Sports briefs
By NewsPress Now
Pham, McGreevy
lead Cardinals to
beat the Rangers
ST. LOUIS | Tommy Pham started in left field for St. Louis, getting three hits and two RBIs, and Michael McGreevy pitched seven innings in his MLB debut to lift the Cardinals to a 10-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday.
Pham returned to St. Louis on Tuesday and debuted with a pinch-hit grand slam after being part of a three-team trade Monday. Pham began his career with the Cardinals, who drafted him in the sixth round in 2006.
“It’s the process,” said Pham. “Stay within the strike zone and try and have a quality at-bat.”
Brendan Donovan drove in three runs, and Michael Siani and Alec Burleson each had two RBIs. Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt added two hits apiece, and the Cardinals scattered 14 hits against four pitchers.
Marcus Semien had two of the Rangers five hits and drove in the lone RBI.
“You have to play better baseball than what we did,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’ve got to get these bats going. It’s pretty simple.”
McGreevy, promoted from Triple-A Memphis, allowed five hits and one run in seven innings and walked off the field to a standing ovation.
“It’s a big difference pitching down there and pitching up here,” catcher Pedro Pagés said. “One hundred percent, it’s hard. He handled it all really well. Before the game, I asked him if he was nervous and he said no. I thought he was lying but that’s just me.”
McGreevy, who had about 15 family members and friends attending the game, maintained there were no butterflies.
“A lot of guys didn’t believe me,” McGreevy said laughing. “Oh, he’s lying in his first couple of minutes here. I was telling the truth. This was exactly what I’ve been dreaming of since I was little. You don’t train for college baseball or minors. You train to be here.”
McGreevy, the 18th overall pick in 2021, is the eighth player and sixth pitcher to make his MLB debut for St. Louis this season. The last Cardinals pitcher to debut in a home start was Mike Mayers on July 24, 2016, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He became the first Cardinal to win his debut at home since Jason Simontacchi on May 4, 2002.
“I’ve got a job to do,” said McGreevy, who struck out three and walked one in throwing 99 pitches. “This means everything to me. This is just baseball at the end of the day.”
Manager Oliver Marmol was among those impressed.
“Oh man, that was awesome to watch,” Marmol said. “Probably the most impressive thing is how in control he was. He didn’t make the moment any bigger than it was. The game never sped up on him.”
Andrew Heaney (4-11) was lifted in the fifth inning with one out. Heaney allowed six runs on six hits and fell to 0-2 in three career starts against St. Louis.
The Cardinals, who recorded their largest margin of victory this season, finished their six-game homestand 3-3. The Rangers lost for the fifth time in six games following a five-game winning streak.
St. Louis scored three runs in the second inning. Donovan’s single to center scored Goldschmidt. Pagés grounded to first, but Nathaniel Lowe’s throw home didn’t get Pham. Donovan scored on Siani’s sacrifice bunt.
“I mean, they’re good,” Heaney said. “They’re going to lay off good pitches. I was falling behind and I wasn’t putting guys away. Little things cost you.”
TRAINERS ROOM
Rangers: RHP Jacob deGrom (right UCL repair surgery) threw a 45-pitch bullpen Tuesday. He is expected back in August.
Cardinals: RHP Lance Lynn (right knee inflammation) was placed on the 15-day injured list. The 37-year-old Lynn (6-4) picked up the win Tuesday against Texas, allowing one run in five innings.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Texas hasn’t announced a starter for Friday’s game against Boston RHP Kutter Crawford (6-8, 3.60 ERA).
Cardinals: RHP Sonny Gray (10-6, 3.79) will face the Cubs’ LHP Shota Imanaga (8-2, 2.95) in Chicago to open a four-game series.
NFL is moving closer to replacing the chain gang with new technology
The NFL is moving closer to replacing the chain gang with new technology to measure line to gain.
NFL executive Gary Brantley told The Associated Press the league will test Sony’s Hawk-Eye technology during some preseason games. The system most likely wouldn’t be ready for full implementation until next season, though it could happen sooner.
