Weekday Morning Sports – Thursday 8/18/16

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sportsreport-97

95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports     @wsjmsports     wsjmsports.com     Thursday, August 18, 2016

MLB – Major League Baseball
Yesterday
Kansas City Royals 4, Detroit Tigers 1
Chicago White Sox 10, Cleveland Indians 7
Chicago Cubs 6, Milwaukee Brewers 1

Royals 4, Tigers 1 – Royals’ Hosmer finishes dramatic night with 9th-inning HR
Eric Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning to give the Kansas City Royals a 4-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night and complete a three-game sweep.  Hosmer broke up Anibal Sanchez’s no-hit bid with a double in the seventh inning after spoiling his perfect game bid with a walk in the fifth.  Sanchez threw seven shutout innings after allowing eight runs in four innings in his previous start. He struck out six and walked two Wednesday. In the ninth, Shane Greene (2-3) allowed a one-out single to Lorenzo Cain before Hosmer’s line drive into the right-field stands. Drew Butera added an RBI single later in the inning. Matt Strahm (1-0) got the win with 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, and Kelvin Herrera pitched the ninth for his sixth save.

White Sox 10, Indians 7 – Eaton’s grand slam in 9th lifts White Sox past Indians, 10-7
Adam Eaton’s ninth-inning grand slam off closer Cody Allen capped a five-run rally and lifted the Chicago White Sox to a 10-7 win over the Cleveland Indians Wednesday night. Cleveland was two outs from increasing its AL Central lead over second-place Detroit to seven games, but the White Sox rallied to break a seven-game losing streak against the Indians. With the Indians leading 7-5, Allen (2-5) retired the first hitter before Chicago loaded the bases on infield singles by Todd Frazier and J.B. Shuck, and a walk to Tim Anderson. Dioner Navarro’s bloop hit down the left field line scored a run before Eaton homered to right on an 0-2 pitch for his first career grand slam.  Jacob Turner (1-1) pitched the eighth and David Robertson retired the final two hitters with two on in the ninth for his 30th save. Anderson hit a two-run homer and Frazier had a two-run double for the White Sox.

Cubs 6, Brewers 1 – Soler, Lester lead Cubs to 6-1 win over Brewers
Jorge Soler hit a three-run homer during a five-run first inning, Jon Lester pitched into the seventh and the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-1 Wednesday night for their 17th win in 20 games. Soler’s shot capped the inning after RBI singles by Ben Zobrist and Addison Russell.  Lester (13-4) got his fourth straight win, giving up one run and three hits in 6 2/3 innings while striking out seven. He hasn’t lost since July 3. Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson (6-13) walked leadoff batter Dexter Fowler then hit Kris Bryant with a pitch to set the table in the first. Soler’s homer on a 2-2 pitch was a convincing smash that landed just under the videoboard atop of the left-center field stands. Nelson is 1-10 over his last 14 starts.

Tonight
Boston (Clay Buchholz 4-9) at Detroit (Matt Boyd 4-2), 1:10 p.m.        WSJM Sports/WCSY-FM 12:45
Milwaukee (Zach Davies 9-5) at Chicago Cubs (Jake Arrieta 14-5), 2:20 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Carlos Rodon 3-8) at Cleveland (Danny Salazar 11-4), 7:10 p.m.

NFL – NFL Preseason
Tonight
Cincinnati Bengals at Detroit Lions, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago Bears at New England Patriots, 8:00 p.m.

NFL – Bears, Bennett meet again in Patriots preseason game
After practicing together this week and enduring a couple of scrums and shoving matches, the Patriots and Chicago Bears will play at Foxborough, Massachusetts. It culminates a weeklong reunion between Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett and his former team, who traded him in March. He shared hugs and pleasantries with several of his former teammates and coaches during three days of joint practices. But the outspoken Bennett and his brother, Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett, made a couple of nasty comments about Bears quarterback Jay Cutler in the last month. Still, Chicago coach John Fox assured there is “no ill will” toward Bennett. Tom Brady may see some action for New England, but former Eastern Illinois star quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will get the majority of the work.

Olympics – Men’s Basketball
The nail-biters ended for the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team. Emphatically stopping a stretch of three straight close games, the Americans advanced to the semifinals by sprinting past Manu Ginobili and Argentina, 105-78 Wednesday night. In front of a chanting, flag-waving crowd of Argentines who came to throw a raucous farewell party for Ginobli and their Golden Generation of players, the Americans delivered their most complete performance in Rio.   The US will face Spain in the semi’s.

Olympics – Track and Field
The United States swept the medals in the 100-meter hurdles, with Brianna Rollins winning in 12.48 seconds. Nia Ali had silver and Kristi Castlin claimed the bronze. American Tori Bowie picked up bronze in the women’s 200 meters, which was won by Elaine Thompson of Jamaica.  Two-time world champion Tianna Bartoletta finally has an Olympic gold medal, winning the long jump final with a career-best 7.17 meters. U.S. teammate Brittney Reese took silver with a best of 7.15 after fouling three times on her first four attempts.

Olympics – Men’s Decathlon
Reigning Olympic and world champion Ashton Eaton of the U.S. is the leader through five events of the decathlon. Eaton has 4,621 points after winning the 400 meters, putting him 121 points ahead of Kai Kazmirek of Germany.

