BASEBALL
Ceddanne Rafaela hit two home runs and drove in five runs as the Portland Sea Dogs ended a seven-game losing streak with a 6-1 Eastern League win Wednesday night against the Reading Fightin’ Phils at Reading, Pennsylvania.
Rafaela hit two-run homers in the fifth and seventh inning, each time scoring David Hamilton. Rafaela had a sacrifice fly in the third inning to score Tyler Espin.
Pedro Castellanos also hit a homer in the fifth inning to extend his hitting streak to 12 games and his on-base streak to 16 games.
Jhailyn Orti homered in the ninth inning for Reading.
Jay Groome (3-3) pitched seven scoreless innings for the Sea Dogs, allowing two hits. He walked four and struck out five.
NECBL: Noah Martinez lined an RBI double to break a 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh and Cameron Clayton followed with a run-scoring single as the Newport Gulls (6-1) pulled away from the Sanford Mainers (1-7) 8-3 at Sanford.
Martinez finished with three hits for the Gulls, and Joshua Kuroda-Grauer added a pair of hits and drove in three runs.
Grant Knipp had a solo home run for the Mainers in the eighth inning.
SOCCER
Jordan Morris scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time, offsetting Alexander Larin’s 35th-minute goal past poorly positioned Ethan Horvath and giving the United States a 1-1 draw at El Salvador in a soggy World Cup warm-up Tuesday night.
El Salvador was close to ending a 30-year, 19-game winless streak against the U.S. when Morris entered in the 80th minute of the CONCACAF Nations League match. Among the players on the bubble for Cup roster spot, Morris leapt over Larin to head Luca de la Torre’s cross past goalkeeper Mario Gonzalez seconds into six minutes of stoppage time.
Morris scored his 11th international goal, his first since November 2019 and first since tearing his left ACL in February 2021.
Players were covered in mud soon after kickoff on a soggy field that looked like a torn-up recreational park. Both teams finished a man short.
American winger Paul Arriola was ejected in the 70th, nine minutes after entering, when he made a sliding tackle that caught Larin on a shin and flipped him.
Mexico’s Cesar Ramos, among 36 referees selected for the World Cup, immediately showed the first straight red card against an American since Michael Orozco in the 2016 Copa America third-place match against Colombia.
El Salvador’s Ronald Rodriguez was sent off in the 79th for knocking down Yunus Musah as the midfielder tried to run onto a through ball.
Just two warm-ups remain for the Americans, exhibitions in Europe on Sept. 23 and 27, likely against Asian opponents. The U.S. opens the World Cup against No. 18 Wales on Nov. 21, faces No. 5 England in a Black Friday matchup four days later and finishes the first round against No. 21 Iran on Nov. 29.
MLS: Robin Jansson scored the equalizer for Orlando City in a 1-1 tie with the New England Revolution at Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Jansson’s tying goal came in the 35th minute for Orlando (6-5-4).
Carles Gil scored for the Revolution (5-5-5).
TRACK & FIELD
INJURY: Olympic hammer champion Anita Wlodarczyk will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery for a thigh injury she sustained while chasing a thief trying to break into her car.
The three-time Olympic gold medalist from Poland wrote on Instagram that she “totally severed” a thigh muscle during the incident last week, but remains intent on competing at the 2024 Paris Games.
BASKETBALL
NBA: A person with direct knowledge of the agreement said the Houston Rockets are trading center Christian Wood, their leading scorer and rebounder this season, to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for four players and a draft pick.
Boban Marjanovic, Trey Burke, Sterling Brown and Marquese Chriss are going to the Rockets, who will also receive the No. 26 pick this year, according to the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade is not finalized.
It will not be finalized until the June 23 draft, the person said.
WNBA: Kelsey Plum scored 27 points, A’ja Wilson added 25 points and the visiting Las Vegas Aces beat the Dallas Wings, 92-84.
Las Vegas opened the third quarter by scoring 24 of the opening 33 points to build a 59-53 lead. Plum gave the Aces their first lead of the game at 51-49 on a 3-pointer.
