a vital part of why women are main-eventing WrestleMania this year, and she has come this far because the joy of wrestling has returned to her life over the past six years in the WWE -- permeating every aspect of what she does in the ring.

"She was able to create that aura and ride the wave, and then the company comes in and just gets behind that and goes with it," Levesque said. "And that's when it's the most magic. It's been awesome to watch her evolve as a performer, and a character, a human being. Then to see her, every now and then, come back through that curtain and to still see the same girl that looks at you laughing and goes, 'Is this life real?'"

Balor, who signed with WWE a year after Lynch and has enjoyed tremendous success in his own right, is in awe of how far they've come. But he insists neither takes the opportunity for granted.

"We're just two kids from Ireland along for the ride, and having a good time while we do it," Balor said. "Sometimes we'll cross in the corridor at Raw, or backstage at a pay per view, and we'll just [have] a little wink and a nod and kind of like a giggle as to how did we get here? Sometimes I think both of us feel like one of the security guards left the back door open and [we] snuck into the show."

Seventeen years after Becky Lynch first stepped through door of his wrestling school in Ireland, she has made all of her wildest dreams come true.

"It is the most incredible, humbling feeling in the entire world," Lynch said. "Because on one end, what happens after you achieve all your life goals? Have to come up with some new ones."

Lynch rolls the thought around in her mind.

"But in the meantime," she said, "I am about to main event WrestleMania."

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BALTIMORE -- The boo birds were out in Birdland.

At the Baltimore Orioles' home opener on Thursday afternoon, slugger Chris Davis was repeatedly booed.

"It's not something I was really expecting," said Davis, who struck out in all three of his at-bats before getting lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the eighth inning. "It was tough. At the same time, I heard it a lot last year, and rightfully so. I've said it before, I'll say it again: I understand the frustration. Nobody's more frustrated than I am. Especially a day like today."

As usual for the first game at Camden Yards, the Orioles rolled out their trademark orange carpet, which stretched all the way from the centerfield fence to the edge of the infield just behind second base. When Davis ran down the carpet during the announcement of starting lineups, he received moderate applause and a smattering of boos. As the game went on, the sellout crowd of 44,182 jeered the veteran first baseman more and more.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, when Hanser Alberto was announced as the pinch-hitter for Davis, the crowd rose to its feet and gave a standing ovation in support of the move. Seven pitches later, when Alberto lined a single to right field against Yankees reliever Zack Britton, the crowd gave another standing ovation.

"To feel that in front of your home fans is, I mean, I can't even imagine," said Oriole starter Alex Cobb, who got a no-decision in Baltimore's 8-4 loss. "I do feel for him. I understand the fans' frustration, as well."

Davis was acquired by Baltimore in July 2011. With the Orioles, he has twice led the majors in home runs, including the 2013 season, when he hit 53 homers and finished third in the MVP voting. But ever since signing a seven-year, $161 million deal in January 2016, the lefty-hitting slugger has struggled. Last year, when he hit .168 and posted a league-worst 37 percent strikeout rate, Davis became the target of increased ire from Orioles fans.

"My main goal going into spring training was to turn the page and just focus on what lied ahead and try to forget about what had happened last year," said the 33-year old first baseman, who finished last season on an 0-for-21 skid and has gone 0-for-17 with 11 whiffs to start this year. "It's been tougher to start the season, but there's a lot of baseball left to play.

"I'd be foolish if I started wallowing in my own self-pity and feeling sorry for myself. I don't think anybody's feeling sorry for me right now. I think people are ready to see me turn it around, and I'm ready to turn it around."

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Angels began their home opener Thursday with a .481 OPS that stood as the lowest in the major leagues. Through the first six games, they mustered only 13 runs and captured only one victory. Justin Upton, hindered by turf toe, will be on the injured list at least through May, and Albert Pujols is 39 years old.

At the very least, the Angels need someone to produce behind Mike Trout.

They need Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani, making his way back from Tommy John surgery, took 50 swings on Thursday, the last half of which took place on the field. The Angels have said throughout that Ohtani will not return before the start of May, but the two-way sensation has progressed effortlessly through each step as a hitter. His only obstacle appears to be the organization's profound caution.

Asked whether he believes an April return is possible, Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, said, "Personally I feel like I can get back this month, but it's going to be up to the team." The 24-year-old, talking to the media for the first time during the regular season, added that he is "satisfied" with the methodical pace of his rehab, "But I do want to get back as soon as possible."

