OLYMPICS
Simone Biles is heading back to the Olympics. The gymnastics star clinched an automatic spot on the five-woman U.S. team by breezing to victory at the Olympic trials. Biles posted a two-day total of 117.225 in what was essentially a tuneup before the games. The 2016 Olympic champion appears as good as ever at age 27. Biles is returning to the spotlight three years after pulling herself out of multiple finals at the 2020 Games to focus on her mental health. Biles says she isn't worried about history repeating itself in Paris.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone lowered her world record once again, running the 400-meter hurdles in 50.65 seconds Sunday to win the U.S. Olympic trials. In only her fourth race of the season, the 24-year-old defending Olympic champion cleared all 10 barriers with ease, then went on a dead sprint to the line to break the record for the fifth time, four of which have now come on track at University of Oregon’s Hayward Field. She held her hand over her mouth and stared in amazement when she saw the time. The mark was .03 seconds better than her run in the 2022 world championships.
WIMBLEDON
The 2024 edition of Wimbledon is scheduled to start today with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and past Grand Slam title winners Coco Gauff and Emma Raducanu involved in matches at Centre Court. Alcaraz just won his third major championship at the French Open three weeks ago. He defeated Novak Djokovic in last year’s final at Wimbledon. Alcaraz faces qualifier Mark Lajal of Estonia at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the All-England Club. Raducanu won the 2021 U.S. Open at age 18, but she has been dealing with various injuries since then. She meets No. 22 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Day 1. Gauff faces off at 11:45 a.m. in the main stadium against Caroline Dolehide in an all-American matchup.
NBA
Paul George and the Philadelphia 76ers have agreed to a four-year, $212 million free-agent deal, a person with knowledge of the deal said Monday. George intends to sign the contract shortly after the league’s moratorium on signings is lifted July 6, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal cannot be announced until that time. George picked Philadelphia after he spurned the Los Angeles Clippers and declined a player option in his contract for $48.7 million for 2024-2025. That ended a five-year stretch with the team, where he averaged at least 21.5 points each season. George has averaged 20.8 points over a 14-year career spent with Indiana, Oklahoma City and the Clippers.
Paul George is leaving the Los Angeles Clippers, his now-former team announced Sunday night, with all signs pointing to the nine-time All-Star perhaps returning to the Eastern Conference and joining the Philadelphia 76ers. George could command more than $200 million over four years if his next contract is for max value. Also, Chris Paul is headed to San Antonio to team up with rookie of the year Victor Wembanyama, James Harden is staying with the Clippers, Kevin Love remains in Miami and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is off to Orlando.
The Detroit Pistons have agreed to a four-year contract with coach J.B. Bickerstaff with a team option for a fifth season, according to a person familiar with the situation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because the agreement had not been announced. The Cleveland Cavaliers fired Bickerstaff in May after they lost to Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals despite them winning 99 games over two years. The Pistons fired coach Monty Williams one season into a six-year, $78.5 million contract after they had the NBA’s worst record for a second straight year.
MLB
Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 31st home run, Gerrit Cole pitched five innings for his first win of the season and the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 to split their four-game series. Juan Soto was a late addition to New York’s lineup after sitting out Saturday’s loss because of a bruised right hand. The three-time All-Star and 2020 NL batting champion went 1 for 3 with an RBI and two walks. DJ LeMahieu and Trent Grisham each had two hits and two RBIs for the Yankees.
The Houston Astros moved over .500 for the first time this season, beating the New York Mets 10-5 for their ninth win in 10 games as Jake Meyers hit a tiebreaking single in a five-run 11th inning. Houston star Jose Altuve was ejected in the seventh after he threw his bat and helmet when umpires called him out on what appeared to be a foul ball. Brandon Nimmo hit his 100th career homer for the Mets, a tying two-run drive in the seventh off Bryan Abreu.
Rafael Devers hit a two-run homer, Jarren Duran added a solo shot and the Boston Red Sox ended the San Diego Padres' five-game winning streak with a 4-1 victory. The Red Sox snapped a three-game skid. They were outscored 20-3 by the Padres in the first two games of the series. Jackson Merrill had three hits for the Padres, and Ha-Seong Kim added an RBI double. San Diego had won nine of its previous 10 games. Boston right-hander Josh Winckowski got the win with five scoreless innings in his first start after being recalled from Triple-A. Kenley Jansen worked the ninth for his 16th save.
Alec Bohm homered, Trea Turner hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the seventh inning and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied for a 7-6 victory over the Miami Marlins. Nick Castellanos doubled, had two singles and drove in three runs for the Phillies, who upped their MLB-best record to 55-29. Philadelphia played its third straight game without injured All-Star Bryce Harper. Bryan De La Cruz homered for Miami, which trails the Phillies by 25 games in the NL East.