Olympics – Women’s Beach Volleyball
Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross have won the beach volleyball bronze medal with a 7-21, 21-17, 15-9 victory against Brazil. The win came less than 24 hours after Walsh Jennings lost on the Olympic beach for the first time in 27 matches over four Summer Games.

Olympics – Equestrian
The United States finished second to France in equestrian. France finished the two-round competition on three faults, two fewer than the U.S. team of Kent Farrington, Lucy Davis, McLain Ward and Elizabeth Madden. France’s eventing team also won gold last week.

Olympics – Women’s Basketball
The U.S. women’s basketball team has learned that captain Sue Bird has only a knee capsule sprain, leaving her day to day as the Americans get ready for their semifinal game Thursday night against France. Bird was hurt in Tuesday’s victory and had initially feared the injury would be much worse.

Olympics – Women’s Water Polo
The U.S. women’s water polo team has beaten Hungary 14-10 to advance to the gold medal game against Italy. Maggie Steffens scored four times for the Americans, who are trying to become the first country to repeat as Olympic champions. The United States has won 21 in a row, including its five games in Rio by a combined 61-27.

Olympics – Men’s Volleyball
In volleyball, the men’s indoor team has advanced to the semifinals after beating Poland in straight sets for a fourth straight victory since a surprising 0-2 Olympic start. The fifth-ranked Americans topped second-ranked Poland 25-23, 25-22 25-20.

Olympics – Women’s Boxing
Reigning Olympic boxing champ Claressa Shields has reached the middleweight semifinals in Rio to guarantee herself at least a bronze medal.  The Michigan product is unbeaten since the London Olympics, winning two world championships and a Pan-American Games title.

NCAA Football – Notre Dame QBs Kizer, Zaire will share duties vs. Texas
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly says DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire will share duties at quarterback when the Fighting Irish open the season at Texas on September 4th. Kelly said Wednesday that both have been playing outstanding and each has been among the top five playmakers on the team. He said it was time to announce both would play. He says he believes playing two quarterbacks gives the Irish their best chance of winning. He said he will see how they play against the Longhorns before any other decisions. Zaire missed most of last season with a broken right ankle sustained in the second game.  Kizer rallied the Irish to victory in that game against Virginia with a 40-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds left and led the Irish to nine victories and a No. 11 ranking.

NCAA Baseball – College baseball video review expanding to regular season
The video review rule in college baseball is being expanded to cover regular-season games starting in 2017. The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on Wednesday approved a proposal that allows conferences and schools to implement the rule, which has been available for use on an experimental basis at the College World Series since 2012 and in super regionals the past two years.  Among other plays, reviews can be done to determine if an apparent home run is fair or foul, if a batted ball left the playing field for a home run or a ground-rule double, fan interference, if a batted ball is fair and if a fielder made a catch on a fair ball hit into the outfield or on any foul ball.

NCAA – Louisville AD: School is waiting on NCAA investigation
Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich says his department has to “just wait” while the NCAA investigates an escort’s book allegations that former Cardinals men’s basketball staffer Andre McGee hired her and other dancers for sex parties with players and recruits. In a radio interview Wednesday with Louisville station WKRD 790-AM, Jurich said he doesn’t know any more about the NCAA’s investigation of Katina Powell’s allegations in “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen.” Several investigations are ongoing, but the school last winter self-imposed sanctions including a postseason ban after its investigation determined that a violation occurred. Jurich says whatever the NCAA decides and when, “We’re going to deal with it up front like we always have. We’ll take our punishment, we’ll move on and we’ll get better from it.”

Golf – US Amateur – Alex Smalley advances in US Amateur at Oakland Hills
Qualifying medalist Alex Smalley rallied to beat Scott Harvey 2 and 1 on Wednesday in the first round of the U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills. Smalley, the Duke sophomore from Wake Forest, North Carolina, pulled even with the 38-year-old Harvey with a birdie on the par-4 11th and took the lead with a par on the par-4 14th in the match that was interrupted for nearly two hours because of rain. Smalley took a 2-up lead with a par on the par-4 16th and finished off Harvey with a halve for par on the par-3 17th on the Donald Ross-designed South Course that Ben Hogan dubbed the “The Monster” in his 1951 U.S. Open victory. Harvey, from Greensboro, North Carolina, got the last of the 64 match-play spots Wednesday morning in a 23-man playoff for eight positions. Smalley will face Illinois junior Dylan Meyer in the second round. Meyer, from Evansville, Indiana, beat Scotland’s Connor Syme 2 up.

IndyCar – IndyCar drivers will honor police when they resume at Texas
IndyCar drivers will have “Back The Blue” decals on their cars and wear caps representing local police and national law enforcement agencies when they resume their rain-interrupted race at Texas Motor Speedway on Aug. 27.  Weeks after the June 12 postponement, five law enforcement officers were shot and killed July 7 in downtown Dallas. Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi joined Texas Motor Speedway officials yesterday on visits to the headquarters of the Fort Worth Police Department and the Dallas Police Department.  Rossi says he’s honored to be part of the salute to police.

MWL – Midwest League Baseball
Yesterday
Lake County 6, West Michigan 5, 16 innings
Great Lakes 3, Lansing 2, 11 innings
Bowling Green 8, South Bend 5


Tonight

West Michigan at Lake County, 7 p.m.
Great Lakes at Lansing, 7 p.m.
South Bend at Bowling Green, 7 p.m.