"As a player, I think it's natural to try to get back as quickly as possible," Ohtani said. "That's how I'm feeling right now. But it's not up to me; it's up to the team. I know they're trying to be very careful with me."

Ohtani finished last season with a .925 OPS in 367 plate appearances and a 3.31 ERA in 51 2/3 innings, good enough to capture the American League Rookie of the Year award. He won't pitch this season, but he has already noticed more power offensively.

Ohtani began hitting on the field eight days ago and made 20 throws from 60 feet away on Wednesday, saying that "everything has been really smooth."

He watched Opening Day from Angel Stadium alongside other rehabbing teammates, then tuned into the other five road games from home. He saw eight key players -- Justin Bour, Andrelton Simmons, Zack Cozart, Kole Calhoun, David Fletcher, Peter Bourjos, Tommy La Stella and Pujols -- combine for 20 hits in 140 at-bats, good for a .143 batting average.

"I know everyone's trying really hard; it's just the results aren't there," Ohtani said. "I know it's going to turn around some time."

Noah Syndergaard wasn't happy Thursday, and the schedule again was the culprit.

Following a 5-1 trip to start the season, the Mets got back to New York after 2 a.m. Thursday in the wake of a 6-4 victory at Miami the previous night. They were even held up about 30-45 minutes postgame in Miami while Dominic Smith chugged enough water to be able to complete a drug test.

But around 11 hours after arriving in Queens in the middle of the night, they were back on the field again -- and their lineup looked sleepy while striking out 14 times in a 4-0 loss to the Washington Nationals. "I don't think we were in the proper situation to win a ballgame based on the rest of the guys' sleep and travel,'' said Syndergaard, who flew to New York ahead of his teammates. He would have preferred a day game Wednesday in Miami or a night game Thursday at home. "That would have been nice,'' Syndergaard said.

The Mets managed only four hits against Washington, whose starter, Stephen Strasburg (1-0), struck out nine over 6 2/3 innings.

Syndergaard (0-1) gave up only one hit in six innings, but it was costly -- Victor Robles' leadoff homer in the sixth gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead.

The schedule had been a point of contention for Syndergaard already this season. He had questioned the Mets' travel itinerary before Opening Day with no plans to stop in New York before their season opener in Washington. The team traveled by bus for nearly three hours to Sarasota, Florida, then flew to Syracuse, New York for a workout before later heading to Washington.

"I don't know whose idea that was, but it's not a smart one," he said at the time. "I don't think that's conducive for winning ballgames, really -- that much travel. I mean, I'm sure the amenities in Syracuse aren't the best for a Major League Baseball team to go up there and have one last workout before the regular season starts, but those kinds of decisions are above my paygrade."

BALTIMORE -- When Gleyber Torres packed up his baseball belongings Wednesday ahead of the New York Yankees' first two-city road trip of the season, he accidentally left something behind -- his batting gloves.

Since he still needed a pair to hit with when the Yankees opened their series against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on Thursday, New York's equipment staff reached into its cache of extra game-day items.

Maybe that's where the 22-year-old's extra power came from.

Handed a pair of former Yankee Alex Rodriguez's No. 13 batting gloves, Torres went on a hitting tear Thursday, cranking out four hits, slugging two home runs, stamping his name next to Joe DiMaggio's and leading the depleted Bronx Bombers to a much-needed early-season win.

"Gleyber Day. It was impressive," Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge said. "He came up big in certain situations where we needed someone to come up with a big hit for us. He was the catalyst of this win for us."

Added first baseman Luke Voit: "We needed Gleyber to have a big day, and he did, and that was a huge lift for our team."

It was Torres' sixth-inning three-run homer that propelled the Yankees to a lead they wouldn't relinquish in the eventual 8-4 win. The victory snapped a two-game losing skid, improving New York's early record to 3-4, allowing one injury-plagued, drama-filled week to end on a high note.

"It was nice to break through with a couple of big hits, big hits that happened to be home runs," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "That really energized the guys a little bit and allowed us to exhale a little bit."

Earlier in the week, the Yankees sent three key players to the injured list due to various ailments. Miguel Andujar (small labrum tear) and Giancarlo Stanton (left biceps strain) were shut down on the same day. Mere hours before Torres' 4-for-4 showcase, Troy Tulowitzki (left calf strain) was added to the IL, too.

There are a league-leading 11 total players on the Yankees' injured list.

"We know it's a lot of injuries, but it's part of the game," Torres said. "We are a really good team, we are really good guys, we can do the job and we just try to refocus."

