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Red Sox Clash with Astros

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Astros will kick off a nine-game road trip when they face the Boston Red Sox on Friday, and few American League hitters are coming off a better month than Houston’s Jose Altuve.

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Altuve collected four hits, including a three-run home run, to help Houston defeat Washington 9-1 on Wednesday. He hit .363 (33 for 91) during July with seven doubles, five homers and 21 RBIs in 24 games.

“Basically, I’m getting good pitches to hit,” Altuve said. “Early in the season, I was swinging at pretty much everything. I didn’t really focus on the pitch I can handle and I think that was what was different this last month.”

The Astros were held to eight runs during a five-game losing streak that ended Tuesday. They responded by putting up 16 runs over their last two outings.

“We were going through a stretch there where things were not going our way, but our guys are going to push and we figured out a way to score runs,” Houston manager Joe Espada said. “The quality of at-bats were there back-to-back days.”

Houston made a big splash Thursday when it acquired infielder Carlos Correa from Minnesota. Correa played his first seven MLB seasons in Houston before he signed with the Twins as a free agent.

“We were waiting for a shortstop to come in (with the Twins) and now that I get to play third base, it will be great for me at this stage of my career,” Correa told MLB.com.

The Astros also landed infielder Ramon Urias in a trade with Baltimore on Wednesday and acquired outfielder Jesus Sanchez in a deal with Miami on Thursday.

The Red Sox added two pitchers before the trade deadline. Boston acquired right-hander Dustin May from the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, one day after it picked up left-handed pitcher Steven Matz in a deal with St. Louis.

Although his numbers aren’t as good as Altuve’s, Boston’s Jarren Duran is coming off a productive month at the plate as well. He batted .317 with five home runs, three triples, nine doubles and 21 RBIs in 23 games in July.

Duran homered and had three hits during Boston’s 13-1 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday. Duran, who has three homers in his last eight games, had five extra-base hits in the three-game series against the Twins.

“Excellent,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “He’s been good the whole month. You look at his numbers, the walks, driving the ball, playing good defense in center and left field, running the bases. He’s one of the most dynamic players in the big leagues and I’m glad he’s playing for us.”

Right-hander Hunter Brown (9-5, 2.54 ERA) is listed as Houston’s probable pitcher for Friday’s game. Brown allowed two runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings during his only career appearance against the Red Sox, which came in August 2024.

The Astros went 12-13 in July — their first losing month of the season — but are hoping All-Star shortstop Jeremy Pena (ribs) returns from the injured list in time to play Friday.

Friday’s game will be the first time third baseman Alex Bregman has faced his former team since he signed with the Red Sox in the offseason. Bregman, who was given Wednesday off, helped the Astros win the World Series in 2017 and 2022.

–Field Level Media

PGA Tour: Dahmen Leads After R-1

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GREENSBORO – First round leader Joel Dahmen (1st/-9) in his 232nd start on TOUR, bidding for his second career PGA TOUR title (2021 Corales Puntacana Championship).

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Dahmen totaled 10 birdies, including three consecutive on Nos. 7-9 to finish his round, against one bogey (par-4 14th). His (61) tied his career low round on TOUR (R2/2020 RSM Classic/finished T50).

It was Dahmen’s best finish in six prior starts at the Wyndham Championship is T42 (2017). It marked his sixth career 18-hole lead/co-lead in individual stroke play (0-for-5 to date) and his second outright 18-hole lead this season (Corales Puntacana Championship/finished T2).

Notes:
  • Following the Wyndham Championship, the Top 70 players in the FedExCup standings will qualify for next week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship (the first of three events in the FedExCup Playoffs):
  • FedEx St. Jude Championship (Top 70 players following Wyndham Championship)
  • BMW Championship (Top 50 players following FedEx St. Jude Championship)
  • TOUR Championship (Top 30 players following BMW Championship)
  • Leaderboard (link)

Kaito Onishi (neck) and Nate Lashley (foot) WD after the first round of the Wyndham Championship

Please check PGATourCom for updated info.

