Update on the latest sports
APMLB-SCHEDULE
Red Sox at Yankees postponed due to COVID cases
NEW YORK (AP) — The Yankees’ post-All-Star break opener against the Boston Red Sox has been postponed because of positive COVID-19 tests among New York pitchers Jonathan Loaisiga, Nestor Cortes Jr. and Wandy Peralta.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said three additional tests were pending and he assumed they would come back positive. New York was among the first major league teams to reach the 85% vaccination threshold to lessen coronavirus protocols, such as dropping mask use in dugouts and bullpens.
Cashman said all three were fully vaccinated, as are most of the players on the team. While vaccinations do not prevent a person from contracting COVID, it prevents severe effects.
MLB-NEWS
Santiago 10-game suspension for foreign substance upheld
UNDATED (AP) — Seattle Mariners pitcher Héctor Santiago’s 10-game suspension has been upheld by MLB special adviser John McHale Jr.
Santiago will start serving the suspension Friday, when the Mariners open their post-All-Star break schedule at the Los Angeles Angels.
Santiago was suspended by Michael Hill, the former Marlins general manager who is MLB’s senior vice president for on-field operations, on June 30. The 33-year-old left-hander became the first player suspended under MLB’s crackdown on unauthorized sticky substances. Santiago also was fined. McHale heard the appeal on July 8 in Seattle.
Santiago is in his 10th major league season, his first with the Mariners.
In other MLB news:
— Chris Sale pitched in a game for the first time since Tommy John surgery in March 2020, throwing three scoreless innings Thursday for the FCL Red Sox at the FCL Orioles Orange. The 32-year-old left-hander allowed four hits and struck out five. Sale had surgery on March 30, 2020, his 31st birthday. He has a $30 million salary this year and next, and $27.5 million each in 2023 and 2024 as part of a $160 million, six-year contract that includes $10 million each season deferred for 15 years.
— Canada’s deputy chief public health officer says the Toronto Blue Jays’ return to their home ballpark is “trending in a very good direction.” But Dr. Howard Njoo would not say when an announcement would be made. Toronto has played its home games this year in Dunedin, Florida, and Buffalo, New York, because of Canadian travel restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. The Blue Jays also played all their home games in Buffalo last year. The team has applied for an exemption to the travel rules. Njoo said there has been “a lot of good back-and-forth” between the Blue Jays and the government over the application.
NFL-NEWS
AP source: Panthers’ Moton agrees to 4-year, $72M extension
UNDATED (AP) — The Carolina Panthers have agreed to a four-year, $72 million deal with offensive tackle Taylor Moton, according to a person familiar with the situation. The person told The Associated Press that the deal includes $43 million in guaranteed money.
The deal was reached about an hour before the 4 p.m. league-wide deadline for signing franchise players to long-term deals. If a deal had not been reached, Moton would have had to play the season under a one-year contract worth $13.7 million under the franchise tag.
Moton has started all 16 games in each of the past three seasons at right tackle and has been the team’s top offensive lineman during that span.
In other NFL news:
— A police report obtained by The Associated Press says Richard Sherman’s father-in-law armed himself with a handgun and fired pepper-spray at the NFL cornerback to protect his family as Sherman tried to bust in the door of his in-laws’ home. Sherman was arrested early Wednesday after police said he crashed his car and tried to break into his in-laws’ home in a Seattle suburb. According to the police report, Sherman’s father-in-law, Raymond Moss, said the football star partially broke in the door by ramming it and he pepper-sprayed Sherman’s face. Sherman’s wife, Ashley Moss, has said he didn’t hurt anybody.
— The New York Jets and Marcus Maye were unable to reach an agreement on a long-term contract. The star safety will now play this season under his franchise tag tender. The sides had until 4 p.m. Thursday to work out a deal. Maye will make $10.6 million this season and is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
NHL-NEWS
Goalie Ben Bishop to be available in Seattle expansion draft
UNDATED (AP) — Dallas Stars goaltender Ben Bishop has waived his no-movement clause to be exposed in the Seattle expansion draft after approaching the team with the idea. The team confirmed the decision Thursday.
The move allows Dallas to protect veteran goalie Anton Khudobin (koo-DOH’-bihn) from the Kraken. Young goalie Jake Oettinger is exempt from the expansion draft.
Bishop missed last season recovering from right knee surgery. The 34-year-old Bishop is signed for two more seasons at an annual salary cap hit of $4.9 million.
