KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Wednesday there has been no communication with All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones, who is in the midst of a contract holdout. Reid spoke one day after Jones indicated on social media that he could take the holdout as far as Week 8 of the regular season. The 29-year-old Jones is entering the final year of a four-year, $80 million deal, and he wants to be among the highest-paid defensive tackles in the game. Jones has been piling up daily fines of $50,000 for missing a mandatory minicamp over the summer along with training camp, and he will forfeit game checks of about $1.1 million for each he is absent.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Cole Ragans matched a career high with 11 strikeouts in six scoreless innings, Bobby Witt Jr. hit his 26th home run and the Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics 4-0 on Wednesday to avoid a three-game sweep. Ragans limited the A’s to two singles, improving to 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA in six starts since being traded from Texas on June 30. The left-hander has struck out 47 and walked 10 in 34 2/3 innings with the Royals. Dairon Blanco hit his first career homer off A’s starter Adrián Martínez in the third inning to put Kansas City ahead.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Richie Palacios had a career-best three hits and drove in two runs, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 to avoid a three-game sweep. Palacios capped a three-run first inning with a two-run double, singled in his next two at-bats and walked in the ninth. The 26-year-old had his first three-hit performance in 61 major league games. The last-place Cardinals had lost six of seven and were outscored 17-4 in the first two games of the series. Winning pitcher Zack Thompson gave up two runs on six hits with five strikeouts in five innings. His outing was ended by a 92-minute rain delay.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Lowe hit a game-ending single leading off the 10th inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays rallied from another late deficit to beat the Colorado Rockies 6-5 on Wednesday night. Lowe’s hit to right off Brent Suter (4-2) scored automatic runner Osleivis Basabe. Yandy Díaz tied it at 5-all with a two-run single in the ninth off Rockies closer Justin Lawrence, who blew his sixth save in 16 chances. The AL batting leader went 2 for 4 and raised his average from .328 to .329.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani won’t pitch for the rest of the season because of a torn ligament in his right elbow, Los Angeles Angels general manager Perry Minasian said Wednesday night. The Angels don’t yet know whether the major league homers leader and 10-game winner will need surgery to repair the UCL ligament nearly five years after the two-way superstar had his first Tommy John surgery in late 2018 following his AL Rookie of the Year season. Ohtani left the mound abruptly Wednesday in the second inning of his start against Cincinnati in the opener of a doubleheader. The injury will have a massive effect on baseball’s free agent market this winter with Ohtani headed to free agency.
NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says this season has “been a disaster.” New York is 61-65, on track for its worst season in more than 30 years. Cashman is promising a search to find out the cause. The Yankees are 9 1/2 games back for the AL’s third and final wild card. Cashman says all options will be examined in looking at injuries, evaluation and underperformance. He says those evaluations will include the status of himself and manager Aaron Boone. New York ended a nine-game skid by beating Washington 9-1 on Wednesday night behind three homers from Aaron Judge.
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark isn’t hiding his favoritism for teams that will be staying in the conference. Yormark says he plans to be at 11th-ranked Texas’ final regular-season game as a Big 12 member when it hosts Texas Tech the night after Thanksgiving. But the commissioner also told second-year Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire to take care of business like they did last year in beating the Longhorns at home. Texas and Oklahoma are going into their final Big 12 season before moving next year to the Southeastern Conference.
UNDATED (AP) — During the final season of the College Football Playoff’s four-team format, the empires will strike back. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma dominated CFP appearances and their conferences for seven years, but combined to earn two playoff bids the past two seasons while Georgia and Michigan have been on the rise. To predict a national title for anyone other than the two-time defending champion Bulldogs feels like just trying to be different. Then again, no team has ever won three straight. And Alabama has never gone more than three seasons without a title under Nick Saban.
UNDATED (AP) — The Atlantic Coast Conference is making progress toward an expansion that could grab Stanford and California from the sinking Pac-12, a person with direct knowledge of the ACC’s potential move told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the conference was not making its internal discussions public. Two weeks ago, the ACC gathered its full board of university leaders to consider adding Stanford, Cal and possibly SMU, the Dallas-based American Athletic Conference school. They never took an official vote, but Commissioner Jim Phillips and a small group of conference leaders has continued to work on sticking points.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The New York Giants say tight end Tommy Sweeney is stable and alert after collapsing during practice and being carted away from the field. The Giants say Sweeney “had a medical event" and was “conversant” while under the care of physicians. The former Boston College standout is now in his fourth NFL season and first with the Giants. He spent his first three seasons with Buffalo. In 2020 he was diagnosed with myocarditis after contracting COVID-19. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart. Sweeney was cleared to resume playing the following offseason. It’s not immediately clear whether there’s a connection between Sweeney’s health history and Wednesday’s episode.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Plans for the start of the Basketball World Cup in Okinawa, Japan, were unaffected Thursday after a North Korean rocket launch prompted an alert ordering some residents to evacuate. Press conferences and practices for the eight teams that are beginning World Cup play in Okinawa went on as scheduled Thursday. The tournament begins Friday, also in the Philippines and Indonesia. There were no reports of damage. Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic plays for Slovenia and says he had trouble sleeping after the alarm. Doncic says the episode was “a little scary.”
WEDNESDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
L-A Dodgers at Cleveland 12:10 p.m.
Final Chicago Cubs 6 Detroit 4
Final Milwaukee 8 Minnesota 7
Final Cincinnati 9 L.A. Angels 4
Final Tampa Bay 6 Colorado 5
Final N.Y. Yankees 9 Washington 1
Final Cincinnati 7 L.A. Angels 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Chicago White Sox 5 Seattle 4
Final Kansas City 4 Oakland 0
Final Baltimore 7 Toronto 0
Final Boston 7 Houston 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final St. Louis 6 Pittsburgh 4
Final San Diego 4 Miami 0
Final San Francisco 8 Philadelphia 6
Final Atlanta 7 N.Y. Mets 0