July 31, 2020 3:48 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Major League Baseball has postponed this weekend’s scheduled series between Toronto and Philadelphia because of concerns about the coronavirus after two Phillies staffers tested positive. Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo revealed news of the postponed series Thursday, saying his club was “not going to Philadelphia,” where the series was scheduled to take place. It’s the latest in a series of scheduling changes as baseball attempts to play a 60-game season amid a pandemic that is surging in parts of the United States. Earlier Thursday, word emerged that another player with the Miami Marlins tested positive for COVID-19, bringing their total outbreak to 17 players, according to a person familiar with the situation.
July 31, 2020 3:52 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Buffalo Bills are the first team in the NFL to send their rookies home and hold training camp remotely after two more players tested positive for COVID-19.
Defensive backs Siran Neal and Dane Jackson both tested positive, upping the team’s total to five since rookies reported on July 21. The Bills did not provide a timeline as to how long rookies would continue working remotely.
July 31, 2020 3:53 am
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Defending champion Brooks Koepka has matched his career best with an 8-under 62 to take a one-stroke lead over Rickie Fowler and Brendan Todd in the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Koepka had nine birdies and a bogey on a windy day at TPC Southwind in the World Golf Championship event. The round comes a week after he missed the cut in Minnesota in the 3M Open. Sung Kang shot 65. Justin Thomas fired a 66 and was tied with Matt Kuchar, Chez Reavie and Max Homa. Thomas can reclaim the No. 1 ranking with a victory this weekend.
July 30, 2020 3:47 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Milwaukee’s Brandon Woodruff allowed one hit and struck out 10 while working into the seventh inning as the Brewers beat the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0. Woodruff retired 19 of 21 batters, including 17 straight at one point. Ben Gamel hit a two-run home run for the Brewers and Keston Hiura added a solo shot. Phil Evans’ infield single in the first served as Pittsburgh’s lone hit. The Pirates are hitting a major-league worst .171 as a team. Relievers David Phelps, Devin Williams and Josh Hader finished the one-hitter for the Brewers.
July 30, 2020 3:50 am
UNDATED (AP) – Philadelphia Phillies general manager Matt Klentak says one team employee who works in the visiting clubhouse has tested positive for the coronavirus. But he says all Phillies players and on-field staff tested negative for a second straight day. The Phillies’ four-game, home-and-home series against the New York Yankees was postponed this week following a coronavirus outbreak among the Miami Marlins, who played in Philadelphia last weekend. The Phillies are scheduled to host Toronto this weekend in a series that was supposed to be on the road but switched because the Blue Jays’ temporary ballpark in Buffalo isn’t ready.
July 30, 2020 3:52 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Big West Conference is postponing all fall sports through the end of the calendar year. The conference will determine later if conducting fall sports in the spring would be feasible. The decision does not impact basketball, which is scheduled to begin on Nov. 10. The Division I conference has 11 members, with all but one based in California.
July 30, 2020 3:48 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner says it’s not time to relax just because star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has returned from elbow surgery. Fichtner says his message to an offense that finished 30th in the league last year with Roethlisberger out is that it needs to ramp things up to another level, not just assume that Roethlisberger will solve all the problems that popped up in 2019. While Fichtner says the team will monitor Roethlisberger’s workload early in camp, the two-time Super Bowl winner appears to be fully recovered and ready to regain the form he showed in 2018 when he led the league in passing.
July 29, 2020 3:48 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Adam Frazier hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied for an 8-6 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. A day after blowing a four-run lead in the ninth in what became an 11-inning loss, Pittsburgh delivered a bit of payback thanks to a shaky performance by the Milwaukee bullpen. Cole Tucker went 2 for 4 for the Pirates.
July 29, 2020 3:50 am
MIAMI (AP) – Major League Baseball has come up with a patchwork schedule for the remainder of the week due to a virus outbreak that has sickened half of the Miami Marlins team. MLB suspended the Marlins’ season through Sunday. The Philadelphia Phillies will remain idled by the pandemic until Friday. The league said that among more than 6,400 tests conducted since Friday, there were no new positives involving on-field personnel from any team other than the Marlins. But that’s not reassuring to players. Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun says he’s found it difficult to focus on baseball at all during the last couple of days. Braun said MLB players are constantly assessing whether they should keep playing. Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said the season could be in jeopardy.
July 29, 2020 3:52 am
UNDATED (AP) – The NCAA is allowing all major college football teams to begin their seasons as early as Aug. 29. The association confirmed that the football oversight committee had requested a blanket waiver to permit any school to push up the start of its season to the so-called Week Zero. The official start of the season had been Labor Day weekend, with a few games scheduled for Aug. 29. That was before the coronavirus pandemic put the season in peril and schedules were remade to deal with potential disruptions of COVID-19. Some schools and conferences are working on delaying the start of their football seasons while others are trying to get a head start. Kansas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 have both recently moved up their opening games against FCS opponents to Aug. 29.
