WIMBLEDON
Andy Murray and his older brother, Jamie, have lost in the first round of doubles at Wimbledon. Thursday's match at Centre Court was the first step in Murray's farewell tour at the All England Club. The Murrays lost 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Rinky Hijikata and John Peers. Andy Murray has said he will retire after playing at Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics. He is 37 and had surgery last month to remove a cyst from his back. He is also entered in mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu.
Meanwhile, The good news for Novak Djokovic’s is that his surgically repaired right knee has been feeling pain-free at Wimbledon. The bad news is that his movement was but not yet back to normal during a 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 victory in the second round over Jacob Fearnley on Thursday. Fearnley is a 22-year-old from Scotland who played college tennis in the United States. Djokovic knows he needs to get around the court better if he is going to contend for the title, the only reason he is back competing so soon after tearing his meniscus. Other winners included No. 1 Iga Swiatek, but No. 5 Jessica Pegula lost and No. 7 Hubert Hurkacz needed to stop because he hurt his knee.
MLB
Graham Ashcraft and the Cincinnati Reds won a stare down with the Yankees even before finishing their three-game sweep, their first against New York since the 1976 World Series. When the national anthem ended ahead of Thursday’s game, Ashcraft and fellow Reds pitcher Carson Spiers remained in front of the visitors’ dugout on the third-base side of Yankee Stadium while New York pitchers Ian Hamilton and Cody Poteet held out on the first-base side. Their showdown extended for more than five minutes as players ignored gestures from the umpires. Ashcroft won the battle, pumping a fist and getting high-fives and cheers from teammates before the Reds’ 8-4 win Thursday.
Automatic runner Romy Gonzalez scored a go-ahead run on David Hamilton’s RBI groundout in the 12th inning, Tyler O’Neill added an RBI double and the Boston Red Sox beat the Miami Marlins 6-5 for a sweep of the three-game series. Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning on Thursday. It was broken up by a two-out triple from Jesús Sánchez, who missed the cycle by a single. The Red Sox squandered two leads before securing their fifth road sweep this season.
Jake Irvin allowed just one hit and issued one walk in eight innings, Jesse Winker hit a pinch-hit home run and the Washington Nationals beat the New York Mets 1-0 in the traditional 11 a.m. Fourth of July game in the nation’s capital. Irvin pumped his chest and gestured to the crowd for applause after striking out Tyrone Taylor on his 99th pitch and walking off the mound following the longest outing of his major league career. That was Irvin’s eighth strikeout, and he faced just one batter over the minimum. The Mets fell back under .500 with the loss.
Ian Happ hit three-run homers from both sides of the plate for a career-high six RBIs, and the struggling Chicago Cubs pounded the major league-leading Philadelphia Phillies 10-2 to avoid a three-game sweep. The Cubs trailed 2-0 when Happ connected from the right side against Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez during a five-run fourth inning. Happ struck again batting left-handed in the fifth against Seranthony Domínguez, making it 8-2 and giving him 14 career multi-homer games. It was the second time Happ went deep from both sides of the plate. He also singled and doubled to finish 4 for 4. Jameson Taillon tossed seven innings, allowing two runs and four hits. The right-hander struck out seven and walked none.
Jurickson Profar hit his 12th home run and the All-Star left fielder also threw out a runner at the plate as the San Diego Padres beat the Texas Rangers 3-1. Profar had two hits and scored both times against three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, who made only his third start of the season since offseason back surgery. Rangers rookie left fielder Wyatt Langford had two defensive gems to prevent runs, and also had an RBI single for their only score. Padres starter Michael King struck out five over 5 1/3 innings. Robert Suarez worked the ninth for his 22nd save in 23 chances.
Jose Miranda went 5 for 5 with three doubles, four runs scored and three RBIs as the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 12-3 in a game called in the seventh inning due to rain. The start was moved up an hour with threatening weather in the forecast. Rain began to fall steadily in the fourth and play was finally stopped in the bottom of the seventh. Ryan Jeffers had three hits and four RBIs for the Twins, including his team-leading 14th homer. Max Kepler added two hits and two RBIs. Bailey Ober allowed one earned run and struck out eight in six innings to win his third straight decision. Tigers starter Kenta Maeda gave up nine runs on nine hits and three walks over 3 2/3 innings.
Mauricio Dubón hit a tiebreaking single in the fifth inning, Jeremy Peña added a solo home run and the Houston Astros beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 on Thursday for their 12th win in 14 games. Framber Valdez pitched six innings to win his third straight start as the Astros extended their team-record Fourth of July winning streak to seven. Yordan Alvarez reached base four times as Houston won the four-game series 3-1. Peña went 2 for 4 with a walk and scored twice. He extended Houston’s lead with a solo homer in the seventh inning.
Steven Kwan isn’t just at the top of Cleveland’s lineup. He’s No. 1 in the majors. The All-Star left fielder is baseball’s leading hitter and on Saturday he homered, collected another three-hit game and drove in two runs in the Guardians’ 8-4 win over the Chicago White Sox. While he’s been hitting over .350 for much of the season, Kwan didn’t have enough plate appearances to officially rank on the MLB leaderboard after missing a month with a hamstring injury. He qualifies now and his .367 average is 48 points ahead of Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani (.319) for the major league lead.
