Eight issued bans for brawl
Pittsburgh pitcher Keone Kela has been suspended for 10 games, Cincinnati reliever Amir Garrett for eight and Yasiel Puig for three after a furious brawl between the Pirates and Reds.
Major League Baseball issued eight suspensions Thursday, two days after the fight at Great American Ball Park.
Three players on each team were suspended, and all elected to appeal. They will be allowed to play until the process is complete.
Reds manager David Bell was suspended six games, starting Thursday night when Cincinnati plays at Atlanta. Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle was penalized two games, to begin Friday night when the Pirates host the New York Mets.
Puig was suspended for his aggressive actions on what turned out to be his last day with the Reds. The outfielder was later traded to Cleveland.
Pirates infielder José Osuna was suspended five games while Pittsburgh pitcher Kyle Crick and Reds pitcher Jared Hughes each got three.
FIGURE SKATING
Former Olympian Ashley Wagner said she was sexually assaulted by another figure skater in 2008 when she 17.
The three-time national champion wrote in USA Today on Thursday that John Coughlin climbed into her bed after a party at a skating camp and began kissing and groping her. Coughlin was 22 at the time and took his life in January at 33.
Wagner won an Olympic team bronze medal in 2014 and is now retired from competitive skating. She says she feared speaking out earlier because she competes in a sport where judges determine success. She told the newspaper two factors helped change her mind – the emergence of the #MeToo movement and Coughlin’s coaching suspension in January by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an organization dedicated to protecting young athletes from abuse.
USA Today also reported that Coughlin’s former pairs partner from 2004-07, Bridget Namiotka, posted on Facebook in May that Coughlin “sexually abused” her for two years.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Clemson, the defending national champion, will enter the campaign with the top ranking. It is the first preseason No. 1 ranking for the Tigers in the history of the coaches poll.
Clemson received 59 of 65 first-place votes, with the remaining six all going to second-ranked Alabama.
The rest of the teams in the top five are also the same as those who started last season there, though the order is slightly different. Georgia will open at No. 3, followed by No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Ohio State. It is the first time since 1992 that the preseason top five has been made up by the same teams in consecutive seasons.
No. 6 LSU and No. 8 Florida gave the Southeastern Conference four top-10 teams. BASKETBALL
Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat has been added to USA Basketball’s national team roster for the FIBA World Cup, while Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons and Montrezl Harrell of the Los Angeles Clippers have withdrawn from the squad.
Adebayo’s addition means the national team has 16 players in advance of training camp that starts Monday in Las Vegas. The U.S. will take 12 players to China later this month for the World Cup, which starts Aug. 31.
USA Basketball announced the addition of Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr. to the select team for training camp.