Diamondbacks 3B Jose Fernandez becomes 7th MLB player since 1900 with 2 homers in debut

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Jose Fernandez strode to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning during his first big league game in a pressure-packed spot against four-time All-Star closer Kenley Jansen.

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The three-run homer that followed capped one of the most powerful MLB regular-season debuts in modern history.

The Venezuelan became just the seventh player since 1900 to hit two homers in his debut, and the second was a go-ahead shot thatled the Diamondbacks over the Detroit Tigers 7-5on Tuesday night.

"I returned to my days as a kid — just a dream come true," a smiling Fernandez said through an interpreter.

In a strange twist, two of the seven two-homer debuts have occurred over the past six days. Cleveland phenom Chase DeLauterwent deep twice in his first career regular-season gamelast Thursday after making his MLB debut in the playoffs last season.

The 22-year-old Fernandez wasn't on the D-backs' opening-day roster, joining the team on Monday after Pavin Smith went on the 10-day injured list with left elbow soreness. He made the most of his first opportunity, finishing with three hits and four RBIs.

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Not bad for a guy ranked as the No. 27 prospect in the organization, according to MLB.com

"He deserves all this credit," manager Torey Lovullo said. "We're so proud of him. He's a player who came through our system, through our academy, and it's a great story, a great baseball story. We've known about Jose for a long time. We knew he was coming."

Fernandez hit an infield single in his first big league at-bat and added a solo homer his next time up. The three-run drive that followed put him in elite company, joining DeLauter, Trevor Story (2016), J.P. Arencibia (2010), Mark Quinn (1999), Bert Campaneris (1964) and Bob Nieman (1951) as players with two-homer debuts.

"Stay calm, keep the emotions in check, I knew something like that could happen," Fernandez said. "Just look for a pitch."

AP MLB:https://apnews.com/mlb

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March 31, 2026

Diamondbacks 3B Jose Fernandez becomes 7th MLB player since 1900 with 2 homers in debut

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Jose Fernandez strode to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning ...

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NFL kickoff rules 2026: League makes changes to onside kick, more

The NFL made a significant change to its kickoff in 2024,instituting the "dynamic kickoff"to boost the percentage of returned kicks and make one of the league's most dangerous plays safer.

The league is continuing its efforts to refine the play by tweaking its kickoff rule ahead of the 2026 NFL season.

The most notable approved rule change will allow teams to attempt an onside kick at any point during the game. In 2025, teams were only allowed to try an onside kick when trailing, so the rule change will give clubs a bit more flexibility.

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" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> CB Trent McDuffie: Traded to Los Angeles Rams (previous team: Kansas City Chiefs)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> RB David Montgomery: Traded to Houston Texans (previous team: Detroit Lions)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> WR DJ Moore: Traded to Buffalo Bills (previous team: Chicago Bears)

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OT Tytus Howard:Traded to Cleveland Browns(previous team: Houston Texans)

Despite this significant change, NFL teams will still have to declare an onside kick any time they attempt one. This is necessitated by the difference of alignment between the onside kick – which uses the NFL's traditional kickoff formation – and the NFL's dynamic kickoff, where a majority of the players from each team are lined up between the receiving team's 30- and 35-yard line.

With that in mind, surprise onside kicks – like the one Sean Payton famously dialed up to start the second half of the New Orleans Saints' Super Bowl 44 win over the Indianapolis Colts – will remain out of the sport.

It remains unclear whether the NFL's rule change will result in an uptick in overall onside kick attempts, or if the need to declare them – along with their overall lack of efficacy – will continue to limit their use.

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Just five of the NFL's 52 onside kicks were recovered in 2025, according todata from The Football Database. That was good for a mark of 9.6% and up from three total recoveries and a 6% recovery rate in 2024, the first year of the NFL's dynamic kickoff.

NFL LEAGUE MEETINGS:Latest news, updates, storylines, rule changes

NFL kickoff rule changes

The onside kick rule isn't the only major kicking change the NFL's competition committee has instituted for the 2026 season. The following two rules have also been approved:

• To eliminate the kicking team's incentive to intentionally kick the ball out of bounds when kicking off from the 50-yard line.