Lawrence Butler homered, JP Sears won for the first time in more than a month, and the Oakland Athletics blanked the Los Angeles Angels for a second straight game by the same 5-0 score to complete three-game series sweep. Miguel Andujar and Brent Rooker hit back-to-back RBI singles in the third and Tyler Soderstrom added a sacrifice fly in the decisive inning on an unseasonably hot Independence Day in the Bay Area. Sears (5-7) struck out six and walked one, allowing two hits over five scoreless innings. Butler homered in the eighth. Roansy Contreras (1-1) took the loss.
Julio Rodríguez homered for the first time since June 15 and doubled, J.P. Crawford lined a tiebreaking three-run double, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-3 to avoid a three-game sweep. Seattle’s slumping offense broke out in a big way and it was the Mariners’ best player leading the charge. Mired in a slump at the plate, Rodríguez hit an 0-2 pitch from Baltimore ace Corbin Burnes an estimated 428 feet to center field in the fifth inning to pull Seattle to 2-1. Two innings later, Rodríguez keyed Seattle’s five-run seventh inning with a line drive double Crawford had a bases-clearing double as the big blow. Mitch Garver also homered.
Jonny DeLuca and Brandon Lowe homered, eight Rays players drove in runs, and Tampa Bay beat the Kansas City Royals 10-8. Zach Eflin earned the win, allowing six runs and five earned on seven hits and a walk over five innings. Alec Marsh took the loss for Kansas City, allowing five runs on six hits and three walks in just three innings. Michael Massey homered and Vinnie Pasquantino drove in a pair of runs for the Royals, who trailed 9-4 before scoring three times in the sixth. Bobby Witt Jr. was thrown out to end the rally, and the Royals never seriously threatened again.
Pedro Pages doubled home pinch runner Michael Siani and then scored on Alec Burleson’s RBI single as the the St. Louis Cardinals edged the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 in 10 innings. St. Louis took two of three from its NL Central Division rivals by winning a series finale for the 12th time in its last 13 chances. Burleson and Dylan Carlson had two hits apiece for the Cardinals. John King retired Andrew McCutchen with the tying run on second in the 10th to pick up the victory for St. Louis, which improved to 30-17 since May 12.
Logan Webb recovered from a rough start in his latest strong performance at Truist Park as the San Francisco Giants beat Charlie Morton and the Atlanta Braves 4-2. Matt Chapman hit a go-ahead homer in the Giants’ three-run fourth inning and added a run-scoring double in the sixth. San Francisco took two of three games from the Braves for its third consecutive series win. Webb gave up two runs in the first but then threw six scoreless innings to improve to 3-0 in five career starts at Atlanta.
Jake Cave hit his first home run of the season to snap a sixth-inning tie, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 to gain a split of the four-game series. Charlie Blackmon had two hits, including a two-run double for the Rockies. Cave homered off Tobias Myers (5-3), driving a 1-0 offering over the fence in straightaway center. Anthony Molina got the win in relief and Jalen Beeks got the last four outs for his seventh save. Andruw Monasterio’s hit a two-run single for the Brewers.
Arizona Diamondbacks slugger Christian Walker continued his Dodger Stadium rampage Thursday, homering in his first two at-bats for his 18th and 19th home runs in 42 career games at the ballpark. He has homered in five consecutive games at the third-oldest ballpark in the majors, tying the longest single-season streak at the stadium with teammate Joc Pederson, who did it in 2015 with Los Angeles. Pederson and Walker went back-to-back with two outs in the first off rookie Landon Knack, with Walker’s blast going 435 feet to center. After Pederson walked with two outs in the third, Walker followed with a two-run homer to left off Knack to give Arizona 4-0 lead in the 9-3 victory. Walker had five homers in the three-game series.
WNBA
DeWanna Bonner scored 24 points, Alyssa Thomas had 14 assists, 13 points and 10 rebounds, while DiJonai Carrington made big plays down the stretch to help the Connecticut Sun hold off the Minnesota Lynx 78-73. Lynx star Napheesa Collier left late in the third quarter because of a foot injury. Selected to the U.S. Olympic team, Collier scored nine points, ending her double-figure scoring streak at 29 games. Bonner made 10 of 16 shots with two 3-pointers and added nine rebounds for the Sun (16-4), who have posted back-to-back wins after losing three of their previous four. Alanna Smith scored 14 before fouling out to lead the Lynx (14-6). Kayla McBride addded 13 points
Kelsey Plum scored 28 points including six 3-pointers, Jackie Young had 20 points and 10 assists and the Las Vegas Aces rolled to their sixth straight victory, 98-77 over the Washington Mystics. Plum was 10 of 13 from the floor overall and 6 of 9 from 3-point range for the two-time defending champion Aces (12-6). Young notched her second straight double-double and fourth of the season. A’ja Wilson, who leads the league with a 27.0 scoring average, finished with 18 points and nine rebounds. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough led Washington (5-16) with 19 points off the bench. Ariel Atkins had 18 points.
