CLEVELAND (AP) — José Ramírez and Josh Naylor homered on consecutive pitches in the sixth inning, powering the Cleveland Guardians to a 6-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Ramírez homered to left field and, Naylor, who missed the previous two games because of tendinitis in his right wrist, drove one over the wall in right against reliever Amir Garrett (0-1). Andrés Giménez also homered for Cleveland (43-44). The Guardians haven’t been at .500 since April 28 at 13-13. Eli Morgan (4-1) worked a scoreless inning before Enyel De Los Santos, Trevor Stephan and Nick Sandlin completed the six-hitter. Light rain pushed the scheduled start back 81 minutes to 8:31 p.m.
MIAMI (AP) — Nolan Arenado homered, Jack Flaherty pitched shutout ball for his second straight start and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Miami Marlins 3-0 to avoid a series sweep. St. Louis dropped the first three games of the series. Two were one-run defeats, including a 10-9 walk-off loss Wednesday night. Flaherty (6-5) struck out five, walked two and allowed nine hits. He also threw six scoreless innings against the New York Yankees on July 1 and has lowered his ERA from 4.95 to 4.27 in the two starts.
NEW YORK (AP) — Baltimore shortstop Gunnar Henderson and New York manager Aaron Boone spoke Thursday with Pete Stendel, the YES Network cameraman who sustained an orbital fracture when he was hit by Henderson’s errant throw Wednesday night. Positioned right next to the Yankees’ dugout on the first-base side, Stendel was struck by a hurried throw by Henderson, who fired high to first as he tried to complete a double play in the fifth inning. The game was delayed about 17 minutes as the Yankees’ training staff and medical personnel tended to Stendel in the camera well. Stendel was strapped onto a stretcher and carted off the field, raising and wagging two fingers to loud applause from the crowd.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Victor Wembanyama’s debut at NBA Summer League is Friday night. His highly anticipated showing is sold out, not too different from when a superstar music artist hits the city. All 17,500 tickets that were available for Day 1 of the 11-day series of games on the campus of UNLV were gone by sometime Wednesday, largely because of the debut of the 7-foot-3 rookie who will be playing his first game in a San Antonio Spurs uniform. Wembanyama says he can't wait. The plan is for him to play “at least one or two games.”
LAS VEGAS (AP) — San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama says he believes Britney Spears grabbed him from behind as he was walking into a restaurant at a Las Vegas casino, and that the security detail he was with pushed the pop star away. Wembanyama said Thursday he wasn’t told that Spears was the person who grabbed him until hours later. Spears filed a police report saying she was struck by a security guard. She said in social media posts that she did not grab Wembanyama. She said she only tapped him on the shoulder so she could congratulate him on his success. Spears said she was “back handed” and nearly knocked to the ground.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Damian Lillard’s position has not and will not change: The seven-time All-Star wants to be traded to the Miami Heat. Lillard’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, confirmed that stance Thursday and said he hopes that the Portland Trail Blazers — the team that Lillard has spent the entirety of his 11-year NBA career with — can engage with the Heat on steps toward a deal in the coming days, especially with virtually everyone from the NBA gathering in Las Vegas for Summer League that starts on Friday.
UNDATED (AP) — After a breakout season in which he nearly led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl victory that earned him a record-setting contract, Jalen Hurts is working like a “madman” to be even better. Hurts tells the AP Pro Football Podcast “there’s a thrill in not being satisfied." The 24-year-old quarterback drafted in the second round in 2020 emerged as one of the league’s brightest young stars in his second full season as a starter. Hurts threw for 3,701 yards with 22 touchdowns and ran for 760 yards and 13 scores. He finished second in voting for the AP NFL MVP award and third for Offensive Player of the Year.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Xiyu Janet Lin and Hyo Joo Kim are tied for the lead in the first U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach. Lin wanted to soak up the views at one of America's most famous courses. She also had a hot putter to help her out. The Chinese player made four par saves early and five birdies to sent her to a 68. Kim birdied the 17th hole to join her. Among those one behind were Leona Maguire and Irish amateur Aine Donegan. Rose Zhang opened with a 74. The top four players in the world were a combined 22 over.
THURSDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
Final Philadelphia 3 Tampa Bay 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Detroit 9 Oakland 0
Final Toronto 6 Chicago White Sox 2
Final Cleveland 6 Kansas City 1
Final Baltimore 14 N.Y. Yankees 1
Final Boston 10 Texas 6
Final Seattle 5 Houston 1
Final Toronto 5 Chicago White Sox 4
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Cincinnati 5 Washington 4
Final Milwaukee 6 Chicago Cubs 5
Final St. Louis 3 Miami 0
Final N.Y. Mets 9 Arizona 0
Final L.A. Dodgers 5 Pittsburgh 2