Weekday Morning Sports Report – Thursday 6/21/18

MLB – Major League Baseball
Yesterday
Cincinnati Reds 5, Detroit Tigers 3
Cleveland Indians 12, Chicago White Sox 0
Chicago Cubs 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 0

Reds 5, Tigers 3 – Gennett, Suarez HRs rally Reds over Tigers 5-3
Scooter Gennett hit a tying two-run homer, and Eugenio Suarez also connected on the next pitch _ a hit originally ruled a double but changed to a homer on review _ as the Cincinnati Reds rallied to a 5-3 victory Wednesday and a two-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers. The Reds moved ahead in the all-time series 13-11, with two games left at Comerica Park starting July 31. Tyler Mahle (6-6) overcame a pair of solo homers to remain unbeaten in four June starts. The rookie has allowed a total of four earned runs while going 3-0 in the month. He struck out eight in six innings. Raisel Iglesias gave up a hit in the ninth while earning his 11th save in 13 chances. The Reds managed only a pair of singles through the first five innings before getting to Michael Fulmer (3-6). Gennett connected with two outs for his 13th homer, tying it 2-2. Suarez hit Fulmer’s next pitch to left field, with the ball landing on the top of the wall and bouncing back into play.

Indians 12, White Sox 0 – Kluber is first to 11 wins, Indians rout White Sox 12-0
Corey Kluber shut down the White Sox and became the first pitcher with 11 wins this season. Kluber allowed one hit over seven dominant innings and retired his final 14 batters Wednesday as the Cleveland Indians routed Chicago 12-0. The right-hander struck out seven and issued a lone walk in his latest masterpiece. Jose Ramirez and Jason Kipnis hit three-run homers for Cleveland, which swept the three-game series by a 24-5 margin. The Indians have won 17 of their last 21 games against the White Sox at Progressive Field, including all six this season. Kluber (11-3) only permitted a second-inning single past third base by Omar Narvaez and a third-inning walk to Charlie Tilson, throwing 96 pitches before giving way to George Kontos to begin the eighth. Josh Tomlin surrendered a double to Jose Abreu in the ninth before completing the combined two-hitter.
Reynaldo Lopez gave up five runs, four earned, and is 0-3 with an 8.31 ERA in three career starts against Cleveland.

Cubs 4, Dodgers 0 – Lester wins 5th straight start, Cubs beat Dodgers 4-0
Jon Lester won his fifth straight start, Javier Baez backed him with three hits and two runs, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0 on Wednesday. Lester (9-2) gave up five hits over seven innings. Baez had two doubles, a triple and a steal. He also made some solid plays at shortstop and second base. Kyle Schwarber hit his 14th homer. Kris Bryant added two hits and an RBI in his third straight game batting leadoff. And the Cubs handed Ross Stripling his first loss since April 30, taking two of three in a rematch of the past two NL Championship Series. Lester walked three and struck out one batter. Anthony Bass worked the final two innings to finish the six-hitter. Baez made a strong throw from deep in the hole at shortstop in the second inning to rob Logan Forsythe of a hit and had fans chanting his name in the eighth after a neat double play as the second baseman. He caught Justin Turner’s line drive and lunged to the bag to double off a diving Enrique Hernandez.

Today
Chicago Cubs (Hendricks 5-6) at Cincinnati (Harvey 1-5), 7:10 p.m.
Oakland (Bassitt 0-2) at Chicago White Sox (Giolito 4-7), 8:10 p.m.
Tigers are off

MLB – Cubs closer Morrow goes on DL with back tightness
Cubs have placed closer Brandon Morrow on the 10-day disabled list because of lower back tightness. Right-hander Justin Hancock will remain with the club after being called up from Triple-A Iowa as the 26th man for Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader. The Cubs are also missing relievers Carl Edwards Jr. and Brian Duensing, who is on the bereavement list after his grandfather died on Saturday. Edwards has right shoulder inflammation.

MLB – Tigers-Royals to play in Omaha before 2019 CWS
The Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals will play a regular-season game in Omaha the week the 2019 College World Series opens, The Associated Press has learned. Major League Baseball and the NCAA have been working to arrange a game as a kickoff event to the CWS, two people close to the situation told the AP on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details. A news conference with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was scheduled for Thursday at TD Ameritrade Park, the host site for the CWS. The move would be similar to the regular-season games played in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in conjunction with the Little League World Series.

NBA – Casey says Pistons have plenty of talent in place
Dwane Casey looks at the roster of the Detroit Pistons and sees a core of players capable of a lot more than the team accomplished last season. Casey said Detroit’s time is now after he was introduced as the Pistons’ new coach Wednesday. The news conference came over a week after the team hired Casey to replace Stan Van Gundy.  Casey inherits a team built around Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson, but the roster has little flexibility and the Pistons gave up their first-round draft pick this year to acquire Griffin. In other words, Detroit’s performance in 2018-19 may depend largely on what Casey can get out of a group that fell short under Van Gundy.

