CHICAGO (AP) — Lance Lynn pitched four-hit ball through seven innings, Elvis Andrus hit a tiebreaking home run in the fifth and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 to snap a five-game losing streak. Lynn (4-5), who was reinstated from the bereavement list before the game, didn’t walk a batter and struck out eight for the fifth time this season. The Royals had scored 24 runs in their previous two games. Chicago (64-66) won for the first time under bench coach Miguel Cairo, who served his second game as acting manager while Tony La Russa is on indefinite leave for an unspecified health issue. The Royals (53-78) lost for the third time in five games. Rookie Bobby Witt hit his 19th home run.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Albert Pujols hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 13th inning, Lars Nootbaar added a two-run homer and the St. Louis Cardinals twice used five-man infields to stop the Cincinnati Reds and pull out a 5-3 win. In his final game in Cincinnati, Pujols shook off going hitless in five at-bats to deliver against Chase Anderson, driving in automatic runner Paul Goldschmidt with one out. Nootbaar went deep two batters later. The Cardinals used five infielders to get out of jams in the 11th and 12th innings, helping Andre Pallante get the win. Pallante worked the final three innings.
ATLANTA (AP) — Kyle Wright pitched seven scoreless innings to earn his major league-leading 17th victory, Austin Riley and Ronald Acuña Jr. homered, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2 on Wednesday night. Wright broke a tie with Houston’s Justin Verlander and Tony Gonsolin of the Los Angeles Dodgers to take the lead in wins. The defending World Series champion Braves avoided their first four-game losing streak since last Sept. 14-18. Atlanta, with the NL’s third-best record at 80-51, remained three games behind the New York Mets in the East Division.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — When Denver Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett texted Brett Rypien on cutdown day asking him to drop by the team’s facilities, the former Boise State star had a sinking feeling that he’d been cut coming out of camp again. “That’s never a good sign, so I wasn’t too optimistic about the whole situation,” Rypien said Wednesday. The news wasn’t what Rypien or many others expected, however: Hackett told him he had beaten out veteran Josh Johnson to serve as Russell Wilson’s primary backup. “Pretty emotional moment for me,” said Rypien, who was the Broncos’ No. 3 QB last season behind Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock and never got into a regular-season game. Rypien appeared headed for the practice squad again when Johnson took most of the snaps behind Wilson in training camp and played well in the preseason.
UNDATED (AP) — The first big weekend of college football is bursting with storylines. No. 5 Notre Dame visits No. 2 Ohio State. New Oregon coach Dan Lanning faces his old team when the 11th-ranked Ducks meet defending national champion and No. 3 Georgia in Atlanta. Lanning was the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator last season. No. 7 Utah goes to The Swamp for Billy Napier's first game as Florida's coach. No. 23 Cincinnati is coming off its College Football Playoff appearance and is an underdog at No. 19 Arkansas. The Backyard Brawl returns when West Virginia visits No. 17 Pittsburgh.
IRVING, Texas (AP) — The changing Big 12 Conference plans to have discussions with ESPN and Fox about a potential early extension of its media rights deal. The current deal goes through the 2024-25 academic year. New Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark says with the changing landscape of college athletics, the league welcomes the opportunity to determine if an early extension is in the best interest of all parties. Oklahoma and Texas are set to leave for the Southeastern Conference at the end of the Big 12's current deal. Football independent BYU, along with American Athletic Conference schools Cincinnati, Houston and UCF join the current 10-team Big 12 next summer.
UNDATED (AP) — The university presidents who oversee the College Football Playoff are scheduled to meet Friday to discuss expanding the four-team format. The presidents hope to accelerate a process that bogged down last year and re-open the possibility that a new model for crowning champion could be implemented as soon as the 2024 season. Two people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press the CFP’s Board of Managers, led by Mississippi State President Mark Keenum, is set to convene by video conference. All the people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the board's plans were not being made public.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Former Raiders coach Jon Gruden says he is “ashamed” about his old offensive emails that cost him his job and hopes to get another chance in football. Gruden spoke publicly about the affair at the Little Rock Touchdown Club for the first time since he resigned as coach of the Raiders last October. The resignation followed the publication by The New York Times and Wall Street Journal of emails he had sent from 2011 to 2018 that contained racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Carolina Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield denies that he said anything malicious toward his former team, the Cleveland Browns. Mayfield said “first, I didn’t say that" and added that “everybody is going to write what they want.” Mayfield said he was shocked to hear the report on Tuesday that NFL Network analytics analyst Cynthia Frelund, who was working as a Buffalo Bills sideline reporter for Friday night’s preseason game against Carolina, said on a podcast that Mayfield had some choice words for his former team. The Panthers will open the regular season at home against the Browns on Sept. 11.
WEDNESDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
Final Tampa Bay 2 Miami 1
Final Washington 5 Oakland 1
Final Chicago Cubs 7 Toronto 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Houston 5 Texas 3
Final Baltimore 4 Cleveland 0
Final Seattle 5 Detroit 3
Final Chicago White Sox 4 Kansas City 2
Final Boston 6 Minnesota 5
Final L.A. Angels 3 N.Y. Yankees 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Milwaukee 6 Pittsburgh 1
Final San Diego 5 San Francisco 4
Final N.Y. Mets 2 L.A. Dodgers 1
Final Atlanta 3 Colorado 2
Final St. Louis 5 Cincinnati 3
Final Philadelphia 18 Arizona 2