“We’re in the installation phase for all of our stadiums, really getting them calibrated and up to date,” said Brantley, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief information officer. “We’re just really getting to a place where this system is as accurate as possible and really calibrating across our multiple stadiums. … We have multiple stadiums with multiple dimensions inside of those stadiums with different age. So we’re really just going through the installation of putting in the infrastructure and making sure these cameras are installed.”
Sony, which was named the NFL’s official technology partner on Wednesday, has expanded its sports technology through Hawk-Eye Innovations to support officiating and the development of on-field and sideline technologies, including a new coach’s sideline headset that will debut in 2025.
Its Hawk-Eye tracking services for line-to-gain measurement adds cameras to stadiums to track players, officials and the ball. The optimal tracking system notifies officials instantly if a first down was gained after the ball is spotted by hand.
“We’re reducing a significant amount of time, 40 seconds for each time of use that basically is making the game that much more impactful,” said Neal Manowitz, Sony president and chief operations officer. “And then also the system is accurate down to less than half an inch, which is incredibly, incredibly accurate. Hopefully the fans appreciate the objective view, or at least half the fans each play will be appreciating it.”
The NFL has long used two bright orange sticks and a chain to measure for first downs. That method would remain in a backup capacity.
Beyond new technology for line-to-gain measurement and new headsets for coaches’ communication, Sony is partnering with the NFL to enhance sideline photography, broadcast cameras and production, and more.
“The NFL has incredibly high standards and really what we’re talking about in this relationship is together, at the highest level, how do we change the future of sports,” Manowitz said. “How we change line to gain is a great example, and that’s where. … we get the creators of the game, all of the people of the ops team, the coaches, the players, how do we get that community as close as possible to our engineers, and how do we bring them and then ultimately provide a much better experience for fans.”
Iga Swiatek gets hit by a ball at Olympic tennis
and is called insincere
PARIS | Iga Swiatek dropped to her knees and clutched at her midsection after getting hit by a ball in the Paris Olympics quarterfinals Wednesday, but it was her opponent, Danielle Collins, who stopped playing in the third set because of an injured stomach muscle she said was caused by cramping and dehydration from a lack of cold water available during a previous match.
When they spoke afterward, Collins gave Swiatek an earful, telling her “she didn’t have to be insincere about my injury,” according to Collins.
“There’s a lot that happens on camera. And there are a lot of people with a ton of charisma … (who) are one way on camera and another way in the locker room,” said Collins, a 30-year-old American who has announced she will retire after this season. “I don’t need the fakeness.”
Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam champion who is the top-seeded woman at the Summer Games, was leading 6-2, 1-6, 4-1 when Collins retired from the match after taking a medical timeout, then getting another visit from a trainer in the third set.
When a reporter wanted to know about their postmatch conversation, Swiatek replied: “I think it’s better to ask her.”
Collins, the runner-up at the 2022 Australian Open, said she went into convulsions after competing in heat that reached 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 Celsius) on Tuesday. She blamed Olympic organizers for not having insulated water bottles, for the water not being cool enough and for not “prioritizing the health of the athletes.”
“Nearly collapsed when I came off court, and I was on a medical table for three hours” on Tuesday, Collins said. “It did a number on my body. When you have full body cramps from your toes to your neck, and when you’ve suffered heatstroke, it’s very, very difficult to come out here.”
In the opening game of the final set, with Collins serving at deuce, she directed a backhand down the middle of the court. Swiatek was up at the net and was unable to get out of the way of the shot.
Swiatek looked stunned as she let go of her white racket and dropped down on the red clay at Court Suzanne Lenglen. Collins — who asked, “Iga, are you OK?” — walked around the net to check on Swiatek, and chair umpire Damien Dumusois climbed out of his perch to see how the world’s No. 1 player was, too.
“I could not breathe for a moment. It hurt for a bit,” Swiatek said. “But with the adrenaline that you have on court, you don’t feel as much as you should.”
