On a night Maya Moore Irons had her number raised to the rafters, the current Lynx squad posted its sixth straight win and clinched a playoff berth.

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Lynx nonetheless beat Indiana 90-80 in front of 19,023, the Lynx’s largest regular-season crowd ever in Target Center.

Concluding a three-games-in-four-night stretch, the Lynx are in third place in the WNBA, one-half game behind second-place Connecticut.

Napheesa Collier again led the home team, as she continues her stellar post-Olympic success with 31 points. She is averaging 25.6 points in five games, making 51 of 77 shots, since returning from Paris with a gold medal as part of Team USA.

For the third straight game, Minnesota had five players in double figures.

Kayla McBride found her long range stroke in the second half by making three of four 3-pointers to finish with 19 points. Bridget Carleton also had a quartet of treys to finish with 16 points. Courtney Williams and Natisha Heideman each had 10.

In their past four games, the Lynx are averaging 93.5 points.

Minnesota (22-8) led by 13 after one quarter, but Indiana got within one at halftime. The Lynx were not safely in command again until a mid-fourth-quarter run.

Before the final 10 minutes, a classic video of Moore Irons urging fans to get on their feet and make some noise was shown on the Jumbotron.

The fans did just that, and then the current Lynx provided reasons to get loud again and again.

Up by three, McBride scored eight points in a game-deciding 14-2 stretch. Williams, Collier and Myisha Hines-Allen also had baskets.

Additionally, the Lynx tremendously improved in the defensive end when it came to grabbing loose balls. Indiana had just one of its 15 offensive rebounds in the final 10 minutes.

For the game, Minnesota was outrebounded 40-27, tying its lowest total of the season.

Caitlin Clark led the Fever (13-16) with 23 points and Kelsey Mitchell added 21. Aliyah Boston had 10 points and 15 assists.

Celebrating Maya
In just eight seasons, Moore Irons was a six-time all-star, five-time All-WNBA first-teamer, four-time league champion, Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player.

Her No. 23 joins Lindsay Whalen (13), Rebekkah Brunson (32), Seimone Augustus (33), and Sylvia Fowles (34) in the Target Center rafters. The quintet were starters on the 2015 and 2017 Lynx championship teams.

Passion, relentlessness and unselfishness were adjectives often thrown her way Saturday. Before the game, Moore Irons said her mindset was simple. “I tried to play as hard as I could.”

“The establishing of who the Lynx became, it started with Maya Moore’s entry point,” said coach Cheryl Reeve. “We were in six WNBA finals in her first seven years, and we won four championships, and we were a shot-clock violation away from winning five.”

Attending her first WNBA game as a youth, Clark got a hug from the legendary player at a postgame event.

“There’s no documentation of that moment, but obviously in my brain that was one of the most pivotal moments of probably my entire basketball career. Being a young girl, loving sports, that meant the world to me,” Clark said.

Yet, basketball was far from Moore Irons’ lone passion.

She left the sport in the prime of her career in 2019, in part, to focus on social justice issues. Her efforts helped overturn the conviction of Jonathan Irons, a family friend who she believed had been wrongfully imprisoned since 1998. The two married in 2020 and had a child in 2022.

“The journey that I had was not expected, but it was exactly the journey I was supposed to go on,” Moore Irons said before the game. “It’s important that we’re here now with closure and maybe just being able to move on, celebrate and just look back at all the amazing things we did during our dynasty.”

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The matchup certainly suggested a potential pitcher’s duel between the two men who led the Twins’ rotation last season, Pablo López and Sonny Gray.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Pablo López delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Trevor Larnach did his best to make sure that wasn’t the case on Saturday night.

Larnach welcomed his former teammate back to town by blasting a pair of home runs, helping the Twins to 6-0 victory on a night where López outdueled Gray by throwing seven scoreless frames.

In his final season in Minnesota, one in which he finished second in Cy Young Award voting, Gray allowed just eight home runs in 184 innings. In 141 2/3 innings this season, the starter has now given up 20.

No. 19 came in the third inning when, after Austin Martin doubled and Willi Castro walked, Larnach got ahold of a cutter and sent it out to right field.  In his next at-bat, the outfielder hit his second home run of the game 419 feet out to center field. It’s the first multi-home run game of Larnach’s career.

In his return to Target Field, Gray, who departed in free agency this winter after two years with the Twins (72-57), lasted six innings and gave up five runs — the other run that Larnach was not responsible for came in the third on a Max Kepler groundout that plated Royce Lewis. Matt Wallner later homered after Gray’s departure.

That was plenty of run support for López, who appeared to be amped up for his start against his former teammate. López averaged 96.4 miles per hour with his four-seam fastball, which was 1.6 mph faster than his season average. He also got 21 swings and misses, a season best.

