BASEBALL
Nick Northcut hit a three-run homer during a five-run second inning as the Portland Sea Dogs topped the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 9-4 on Wednesday night in an Eastern League game at Manchester, New Hampshire.
First-place Portland won its fourth straight game moved two games ahead of Somerset in the Northeast Division.
Portland added to its lead in the fifth on Izzy Wilson’s two-run homer.
Christian Koss was 2 for 5 with three RBI for the Sea Dogs.
COLLEGES
WOMEN’S SOCCER: Susannah Gaines scored two goals in the first 17:00, the first set up by Abby Kraemer and the other on a feed from Jordane Pinette, as UMaine topped Holy Cross 2-1 at Worcester, Massachusetts.
Colleen McIlvenna scored for Holy Cross (0-3-2) with an unassisted goal with 6:14 remaining in regulation.
Kira Kutzinski stopped three shots for Maine (3-0-1), Olivia Dubin had five saves for the Crusaders.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: Candace Parker scored 22 points and the Chicago Sky evened the semifinal series with an 85-77 win over the visiting Connecticut Sun in Game 2 of the WNBA playoffs.
Game 3 is in Connecticut on Sunday.
Jonquel Jones scored a team-high 23 points for the Sun on 10 of 17 shooting, adding seven rebounds and two blocks.
HOCKEY
U.S. WOMEN: Members of the U.S. women’s hockey team agreed to extend their existing contract for one month to focus on completing the world championship tournament in Denmark.
Representatives for both the players and USA Hockey confirmed the agreement to The Associated Press, hours before their current contract was set to expire.
In saying an extension was in place, USA Hockey spokesman Dave Fischer said “our focus is on the world championships,” while adding: “Conversations continue to be productive and everyone feels like we’re in a decent spot.”
The extension avoids putting the players in a difficult situation in continuing to compete at the 10-nation tournament without a deal in place.
NHL: The Buffalo Sabres are providing Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen two more years to develop into an NHL starter after signing the goalie to a $1,675,000 contract.
Luukkonen was a restricted free agent, who has spent most of the past two seasons in the minors. He has a 3-8-2 career NHL record, including going 2-5-2 last season.
From Finland, the 23-year-old was selected by Buffalo in the second-round of the 2017 draft.
Luukkonen is projected to open this season in the minors after the Sabres re-signed Craig Anderson to a one-year contract, and signed former Winnipeg Jets backup Eric Comrie to a two-year contact in free agency this summer.
• The Anaheim Ducks acquired defenseman Dmitry Kulikov from the Minnesota Wild in a trade for future considerations.
SOCCER
MLS: Gabriel Slonina made five saves for the Chicago Fire in a 0-0 draw with the host New England Revolution.
Djordje Petrovic had one save for New England.
The Revolution (8-9-11) outshot the Fire (8-13-7) 12-6, with five shots on goal to one.
AC MILAN: The New York Yankees have purchased a minority stake in Italian soccer champion AC Milan, which announced the closing of its latest ownership change.
RedBird Capital Partners completed the deal to purchase a controlling interest in the seven-time European champion for 1.2 billion euros ($1.2 billion).
It’s the second soccer team the Yankees partially own after MLS’s New York City.
Gerry Cardinale, who founded RedBird in 2014 and is the managing partner, announced a preliminary agreement in June to buy Milan from fellow American firm Elliott Management.
Yankees Global Enterprises, the baseball team’s parent company led by the Steinbrenner family, will take a stake of about 10%, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.
BARCELONA: Forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang injured his jaw when armed robbers broke into his house this week, the player said.
He posted a message on Instagram thanking everyone for their support after the attack by a group of masked men early Monday.
Aubameyang said he expected to recover soon and that no one else was physically harmed during the robbery.
JUVENTUS: Juventus signed Leandro Paredes on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, with the midfielder returning for a fourth stint in Serie A.
The move also sees Paredes link up again with Argentina and former PSG teammate Angel Di Maria, who joined Juventus last month after his contract with the French club expired.
PREMIER LEAGUE: Substitute Fabio Carvalho sent Anfield wild by scrambling home a goal in the eighth minute of stoppage time as Liverpool beat Newcastle 2-1 for a second straight win.
• Club-record signing Lucas Paqueta had a chance to score a late winner for West Ham but in the end it had to be content with a 1-1 draw against London rival Tottenham and its first home point of the season.
Hammers Coach David Moyes claimed before kickoff that Paqueta had not so much as passed a ball to his new teammates after only completing his 52 million pound ($61.6 million) switch from Lyon on Monday.
• Bournemouth began life without Scott Parker with a battling point as Wolverhampton’s lengthy league winless streak was extended by a 0-0 draw.
The managerless hosts, led by interim coach Gary O’Neil, produced a resolute response to a tumultuous few days which saw Parker sacked on Monday in the aftermath of a record-tying 9-0 loss at Liverpool.
Wolves dominated possession but were unable to make a breakthrough as their wait for a top-flight victory stretched to 12 games, dating back to April 2.
• Erling Haaland scored a hat trick for the second straight game as host Manchester City thrashed Nottingham Forest 6-0.
• Arsenal maintained its perfect start to the season and its spot in first with Gabriel Martinelli scoring a second-half winner in a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in London.
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