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Petar Musa and defender Nkosi Tafari scored in the second half and FC Dallas turned a late own goal by Portland midfielder Cristhian Paredes into a 3-2 victory, snapping the Timbers’ seven-match unbeaten run in a Fourth of July thriller.Antony Alves Santos took a pass from Evander da Silva Ferreira and scored in the 8th minute with a right-footed shot from the right side of the box to give Portland (8-8-6) a 1-0 lead that stood until halftime. It was the fourth goal of the season for Antony and the 12th assist for Evander.Musa scored four minutes into the second half to pull Dallas (6-10-5) even.
Djordje Mihailovic had an assist on Oliver Larraz’s first career goal and then scored on a penalty kick in second-half stoppage time to rally the Colorado Rapids to a wild 2-1 Fourth of July victory over Sporting Kansas City. Neither team found the net until Johnny Russell used assists from Erik Thommy and defender Tim Leibold three minutes into the second half to score his fourth goal of the season and give Sporting KC (4-13-5) the lead. Colorado (10-8-4) pulled even in the 69th minute when Larraz took a pass from Mihailovic and scored. Mihailovic notched his ninth assist of the season. Mihailovic scored with a right-footed shot in the fourth minute of extra time for the win. The PK was awarded after Darren Yapi drew a foul on Sporting KC goalkeeper Tim Melia.
Kei Kamara and Denis Bouanga scored four minutes apart late in the first half, and Los Angeles Football Club beat the LA Galaxy 2-1 on Thursday night in front of 70,076 at the Rose Bowl in a matchup of the top two teams in the Western Conference. It was the second-largest crowd in MLS this season, surpassed only by the 72,610 for Inter Miami’s 3-2 victory over Sporting Kansas City on April 13 at Arrowhead Stadium. Gabriel Pec scored for the Galaxy. LAFC has gone unbeaten in its last 10 MLS matches to move into sole possession of first place in the Western Conference with 43 points.
NBA
Buddy Hield played in 632 regular-season games and established himself as one of the top 3-point shooters in the NBA before he finally played a postseason game. He can thank the Philadelphia 76ers for ending his dubious distinction of most NBA games without a playoff appearance. If he wants to get there again, he’s going to have to try in California. The Sixers continued a busy offseason by orchestrating a sign-and-trade deal that sends Hield to the Golden State Warriors for a 2031 second-round draft pick it received from the Dallas Mavericks, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. ESPN reported that Hield was set to sign a two-year, $21 million deal with the Warriors. They lost Klay Thompson to the Mavs.
COPA AMERICA
Defending champion Argentina advanced to the Copa America semifinals, beating Ecuador 4-2 on penalty kicks following a 1-1 draw after conceding a tying goal in second-half injury time. Lionel Messi put Argentina’s first penalty kick off the crossbar but goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez saved Ecuador’s first two attempts in the shootout and Nicolás Otamendi beat Alexander Domínguez with the winning kick. Lisandro Martínez have Argentina a 35th-minute lead, but Kevin Rodríguez scored the score in the first minute of second-half stoppage time. Ecuador’s Enner Valencia had put a penalty kick off a post in the 60th minute after a hand ball by Rodrigo De Paul.
EURO 2024
Kylian Mbappé has described Cristiano Ronaldo as a “footballing legend” and “one of a kind” as the superstars prepare to meet in the European Championship quarterfinals. One of the major subplots of the Portugal vs. France match in Hamburg on Friday is the head to head between their captains. Mbappé has previously called Ronaldo his idol and he has spoken in glowing terms about the 39-year-old striker who has said he is playing in his last European Championship. Mbappé says “There is only one Cristiano Ronaldo, there will only ever be one." Mbappé doesn't see the match as a “passing-of-the-baton” occasion because “I am following my own path.”
PGA TOUR
Hayden Springer has posted the 14th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history. Springer holed out for eagle from 55 yards on the 17th hole at the John Deere Classic and finished with a 12-foot birdie for golf's magic number. It was the second 59 on the PGA Tour in three weeks. Cameron Young also shot 59 at the Travelers Championship. Springer will have to settle for a share of the course record at the TPC Deere Run. Paul Goydos also shot 59 in the John Deere Classic in 2010. Springer's was the eighth sub-60 round in golf worldwide this year.
SWIMMING
The international swimming federation says its executive director has been ordered to testify as a witness in a U.S. criminal investigation into the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance in 2021 yet were allowed to continue competing. World Aquatics confirmed to The Associated Press that Brent Nowicki “was served with a witness subpoena by the United States government.” In May, a House Committee on China asked the Justice Department and the FBI to launch an investigation under a federal law that allows investigations into suspected doping conspiracies even if they occurred outside the U.S. The swimmers were allowed to compete at the previous Olympics in Tokyo despite testing positive for a banned heart medication.
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