• To modify the kickoff alignment requirements for the receiving team players in the setup zone.

The first of these rule changes effectively closed a loophole in the 2025 kickoff rules. Last season, a team kicking off from the 50-yard line after a personal foul penalty on the receiving team would benefit more from kicking a ball out of bounds (which would place the ball on the receiving team's 25-yard line) than they would from kicking a touchback (which would place the ball at the 30-yard line).

Under the NFL's new rule, touchbacks on kicks from the 50-yard line will be brought back out to the 20, eliminating the incentive to purposely sail a ball out of bounds.

Meanwhile, the alignment modifications will simply adjust how receiving team players are allowed to line up within the setup zone. The new rule will require just five players, instead of six, to have their front foot on the setup line – though just two players will be allowed to have their foot off the line in each of the setup zone's three areas.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:NFL modifies onside kick rules, other kickoff bylaws for 2026

byCUSTOS CAELORUM

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March 31, 2026

NFL kickoff rules 2026: League makes changes to onside kick, more

The NFL made a significant change to its kickoff in 2024,instituting the "dynamic kickoff"to boost the percent...

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S“ummer House”'s Ciara Miller Shares First Social Media Post Since Amanda Batula and West Wilson's Romance Reveal

Ciara Miller appeared at the Your Friends & Neighbors premiere for Apple TV+

NEED TO KNOW

• She posted a candid moment with Jon Hamm during a red carpet interview, marking her first social media post since Amanda Batula and West Wilson's relationship reveal

• Hamm later reacted to their exchange on Watch What Happens Live

Ciara Milleris subtly sharing how she's feeling.

On Tuesday, March 31, theSummer Housestar, 30, published her firstInstagram postsince news broke thather friend Amanda Batula is dating her ex, West Wilson. In the caption, she wrote, "If you can't trust your Friends & Neighbors, who can you trust?"

In the clip, Miller is seen on the red carpet at the Monday, March 30, season 2 premiere ofYour Friends & Neighborsfor Apple TV+, where she interviews several cast members on behalf of the streamer.

During her interview with the series' star,Jon Hamm, she asks how he's feeling.

"Wonderful, thank you. How are you?" Hamm, 55, replies.

The camera then zooms in on Miller as she responds, "I'm good… well, I've been better," before quickly cutting to the next moment.

Miller shared the brief exchange on her Instagram page on Tuesday, March 31, marking her first social media post since Batula, 34, and Wilson, 28,confirmed their relationshipin a joint statement shared to their Instagram Stories hours before.

"We've seen the growing online speculation, so while this is still very new, we wanted to provide some clarity," Batula and Wilson wrote. "It was never our intention to purposely hide anything."

"We've shown up for each other as friends over the years, through all the highs and lows, and what's developed recently was the last thing either of us expected," they continued. "Our connection grew out of a genuine, long-standing friendship, which made it especially important for us to approach this with care."

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They added, "We also recognize that this has had an impact beyond just us and never wanted our actions to cause any hurt or be perceived as careless. We truly appreciate the understanding and respect as we navigate this."

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Wilson previously dated Miller during his first season ofSummer Housein 2023 before the pair split that December. Batula, for her part,announced her split from her husband, Kyle Cooke, in January 2026,PEOPLE previously reported.

Hamm later weighed in on the moment during an appearance onWatch What Happens Live with Andy Cohenon Tuesday night.

After Cohen referenced Miller's response, Hamm jumped in to repeat it, "I've been better," prompting audible reactions from the audience.

"I was like, 'Well, it's about to get a lot better. I'm here!'" he joked.

When asked for his thoughts, Hamm added, "Team Ciara, for sure, tricky manifestations of behavior there. I'm not so sure how you mentally do the flip flops that are required to make that make sense in your head."

"But having just met Ciara, I think she's a great gal, and she will certainly end up on her feet with all of this nonsense happening," he concluded.

Summer Houseairs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo. Episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.

