OLYMPICS
USA Gymnastics officials say an arbitration panel won’t reconsider a decision asking gymnast Jordan Chiles to return the bronze medal she was awarded in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics. USA Gymnastics says it will continue efforts to let Chiles keep the medal. CAS voided an on-floor appeal from Chiles’ coach that vaulted her to third, saying the appeal came 4 seconds beyond the one-minute time limit for scoring inquiries. USA Gymnastics disputed the timing, saying in a statement Sunday that the agency submitted video evidence to CAS that showed Team USA coach Cecile Landi first appealed 13 seconds before the deadline.
MLB
Gavin Sheets matched a career high with four hits and drove in four runs, Korey Lee and Brooks Baldwin homered, and the Chicago White Sox gave interim manager Grady Sizemore his first win, pounding the New York Yankees 12-2 after losing 24 of 25. The White Sox set season highs for runs and with 18 hits after dropping their first two games under Sizemore, who took over when the White Sox fired Pedro Grifol on Thursday. They had lost three straight since beating Oakland to stop a 21-game skid that matched an American League record. Lee connected leading off a two-run fourth. Baldwin capped a six-run seventh with a three-run drive that made it 11-2. Sheets had three RBI doubles and a run-scoring single.
Rob Refsnyder hit a game-winning single with two outs in the 10th inning after pinch-hitter Enmanuel Valdez’s leadoff double tied the score, lifting the Boston Red Sox over the fading Texas Rangers 5-4 to snap a four-game losing streak. The Red Sox were coming off a three-game sweep by Houston last weekend, when they were outscored 23-10. Corey Seager had a tying two-run homer for defending World Series champion Texas, which lost for the ninth time in 12 games to fall a season-low nine games under .500.
The Boston Red Sox have suspended Jarren Duran for two games without pay after he shouted a homophobic slur to a fan behind home plate who heckled him in a loss to the Houston Astros. The exchange, caught on a live mic Sunday during the broadcast of the game, occurred when Duran was at the plate in the sixth inning. Duran issued an apology through the team Sunday night and again in the clubhouse Monday. The Red Sox said in a statement that Duran’s salary during the suspension will be donated to the Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
Josh Naylor drove in José Ramírez with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the Cleveland Guardians held on for a 9-8 win over the Chicago Cubs in a back-and-forth matchup that evoked memories of their 2016 World Series. Rookie Jhonkensy Noel hit a three-run homer and solo shot and made a diving catch in right field for the AL Central-leading Guardians. Steven Kwan added a two-run homer for Cleveland. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt used closer Emmanuel Clase for the third straight game and he set down the Cubs in the ninth for his league-leading 36th save. Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong homered for the Cubs.
Framber Valdez followed up his no-hit bid with 5 2/3 strong innings, and the AL West-leading Houston Astros won their six straight game by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 6-1. Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz homered for the Astros, who lead the division by one-half game over idle Seattle. Valdez (12-5) improved to 7-0 in his last nine starts after allowing three hits, walking one and striking out nine. Valdez came within one out of his second career no-hitter in his previous start at Texas on Aug. 6. The Rays have lost five of seven to drop back to .500 at 59-59.
Willi Castro had a three-run home run and Royce Lewis hit a two-run shot in a six-run second inning for the Minnesota Twins on the way to an 8-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals. The Twins improved to 6-2 against the Royals this season in opening a key series between the division rivals and close wild card competitors. The Twins are 6-2 against the Royals this season. They remained 3½ games behind American League Central leader Cleveland after splitting a four-game series with the Guardians over the weekend. The third-place Royals dropped to five games back.
Bowden Francis pitched seven dominant innings and Will Wagner got hits in the first three at-bats of his major league debut as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-2. Leo Jiménez launched his first career home run and the last-place Blue Jays won the opener of a six-game trip after losing four of their previous five road games. Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell homered for the Angels, who lost for the third time in four games after earning a series win on the road against the New York Yankees. Wagner, the son of former All-Star closer Billy Wagner, hit the first pitch he saw into right-center field for a second-inning double.
Spencer Steer homered in consecutive at-bats and drove in five runs, and Elly De La Cruz hit his team-leading 21st homer as the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1. Andrew Abbott allowed one run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings to snap his three-game losing streak. The left-hander was tagged for 12 earned runs over his previous 13 1/3 innings. Cardinals starter Sonny Gray struck out nine in five innings, but is winless in three career starts against his former club. He gave up six runs and five hits, including three homers. Abbott escaped bases-loaded jams in the second and third. He finished with six strikeouts and retired 11 straight batters during one stretch.
Mookie Betts homered and drove in three runs to mark his return from a broken left hand, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2. Clayton Kershaw struck out six in his first win this season, allowing one run over 5 2/3 innings as the Dodgers took the opener of a four-game series between NL division leaders. Betts went 2 for 4 with a two-run homer and an RBI single in his first game since going on the injured list in mid-June. Ohtani hit a 424-foot drive to left-center in the fifth.