Taj Bradley tied a career high with 11 strikeouts, Isaac Paredes homered and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Washington Nationals 5-0. Bradley allowed three hits and walked two over 5 2/3 innings in his fifth consecutive strong start. The right-hander has allowed four earned runs in 29 innings over the stretch. Colin Poche, Jason Adam, Garrett Cleavinger and Phil Maton completed a three-hitter. The Rays finished with 16 strikeouts. . José Caballero and Randy Arozarena also homered for the Rays, who returned to the .500 mark for the 17th time. Washington went 3-6 on a nine-game trip.
Ryan McMahon scored on Michael Toglia’s sacrifice fly in the 14th inning, and the Colorado Rockies stopped a five-game slide by topping the Chicago White Sox 5-4. McMahon began the 14th on second as the automatic runner. He advanced on Sam Hillard’s sacrifice bunt. Toglia then hit a flyball to center, and McMahon narrowly beat the throw home by center fielder Luis Robert Jr. The call on the field was upheld following a video review. Jalen Beeks pitched two innings for the win. He retired the White Sox in order in the 14th. Chicago right-hander Michael Soroka allowed two unearned runs and one hit in four innings in the team’s longest game since August 2019.
Brandon Pfaadt pitched six innings of one-run ball and Blaze Alexander hit a two-run single during Arizona’s three-run seventh inning, helping the Diamondbacks beat the Oakland Athletics 5-1. Alexander, batting for Joc Pederson, drove in Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll with a bases-loaded grounder into left field off Austin Adams. Christian Walker followed Alexander’s clutch swing with a single that drove in Ketel Marte for a 4-1 lead. Oakland has lost 12 of its last 13 road games. The A’s went 7-20 in June for their 11th consecutive month with a losing record — longest in franchise history.
Seth Lugo struck out 10 in six shutout innings to earn his major league-high 11th win, and Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer as the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Guardians 6-2. Bobby Witt Jr. had a run-scoring triple among his three hits for the Royals, who took three of four from the AL Central leaders. Vinnie Pasquantino also had three hits and an RBI. Lugo allowed four hits and one walk in his third straight start with eight or more strikeouts. It was his third double-digit strikeout game of the season. Perez had an RBI groundout in the first inning and a two-run shot that made it 6-0 in the seventh. He leads the Royals with 14 homers. Logan Allen lasted 4 1/3 innings for the Guardians.
The Detroit Tigers snapped their four-game losing streak with a 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. Justyn-Henry Malloy hit an inside-the-park homer in the fourth inning, and Carson Kelly added a three-run homer. Casey Mize pitched scoreless three-hit ball into the sixth inning for the Tigers before leaving abruptly with a leg injury. Detroit still ended the Angels’ six-game winning streak and prevented Los Angeles from sweeping a homestand of at least seven games for the first time in 20 years. Tyler Anderson allowed six runs and seven hits in his second-shortest start of the season for the Angels.
Trevor Larnach hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning to extend Minnesota’s home run streak to 19 games and lift the Twins to a 5-3 win over the Seattle Mariners. Minnesota set a franchise record for consecutive games with a longball, but it took until the late innings. Larnach drove an 0-1 pitch from reliever Ryne Stanek to right-center field for his eighth homer. Minnesota’s 19-game streak is the second-longest in the majors this season behind Baltimore’s 22-game home run streak earlier this month. Twins starter Joe Ryan struck out 10 over 5 2/3 innings. Seattle had won nine straight series at home but dropped two of three to the Twins.
Texas rookie Wyatt Langford became the first major leaguer to hit for the cycle this season, and the Rangers routed the Baltimore Orioles 11-2 to snap a six-game skid. Derek Hill homered twice and Andrew Heaney struck out 10 in seven innings for the Rangers, who had dropped the first three games of the series in Baltimore to fall nine games under .500. The defending World Series champions never trailed Sunday night, scoring multiple runs in the second, fourth, fifth and eighth innings. Langford tripled in the fourth, doubled in the fifth and singled in the sixth. Then the 22-year-old outfielder hit a drive down the left-field line in the eighth for a three-run homer to make it 11-2.
Oneil Cruz and Rowdy Tellez hit two-run homers in the fifth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Atlanta Braves 4-2 to avoid a three-game sweep. Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds’ 25-game hitting streak ended. It was the longest streak in the majors this season. Cruz's homer traveled 452 feet and reached the right field seats quickly with a listed exit velocity of 117.3 mph. Schwellenbach walked Edward Olivares before Tellez hit his fourth homer off the right field foul pole. Left-hander Bailey Falter allowed only one run in five innings despite four walks.
Brice Turang hit Milwaukee’s fifth grand slam in its last eight games as part of a seven-run fourth inning, and the Brewers rolled to a 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Freddy Peralta and Jakob Junis combined on a two-hitter to help the NL Central-leading Brewers win their ninth straight home series. Milwaukee hasn’t dropped a series at American Family Field since the New York Yankees took two of three from April 26-28. Peralta allowed a solo homer to Nico Hoerner in the first but gave up only one more hit over seven innings. Christian Yelich hit a two-run homer for the Brewers.