Read the original article onPeople

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March 31, 2026

S“ummer House”'s Ciara Miller Shares First Social Media Post Since Amanda Batula and West Wilson's Romance Reveal

Ciara Miller appeared at the Your Friends & Neighbors premiere for Apple TV+ NEED TO KNOW She posted a ...

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Dan Hurley downplays headbutting ref after UConn's win vs. Duke: 'Thought he was coming over to chest-bump me'

On the court, UConn coach Dan Hurley is an emotional and animated guy. But some fans thought Hurley took things too far followingUConn's last-second winover Duke in the Elite Eight.

Following Braylon Mullins' buzzer-beat toput UConn up 73-72with just 0.3 seconds left, cameras captured a weird exchange between Hurley and official Roger Ayers. In the clip, Hurley appeared to get in Ayers' face, with both men butting heads on the sideline.

After seeing the exchange, some wondered why Hurley was not charged with a technical foul, as making contact with an official can lead to both a penalty and ejection for coaches. Hurley, who wasejected from a loss vs. Marquette earlier in the seasonafter making contact with an official, was certainly aware that was the case.

But Hurley said everyone who has seen the clip has it all wrong. As the coach explained during an appearance on "The Triple Option" podcast, he believed Ayers was going in for a chest-bump, which resulted in the strange interaction.

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Hurley's full comments read:

"Really, at that point in the game we had it won, and he's such an easy guy to work with during the game, I thought he was coming over to chest-bump me and celebrate the shot. It's not like that for me with him. My experience with him has been, we haven't won every game. I haven't agreed with every call. So that was in no way me going at a ref like I've been at their throat the whole game. There were other points in the game where I had my arm around him walking out of a timeout. We were cracking jokes and laughing."

At that point, Hurley said it wasn't like the situation at Marquette, where he implied he deserved to be penalized for his actions. He then turned the conversation back to the Duke game, saying he was being carried by the "emotion of the shot" during his moment with Ayers. When asked if they were sharing that moment, Hurley clarified that Ayers was coming up to inform Hurley that there was still some time left on the clock.

Given the narrow margin of victory, a technical foul on Hurley in that moment could have been catastrophic for UConn. That, obviously, didn't happen and UConn advanced to the Final Four, where it will take on Illinois on Saturday.

While Hurley will move on to the Final Four, Ayers won't be able to say the same. Despite being a veteran official with multiple years of Final Four experience under his belt, Ayers wasnot chosen to workthe Final Four. It's unclear whether his interaction with Hurley played a role in that decision.

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March 31, 2026

Dan Hurley downplays headbutting ref after UConn's win vs. Duke: 'Thought he was coming over to chest-bump me'

On the court, UConn coach Dan Hurley is an emotional and animated guy. But some fans thought Hurley took things too far ...

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Men's NCAA tournament averaging 10.3 million viewers, its most-watched since 1993

NEW YORK (AP) — The men's NCAA tournament is averaging 10.3 million viewers through the Elite Eight, according to Nielsen. That is the tournament's best audience since 1993 and a 9% increase over last year.

UConn's last-second 73-72 victory over Dukein the East Region final averaged 13.4 million on CBS. The audience peaked at 18.9 million when Braylon Mullinssank a desperation 3-pointerwith 0.4 seconds left.

Friday's early window with Duke-St.John's on CBS and Michigan-Alabama on TBS/truTV averaged 14.2 million, the most-watched Friday regional early window since 1992.

The Final Four and title game will be on TBS, TNT and truTV.

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The women's NCAA tournament on ESPN's networks and ABC is averaging 789,000 viewers through Saturday's Sweet 16 games. That is a 1% decrease from last year.

Ratings for Sunday and Monday's regional finals are expected to be available on Wednesday.

AP March Madness bracket:https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracketand coverage:https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

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March 31, 2026

Men's NCAA tournament averaging 10.3 million viewers, its most-watched since 1993

NEW YORK (AP) — The men's NCAA tournament is averaging 10.3 million viewers through the Elite Eight, according to Ni...

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