TOKYO - Canadian Milos Raonic advanced to the final of the Japan Open for the third straight year with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Frances Gilles Simon on Saturday.Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., won the first set and then had to remain focused for half an hour as the roof of the Ariake Colosseum was shut due to drizzle as a typhoon moves towards Japan.Raonic has yet to win the Japan Open title, losing last year in the final to Argentinas Juan Martin del Potro and in 2012 to Japans Kei Nishikori.Later on Saturday, the fourth-seeded Nishikori was playing Germanys Benjamin Becker in the second semifinal with the winner to face Raonic on Sunday.The win puts Raonic in his first-ever ATP World Tour Final, an elite eight-man season-ending tournament to be held next month in London, England.The 23-year-old Raonic currently holds the eighth and final spot in the ATP World Tour Final. He served as an alternate in the event a year ago after barely missing a place.Raonic improved to a perfect 3-0 record over Simon, a former top 20 player now ranked 37th.Raonic was impressive in the victory, starting the match with two aces in the opening game and breaking for 5-1 in the first set.A game later, after 31 minutes on court, the Wimbledon semifinalist had the set in the bag only to find himself off court for the 30 minutes it took to close the roof and start the warm-up again.Simon steadied in the second set, but was soon broken to give Raonic a 3-2 lead after a double fault.Raonic earned the win with his 11th ace of the afternoon to secure three match points. Simon saved one before going down to defeat.Raonic ended without facing a break point while breaking his opponent three times. He improved his 2014 record to 32-13 with a title in Washington and three high-profile semis at Rome, Wimbledon and Cincinnati.Raonic will be playing in his 12th career ATP final as he bids for his seventh trophy. Hes reached the quarter-finals or better at 11 of his 14 tournaments this season. Jalen Lecque Suns Jersey . The team sent out a press release on Friday stating Poile was resting and recovering and that he will remain in hospital for further observation. The Predators were preparing for the game against the Wild when Poile was hit by a puck that flew off the ice at him where he was standing in a tunnel behind the bench. Tyler Johnson Suns Jersey . No, really, his head. Late in the game, the St. Louis goalie craned his neck into the air to block a shot, taking a puck square in the mask. https://www.thesunslockerroom.com/Grant-...Edition-Jersey/. Hemsky left the Oilers Tuesday night loss to the Dallas Stars in the second period and did not return. Through 48 games this season, Hemsky has seven goals and a total of 24 points. Aron Baynes Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings and guard Jimmer Fredette have completed a buyout of his contract, clearing the way for the former BYU sensation to become a free agent. Dragan Bender Suns Jersey . He just didnt expect them to be this good. Darrun Hilliard scored 19 points to lead No. 6 Villanova to a dominating 77-59 victory over Georgetown on Saturday, preserving the Wildcats hopes of a No.MINNEAPOLIS - What started as a bad day for the Toronto Blue Jays turned into a record-breaking disaster by nights end. Minnesota scored three straight runs on wild pitches by the Torontos Sergio Santos in the eighth inning, when the Twins walked eight times off three relievers in rallying for a 9-5 victory and a sweep of Thursdays day-night doubleheader. R.A. Dickey (1-3) allowed five runs as Minnesota won the opener 7-0. The Twins trailed 5-1 in the fifth of the night game before the Blue Jays pitching staff fell apart. Steve Delabar walked two batters starting the six-run eighth, setting up Santos (0-1) for trouble as manager John Gibbons called for his closer early. Santos walked all three batters he faced, loading the bases with one out when he put on pinch-hitter Trevor Plouffe. The Twins cut the lead to 5-4 when Josmil Pinto came home on a wild pitch. "Im obviously one of the main guys to blame there. I put us in a bad situation," Delabar said. "That was brutal." The collapse by the Blue Jays bullpen only got worse. Ball four by Santos to pinch-hitter Kurt Suzuki was wild, too, allowing Chris Herrmann to score and tie the game. Santos threw another wild pitch to Brian Dozier, and pinch-runner Pedro Florimon raced home for the lead. J.A. Happ relieved Santos, who took his first blown save in five chances this year. Happ walked two more and then Jason Kubel broke open the game with a two-run single, the only hit of the inning. Santos, who has been handling the ninth-inning role while Casey Janssen is on the disabled list with a strained back, threw only four strikes in 16 pitches. "Coming into that situation, I had to be perfect," Santos said. "Looking back on it now, I felt like I was trying to be too perfect there. Tough, obviously. When you see the position guys go out and play in this cold weather, so many innings, its just a long day." The eight walks allowed is a team record, breaking the previous mark of seven free passes issued in the first inning on June 21, 1994, against Boston. The previous time a team walked eight times in one inning was April 19, 1996, when Texas did so against Baltimore. The record of 11 was set by the Washington Senatorss against the New York Yankees on Sept.dddddddddddd11, 1949. Casey Fien (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory. Jose Bautista took over the AL lead with his sixth homer, a solo shot in the fifth inning. Bautista, who also walked and scored in the first, has gone deep 11 times in 14 games at the ballpark the Twins opened in 2010. Thats the same number of homers Joe Mauer has here in 256 games. Toronto starter Dustin McGowan failed to finish the fifth. But all that was forgotten with the wildness that came later in the game. Gibbons said hes never seen anything like what unfolded in the eighth. "We couldnt throw strikes. We didnt pitch good all series," he said. "Its cold, all right. Its cold for both sides. If youre ever going to get to September or October in the playoffs, its going to be cold." Kyle Gibson (3-0) beat the Blue Jays in the first game, the coldest start, 31 degrees, for an outdoor game in Twins history. The young righty breezed through a Toronto lineup that totalled 20 runs in the previous two games. The veteran Dickey didnt handle the cold nearly as well. "Im traditionally a slow starter so hopefully I can get on track next time. The conditions werent a big deal for me today. It wasnt ideal, but it wasnt something where I was coming in trying to soak my fingers in warm water to keep them warm. I just didnt execute when I needed to make a big pitch, and they put good swings on it," said Dickey, whos ERA rose to 6.26. Despite this dud, Dickey has pitched six-plus innings in two of his four starts. After wintry weather forced postponement of Wednesdays game, workers scrambled all morning to melt snow and ice from the seating areas, and the grounds crew dried the warning track. It would have been better for the Blue Jays if the game was snowed out again. "Im sure once we get on the plane well talk about it a little bit," Santos said. "But once we land in Cleveland, its all Cleveland." NOTES: Dickey is 1-3 with a 6.58 ERA in six career starts against the Twins. ... For the first time in 15 games this season, Blue Jays LF Melky Cabrera failed to get a hit. ... Bautista is hitting .336 with 20 home runs in 39 career games against the Twins. ' ' '