The Detroit Lions have spent a lot of time and money trying to improve their offensive line.
Frank Ragnow represents the latest investment.
"It starts up front
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what we believe in."
Detroit drafted the Arkansas center with the No. 20 overall pick Thursday night, hoping he can boost their lackluster running game and keep franchise
quarterback Matthew Stafford upright more often.
"Those are two things he's paid to do and he does both of them equally well," Quinn said. "He played his best games against the best defenses."
The Lions ranked last in the NFL last year in rushing offense and have been among the league's worst on the ground offensively in recent seasons. Their
one-dimensional offense and banged-up line led to Stafford being sacked 47 times
last season.
Ragnow will have a chance to start as a rookie, likely next to guards T.J. Lang and Graham Glasgow if he plays center. He may also play guard, giving
Detroit an option of playing Glasgow at center.
"He's a guy who can help us most the quickest," Quinn said.
Quinn has used the draft and free agency to bolster the offensive line, using his first pick as a general manager two years ago to take Ohio State tackle
Taylor Decker No. 16 overall and Glasgow two rounds later. Last year in free
agency, Quinn spent big to sign Lang and Ricky Wagner.
And now, Quinn has committed to bolster the line even more by using a first-round pick on a center and choosing to address needs on the defensive line
later in the draft or free agency.
The 6-foot-5, 312-pound Ragnow is a big and powerful lineman, who ended his 42-game career without giving up a sack. He had a season-ending ankle injury
last year, limiting him to seven games.
"The rehab process went way smoother than I expected," said Ragnow, adding his ankle is healthy. "It was a very routine surgery."
The Minnesota native played in nine games as a freshman in 2014 and became a full-time starter at right guard as a sophomore. He moved to center as a junior
and thought entering NFL draft after grading out as the top offensive lineman in
the country by Pro Football Focus.
Ragnow chose to stay in college and was a second-team preseason All-America player
Alex
Anzalone Jersey , but injury stunted his shot at winning awards. His
father, Jon, died of a heart attack during the 2016 football season.
"He was my best friend," he said. "He was my biggest fan. Especially right now, it's bittersweet. I'm just going to keep trying to make him proud."
Despite the loss, he continued to play and was stopped after a game by Alabama coach Nick Saban, who lost his father to a heart attack while in
graduate school.
"Embrace the memories and the good times that he had with his father because that will be something he can keep with him forever," Saban recalled telling
Ragnow.
The Lions have second- and third-round picks Friday along with slots in the fourth, fifth and seventh rounds on Saturday. They went into the draft without a
sixth-round selection, giving it up last year to acquire offensive tackle Greg
Robinson from the Los Angeles Rams. Robinson started six games for the Lions,
who released him in November.
The Lions had relative success a year ago in the draft, getting contributions from seven players it selected.
Detroit won three of their first four games last season and had a 6-4 record, but had setbacks in three of five games to fall out of the playoff picture and
the late-season slide cost coach Jim Caldwell his job. Quinn hired Matt Patricia
to lead an NFL team for the first time, reuniting with a coach he worked
alongside with the New England Patriots for a dozen years.
Andrew Benintendi and the Red Sox easily made up for David Price’s bad outing.
Benintendi homered
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runs, and Boston routed the Kansas City Royals 15-4 on Saturday night.
Mookie Betts had four hits, raising his American League-leading average to .343. Ten Red Sox players had RBIs as they scored a season high in runs. They
scored 11 runs after the sixth inning.
They needed the big finish to overcome Price’s poor start. He was lifted after 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits with nine strikeouts.
”I put us in a hole early,” Price said. ”We bounced back in the fifth inning with that four-spot then to give up the lead the way I did, not to be able to
get through five innings, that’s tough. I’m struggling right now, searching, so
that’s a big win for us to be able to come back the way we did.”
Benintendi became the sixth Boston player to walk four times and homer in a nine-inning game.
Xander Bogaerts had three RBIs for the Red Sox, who have won five straight and 12 of their past 15.
Christian Vazquez had a two-run, two-out single in the seventh.
Royals pitchers walked 13, one shy of the franchise record, including three in the three-run seventh. Mitch Moreland’s sacrifice fly scored
Benintendi
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Schaub Jersey , who led off the inning with his fourth walk, for the first
run of the inning.
The Red Sox rallied from a three-run deficit to take the lead with a four-run fifth, which Bogaerts highlighted with a three-run double.
”(Brad Keller) was on,” Bogaerts said of the KC starter. ”It was a tough pitch. Good thing I hit it hard and it kind of ran away from (center fielder
Alcides) Escobar. He was throwing a good game until that last inning. He started
to lose a little command. The walks might have got them in a little trouble –
two-out walks, leadoff walks.”
Keller walked five, including Benintendi and Moreland in the fifth to load the bases before Bogaerts’ double. J.D. Martinez singled in the initial run of
the inning, hiking his major league-leading RBI total to 74.
”He got into the fifth inning and got two quick outs,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”He just couldn’t make that pitch to get through that inning at that
point.”
The next five batters reached base, four scored and Keller was pulled.
”You get two outs and think on the attack, but unfortunately it snowballed really quick on me,” Keller said.
Price, who had never hit three batters in a game, hit three Royals in a four-batter span, including Lucas Duda with the bases loaded to bring home Whit
Merrifield in the fifth to tie the score at 4.
Heath Hembree (4-1) worked 1 1/3 hitless innings to pick up the victory. Jason Adam
(0-2)
Ryan Allen
Jersey , the third of seven KC pitchers, took the loss. Catcher Drew
Butera got the final out in his sixth career relief appearance and his first
since 2016.
”I was trying not to get anybody hurt, including myself,” Butera said.
The Royals led 3-0 after Duda homered in the second and they scored twice more in the third.
The Royals have lost eight straight and 27 of 32 to fall 38 games below .500 for the first time since ending the 2006 season 62-100. They have lost 14 of
their past 15 games at Kauffman Stadium.
LONGEST GAME
The game lasted 4 hours, 3 minutes, the longest nine-inning game for both clubs this season.
MOUSTAKAS AT FIRST
Mike Moustakas, who normally plays third, made his third start of the season at first. It was probably no coincidence a Yankees scout was in attendance and
they are in the market for a first baseman.
ROSTER MOVE
The Royals placed RHP Justin Grimm on unconditional release waivers. Grimm had been on the disabled list with a right shoulder impingement. He was 1-3 with
a 13.50 ERA in 16 relief appearances.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez broke his right little finger sliding into second base in the seventh inning and will go on the disabled list
Sunday. .. RHP Joe Kelly was led off the field by the trainer in the eighth with
light headiness. LHP Drew Pomeranz (bicep tendinitis) made a rehab start
Saturday for Triple-A Pawtucket. He allowed one run on five hits and two walks
over three innings, while striking out one. He threw 37 strikes in 60 pitches
against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
UP NEXT
Red Sox: RHP Rick Porcello, who is 10-3 with a 3.57 ERA in 18 starts, is the probable for the series finale.
Royals: RHP Jakob Junis has lost his previous seven starts to tumble to 5-10 with a 5.13 ERA in 17
starts.
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