July 23, 2024 4:36 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Rookie Paul Skenes lost for the first time in 12 career major league starts, giving up Alec Burleson’s tiebreaking single in the ninth inning that lifted the St. Louis Cardinals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1. Pitching for the first time since starting for the National League in last week’s All-Star Game, the 22-year-old right-hander pitched past the seventh inning for the first time in the major leagues. Nolan Arenado put St. Louis ahead with a fifth-inning home run on a first-pitch curveball, and Nick Gonzales tied the score with an RBI single in the eighth off JoJo Romero.
July 24, 2024 4:39 am
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers have no intention of granting star receiver Brandon Aiyuk his trade request and remain committed to getting a long-term extension done with one of their most important offensive players. General manager John Lynch says there are no absolutes but that the 49ers expect Aiyuk to be an “integral part of our team.” The 49ers arrived at training camp on Tuesday, with Aiyuk showing up with the rest of his teammates, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team didn’t make an announcement. Aiyuk had skipped the entire offseason program, including a mandatory minicamp. Aiyuk would have been subject to potential fines if he didn’t show up.
July 24, 2024 4:40 am
Three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes was a unanimous choice by The Associated Press for No. 1 quarterback in the NFL in a preseason survey. A panel of eight AP Pro Football Writers ranked the top five players at QB, basing selections on current status entering the 2024 season. Despite a subpar regular season — by his lofty standards — Mahomes had another exceptional postseason, leading the Kansas City Chiefs to a repeat Super Bowl victory and their third title in five seasons. Josh Allen, reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy each received second-place votes.
July 24, 2024 4:41 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA All-Star Game drew a record number of viewers with 3.44 million people watching the contest in Phoenix on Saturday night. The game, which saw the WNBA All-Stars beat the U.S. Olympic team 117-109, easily topped the 1.44 million that viewed the 2003 contest. Saturday’s game peaked with more than 4 million viewers. It was the third most viewed WNBA event ever and the largest audience for the league since its first two nationally televised games in 1997. Last year’s game, which was also on prime time TV, drew 850,000 viewers.
July 23, 2024 4:30 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Nick Gonzales hit a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning after Mitch Keller allowed one run in the first seven, and the Pittsburgh Pirates won for the seventh time in eight games, 2-1 over the St. Louis Cardinals. Bryan Reynolds led off the eighth with a single to left before advancing to second on a wild pitch. With one out, Gonzales sneaked a slow dribbler off John King through the right side of the infield. Keller gave up six hits in seven innings, striking out three and walking two. Aroldis Chapman pitched a perfect eighth for the win in this matchup of NL wild card contenders.
July 23, 2024 4:33 am
CINCINNATI (AP) — Joe Burrow and his surgically repaired wrist have been cleared for contact and the Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback is ready to go for the opening of training camp on Wednesday. Burrow was sidelined last season when he suffered a torn ligament in his right wrist in the 10th game, a loss to Baltimore on Nov. 16. He had surgery on his wrist Nov. 27.
July 23, 2024 4:32 am
Turner Sports intends to continue its longtime relationship with the NBA. Warner Bros. Discovery informed the league Monday that it will match the $1.8 billion per year offer by Amazon Prime Video. Turner has had an NBA package since 1984 and games have been on TNT since the network launched in 1988. The NBA’s Board of Governors approved the league’s 11-year media rights deals with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime Video at its meeting in Las Vegas last Tuesday. WBD received all three contracts on Wednesday, which started the five-day clock on whether it wanted to match. An NBA spokesperson says the league is reviewing the matching offer.
July 22, 2024 4:33 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Rookie Tyler Phillips gave up four hits in six innings, and the Philadelphia Phillies avoided a three-game sweep with a 6-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Phillips struck out three and walked one. It was the right-hander’s third game and second start since being called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on July 5. The Phillies, who had lost three straight and four of their last five games, ended the Pirates’ winning streak at six. Pittsburgh was shut out for the seventh time this season.
July 22, 2024 4:35 am
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Adrian Beltré, Joe Mauer, Todd Helton and Jim Leyland have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Beltré led this year’s class with 95.1% of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote in his first year on the ballot. Helton followed with 79.7% of the vote in his sixth year of eligibility and Mauer received 76.1% of the BBWAA vote in his first year. Leyland was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.
July 22, 2024 4:38 am
TROON, Scotland (AP) — Xander Schauffele was the player who couldn’t win a major at the start of the year. Now he has two of them. The 30-year-old Californian won the British Open with a masterpiece at Royal Troon. He played bogey-free for a 65 to get his name on the base of that silver claret jug. Schauffele won the PGA Championship in May at Valhalla. He’s the first player since 2015 to win his first two majors in the same season. And his victory at Royal Troon gave the Americans a sweep of the four majors for the first time since 1982. Schauffele’s 65 ranks among the great closing rounds in British Open history.
