Baseball
Tragedy leads to suspension of use of batboys and girls
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Baseball Congress suspended using batboys and girls during its World Series games in Kansas after the death of a 9-year-old boy who was accidentally hit in the head with a bat during a game.
Kaiser Carlile died Sunday, a day after he was hit by a follow-through swing near the on-deck circle during the Liberal Bee Jays’ game in Wichita. The boy was wearing a helmet.
During an emotional news conference Monday, Kaiser was remembered as an energetic, happy boy who loved being part of the Bee Jays. Manager Adam Anderson and several players said he inspired them to always work hard, have fun and win.
Cycling
Reijnen outsprints the competition, Phinney 3rd
LOGAN, Utah – Kiel Reijnen won a sprint from a small group of riders Monday to win the opening stage of the Tour of Utah, while Taylor Phinney finished third in his first race in more than a year.
Phinney attacked near the conclusion of the rain-soaked 132-mile stage, but the BMC Racing star couldn’t hold off Reijnen, who then edged Alex Howes in a sprint.
It was the first race for Phinney, a member of the 2012 Olympic team, since last year’s road nationals, when he broke several bones in a crash with a motorcycle.
Tour de France runner-up plans to ride in Vuelta
MADRID – Movistar cycling team says Tour de France runner-up Nairo Quintana will race in the Spanish Vuelta.
The Colombian climber will be joined by former Vuelta champion Alejandro Valverde, the third-place finisher at this summer’s Tour.
Movistar will announce its full team “in a few days’ time.”
The Vuelta is the third grand tour of the summer after the Giro d’Italia and the Tour. The three-week race begins Aug. 22 in the southern coastal town of Puerto Banus.
Quintana crashed out of last year’s Vuelta after his victory at the 2014 Giro.
Horse Racing
Triple Crown winner jetting home to California after win
OCEANPORT, N.J. – American Pharoah is on the road again.
The Triple Crown winner is headed home to California the morning after a 2 1/4-length victory in the $1.75 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in New Jersey on Sunday.
The brilliant colt owned by Ahmed Zayat was led around the barn a few times before being vanned to Atlantic City Airport, where he was to board a private jet back to trainer Bob Baffert’s barn at Del Mar.
American Pharoah has won eight consecutive races and is the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.
Swimming
World records fall in bunches at championships
KAZAN, Russia – The women are getting it done at the world swimming championships.
Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden lowered her own world record in the 100-meter butterfly to win gold Monday night, and then Katinka Hosszu of Hungary erased a world mark from the high-tech suit era to claim the 200 individual medley.
Earlier Monday, American teenager Katie Ledecky bettered her own world record in the 1,500 freestyle preliminaries.
Four world records set in the first two days of pool swimming – and all by women.
Sjostrom first broke the mark set by American Dana Vollmer at the 2012 London Olympics in the semifinals on Sunday. In the final, the Swede led at the turn and won by a body length, touching in 55.64 seconds. She dipped a hundredth of a second lower than her mark a day earlier while finishing 1.41 seconds ahead of Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark.
Associated Press
