July 6, 2019 3:58 am
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) – Coco Gauff will be spending the weekend in London. The 15-year-old American has continued her stunning run at Wimbledon, advancing to the fourth round with a 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 victory over Polona Hercog of Slovenia. The youngest Wimbledon women’s singles player since the Open era was able to fight off match points and stay alive in her first-ever Grand Slam tournament. Gauff opened the tournament with a straight-sets win over seven-time Grand Slam champ Venus Williams before ousting Magdalena Rybarikova. Wimbledon officials are loving the story and have given Gauff ample opportunity to showcase her talents, putting her on No. 1 Court for the first two matches before moving her to Centre Court on Friday.
July 6, 2019 3:56 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Mike Sullivan is sticking around to see if he can add to his Stanley Cup collection with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The club has signed Sullivan to a four-year contract extension that runs through the 2023-24 season. The terms of the new deal will kick in when Sullivan’s current contract expires at the end of the upcoming season. Sullivan became the first coach in nearly two decades to win consecutive Stanley Cups when he guided Pittsburgh to championships in 2016 and 2017.
July 4, 2019 3:42 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jung Ho Kang scored on Corey Dickerson’s sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to cap a frantic rally and lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. Josh Bell hit his 26th home of the season and fourth of the series and added a double to give him 59 extra-base hits, the most ever by a National League player before the All-Star break. The Cubs turned to recently signed closer Craig Kimbrel (0-1) to protect a one-run lead in the ninth and the Pirates pounced. Elias Diaz walked with one out, Kang followed with a double to right field that Chicago’s Willson Contreras couldn’t track down. Diaz beat the throw to the plate from Chicago second baseman Addison Russell on Adam Frazier’s fielders’ choice. Kang followed Diaz home when Dickerson’s fly ball to left field was deep enough to allow Kang to easily beat Kyle Schwarber’s heave. The Pirates have won three straight and 12 of 17 to pull within one game of .500 (42-43). Richard Rodriguez (3-3) earned the win after pitching a scoreless ninth. Starling Marte collected three hits for the Pirates. Melky Cabrera went 3 for 4 and delivered a two-run home run off Chicago starter Yu Darvish but was also thrown out at home by Contreras to end the eighth while trying to score on a single by Colin Moran. Victor Caratini homered from both sides of the plate for the Cubs, including a go-ahead two-run shot in the seventh off Francisco Liriano to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead. Javy Baez added his 22nd home run for Chicago but the Cubs lost their fourth consecutive game. Chicago missed a chance to pull even with Milwaukee for first in the jam-packed NL Central, where all five clubs are separated by 4 1/2 games heading into July 4. No team has been able to take control of the division. Chicago looked like it was ready to in early June, but an 8-19 stretch brought the Cubs back to earth. Pittsburgh starter Chris Archer left his previous start with an aching left hip but took his scheduled turn in the rotation. Archer gave up three runs on five hits with three walks and eight strikeouts.
July 3, 2019 3:49 am
LYON, France (AP) – Alex Morgan celebrated her go-ahead goal with a cheeky tea-sipping motion and Alyssa Naeher stopped a late penalty kick to send the United States into the final at the Women’s World Cup with a 2-1 victory over England on Tuesday night. The top-ranked United States will face the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between the Netherlands and Sweden in the Americans’ third straight appearance in the World Cup title match. Christen Press – who started with Megan Rapinoe out with a hamstring injury – put the United States up early in the match but Ellen White’s goal tied it before 20 minutes had passed. Morgan’s sixth goal of the tournament came before the break and on her 30th birthday. She hadn’t had a goal since she scored five in the team’s 13-0 rout of Thailand to open the tournament.
July 2, 2019 3:53 am
UNDATED (AP) – Major League Baseball has been rocked by the sudden death of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs at age 27. Skaggs was with the team in Texas when he was found unresponsive in his hotel room. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they are investigating, but no foul play is suspected at this time. Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016, when he returned from Tommy John surgery. He struggled with injuries repeatedly over the past three seasons, but persevered to become a valuable starter in Los Angeles’ injury-plagued rotation.
