BASEBALL
Michael Wacha pitched 4 1/3 innings on a rehab start from the Boston Red Sox and the Sea Dogs scored twice in the bottom of the 10th inning to beat the Richmond Flying Squirrels 5-4 Tuesday night at Hadlock Field.
Alex Binelas’ sharp single to right scored the winning run in the first of a six-game series with Richmond.
Richmond scored a run in the top of the 10th, but Portland came back in the bottom of the inning. Ceddanne Rafaela bunted for a single to start the inning, moving automatic runner Wilyer Abreu to third. Rafaela then stole second.
Abreu scored on a sacrifice fly to deep right by Christian Koss, and after Stephen Scott was intentionally walked, Binelas got his winning hit.
Wacha allowed four hits and two runs. He walked two and struck out five.
David Hamilton was 2 for 5 and stole his 51st base in the first inning for Portland.
BASKETBALL
Kevin Durant’s boundless love for basketball is not a reason to believe he’ll show up for training camp if the Nets don’t acknowledge his trade request.
That has been the prevailing belief — that Durant, a 12-time All-Star and two-time NBA Finals MVP is above the idea of holding out of camp because he is a master of his craft and a lover of the game. A source, however, pushed back on the idea that Durant will show up to training camp in September if his request goes unfulfilled.
Durant first made a trade request directly to Nets owner Joe Tsai on June 30, but after more than a month passed by with multiple offers made and none accepted, Durant and Tsai met a second time, this time in London, over the weekend.
Durant doubled down on his request and told Tsai he has lost faith in the direction of the organization and that Tsai must choose between the superstar forward and the pair of GM Sean Marks and Coach Steve Nash, according to The Athletic.
Tsai responded to the report with a tweet: “Our front office and coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.”
The Nets have received a number of offers, including a package from the Boston Celtics that included star forward Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and a first-round pick, but the asking price has been too steep. For example, the Nets countered the Celtics and said they must include reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, another rotation player and additional draft compensation in any deal that includes Brown for Durant.
GRINER: Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a frequent emissary in hostage negotiations, said he was hopeful about the chances of a two-for-two prisoner swap that could result in Russia’s release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan.
In cases like this, Richardson said in an interview with The Associated Press, “it’s proportional – two-for two.”
Richardson, who traveled to Russia in advance of the release by Moscow of Marine veteran Trevor Reed in an April prisoner swap, declined to discuss the current status of negotiations with Russia over Griner or Whelan or to explain what role he may be playing in the talks.
But he said he felt “relatively positive” for several reasons. For one, the conclusion of the criminal case against Griner last week – she was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges – provides an opening for diplomatic negotiations to begin in earnest. Plus, he said, the U.S. and Russia have already shown a willingness to carry out prisoner swaps, as evidenced by the Reed exchange. And Griner’s strategy of expressing contrition before a Russian court was important.
WNBA: Breanna Stewart had 25 points and nine rebounds, Gabby Williams added 21 points and seven assists, and the visiting Seattle Storm set a WNBA record with 37 assists in a 111-100 victory over the Chicago Sky.
Seattle also set a franchise record for scoring in any half with 66 first-half points, but the Storm only led by 11 points after Chicago closed on a 13-4 run. The 121 combined first-half points were the most in a first half this season in the WNBA.
COLLEGES
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Paige Bueckers underwent successful surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee last Friday at UConn Health, the UConn women’s basketball program announced.
The star guard started rehab on Saturday. She will be “regularly monitored by the UConn medical staff throughout her recovery.”
Bueckers suffered the injury during a pick-up basketball game last Monday and will be out for the upcoming 2022-23 season.
BOXING
RETURN: Tyson Fury announced a return to boxing and has his sights set on a third bout against fellow Briton Derek Chisora.
Fury said after his win over Dillian Whyte at London’s Wembley Stadium in April that he was retiring from the sport, but seems to have already changed his mind.
“I’ve decided to come back to boxing because I can be the first heavyweight champion in history to have two trilogies, one with Deontay Wilder, a second one with Derek Chisora,” the reigning WBC champion said in a video posted on social media. “I always said I would fight Derek Chisora at the end of my career.”
Fury beat Chisora twice early in his career, before defeating Wladimir Klitschko in his first world title fight in 2015. He also defeated Wilder twice after their first title bout ended in a split decision draw.
