SAN DIEGO (AP) — Kyle Hart earned his first big league win, Gavin Sheets had a pair of two-run doubles among his three hits and the San Diego Padres beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-2 Monday night to start 5-0 for the first time in their 57-season history.
The Padres' previous best start was 4-0 in 1984, when they went to their first World Series.
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San Diego Padres starting pitcher Kyle Hart (68) throws against a Cleveland Guardians batter in the first inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
San Diego Padres' Gavin Sheets (30) hits an RBI double in the second inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) celebrates his home run as he rounds third base in the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
San Diego Padres relief pitcher Wandy Peralta (58) fields to first for the final out and win in a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Triston McKenzie (24) throws in the seventh inning of a baseball game against a San Diego Padres batter, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
San Diego Padres relief pitcher Yuki Matsui (1) throws against a Cleveland Guardians batter in the seventh inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez runs toward third base in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
San Diego Padres' Gavin Sheets, left, looks from the dugout after scoring in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
San Diego Padres starting pitcher Kyle Hart (68) throws against a Cleveland Guardians batter in the first inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
Hart (1-0) returned to the big leagues five seasons after his only other stint, when he made four appearances and three starts for Boston during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, going 0-1 with a 15.55 ERA. He spent 2024 with the NC Dinos, where he led the Korean Baseball Organization with 182 strikeouts and won the Choi Dong-won Award as its top starter.
The 32-year-old left-hander allowed two runs and five hits in five innings, including home runs by José Ramírez with one out in the first and Austin Hedges leading off the third. They were the first for both players. Hart struck out four and walked one.
The Padres roughed up Luis Ortiz (0-1) in his Guardians debut after he was obtained in an offseason trade with Pittsburgh. He allowed seven runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Sheets hit a two-run double in both the four-run second and three-run fifth. Jason Heyward drove in runs with a sacrifice fly in the second and a double in the fifth.
Hart got his first big league strikeout in five seasons, fanning Guardians leadoff batter Steven Kwan on an 80-mph sweeper. Ramírez homered in the next at-bat, but Hart came back and struck out Lane Thomas.
Reigning NL batting champ Luis Arraez of the Padres snapped a season-opening, 0-for-16 slump with a single in the sixth, but was thrown out by right fielder Jhonkensy Noel trying to stretch it into a double.
Guardians LHP Logan Allen and Padres RHP Michael King are scheduled to start Tuesday.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
San Diego Padres starting pitcher Kyle Hart (68) throws against a Cleveland Guardians batter in the first inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
San Diego Padres' Gavin Sheets (30) hits an RBI double in the second inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) celebrates his home run as he rounds third base in the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
San Diego Padres relief pitcher Wandy Peralta (58) fields to first for the final out and win in a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Triston McKenzie (24) throws in the seventh inning of a baseball game against a San Diego Padres batter, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
San Diego Padres relief pitcher Yuki Matsui (1) throws against a Cleveland Guardians batter in the seventh inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez runs toward third base in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
San Diego Padres' Gavin Sheets, left, looks from the dugout after scoring in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
San Diego Padres starting pitcher Kyle Hart (68) throws against a Cleveland Guardians batter in the first inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
