WJPA Sports

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Michael Chavis hit a tying home run in the eighth before pulling off a defensive gem and delivering a game-ending single in the 10th, sending the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Chicago Cubs 8-7. Chavis’ solo homer made it 7-all after the Cubs scored five times in the top of the eighth. In the 10th, Chavis charged a slow grounder by Jason Heyward toward first base and threw out Patrick Wisdom at the plate. The call stood after a Chicago challenge. In the bottom half, Chavis blooped a single to right and automatic runner Ke’Bryan Hayes scored in a collision with catcher Wilson Contreras. Hayes remained down for a few moments before walking off under his own power. Hayes homered earlier in the game.

CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) – Rory McIlroy fought off a sinus bug to shoot an 8-under 62 on Thursday for a share of the first-round lead with J.T. Poston in the Travelers Championship. Coming off a fifth-place tie Sunday in the U.S. Open after winning the Canadian Open the previous week, the second-ranked McIlroy had a bogey-free morning round – highlighted by a 47-foot birdie putt on the par-4 seventh. McIlroy matched the lowest opening round of his PGA Tour career. Poston had five straight birdies on Nos. 13-17 and made the turn at 6-under 29, giving rise to thoughts of Jim Furyk’s record 58 on the same TPC River Highlands course in 2016. Poston added birdies on Nos. 7 and 9.

UNDATED (AP) – The New York Racing Association suspended trainer Bob Baffert for one year Thursday for repeated medication violations. A panel credited Baffert for time served from an initial suspension that makes the two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer eligible to saddle horses in New York again by late January. The ban is shorter than the two-year suspension Churchill Downs handed Baffert after Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit tested positive for a substance that is not allowed on race day. Baffert’s camp asked for a stay of the NYRA suspension that was immediately denied.