Swiatek eventually rose and nodded to indicate she could continue.
She is seeking her first Olympic medal at a place she knows so well. The 23-year-old from Poland has won four of the past five championships at the French Open, the Grand Slam tournament held each year at Roland Garros, the same site being used for tennis at these Games.
In the semifinals Thursday, Swiatek will face sixth-seeded Zheng Qinwen of China. Zheng, who reached the final at the Australian Open in January, eliminated Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (6) on Wednesday.
Kerber is a three-time major champion and former No. 1-ranked player who has said she will retire after these Olympics.
The other women’s singles semifinal will be Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia against Donna Vekic of Croatia, who beat Coco Gauff in the third round. Vekic, a semifinalist at Wimbledon less than three weeks ago, erased a match point and required five of her own to eventually get past Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (8), finishing after midnight.
When Vekic, who got broken serving for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the third set, then had to overcome a 4-0 hole in the concluding tiebreaker, finally ended things after nearly three hours with an ace, she knelt in the clay, her chest heaving.
Gauff is out of the Olympics now after losses Wednesday in women’s doubles with Jessica Pegula and in mixed doubles with Taylor Fritz.
Schmiedlova defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2, following up a win against Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini in the third round.
Krejcikova was seeded ninth in Paris and has fared well on the clay courts at Roland Garros, winning the 2021 French Open singles and doubles trophies.
But with the heat at 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) and the air thick with humidity, Krejcikova looked listless down the stretch against Schmiedlova, a 29-year-old who is ranked 67th and has one fourth-round appearance at a Slam. That came last year at Roland Garros.
By the end, Krejcikova appeared spent and was barely moving. She slapped a forehand into the net to finish the match, and Schmiedlova raised both arms overhead.
In men’s action, 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic defeated Dominik Koepfer of Germany 7-5, 6-3 to get to the Olympics quarterfinals for the fourth time. Djokovic won a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games but never has won a gold.
Djokovic now meets Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in a rematch of the 2021 French Open final. Tsitsipas took the first two sets that day before Djokovic came back to win in five.
Olympic tennis uses a best-of-three-set format for all matches.
In other men’s results, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain got past Roman Safiullin of Russia 6-4, 6-2 before going out and losing in the doubles quarterfinals with Rafael Nadal, Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Alexander Zverev beat Alexei Popyrin 7-5, 6-3, Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada beat Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (5), Tommy Paul of the U.S. was a 7-6 (6), 6-3 winner against Corentin Moutet of France — the last tennis player from the host country in any Olympic event — and Taylor Fritz of the U.S. got knocked out of singles by Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-4, 7-5.
Rugby Sevens wins
over Olympic crowds
PARIS | Antoine Dupont enhanced his reputation as the world’s premier rugby player when he kicked off the Paris Olympics with a gold medal for the host nation.
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe signed off on her illustrious sevens career with yet another title for New Zealand.
Ilona Maher made sure the world beyond the sport’s traditional audience was watching, and helped the U.S. women’s team win a bronze.
The 553,000 spectators who filled Stade de France to capacity across six days ensured it was quite the spectacle.
“We knew we represented rugby but also every sport,” Dupont said of the pressure his rugby sevens squad felt to win gold on the first official day of competition. “When you walk into the Olympic village, you feel patriotic. We wanted to start the Games in the best way possible.”
He was the little general, engineering France’s win over two-time champion Fiji.
The men’s rugby sevens tournament started two days before the Paris Games officially kicked off in an unconventional opening ceremony that used the Seine River and the city’s famous landmarks as the venues and backdrops.
That made Stade de France accessible earlier than usual for a main Olympic stadium, and rugby jumped in — boots and all — with the full support of the French organizers.
Allez Les Bleus.
The French men, who hadn’t won a title on the men’s world sevens tour in almost two decades before Dupont took a sabbatical from the France’s national XV in March to work with the sevens squad, are now world series and Olympic champions.
