Off the wire

SOCCER U.S. wins SheBelieves Cup

Megan Rapinoe scored twice and the United States won the SheBelieves Cup title with a 6-0 victory over Argentina on Wednesday night The United States is undefeated in 37 games in a row and 53 on American soil. Carli Lloyd, Kristie Mewis, Alex Morgan and Christen Press also scored, and the U.S. women also become the first team to have three consecutive shutouts in the SheBelieves Cup, which is in its sixth year. The United States shut out Canada in the round-robin tournament opener and then downed Brazil 2-0 on Sunday. Rapinoe scored in the 16th minute with a well-timed strike on a through ball from Rose Lavelle for the early lead. Rapinoe added another in the 26th minute, tapping in a cross from Lloyd. Rapinoe is the top all-time SheBelieves scorer with seven goals, including three in this edition.

U.S. players won’t kneel

Players for the U.S. women’s national team have decided to move on from kneeling during the anthem and instead focus on behindthe-scenes work to address racial inequity. Many players have knelt for the anthem before national team and club matches over the past year to protest systemic racism. But the entire team stood during the anthem before a SheBelieves Cup match in Florida against Brazil last weekend. “I think those that were collectively kneeling felt like we were kneeling to bring about attention to police brutality and systemic racism, and I think we decided that moving forward we no longer feel the need to kneel because we are doing the work behind the scenes. We are combating systemic racism. And we never felt we were going to kneel forever,” defender Crystal Dunn said. Midfielder Megan Rapinoe first took a knee during the anthem at a pair of national team matches in 2016. She said she wanted to express solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who silently took a knee during the national anthem before NFL games to raise awareness of police brutality and racial injustice.

TRACK & FIELD Record set in 60 hurdles

Grant Holloway broke the world record for the indoor 60-meter hurdles that had stood for 27 years, clocking 7.29 seconds at an event in Madrid on Wednesday. The American took 0.01 seconds off the previous mark set by Colin Jack- son in 1994. Holloway, who is the world indoor champion over the sprint hurdles, extended his winning streak in the event to 54 races — dating back to 2014 when he was 16. His win at the Villa de Madrid event secured him overall victory in the World Athletics Indoor Tour.

BASEBALL AL MVP positive for virus

American League MVP Jose Abreu has tested positive for covid-19 and will remain away from the Chicago White Sox for at least the next few days. General Manager Rick Hahn said Wednesday in a statement that the Cuban slugger is “completely asymptomatic.” Hahn said testing also showed the presence of covid-19 antibodies and Abreu believes he had a mild case of the virus in January. Abreu powered the White Sox back to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. The three-time All-Star hit .317 with 19 home runs and a major league-leading 60 RBI in the pandemic-shortened season.

Braves add OF Heredia

The Atlanta Braves claimed outfielder Guillermo Heredia off waivers from the New York Mets on Wednesday. Heredia, who was added to Atlanta’s 40-man roster, was designated for assignment on Sunday when the Mets finalized a deal with center fielder Kevin Pillar. Heredia, 30, played for the Mets and Pittsburgh last season, hitting .212 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI in 15 games. He has a .239 career batting average in five seasons with Seattle, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh and the Mets. A’s trade Fowler to Pirates Two days after being designated for assignment by the Oakland Athletics, outfielder Dustin Fowler was traded Wednesday to the Pittsburgh Pirates for cash. Fowler had been considered a possible center fielder of the future for the A’s when Oakland acquired him from the Yankees at the 2017 trade deadline in a deal that sent right-hander Sonny Gray to New York. Fowler batted .224 with 6 home runs and 23 RBI in 69 games with the A’s in 2018.

BASKETBALL Rockets release Cousins

The Houston Rockets have released DeMarcus Cousins after just 25 games. Cousins was waived this week after signing a $2.3 million contract with Houston in the offseason. He returned to the court this season after missing all of last season while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. Cousins, 30, was averaging 9.6 points and 7.6 rebounds this season playing in a reserve role. The four-time All-Star has averaged 20.8 points and 10.7 rebounds in an 11-year career in which he also played with Sacramento, New Or- leans and Golden State.

TENNIS Original 9 to enter Hall

Billie Jean King and the other members of the Original 9 who laid the groundwork for the women’s professional tour are the first group elected together to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, joining Lleyton Hewitt and Dennis Van der Meer in the Class of 2021. In results announced Wednesday, Hewitt was the only one of five nominees in the Player Category who was voted in. He won Grand Slam singles titles at the U.S. Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002, reached No. 1 in the ATP rankings and helped Australia win a pair of Davis Cup championships. Van der Meer, who died in 2019, advocated for a universal teaching method in tennis and was elected in the Contributor Category, as were the Original 9. Last year marked the 50th anniversary of when King, elected to the Hall in 1987 for her accomplishments on the court, and eight other players — Peaches Bartkowicz, Rosie Casals, Judy Dalton, Julie Heldman, Kerry Melville Reid, Kristy Pigeon, Nancy Richey and Valerie Ziegenfuss — took a stand against the disparity in prize money between men and women in the sport at the time. On Sept. 23, 1970, they all signed $1 contracts with World Tennis Magazine publisher Gladys Heldman to participate in the first women-only tennis tournament. That set the stage for the Virginia Slims circuit and eventually today’s WTA Tour.

No. 1 Barty suffers loss

Defending champion and No. 1-ranked Ashleigh Barty lost in the second round of the Adelaide International on Wednesday, eliminated by Danielle Collins 6-3, 6-4. A year ago, Barty beat Collins in the semifinals at the Adelaide International en route to the hard-court title. That was part of a 3-0 head-to-head edge Barty carried into Wednesday’s match. Collins, an American who is ranked 37th, will face French Open champion Iga Swiatek next. In other results Wednesday, 16-yearold American Coco Gauff beat sixth-seeded Petra Martic 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. It was Gauff’s fourth win in a row after two in qualifying and another in the first round.

FOOTBALL Raiders release WR Williams

The Las Vegas Raiders released receiver Tyrell Williams on Wednesday following two injury-plagued seasons with the team. Williams initially signed a fouryear, $44.3 million deal as a free agent to join the Raiders in 2019. He struggled with injuries to his feet his first season and then missed all last season with a torn labrum. Williams had 42 catches for 651 yards and 6 touchdowns in 14 games for the Raiders in 2019. He caught a TD pass in his first five games that season but was hampered down the stretch by injuries to both feet. The 29-year-old Williams spent his first four seasons with the Chargers. He has 197 catches for 3,181 yards and 23 touchdowns in 69 career games.