Wyndham | Leaderboard After 18 Holes

1 Joel Dahmen 61 (-9)

2 Alex Noren 62 (-8)

T3 Cameron Young 63 (-7)

T3 Aaron Rai 63 (-7)

T3 Nico Echavarria 63 (-7)

T3 Mark Hubbard 63 (-7)

Full Leaderboard: (link)

PGA Tour: Wyndham Preview

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GREENSBORO – The 2025 Wyndham Championship is the 36th and last event of the 36 scheduled events in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup regular season. Since the inception of the FedExCup in 2007, the Wyndham Championship has played host to the FedEx Cup regular season finale (since 2008 at Sedgefield Country Club).

Following the Wyndham Championship, the Top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings will advance to the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Every player ranked from Nos. 60-80 in the FedExCup standings are in the field: Tony Finau (No. 60), Rickie Fowler (No. 61), Davis Riley (No. 62), Kevin Yu (No. 63), Erik van Rooyen (No. 64), Nico Echavarria (No. 65), Emiliano Grillo (No. 66), Cam Davis (No. 67), Patrick Rodgers(No. 68), Byeong Hun An (No. 69), Matti Schmid (No. 70), Nicolai Højgaard (No. 71), Keith Mitchell (No. 72), Chris Kirk (No. 73), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (No. 74), Gary Woodland (No. 75), Kevin Roy (No. 76), Alex Smalley (No. 77), Davis Thompson (No. 78), Eric Cole (No. 79), William Mouw (No. 80).

The Wyndham Championship winner will receive 500 FedExCup points, a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR and $1,476,000; the winner will also be exempt for The Sentry, THE PLAYERS Championship, Masters Tournament and PGA Championship in 2026.

  • This year marks the 86th annual Wyndham Championship, having been included on the PGA TOUR schedule since 1938 (the seventh-longest running TOUR event excluding the majors).

Following the Wyndham Championship, the Top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings will advance to the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Every player ranked from Nos. 60-80 in the FedExCup standings are in the field: Tony Finau (No. 60), Rickie Fowler (No. 61), Davis Riley (No. 62), Kevin Yu (No. 63), Erik van Rooyen (No. 64), Nico Echavarria (No. 65), Emiliano Grillo (No. 66), Cam Davis (No. 67), Patrick Rodgers(No. 68), Byeong Hun An (No. 69), Matti Schmid (No. 70), Nicolai Højgaard (No. 71), Keith Mitchell (No. 72), Chris Kirk (No. 73), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (No. 74), Gary Woodland (No. 75), Kevin Roy (No. 76), Alex Smalley (No. 77), Davis Thompson (No. 78), Eric Cole (No. 79), William Mouw (No. 80).

The Wyndham Championship winner will receive 500 FedExCup points, a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR and $1,476,000; the winner will also be exempt for The Sentry, THE PLAYERS Championship, Masters Tournament and PGA Championship in 2026.

Red Sox: Meet the Matz

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox beefed up their pitching staff Wednesday night by acquiring left-hander Steven Matz from the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cardinals acquired minor league infielder Blaze Jordan in exchange for Matz, a 34-year-old veteran who has experience both as a starter and a reliever.

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In 2025, Matz has made 30 of his 32 appearances out of the bullpen, and he has posted a 5-2 record with a 3.44 ERA across 55 innings.

Matz was selected in the second round of the 2009 draft by the Mets and spent the first six seasons of his major league career in New York. After one season with the Toronto Blue Jays, Matz signed with the Cardinals ahead of the 2022 season and has played the past four seasons in St. Louis. In 225 career games (172 starts), Matz owns a 60-62 mark with a 4.24 ERA.

Jordan, 22, was a third-round pick of the Red Sox in 2020. He batted .304/.377/.495 with 12 homers and 62 RBIs in 88 games with Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester this season.

–Field Level Media

Poker Face? Gilbert Arraign-as

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LOS. ANGELES – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Former NBA All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas and five other defendants were arrested Wednesday on a federal indictment alleging they operated an illegal gambling business running high-stakes poker games at Arenas’ mansion in Encino, Calif., according to the United States Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California.

