NFL
The New York Giants say tight end Tommy Sweeney is stable and alert after collapsing Wednesday during practice and being carted away from the field. The Giants say Sweeney “had a medical event" and was “conversant” while under the care of physicians. The former Boston College standout is now in his fourth NFL season and first with the Giants. He spent his first three seasons with Buffalo. In 2020 he was diagnosed with myocarditis after contracting COVID-19. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart. Sweeney was cleared to resume playing the following offseason. It’s not immediately clear whether there’s a connection between Sweeney’s health history and Wednesday’s episode.
NFL PRESEASON
Pittsburgh at Atlanta 7:30 p.m.
Indianapolis at Philadelphia 8 p.m.
MLB
Aaron Judge had his first three-homer game, including his fifth career grand slam, and tied his career high with six RBIs, breaking the New York Yankees’ first nine-game losing streak in 41 years with a 9-1 victory over the Washington Nationals. Judge drove a first-inning curveball from MacKenzie Gore (6-10) over the Yankees bullpen in right-center. He opened a 6-0 lead in the second with his fifth career grand slam, a shot into the netting above Monument Park in center field. Then in the seventh he combined with DJ LeMahieu for back-to-back homers against Jose A. Ferrer.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says this season has “been a disaster.” New York is 61-65, on track for its worst season in more than 30 years. Cashman is promising a search to find out the cause. The Yankees are 9 1/2 games back for the AL’s third and final wild card. Cashman says all options will be examined in looking at injuries, evaluation and underperformance. He says those evaluations will include the status of himself and manager Aaron Boone. New York ended a nine-game skid by beating Washington 9-1 on Wednesday night behind three homers from Aaron Judge.
Charlie Morton gave up only two hits in seven innings while allowing no runs for the third straight start, Marcell Ozuna drove in four runs with three hits, including a two-run homer, and the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets 7-0. The majors-leading Braves won two of three from New York, finishing a dominant 10-3 advantage in the season series. The 39-year-old Morton set a season high with 11 strikeouts. Morton won his third straight start. Ozuna hit four homers in the three-game series and has 28 for the season.
Adam Duvall hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 7-5 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday night. Rafael Devers started the 10th as the automatic runner on second, and Kendall Graveman (3-6) walked Triston Casas with one out. Duvall then smacked his 14th homer into the seats in left field to put the Red Sox on top 7-4. It’s Duvall’s third home run of the series after he had a solo three-run home run Monday and a solo shot Tuesday. The Astros, who won the first two games of the series, could have moved into a tie with the Texas Rangers for first place in the AL West with a victory.
Trea Turner had a two-run single in the ninth inning that bounced off Camilo Doval’s glove and into center field, giving the Philadelphia Phillies a 4-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night. Philadelphia increased its lead to four games over San Francisco in the National League wild-card race. The Giants have lost 12 of their last 16 games. Craig Kimbrel (7-3) got the victory with an inning of relief. After a string of Giants relievers frustrated the Phillies, Philadelphia pieced things against Doval (5-4), who entered with 33 saves on the season.
Shohei Ohtani won’t pitch for the rest of the season because of a torn ligament in his right elbow, Los Angeles Angels general manager Perry Minasian said Wednesday night. The Angels don’t yet know whether the major league homers leader and 10-game winner will need surgery to repair the UCL ligament nearly five years after the two-way superstar had his first Tommy John surgery in late 2018 following his AL Rookie of the Year season. Ohtani left the mound abruptly Wednesday in the second inning of his start against Cincinnati in the opener of a doubleheader. The injury will have a massive effect on baseball’s free agent market this winter with Ohtani headed to free agency.
Cleveland Guardians manager Terry Francona has already scheduled shoulder replacement surgery and plans on having a pair of hernia operations at the end of this season. The 64-year-old knows his recovery period will be lengthy, and spending another year in the dugout is not conducive to making it a smooth process. Francona, however, isn’t quite ready to announce his retirement after 11 seasons with the franchise. The timing of his introspective remarks was curious, given that Cleveland is on the periphery of the AL Central race, but didn’t catch team president Chris Antonetti or general manager Mike Chernoff off-guard.
LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES
Chinese Taipei 9, Curaçao 1
Texas 1, Washington 0
Mexico 2, Japan 0
California 5, Tennessee 3
NHL
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed star center Auston Matthews to a four-year deal, $53 million contract extension. The deal carries an average annual value of $13.5 million, which will make Matthews the league’s highest-paid player beginning in 2024-25, surpassing Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6 AAV. Matthews has one season left on his current contract — a five-year, $58.2 million pact signed in February 2019 — that could have walked him into unrestricted free agency next summer.
US OPEN
John Isner says he will retire from professional tennis after playing at the U.S. Open. The 38-year-old American announced Wednesday on social media that he is ready to end a career that included one Grand Slam semifinal appearance and a victory in the longest match in the sport’s history, (against Nicolas Mahut in 2010 that lasted 11 hours, 5 minutes). The U.S. Open begins Monday in New York. Isner reached a career-best ranking of No. 8 in 2018, shortly after reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon, won 16 singles titles and has hit more than 14,000 aces, an ATP Tour record. That includes 113 in his win against Nicolas Mahut in 2010 that lasted 11 hours, 5 minutes and ended at 70-68 in the fifth set.
SOCCER
Lionel Messi had two assists and converted in a shootout to lead Inter Miami over MLS-leading Cincinnati 5-4 on penalty kicks after a 3-3 draw and into a U.S. Open Cup final against Houston. Miami and remained unbeaten in eight matches with Messi heading into his Major League Soccer debut on Saturday at the New York Red Bulls. The 36-year-old, a seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, joined the team last month and led it to the title of the Leagues Cup. Houston won the other semifinal, beating visiting Salt Lake 3-1 in extra time. Miami will host the final on Sept. 27.
BASKETBALL WORLD CUP
The Basketball World Cup starts Friday, spread out across three countries for the first two rounds before all the biggest games get played in Manila to decide which nation will go home with gold medals and the Naismith Trophy on Sept. 10. Spain is the defending champion, having won in China four years ago. The U.S. was only seventh in that tournament, its worst finish ever in a major international event. But the Americans have high hopes, and enter as the tournament favorites. Seven teams will directly qualify for the Paris Olympics based on their finish. It’ll be the top two teams from the Americas Region, the top two from Europe, and one each from Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Plans for the start of the Basketball World Cup in Okinawa, Japan, were unaffected today after a North Korean rocket launch prompted an alert ordering some residents to evacuate. Press conferences and practices for the eight teams that are beginning World Cup play in Okinawa, Japan, went on as scheduled Thursday. The tournament begins Friday, also in the Philippines and Indonesia. There were no reports of damage. Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic plays for Slovenia and says he had trouble sleeping after the alarm. Doncic says the episode was “a little scary.”
NCAA
The Atlantic Coast Conference is making progress toward an expansion that could grab Stanford and California from the sinking Pac-12, a person with direct knowledge of the ACC’s potential move told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the conference was not making its internal discussions public. Two weeks ago, the ACC gathered its full board of university leaders to consider adding Stanford, Cal and possibly SMU, the Dallas-based American Athletic Conference school. They never took an official vote, but Commissioner Jim Phillips and a small group of conference leaders has continued to work on sticking points.
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