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Red Sox Sign Alfaro

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The Boston Red Sox signed catcher Jorge Alfaro to a one-year contract for the 2023 season and added him to the active Major League roster. He will wear number 38.

To make room for Alfaro on the 40-man roster, the club designated catcher Caleb Hamilton for assignment. Boston’s Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom made the announcement.

Alfaro, 30, played in 10 games for the Colorado Rockies this season, going 5-for-31 with four doubles and one home run. The right-handed hitter was previously signed by Boston as a minor league free agent on January 18 and appeared in nine Grapefruit League games for the Red Sox, batting .478 (11-for-23) with three doubles and two home runs. He began the season with Triple-A Worcester, hitting .320 (56-for-175) with 30 RBI in 43 games. A Colombia native, Alfaro has batted .254 (400-for-1,573) with 71 doubles, four triples, and 48 home runs in 488 career Major League games with the Philadelphia Phillies (2016-18), Miami Marlins (2019-21), San Diego Padres (2022), and Rockies (2023).

Hamilton, 28, has played in four games for Boston this season, including two starts as the catcher. The right-handed hitter has also played in 30 games with Worcester, batting .180 (18-for-100) with four doubles and three home runs. Selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 23rd round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft, Hamilton has gone 1-for-23 with one home run in 26 career Major League games with Minnesota (2022) and Boston (2023).

SlamBall: Tickets On Sale for Las Vegas

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LAS VEGAS – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The organizers of SlamBall are selling tickets for 2023 SlamBall League Series 6, which includes 30 sessions over four consecutive weekends beginning on Friday, July 21 (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, ESPN). Tickets are now available at https://www.unlvtickets.com/eventInfo/spe/840/slamball with all games held at Cox Pavilion on the campus of University Nevada Las Vegas. Information on playoff tickets will be announced at a later date.

Tickets are priced at $30 for daily general admission, $50 for reserved and $125 for a limited number of VIP tickets, including post-game, on-court experiences with players and coaches.

Each competition day will feature two sessions of three games per session, with four teams battling in each session and all eight teams competing each night. The winners of the first two games of each session will then meet in the Main Event to determine the winner of the session.

SlamBall previously noted that ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+ will combine to televise more than 60 hours of regular season action and all playoff games, including the SlamBall Finals as part of an exclusive, two-year national broadcast partnership for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

“Las Vegas has emerged as a sports mecca, and we take great pride in being a distinctive addition to the city’s thriving sports scene,” said Mason Gordon, SlamBall creator and co-founder. “SlamBall is a sport that truly comes alive when experienced in person. There is simply nothing else comparable. The games are a thrilling display of non-stop, high-speed action from end to end, showcasing the extraordinary athleticism of our players. Being just a few feet away allows you to fully appreciate their remarkable skills. And we designed the schedule to make sure SlamBall fans can witness every team and player every night.”

Opening night will feature a battle between legacy teams MOB, led by Gage Smith (Elizabeth, CO) against the Rumble and its top star Bakari Copeland (Decatur, GA) and legendary Coach Ken Carter. Other games on Opening Night include the Slashers with captain Tony Crosby II (Inglewood, CA.) vs. Lava with Bryce Moragne (Tampa, FL) and Nathaniel Harris (Hammond,IN); Wrath with Christian Gray (Riverside, CA) vs. Gryphons and Justin Holmes (Roseville, CA); and Ozone with Bryan Bell-Anderson (Sarasota, FL) vs. Buzzsaw and Michael Kolawole (Rowlett, TX).

In the ensuing weeks, matchups will be announced several days prior to each week’s sessions, which following opening weekend will be held each Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday through August 13. Each regular season competition date will feature two sessions, with all eight squads taking the court each night.