Corbin Carroll and Kevin Newman scrambled home on back-to-back wild pitches in the seventh inning, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks past the Colorado Rockies 5-4 on Monday night for their fourth straight win. The D-backs continued their extended roll, with an 18-5 record since the All-Star break. Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts over seven innings. The lanky right-hander gave up four runs on eight hits. Jake McCarthy added two hits and two RBIs. Newman and Josh Bell also had two hits.
Xander Bogaerts had an RBI single in the seventh inning, Jackson Merrell made a game-saving diving catch in the ninth inning, and Joe Musgrove had a solid return from the 60-day injured list as the San Diego Padres beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1. The Padres won for the 17th time in 20 games since July 20, and handed the struggling Pirates their 10th loss in 11 games. Musgrove, sidelined since May 26 due to right elbow inflammation, gave up two hits and walked one while striking out one in 4 1/3 scoreless innings. Jeremiah Estrada (4-2) got the win for the Padres after pitching one inning in relief and closer Robert Suarez earned his 26th save after giving up two singles and a run in the ninth inning.
Chris Sale and Blake Snell put on a pitching show in a matchup of aces before the Atlanta Braves edged the San Francisco Giants 1-0 on pinch-hitter Travis d’Arnaud’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning. Snell carried a no-hit bid through six innings for San Francisco, just 10 days after throwing his first career no-hitter at Cincinnati. The left-hander gave up Marcell Ozuna’s leadoff double in the seventh on his 103rd pitch. The two-time Cy Young Award winner struck out 11 and walked three in 6 1/3 innings. Sale fanned 12 without a walk in seven innings of three-hit ball as Atlanta won for only the second time in nine tries and moved a game ahead of the New York Mets for the final National League wild card.
Mookie Betts is returning to right field and adjusting to a new spot in the lineup after missing nearly two months with a broken left hand. So far, the Los Angeles Dodgers star is adapting just fine. Betts came off the injured list Monday and showed no signs of rust in a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, going 2 for 4 with a homer, three RBIs and an exceptional play in the outfield. Betts primarily played shortstop before his mid-June injury. He also is batting second after leading off for much of his career.
Elsewhere, the Phillies were off last night and will play the first of a two-game set against the Marlins at 6:40 tonight in Philadelphia.
WNBA
Paige Bueckers is already thinking about her future while she’s living in the present. The UConn star plans on entering the WNBA draft after her season ends with what she hopes is the school’s 12th national championship. She would still have at least one more year of eligibility because of her injuries and the COVID-19 year granted to athletes when she was a freshman, but this will be her final college season. Bueckers has already signed up to be part of Unrivaled — the new 3-on-3 league started by former Huskies greats Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. The league will begin play this upcoming winter and she will play in it in 2026.
Los Angeles Sparks All-Star Dearica Hamby sued the WNBA and her former team in federal court Monday regarding her treatment from the Las Vegas Aces while pregnant. Hamby’s lawsuit alleged the Aces discriminated and retaliated against her, leading to her January 2023 trade to the Sparks. A WNBA spokesperson said the complaint was being reviewed. The Aces did not immediately respond to a request for comment but have refuted allegation in the past.
NFL
Aaron Rodgers says in a soon-to-be published book, Out Of The Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers, that he should have handled discussing his COVID-19 immunization status differently. The New York Jets quarterback was still with the Green Bay Packers in 2021 when he told reporters he was “immunized” against the virus and then tested positive for COVID-19 three months later and had to be sidelined for 10 days. Rodgers unsuccessfully appealed to the league that his homeopathic treatment regimen should qualify him as vaccinated. ESPN reported the four-time NFL MVP says in the book “Out Of The Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers” that it's one thing he wishes could have gone differently.
The first full weekend of exhibition games featuring the NFL's new dynamic kickoff featured two long returns, a significant drop in touchbacks and mass confusion on an odd play that ended up as a rare safety. The NFL's goals of increasing the rate of returns and bringing back the threat of big plays were mostly accomplished this past weekend. The NFL reported that 81% of kicks have been returned so far, even if teams have been a bit guarded in what wrinkles they were willing to show before the start of the regular season.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Georgia is No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason college football poll for the second straight year. The Bulldogs received 46 first-place votes to finish comfortably ahead of No. 2 Ohio State, which got 15 top votes. Oregon is No. 3 while Texas is fourth and Alabama is fifth. Conference realignment created an unprecedented preseason poll with just four conferences represented: The SEC has nine ranked teams. The Big Ten has six, the Big 12 has five and the ACC has four. Notre Dame, an independent, is ranked seventh.
The preseason AP Top 25 is — to some degree — a projection for the season to come. So with the College Football Playoff field about to triple in size from four to 12 teams, how will the preseason poll do as a playoff predictor? To get an idea, AP compared the preseason rankings from 2014-23 to the final CFP rankings from those years — the ones that set the matchups for the semifinals and other New Year’s Six bowls.
NASCAR
Austin Dillon won for the first time in nearly two years in the NASCAR Cup Series. The race seemed out of reach before he spun Joey Logano out of the way and then sent Denny Hamlin into the wall as well. That all happened in the final few seconds at Richmond on Sunday night. Once the initial celebration ended, Dillon had quite a bit to answer for. But becoming a NASCAR villain for a few days may be a small price to pay for such a desperately needed victory.
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