MLB
Bosch’s alleged chemist pleads not guilty
MIAMI – A South Florida man described by authorities as a chemist who made and supplied banned substances in Major League Baseball’s recent drug scandal has pleaded not guilty.
Paulo Berejuk entered the plea Thursday to two conspiracy charges involving distribution of human growth hormone and testosterone. A judge ordered Berejuk jailed without bail after prosecutors said he might flee to his native Brazil and is a danger to the community.
The Drug Enforcement Administration said Berejuk supplied Anthony Bosch’s clinic Biogenesis of America, making the performance-enhancing drugs in the garage at his home.
The case has resulted in a half-dozen other arrests and suspensions for 14 MLB players, including a record season-long suspension for New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez.
Giants’ two-time Cy Young winner cleared to pitch
SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum has no structural damage in his tight back and is expected to be available when the World Series will resume with Game 3 on Friday night.
“That’s the plan,” athletic trainer Dave Groeschner said via text message late Thursday with word a magnetic resonance imaging exam on Lincecum’s back was all clear.
The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner was walked off the field by Groeschner during the eighth inning of San Francisco’s 7-2 loss at Kansas City in Game 2 when his left lower back tightened.
Japan’s next best thing drafted first overall
TOKYO – High school pitching star Tomohiro Anraku was chosen first overall in Nippon Professional Baseball’s amateur draft Thursday and was headed to the former team of New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka.
The Yakult Swallows and Rakuten Eagles selected Anraku with the first and second picks, respectively, and the Eagles won a lottery for the highly touted 17-year-old right-hander.
The 6-2, 187-pound Anraku, whose fastball has been clocked as high as 97 mph, has generated interest on both sides of the Pacific.
Skiing
World Cup overall champ voted skier of the year
SOELDEN, Austria – Overall World Cup champion Anna Fenninger was voted skier of the year by journalists.
The international association of ski journalists said Thursday it chose the 25-year-old Austrian for the Skieur d’Or-Serge Lang Trophy, its annual award named after the founder of Alpine skiing’s World Cup in the 1960s.
Fenninger, who won Olympic gold in super-G in Sochi, earned her first overall championship last season and also took the giant slalom title.
Soccer
For the first time ever, FIFA ranks Belgium top four
ZURICH – Belgium moved into the top four of the FIFA monthly rankings for the first time, and former World Cup winner Spain dropped to 10th after a loss to Slovakia in a European Championship qualifier.
The top three positions remained the same Thursday. Despite a tough start to its Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, World Cup winner Germany was first ahead of runner-up Argentina, then Colombia.
Belgium’s rise coincided with the Netherlands going from fourth to fifth after losing Euro 2016 qualifiers to the Czech Republic and Iceland.
Brazil kept sixth place, and France rose to seventh and Portugal rose to ninth.
Algeria was the highest placed African team, rising five places to 15th.
England dropped from 18th to 20th, and the United States fell six places to 23rd.
Associated Press