It took little time for Torres to focus in Baltimore's home opener. During his first at-bat leading off the third inning, the shortstop turned on a 1-1 splitter from Orioles starter Alex Cobb, depositing it well over the left-field wall.

After drilling a double down the right-field line, against an infield defensive shift set up against him, Torres homered for a second time in his sixth-inning at-bat. That one came off Mike Wright, marking the second time in the young, two-year player's career that he had homered off Cobb and Wright in the same game. To cap his four-hit day, Torres singled in the eighth.

"He can use the whole field and can use it with power," Judge said. "Especially a guy that plays second or shortstop, for him to come up and he'll hit homers to left field and all of a sudden he's spraying doubles down the right-field line, it's just impressive what he can do at such a young age.

"He's got a great approach at the plate. He goes up there with a plan. You don't see him up there too many times just free swinging. He usually comes up there with a plan, a pitch he's going to attack, and he usually comes away with a pretty good at-bat."

The last time Torres homered off Cobb and Wright in the same game -- Aug. 1, 2018 -- was the last time he had registered a multihomer game.

Oh, and there's more. In addition to that milestone, Torres also rose through the ranks in the Yankees' record book with his exploits in this game. He became:

• The youngest Yankee with four hits and three extra-base hits in a game since DiMaggio did it June 28, 1936.

• One of two Yankees shortstops to ever have four hits, including two homers, in a road game. Derek Jeter accomplished the same feat May 8, 2011.

• The youngest Yankee to go 4-for-4 or better in a game since Jeter did it July 2, 1996, against Boston at 22 years, 6 days old.

• The fourth-youngest Yankee to have four hits and four RBIs in a game since the RBI became an official stat in 1920. Torres was 22 years, 112 days old Thursday. Only DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig were younger when they had four-hit, four-RBI games in team history.

"One of the things I continue to challenge him on is that he's really good at locking in, usually the bigger the situation, which is a great trait to have," Boone said. "Really working hard to grind at-bats, no matter the situation, and he continues to make strides there."

Of Torres' 26 career home runs the past two seasons, 13 have either given the Yankees a lead or tied the game.

Torres said one of the reasons he has had so much success in the clutch is that his focus remains the exact same at-bat to at-bat.

"I'm focused every time, but of course, when the game's on the line, I try to do my job," Torres said. "I feel a little bit more excited and just try to feel it really well when I'm trying to do my job. Helping my team, I think there's no better feeling than that."

As for A-Rod's batting gloves, look for them when the Yankees play the O's again Saturday. Torres said that while his customary gloves likely will be shipped to Baltimore by then, he won't be wearing them.

He isn't planning to give up the lucky No. 13s anytime soon. And after a day like this, why would he?

Memphis Grizzlies assistant Jerry Stackhouse has agreed to a six-year contract to become Vanderbilt's head coach, sources told ESPN.

New Vanderbilt athletic director Malcolm Turner had watched Stackhouse closely in Turner's previous job as the president of the NBA's G-League.

Besides the six-year deal for Stackhouse, Vanderbilt has pledged to upgrade its financial commitment to the program, including increased assistant coaching salaries and budgets.

Stackhouse's intense coaching style won him significant respect in his two seasons as coach of the Raptors 905 in the G-League, where he won a title in 2017.

Stackhouse is an interesting counter to in-state rival Memphis hiring Penny Hardaway, setting the stage for a fascinating regional recruiting battle.

Stackhouse, an 18-year NBA veteran, has two years of head coaching experience with Toronto's G-League affiliate, where he was also the G-League's Coach of the Year in his championship season of 2017.

Stackhouse, 44, spent two years as an NBA assistant, including stops with Toronto and Memphis.

Vanderbilt dismissed Bryce Drew as coach after a winless Southeastern Conference season.

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Toss Kolkata Knight Riders chose to bowl v Royal Challengers Bangalore

Dinesh Karthik's two-match streak of losing the toss was snapped in Bengaluru and he elected to bowl against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday. Knight Riders made one change from the side that lost to Delhi Capitals in a Super Over last week - Sunil Narine returned from injury to replace Nikhil Naik, who had replaced him for that match.

