NFL
Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and a touchdown, and the Kansas City defense kept Lamar Jackson and the Ravens out of the end zone on three consecutive plays in the closing seconds. That allowed the Chiefs to begin their pursuit of a third straight Super Bowl title with a 27-20 victory over Baltimore last night. The game ended with a video review after Jackson appeared to hit Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone with no time left for a touchdown. The video clearly showed Likely’s toe on the line, though, and the call was overturned and the pass ruled incomplete.
Meanwhile, the first full weekend of the NFL season gets under way today, with the Packers facing the Eagles in Philadelphia at 8:15 tonight. The Vikings play the Giants in New York, the Patriots face the Bengals in Cincinnati, and the Steelers are in Atlanta playing the Falcons, all at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Aaron Rodgers is nearly a year removed from the torn Achilles tendon that ended his first season with the New York Jets after just four snaps. The 40-year-old quarterback says he always has something to prove, but as he gets older he focuses on proving things to himself. He's looking forward to getting back on the field and in the huddle in the season opener Monday night at San Francisco. Rodgers said he's feeling ready and in a good mind space and expects “greatness.” He adds he might even give “a little smirk” to the “Monday Night Football” cameras when he gets to his fifth snap against the 49ers.
Lamar Jackson threw for 273 yards and a touchdown and ran for 122 yards, gamely trying to rally Baltimore from 10-point deficit against two-time defending NFL champion Kansas City. And it looked for a moment as if Jackson had at least forced overtime when he hit Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone with no time left. The play immediately went to a video review, though, and the evidence was clear: The tight end’s toe had landed on the endline, putting him out of bounds. The pass was incomplete. The game was over. And the disappointment quickly set in. The Ravens lost 27-20, the fifth time in six matchups that Jackson has lost to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
Pop superstar Taylor Swift has returned to Arrowhead Stadium to watch her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and the rest of the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs open the NFL season against the Baltimore Ravens. Swift arrived about 90 minutes prior to the AFC title game rematch, wearing a denim crop top and shorts along with red, knee-high boots. She joined nearly 80,000 fans who were hoping that storms in the area did not disrupt a festive night in Kansas City. Swift became one of the Chiefs’ biggest fans last season, when she began a high-profile her romance with Kelce after a game against Chicago.
Brazilian soccer club Corinthians, the team turning over its stadium for the first NFL game ever to be played in South America, dislikes anything green so much that its executives tried to paint the field black about a decade ago. It was an effort to steer Corinthians fans away from any reference to local rival Palmeiras, the team they have been feuding with for more than a century. On Friday, however, NeoQuimica Arena will be awash with green when the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles play the second game of the NFL season in Sao Paulo.
Jessica Pegula has shrugged off a sluggish start and come back from a set and a break down at the U.S. Open to defeat Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 for a berth in her first Grand Slam final. The No. 6-seeded Pegula won for the 15th time in her past 16 matches Thursday night. She will meet No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka for the title on Saturday. Sabalenka reached her second consecutive U.S. Open final by beating Emma Navarro 6-3, 7-6 (2) with her usual brand of high-risk, high-reward tennis. The No. 2-seeded Sabalenka is a 26-year-old from Belarus who won each of the past two Australian Opens.
Jannik Sinner will play in the U.S. Open semifinals six months after he failed two drug tests, and 2 1/2 weeks after he was exonerated because he said trace amounts of an anabolic steroid entered his system unintentionally via a massage. (On the men’s side) The No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner will play No. 25 Jack Draper on Friday for a spot in the championship match. No. 12 Taylor Fritz faces No. 20 Frances Tiafoe in the other men’s semifinal. That will be the first matchup in the final four at Flushing Meadows between two American men in 19 years.
The word “DOPING” is printed in all caps inside a red circle with a slash through it on the box containing the over-the-counter spray sold in Italy that caused No. 1-ranked tennis player Jannik Sinner to fail two drug tests in March. He was exonerated in the case and will play in the U.S. Open semifinals Friday. Trofodermin contains the anabolic steroid Clostebol and is available without a prescription in Sinner’s home country. The product is meant for treating cuts and scrapes. It contains an underlined doping warning on the medication guide that comes inside the box. A small spray can of Trofodermin was purchased for $16 at a Rome pharmacy by an Associated Press reporter.
NHL
The funeral for John and Matthew Gaudreau has been scheduled for Monday at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in suburban Philadelphia. The Gaudreau brothers died last week when they were struck and killed by a suspected drunken driver while riding their bicycles in their home state of New Jersey. A pretrial hearing for the driver was postponed to Sept. 13. Sean Higgins remains in jail after being charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle.
MLB
Bryson Stott homered into the right-field upper deck, Kody Clemens drove in two runs and the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies beat the Miami Marlins 5-2 to extend their winning streak to five. In the first game of a four-game series, the Phillies opened an eight-game NL East lead with 22 games left. Ranger Suárez scattered three hits over five scoreless innings, leaving after 82 pitches. Bryce Harper went 0 for 3 with a walk, a day after he was hit on the left elbow by a pitch at Toronto and left in the third inning.
The Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox were off last night. The Yankees play the first of a three-game set against the Cubs at 2:20 today in Chicago. The Mets continue a homestand with the first of three against the Cincinnati Reds at 7:10 tonight. The Red Sox kick off a homestand with the first of three against the White Sox also at 7:10 tonight.