The full schedule, subject to change, with session start times and TV coverage is as follows:

📺 Regular Season (two sessions per date, all times PT):

• Fri, July 21, 4 p.m., ESPN
• Fri, July 21, 6:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sat, July 22, 5 p.m., ESPN+
• Sat, July 22, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sun, July 23, 2:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sun, July 23, 5 p.m., ESPN+
• Thu, July 27, 5:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Thu, July 27, 8 p.m., ESPN
• Fri, July 28, 5 p.m., ESPN+
• Fri, July 28, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sat, July 29, 5 p.m., ESPN+
• Sat, July 29, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sun, July 30, 2:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sun, July 30, 5 p.m., ESPN+
• Thu, August 3, 5:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Thu, August 3, 8 p.m., ESPN2
• Fri, August 4, 5 p.m., ESPN+
• Fri, August 4, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sat, August 5, 5 p.m., ESPN+
• Sat, August 5, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sun, August 6, 2:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sun, August 6, 5 p.m., ESPN+
• Thu, August 10, 5:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Thu, August 10, 10 a.m., ESPN2
• Fri, August 11, 5 p.m., ESPN+
• Fri, August 11, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sat, August 12, 5 p.m., ESPN+
• Sat, August 12, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sun, August 13, 2:30 p.m., ESPN+
• Sun, August 13, 5 p.m., ESPN+

🏆 Playoffs
• Tue, August 15, SlamBall Playoffs, TBD, ESPN+
• Thu, August 17, SlamBall Championship Game, 8 p.m., ESPN2

For more information about SlamBall visit http://www.slamballleague.com.

Celtics: Grant Williams Signed/Traded

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BOSTON -(Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Dallas Mavericks agreed to a four-year, $53 million deal with restricted free agent Grant Williams as part of a three-team sign-and-trade agreement that includes the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs will receive forward Reggie Bullock and an unprotected first-round pick swap in 2030 from the Mavericks. The Celtics and Mavericks will each receive two second-round draft choices.

Williams, 24, spent four seasons with the Celtics since being a first-round pick in 2019 out of Tennessee. He averaged 8.1 points and 4.6 rebounds in 79 games (23 starts) last season.

Williams has career averages of 6.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in 288 games (58 starts). He underwent surgery on his left hand last month and is expected to be fine before the start of training camp.

Williams is the second key player Boston has traded this offseason. The team previously dealt guard Marcus Smart, the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for 2021-22, to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Teams officially can’t sign free agents or formally announce trades until Thursday.

Bullock, 32, spent the past two seasons of his 10-year NBA with the Mavericks. He averaged 7.2 points and 3.6 rebounds in 78 games (55 starts) last season.

Bullock made 151 3-pointers last season, second most in his career behind the 163 he made for the New York Knicks in the 2020-21 campaign. He has made 852 career treys in 512 games (294 starts) with six teams.

–Field Level Media

Bello Gets the Job Done for Sox

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BOSTON – (Staff and wire Service Report) – Red Sox starter Brayan Bello tossed seven innings to help the Boston Red Sox end a four-game home losing streak by beating the Texas Rangers 4-2 on Wednesday night.

Bello (6-5) limited the Rangers to two runs on eight hits. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter.

Bello has pitched at least six innings in eight of his 14 starts this season and has pitched into the seventh in each of his last five outings.

Reliever Chris Martin kept Texas off the scoreboard in the eighth inning and All-Star Kenley Jansen recorded his 18th save by pitching a scoreless ninth.

The Red Sox were held to five runs in their previous four home games — three losses to Miami and one to Texas.

Justin Turner had two hits and two RBIs for Boston, which dropped a 6-2 decision to Texas on Tuesday. Connor Wong and Masataka Yoshida also had two hits for the Red Sox.

Adolis Garcia hit a two-run home run for the Rangers, his 22nd home run of the season.

Texas received three hits from Corey Seager, who has reached base in 24 straight games.

Texas starting pitcher Jon Gray (6-5) allowed four runs (three earned) on nine hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out two.

PGA Tour: John Deere Classic Preview

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SILVIS – The John Deere Classic is the 38th of 44 FedEx Cup Regular Season events, with just seven events played over the next five weeks before the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

New in 2023, the Top 70 players (not 125) at the conclusion of the Wyndham Championship will qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

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There are nine players in the field within the Top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking, the most at the event since 2012 (9), led by reigning PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year and 2022 Presidents Cup participant Cameron Young (No. 19), who is making his tournament debut, and No. 29 Russell Henley, who finished runner-up at the 2019 John Deere Classic.

