KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Seth Lugo retired 14 straight batters in his first career complete game as the Kansas City Royals rallied past the Chicago White Sox for a 4-1 win and series sweep. Lugo surrendered one run while striking out six. He allowed an infield hit to Tommy Pham leading off the game Sunday before retiring the next 14 batters. In the eighth, Hunter Renfroe’s single scored Bobby Witt Jr. to break a 1-1 tie as the Royals collected five hits, scoring three runs against reliever John Brebbia. Chicago’s bullpen leads the majors with 24 blown saves and 33 losses.
ATLANTA (AP) — Paul Goldschmidt hit one of four Cardinals home runs after getting dropped in the order and St. Louis knocked off the Atlanta Braves 6-2 to win the weekend series. Cardinals designated hitter Alec Burleson had two RBIs, giving him 21 in 16 games in July. He has an RBI in six straight games, which is one shy of the Cardinals record. Lars Nootbaar and Willson Contreras also hit solo home runs on Sunday. Jarred Kelenic hit a home run for the Braves.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani made his 30th home run in Dodger blue a memorable one. The superstar slugger drove a cutter from Boston pitcher Kutter Crawford 473 feet over the bleachers at Dodger Stadium during the fifth inning of Sunday’s game against the Red Sox. According to fans in the area, the ball sailed between the pavilion roof and an advertisement sign in right-center field, but it cleared the concourse and landed on the walkway in the ballpark plaza. Ohtani just missed becoming the second Dodgers player and sixth overall to clear the pavilion roof and hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962. Los Angeles slugger Mike Piazza did it on Sept. 21, 1997, against the Colorado Rockies.
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Adrian Beltré, Joe Mauer, Todd Helton and Jim Leyland have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Beltré led this year’s class with 95.1% of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote in his first year on the ballot. Helton followed with 79.7% of the vote in his sixth year of eligibility and Mauer received 76.1% of the BBWAA vote in his first year. Leyland was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — Safety Justin Reid joined a growing list of injured starters for the back-to-back champs as the Kansas City Chiefs kicked off their first full-squad workout of training camp. The club placed Reid on the non-football injury list with a quad issue. Jaden Hicks, a fourth-round draft choice from Washington State, took Reid’s place at strong safety with the first-team defense. He played alongside free safety Bryan Cook with Chamarri Conner at nickel back. Coach Andy Reid didn’t elaborate on the nature of the injury on Sunday, but said he doesn’t have long-term concerns for his 27-year-old defensive secondary leader.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama football teams will soon be playing on Saban Field. University trustees approved a resolution naming the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium after former coach Nick Saban on Friday. Saban now works for ESPN and holds an office at the stadium. He retired from coaching in January after leading Alabama to six national championships in 17 seasons. Saban called the honor “pretty special.” A field-naming ceremony will be held at the South Florida game on Sept. 7. Saban collected a record seven national championships, including one at LSU.
DALLAS (AP) — Georgia is the heavy favorite to win the Southeastern Conference title and is picked to face league newcomer Texas in the championship game. The Bulldogs received 165 votes to win the SEC title among reporters covering league media days in Dallas. Texas got 27 votes and Alabama 12. With the addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the now 16-team league, it will be the SEC’s first season without divisions since 1991. The SEC Championship Game will include the two teams with the best overall league winning percentages. Georgia had six players picked as preseason first-team All-SEC, including quarterback Carson Beck.
TROON, Scotland (AP) — Xander Schauffele was the player who couldn't win a major at the start of the year. Now he has two of them. The 30-year-old Californian won the British Open with a masterpiece at Royal Troon. He played bogey-free for a 65 to get his name on the base of that silver claret jug. Schauffele won the PGA Championship in May at Valhalla. He's the first player since 2015 to win his first two majors in the same season. And his victory at Royal Troon gave the Americans a sweep of the four majors for the first time since 1982. Schauffele’s 65 ranks among the great closing rounds in British Open history.
UNDATED (AP) — South Sudan is the 33rd-ranked team in the FIBA world rankings, by far the lowest of any of the 12 nations that will be vying for men’s basketball gold in the Paris Olympics that start this week. The U.S. is ranked No. 1. Yet South Sudan nearly beat the Americans anyway. The every-four-years wake-up call for the U.S. Olympic team seems to have arrived. The Americans lost two exhibitions on the way to Tokyo in 2021 and then lost to France to open those Games before rallying to win gold at the end. They are going for their fifth straight gold.
PHOENIX (AP) — There is no panic in the U.S. women’s Olympic team. The Americans have been in this spot before. The U.S. lost to the WNBA All-Star team on Saturday night and are headed on a flight to London to continue their prep for the Paris Olympics. Breanna Stewart said it felt like deja vu and she wasn’t wrong. The 2021 Olympic team also lost to the WNBA All-Star team in a tune-up to the Tokyo Games. They went on to cruise to a seventh consecutive gold medal in Tokyo that year. Just like in the 2021 exhibition game, the Americans had no answer for Arike Ogunbowale.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kyle Larson made a late charge through the field, managed to get his car refired after a red flag and won the final two restart battles Sunday before coasting to his first Brickyard 400 victory under caution. Larson took the lead when Brad Keselowski ran out of fuel and pulled off the track just before the second-to-last restart and beat pole winner Tyler Reddick at the end with the yellow flag out. Larson won in his first trip back to the speedway since trying to become the fifth driver to complete 1,100 miles of racing on the same May day, at Indy and Charlotte, North Carolina. Larson won for the fourth time this season and took the points lead from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.
UNDATED (AP) — Tadej Pogacar had no need to attack on the final stage of the Tour de France. Defending a lead of over five minutes in Sunday’s time trial, he was set to comfortably win the race for the third time anyway. But he couldn't resist another attack. With main rival Jonas Vingegaard unable to challenge him, Pogacar celebrated his Tour victory in style with a dominant win in the time trial ending in Nice for the 17th stage win of his illustrious Tour career. The 25-year-old Slovenian rider became the first cyclist to win the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year since the late Marco Pantani in 1998. Pogacar previously won the Tour in 2020 and 2021.
SUNDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Final Milwaukee 8 Minnesota 7
Final San Diego 2 Cleveland 1
Final L.A. Dodgers 9 Boston 6
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Toronto 5 Detroit 4
Final Kansas City 4 Chicago White Sox 1
Final Tampa Bay 6 N.Y. Yankees 4
Final Texas 3 Baltimore 2
Final Seattle 6 Houston 4
Final L.A. Angels 8 Oakland 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final St. Louis 6 Atlanta 2
Final Washington 5 Cincinnati 2
Final Philadelphia 6 Pittsburgh 0
Final Miami 4 N.Y. Mets 2
Final Chicago Cubs 2 Arizona 1