CINCINNATI --Brady Singer tossed six shutout innings as the visiting Kansas City Royals completed a dominating three-game sweep Sunday with an 8-1 rout of the Cincinnati Reds. Singer (9-8), who snapped a personal two-game skid, was not bothered by a 45-minute rain delay, limiting the Reds to just five singles over his six innings, striking out six and walking one. Vinnie Pasquantino drove in three for the Royals, who had 41 hits and outscored the Reds 28-3 in the series, their eighth sweep of at least three games this season. After sweeping the rival St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game series to open the homestand, the Reds could manage only a single run in each of the three losses to the Royals. Cincinnati starter Andrew Abbott (10-10) was charged with four runs and six hits over five innings. The left-hander did not have the same luck with the delay, surrendering two runs in the third and two more in the fifth, including a 413-foot homer to center by Dairon Blanco. The regular ninth-place hitter in the Kansas City lineup, Blanco entered the weekend with just one homer and five RBIs. He belted three homers while driving in eight over the final two games. With heavy rain quickly soaking the exposed field, umpire crew chief Lance Barksdale ordered out the tarp when Singer lost control of a breaking ball and hit Jeimer Candelario on the back leg leading off the second. Following the 45-minute rain delay, the Royals broke through in the third when Blanco reached on a bunt single, stole second and scored on a Pasquantino single. Salvador Perez scored another with a sacrifice fly. The Reds had a golden opportunity to rally in the seventh when Sam Long relieved Singer. The right-hander walked three straight, including Luke Maile on a timer violation. His walk to Jonathan India with the bases loaded made it 4-1. But Lucas Erceg came on to strike out Elly De La Cruz and Spencer Steer in succession to end the threat.
SCOTTLAND--Minjee Lee of Australia carded a bogey-free, 5-under-par 67 to rise to the top of the first-round leaderboard at the ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open on Thursday in Ayrshire, Scotland.
LOS ANGELES- - The Olympic flag arrived on Monday in Los Angeles, where it will be flown in 2028 when the city hosts the next Summer Games. The flag arrived aboard a Delta Airlines jet carrying American athletes and officials, and painted with "LA28" and palm trees on its side.
MINNEAPOLIS --Paul DeJong went 3-for-3 with a double and a solo homer, and the Kansas City Royals pulled away for a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon in Minneapolis. Bobby Witt Jr. finished 2-for-4 with a solo homer for the Royals, who avoided a three-game sweep by winning the series finale. Kyle Isbel and Vinnie Pasquantino also drove in one run apiece. Carlos Santana hit a solo homer for Minnesota's lone run. Royals left-hander Cole Ragans (10-7) limited the Twins to one run on five hits in seven innings. He walked none, struck out eight and fired 67 of 106 pitches for strikes. Twins right-hander Louie Varland (0-5) remained winless in his seventh start. He allowed three runs on eight hits in six innings, and he walked one and fanned three. Royals right-hander Lucas Erceg pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his fifth save. The Royals started the scoring in the top of the second. DeJong hit a one-out double, advanced to third on Freddy Fermin's single and scored on Isbel's groundout. Witt led off the third inning with a solo homer to increase the Royals' lead to 2-0. He worked the count full before belting a 398-foot shot to left-center field. The blast marked Witt Jr.'s second homer of the series and his 24th homer of the season. The Twins got on the scoreboard during the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, Santana hit a solo shot to left for his 16th homer. In the sixth, DeJong joined the power surge with a solo homer to left-center field to make it 3-1 in favor of the Royals. The 435-foot blast marked his 20th homer of the season and his second since joining Kansas City before the trade deadline. Pasquantino provided the final run for the Royals in the seventh. He hit an RBI double to left to drive in Maikel Garcia from third base.
SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France- - Harrie Lavreysen cemented his status as the king of men's track cycling with the Dutchman completing a golden hat-trick as the curtain came down on seven days of fast and furious racing at the Olympic velodrome on Sunday. The 27-year-old had already emulated his sprint and team sprint titles from Tokyo but this time the man nicknamed The Beast went one better as he pedalled to victory in the keirin as well. With an army of orange-clad Dutch fans roaring him on, he poured on the power as the bell rang for the final lap and held off Australia's Matthew Richardson. "It's incredible, this was my biggest dream to go for gold three times," Lavreysen, who cloaked himself in a Dutch flag before kissing the wooden boards, said of his feat. "I felt really strong the full week. This morning, I thought, 'It is possible' - but I needed to ride the perfect final, and I was really close (to perfect) until the end." Lavreysen was not the only rider to add to their gold collection on a frenetic final day of action. Ellesse Andrews continued re-writing New Zealand cycling history as she became the nation's first Olympic track sprint gold medallist, adding to her gold in the keirin. American Jennifer Valente retained her Olympic omnium title, having also been part of the U.S. team pursuit triumph. Lavreysen's heroics meant the Netherlands finished top of the track cycling medals table in terms of golds won with three, followed by New Zealand and the United States with two apiece. Britain, for so long the dominant force on the boards, won the most medals, eight, but only one gold -- the lowest number since they also managed one in Sydney in 2000. Lavreysen missed out on a hat-trick in Tokyo when he could only finish third in the keirin. When he qualified behind Richardson in the first semi-final on Sunday, some of his fans might have feared history would repeat itself. BUSINESS AS USUAL Come the final, however, it was business as usual for the former BMX rider as he emulated British sprint greats Chris Hoy (2008) and Jason Kenny (2016) by winning all three sprint golds on offer at a single Games. He is also the first male Dutch athlete to win five Olympic golds with only speed skater Ireen Wust (6) ahead of him. Lavreysen's hat-trick moment was overshadowed by crash involving Malaysia's Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom, Japan's Shinji Nakano and Britain's Jack Carlin, who were all sent tumbling across the track, although all walked away. Australian Matthew Glaetzer grabbed the bronze. If Lavreysen has dominated the men's events, New Zealand's Andrews reigned supreme in the women's. She comfortably beat Britain's world champion Emma Finucane in the semi-final and then outclassed German favourite Lea Freidrich in the final -- winning both matches 2-0. "It's been a massive week, and I'm just so proud of how I've managed to carry myself to the end of the competition," Andrew, whose keirin gold on Thursday was the first Olympics track title in 20 years for New Zealand, said. Finucane beat Dutch rider Hetty van de Wouw for bronze -- the 21-year-old becoming the first British woman to win three medals at one Games since Mary Bignal-Rand in 1964. "I left my heart out on the track," Finucane, who powered Britain to its only gold in the team sprint, said. Valente was dominant across the multi-discipline omnium, winning the scratch and elimination races and having a comfortable cushion ahead of the points race. "I don't think an omnium race is ever under control, a lot of things can happen," the 29-year-old said. "I just took each race as a stand-alone and came out swinging for each one." Poland's Daria Pikulik ended with the silver medal and New Zealand's Ally Wollaston was third.