DOPING
TRACK: The coach who helped British track and field star Jessica Ennis-Hill to Olympic and world titles was effectively banned for life for misconduct including “sexually physical behavior” with unidentified athletes over a 15-year period.
Tony Minichiello was found guilty by a tribunal of four charges that amounted to “gross breaches of trust,” the U.K. Athletics governing body said.
Minichiello’s misconduct against athletes included unwanted touching, “inappropriate sexual references and gestures” and “aggressive behavior, bullying and emotional abuse.”
TENNIS: Andrej Martin was suspended for failing a doping test at a competition, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said.
The 32-year-old Slovakian tested positive in June for SARM S-22, a synthetic substance that can copy the effects of testosterone, at a second-tier event in his home country.
Martin, whose career ranking peaked at 93 in 2020, was No. 191 at the time of the positive test. He has a career record of 27-38 and lost in qualifying rounds at each Grand Slam singles tournament this year.
The ITIA said he is suspended from playing or attending events while the case is prosecuted.
TENNIS
NATIONAL BANK OPEN: Naomi Osaka retired from her opening match in Toronto due to a back injury.
Osaka was trailing Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 7-6 (4), 3-0 when she withdrew from the match.
Entering the tournament, Osaka had been eliminated from her last three competitions in the first or second round, including a straight-sets loss to Coco Gauff at last week’s Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic. That was her first tournament since the French Open as she recovered from an Achilles injury.
In other matches, 10th-seeded Gauff beat fellow American Madison Brenglem 6-1, 6-3; China’s Zheng Qinwen got past Canada’s Rebecca Marino, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4; Italy’s Camila Giorgi defeated ninth-seeded Emma Raducanu of England, 7-6 (0), 6-2. Elise Mertens of Belgium, Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain, Ajla Tomljanovic of Russia, Amanda Anisimova of the United States, and Zhang Shuai of China also advanced.
• Australia’s Nick Kyrgios advanced in Montreal, beating Argentina’s Sebastian Baez 6-4, 6-4 in an opening-round match and setting up a second-round showdown with top-ranked Daniil Medvedev of Russia.
Kyrgios is coming off a victory at last week’s Citi Open in Washington, where he ended a three-year title drought by winning his seventh career tour-level singles championship. That victory follows a runner-up finish at Wimbledon, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.
Medvedev, the event’s defending champion who received a first-round bye as a top seed, is scheduled to face Kyrgios on Wednesday.
In other first-round action, British wild-card Andy Murray, who was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals for 41 straight weeks in 2016, couldn’t find that old magic against 10th-seeded Taylor Fritz of San Diego, falling 6-1, 6-3.
Marin Cilic, the No. 13 seed, defeated fellow Croatian Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2. Other seeded players to advance were No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and No. 17 Gael Monfils of France.
Alex de Minaur of Australia beat Denis Shapovalov of Canada 7-5, 7-6 (4) in a match that was suspended by rain on Monday.
HOCKEY
NHL: The Carolina Hurricanes re-signed forward Martin Necas to a two-year, $6 million contract and said that new acquisition Max Pacioretty will have surgery for a torn Achilles tendon and face a six-month recovery.
The contract will pay the 23-year-old Necas $2.5 million next season and $3.5 million for the 2023-24 season. That keeps the young forward with the franchise that picked him in the first round of the 2017 draft.
The Hurricanes acquired the 33-year-old Pacioretty in July from Vegas for future considerations due to the Golden Knights’ salary-cap crunch. The six-time 30-goal scorer filled a need for a team looking for more output to a forward group led by young talents like Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen.
The Hurricanes did not provide any details on how or when Pacioretty was hurt. Messages left with the team and Pacioretty’s agent were not immediately returned.
• The New York Rangers named defenseman Jacob Trouba captain.
Rangers President and GM Chris Drury announced the selection in a news release, and the team held a news conference with Drury, Trouba and Coach Gerard Gallant at the team’s practice facility in Greenburgh, New York, in the afternoon.
Trouba, a first-round selection by Winnipeg in the 2012 draft, was acquired from the Jets on June 17, 2019. He has totaled 20 goals and 58 assists in 189 games over the last three seasons with the Rangers.
Trouba is the 28th captain in franchise history, and the first since Ryan McDonagh was traded in 2018.
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