August 2, 2021 3:58 am
TOKYO (AP) – Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn has won gold in the women’s 100-meter hurdles at the Tokyo Games, powering ahead of American Keni Harrison. The result keeps the United States out of the win column at the Olympic track meet for yet another session. Camacho-Quinn finished in 12.37 seconds for a .15 second win over Harrison, the world-record holder.
– April Ross and Alix Klineman have advanced to the quarterfinals of the beach volleyball tournament. The American “A-Team” beat Cuba 21-17, 21-15, a day after two other U.S. teams were ousted in the first knockout round. Next up for the Americans is the German tandem of Maggie Kozuch and Laura Ludwig, who is the defending gold medalist.
– World champion Sifan Hassan made an incredible recovery from a fall at the final bell to win her 1,500-meter heat at the Olympics on today. Hassan picked herself up after getting in a tangle with Kenyan runner Edinah Jebitok at the start of the last lap. It kept alive the Dutch runner’s bid for a rare distance-running treble at these Olympics.
August 1, 2021 7:39 am
PITTSBURGH — Jacob Stallings drove in the winning run with a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Pittsburgh Pirates a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night. With the scored tied 2-all, Bryan Reynolds led off the ninth with a double into the gap in left-center off Jose Alvarado (6-1). Reynolds moved to third on Gregory Polanco’s slow rolling groundout, and John Nogowski followed with a walk, putting runners on first and third. Stallings hit a chopper toward third baseman Alec Bohm, whose throw home was too late to get Reynolds. It was the seventh game-ending RBI of Stallings’ career, and his fourth this season. No NL player has more walk-off RBI since Stallings made his major league debut in 2016. Stallings and Pirates manager Derek Shelton credited Reynolds with good baserunning, as he got good reads on the grounders by both Polanco and Stallings. Chris Stratton (4-0) worked around two two-out singles in the ninth to get the win.
August 1, 2021 7:43 am
KAWAGOE, Japan (AP) — Four feet between his golf ball and the cup was all that separated Xander Schauffele from an Olympic gold medal, and he couldn’t help but let his mind wander. For Schauffele, it would be as special as a major, the championships that have eluded him far too many times, most recently at the Masters. For his father, an Olympic medal to share after his own aspirations ended in a horrific car accident that cost him his left eye. Schauffele bowed his head and closed his eyes to snap back into the present. With more pressure than he needed, Schauffele got the prize he wanted in a conclusion to men’s golf so wild that nine players were still in the mix for a medal as the last three players measured their putts on the 18th green. The putt that mattered most belonged to Schauffele, who had to lay up short of the water and rely on a wedge and a putt for par and a 4-under 67. Rory Sabbatini set an Olympic record with a 61 — with two bogeys on his card — that nearly was good enough for a sudden-death playoff for the gold. He was more than happy to win the silver medal for Slovakia.
August 1, 2021 7:41 am
TOKYO (AP) — Simone Biles will not defend her Olympic gold medal on floor exercise. USA Gymnastics announced Sunday that the six-time Olympic medalist has opted not to compete on floor, where she won gold in Rio de Janeiro and placed second in qualifying last week. Jennifer Gadirova of Britain will replace Biles in the finals, which are scheduled for Monday. USA Gymnastics said Biles has not decided whether to participate in the balance beam final, which is scheduled for Tuesday. She earned bronze on the event in Brazil five years ago. Biles has already chosen not to compete in the uneven bars and vault finals, set for Sunday evening at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. She was not expected to medal on bars, but is the Olympic champion on vault. Biles is dealing with a mental block that in gymnastics is referred to as “the twisties.” In other words, Biles is having trouble figuring out where her body is in relation to the ground when in the air.
July 31, 2021 3:43 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Wil Crowe and two relief pitchers combined on a one-hitter, and the Pittsburgh Pirates ended a four-game losing streak with a 7-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Crowe worked six innings and allowed the Phillies’ only hit, a single by Alec Bohm in the second inning. The rookie right-hander struck out four and walked four in winning his second straight start. Chasen Shreve pitched the seventh and Duane Underwood Jr. worked the last two innings to finish the Pirates’ fourth shutout of the season. Philadelphia lost for the third time in four games and remained 3 1/2 games behind the NL East-leading New York Mets.
July 31, 2021 3:58 am
The Pittsburgh Pirates worked hard right up to the trade deadline adding three new players. The Pirates traded pitcher Richard Rodriguez to the Atlanta Braves and received two right handed pitchers. The Pirates got Bryse Wilson and Ricky DeVito. Wilson has split this season between the Braves and their Triple-A affiliate Gwinnett. He has gone 2-3 with a 4.83 ERA in seven starts with Atlanta this season. DeVito has gone 0-3 with a 2.66 ERA with High-A Rome. In a second trade, the Pirates traded pitcher Austin Davis to the Boston Red Sox for infielder Michael Chavis. Chavis has split the 2021 season between Boston and Worcester of the Triple-A East League. He has made 14 starts with the Red Sox hitting .190 with four doubles, one triple and two home runs and six RBI.
July 31, 2021 4:16 am
CANTON, Ohio (AP) – Former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu said on social media Friday that he recently tested positive for COVID-19, a week before he’s due to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Polamalu told the hall of his diagnosis. He said they are working with health officials to determine whether he could be cleared to travel to Canton in time for his enshrinement, scheduled for next Saturday.
July 31, 2021 3:46 am
TOKYO (AP) – Simone Biles is taking a few more days off. USA Gymnastics says Biles has decided to withdraw from the Olympic event finals in the vault and uneven bars. She continues to be evaluated daily to determine whether she’ll compete in the finals for floor exercise and balance beam. Biles said she was putting her mental health first when she withdrew from the gymnastics team event after one rotation. She also decided not to compete in the all-around. Biles was the defending Olympic champion in the vault.
July 30, 2021 3:47 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Manny Pina hit two homers and drove in a career-high five runs as the Milwaukee Brewers routed the Pittsburgh Pirates 12-0. Pina hit his sixth home run of the season off reliever Chris Stratton to cap a big sixth inning for the Brewers, and then added a two-run homer in the eighth inning. The Brewers outscored Pittsburgh 28-3 while sweeping the series and have won five of their last six. Milwaukee has increased its lead over second place Cincinnati in the NL Central to seven games.
July 30, 2021 3:49 am
TOKYO (AP) – Olympic star Simone Biles says she’s been dealing with a bout of “the twisties” since last Sunday and is uncertain whether she’ll continue to compete at the Tokyo Games. The “twisties” are gymnastics code for when an athlete can’t figure out where they are in relation to the ground during a routine. Biles withdrew from the team and all-around competition because she felt she wasn’t mentally prepared.
– United States swimmer Caeleb Dressel watched his Olympic record fall in the 100-meter butterfly, only to take it right back. Minutes after Hungary’s Kristof Milak took down the mark in the first semifinal heat, Dressel went even faster with a time of 49.71 seconds in the second heat.
– American Ryan Murphy was second in the 200-meter backstroke at the Tokyo Games with a time of 1:54.15. Murphy was a double-gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Games, extending what had been America’s dominance of the backstroke events that went back to 1992. Russia’s Evgeny Rylov set an Olympic record to win the event and complete a backstroke sweep.