He had to work through some trouble — twice he pitched around leadoff doubles, and once he stranded a pair of runners in scoring position — but certainly flashed his dominant stuff in a nine-strikeout effort.

The Cardinals (64-65) managed just four hits off López as the Twins’ top starter strung together his second consecutive scoreless outing.

Two new players had polarizing debuts for Minnesota United on Saturday.

One experience will be cherished and recalled; the other won’t be looked back on fondly. One was historic, the other harrowing.

Striker Kelvin Yeboah scored a penalty kick and added a second goal with a delicate chip, while defender Jefferson Diaz’s sketchy actions led to two goals for Seattle in the Sounders’ 3-2 win at Allianz Field.

The Loons (9-11-6, 33 points) continue to be owned by the Sounders (11-8-7, 40 points). Seattle is now 13-1-2 against Minnesota in MLS regular-season play since 2017.

Diaz came to MNUFC in the summer transfer window from Deportivo Cali in Colombia with a reputation of being aggressive on the ball. It hurt him in the 11th minute when he attempted an unnecessary diagonal pass.

His target, Robin Lod, slipped, Seattle won the ball back and sprang a counter attack that caught Michael Boxall on a bad angle that allowed Jordan Morris to score first.

Yeboah arrived from Genoa in Italy with ultra confidence. It benefitted the Loons’ Designated Player on two memorable occasions.

When a penalty was awarded to MNUFC upon video review, Yeboah immediately pointed to his own chest to indicate he would take it. The only hesitation he showed came when he paused in his approach to the ball, forcing Stefan Frei to go to the left, and he calmly put the ball in the right side of the net.

The equalizer stood up for only four minutes before a backpedaling Diaz lost an aerial dual on Jackson Ragen’s goal in the 28th minute.

Yeboah notched his second goal in the 56th minute with a delicate chip over Frei. Wil Trapp fed a through-ball assist to spring Yeboah on goal.

With the brace, Yeboah became the first MNUFC player to score two goals in his debut.

Five other players have scored in their first match with Minnesota, including Christian Ramirez, Darwin Quintero, Luis Amarilla, Franco Fragapane and Alejandro Bran, who did it earlier this season.

For all Yeboah produced, it was still Seattle’s game. Albert Rusnak scored the winner in the 75th minute. His dribble put Lod on the turf, and he blasted a long-range shot past Dayne St. Clair.

Briefly

As quarterback Jaren Hall navigates the next couple of days, it’s hard to imagine him not feeling a little bit of stress. He’s seemingly on the bubble with roster cuts looming on Tuesday afternoon at TCO Performance Center, and while he has done a good job throughout training camp, it’s unclear if he has done enough to make the team.

There’s a chance the Vikings could decide to keep Hall on the active roster to serve as insurance behind starting quarterback Sam Darnold and backup Nick Mullens. There’s also a chance the Vikings could decide to cut Hall with hopes of sneaking him onto the practice squad.

Though his future was more than likely at the forefront of his mind on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia, Hall deserves credit for drowning out all the noise in the preseason finale between the Vikings and the Eagles. He started the game and displayed his knowledge of the offense while completing 17 of 25 passes for 189 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Asked about Hall after the Vikings earned a 26-3 win over the Eagles, head coach Kevin O’Connell heaped praise for how well everything functioned with him at the helm.

“I thought he did a really nice job,” O’Connell said. “I’m proud of Jaren. He has really put a lot of work in that nobody really gets to see throughout the offseason. A really, really nice performance form him today, and something that I think he should be really proud of.”

The past few months have been a masterclass in professionalism from Hall, and he has produced steady growth along the way. He never once complained about his role after the Vikings selected rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in the 2024 draft. He instead chose to focus on his pursuit of perfection in order to make sure he was ready whenever his number was called.

Naturally, as soon as McCarthy went down with a torn meniscus that required a full repair, Hall was ready to step in as the next man up in the pecking order.

It’s safe to say Hall made the most of his opportunity in the preseason finale. He operated with efficiency while under center and showcased his arm talent with a number of good throws.

“Everybody’s going to be aware of the good things Jaren did,” O’Connell said. “You could see just the comfort he had early on in the game and the growth from last year to now where he’s at just running our system and playing quarterback and moving the team.”

Now, if Vikings want to keep him around, they might have to guarantee him a spot on the active roster. It’s no longer a foregone conclusion that Hall would make it through waivers without getting claimed. Not that O’Connell regrets giving Hall a chance to shine.

“Maybe it’s the former quarterback in me that wants to make sure guys always feel like they get real opportunities in our offense,” O’Connell said. “That’s part of it, though, is knowing that other people are going to see our good players doing some good things.”

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