BASEBALL
Dodgers beat Padres 8-1
Tony Gonsolin on Friday pitched five scoreless innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers threw a four-hitter against the San Diego Padres’ supercharged lineup, winning 8-1. Gonsolin (13-1) struck out six and allowed three hits. He overcame a 30-pitch first inning and left two runners on. After that, he settled in. “I was grinding at-bats. [Jurickson] Profar starting with 10-11 [pitches] was too many,” Gonsolin said. “Fouling off some good pitches. I was throwing a lot of balls early, but executed when I needed to.” The Dodgers scored four runs in the first inning on a two-run double by Hanser Alberto, an infield single by Will Smith and an error. They added another four runs in the third inning on a two-run double by Chris Taylor and another by Cody Bellinger. Sean Manaea (6-6) had one of the worst starts of his season, allowing eight earned runs on 10 hits in four innings.
FORMULA ONE
McLaren replacing Ricciardo
McLaren have told Daniel Ricciardo that fellow Australian Oscar Piastri is to be replacing him at the Formula One team next season, media reports said on Friday. The www.racingnews365.com Web site cited Australian sources saying that Ricciardo had been officially informed of his “de-hiring.” Autosport said it understood Ricciardo had been told McLaren intended to replace him with 21-year-old Piastri, who this week rejected a 2023 seat at Renault-owned Alpine, despite having a contract for next year. McLaren have not commented on the story. However, multiple sources have told Reuters that Piastri has been lined up to replace the under-performing Ricciardo.
RUGBY UNION
Hooper withdraws from tour
Australia coach Dave Rennie has saluted the courage of captain Michael Hooper, who on Friday pulled out of the Rugby Championship Test against Argentina to protect his mental health. Veteran flanker Hooper is to fly home from Mendoza after telling Wallabies teammates he lacked the necessary “mindset” to play for his country, let alone lead them, in yesterday’s Test. “It’s not uncommon in life is it? It’s a cross-section of society and often men will say bugger all and suffer in silence,” Rennie said. “He has a huge amount of respect from everyone, and we want to get him home and get him as much support as we can.”
TENNIS
Kyrgios into Citi Open semis
Australian Nick Kyrgios on Friday saved five match points during a dramatic second-set tiebreaker to edge local hope Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (7/5), 7-6 (12/14), 6-2 and reach the semi-finals of the Citi Open in Washington. The Wimbledon runner-up appeared ready to exit when Tiafoe set up an opportunity to serve for the win during the second-set tiebreaker, but Kyrgios won the point and saved four more chances on his own serve to frustrate the American. The mercurial Australian won the last three points of the tiebreaker to force a deciding third set, which he dominated with his precise heavy service to seal the contest at about 1am. “Frances put himself in every position to win the match. In those moments I wasn’t really thinking too much. I was just trying to stay in the match and I survived,” Kyrgios said. “Then I felt like physically I was really fresh in the third set and served well. I was extremely lucky at times, but it was just a great match.”
Taiwanese infielder Chang Yu on Saturday made his major league pitching debut when he was pulled off third base in the bottom of the eighth to preserve the Tampa Bay Rays’ bullpen in their 9-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Chang’s chance to take the mound came as the Tigers’ scoring was already out of hand for the Rays. Detroit mounted a rare offensive outburst, leading Rays manager Kevin Cash to preserve his pitchers by allowing Chang to throw an inning. He retired Willi Castro on what the scoreboard called a 40mph curveball, but Detroit’s Jonathan Schoop hit the next pitch for
Taiwan yesterday outlasted the Dominican Republic 9-5 in a rain-soaked slugfest in Tainan to take home the bronze medal in the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup. Taiwan, who won the previous edition of the tournament in 2019, were eliminated from gold medal contention on Friday with a loss to the US, and needed a comeback win over South Korea a day later to reach yesterday’s third-place playoff. The US and Venezuela were playing for gold in a game that started at 7:45pm. The US were leading 7-2 at the bottom of the fifth inning as of press time last night. In what was
Tuesday night was another home run, another pitching win, another spot in the history books — just another night for Shohei Ohtani. The two-way sensation from Japan withstood another injury scare and pitched six scoreless innings to go with his team-leading 25th home run, reaching yet another monumental milestone as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 5-1. Ohtani joined Babe Ruth (1918) as the only players in major league history to have at least 10 home runs and 10 wins in the same season. The Angels said that two players from the Negro Leagues also did it: Bullet Rogan of the
A tearful Naomi Osaka on Tuesday retired injured and US Open champion Emma Raducanu fell at the first hurdle as the top women’s players continued their preparations for Flushing Meadows at the Canadian Open in Toronto. News of the pending retirement of Serena Williams overshadowed proceedings at the tune-up for the year’s final Grand Slam, but there were no shortage of first-round upsets for fans to enjoy, including one by local Bianca Andreescu. Twice US Open champion Osaka, in only her second tournament back from an Achilles injury, battled on gamely before retiring while trailing Kaia Kanepi 7-6 (7/4), 3-0. “I felt my
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