Ty France homered in the seventh inning as part of a series sweep in which he went 9 for 11, and the Cincinnati Reds beat Houston 1-0 for their ninth straight win over the Astros. Rhett Lowder, the seventh overall pick in the 2023 amateur draft, allowed four hits over 6 1/3 innings in his second big league start. The 22-year-old right-hander walked four and struck out three. Cincinnati pitched its fifth shutout, tied with the Chicago White Sox for second-fewest in the major leagues behind Colorado with one.
Parker Meadows hit a grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Detroit Tigers a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres. Meadows’ opposite-field homer went into the second row in left field off a 100.7 mph four-seam fastball from Padres closer Robert Suarez (8-3). Tigers reliever Ricky Vanasco (1-0) won his first game of the season with a scoreless eighth. Tyler Holton earned his seventh save with a scoreless ninth. Jurickson Profar hit a solo home run for San Diego in the first inning and Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run shot in the second to give San Diego a 3-0 lead.
Edouard Julien hit a three-run homer, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 in a game with a 13-minute interruption largely caused by a video review. With Tampa Bay trailing 4-2 in the seventh inning and Jonny DeLuca on third, Yandy Díaz sliced a drive toward the right-field corner, Matt Wallner gloved the ball on two hops as DeLuca scored, and Wallner’s momentum carried him over the low wall and into a camera well. Umpires held a crew chief review that took about nine minutes and determined Díaz should be placed on second base. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli then brought in reliever Griffin Jax to replace Pablo López.
Cal Raleigh hit a two-run homer in the first inning and added a sacrifice fly in the fifth, Julio Rodríguez also connected, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Athletics 6-4 on Thursday in their final scheduled visit to the Coliseum. Luke Raley added a two-run shot in the ninth for key insurance as the Mariners closed within 4 1/2 games of the Houston Astros in the American League West standings. Bryan Woo struck out six and didn’t walk a batter over five innings to win in his native Bay Area a 10-minute drive from where he grew up in Alameda.
Cody Bradford allowed one run in six innings and Adolis García hit a three-run home run in the first as the Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 on Thursday night. Bradford made his fifth consecutive quality start and allowed just two hits, both singles by Zach Neto. He walked two, matching his high this season, and struck out four. In his previous four outings, the 26-year-old left-hander was 0-2 despite an ERA of 2.77 as he was provided seven runs of support. The defending World Series champion Rangers are 8-2 in their last 10 games, their best 10-game stretch this season.
Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell was removed after a 42-pitch first inning, and San Francisco rallied to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2 behind an walk-off double in the ninth from Patrick Bailey, who drove in all three Giants runs. Arizona sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning, taking advantage of defensive sloppiness. Shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald threw wide of second for a run-scoring error on Josh Bell’s grounder and Corbin Carroll scored from third on a passed ball as Jake McCarthy reached on the dropped third strike. Snell allowed two hits and walked two, stranding a pair of runners when Kevin Newman grounded out.
Nick Gonzales highlighted a five-run second inning with a two-run single and finished with three RBIs as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Washington Nationals 9-4, one night after being no-hit. Oneil Cruz had a sharply hit a two-out double to right in the opening inning for the Pirates’ first hit after managing just three baserunners — two walks and an error — against Chicago a night earlier when the Cubs’ Shota Imanaga, Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge combined on a no-hitter. Pirates starter Bailey Falter (7-7) worked five innings, allowing seven hits and three runs, all coming in the first four at-bats of the game. Andrés Chaparro homered for the Nationals and Jake Irvin took the loss.
The Atlanta Braves dropped into a tie for the final NL wild card berth, losing 3-1 to Colorado as Michael Toglia and Ezequiel Tovar hit solo home runs for the Rockies. Atlanta and New York are both 76-64 with 22 games left, eight games back of NL East-leading Philadelphia. Austin Gomber allowed one run and five hits in eight innings, matching his season high. Tyler Kinley pitched a perfect ninth for his ninth save in 10 chances as Colorado avoided a three-game sweep. Atlanta didn’t get a runner to second base after the second inning.
WNBA
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored 18 points in her return to the starting lineup and the New York Liberty beat the Seattle Storm 77-70 last night. Laney-Hamilton returned from a right knee injury on Aug. 26 that sidelined her for roughly six weeks after she had surgery. Sabrina Ionescu added 17 points and Jonquel Jones had 15 for the Liberty. The win moved the Liberty a step closer to clinching the top seed in the WNBA playoffs. New York has a 3 1/2-game lead over Connecticut and Minnesota with six games left to play. Seattle trails Las Vegas by 1 1/2 games for the No. 4 seed.
Karlie Samuelson came off the bench to score 19 points and the Washington Mystics continued their late-season playoff push with a 90-77 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday night. Washington, which opened the season with 12 straight losses, has won five of its last six to pull a half-game behind the Chicago Sky and Atlanta Dream for the final spot in the postseason. Phoenix won just once in a five-game homestand, beating Atlanta 74-66 on Tuesday to clinch a playoff spot.
NCAA
A federal judge in California probed the terms of a proposed $2.78 billion settlement of antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA and major conferences, revealing a potential snag in the deal. Judge Claudia Wilken questioned whether payments to college athletes from booster-funded organizations should be restricted. She said she was ‘quite concerned’ about that part of the settlement during a preliminary approval hearing Thursday. The settlement would provide athletes a cut of billions in revenue that flows to their schools. Attorneys representing plaintiffs in the lawsuits, the NCAA and parties challenging the settlement appeared via video conference in front of Wilken.
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