Weekend Reflections: Haynes King’s winning play comes at big cost

Haynes King went all out to score the winning touchdown for Carolina in an unofficial game. That’s no surprise to anyone who watched King play at Georgia Tech.

Unfortunately, the play could end up hurting his chances of making Carolina’s final roster.

Panthers coach Dave Canales told reporters Sunday that King suffered a hamstring injury during the final play Thursday night. Canales ruled King out for Carolina’s second exhibition game, on Saturday against the Bills.

“From what I understood, it was on that last play, where he kind of lunged and dove for the goal line and really gave everything he had, literally,” Canales said. “And so we’ll just keep evaluating him on a weekly basis.”

The Panthers signed QB Kyle Trask on Sunday. He presumably will get the snaps in the next game.

King’s tenacity is a big part of why he excelled with the Yellow Jackets. But his playing style also contributed to various injuries during his time at Tech. Now he’s on the injury list after his first live game action in the NFL.

That’s a precarious status for a rookie who wasn’t selected in the draft. Working in King’s favor is the relatively large contract guarantee he received as an undrafted free agent ($210,000, according to Spotrac).

Former NFL starter Kenny Pickett is Carolina’s No. 2 QB, behind Bryce Young. Hopefully, King showed enough in his debut for the Panthers for them to believe he’s worth keeping around.

King passed for 180 yards on 34 attempts with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He rushed for 39 yards on three attempts. King ran for 26 yards on third-and-14 before scoring a 5-yard TD to end the game.

King’s teammates mobbed him after the final touchdown. Canales told reporters that King’s ability to improvise with his feet reminds him of NFL great Russell Wilson. Canales worked with Wilson as part of Seattle’s staff from 2012-21, including stints as quarterback coach and passing game coordinator.

It’s too bad that King’s injury won’t allow him to play Saturday. The Panthers will play two additional exhibition games. If they value toughness and leadership, then King already made a good case for why he belongs on the roster.

Braves lose series, but pitching holds up

There was a playoff feel for the Braves-Yankees series over the weekend in New York. It was the top wild card in the AL vs. the NL’s current No. 2 seed. The margin was one run for each of the three games, and the teams split two in extra innings.

The Braves avoided a sweep on Sunday. Losing is losing, but the Braves should have left New York feeling good about some things.

Starting pitching tops the list.

Braves starters Tyler Mahle, Chris Sale and Grant Holmes combined to allow two runs over 18 innings. Mahle and Holmes each pitched six scoreless innings. The Yankees scored one of their two runs against Sale via a balk (more on that later).

That made 18 consecutive games of three runs or fewer allowed by Braves starting pitchers. It’s the longest active streak in the majors. Only Tampa Bay has a longer streak this season (22 games).

The balk and some other strange circumstances contributed to both defeats for the Braves.

Mahle flummoxed the Yankees while recording nine strikeouts. The Braves lost after Raisel Iglesias recorded his third blown save in 27 chances this season. Iglesias hurt his cause with a two-base throwing error.

The score was 3-2 when Sale departed after six innings Saturday. Braves manager Walt Weiss had to reach deep into his bullpen because his top relievers were used up. Victor Mederos gave up a homer to the first batter in the seventh inning (George Lombard Jr.) and Danny Young did the same thing in the eighth (Ben Rice).

The Yankees sent out their top three starters for the series. Max Fried, Gerrit Cole and Cam Schlittler combined to strike out 27 hitters over 20⅓ innings with three runs allowed. The Braves still had a chance to win the series because their starting pitchers were good, too.

Sale ejected before first pitch

It’s not quite as funny as the idea of getting fired on your day off. It’s still amusing that Braves pitcher Chris Sale got ejected before the first pitch of Sunday’s game. He wasn’t going to play, anyway, because he pitched the day before.

Sale was still steaming the day after umpire Dan Merzel called him for a balk that scored a go-ahead run for the Yankees. AJC Braves beat writer Chad Bishop reported that Merzel ejected Sale as umpires passed by the visiting dugout at Yankee Stadium on the way to the field.

Merzel called Sale for a balk in the fifth inning Saturday. Sale made a move toward the batter, Austin Wells, before stopping his windup and restarting. The dispute apparently centers on whether Sale told Merzel he was going to pitch from the windup.

Umpire crew chief Dan Bellino told Bishop that Sale did not make that declaration. Sale wasn’t called for a balk when he made a similar move while facing the previous batter, José Caballero. Bellino said Sale announced he was using the windup for Caballero.