J.T. Poston won the 2022 John Deere Classic in wire-to-wire fashion, earning his second career PGA Tour title and first since the 2019 Wyndham Championship. Poston went on to qualify for the TOUR Championship for the first time in his career and finished the season No. 15 in the FedExCup standings. With a win, Poston would become the fourth player to successfully defend a title this season, joining Max Homa (Fortinet Championship), Rory McIlroy (THE CJ CUP) and Scottie Scheffler (WM Phoenix Open). Five players successfully defended a title during the 2021-22 season, the most since 2007 (5).

Zach Johnson has made 14 consecutive cuts at the John Deere Classic, with his most recent MC coming in 2007. The only other player that has made the cut at the same PGA TOUR event every year since the start of the 2008 season is Matt Kuchar, who has made the cut in each of the last 17 years at the RBC Heritage (DNP/2006). Johnson is making his 21st start at the event, three shy of Jay Delsing for most in tournament history, and with a made cut, would tie D.A. Weibring‘s tournament record for most total made cuts (18). Johnson has recorded seven top-10s at the event, highlighted by a win in 2012 and runner-up finishes in 2009, 2013 and 2014.

One of the tournament favorites, Denny McCarthy, finished T-6 at the 2022 John Deere Classic, his first Top-10 in four starts at the event. Currently at No. 34 in the Official World Golf Ranking, McCarthy is the third-highest-ranked player in the field. He enters the week with three Top-10s in his last six starts, highlighted by a runner-up at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, where he lost in a playoff to Viktor Hovland.

PGA TOUR rookie Ludvig Aberg is making his ninth career start on Tour and his fourth since joining the TOUR as a member via PGA TOUR University. Aberg entered the third round of last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in a tie for third before going on to finish T-40. He enters the week No. 188 in the FedEx Cup standings. Only the Top 70 will qualify.

Luke List, Charlie Hoffman, Webb Simpson, Brandon Wu and C.T. Pan are among the players no longer competing at the John Deere (WDs).

On Wednesday, Brian Gay (WD/back injury) – with Tommy Gainey in;  Justin Lower (WD) – Arjun Atwal (IN)

Report: NBA’s “In-Season” Cup at Vegas

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LAS VEGAS – The NBA’s first in-season tournament will conclude with the semifinals and final in Las Vegas, ESPN reported. The semifinals are scheduled for Dec. 7 and the final for Dec. 9, and stats from the event, with the exception of the title game, will be included as part of the regular season, per ESPN.

The league will unveil details of the event at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday, part of the NBA Con Fanfest being held at the site of the league’s most visible summer league.

ESPN will conduct a live show for the announcement, with NBA commissioner Adam Silver scheduled to be joined on the broadcast by others including the league’s past four No. 1 overall draft picks: the San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama, the Orlando Magic’s Paolo Banchero, the Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards.

Some details of the tournament format were previously reported when the National Basketball Players Association agreed to the event as part of a labor deal.

Teams will be separated into six groups, three per conference, not necessarily by division. During group play, each club will have two home games and two road games. The six group winners and two wild cards will advance to the quarterfinals.

Players who are part of the championship team reportedly will get $500,000 apiece.

–Field Level Media

Can Bello Get Red Sox on Track?

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox have lost their last four straight games at Fenway Park. To get on the right side of the W/L ledger, the Sox will send their best pitcher to the mound on tonight, when they try to win the second game of a three-game series against the visiting Texas Rangers.

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Right-hander Brayan Bello, 24, has established himself as one of the top young pitchers in the major leagues and has become the ace of a pitching staff that has been thinned by injuries to Chris Sale (shoulder), Tanner Houck (facial bone fracture) and Garrett Whitlock (elbow inflammation).

Bello (5-5, 3.08 ERA) missed the first three weeks of the season with a forearm strain suffered during spring training. He has been strong in 13 starts since joining the rotation, and his numbers would be much better if it weren’t for a lackluster season debut in which he allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Since that outing, Bello has an ERA of 2.56, and he hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any appearance since then.