July 1, 2019 5:26 am
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Eric Thames homered leading off the eighth inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 on Sunday. Thames, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the sixth, blasted an 0-1 pitch from Pirates reliever Kyle Crick (3-4) to straightaway center, a 432-foot shot that hit just below the scoreboard. Milwaukee took two of three from its NL Central rival and moved into a first-place tie with the Chicago Cubs, who lost to Cincinnati. The Brewers finished their homestand at 5-5. Jeremy Jeffress (2-2) pitched a scoreless eighth, and Matt Albers worked the ninth to pick up his first save of the season. Milwaukee’s Zach Davies, who had an 8.10 ERA over his previous four starts, allowed one run and six hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two. He also drove in the Brewers’ first run with a two-out single in the fourth after the Pirates intentionally waked Manny Pina. Melky Cabrera had a run-scoring single in the first for the Pirates. Pittsburgh’s Steven Brault allowed one run and five hits but lasted just 4 2/3 innings after throwing 97 pitches. Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman had his hitting streak halted at 19 games.
June 30, 2019 11:14 pm
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (AP) – The Pittsburgh Penguins have traded high-scoring winger Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes for center Alex Galchenyuk. Minor league defenseman Pierre-Oliver Joseph will also go to Pittsburgh. The Coyotes get minor league defenseman Dane Birks and a 2021 fourth-round draft pick.
June 27, 2019 1:40 pm
HOUSTON (AP) – Josh Bell hit his 21st homer, Corey Dickerson had four hits and three RBIs, and rookie Dario Agrazal threw six strong innings to earn his first major league win as the Pittsburgh Pirates routed the Houston Astros 14-2 on Wednesday night. Bell connected off rookie Framber Valdez (3-4) for a two-run shot in the first inning and the Pirates added two runs each in the second and third to build a 6-1 lead and cruise to their fifth victory in six games. Pittsburgh led 8-2 entering the ninth before tacking on six runs when Houston manager AJ Hinch sent first baseman Tyler White to the mound with his team way behind. Agrazal (1-0), called up from Triple-A Indianapolis before the game, yielded five hits and one run in his second career start. Jung Ho Kang added a two-run homer for Pittsburgh. Kevin Newman had four hits, capped by a two-run homer, to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games – longest in the majors. George Springer had three hits, including a leadoff homer in his second game back from the injured list. But the AL West-leading Astros failed to generate much offense besides that as they lost for the eighth time in 10 games.
June 5, 2019 9:34 am
BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) – Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy says Zdeno Chara will be checked out in Boston to see whether he will be able to play in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. Chara took a deflected puck off his face in the second period of Game 4 on Monday night, which the St. Louis Blues won 4-2 to tie the series at two games apiece. He returned to the bench for the third period wearing a full face shield, but he did not play. Game 5 is Thursday night in Boston.
June 5, 2019 9:33 am
Chartiers-Houston rallied from a three-run deficit after five innings to knock off District 10 champion Union City, 7-3, Monday afternoon, capping a strong day for area teams in the first round of the state playoffs. West Greene, West Allegheny and Keystone Oaks softball were also first round winners along with California and Seton-La Salle baseball. The PIAA quarterfinals are schedule for Thursday. Click for PIAA Brackets — SOFTBALL — BASEBALL
PIAA Quarterfinals — Softball / Baseball
Thursday, June 6
1A California vs. D-10 champion West Middlesex, 1:30 pm at Pullman Park, Butler
2A Seton-La Salle vs. WPIAL third-place Laurel, 2 pm at Shaler HS
1A West Greene vs. D-9 runnerup Clarion, 2 pm at Slippery Rock Univeristy
2A Chartiers-Houston vs. WPIAL runnerup Frazier, 3 pm at Peters Twp. HS — WJPA-AM (1450)
3A Keystone Oaks vs. D-6 champion Bald Eagle Area, 5 pm at St. Francis Univ., Loretto
5A West Allegheny vs. WPIAL third-place Penn-Trafford, 5:30 pm at Peters Twp. HS — WJPA-AM (1450)