NHL – NHL hands out hardware in Vegas
The NHL has doled out its individual awards in Las Vegas.  Devils forward Taylor Hall came away with the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, beating out Kings captain Anze Kopitar and Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon in a contest between three first-time finalists for the award. Kopitar took the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward. Connor McDavid won the Ted Lindsay Award as the NHL players union’s choice as the league’s most outstanding player. The Edmonton Oilers superstar beat out Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and New Jersey’s Taylor Hall for the first award of the night.  Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman received the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman. Predators goalie Pekka Rinne won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie. Islanders forward Mathew Barzal beat out Vancouver’s Brock Boeser and Arizona’s Clayton Keller for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie. Golden Knights forward William Karlsson grabbed the Lady Byng Trophy as the player best combining sportsmanship and ability. Gerard Gallant is the Jack Adams Award winner for coach of the year and George McPhee is the GM of the year after they led the expansion Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup final. New Jersey’s Brian Boyle has won the Masterton Trophy for perseverance and dedication to hockey. The 33-year-old Boyle was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia during training camp. Vancouver twin forwards Daniel and Henrik Sedin were awarded the King Clancy Trophy for humanitarian contribution to hockey.

NHL – NHL announces home openers
The NHL has announced home openers for all 31 teams. The Washington Capitals will raise their first Stanley Cup banner and open their title defense on Oct. 3 against the Boston Bruins. The Western Conference-champion Vegas Golden Knights open their second season on Oct. 4 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Detroit opens its second season at Little Caesars Arena on Oct. 4 against Columbus.  The Blackhawks home opener is Sunday Oct. 7 against Original Six rival Toronto.  The full NHL schedule will be announced on Thursday.

FIFA – World Cup 2018
Yesterday
Portugal 1, Morocco 0
Uruguay 1, Saudi Arabia 0
Spain 1, Iran 0

Wednesday’s Roundup
Portugal, Spain and Uruguay each earned 1-0 wins in today’s World Cup action. Cristiano Ronaldo notched his fourth goal of the tournament to carry Portugal past Morocco, and Diego Costa scored on a deflection to lead Spain’s victory win over Iran. Luis Suarez provided the lone goal for Uruguay in a win against Saudi Arabia.

Today
Denmark vs. Australia, 8:00 a.m.
France vs. Peru, 11:00 a.m.
Argentina vs. Croatia, 2:00 p.m.

NCAA – Schools mum on ties to doc in sex abuse inquiry
A now-dead doctor accused of sexual misconduct by former student athletes at Ohio State University once said he acted as a team physician elsewhere. But most of the universities he listed as former employers won’t say if they’re reviewing either potential connections or whether concerns were raised about him. A resume and other Ohio State personnel files reviewed by The Associated Press indicate Richard Strauss researched, taught or practiced medicine at Harvard,
Rutgers, and the universities of Pennsylvania, Washington and Hawaii. When contacted by the AP, most of those schools would say or knew little about any ties to him or whether they were reviewing his work and affiliations. A spokesman for Ohio State wouldn’t comment on whether it has contacted those schools about Strauss, who killed himself in 2005.

Muhammad Ali’s Michigan home on the market for $2.9 million
The family of Muhammad Ali has put the late boxing legend’s Michigan estate on the market for nearly $2.9 million. The 81-acre property in southwestern Michigan’s Berrien Springs features a full-size boxing ring, a private gym, steam room, a main home and a guest house. There also is an outdoor pool, bathhouse and cabana. The estate is on the St. Joseph River, about 170 miles west of Detroit. Ali bought it in the 1970s. MLive.com reports that Ali and his family had not lived on the property for several years prior to his 2016 death in Arizona. Ali also owned several others homes elsewhere in the United States.

NFL – Denver Broncos’ stadium gets a new, temporary name
The home of the Denver Broncos will be known as Broncos Stadium at Mile High while the team continues to look for a new naming-rights sponsor. The team announced the temporary name change Wednesday following a vote by the district that oversees the taxpayer-built stadium. The stadium has had two naming-rights sponsors since it opened in 2001, most recently Sports Authority. Both names included a reference to the Broncos’ original stadium. The team took down large signs with Sports Authority’s name earlier this year after the company declared bankruptcy and stopped making payments. In a statement, Broncos Chief Commercial Officer Mac Freeman said the team has had “many productive conversations” and is confident it will find the right partner. A deal would help pay for stadium maintenance.

MWL – Midwest League Baseball
Yesterday
No games last night

Tonight
South Bend Cubs at Dayton Dragons, 7 p.m.
Great Lakes Loons at Lansing Lugnuts, 7:05 p.m.
West Michigan Whitecaps at Fort Wayne Tin Caps, 7:05 p.m.