Bello carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning of his last start, a 2-0 loss to Miami on Thursday. He went seven-plus innings and surrendered a run on two hits, walked one and struck out five.

“He has so many weapons and he’s still learning how to use them,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Bello. “He’s just evolving, keeps getting better. His next (start) is going to be a challenge. It’s the Rangers, so he’ll be ready for that one and we’ll see what we got.”

Bello didn’t allow a run in six innings to earn the win back on Sept. 3, 2022, during his only career appearance against Texas. He gave up three hits and struck out five.

The latest blow to the Red Sox rotation came Sunday, when Whitlock left his start against Toronto after one inning. He was placed on the 15-day injured list on Tuesday.

“It’s just about getting treatment and all that stuff and reassessing the situation next week,” Cora said. “Obviously no timetable, but for how bad it looked or whatever people were thinking ligament-wise and all that stuff, this is the closest thing to good news.”

Right-hander Jon Gray (6-4, 3.21) is scheduled to oppose Bello. Gray has a 1-0 record and a 2.45 ERA in his career against Boston (one start). He went 7 1/3 innings in that appearance and allowed two runs on five hits. He struck out six and walked three.

Texas ended Boston’s three-game winning streak by earning a 6-2 victory on Tuesday.

There was some speculation that Texas might replace closer Will Smith with newly acquired reliever Aroldis Chapman after Smith allowed two runs in the top of the ninth of Monday’s 12-11 loss to Houston, but Smith was called upon to retire the final batter in Tuesday’s victory. The Rangers traded for Chapman on Friday.

“I’m not going to go there now because Smitty has been doing such a great job,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s not what we’re even thinking about right now. … Those are important innings — seventh, eighth and ninth. We need to put zeroes up there, too. I’ll leave it at that.”

–Field Level Media

Red Sox: Home on the 4th of July

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Home on the 4th of July, the Boston Red Sox can stretch their winning streak to four games when they open a three-game series against the visiting Texas Rangers early this afternoon. Boston had lost five games in a row — and seven of eight — before it swept a three-game series at Toronto this past weekend.

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(Highlights from July 4, 2022)

“The way we played this weekend was fun to watch,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said following his team’s 5-4 victory on Sunday. “Hopefully it’s a lesson to everybody here in this group that if we play that way against everybody, we’ve got a chance.”

The bottom four batters in Boston’s lineup (Triston Casas, Enrique Hernandez, David Hamilton and Connor Wong) were 0-for-17 in Sunday’s win, but Jarren Duran went 5-for-5 and matched a franchise record by hitting four doubles. It was the 50th time since 1901 that a major league player has had four doubles in one game.

While Boston had a day off Monday, the Rangers are coming off Monday afternoon’s wild 12-11 loss to Houston. Texas fought back from a 10-2 deficit to take an 11-10 lead in the eighth inning, but it surrendered two runs in the top of the ninth.

Travis Jankowski went 3-for-4 with a career-high five RBIs in the setback, capping an eight-game homestand during which the Rangers went 3-5. Jankowki’s hits included a three-run home run that sliced Houston’s lead to 10-5.

Texas arrived in Boston with a fortified bullpen. Not only did the Rangers acquire closer Aroldis Chapman in a trade with Kansas City on Friday, but they also activated right-handed pitcher Glenn Otto from the 60-day injured list on the same day.

Otto was used exclusively as a starting pitcher in his first two seasons with Texas, but he pitched a scoreless ninth inning in Friday’s 5-3 loss to Houston and allowed four runs in 3 1/3 innings of relief on Monday. He missed the first half of the season rehabbing a right shoulder strain.

“I’m here to get outs,” Otto told the Dallas Morning News. “Whatever form or fashion that is, I’m here to get outs. I’m going to do the best job I can do to attack the hitters and get them out as fast as I can, go from there and let everything else fall where it may.”

Texas is expected to start right-hander Dane Dunning (7-1, 2.69 ERA) in the series opener on Tuesday. Dunning matched his career high by striking out 10 batters in 8 2/3 innings during his last start, a 10-2 victory over Detroit last Wednesday.

Dunning began the season as a reliever but joined the rotation to fill in for Jacob deGrom in May and has been used in that role since then. He is 0-3 with a 9.42 ERA in three career appearances (all starts) against Boston.