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He is scheduled to make his initial appearance and be arraigned on Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles. If convicted, he would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count.

Also charged on Wednesday in the indictment were Yevgeni “Giora” Gershman, 49, of Woodland Hills; Allan “Elica” Austria, 52, of West Hills,Calif.; and Evgenni “Eugne” Tourevski, 48, Yarin “YC” Cohen, 27 and Ievgen Krachun, 43, all of Tarzana, California.

Gershman is a suspected high-level organized crime figure from Israel, according to the news release from the U.S. attorney’s office.

Arenas and the other defendants operated an illegal gambling business from September 2021 to July 2022, according to the indictment that was unsealed on Wednesday. Arenas rented out the Encino mansion for the co-conspirators to host the illegal “Pot Limit Omaha” poker games, among other illegal games, with a fee charged from each pot either as a percentage or a fixed amount per hand.

Gershman hired women who were paid in tips and served drinks, provided massages and offered companionship to the poker players — with the women charged a percentage of their earnings by the business operators, per the indictment. Chefs, valets and armed security guards also were hired to staff the games.

Arenas was a three-time All-Star, and All-NBA second-team selection in 2006-07 and third team in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

He averaged 20.7 points, 5.3 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 552 regular-season games (455 starts) for the Golden State Warriors (2001-03), Washington Wizards (2003-10), Orlando Magic (2010-11) and Memphis Grizzlies (2012).

His NBA career was overshadowed by a locker-run incident in December 2009 in which he and Washington teammate Javaris Crittenden brought guns into the locker room two days after having a dispute on a flight during a card game. Arenas was suspended for the remainder of the 2009-10 season.

The Warriors selected Arenas in the second round (31st overall) of the 2001 NBA Draft out of Arizona.

Sox Defeat Twins as Trade Winds Blow

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MINNEAPOLIS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – This is the time of the season when a hug can set off alarm bells.

The Minnesota Twins will try their best to avoid distractions when they face the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon in the teams’ final game before the trade deadline.

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On Tuesday night, Twins closer Jhoan Duran sparked a social-media firestorm when he was spotted giving a hug to the team’s bullpen catcher. Fans quickly speculated that the gesture meant that Duran had been told that he was traded.

Fans’ fears subsided almost as quickly once reports emerged that Duran still was on the Twins and that no trade was imminent.

The Twins hope to produce more runs — and avoid any ominous dugout embraces — when they meet the Red Sox in the decisive contest of a three-game set. Minnesota won the series opener 5-4 on Monday before falling 8-5 on Tuesday.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora hopes that his team’s offensive production will continue. He praised several of his hitters, including Trevor Story, for their recent approach at the plate.

Story will try to stay hot after he went 2-for-5 with a double, a homer and three RBIs on Tuesday night. He has 16 homers and a team-best 64 RBIs on the season.

“Solid season,” Cora said. “It didn’t look that way before we went to Milwaukee, and he turned it around. He’s actually one of the best offensive shortstops in the big leagues right now.”

Jarren Duran has provided a spark, too. The Boston outfielder contributed a double and a homer in the Tuesday win while batting third in the lineup for the third day in a row.

“The last month, if you look at it, I think it’s like .950 OPS (for Jarren Duran),” Cora said. “He’s getting on base. Hitting the ball all over the place.

“He’s in a good spot. We like this lineup, we really do.”

Twins right-hander Zebby Matthews (2-2, 4.97 ERA) will try to subdue Boston’s lineup. Matthews is coming off his best start of the season, when he fired six scoreless innings on Friday against the Washington Nationals. He allowed two hits, walked none and struck out seven.

Matthews has made one career start against the Red Sox. He gave up one run on two hits in 4 2/3 innings during a no-decision on Sept. 22, 2024.

Boston will counter with Brayan Bello (6-5, 3.32 ERA). The 26-year-old right-hander will try to avoid a third consecutive defeat after dropping his past two starts to the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In two career starts against Minnesota, Bello is 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA. He didn’t get a decision vs. Minnesota on May 2 after permitting one run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings.

