July 16, 2024 4:25 am
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Paul Skenes was the center of attention in a ballpark filled with six dozen All-Stars. The 22-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher with 11 major league appearances will start for the National League on Tuesday night, when Baltimore’s Corbin Burnes starts for the American League. Skenes will have the fewest big league games of any player in the showcase’s 91-year history. His splinker, a hybrid that sinks like a splitter with the velocity of a sinker, has batters muttering. He is 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA since his May 11 debut, striking out 89 and walking 13 in 66 1/3 innings.
July 16, 2024 4:28 am
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Los Angeles Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández won the Home Run Derby when he beat local star Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals 14-13 in the final round. The 31-year-old Hernández hit 49 homers over three rounds that totaled 3.98 miles. He is the first Dodgers player to win the derby. Kansas City has never had a winner. Witt, needing one to tie with one out remaining, drove a ball to one of the deepest parts of the park in left-center, where it hit halfway up the wall.
July 16, 2024 4:30 am
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Baseball can’t run away from its lack of runs. Batting averages are near half-century lows. Velocity is at an all-time high. The major league batting average was .240 through April and .239 in May, the lowest since the bottom of .237 in 1968’s Year of the Pitcher. It’s risen slightly along with the temperature as spring turned to summer: .246 in June and .250 in July, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Still, the season average of .243 heading into the All-Star break was just ahead of 2022 and 1968 as the lowest since the dead-ball era ended in 1920.
July 16, 2024 4:28 am
Anthony Davis scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Tyrese Haliburton came up with a pair of late 3-pointers that helped stop a freefall by the Americans, and the U.S. beat Australia 98-92 on Monday to improve to 2-0 in its five-game slate of exhibitions leading into the Paris Olympics. Devin Booker scored 16 for the U.S., which saw a 24-point second-half lead cut to four in the final moments. Jock Landale scored 20 for Australia, which got 17 from Josh Giddey and 14 from Dyson Daniels.
July 15, 2024 4:50 am
The Pirates selected Konnor Griffin with the 9th Pick in Baseball’s Amateur draft. Griffin, a shortstop from Jackson Prep (Mississippi), was ranked as the No. 9 overall Draft prospect by MLB Pipeline, the highest among all prep players. MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis said “he’s got the highest ceiling in the Draft” during MLB Network’s broadcast.
July 15, 2024 4:31 am
CHICAGO (AP) — Joey Bart and Bryan Reynolds homered, Ke’Bryan Hayes had three hits and the Pittsburgh Pirates won their fourth straight game, beating the Chicago White Sox 9-4. Nick Gonzales tripled and drove in two runs for the Pirates, who have won six of seven and reached .500 for the first time since April 27. Andrew Benintendi and Luis Robert Jr. each had three hits for the White Sox, who have lost four straight and 10 of 13.
July 15, 2024 4:36 am
BALTIMORE (AP) — Former NFL receiver Jacoby Jones has died at age 40. Jones’ 108-yard kickoff return in 2013 remains the longest touchdown in Super Bowl history. The Houston Texans were Jones’ team for the first five seasons of his career. They announced his death on Sunday. In a statement released by the NFL Players Association, his family said he died at his home in New Orleans. A cause of death was not given. Jones played from 2007-15 for the Texans, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers. He made several huge plays for the Ravens during their most recent Super Bowl title season, including that kick return.
July 15, 2024 4:38 am
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Argentina won its second straight Copa America championship, overcoming Lionel Messi’s second-half leg injury to beat Colombia 1-0 on Lautaro Martínez’s 112th-minute goal. Messi appeared to sustain a non-contact injury while running and falling in the 64th minute and covered his face with his hands when he sat on the bench. Martínez later ran to that bench to hug his captain after the goal that propelled Argentina to its record 16th Copa title. In a match that started 1 hour, 22 minutes late because of crowd trouble at Hard Rock Stadium, Argentina won its third straight major title following the 2021 Copa America and 2022 World Cup.
July 15, 2024 4:41 am
LONDON (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz has defeated Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon men’s final for the second year in a row to collect his fourth Grand Slam title at age 21. Alcaraz won 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in front of a Centre Court crowd that included Kate, the Princess of Wales. A year ago, Alcaraz beat Djokovic in five sets for the title at the All England Club. This one was much easier for the Spaniard and gave him his second major championship in a row after last month’s French Open. He won his first Slam trophy at the 2022 U.S. Open as a teenager. Djokovic was denied in his bid for an eighth Wimbledon title and 25th major overall.
July 14, 2024 7:22 am
CHICAGO (AP) — Bryan Reynolds drove in four runs, Luis Ortiz pitched neatly into the sixth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago White Sox 6-2. Reynolds had four hits Saturday. He gave Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead in the seventh with a two-run single against reliever Tanner Banks and singled in two more during a three-run ninth, sending the Pirates to their third straight win and fifth in six games. Ortiz gave up one run and four hits over 5 2/3 innings in his third start and 25th appearance. The right-hander struck out five and walked one in another strong outing.
