SPORTS DIGEST

BASEBALL

Jose Ramirez equalled an MLB record with five extra-base hits as the Cleveland Indians swept aside the Detroit Tigers to record an 11th successive victory. The switch-hitting Ramirez scored home runs from both sides of the plate for the third time this season – a franchise record – and also had three doubles as the Indians claimed an 11-1 win. That saw them move nine games ahead of Minnesota in the American League central after the Twins slumped to a 5-4 defeat at the hands of Kansas City – just a day after beating the same opponents 17-0. Arizona’s hot streak now stands at 10 victories after they defeated Colorado 5-1, helping the second-placed Diamondbacks move 6½ games clear of the thirdplaced Rockies in the National League West. Arizona are still a massive 13 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers however, even though the Dodgers suffered a third successive defeat as they went down 6-4 to San Diego. Despite the loss, Cody Bellinger still wrote himself into the Dodgers record books for the most home runs by a rookie with his 36th of the season. That beat the mark set by Mike Piazza in 1993, with the overall MLB rookie record for home runs standing at 49, notched by Mike Mcgwire. Houston completed a sweep of the New York Mets on their return to Minute Maid Park in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. George Springer clubbed his 31st home run of the season as the Astros followed up Saturday’s double-header success with an 8-6 win. The Chicago Cubs, the defending World Series champions, saw their six-game winning run come to an end as they were beaten 5-1 by Atlanta, while Elvis Andrus hit two of Texas’ four home runs as the Rangers defeated the Los Angeles Angels 7-6. The New York Yankees made it back-toback wins over Boston with a 9-2 victory over the Red Sox, six of their runs coming in the sixth. The Yankees are now 3½ games behind their rivals in the American League East after picking up three wins in the four-game series between the two. In other games, Oakland slumped to a sixth consecutive defeat as Seattle ran out 10-2 victors at Safeco Field, St Louis beat San Francisco 7-3, Milwaukee saw off Washington 7-2, Pittsburgh won 3-1 against Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox recorded a 6-2 win over Tampa Bay. Meanwhile, in two games that were decided in the 12th inning, Philadelphia overcame Miami 3-1 and Baltimore downed Toronto 5-4. MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: Baltimore Orioles 5 Toronto Blue Jays 4 (12 Innings), Chicago Cubs 1 Atlanta Braves 5, Chicago White Sox 6 Tampa Bay Rays 2, Colorado Rockies 1 Arizona Diamondbacks 5, Detroit Tigers 1 Cleveland Indians 11, Houston Astros 8 New York Mets 6, Miami Marlins 1 Philadelphia Phillies 3 (12 innings), Milwaukee Brewers 7 Washington Nationals 2, Minnesota Twins 4 Kansas City Royals 5, NY Yankees 9 Boston Red Sox 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 3 Cincinnati Reds 1, San Diego Padres 6 Los Angeles Dodgers 4, San Francisco Giants 3 St Louis Cardinals 7, Seattle Mariners 10 Oakland Athletics 2, Texas Rangers 7 LA Angels 6.

BASKETBALL

A huge rally from Great Britain fell short as Joe Prunty’s team lost 97-92 to Latvia to drop to a third straight defeat at Eurobasket 2017 in Turkey. Britain trailed by 26 points at one stage in the third quarter but outscored their opponents 34-13 in the final period. They got within five points with 20 seconds left but could not close the gap any further. Gabe Olaseni led Britain with 23 points and 10 rebounds while Kyle Johnson scored 18, but Britain could not find a way to stop New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis, who had 28 points and eight rebounds for Latvia. Britain face Olympic silver medallists Serbia today with their hopes of progressing from Group D all but over.

CRICKET

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman dug in to frustrate Australia on the opening day of the second Test in Chittagong. The pair put on 105 for the sixth wicket after Australia, looking to level the series after last week’s surprise loss in Dhaka, had made a fine start. Nathan Lyon (five for 77) claimed four early wickets as Bangladesh slipped to 117 for five but Mushfiqur (62 not out) and Sabbir (66) lifted them to 253 for six at the close. Australia put their faith in spinners, selecting three of them in Lyon, Steve O’keefe and Ashton Agar, and just one specialist seamer in Pat Cummins. Lyon took the new ball and made an immediate impact, trapping Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumyar Sarkar and Mominul Haque leg before. When Agar had Shakib Al Hasan caught behind by Matthew Wade, the tourists were well on top but they were unable to build on that advantage. Mushfiqur held firm while Sabbir played fluently before Lyon, who bowled 28 of the day’s 90 overs, had him stumped by Wade to become his fifth victim. Mushfiqur resumed this morning alongside Nasir Hossain, who was unbeaten on 19. SECOND TEST (Chittagong) Bangladesh 253-6 (Sabbir Rahman 66, Mushfiqur Rahim 62 no, N M Lyon 5-77) v Australia.

CYCLING

UCI EUROPE TOUR: TOUR OF BRITAIN Leading positions after Stage 2, (Kielder Water & Forest Park - Blyth - 211km): 1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 5hrs 16mins 32secs, 2 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team Lottonljumbo, 3 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quickstep Floors, 4 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Oricascott, 5 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katushaalpecin, 6 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-step Floors, 7 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team, 8 Roger Kluge (Ger) Orica-scott, 9 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal, 10 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Movistar Team, 11 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-step Floors, 12 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data, 13 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal, 14 Steele Von Hoff (Aus) One Pro Cycling, 15 Owain Doull (GBR) Team Sky, 16 Alan Banaszek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice, 17 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert, 18 Christopher Lawless (GBR) Great Britain, 19 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF, 20 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky all at same times. Selected others: 21 Oliver Wood (GBR) Great Britain5hrs 16mins 32secs, 125 Ian Stannard (Gbr) Team Sky at 31mins 13secs, 146 Mark Christian (Gbr) Aqua Blue Sport at 31mins 42secs,155 Adam Blythe (Gbr) Aqua Blue Sport, 158 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport. General classification after Stage 2: 1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 9hrs 50mins 35secs, 2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-scott 4secs, 3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data 7secs, 4 Karol Domagalski (Pol) One Pro Cycling 8secs, 5 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team9secs, 6 Kamil Gradek (Pol) One Pro Cycling, 7 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-step Floors 10secs, 8 Lars Boom (Ned) Team Lottonl-jumbo 12secs, 9 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-alpecin 14secs, 10 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-step Floors, 11 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team, 12 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal, 13 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal, 14 Christopher Lawless (GBR) Great Britain, 15 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert, 16 Brenton Jones (Aus) JLT Condor, 17 Oliver Wood (GBR) Great Britain, 18 Patrick Bevin (NZL) Cannondale-drapac, 19 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Movistar Team, 20 Hayden Mccormick (NZL) One Pro Cycling all at the same time. Selected others: 125 Ian Stannard (Gbr) Team Sky at 31mins 13secs,146 Mark Christian (Gbr) Aqua Blue Sport at 31mins 42secs, 155 Adam Blythe (Gbr) Aqua Blue Sport, 158 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport.

SPEEDWAY

FIXTURES (7:30pm unless stated Tomorrow: Travel Plus National League – Birmingham v Kent. Thursday: SGB Championship – Glasgow v Workington, Ipswich v Berwick; Travel Plus National League: Isle of Wight v Mildenhall (7pm). Friday: SGB Championship: Edinburgh v Workington (7pm), Edinburgh v Ipswich (follows previous fixture), Peterborough v Scunthorpe, Redcar v Sheffield; Travel Plus National League: Plymouth v Mildenhall (7.15pm); National League KO Cup 1st leg: Belle Vue v Cradley.