Weekend Sports in Brief
BOXING
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Yordenis Ugás beat Manny Pacquiao by unanimous decision on Saturday night, putting on an impressive technical performance on 11 days’ notice and retaining his WBA welterweight title.
Ugás (27-4) seized his opportunity as the late injury replacement for Errol Spence Jr., frustrating Pacquiao (67-8-2) throughout what might be the final fight of the 42-year-old Filipino senator’s career.
The 35-year-old Ugás threw far fewer punches than Pacquiao, but his blows were more precise and more effective. Pacquiao struggled to get inside on Ugás’ effective jab, while Ugás landed his right hand to increasing effect in the later rounds.
Two judges scored it 116-112 for Ugás, and a third had it 115-113. The Associated Press also scored it 116-112 for Ugás.
MLB
TORONTO (AP) — Miguel Cabrera became the 28th major league player to hit 500 home runs, reaching the milestone in the sixth inning Sunday as the Detroit Tigers played the Toronto Blue Jays.
The 38-year-old Cabrera connected on a 1-1 pitch from left-hander Steven Matz, sending the ball over the scoreboard in right-center field. The homer tied the score 1-all. Detroit beat the Blue Jays, 5-3.
Cabrera, who won the Triple Crown and the first of back-to-back MVP awards in 2012, is the first Venezuelan to hit 500 homers. He is hoping to become the first hitter to reach 500 homers and 3,000 hits in the same season.
His 500th home run was hit No. 2,955 of his career and he can reach that 3,000 milestone this year, too, if he can stay healthy and average one hit per game. Only six players have 3,000 hits and 500 homers: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Rafael Palmeiro, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez and Eddie Murray.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Mike Trout says he is still aiming to return to the Los Angeles Angels lineup this season despite a lengthy and frustrating recovery from a calf injury that has sidelined him since May 17.
The three-time AL MVP said Saturday before a game in Cleveland that he hasn’t given any thought to shutting down for the year.
The center fielder said he thought he’d already be back after injuring his right calf running the bases May 17.
NFL
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel said Sunday he has tested positive for COVID-19 and has quarantined pending further testing.
Vrabel told reporters he had a sore throat and an earache. He went to the team headquarters Sunday morning to be tested, and the result came back positive. He originally was scheduled to meet with reporters in person, but the availability was pushed back an hour and conducted remotely by Zoom.
GOLF
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — The final round of The Northern Trust has been pushed back to Monday because of Hurricane Henri along the northeastern shores.
The PGA Tour decided to shut down Liberty National on Sunday about an hour before the leaders began Saturday’s third round, which proceeded as scheduled.
Henri became a hurricane late Saturday morning, and the New Jersey coast across from Manhattan avoided the brunt of the wind, but not the rain.
Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith finished the third round Saturday tied for the lead at 16-under 197, one shot ahead of Erik van Rooyen.
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (AP) — Anna Nordqvist stayed out of trouble to make a routine par at the last and win the Women’s British Open for her third major title.
Nordqvist closed with a 3-under 69. Lizette Salas (69), 2018 champion Georgia Hall (67) and Madelene Sagstrom (68) tied for second, with a double bogey at the last dropping Nanna Koerstz Madsen (71) into a tie for fifth with Minjee Lee (66).
Adding the win to her victories at the 2009 LPGA Championship and the 2017 Evian Championship, the 34-year-old Swede became just the third European woman — after Annika Sorenstam and Laura Davies — to have won three or more majors.
SNOQUALMIE, Wash. (AP) — Rod Pampling won the Boeing Classic for his first PGA Tour Champions victory when Jim Furyk and Woody Austin failed to get up-and-down for birdie from greenside bunkers on the par-5 18th.
Pampling shot a 6-under 66 to finish at 12-under 204. Furyk had a 70 to tie for second with Tim Herron (67) and Billy Mayfair (69). Austin’s closing 72 left him tied for fifth with Alex Cejka (66).
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Greyson Sigg won the Albertsons Boise Open to open the Korn Ferry Tour finals, shooting a 6-under 65 for a one-stroke victory over J.J. Spaun and Aaron Rai.
Already headed to the PGA Tour next season as a top-25 finisher in the regular-season points race, Sigg finished at 19-under 265 at Hillcrest Country Club.
VYSOKY UJEZD, Czech Republic (AP) — Johannes Veerman won the Czech Masters for his first European Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 for a two-stroke victory.
The 29-year-old American finished at 15-under 273 at Albatross Golf Resort near Prague.
AUTO RACING
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — Ryan Blaney took the lead from William Byron on a late restart and bobbed and weaved his way across the final seven laps to win at Michigan International Speedway.
Blaney edged Byron by 0.077 seconds — the closest finish on the two-mile track since electronic scoring began. He has two victories this season and six overall.
TENNIS
MASON, Ohio (AP) — Ash Barty bounced back from a disappointing loss at the Tokyo Olympics. Gold medalist Alexander Zverev carried over his momentum from Tokyo.
Both are in fine form heading into the U.S. Open, which begins a week from Monday in New York.
The top-ranked Barty won her fifth title of the season, taking eight of the last nine games from wild card Jil Teichmann for a straight-sets victory in the Western & Southern Open final.
Zverev, too, had a relatively easy time in the Cincinnati final. He won the first four games over Andrey Rublev and finished off the seventh-ranked player in 58 minutes.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — What David Stern did for the sport of basketball transcended any gender bias and opened a whole new world for women in the game.
NBA commissioner from 1984-2014, Stern was the key figure in the formation and operation of the WNBA in 1997. That bold move paved the way for Stern, who died Jan. 1, 2020, to be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday night.
Stern was joined in the induction class by former players Tamika Catchings, Swin Cash, Lauren Jackson and Debbie Brock, along with contributors Carol Callan, Sue Donohoe and Carol Stiff.
TRACK AND FIELD
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah bested her Olympic gold-medal winning time in the 100 meters at the Prefontaine Classic, and Sha’Carri Richardson finished last in her return to the track after controversy.
Thompson-Herah ran the 100 meters Saturday in 10.54 seconds, the best time in the world this year as well as a meet record and a personal best. She topped her Olympic-record 10.61 in Tokyo as she edged closer to Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record of 10.49 set in 1988.
Fellow Jamaicans Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Sherika Jackson followed Thompson to the finish line, the same 1-2-3 finish as the Olympics.
OBITUARY
NEW YORK (AP) — Rod Gilbert, the Hall of Fame right wing who starred for the New York Rangers and helped Canada win the 1972 Summit Series, had died. He was 80.
Gilbert’s family confirmed the death to Rangers on Sunday. The team didn’t provide details.
From Montreal, Gilbert spent his entire 18-year NHL career with the Rangers. He finished with 406 goals and 615 assists in 1,065 regular-season games and 34 goals and 33 assists in 79 playoff games. He holds Rangers records for goals and points. In 1972, he had a goal and three assists in six games for Canada in its historic eight-game victory of the Soviet Union in the Summit Series.
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1982, Gilbert spent many years in the Rangers organization after his retirement as a player.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Floyd Reese, the general manager who assembled the roster for the Tennessee Titans’ lone Super Bowl appearance, died Saturday. He was 73.
His family told the team of his death. Reese had cancer and was with his family when he died at his Brentwood home just south of Nashville, according to a social media post by ESPN 102.5 The Game, the radio station where Reese worked until mid-December.
Reese spent 21 years with the Oilers-Titans as coach and executive, and he remains the winningest general manager in franchise history. He is to be inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor this season.
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