TOKYO GAMES
Kylie Masse has her second silver medal of the Tokyo Olympics. The 25-year-old from LaSalle, Ontario, came second in the women’s 200-metre backstroke, with Australians finishing in front of and behind her. Masse also took silver in the 100-metre backstroke on Tuesday. She’s expected to be part of the Canadian team in the medley relay on Sunday.
Canada’s Marco Arop led from start to finish to win his heat in the 800 metres and move onto the semifinals. The 22-year-old from Edmonton looked relaxed on the way to a time of one minute 45.26 seconds. Fellow Canadian Brandon McBride didn’t qualify for Sunday’s semis, fading down the stretch to finish sixth in his heat.
Canadian boxer Tammara Thibeault has fallen to the experienced Dutch fighter Nouchka Fontijn in the women’s middleweight quarterfinal. Fontijn, the Olympic silver medallist in 2016, ended the 24-year-old’s Olympic dream by unanimous decision after a close fight.
American B-M-X racer Connor Fields has been moved out of critical care a day after suffering a brain hemorrhage during a horrific crash at the Tokyo Olympics. Fields was injured during his third qualifying run when he slammed into the first turn and was hit by two other riders.
Simone Biles has withdrawn from two more events. The American superstar gymnast won’t compete in the finals of the vault or the uneven bars. It’s unclear whether she’ll take part in the finals for the floor exercise and balance beam as she deals with a mental health issue.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Teoscar Hernandez and Bo Bichette homered to help the Blue Jays celebrate their first game in Toronto in almost two years with a 6-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Hernandez gave the Rogers Centre crowd of 13,446 – considered a sellout under current COVID-19 restrictions – something to celebrate early, crushing a solo home run 441 feet to left field to open the second inning.
Yandy Diaz, Mike Zunino and Randy Arozarena homered and the Tampa Bay Rays moved within one-half game of A-L East-leading Boston with a 7-3 win over the Red Sox in the opener of a three-game series. Boston has had at least a share of first-place in the division since June 28th. The Red Sox or Rays have been in the top spot since April 10th.
The Washington Nationals completed their final trade of a dizzying sell-off, sending veteran left-hander Jon Lester to the St. Louis Cardinals at the deadline. Lester becomes the second experienced lefty to join St. Louis, which also acquired J.A (jay) Happ from the Minnesota Twins. The Nationals have entered a full rebuild less than two years after winning the World Series, also trading away Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Brad Hand, Daniel Hudson, Yan Gomes and Josh Harrison in a 24-hour span.
The Atlanta Braves proved in a busy day of trades they still believe they can win the N-L East. Though they entered the trade deadline one game below .500, the Braves made four trades in hopes of catching the first-place New York Mets. Atlanta added outfielders Adam Duvall, Jorge Soler and Eddie Rosario and right-handed reliever Richard Rodriguez. The Braves needed to revamp their outfield after losing Ronald Acuna (ah-KOO’-nyah) Junior to a season-ending knee injury.
Rugby Canada has fired Jamie Cudmore, a former star player in charge of developing the next generation of talent, for a series of social media posts belittling the women’s sevens team. His posts took aim at the sevens squad for its disappointing performance at the Tokyo Olympics.
Friday’s Games
MLB
American League
Toronto 6 Kansas City 4
Baltimore 4 Detroit 3
Tampa Bay 7 Boston 3
Seattle 9 Texas 5
Chicago White Sox 6 Cleveland 4
Oakland 2 L.A. Angels 0
National League
Washington 4 Chicago Cubs 3
Cincinnati 6 N.Y. Mets 2
Pittsburgh 7 Philadelphia 0
Milwaukee 9 Atlanta 5
Colorado 9 San Diego 4
Arizona 6 L.A. Dodgers 5 (10 innings)
Interleague
N.Y. Yankees 3 Miami 1
St. Louis 5 Minnesota 1
Houston 9 San Francisco 6
MLS
New York City FC 4 Columbus 1
Orlando City 3 Atlanta 2
LA Galaxy 4 Portland 1
Saturday’s Games (All Times Eastern)
MLB
American League
Kansas City (Minor 8-8) at Toronto (Manoah 2-1), 3:07 p.m.
Oakland (Irvin 7-9) at L.A. Angels (Barria 1-0), 4:05 p.m.
Baltimore (Means 4-3) at Detroit (Manning 2-3), 6:10 p.m.
Boston (Eovaldi 9-5) at Tampa Bay (Yarbrough 6-4), 6:10 p.m.
Seattle (Anderson 5-8) at Texas (Hearn 2-3), 7:05 p.m.
Cleveland (McKenzie 1-4) at Chicago White Sox (Keuchel 7-4), 7:10 p.m.
National League
Chicago Cubs (Hendricks 12-4) at Washington (TBD), 7:05 p.m.
Philadelphia (Nola 7-6) at Pittsburgh (Brubaker 4-10), 7:05 p.m.
Cincinnati (Miley 8-4) at N.Y. Mets (Hill 6-4), 7:10 p.m.
Milwaukee (Woodruff 7-5) at Atlanta (Muller 2-3), 7:20 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (TBD) at Arizona (Kelly 7-7), 8:10 p.m.
Colorado (Marquez 8-8) at San Diego (Darvish 7-5), 8:40 p.m.
Interleague
Houston (Greinke 10-3) at San Francisco (Wood 9-3), 4:05 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (German 4-5) at Miami (TBD), 6:10 p.m.
Minnesota (Ober 1-1) at St. Louis (TBD), 7:15 p.m.
MLS
San Jose at Seattle, 5 p.m.
New England at New York, 6 p.m.
D.C. United at Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.
CF Montreal at Miami, 8 p.m.
FC Dallas at Sporting Kansas City, 8:30 p.m.
Real Salt Lake at Houston, 8:30 p.m.
Colorado at Austin FC, 9 p.m.
Minnesota at Vancouver, 10 p.m.