Big day for Piazza and Griffey Jr.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza (pee-AHT'-zuh) are the newest members of Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. In his first year of eligibility, Griffey was named on 437 of 440 possible ballots. Piazza, who was in his fourth year of eligibility, was named on 365 ballots.

2016 Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Getty Images
loading...

Griffey played 22 years in the big leagues and finished with 630 home runs. He began his career with the Mariners and finished it with the team he grew up watching, Cincinnati. He was selected to the All-Star game 13 times and won 10 Gold Gloves.

Piazza was drafted by the Dodgers in the 62nd round, perhaps the finest 62nd round draft pick in history. A first baseman in college, he moved behind the plate with L.A. and finished his career as one of the best-hitting catchers in baseball. He also played for the Marlins before landing with the Mets, the team he is best known for having played for. He posted a career batting average of .308 and is fourth all-time in runs driven in by catchers. He was named to 12 All-Star games.

MLB-BLUE JAYS

Reliever Storen cut

TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto Blue Jays have cut relief pitcher Drew Storen and recalled right-hander Ryan Tepera from Triple-A Buffalo. The Jays acquired Storen from Washington in January for outfielder Ben Revere with the hope of using him at the back-end of their bullpen. Instead, Storen went 1-3 with a 6.21 ERA and three saves in 38 games for the Blue Jays.

MLB-SALE

White Sox not on Sale for 5 days

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale has been suspended five days without pay for destroying collared throwback uniforms the team was scheduled to wear Saturday.

The White Sox announced the punishment a day after the 14-game winner was scratched from his scheduled start and sent home.

The suspension comes to $250,000 of Sale's $9.15 million salary. He was also fined about $12,700, the cost of the destroyed jerseys, according to a person familiar with the penalty. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because no statements were authorized.

Sale is eligible to pitch Thursday when the White Sox are scheduled to play the crosstown Cubs at Wrigley Field.

MLB-SCHEDULE

White Sox sweep Tigers...Free fall continues for World Series champs

UNDATED (AP) — The Chicago White Sox are making the best of life without suspended pitcher Chris Sale. How does two victories in a span of five hours sound?

Adam Eaton's game-winning single in the ninth inning lifted the White Sox to a 4-3 victory over the Tigers in the completion of a game that was started on Saturday. The game was interrupted three times by thunderstorms on Saturday before getting suspended after eight innings tied at 3. Once it resumed, it didn't take long for the White Sox to end it.

Chicago also won the regularly scheduled game, 5-4. Melky Cabrera drove in Eaton with a game-ending single in the ninth inning after closer David Robertson gave up three home runs in the top half the ninth. Robertson got victories in both games.

In other baseball:

— The Orioles completed a three-game sweep of the Indians with a 5-3 win. The O's won the game in the bottom of the ninth when pinch-hitter Nolan Reimold (RY'-mohld) hit a two-out homer off closer Cody Allen. The Orioles, who lead the American League East, took the season series from Cleveland, who leads the AL Central, 5-1. Baltimore maintained its game and a-half lead over Boston in the closest division race in baseball.

— Rick Porcello became the first Boston pitcher in 55 years to open a season 10-0 in Fenway Park, and Hanley Ramirez and Travis Shaw both hit a three-run homer as the Red Sox beat the Twins 8-7 to earn a split of a four-game series. Dustin Pedroia hit a tiebreaking solo homer and Xander Bogaerts had three singles for Boston, which won its 10th time in 13 games.

—Paul Goldschmidt's solo home run in the fifth inning gave Arizona the lead for good as the Diamondbacks held off the Reds 9-8. For the game the D-Backs had four home runs and the win snapped a four-game losing skid.

— The free fall of the world champion Royals continues. They have lost 13 of 19 games this month to fall one game under .500 on the season at 48-49. The most recent loss was a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Rangers. Delino DeShields homered in the seventh to break a tie as Texas won.

— The San Diego Padres hit back-to-back homers off Shawn Kelley in the eighth inning and scored four runs off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth to beat the Washington Nationals 10-6. The Padres won two of three against the Nats to earn theirs first series victory over the Nationals since May 2011. When he was taken out of the game Papelbon was booed soundly. He had made even scoreless appearances since returning from the disabled list earlier this month.

— Jose Altuve (al-TOO'-vay) is developing into a power hitter. He had two of Houston's season-high five homers and had a career-high six RBIs to lead the Astros to a 13-3 win over the Angels for a three-game sweep. Altuve now has a nine game hitting streak. His 17 homers are a career high and he leads the majors with a .360 average.

— J.A. Happ and three relievers combined on a one-hitter and Edwin Encarnacion (ehn-kar-nah-see-OHN') hit a solo home run as the Blue Jays beat the Mariners 2-0 to avoid a three-game sweep. Happ, who is 13-3, won his eighth straight decision and set a career-high for victories. The left-hander allowed Seattle's lone hit, a single by Leonys Martin in the third. Brett Cecil worked the seventh, Jason Grilli pitched the eighth and Roberto Osuna finished for his 20th save.