The Twins’ lineup will not be at full strength after the team placed All-Star outfielder Byron Buxton on the injured list because of soreness in his left ribcage. Carlos Correa also is uncertain for the series finale after leaving the Tuesday game because he felt light-headed.

Other players including Jhoan Duran, Joe Ryan, Harrison Bader, Willi Castro, Danny Coulombe will try to avoid distractions with their names mentioned in trade rumors.

Coulombe acknowledged that the next couple days might feature a lot of uncertainty.

“It’s impossible not to (think about it),” the left-handed reliever said. “Your life gets flipped upside down. You’re with a different team, new city, new teammates — not to mention all the logistical parts for wives and families. It’s definitely unsettling.”

–Field Level Media

Twins Weather the Storm, Beat Sox

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MINNEAPOLIS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Minnesota Twins’ patience paid off after they waited out a big storm. Now, the Twins hope brighter days are ahead.

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Minnesota will face the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night in the second installment of a three-game series in Minneapolis. The Twins are coming off a 5-4 comeback win in the series opener after a ninth-inning rain delay that lasted 90 minutes.

Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Twins trailed 4-3. They emerged with the victory when Brooks Lee delivered a walk-off, two-run single with the bases loaded. It was a much-needed win for a team that entered the game 3-6 since the All-Star break.

You fight hard for like 2 1/2 hours and you end up in an hour-plus rain delay,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Then you come out and it’s still a great opportunity and a time to make something happen, and our guys came out. They all went up there and had good at-bats, every one of our guys. …

“It’s not that easy to sit around and then just show up and head out there and face a guy throwing 100 mph sinkers (Jordan Hicks) and win the at-bats.”

The Red Sox will try to even the series at one win apiece Tuesday as they look to improve their record in a hard-fought American League East. Boston won back-to-back games against the Los Angeles Dodgers before losing the series opener in Minnesota.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said his team was in a good spot in the ninth, but the delay seemed to change the game’s momentum.

“There’s nothing you can do against Mother Nature,” he said.

Red Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito (6-2, 3.97 ERA) is scheduled to make his 16th start of the season on Tuesday. He is coming off a rocky outing against the Philadelphia Phillies, who tagged him for five runs on six hits in four innings on Wednesday in a game Boston won 9-8 in 11 innings.

Giolito, 31, is 8-10 with a 4.25 ERA in 24 career starts against the Twins. He last faced them in 2023, when he went 0-2 with a 4.71 ERA in four starts against them.

The Twins have not announced a starter for Tuesday’s game.

Earlier Monday, Minnesota said goodbye to one of its veteran starting pitchers when it dealt right-hander Chris Paddack to the Detroit Tigers for 19-year-old Enrique Jimenez, a minor league catcher/first baseman. The Twins also sent right-hander Randy Dobnak to Detroit.

Baldelli said his players were doing a good job at staying focused on the game in front of them while they also had to bid farewell to friends and teammates.

“It’s the time of the year where sometimes there’s movement on the roster and guys can come in or are going (away),” Baldelli said. “To be able to focus and play a really good ballgame, to challenge guys in different spots and watch them come through, you have to kind of want it.

“It’s a challenging day saying goodbye to a guy that you care about that’s done good work for us in ‘Paddy,’ but watching guys step up for us on a day that’s kind of an emotional day is great. It’s really great.”

–Field Level Media

Baseball at the Race Track

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BRISTOL (Tenn) – Saturday’s MLB Speedway Classic will break Major League Baseball’s all-time single-game attendance record, the league announced on Monday.

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More than 85,000 tickets have been sold for the game between the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first MLB game ever played in Tennessee.

The current record for paid attendance is 84,587 set on Sept. 12, 1954, for a doubleheader at Cleveland Stadium between the then-Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees.

Fans from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and nine countries across four continents have purchased tickets for the game.

Hall of Famers representing both teams will throw out the ceremonial first pitches, Chipper Jones for the Braves and Johnny Bench for the Reds.

The Speedway Classic will be televised nationally by FOX Sports with the first pitch scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET.