Boston has not officially announced its starting pitcher, but left-hander Chris Murphy (0-0, 1.80 ERA) is among those who could get the start. Murphy, who hasn’t pitched since last Wednesday, made his major league debut against Cleveland last month and has never pitched against Texas.

Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida was hit in the leg by a pitch during Boston’s 7-6 triumph over Toronto on Saturday and was held out of the lineup Sunday. Cora said he expects Yoshida to be available to play Tuesday.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Sweep Blue Jays

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TORONTO – (Staff and Wire Service Report from Field Level Media) – Alex Verdugo led off the ninth inning with a tie-breaking home run and the visiting Boston Red Sox completed a three-game sweep with a 5-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.

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Jarren Duran tied a Red Sox club record with four doubles and finished 5-for-5 with three runs scored.

The Red Sox have won all seven games between the teams this season.

Brandon Belt hit two solo home runs for Toronto, which was held to six hits.

Boston right-hander Garrett Whitlock (right elbow tightness) allowed one run before being removed after the first inning.

Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman allowed two runs, five hits and one walk while striking out seven in five innings.

Duran led off the game with a bloop double to left and scored on a two-out single by Rafael Devers.

Toronto tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the first on Belt’s fifth homer of the season.

After Gausman struck out five in a row, Duran doubled to right with one out in the third and scored on a two-out single by Devers, who finished 3-for-3 with two walks.

Toronto took the lead in the bottom of the third. Kevin Kiermaier hit a one-out single against Brennan Bernardino, who was replaced by Kaleb Ort. George Springer singled, and after a double steal, Bo Bichette hit a two-run single to right. Verdugo threw out Bichette trying for a double.

Belt hit his sixth homer of the season against Nick Pivetta with one out in the sixth to make it 4-2 Toronto.

Duran led off the seventh with his fourth double, a shot high off the left-field wall against Erik Swanson. Justin Turner singled to drive in Duran. Turner was running on the play when Verdugo chopped a groundout to third and continued to third, coming home on a throwing error by first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to tie the game at 4-4.

After Pivetta completed four innings of one-run ball, Chris Martin (2-1) took over and pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth.

Verdugo hit his sixth home run of the season on the first pitch of the ninth off Toronto closer Jordan Romano (3-4) for the decisive run.

Boston’s Joe Jacques pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth to earn his first career save.

PGA Tour: Fowler Ends the Drought

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DETROIT – Rocket Mortgage ambassador Rickie Fowler defeated Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin with a birdie-3 on the first playoff hole (No. 18) to record his sixth PGA Tour title and his first since the 2019 WM Phoenix Open.

The Playoff records for the 3 players: Fowler (3-2), Morikawa (1-3), Hadwin (0-1)

Fowler won in the seventh PGA Tour Playoff of the season and the second at the Rocket Mortgage Classic (Cam Davis/2021). Morikawa finished runner-up for the seventh time in 94 Tour starts while Hadwin picks up his fifth runner-up finish in 239 starts on the circuit.

Peter Kuest finished T-4 in his failed bid to become the first Open Qualifier to win on Tour since Corey Conners at the 2019 Valero Texas Open. Kuest’s Top-10 finish earned a spot in this week’s John Deere Classic field.

Stephan Jaeger tied the Detroit Golf Club’s 18-hole scoring record with a 9-under (63) which was the third record (63) of the week.

Max Homa aced No. 15 for his second hole-in-one on Tour.

With rainy conditions all day, preferred lies were in effect for the final round.

Rocket Mortgage Classic | Final Leaderboard

P1 Rickie Fowler 67 65 64 68 264 (-24)*

P2 Collin Morikawa 66 67 67 64 264 (-24)

P2 Adam Hadwin 66 68 63 67 264 (-24)

T4 Taylor Moore 64 67 69 67 267 (-21)

T4 Lucas Glover 69 69 64 65 267 (-21)

T4 Peter Kuest 64 70 65 68 267 (-21)

*Won with birdie-3 on first playoff hole (No. 18)

Full Leaderboard: (link)