BASEBALL
The Binghamton Rumble Ponies scored four times in the first inning and held on to beat the Portland Sea Dogs 9-6 on Friday night at Hadlock Field.
Binghamton, which has won the first four games of the series against Portland, took advantage of the wildness of Wikelman Gonzalez in the first inning. Gonzalez walked four batters, including two with the bases loaded, and hit a batter in the first. He lasted just three innings, allowing four runs on two hits, while walking five and striking out three.
Eddison Paulino was 3 for 5 with a triple, drove in three runs and scored once for Portland. Nick Yorke added three hits, an RBI and a run scored.
Kevin Parada had two hits, including a home run, drove in three runs and scored twice for the Rumble Ponies. Jaylen Palmer added a home run and two RBI, while Jeremiah Jackson also hit a solo home run.
JACKIE ROBINSON STATUE: A 45-year-old man has pleaded guilty in the theft of a bronze Jackie Robinson statue that was cut off at the ankles and found days later smoldering in a trash can in a city park in Kansas.
Ricky Alderete entered the plea during his arraignment Thursday. A judge signed off on it Friday.
HOCKEY
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: The United States lost 5-2 to Sweden in its opening match in the Czech Republic.
Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice and added an assist, and star defenseman Victor Hedman had a goal and an assist for Sweden. Filip Gustavsson made 28 saves in the Group B game in the eastern city of Ostrava.
TENNIS
ITALIAN OPEN: Novak Djokovic took a little while to get going in his first match in nearly a month.
He cleaned up his game after dropping his first two service games with some sloppy play, though, and completed a 6-3, 6-1 win over left-handed French qualifier Corentin Moutet in his opening match in Rome.
Also advancing in second-round matches were 2017 Rome champion Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov and Ben Shelton, while Nuno Borges eliminated 15th-seeded Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-4.
SOCCER
MBAPPÉ MOVING ON: Kylian Mbappé confirmed what the soccer world was long expecting to hear, announcing he is leaving Paris Saint-Germain ahead of a widely expected move to Real Madrid.
Mbappé said on X that his final home game for PSG will be on Sunday against Toulouse.
“I never thought it would be this difficult to leave my country,” he said in the video post. “I think I needed this, a new challenge after seven years.”
CYLING
GIRO d’ITALIA: It looks as though no one will stop Tadej Pogacar from winning the Giro d’Italia on his debut, despite there being two weeks left of the Italian grand tour.
Pogacar blew everyone away on the seventh stage in winning the lengthy individual time trial and strengthened his grip on the pink jersey.
The Slovenian star extended his overall lead to 2 minutes, 36 seconds over Daniel Martinez, and 2:46 over Geraint Thomas, who had been second at the start of the day, 46 seconds behind Pogacar.
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