The current record for paid attendance is 84,587 set on Sept. 12, 1954, for a doubleheader at Cleveland Stadium between the then-Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees.

Fans from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and nine countries across four continents have purchased tickets for the game.

Hall of Famers representing both teams will throw out the ceremonial first pitches, Chipper Jones for the Braves and Johnny Bench for the Reds.

The Speedway Classic will be televised nationally by FOX Sports with the first pitch scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET.

Harper and The Commish

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PHILADELPHIA – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Right smack in the middle of the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper dropped an f-bomb on Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred in a heated confrontation last week about a potential salary cap, ESPN reported.

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An irate Harper reportedly got in Manfred’s face and told him to “get the f– out of our clubhouse” if he wanted to discuss such a sensitive economic issue.

Manfred replied that he was “not going to get the f– out of here,” insisting it was important to talk about threats to the league’s business and ways to grow the game, sources told ESPN.

Other players tried to defuse the situation and Harper and Manfred eventually shook hands after the meeting, but Harper would not answer calls from Manfred the next day, per the report.

“It was pretty intense, definitely passionate,” Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos told ESPN. “Both of ’em. The commissioner giving it back to Bryce and Bryce giving it back to the commissioner. That’s Harp. He’s been doing this since he was 15 years old. It’s just another day. I wasn’t surprised.”

Harper, 32, is one of the game’s most influential players as a two-time National League Most Valuable Player and an eight-time All-Star.

Kitayama Takes 3M Open

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BLAINE (Minn) – Kurt Kitayama wasn’t sure he would qualify for the final two rounds of the 3M Open. It turned out to be a weekend to remember.

Kitayama shot 6-under-par 65 and held on to win the 3M Open by one stroke Sunday in Blaine, Minn., for his second PGA Tour victory.

“I feel like the game has been trending, and for it finally to kind of pay off now has been awesome,” Kitayama said.

Kitayama finished at 23-under 261 at  TPC Twin Cities for a one-stroke decision on Sam Stevens, who posted 66 on Sunday. Kitayama made a total of 20 birdies in the two weekend rounds.

Prior to that, he wasn’t certain he would make the cut in this tournament.

“On Friday, I was fighting my swing trying to find something,” Kitayama said. “Went to the range, trying to find something.”

He definitely discovered what was needed.

Kitayama, who tied a course and tournament record with a third-round 60 on Saturday, pretty much rode that wave of momentum. He had birdies on the first three holes Sunday — including a chip-in from the green side rough on No. 3 — and was 5 under through six holes on the way to a 29 on the front nine.

But after a bogey on No. 11, his lead was just two on England’s Matt Wallace, who had already completed his round. Kitayama rebounded with birdies on two of the next three holes.

Yet it took him three putts to finish the par-3 17th, with the bogey cutting the margin to one stroke. But Stevens, who had birdies on Nos. 14-16 to pull within striking distance, was all over the place on the 18th with his first three shots into the rough and scrambled for par.

Kitayama, in the next group, had a smooth final hole and won it with par.

The tournament title locked up a position for Kitayama in the FedEx Cup playoffs with one regular-season tournament remaining.

“Jumping up that much is great,” he said. “The goal is to make the playoffs and give yourself a chance.”

There was another special aspect of the result for Kitayama because his older brother, Daniel, was his caddie for the second week in a row.

Stevens settled for his third top-10 finish of the season.

David Lipsky and Wallace both registered 64s to share the distinction for the best score of the round, and they finished tied for third place at 20 under, along with Pierceson Coody (67) and Jake Knapp (68).

Wallace produced a bogey-free round, but finished with pars on his final three holes.

Chris Gotterup, who was aiming for his second title in three weeks, didn’t make a charge en route to a 69, tying for 10th place at 18 under.

Third-round co-leaders Thorbjorn Olesen (73) of Denmark and Akshay Bhatia (75) tumbled down the leaderboard and finished tied for 14th (16 under) and tied for 25th (14 under), respectively. Bhatia had seven bogeys Sunday.

Kevin Roy also registered 64 on Sunday, ending at 13 under.

–Field Level Media