Red Sox, Yankees fined in spy vs. spy
The Boston Red Sox have been fined by Major League Baseball for using electronic equipment to steal signs given by a Yankees catcher, and New York has been fined a lesser amount for improper use of a dugout telephone in a previous season.
The discipline was announced Friday by Commissioner Rob Manfred. The fine amounts were not announced. The money will be donated to hurricane relief in Florida
Manfred found insufficient evidence to support an allegation by Boston that the Yankees made inappropriate use of the YES Network against the Red Sox.
The New York Times reported this month that video clips sent to the commissioner’s office by the Yankees showed Boston assistant athletic trainer Jon Jochim looking at an Apple Watch during an August series. Jochim then relayed information to outfielder Brock Holt and second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was seen passing information to teammate Chris Young.
MLB ruled that the Detroit Tigers did not intentionally strike the plate umpire with a pitch that hit him in the shoulder and knocked him to the ground.
Umpire Quinn Wolcott was hit by a fastball from Detroit’s Buck Farmer during a game Wednesday at Cleveland. Rookie backup catcher John Hicks never touched the ball as it sailed past his mitt. The incident came two batters after Wolcott ejected Tigers catcher James McCann and manager Brad Ausmus over a close pitch to Cleveland’s Jay Bruce that was called ball four.
ELSEWHERE Trump wants ESPN apology
President Trump called on ESPN to apologize days after one of the sports network’s anchors called him a “white supremacist” and “bigot.”
ESPN said Thursday it had accepted the apology of “SportsCenter” host Jemele Hill for her tweets about Trump on Monday. Hill said Thursday she was sorry for causing her employer trouble.
Trump told ESPN on Twitter Friday, “Apologize for untruth!”
The president also wrote: “ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming). People are dumping it in RECORD numbers.” College football: Quinton Flowers passed for 280 yards and four touchdowns, and No. 22-ranked South Florida (3-0) rolled up 680 yards of offense in a 47-23 win over visiting Illinois (2-1).
Arizona quarterback Brandon Dawkins passed for 155 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 133 yards and three scores as the visiting Wildcats (2-1) won 63-16 over UTEP (0-3). Courts: A son of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky pleaded guilty in Bellefonte, Pa., to charges that he pressured a teenage girl to send him naked photos and asked her teen sister to give him oral sex. He faces a prison term of as long as eight years.
The plea comes nearly six years after Sandusky’s father was arrested in a child molestation case that shook Penn State and resulted in a lengthy prison sentence. Motor sports: Kyle Busch began his bid for a second NASCAR Cup championship with a lap of 187.963 mph to win the pole for Sunday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. The event is the opening race in the season playoffs. Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin will join Busch on the front row. Fellow Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. qualified third. Tennis: France and Serbia are tied 1-1 in their Davis Cup semifinal after France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Laslo Djere 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-3 in Lille, France. That followed Dusan Lajovic’s 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5) victory for Serbia over Lucas Pouille.
In the other semifinal, Belgium and visiting Australia are also tied 1-1 after Aussie Nick Kyrgios downed Steve Darcis 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2 after David Goffin had defeated John Millman in the first match in Brussels. Soccer: Jermain Defoe scored the first goal of his second stint at Bournemouth to clinch a 2-1 win over Brighton in the English Premier League, ending his team’s four-match losing streak to open the season.