BASEBALL

The Portland Sea Dogs won their fourth straight game to start the Eastern League season, beating the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 9-7 Tuesday night at Manchester, New Hampshire.

Matthew Lugo was 2 for 5 with four RBI for Portland, which opened the season with three home wins against Binghamton.

Ceddanne Rafaela was 1 for 3 and scored three runs for the Sea Dogs.

Nick Yorke also scored three times for the Sea Dogs.

Reliever Rio Gomez got the win, pitching 2 1/3 scoreless innings with six strikeouts.

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Sea Dogs pitchers allowed six hits, but also walked nine.

Steward Berroa had a homer for the Fisher Cats.

SOCCER

MLS: Portland Timbers midfielder Eryk Williamson will have season-ending surgery Wednesday to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

The team said Williamson’s recovery time is expected to be approximately nine months. Dr. Richard Edelson will operate in Portland.

Williamson, 25, last played on April 1 — going a full 90 minutes at Dallas.

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•  Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan is expected to miss up to three months after suffering a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at New York City FC.

PREMIER LEAGUE: The Premier League will hold an offseason tournament in the United States this summer featuring six teams.

Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Fulham, Brighton and Brentford will play in the nine-match “summer series” in July, the league announced.

The matches will be played from July 22-30 in Atlanta, Orlando, Philadelphia, as well as in Harrison, New Jersey, and Landover, Maryland.

Chelsea and Brighton will kick off the tournament at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on July 22.

U.S WOMEN: Alana Cook scored her first international goal on her 26th birthday and the United States beat Ireland 1-0 in an exhibition at St. Louis as the teams prepare for the Women’s World Cup this summer.

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It was the Americans’ first game without Mallory Swanson, who tore the patellar tendon in her left knee during Saturday’s game against Ireland in Austin, Texas.

Swanson was the top scorer for the U.S. this year with seven goals. She had scored in six straight games, tied for fourth-longest streak in team history.

FOOTBALL

NFL: The Detroit Lions aggressively improved one of their weaknesses this offseason, signing a trio of defensive backs from other teams and keeping a pair of their own to bolster the secondary.

Those moves, at least in part, made cornerback Jeff Okudah expendable.

Detroit is trading Okudah to the Atlanta Falcons for a fifth-round pick, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.

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Detroit drafted the former Ohio State star with the No. 3 overall pick in 2020, and injuries have stunted his career. Hamstring and shoulder ailments limited him to nine games as a rookie and he had a season-ending Achilles tendon injury one game into his second season.

Okudah stayed healthy and started in 15 games last year, showing signs of promise as a run-stopping cornerback and struggling at times under second-year coach Dan Campbell. He had his first interceptions last season, forced his first fumble and made 73 tackles.

Lions GM Brad Holmes, who did not draft Okudah, likely was eager to make the trade to avoid paying him more than $10 million in 2023 possibly to be a backup.

Holmes began revamping the secondary last month by signing former Pittsburgh Steelers standout Cameron Sutton to a $33 million, three-year contract. He went on to add ex-Philadelphia Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson on an $8 million, one-year deal and former San Francisco 49ers cornerback Emmanuel Moseley on a one-year, $6 million deal.

• With five months until kickoff, YouTube TV announced prices and some of the features it is planning in its first season as the home of “NFL Sunday Ticket.”

Early-season pricing for current YouTube TV subscribers will range from $249 to $289 while it will be $349 to $389 for non-subscribers who will access it through YouTube Primetime Channels.

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The NFL reached a seven-year agreement with Google last December to distribute the package of out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on CBS and Fox.

The early-season pricing lasts through June 6. Prices will rise $100 after that. The average price of “Sunday Ticket” when it was on DirecTV was $400.

YouTube TV’s “Sunday Ticket” will include a multiview option, where viewers will be able to watch as many as four games at the same time.

TENNIS

MONTE CARLO MASTERS: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic looked rusty as he started his clay-court season with a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win against qualifier Ivan Gakhov at Monaco.

The two-time Monte Carlo champion had not played since losing to Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the Dubai Championships five weeks ago, which ended the Australian Open champion’s 20-match winning streak.

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The 35-year-old Djokovic struggled with consistency in the first set and took time to find his marks on the slow surface. He played more aggressively in the second set and broke for 3-2, then did not look back to reach the third round.

Djokovic’s next opponent will be either Lorenzo Musetti or Luca Nardi.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, aiming for a third consecutive title at the Country Club, advanced after Benjamin Bonzi retired because of a wrist injury just 22 minutes into their match, with the two-time defending champion leading 4-1.

Alexander Zverev also started his clay season with a win but dropped a set in a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Alexander Bublik.

Two-time semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov also advanced by beating American Ben Shelton 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.


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