Auto racing:
Kevin Harvick won Friday’s pole for Sunday’s second race of the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup season at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Harvick turned a lap of 190.398 mph, edging out runner-up Ryan Newman for the top spot.
WBA champion Keith Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs) fights WBC titleholder Danny Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs) tonight on CBS at Barclays Center in Brooklyn in a welterweight unification bout.
Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin was suspended indefinitely and fined $250,000 by the World Boxing Council in a doping case.
South Africa’s Simon Hobday, who won the 1994 U.S. Senior Open at Pinehurst, died Thursday in Ballito, South Africa, of cancer. He was 76.
Raymond Kopa, a former Real Madrid attacking midfielder who became the first French player to win the Ballon d’Or, died Friday in Paris after being hospitalized last week. He was 85.
A large study is being funded by Britain’s soccer associations to try to determine whether players are more prone to developing dementia.
Boxing: Obits: Soccer:
After David Price consulted two orthopedic doctors, the Boston Red Sox said Friday the left-hander will not need surgery or an injection in his ailing left arm.
Price traveled to Indianapolis on Thursday for consultation with Drs. James Andrews and Neal ElAttrache. Price is expected to return today to Boston’s spring training complex in Florida.
Manager John Farrell said the findings represented a best-case scenario for Price, who will rest and receive treatment for the next seven to 10 days. It is uncertain when Price will resume throwing.
Price went 17-9 with a 3.99 ERA last season, his first after signing a $210 million, seven-year contract.
Infielder Jung Ho Kang received a suspended two-year prison sentence for fleeing the scene after crashing a car into a guardrail while driving under the influence of alcohol in South Korea. The sentence clears Kang to join the Pirates for spring training. He is in the third year of a four-year, $11 million contract.
Stephen Strasburg avoided a windup for all 23 of his pitches in a 2-1, 10-inning loss by a split-squad club to the Cardinals in his first appearance of spring training. “I’m not trying to
Pirates: Nationals:
reinvent myself, but just trying to simplify things as much as I can and be able to repeat my mechanics,” Strasburg said.
Johnny Cueto finally arrived at camp, and the Dominican right-hander will likely not pitch in the World Baseball Classic — at least in the first round. Cueto’s father has been ill, so the pitcher wanted to bring him to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic. That delayed his arrival by a couple weeks so that a visa could be obtained for his father.
Unable to reach an agreement, New York renewed the contract of pitcher Noah Syndergaard for $605,500. The righthander was 14-9 with a 2.60 ERA last season, striking out 218 in 1832/3 innings when
Giants: Mets:
he earned $503,375. Syndergaard, 24, almost certainly will be eligible for salary arbitration next winter.
Adrian Beltre was in the lineup Friday for the first time this spring and could play for the defending champion Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. Beltre had not played in the Rangers’ first seven games because of a strained left calf, an injury sustained Feb. 14 during a workout at his California home.
Rangers: White Sox:
Brett Lawrie, 27, was put on waivers. Unless the infielder is claimed, he would receive $573,770 in termination pay rather than the $3.5 million salary in the nonguaranteed contract he agreed to in December.
Mark Streit made an instant impact in his debut with Pittsburgh, beating Peter Budaj early in the third period as the Penguins snapped a two-game skid. Evgeni Malkin scored twice off assists from Phil Kessel and added an assist of his own in his 700th career game as Pittsburgh swept the season series from the Lightning. Adam Erne picked up his first NHL goal for Tampa Bay. Budaj stopped 30 shots in his first start with the Lightning after coming over in a trade from Los Angeles. Streit, 39, played 19:31 and put the Penguins ahead to stay 2:38 into the third when he darted to the net and collected a pass from Sidney Crosby before beating Budaj for his sixth of the season to put Pittsburgh up 3-2.
Jordan Martinook scored midway through the third period as Arizona Coyotes over the Carolina snapped a five-game skid against Carolina and a two-game slide overall. Shane Doan added a power-play empty-net goal with 58 seconds left and also had two assists. Christian Dvorak and Alex Goligoski also scored for Arizona, and Louis Domingue made 32 saves. Carolina got goals from Lee Stempniak and Jordan Staal to erase an early 2-0 deficit but still lost its fourth straight. Cam Ward stopped 18 shots.
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