Lance Lynn pitched six sparkling innings, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 2-0 for a split of their four-game series. Lynn allowed two hits, struck out six and walked one. Pedro Pagés had a career-high three hits for St. Louis, which closed out a 7-3 homestand. Cincinnati infielder Jonathan India extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a double in the third. He has at least one double in each of his last eight games.
Matt Chapman homered and drove in three runs, and the San Francisco Giants hit 10 doubles to rout the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 in front of a sellout crowd of 40,428 at Oracle Park. It was the team's most doubles since the New York Giants had 12 at Brooklyn on April 11, 1912. Every Giants starter had a hit, and San Francisco finished with a season-high 11 extra-base hits to take the rubber game for its first series win at home against the rival Dodgers since June 2022. Los Angeles starter James Paxton allowed a career-high nine earned runs and 12 hits in four innings. Spencer Bivens impressed in his first career start, limiting the Dodgers to one run and four hits in five innings.
Texas Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford has hit for the cycle in Baltimore, completing the feat with a three-run homer down the left-field line in the eighth inning. It was the first career four-hit game for the 22-year-old Langford, who was drafted last year by the Rangers with the No. 4 overall pick and made a swift rise to the majors to make Texas' opening-day roster this season. It was the first cycle in the major leagues in 2024. Langford tripled in the fourth, doubled in the fifth and singled in the sixth.
WNBA
Breanna Stewart had 22 points and 12 rebounds to help the New York Liberty rally to beat the Atlanta Dream 81-75. New York, which was down 16 in the first half, led 60-59 heading into the fourth quarter. The Liberty scored the first 10 points of the period, started on a free throw by Stewart. The Dream, who were coming off a win at Connecticut on Friday night, cut it to 70-67 before back-to-back 3s by Sabrina Ionescu and Leonie Fiebich put the game away. Stewart scored her 5,000th career point, becoming the fastest player to reach that milestone doing it in her 242nd game. Allisha Gray had 24 points and Tina Charles added 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Dream.
Kayla McBride scored 16 points, Napheesa Collier had 13 points and 11 rebounds, and the Minnesota Lynx spoiled a record-setting day from Chicago rookie Angel Reese, rallying for a 70-62 victory over the Sky. Reese broke a WNBA single-season record with her 10th straight double-double, finishing with 10 points and 16 rebounds. Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks set the previous record in 2015. McBride made two 3-pointers and added five rebounds and five assists for the Western Conference-leading Lynx. Minnesota was coming off a 94-88 loss at last-place Dallas that ended its seven-game winning streak.
Caitlin Clark had 15 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds and the Indiana Fever rallied for an 88-82 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday. Clark was just 4 of 14 from the field, and 2 of 10 from 3-point range. But she made a pair of free throws with 19.9 seconds to play to put the Fever up three. Indiana had trailed by as many as 15 in the first half. Brittney Griner scored 24 points, Diana Taurasi had 19 and Natasha Cloud scored 15 for Phoenix.
NASCAR
Joey Logano won the rain-delayed race at Nashville Superspeedway in a NASCAR Cup Series-record fifth overtime Sunday night, stretching his fuel enough to hold off a group of pursuers at the finish line. Logano held off a charge by Tyler Reddick, then beat Zane Smith, Reddick, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher to the line in the race that started nearly six hours earlier and went 31 laps longer than the 300 that were scheduled. The fuel light in Logano’s Ford came on going into Turn 3, and Logano — who ran the last 110 laps without stopping on the 1.33-mile concrete oval — said it stumbled across the line. Logano won for the first time this year, pushing his career total to 33.
EURO 2024
England has advanced to the quarterfinals of the European Championship after Jude Bellingham scored a stunning overhead kick in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark a 2-1 comeback win after extra time against Slovakia. Bellingham’s overhead kick leveled the round-of-16 game at 1-1 with seconds remaining at the Veltins Arena. Harry Kane headed in the winner in the first minute of extra time as England avoided one of the biggest shocks in the history of the Euros. Ivan Schranz scored in the first half for Slovakia and his goal looked like being enough to eliminate England, which was one of the pre-tournament favorites and runner-up at the last Euros. England will play Switzerland in the quarterfinals.
COPA AMERICA
The suspension of American winger Tim Weah was extended to two games by South American soccer’s governing body for punching Panama’s Roderick Miller during their Copa America group stage match Thursday. Weah received a red card in the 18th minute of the United States’ 2-1 loss, resulting in an automatic one-game suspension. The Confederation of South American Football says Weah been suspended for a second game and fined $3,000 by a judge of its disciplinary commission. The money is to be deducted from the U.S. Soccer Federation’s payment from CONMEBOL for television, participation and/or prize money.
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