In other NHL news:
— The Florida Panthers have bought out the remainder of veteran defenseman Keith Yandle’s contract. Yandle was signed for two more seasons at a salary cap hit of $6.35 million. The 34-year-old holds the longest active ironman streak in the NHL at 922 consecutive regular-season games played.
— The New Jersey Devils have re-signed restricted free-agent forward Michael McLeod to a two-year, $1.95 million contract. General manager Tom Fitzgerald disclosed that the deal will net McLeod $950,000 this coming season and $1 million the following year. McLeod completed his third NHL season with the Devils, recording career highs with nine goals and six assists in 52 games.
—Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks was hailed as a friend and hero during a memorial service for the player who died on the Fourth of July from an errant fireworks mortar blast. Authorities have said the firework at a private home northwest of Detroit tilted slightly and started to fire toward people nearby. Kivlenieks was in a hot tub and was trying to move out of the way of the firework when he was struck. Fellow Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins, a close friend of the 24-year-old Kivlenieks, told the mourners on Thursday that his teammate saved him and his pregnant wife the night he was killed.
NBA-NEWS
Jason Kidd, GM Nico Harrison begin Mavericks’ ‘new chapter’
UNDATED (AP) — Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is callling his two new hires the start of a new chapter.
New coach Jason Kidd and general manager Nico Harrison were introduced at a news conference in Dallas. It’s the first GM change for Cuban in his 21 years of owning the team. He says it was time. Kidd returns to a team where he starred as a point guard, including the team’s title run in 2011. Kidd’s primary job will be to mentor superstar Luka Doncic while Harrison builds a roster that can advance past he first round of the playoffs.
GOLF-BRITISH OPEN
Oosthuizen opens with a 64 to lead British Open
SANDWICH, England (AP) — Louis Oosthuizen (OOST’-hay-zehn) and Jordan Spieth (speeth) are leading the way at the British Open.
That’s not the only thing giving the majors a degree of normalcy at Royal St. George’s. The biggest golf crowd since the coronavirus outbreak cheered on the world’s best players at the course in southeast England.
Oosthuizen shot 6-under 64 to tie the lowest opening round at Royal St. George’s and take the clubhouse lead at another major championship. He is coming off back-to-back runner-up finishes at majors. Spieth was only one stroke back by making putts like it was 2017 all over again. He lifted the claret jug at Royal Birkdale four years ago.
PGA champion Phil Mickelson opened with an 80. That’s his worst start in 27 appearances at the British Open and it left him in a tie for last place.
OLYMPICS-NEWS
Bradley Beal out of Olympics for health and safety reasons
UNDATED (AP) — Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal will miss the Olympics after being placed into health and safety protocols and the U.S. men’s basketball team said it will replace him on its roster at a later date.
The Americans also announced Thursday that forward Jerami Grant has also been placed in health and safety protocols “out of an abundance of caution.”
Beal had started all three exhibition games for the U.S. so far in Las Vegas, averaging 10.3 points on 10-for-21 shooting.
The Americans have already been playing short-handed during their exhibition games, with Khris Middleton and Jrue (droo) Holiday of Milwaukee and Devin Booker of Phoenix playing in the NBA Finals.
The Americans are scheduled to play two more games in Las Vegas before heading to Tokyo, with their opening game against France set for July 25.
In other Olympics news:
— An Olympic athlete and a staffer linked to the Tokyo Games tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Japan, according to organizers. The two people, who were not identified, were among six new cases — including four contractors who are residents of Japan — reported by the Tokyo local organizing committee. The athlete, who tested positive on Wednesday, went into 14-day quarantine. With the opening ceremony eight days away on July 23, it’s unclear if the athlete will be able to compete.
— Two-time world champion in the 400-meter hurdles Zuzana Hejnova won’t compete in the Tokyo Olympics due to an Achilles tendon injury. Hejnova’s back and Achilles problems prevented her from competing this season and she won’t fully recover for the Tokyo Games. The 34-year-old Czech says she now plans to retire.
— Nneka Ogwumike (nehm-KAH’-dee ah-GWOO’-mih-kay) and Elizabeth Williams have been notified by FIBA that their petitions to play for Nigeria in the Olympics were denied because they played for the U.S. for too long. That’s according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke to The Associated Press. One person says Nigeria will appeal the decision and that both players are exploring their options of how to potentially still play for Nigeria in the Tokyo Games that start next week.
— Kenya has been forced to drop two runners from its Olympic team just over a week before the Tokyo Games open because they haven’t taken the required number of out-of-competition doping tests. That has given 1,500-meter world champion Timothy Cheruiyot a last-minute place on the squad.
