BASEBALL

Fisher Cats beat Sea Dogs on sacrifice fly in eighth

Jason Leblebijian hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats defeated the Portland Sea Dogs 4-3 Monday at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Portland’s Yoan Moncada led off the game with a single and scored on a two-run home run by Nate Freiman to put the Sea Dogs (30-53) up 2-0. Frieman’s homer was his team-leading eighth of the season.

The Fisher Cats (37-47) scored in the third on Leblebijian’s RBI single that scored Jorge Saez. Emilio Guerrero doubled to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning, and the Fisher Cats took a 3-2 lead later in the inning on a two-run home run by Shane Opitz.

With the game tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Leblebijian’s sacrifice fly drove in Roemon Fields to score the go-ahead run. Chris Smith picked up his third save of the season, retiring the Sea Dogs in order in the ninth.

Advertisement

Ty Buttrey (0-7) recorded the loss, giving up one earned run in two innings of relief.

Matt Dermody (2-0) got the win, striking out two batters in 12/3 innings pitched.

CYCLING

TOUR DE FRANCE: Mark Cavendish showed off his sprinting experience by edging German rival Andre Greipel in a photo finish to win the third stage at Angers, France.

World champion Peter Sagan held the yellow jersey he claimed a day earlier.

It was Cavendish’s second victory in this Tour and 28th overall, matching Bernard Hinault for second on the all-time list behind Eddy Merckx, who had 34 stage wins.

Advertisement

On a very slightly uphill finish, Cavendish kept pedaling to the line while Greipel, who was ahead, put his head down a bit too early.

Neither rider knew who won immediately.

Greipel started celebrating but then quickly changed his mind. Cavendish looked around with a blank stare until victory was confirmed.

GOLF

OLYMPICS: Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama is pulling out of the Olympics because of the Zika virus, making him the seventh golfer to cite the mosquito-borne virus for sitting out golf’s return to the Olympics after 112 years.

Matsuyama won the Phoenix Open earlier this year for his second PGA Tour victory.

Advertisement

SOCCER

EURO 2016: Germany Coach Joachim Loew is drawing on the experience of routing World Cup host Brazil 7-1 two years ago as he prepares for Thursday’s European Championship semifinal against France. Loew said the home side will have “fanatical support behind them in Marseille” and realizes the team will be high on confidence after growing into the tournament by scoring decisive goals late in games.

SPAIN: Vicente del Bosque, 65, confirmed he is stepping down as Spain’s coach following its failed attempt to retain its European Championship crown after a 2-0 loss to Italy last week.

VOLLEYBALL

CUBA: Finnish police released two members of Cuba’s national men’s volleyball team but are holding six others on suspicion of aggravated rape, an investigator said.

Police will request that a regional court on Tuesday order the six men to be remanded in custody to continue the investigation before any possible charges, said Joni Lansipuro, a Central Finland Police Department officer.

– From staff and news services


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.