“The Olympics Sevens has truly been a coming-of-age moment for the sport,” World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont said after New Zealand retained the women’s title with a victory over Canada to conclude the rugby program. “Rugby has reached more people in more nations that ever before, on and off the field.”
Thanks to the likes of Maher, who has the biggest social media following of any rugby player. She even recruited recently retired NFL star Jason Kelce as a super fan.
Fanfare
There was little doubt that fervent French supporters would fill the national stadium to capacity — 69,000 for the matches of the Paris Games — in the hope of Dupont delivering the host nation’s first gold.
That applied also to the French women’s team, who won silver at Tokyo three years ago and were hoping to go one better at home.
But even when the French women bowed out of medal contention, the crowd returned the next day to see New Zealand retain the title and the U.S. upset Australia for bronze with Alex Sedrick’s length-of-the-field try.
“It’s an amazing audience. You’ve got your avid French fans who really know their rugby but there are loads of kids, families. The noise out there is different,” Sally Horrox, World Rugby’s director of women’s rugby, said as the women’s medal matches were about to start. “There’s a lot of new people to rugby in there.
“Yeah, I think they’re falling in love with it. The joy and the fun is amazing.”
The men’s and women’s sevens tournaments each featured 12 squads and were each three days, with teams of seven playing two 15-minute games each day on a full-size rugby field.
It’s fast-paced and the rotation of teams kept the crowds buzzing. The sevens format has been popular for decades in the Pacific islands, New Zealand, Australia, Britain, France and South Africa. It’s been growing in popularity in North and South America since becoming an Olympic sport for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. And it’s now catching on in places like mainland China, where the women’s team had upset wins over Tokyo bronze medalist Fiji and Britain.
Coming to America
Momentum for sevens is expected to continue leading into the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“In Rio, it was really under the radar. Tokyo, we were behind closed doors. So this is the first opportunity it’s had to shine,” Horrox said. “So I think with Los Angeles, they will definitely put it again on that world stage and they’ll do it in an American way, in an American style.”
Women’s Elite Rugby used the U.S. medal as a hook to announce that Boston, Chicago and Denver would be three of the first markets to host teams in the first professional women’s rugby competition in the United States, starting next year.
U.S. women’s sevens coach Emilie Bydwell, one of the few female coaches at the elite level, said there are athletes out there who could convert to rugby now and possibly win an Olympic medal in 2028.
“Rugby is coming for the U.S. (and) sevens is the best place to start because it’s exciting, electric, physical,” she said. “We have … a goal for ‘home gold’ but I’m realizing that this is the moment right now for us to capitalize on.
“People who haven’t watched rugby are writing, ‘What is this? This is crazy, these women are amazing.’”
Judge denies settlement between the UFC and former fighters
LAS VEGAS | A Nevada district judge denied a $335 million settlement Tuesday in two UFC antitrust lawsuits brought by former fighters, potentially sending both sides back to the negotiating table.
Judge Richard Boulware set Aug. 19 for a status update for both cases with a tentative trial date for the one involving former MMA athlete Cung Le on Oct. 28. A firm trial date will be scheduled at the conference.
The UFC issued a statement saying it disagreed with the ruling and already was in contact with the opposing counsel, “who have expressed a willingness to engage in separate settlement discussions.”
Boulware did not explain his decision, but an opinion will be forthcoming, according to the court document.
The settlement was agreed to in March.
The two class-action lawsuits by former UFC fighters were led by Le, filed in 2014, and Kajan Johnson, filed in 2021. Several other fighters also were mentioned in the suits.
They alleged the UFC attempted to act as a monopoly and thus limited the fighters’ ability to maximize their earnings.
The UFC’s statement said the judge’s decision also was harmful to the athletes who agreed to the settlement.
“(By) taking the unusual step of denying the settlement at this preliminary approval stage, the Judge is also denying the athletes their right to be heard during this pivotal moment in the case,” the organization’s statement read.
Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Association, led by one of the athletes’ attorneys, posted on X, “We have a story to tell about the monopolization of MMA.”
—From AP reports