— Steven Matz pitched six innings for his first win since May as the Mets took the rubber game of their series against Miami, 3-0. Matz allowed four hits, walked two and struck out six. Pitching despite a bone spur in his elbow, he had been 0-5 in his past nine starts with an ERA of 4.73. The Mets won two of three games in the series and returned home trailing second-place Miami by half a game in the NL East.

— Nathan Eovaldi (ee-VAHL'-dee) pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning, Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira (teh-SHEHR'-uh) hit early solo home runs and the Yankees beat the Giants 5-2 to complete a 6-4 homestand. Making his second start following a brief bullpen banishment, Eovaldi carried a five-hitter into the seventh.

— Anthony Rizzo hit a three-run double in the seventh inning and the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-5.

— Colorado topped Atlanta 7-2. Trevor Story lined his fourth homer in three games to give him 27 on the year. Tyler Chatwood allowed one hit over five erratic innings to improve to 9-6. The Rockies have beaten the Braves five straight times at Coors Field.

—Billy Butler hit a tiebreaking home run off Erasmo Ramirez with one out in the eighth inning and the Oakland Athletics finished a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-2.

— Adam Frazier's pinch-hit home run in the seventh inning powered the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 victory over Philadelphia.

— In the Sunday night game, the L.A. Dodgers jumped on St. Louis starter Mike Mayers for nine runs in an inning and a-third and beat the Cardinals 9-6. Adrian Gonzalez and Howie Kendrick homered for the Dodgers. Scott Kazmir went five innings and got the win for the Dodgers.

OLYMPICS

IOC punts on Russians

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Olympic officials have failed to back up the findings of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Officials from the International Olympic Committee failed to impose a complete ban on Russia from the Rio de Janeiro Games, assigning individual global sports federations the responsibility to decide which athletes should be cleared to compete.

The decision, announced after a three-hour meeting via teleconference of the IOC's executive board, came just 12 days before the Aug. 5 opening of the games.

The IOC rejected calls from the World Anti-Doping Agency and dozens of other anti-doping bodies to exclude the entire Russian Olympic team following allegations of state-sponsored cheating.

The head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, says "the IOC has refused to take decisive leadership."

Other leaders of sports and the anti-doping movement also ripped the move by the IOC.

NASCAR-BRICKYARD

Weekend sweep for Kyle Busch at the Brickyard

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kyle Busch won the Brickyard 400 to make it clean sweep at Indianapolis. He beat Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth to the finish line by 2.126 seconds. Jimmie Johnson was third.

Busch is the first NASCAR driver to sweep the Xfinity Series and Sprint Cup poles and races on the same weekend. He also joined Johnson as the only Cup drivers with back-to-back wins on Indy' 2.5-mile oval. Johnson won in 2008 and 2009.

Tony Stewart was 11th in his final Brickyard race after being assessed a late penalty for speeding on pit road.

Five-time race winner Jeff Gordon finished 13th after coming out of retirement to replace the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt is fighting concussion-like symptoms and has not yet been cleared by doctors to drive.

F1-HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX

Another win for Lewis

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix for a record fifth time. And in doing so, he took over the world championship standings from teammate Nico (NEE'-koh) Rosberg, who finished second. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo (rih-KAHR'-doh) was third, followed by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

Hamilton now has five F1 victories this season for 192 points, while Rosberg has 186 points and Ricciardo 115.

GOLF-CANADIAN OPEN

Vegas gets the win

OAKVILLE, Ontario (AP) — Jhonattan Vegas has his second win on the PGA Tour. He finished 12-under to edge three players, including Dustin Johnson, to win by one stroke. Vegas birdied the final three holes and had a final round 8-under-64 to clinch the win.

GOLF-SENIOR BRITISH OPEN

Broadhurst wins

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (AP) — Paul Broadhurst won the Senior British Open in Scotland. He shot a final-round 4-under 68 to finish 11 shots under par, two in front of Scott McCarron. Tied for third were third-round leader Miguel Angel (AHN'-hehl) Jimenez and Magnus Atlevi Persson at 8-under.

GOLF-LPGA

Americans rally

GURNEE, Ill. (AP) — Cristie Kerr held on for a 3-and-2 victory over England's Melissa Reid to give the United States the UL International Crown title.

Kerr and company were shut out in the first session of the LPGA Tour event, but got progressively better each day. Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller each closed out wins before Reid missed a birdie putt on 16, handing the decisive victory to Kerr.

TOUR DE FRANCE

Froome finishes first

PARIS (AP) — Britain's Chris Froome is celebrating his third Tour de France title. The Kenyan-born Froome finished the last stage safely back of the main pack but in front overall. He has won the annual race three of the last four years.

The winner of the last stage was Andre Greipel of Germany.

TENNIS

Williams pulls out of Rogers Cup

MONTREAL (AP) — Serena Williams had to pull out of the Rogers Cup in Montreal because of shoulder inflammation. The three-time Rogers Cup champion was seeded first in the hard-court tournament and was set to have a bye in the first round. Williams is coming off her seventh Wimbledon title earlier this month. The win tied Steffi Graf's record of 22 Grand Slam titles.

 

More From KROC-AM