Virat Kohli said the priority for his team was to put away any desperation for a win and try to enjoy the game, as they came in to the fixture on the back of four consecutive losses. With that change in philosophy came a couple of changes in personnel. Royal Challengers went for "more balance in the bowling" and handed a first game of the season for New Zealand's Tim Southee, as well as to left-arm spinner Pawan Negi, who is among their most successful bowlers over the last three seasons. They left out Shimron Hetmyer and Umesh Yadav.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 1 Moeen Ali, 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Akshdeep Nath, 7 Pawan Negi, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Mohammed Siraj, 10 Navdeep Saini, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Kolkata Knight Riders 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Shubman Gill, 6 Dinesh Karthik (capt & wk), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Prasidh Krishna

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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Middlesex have landed another notable signing, with the confirmation that Ross Taylor will be joining the club for this season's Royal London One-Day Cup.

Taylor, who is gearing up for his fourth World Cup campaign with New Zealand, is currently in a superb run of form, having scored 1,063 runs at an average of almost 97 in his past 14 months of ODI cricket.

These performances have led to him being ranked third in the ICC's One Day International rankings, behind Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and his form has translated to Test cricket too, with his most recent innings being a match-winning 200 against Bangladesh in Wellington.

Taylor will make his debut for Middlesex on April 25 against Surrey at The Oval, and is available to play in the final five group games of the tournament.

He would also be available to play in the play-off and semi-final on May 10 and 12 respectively, should Middlesex qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.

However, New Zealand's own preparations for the World Cup will prevent Taylor from being available for the final on May 25. Their first match takes place against Sri Lanka in Cardiff on June 1, a week later

"The pre-World Cup schedules of England and Ireland mean that Middlesex will be without Eoin Morgan and Paul Stirling for more than half of the Royal London One-Day Cup," said Angus Fraser, Middlesex's director of cricket.

"Eoin and Paul are outstanding one-day cricketers and we were keen to strengthen our resources on the back of their absence during the second half of the tournament.

"To have the opportunity to fill these gaps with a player of Ross' undoubted class is a real treat for the Club.

"He is an outstanding cricketer and a cracking man, and we look forward to welcoming him to Lord's in a couple of weeks time."

Albeit in a different tournament, Middlesex have also secured the services of the former South Africa batsman AB de Villiers, who will feature in the T20 Blast in July and August, alongside the Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

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Chennai Super Kings' seam attack has been depleted further, with their designated death bowler Dwayne Bravo sidelined from the IPL for two weeks with a hamstring strain. Bravo sustained the injury during Super Kings' first loss of the season, against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on April 3.

Super Kings had already lost Lungi Ngidi (injury) and David Willey (personal reasons) in the past couple of weeks. In the IPL, replacements can only be sought for players who are injured, which means Super Kings could not get anyone to fill in for Willey.

Bravo had conceded 29 runs in the last over of Mumbai's innings but against Rajasthan Royals last week, he nailed his variations and defended 11 off the last over to secure a tense win. Bravo also contributed with the bat in that game, providing Super Kings' innings some late impetus with 27 off 16 balls.

Michael Hussey, the Super Kings batting coach, conceded that Bravo's injury will shake up the balance of the team. Hussey, though, backed New Zealand allrounder Scott Kuggeleijn, who was signed as Ngidi's replacement, to come good.

Kuggeleijn can hit the deck hard and is also a handy batsman lower down the order. More recently in the Super Smash, New Zealand's domestic T20 competition, Kuggeleijn claimed 13 wickets in nine matches at an economy rate of 8.14 in Northern Districts' run to the final. He is set to make his IPL bow against Kings XI Punjab on Saturday.

"Obviously, he (Bravo) offers so much balance to the team and he's a quality player, so it's going to cause a little bit of rejigging of the team," Hussey said. "But, I'm sure we will still be able to put together a very strong team and yes it's a big loss for us, but we have had these challenges in the past and we've been able to overcome them. We're hoping we can do that again.

"Yes, definitely [Scott Kuggeleijn can fill the void]. I'm sure MS [Dhoni] and [Stephen] Fleming will look at Scott and assess his death-bowling skills."

Hussey also said that Super Kings have death-bowling options in Shardul Thakur and Mohit Sharma, but they haven't been effective. They have economy rates in excess of 12 each at the death since last IPL. Bravo himself has leaked 11.90 runs an over at the death in the same period. Hussey also reckoned the spinners could do the job at the death on the helpful tracks at home.

"We've got Shardul who has done a little bit of death bowling and Mohit can also bowl at the death," he said. "It's about assessing the conditions as well and see which bowlers are suitable to bowling in the latter overs and if it's a real turning pitch, maybe one of the spinners can bowl at the end. There will be a lot of thinking about the best combination to get. It's a key area of the game and we didn't quite get it right against Mumbai and they scored a lot of runs in the last two or three overs. It's an area we need to focus on and try to execute - it's an important facet of the game."

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