Chelsea Gray had 16 points and eight assists for Las Vegas (12-2), which also beat Dallas 84-78 on June 5 behind a career-high 32 points from Plum. Dearica Hamby had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and the Aces starters accounted for all 92 points.
Plum, who entered needing nine points to reach 1,500 in her career, scored 14 in the first half. Plum also made a 3-pointer in her 21st straight game.
Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas (6-8) with 28 points.
• Tina Charles scored a season-high 29 points on 11-of-21 shooting, Diana Taurasi hit four 3-pointers and had 17 points and the visiting Phoenix Mercury beat the Indiana Fever, 93-80.
• Courtney Williams scored 20 points and the Connecticut Sun made 14 3-pointers in a 105-92 victory over the visiting Atlanta Dream.
Connecticut (11-4) had its highest points total since a 109-88 win over Las Vegas on Aug. 5, 2018. The Sun set a franchise record for 3-pointers in a half, going 10 for 15 in the first.
OLYMPICS
NORDIC COMBINED: Nordic combined, which uniquely tests skiers on jaw-dropping jumps and heart-pounding trails, has been a part of the Winter Olympics since 1924. Its time might be up.
It is the only Olympic sport without women and the International Olympic Committee is due to make a decision later this month about whether to allow women to compete in Nordic combined at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Games.
There is the possibility, however, that Nordic combined is dropped entirely from the Olympics, according to athletes and advocates.
TENNIS
BERLIN OPEN: Karolina Pliskova edged Bianca Andreescu 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7) to reach her second quarterfinal of the year.
The fourth-seeded Pliskova, who hit 17 aces against Kaia Kanepi in the first round, added 12 more against Andreescu, though she had to fight back from a break down in the third set before prevailing in 2 hours, 11 minutes at the grass-court tournament.
The 30-year-old Pliskova is bidding for her first title of the year. She was the runner-up at Wimbledon a year ago.
The seventh-seeded Coco Gauff got off to a winning start with a 6-2, 7-6 (2) first-round victory over fellow American Ann Li.
HALLE OPEN: Defending champion Ugo Humbert and second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas were both eliminated in the second round in Germany.
Humbert lost to Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (5), 6-3, and Nick Kyrgios fought back to beat Tsitsipas 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 at the grass-court tournament.
VENETO OPEN: Top-seeded Alison Van Uytvanck needed just 45 minutes to ease into the quarterfinals, beating Ysaline Bonaventure 6-2, 6-2 at Gaiba, Italy.
She will next face Ylena In-Albon, who beat Susan Bandecchi 6-3, 6-3.
Third-seeded Lucia Bronzetti and fifth-seeded Arantxa Rus were eliminated. Bronzetti lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 to Harmony Tan and Ana Bogdan defeated Rus 6-3, 7-6 (5).
QUEEN’S CLUB: Former Wimbledon runner-up Marin Cilic kept his focus to beat Alexander Bublik 7-6 (6), 7-5 and advance to the quarterfinals in London.
Tommy Paul upset sixth-seeded Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in a first-round match at the grass-court tournament, and Botic van de Zandschulp reached the quarterfinals by beating Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (5), 6-3.
COLLEGES
BASEBALL: Former longtime Baylor assistant Mitch Thompson was named as the head baseball coach of the Bears after the past nine seasons at McLennan Community College, which also is located in Waco and won the junior college national title last year.
Baylor Athletic Director Mack Rhoades said Thompson’s track record of success and his personal connection to Baylor make him “a special fit” for the job.
Thompson replaces Steve Rodriguez, who resigned days after Baylor was eliminated from the Big 12 Conference Tournament and finished with a losing record.
The Bears went 26-28 this year, ending with an 11-1 loss to Oklahoma State. Rodriguez was 197-146 overall in his seven seasons.
FOOTBALL: The Army-Navy game will be played in New England for the first time, the service academies announced as they revealed the five cities that will host the game over the next five years.
Next year’s game will be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, home of the New England Patriots.
The 2024 game will be at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, followed by M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore in 2025, the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in 2026, and Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia in 2027.
Philly, the game’s traditional home, has hosted 90 times and was previously announced as the host this year on Dec. 10.
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