BASEBALL
Madison Stokes hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the third inning and finished with three RBI to lead the Reading Fightin Phils to an 8-3 win Friday night against the Portland Sea Dogs at Hadlock Field.
Danny Santana continued his rehab assignment with Portland, playing center field and going 2 for 3 with a home run. Roldani Baldwin and Ronaldo Hernández also recorded two hits and an RBI for the Sea Dogs, who have lost six in a row, including four straight to Reading.
Bryson Stott and Matt Kroon homered for the Fightin Phils off Denyi Reyes (3-2), who allowed six earned runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings.
SOCCER
ENGLAND: Cristiano Ronaldo is heading back to Manchester United, the team that turned him into a global superstar.
In a fast-moving deal that stunned the world of soccer, Ronaldo secured a return to Old Trafford on Friday – a day after telling Juventus he no longer wanted to play for the Italian club.
“Welcome back, Cristiano,” read a tweet posted by United. Within minutes, the club’s official website had crashed.
Ronaldo is 36, a completely different player to the skinny, outrageously skillful 17-year-old winger who first arrived at United from Sporting Lisbon in 2003 with a box of tricks but little end product. In the following six years, he scored 118 goals in 292 appearances and swiftly became one of the most fearsome strikers in the world, winning the first of his five FIFA world player of the year awards.
Ronaldo will join for a fee of 15 million euros ($17.7 million), with 8 million euros ($9.4 million) in add-ons. The transfer is subject to agreement of personal terms, visa and a medical examination.
WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS: The Spanish league filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport to defend its clubs after they blocked players from taking part in World Cup qualifiers in South America. The league said in a statement that it will also file a lawsuit against FIFA in Swiss courts “for infraction of competition rules.”
FIFA is infringing its “own statutes and regulations” by forcing teams to release players for World Cup qualifiers for more than 10 days, the league said, which would keep them from returning in time to play for their clubs in the league. FIFA extended the international window next month to allow South American teams to play a third World Cup qualifier less than two days before domestic leagues are due to resume in Europe.
“LaLiga presents this case before the CAS in order to defend the integrity of its competition and the rights of its clubs affected by players being called up for international duty during the upcoming CONMEBOL international match calendar in September and October, which has been extended by two days,” the league said.
It’s not yet clear if CAS will find the league’s appeal admissible. The court could throw it out saying it doesn’t have jurisdiction over the issue. The Spanish league went to CAS a day after saying its clubs would not be releasing their players to South American nations.
TENNIS
U.S. OPEN: Spectators now must show proof of at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to attend U.S. Open matches, a change made less than 72 hours before the tennis tournament starts.
The U.S. Tennis Association announced that the New York City mayor’s office decided to require proof of vaccination to go into Arthur Ashe Stadium, the main arena at the National Tennis Center.
The USTA then opted to extend that rule to cover all ticket-holders who are 12 and older and enter the grounds during the two-week Grand Slam tournament that begins Monday. The event is returning to 100% capacity after all fans were banned from attending a year ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.
BILLIE JEAN KING CUP: The twice-postponed finals of the Billie Jean King Cup will be played in Prague from Nov. 1-6, the International Tennis Federation. The tournament, formerly known as the Fed Cup, was originally scheduled to take place in Budapest, Hungary, in April 2020 but was postponed for 12 months when the coronavirus pandemic was declared. In February, it was postponed again.
Organizers were then forced to find a new host when Budapest backed out in May, citing lingering COVID-19 concerns. Canada will replace Hungary in the 12-team competition, which will be played at the 02 Arena on indoor hard courts.
BASKETBALL
NBA: The Cavaliers are acquiring Lauri Markkanen, a restricted free agent forward from the Bulls, in a three-way trade that will send forward Larry Nance Jr. from Cleveland to Portland, a person familiar with the deal told the Associated Press.
Markkanen is coming to the Cavs in a sign-and-trade agreement, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because it needs NBA approval before it can be completed. It could be a few more days before the trade becomes official. Markkanen, 24, will receive a four-year, $67.4 million contract.
The Bulls are getting swingman Derrick Jones Jr. from the Trail Blazers along with a lottery-protected 2022 first-round pick.
HOCKEY
NHL: The Minnesota Wild signed defenseman Jordie Benn to a one-year, $900,000 contract, adding another veteran option after an offseason of change on the blue line.
Benn, 34, had one goal, nine assists and a plus-7 rating over 39 games with the Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets last season.
COLLEGES
MEN’S BASKETBALL: West Virginia’s Bob Huggins has agreed to a two-year contract extension that includes the option for him to step aside or continue coaching after the 2023-24 season.
Huggins, who turns 68 next month, will earn $4.15 million in each of the next three seasons.
• The University of Louisville said it is suspending Coach Chris Mack for six games for failing to follow procedures in handling an extortion attempt by one of his assistants.
Mack’s former assistant, Dino Gaudio, pleaded guilty in June to a federal charge of attempted extortion. Gaudio was sentenced in federal court Friday to probation and a $10,000 fine for the attempted extortion.
AUTO RACING
XFINITY: Friday’s race at Daytona International Speedway was postponed because of heavy rain.
The 100-lap event will resume at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, about seven hours before the Cup Series regular-season finale.
FORMULA ONE: Sergio Perez is staying with Red Bull next year on a one-year contract extension. Perez replaced Alexander Albon at Red Bull this season and won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June for his second career victory.
“It’s a great opportunity for me,” Perez said. “It always takes time to get on top of everything when you join a new team, but things have worked well.”
His first F1 victory was with his former team Racing Point at the Sakhir GP in Bahrain last December. Perez, 31, waited 190 races to win and also ended a 50-year wait for a Mexican driver to stand on top of the podium.
Perez is fifth in this season’s standings after 11 races. He followed his win in Azerbaijan with a third-place finish at the French GP for his 12th career podium.
• Red Bull driver Max Verstappen led the second practice for the Belgian Grand Prix. He was .041 seconds ahead of Valtteri Bottas and .072 clear of Bottas’ Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time defending Formula One champion.
CYCLING
SPANISH VUELTA: Florian Senechal outdueled Matteo Trentin to win the 13th stage in Villanueva de la Serena, Spain, with Odd Christian Eiking of Norway keeping the overall lead for another day.
Senechal, a French rider, beat Trentin in the final sprint of the 126-mile flat stage from Belmez to Villanueva de la Serena in southwestern Spain.
The top five riders in the general classification finished together 11 seconds back, with Eiking keeping his gap of nearly one minute over Guillaume Martin. Two-time defending champion Primoz Roglic stayed third overall, almost two minutes off the lead.
PARALYMPICS
TOKYO GAMES: Cycling medalist Marcin Polak of Poland has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for doping, the International Cycling Union said.
Polak tested positive for the banned endurance-booster EPO in a sample taken in Poland three weeks before the Tokyo Paralympics opened.
He could be stripped of the bronze medal he won in the men’s B 4,000-meter individual pursuit on Wednesday – the day the testing laboratory in Warsaw notified the UCI of the positive test.
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