Orioles' Jackson Holliday returns to Coors Field, where he learned at the feet of his father

DENVER (AP) — Baltimore Orioles rookie second baseman Jackson Holliday returned Friday to Coors Field, the ballpark where he learned some of his earliest baseball lessons as a toddler at the feet of his father, former Colorado Rockies star Matt Holliday.

“It’s very special,” Holliday said before the Orioles beat the Rockies 5-3. “It’s kind of hard to explain growing up watching my dad play here for so long. I’m glad to be able to be here at the end of the year, and just excited to have a bunch of family and friends.”

Holliday's father, his mother, Leslee, and younger brother Ethan traveled from their Oklahoma home to be on hand for the weekend series between Baltimore and Colorado, where Matt Holliday bookended his 15-year major league career.

Matt broke into the majors with the Rockies in 2006 and helped the franchise to its only NL pennant in 2007. After stints with Oakland, St. Louis and the New York Yankees, Holliday rejoined the Rockies late in 2018, his final season.

Jackson put on a show in front of his family, hitting an RBI triple off the right-field wall in the ninth inning. He then scored on a headfirst slide when reliever Angel Chivilli fielded Austin Slater’s comebacker but threw wide of catcher Jacob Stallings for an error.

The play at the plate was reminiscent of Matt's bang-bang, headfirst slide at home for the winning run in a one-game tiebreaker against San Diego in 2007 that sent Colorado to the postseason.

Matt relished the chance to watch his oldest son play on the field he once roamed with his dad playing Wiffle ball and catch, absorbing early lessons in the game and an appreciation for the sport.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Matt said. “It doesn’t seem like that long ago, Jackson was running around here. We’re playing with a Wiffle ball, and now he’s got a chance to play on this field. Just have a lot of fond memories here, obviously, as a family and with Jackson. To get a chance to come and watch him play on this field is pretty surreal.”

Jackson struggled when he was called up by the Orioles in April but has fared much better in his second stint in the majors, which began on July 31. He hit a go-ahead three-run double in his first career pinch-hit appearance a week ago against Houston, becoming, at 20 years, 264 days, the youngest player in Orioles history to drive in three or more runs as a pinch-hitter since the RBI was recognized as an official statistic in 1920.

He recorded his first career stolen base on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Dodgers, the youngest Oriole to do that since Manny Machado swiped his first when he was 20 years, 53 days old against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 28, 2012.

Matt said it has been both thrilling and nerve-wracking seeing his son’s first major league season unfold, admitting that watching Jackson play could be tougher in some ways than dealing with his own ups and downs.

“As a player, you’re controlling the outcomes to some extent,” Matt said. “It’s hard because I wanted to do well, and because I know how bad he wants to do well, so it’s a little more taxing. Makes my gut probably a little more nervous than when I played. But you know it’s fun to watch, too. I love watching baseball, so I love watching him play. I know how much he loves it, so that makes it easy.”

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Retired Major League Baseball player Matt Holliday, center, jokes with Colorado Rockies television announcer Cory Sullivan, right, as Holliday' son, Ethan, left, looks on before the Baltimore Orioles face the Rockies in a baseball game Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Retired Major League Baseball player Matt Holliday greets Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black before the Baltimore Orioles face the Rockies in a baseball game, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Retired Major League Baseball player Matt Holliday greets Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black before the Baltimore Orioles face the Rockies in a baseball game, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Retired Major League Baseball player Matt Holliday, front, talks to reporters with his son, Jackson, second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, before the Orioles face the Colorado Rockies in a baseball game Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Retired Major League Baseball player Matt Holliday, front, listens as his son, Jackson, second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, talks to reporters before the Orioles face the Colorado Rockies in a baseball game Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine made a new call Saturday on the West to allow it to strike deeper into Russia after a meeting between U.S. and British leaders a day earlier produced no visible shift in their policy on the use of long-range weapons.

The renewed appeal came as Kyiv said Russia launched more drone and artillery attacks into Ukraine overnight.

“Russian terror begins at weapons depots, airfields and military bases inside the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said Saturday. “Permission to strike deep into Russia will speed up the solution.”

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called on allies to greenlight the use of Western-provided long-range weapons to strike targets deep inside Russian territory. So far, the U.S. has allowed Kyiv to use American-provided weapons only in a limited area inside Russia’s border with Ukraine.

Discussions on allowing long-range strikes were believed to be on the table when U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met in Washington on Friday but no decision was announced immediately.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressing the U.S. and other allies to allow his forces to use Western weapons to target air bases and launch sites farther afield as Russia has stepped up assaults on Ukraine’s electricity grid and utilities before winter.

He did not directly comment on the meeting Saturday morning, but said that more than 70 Russian drones had been launched into Ukraine overnight. The Ukrainian air force later said that 76 Russian drones had been sighted, of which 72 were shot down.

“We need to boost our air defense and long-range capabilities to protect our people,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “We are working on this with all of Ukraine’s partners.”

Other overnight attacks saw one person killed by Russian artillery fire as energy infrastructure was targeted in Ukraine’s Sumy region. A 54-year-old driver was killed and seven more people were hospitalized, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said.

Another three people died Saturday in a Russian strike on an agricultural enterprise in the front-line town of Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region, Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.

Meanwhile, officials in Moscow have continued to make public statements warning that long-range strikes would provoke further escalation between Russia and the West. The remarks are in line with the narrative the Kremlin has promoted since early in the war, accusing NATO countries of de-facto participation in the conflict and threatening a response.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency Tass on Saturday that the U.S. and British governments were pushing the conflict, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, toward “poorly controlled escalation.”

Biden on Friday brushed off similar comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said on Thursday that allowing long-range strikes “would mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries, are at war with Russia.”

Asked what he thought about Putin’s threat, Biden answered, “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”

Russian and Ukrainian officials also announced on Saturday a prisoner swap brokered by the United Arab Emirates. It included 206 prisoners on both sides, including Russians captured in Ukraine’s incursion in the Kursk region.

The swap is the eighth of its kind since the beginning of 2024, and puts the total number of POWs exchanged at 1,994. Previous exchanges were also brokered by the UAE.

Both sides released images of soldiers traveling to meet friends and family, with Zelenskyy commenting, “Our people are home."

Elsewhere, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 19 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the country’s Kursk and Belgorod regions.

A woman also died Saturday after a Ukrainian shell hit her home in the border village of Bezlyudovka, Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

A Ukrainian poses for a selfie as he is greeted after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainians pose for a photo after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainians pose for a photo after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainians pose for a photo after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

A Ukrainian reacts after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainians react after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

A Ukrainian serviceman, left, is greeted after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)