KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Wisdom hit a grand slam as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, Seiya Suzuki also homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the Kansas City Royals 9-4 on Saturday night. Wisdom hit for Pete Crow-Armstrong and laced the homer 440-feet off Sam Long into the fountains in left for a 7-4 lead. The runners were put on base by Seth Lugo (12-5), who went 6 1/3 innings. He allowed six earned runs on five hits while walking two and striking out two. Julian Merryweather (1-0) pitched an inning for the victory. Cubs starter Shota Imanaga went 5 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and three strikeouts. Suzuki hit his 15th homer.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Keibert Ruiz hit a three-run home run to cap Washington’s seven-run outburst in the sixth inning, and the Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 14-3. Harold Ramírez came off the bench to hit a two-run double and Juan Yepez followed with a two-run single before Ruiz’s blast into the left-field bullpen made it 9-0. James Wood had four of Washington’s 16 hits and scored on Luis García Jr.’s RBI single in the second. Yepez had two hits and three RBIs, and Jesse Winker singled twice. Jake Irvin (8-8) struck out five in 5 1/3 innings. Willson Contreras had a two-run homer for St. Louis.
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season with a strained left calf. The team’s projected No. 1 starter this year, Senga got hurt Friday night in the sixth inning of his season debut against the Atlanta Braves. He had been sidelined by a shoulder injury since early in spring training. Senga strained his calf when he bolted away from the mound to make way for teammate Pete Alonso to catch a popup. New York manager Carlos Mendoza says Saturday an MRI showed a “high-grade strain” and “it’s fair to say that he’s pretty much done for the regular season.”
BOSTON (AP) — Looking to spark a struggling club, the New York Yankees acquired Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the Miami Marlins for three minor leaguers: catcher Agustín Ramírez, infielder Jared Serna and infielder Abrahan Ramírez. New York entered Saturday 10-23 after a 50-22 start, plagued by sputtering starting pitching and an offense reliant on Aaron Judge and Juan Soto following injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo. Third baseman DJ LeMahieu and left fielder Alex Verdugo have been in deep slumps. An All-Star second baseman in 2022, the 26-year-old Chisholm has played center field for most of the past two seasons.
PARIS (AP) — Three-quarters of the nearly 600 American athletes lining up for action at the Paris Olympics got their training in college sports in the United States. It’s an eye-opening figure that places the future of the Olympics themselves into the equation as the NCAA and its biggest schools set priorities when they start paying college athletes. NCAA President Charlie Baker told The Associated Press he thinks colleges are going to have to make tough choices in the near future. He was in Paris for the opening ceremony that took place at around the same time litigators filed details of a multibillion-dollar settlement that calls for players to share in revenue and is bound to alter the course of the NCAA.
PARIS (AP) — Simone Biles posted an all-around total of 59.566 during Olympic qualifying inside a packed and star-studded Bercy Arena despite complaining of a left calf injury that had her limping. Biles appeared to tweak the leg while warming up on floor exercise during the second rotation. She had the ankle taped and then returned to put on the kind of show-stopping performance that has long been her signature.
NANTERRE, France (AP) — With a boisterous crowd cheering him on, Léon Marchand began his home Olympics by cruising to the fastest time in the preliminaries of the 400-meter individual medley. The 22-year-old Marchand pulled away in his heat to touch in 4 minutes, 8.30 seconds, with some 15,000 fans at La Defense Arena chanting on every stroke. It was a comfortable performance for the French phenomenon, who has been compared to Michael Phelps and is guided by the same coach. American Bob Bowman was with Phelps for his staggering 23 Olympic gold medals. Marchand is looking for his first gold, and he’ll be a heavy favorite in the evening final.
PARIS (AP) — Rafael Nadal has been greeted by a standing ovation from a full crowd at Court Philippe Chatrier as he he stepped onto its red clay for a first-round singles match at the Paris Olympics against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics. Sunday's match is in the same stadium where Nadal has won a record 14 French Open titles. There is a statue of the Spaniard outside the arena, where fans gathered Sunday morning to snap photos of themselves with the steel rendering of the player. The 38-year-old Nadal decided Sunday that he would play singles at these Summer Games, in addition to doubles alongside Carlos Alcaraz. Nadal said Saturday night he wasn’t sure whether he would participate in both events.
TEAHUPO’O, Tahiti (AP) — Cardboard beds might be Paris’ solution to providing athletes a place to sleep for the 2024 Olympics. But some 10,000 miles away in Tahiti, where the surfing competition is taking place, it’s a cruise ship. While media has been restricted from boarding the ship, athletes have shared photographs and videos on their social media giving the public a tour of what the Olympics say is the first-ever floating athlete village.
NANTERRE, France (AP) — It was billed as one of the most anticipated races of the Paris Olympics. Ariarne Titmus turned it into a blowout. Titmus left Katie Ledecky in her wake at La Defense Arena, leading from start to finish to win the 400-meter freestyle. Canada's Summer McIntosh won the silver, while Ledecky settled for a bronze. Titmus also beat Ledecky in the 400 free at the Tokyo Olympics, after Ledecky won gold in that event at Rio in 2016. The Aussie women also took their fourth straight gold in the 4x100 freestyle relay. But the Americans picked up a gold in the final event of opening night at the pool when Caeleb Dressel anchored a win in the men's 4x100 free relay. It was the eighth medal of Dressel's career — all of them gold.
NANTERRE, France (AP) — Veteran U.S. swimmer Caeleb Dressel only knows the top of an Olympic podium in a decorated career. The American veteran on a youthful men’s swim team added another relay victory to his long list by anchoring the winning 4x100-meter freestyle as the Americans beat out the rival Australians and scrutinized Chinese.
SATURDAY SCORES
AMERICAN LEAGUE
INTERLEAGUE
Final Tampa Bay 4 Cincinnati 0
Final San Diego 9 Baltimore 4
Final Philadelphia 8 Cleveland 0
Final Chicago Cubs 9 Kansas City 4
Final Houston 7 L.A. Dodgers 6
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Toronto 7 Texas 3
Final Detroit 7 Minnesota 2
Final Seattle 6 Chicago White Sox 3
Final N.Y. Yankees 11 Boston 8
Final Oakland 3 L.A. Angels 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Atlanta 4 N.Y. Mets 0
Final San Francisco 4 Colorado 1
Final Miami 7 Milwaukee 3
Final Washington 14 St. Louis 3
Final Arizona 9 Pittsburgh 5
Final San Francisco 5 Colorado 0