Weekday Morning Sports Report – Monday 8/6/18

sportsreport-491
sportsreport-491

MLB – Major League Baseball
Last Night
Oakland A’s 6, Detroit Tigers 0
Chicago White Sox 8, Tampa Bay Rays 7
San Diego Padres 10, Chicago Cubs 6

A’s 6, Tigers 0 – Cahill Ks 10 in 6 innings as streaking A’s blank Tigers 6-0
Trevor Cahill struck out 10 in six innings, Khris Davis and Matt Chapman both homered for the second consecutive game and the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 6-0 on Sunday to complete a season sweep. Matt Olson also homered and Ramon Laureano added three hits and an RBI to help the streaking A’s win their sixth straight. Oakland won all seven games against Detroit this season and has a franchise-record 12 consecutive victories over the Tigers. The A’s blanked the Tigers on Friday night and allowed only an unearned run Saturday. It’s the first time in Oakland history that the team did not give up an earned run in a series of three or more games.

White Sox 8, Rays 7 – Palka homers in 9th, White Sox sweep Rays 8-7
Daniel Palka hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth inning and the Chicago White Sox completed their first three-game sweep in a year by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 8-7 on Sunday. It was Chicago’s first three-game sweep since Aug. 8-10, 2017 against Houston. The White Sox’s last three-game road sweep occurred April 25-27, 2016 at Toronto. Palka had struck out in each of his first four at-bats before connecting on his 17th homer off Diego Castillo (2-2) with two outs.    Hector Santiago (4-3) went the final 1 1/3 innings for the win.

Padres 10, Cubs 6 – Lester hit hard again as Cubs lose 10-6 to Padres
Cubs ace Jon Lester was hit hard again and the San Diego Padres also battered Chicago’s bullpen on their way to a 10-6 victory Sunday. Cory Spangenberg put San Diego ahead to stay with a tiebreaking double off Carl Edwards Jr. (3-2) with two outs in the eighth inning. Hunter Renfroe hit a two-run homer and Travis Jankowski added a two-run single in the Padres’ four-run ninth against Randy Rosario. Renfroe finished with three RBIs, helping the last-place Padres salvage a split of the four-game series after they blew a four-run lead in the finale. Spangenberg and Jankowski were inserted into the game as defensive replacements in the seventh inning. Craig Stammen (5-1) got the win despite allowing pinch-hitter Anthony Rizzo’s tying single. Lester was tagged for five runs and eight hits in five innings. The All-Star left-hander was 10-2 with a 2.18 ERA after beating the Dodgers on June 26, but has a 6.81 ERA in seven starts since that win in Los Angeles.

Tonight
N.Y. Yankees (Lynn 7-8) at Chicago White Sox (Covey 4-7), 8:10 p.m.
Chicago Cubs (Hamels 6-9) at Kansas City (Junis 6-11), 8:15 p.m.
Detroit (Boyd 6-9) at L.A. Angels (Tropeano 4-6), 10:07 p.m.      WSJM Sports/Cosy-FM 9:40

MLB – Darvish “very optimistic”
Yu Darvish says he was pain-free and is “very optimistic” about returning to the Chicago Cubs’ rotation this season. Darvish threw 55 pitches, including warmups, before Saturday’s game with the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field. The right-hander has been on the disabled list since late May with triceps and elbow injuries.

NCAAFB – Outside firm will head Meyer probe; expected to take 2 weeks
Ohio State says an outside firm has been hired to conduct the investigation into football coach Urban Meyer’s handling of a domestic abuse complaint against a former assistant. The university also said in a release Sunday night that it expects the investigation to be completed within two weeks. Decisions about any action resulting from it will be made by Ohio State President Michael Drake. Meyer was put on paid leave last week amid questions about what he knew and did about accusations of abuse made against fired assistant Zach Smith by his ex-wife. Meyer released a statement Friday saying that he followed proper procedures when he found out about the 2015 abuse allegations. He also admitted lying to reporters about his knowledge of it. Smith has never been charged.

NBA – Cavs getting Dekker from Clippers
A person familiar with the negotiations says the Cleveland Cavaliers will acquire forward Sam Dekker in a trade from the Los Angeles Clippers. The 6-foot-7 Dekker averaged 4.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and just 12.1 minutes last season. The Rockets selected the former Wisconsin standout with the No. 18 overall pick in 2015. The Cavs are expected to use the $5.8 trade exception they received last season in the Kyrie Irving trade to Boston for Dekker

Golf – PGA – Thomas wins at Firestone
Justin Thomas earned his third PGA title of the year by capturing the Bridgestone Invitational by four strokes over Kyle Stanley. Thomas closed with a 1-under 69 for a 15-under total at Firestone Country Club in Akron. He captured his first World Golf Championship and heads to his title defense at the PGA Championship with plenty of momentum. Thomas is the third player with three PGA wins this season. Dustin Johnson and Thorbjorn Olesen finished five shots back. Tiger Woods fired a 73 to end up 15 shots back after beginning the third round just five off the pace.

Golf – Champions – Kenny Perry takes 3M Championship
Kenny Perry captured his third and final 3M Championship, a PGA Tour Champions event that is being replaced by the PGA Tour’s 3M Open. Perry shot a 3-under 69 for a three-stroke victory over Wes Short Jr., who closed with a 63. Short got within two shots with three holes to go, but Perry made a birdie putt at 16 before finishing 21 under for the tournament.

Golf – LPGA – Hall wins Women’s British Open
Georgia Hall has earned her first major title by rallying to win the Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes. The 22-year-old Englishwoman took the lead for the first time after a 20-foot putt for birdie on the 16th hole, and stayed steady to post 5-under 67. She won by two strokes over Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand, who started the final round with a one-stroke lead over Hall.

NASCAR – Elliott wins at Watkins Glen
Chase Elliott has won the NASCAR Cup race at Watkins Glen, holding off Martin Truex Jr in a scintillating finish. Truex ran second to Elliott for the entire final stage before beginning a steady close. It was a two-car race as the rest of the field was more than 11 seconds back.  It was Elliott’s first career win in his 99th Cup start and 250th for Hendrick Motorsports. Kyle Busch finished third, followed by Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones, a triumvirate of Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas.

MHSAA – High school football practice underway today
While the calendar still says August, the first signs of fall are here.  Today marks the first day of practice for high school football around the state of Michigan.   Teams are only allowed to practice in helmets for the first two days, shoulder pads can be worn on days three and four, and finally in full pads starting on day five.   The first games take place on Thursday August 23, including the season openers for South Haven, Lakeshore, and Lake Michigan Catholic.  While most teams including St. Joe, Benton Harbor, and Michigan Lutheran will kickoff their seasons on Friday the 24th.  The St. Joe Bears not only will open on the 24th, they’ll play their first game on the brand new Steve Upton Family Field at Dickinson Stadium.  The roughly $1-million project was primarily a donation from the Upton family.  This season all St. Joe, Lakeshore, Benton Harbor, and South Haven games will be broadcast on one of our Midwest Family Radio Stations.

MWL – Midwest League Baseball
Last Night
Dayton 5, West Michigan 3
Great Lakes 7, Lake County 6, 10 innings
Lansing 5, Fort Wayne 4
South Bend 4, Bowling Green 3, 10 innings

Tonight
South Bend at Bowling Green, 1:05 p.m.
Dayton at West Michigan, 7:05 p.m.
Lake County at Great Lakes, 7:05 p.m.
Lansing at Fort Wayne, 7:05 p.m.