GOLF
Todd leads at Travelers
Brendon Todd and Dustin Johnson shot career-low 61s at the Travelers Championship on Saturday, leaving Todd with a two-stroke lead over the 2016 US Open champion. Todd, playing a couple holes behind Johnson, had a chance at the tournament’s second 60 of the week but missed a 10-foot putt to the left on the 18th hole. He finished with a 54-hole score of 192, 18-under-par, after shooting 66 and 65 the first two rounds. Johnson also has improved each day, opening with a 69-64. Both shot bogey-free rounds, with Todd making five birdies on the front nine and Johnson five on the back. Taiwan’s C.T. Pan missed the cut.
SOCCER
Lazio return to winning
Ciro Immobile and Luis Alberto got title-chasing SS Lazio back to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over ACF Fiorentina on Saturday to close the gap on Serie A leaders Juventus to four points. Lazio’s 21-match unbeaten run ended with a 3-2 defeat against Atalanta BC on Wednesday, after surrendering a two-goal lead. However, Simone Inzaghi’s side consolidated second position, behind the eight-time reigning champions, who dominated US Lecce 4-0 in Turin on Friday. “The lads know the stakes are high,” Inzaghi said as Lazio target a first Serie A title in two decades. “It’s a victory of character and determination. We have a limited squad at the moment with several injuries.” Earlier, Cagliari kept their Europa League hopes alive with a 4-2 victory over Torino. Basement club Brescia look destined for a return to Serie B after throwing away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw against relegation-rivals Genoa.
SOCCER
Barca hopes take blow
Barcelona’s title hopes suffered a blow on Saturday after they were held to a 2-2 draw by RC Celta de Vigo, handing Real Madrid the chance to move two points clear at the top of La Liga. Luis Suarez twice put his team in front at Balaidos with his first goals since January, but Iago Aspas bent in a late free-kick to earn Celta a draw in what could prove a pivotal moment in the title race. Barca face an even tougher test tomorrow against in-form Atletico Madrid, who held off a late fightback from Alaves to win 2-1 at the Wanda Metropolitano.
CRICKET
Proposed changes slammed
Women’s cricket needs better marketing and investment to grow, not innovations like a shorter pitch or smaller boundaries, India pace bowler Shikha Pandey wrote on Twitter on Saturday. Her comments were a response to New Zealand captain Sophie Devine recommending a smaller ball and Pandey’s India teammate Jemimah Rodrigues suggesting a shorter pitch to pack more action into women’s cricket. “In Olympic 100m female sprinter doesn’t run 80m to win first place medal... So the whole ‘decreasing the length of the pitch’ for whatever reasons seems dubious,” she wrote. Pandey saw some merit in using a smaller ball, but said it must weigh the same because a lighter ball would be tougher to grip and travel more slowly. She resented the idea of having smaller boundaries to encourage power-hitting. “We have surprised you with our power-hitting in recent times, so remember, this is only the beginning; we will get better. Please have patience.”
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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