BASEBALL
The Portland Sea Dogs won an Eastern League doubleheader Friday, beating the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 6-2 and 7-3 in nine innings at Manchester, New Hampshire.
Portland has started the second half of the season with three wins.
In the opener, the bottom four in the batting order went 5 for 12 with six RBI.
No. 6 hitter Phillip Sikes was 1 for 2 with an RBI, Matthew Lugo 2 for 3 with an RBI, Corey Rosier 1 for 4 with two RBI and Elih Marrero 1 for 3 with two RBI.
Grant Gambrell (2-2) pitched five innings and allowed two runs and six hits. He struck out five and walked two.
In the second game, Portland tied the game at 2 in the top of the seventh. Each team scored once in the eighth. The Sea Dogs added four runs in the ninth. Marcelo Mayer had an RBI double in the ninth.
NECBL: The Sanford Mainers beat the Vermont Mountaineers for the first time in four tries this season, 8-3 at Montpelier, Vermont.
Maine was 0-3 against Vermont, which outscored the Mainers, 31-10.
Calvin Hewett was 2 for 5 with a home run and two RBI.
Seamus Barrett pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs and four hits. He walked two and struck out 10.
MEDIA
ESPN: Jeff Van Gundy, Suzy Kolber, Jalen Rose and Steve Young are among roughly 20 ESPN commentators and reporters who were laid off as part of job cuts by the network.
ESPN had planned this additional round involving on-air talent to prevent further reductions to off-air staff after two rounds of mandated cuts by its corporate owner, the Walt Disney Company.
Disney CEO Bob Iger announced in February that the company would reduce 7,000 jobs either through not filling positions or layoffs.
Van Gundy had been the network’s top NBA analyst since 2007 and recently completed calling a record 17th NBA Finals. Kolber was a longtime ESPN veteran, including being the co-host of a nightly show when ESPN2 debuted in 1993.
GOLF
PGA: Taylor Moore and Taylor Pendrith shared the Rocket Mortgage Classic lead at 13 under, hoping to hold off a veteran trying to end a victory drought and a promising young pro aiming for his first PGA Tour victory at Detroit.
Pendrith shot an 8-under 64 at Detroit Golf Club, one off the tournament record. Moore, who began the day tied with Monday qualifier Peter Kuest, had a 67 to match Pendrith at 13-under 131.
Rickie Fowler (65) and former top-ranked amateur Ludvig Aberg (67) were a shot back after two straight solid rounds.
• The PGA Tour is returning to Utah next year for the first time since 1963, adding to its fall schedule as it switches back to a calendar year.
The Black Desert Championship makes its debut in the fall of 2024. The FedEx Cup Fall is for players trying to secure PGA Tour cards for the following season or acquire enough points to qualify for some of the $20 million tournaments.
It’s the second new tournament to the 2024 schedule. The PGA Tour previously announced the Myrtle Beach Classic next spring, which would be held the same week as an elevated event.
U.S. SENIOR OPEN: Bernhard Langer has been able to avoid most of the trouble at SentryWorld in the U.S. Senior Open. He still was far from unscathed in a 3-under 68 that gave him the second-round lead.
Langer had six birdies and three bogeys a day after having a birdie and a bogey in an opening 71. On Friday, he hit 12 of 14 fairways on the Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed course with thick rough and tricky, inconsistent greens. At 3-under 139, he was one of only five players under par.
First-round leader Rod Pampling was a stroke back, following an opening 68 with a 72. The 53-year-old Australian had a birdie and two bogeys in the afternoon session.
Home-state favorite Jerry Kelly (70) was 1 under with two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen (71) and Dicky Pride (69).
LIV: Jason Kokrak had to go through four countries over three days to reach Spain and then managed a 4-under 67 to share the lead with Dustin Johnson in LIV Golf-Valderrama at Sotogrande, Spain.
Johnson was coming off a tie for 10th in the U.S. Open two weeks ago for his best finish in a major this year. He played bogey-free over his last 16 holes at Valderrama as he goes for his second LIV win this year.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: Allisha Gray scored 26 points, Rhyne Howard had 14 points and eight assists and the Atlanta Dream beat the visiting Washington Mystics 94-89.
• Alanna Smith scored 18 points, Courtney Williams got her first career triple-double and the Chicago Sky beat the visiting Los Angeles Sparks for the second straight game, 86-78.
• A’ja Wilson has signed a two-year extension with the Las Vegas Aces, the team announced.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: Reigning Formula One champion Max Verstappen topped qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg, Austria, to clinch his fourth straight pole position.
The runaway championship leader put his Red Bull on pole for the sixth time this season and 26th overall. He finished a narrow 0.048 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, whose teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. had the third-quickest time.
TENNIS
EASTBOURNE INTERNATIONAL: Madison Keys advanced to the final by beating seventh-ranked Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-3.
It was Keys’ first grass-court victory over a top-10 player since beating Angelique Kerber for the Eastbourne title in 2014.
Keys will next face ninth-seeded Daria Kasatkina, who beat Camila Giorgi 6-2, 7-5.
In the men’s semifinals, fourth-seeded Francisco Cerundolo was on the brink of beating American Mackenzie MacDonald when rain stopped play. Cerundolo led 2-6, 7-5, 5-2 when the match was halted. It will resume Saturday, when Tommy Paul will also play Gregiore Barrere in the other semifinal.
BAD HOMBURG OPEN: Top-ranked Iga Swiatek withdrew from the tournament with a fever and possible food poisoning, three days before the start of Wimbledon.
Swiatek was scheduled to play in her first career grass-court semifinal match against Lucia Bronzetti, who gets a walkover to Saturday’s final.
Bronzetti will play Katerina Siniakova in the final after Siniakova won two matches in one day.
Siniakova completed a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 win over second-seeded Liudmila Samsonova in a quarterfinal match that resumed after it was suspended Thursday following the second set because of fading light.
The Czech player was back on court soon after to earn a 6-2, 6-2 win over American player Emma Navarro in just over an hour.
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