August 3, 2021 3:46 am
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Eduardo Escobar hit a three-run homer and an RBI triple to back up Eric Lauer’s five shutout innings in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Escobar’s two-out triple off Kyle Keller in the sixth extended the Brewers’ lead to 2-0. He followed that up by sending a 421-foot drive to right against Nick Mears in the seventh. Escobar also walked twice to reach base on each of his four plate appearances. This marked his first home game for the Brewers since Milwaukee acquired him from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
August 3, 2021 3:44 am
Simone Biles has won a bronze medal in balance beam, her first of the Tokyo Olympics. The American gymnastics star finished behind gold medalist Guan Chenchen and silver medalist Tang Xijing both of China. A week after taking herself out of several competitions to focus on her mental health, Biles drilled a slightly altered routine on Tuesday. Biles, using a routine that ended with a double-pike dismount – no twisting required – posted a score of 14.000. That was good enough for second after four competitors during the eight-woman final.
– German Malaika Mihambo took the top spot in the women’s long jump with a 7-meter leap on her final attempt and edged U.S. veteran Brittney Reese for the gold medal. The 34-year-old Reese now has back-to-back Olympic silver medals at the Tokyo Games and from Rio de Janeiro after winning the title at London in 2012. The four-time world champion had the chance to win with the final jump of the competition but couldn’t improve on her best mark of 6.97 meters.
– Allyson Felix won her first-round heat of the 400 meters as she began her Tokyo quest for a 10th Olympic medal. The 35-year-old Felix is tied with Jamaican great Merlene Ottey for the most women’s track medals in Olympic history. Felix has a chance to medal in the 400 and may have another shot in the women’s 4×400 this weekend.
– April Ross is the last defending medalist standing in the beach volleyball women’s bracket. The American 2016 bronze medalist and partner Alix Klineman ousted defending champion Laura Ludwig of Germany and advanced to the semifinals. Ross and Klineman are the United States’ last hopes for a beach volleyball medal in Tokyo.
August 3, 2021 3:48 am
UNDATED (AP) – Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz is expected to miss 5 to 12 weeks because a broken left foot. Coach Frank Reich says doctors found Wentz had broken the foot years ago, probably in high school, and that a piece of bone came loose when he hurt the foot last Thursday. For now, Indy plans to use Jacob Eason as the starter. Eason was a fourth-round draft pick in 2020 and has not appeared in an NFL game – regular season or preseason.
August 3, 2021 3:49 am
UNDATED (AP) – Alabama coach Nick Saban will make $11.5 million in the final year under a new eight-year contract that’s worth at least $84.8 million. The university has released details of Saban’s previously announced deal, after the board of trustees’ compensation committee formally approved it. Saban has won a record seven national championships and is set to make $8.7 million this year with annual raises of $400,000.
August 2, 2021 3:56 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Kyle Gibson pitched into the seventh inning in his Phillies debut and got plenty of support as Philadelphia avoided a series sweep by pounding the Pittsburgh Pirates 15-4. J.T. Realmuto got five of the Phillies’ 20 hits, with two doubles and four RBIs. Bryce Harper hit three of Philadelphia’s nine doubles and Jean Segura doubled twice and drove in three runs. The Phillies got Gibson and pitcher Ian Kennedy from Texas in a deadline deal Friday for rookie right-hander Spencer Howard and two other pitching prospects. The All-Star allowed two runs on five hits and struck out five in 6 2/3 innings.
August 2, 2021 3:53 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Steelers led the league in sacks last season, largely centered around a three-man rotation at outside linebacker. A key piece in that rotation, Bud Dupree, has since moved on, but T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith remain. Melvin Ingram is seeking a fresh start in Pittsburgh and the Steelers hope the veteran can serve as a key piece in the team’s outside linebacker rotation.
August 2, 2021 4:55 am
TOKYO (AP) – Simone Biles is returning to competition in Tokyo. The 2016 Olympic champion will compete in the balance beam finals on Tuesday. That’s a little over a week after the American superstar stepped away from the meet to focus on her mental health. The 24-year-old Biles won bronze on beam in Rio de Janeiro five years ago and qualified for the eight-woman final at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre on the first weekend of the Games. She opted out of the finals in the all-around, floor exercise, uneven bars and vault.
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.
