AP National Sports

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer MADRID (AP) — Ansu Fati is smiling again on the practice field. The 18-year-old Barcelona forward has returned to training with teammates nearly 10 months after a serious knee injury. He hopes to soon be fit enough to boost Barcelona’s attack which was depleted by the departure of Lionel

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer TOKYO (AP) — The Paralympics have begun in the same empty National Stadium that hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics. Japanese Emperor Naruhito again had the official honor of getting it all started. The Paralympics open with COVID-19 cases on the rise in Tokyo and

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan women’s national soccer team players are among a group of more than 75 people evacuated on a flight from Kabul. Global soccer players’ union FIFPRO has thanked the Australian government for making the evacuation of players, team officials and family members possible. The union has been working with governments in

By The Associated Press One day after firing pitching coach Larry Rothschild, the slumping San Diego Padres begin a three-game series Tuesday night against the NL West rival Los Angeles Dodgers. The 67-year-old Rothschild had been with the Padres for the past two seasons. San Diego has lost nine of 11, falling one game behind

By PRESTON SHOEMAKER Associated Press SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Ella Bruning has become a star at the Little League World Series. The starting catcher for Abilene, Texas, is the 20th female to play in the LLWS and the only girl to compete in this year’s tournament. She can hit, pitch, steal bases and take

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer Romain Grosjean had modest goals for his first career race on an oval — finish all the laps, find a feel for this new style of racing and have a good time in his latest new adventure. When he pumped his fist in the air after qualifying at

NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Gillen, Len Elmore and Nancy Lieberman will be this year’s recipients of the Joe Lapchick Character Award. Gillen helped the Xavier Musketeers to the NCAA Tournament seven times and won 202 games. He was the winningest coach in school history until Chris Mack passed him in 2018. Gillen then went

By JANIE McCAULEY AP Baseball Writer OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jake Bauers hit a tiebreaking, two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning off struggling closer Lou Trivino, and the Seattle Mariners rallied past the Oakland Athletics 5-3. Ty France launched a tying homer off Trivino to start the ninth, handing the reliever his

By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Whit Merrifield had three hits and three RBIs, Salvador Perez extended a career high with his 33rd homer and the Kansas City Royals beat the Houston Astros 7-1. The Royals have won seven of their last eight games, taking three of four from Houston at home

CHICAGO (AP) — Rafael Ortega hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Chicago Cubs ended their longest home losing streak with a 6-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night. Manuel Rodriguez (2-2) earned the victory after pitching the ninth for Chicago, which snapped a 13-game skid

By BRETT MARTEL AP Sports Writer NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Jameis Winston passed for touchdowns of 43 and 29 yards to Marquez Callaway, and the New Orleans Saints defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 23-21 in a preseason game. Winston completed nine of 10 passes for 123 yards without an interception. The performance bolsters his candidacy to

By WES CROSBY Associated Press PITTSBURGH (AP) — Yoshi Tsutsugo homered and Bryan Reynolds tripled in the seventh to help the Pittsburgh Pirates rally to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5. With the game tied in the eighth, Noé Ramirez (0-1) walked three straight to load the bases before Jake Faria came in to face Ke’Bryan

By PAUL NEWBERRY AP Sports Writer ATLANTA (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton homered and drove in three runs to carry the New York Yankees to their 10th straight victory, cooling off the streaking Atlanta Braves 5-1. The Yankees snapped first-place Atlanta’s own nine-game winning streak in the first regular-season matchup in almost 120 years between teams

By The Associated Press One day after firing pitching coach Larry Rothschild, the slumping San Diego Padres begin a three-game series Tuesday night against the NL West rival Los Angeles Dodgers. The 67-year-old Rothschild had been with the Padres for the past two seasons. San Diego has lost nine of 11, falling one game behind

By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Rams are running low on healthy running backs before the regular season has started. And even though Darrell Henderson’s new thumb injury doesn’t appear to be serious, the Rams must decide soon whether they’re comfortable with the inexperienced depth behind him.

By IAN HARRISON Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — Pinch-runner Breyvic Valera scored the tiebreaking run on a wild pitch in the eighth inning, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox 2-1. Valera ran for Reese McGuire after the Blue Jays catcher singled off Craig Kimbrel (2-4) to begin the inning. Valera took

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens have put linebacker L.J. Fort on injured reserve after he injured his knee over the weekend. Fort left the team’s preseason victory at Carolina on Saturday night in the first half. Coach John Harbaugh confirmed Monday that Fort had a torn ACL. Fort started eight games for

By BRIAN DULIK Associated Press CLEVELAND (AP) — Top seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia and second seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia won their first round matches at Tennis in the Land. Kasatkina defeated Kaja Juvan of Slovenia 6-3, 6-3 in the opening match of the day, while Kontaveit rallied for a 1-6, 6-0, 6-0 victory

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Julia Zorn, Jule Schiefer and Theresa Wagner scored, and Germany beat Denmark 3-1 in the women’s world hockey championship. Zorn, Germany’s captain, opened the scoring with her second goal of the tournament. She capitalized on a turnover just over the blue line and sent in a shot from the right circle.

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Tony Finau is a winner on the PGA Tour again. Finally. Finau ended a drought of more than five years and 142 tournaments on the PGA Tour by winning The Northern Trust in a playoff. But he needed some help. Cameron Smith his his