Braves beat Miami, pad lead on Phillies
ATLANTA — Ozzie Albies and Freddie Freeman each hit a solo home run off Anthony Bass in the seventh inning, and Eddie Rosario went deep off Edward Cabrera in the fourth as the Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 5-3 on Sunday. The National League East Division leaders padded their edge to 4 1/2 games over the Philadelphia Phillies. Miami, far back in the East and playing the role of spoiler, had won two consecutive series against the Phillies and the third-place New York Mets before coming up short against Atlanta. Rosario’s homer put the Braves ahead 2-1. Albies connected for the 28th time in 2021, sending a fastball into the rightfield seats to make it 4-3. Freeman, on his 32nd birthday, followed two batters later with his 30th homer of the season, an opposite-field shot to left. “He hit his birthday blast,” Albies said. “Right away when he got to the dugout everybody was singing ‘Happy birthday to you.’ Homers are fun. I think that’s why everybody celebrates them.” The Braves, who rank second in the NL in homers, made it 3-1 in the fifth when Jorge Soler doubled, then scored on Travis d’Arnaud’s single. Jacob Webb (4-2) faced the minimum in the seventh to earn the win. Bass (3-8) gave up two runs and two hits. In the ninth, Atlanta closer Will Smith allowed a leadoff triple to Jesús Sánchez and issued a one-out walk to Isan Diaz before retiring Alex Jackson on a popup and Eddy Alvarez on a groundout to earn his 32nd save in 37 chances this year.
MOTORSPORTS
› RICHMOND, Va. — Martin Truex Jr. took the lead when Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch was penalized for speeding with about 50 laps to go Saturday night at Richmond Raceway, and Truex held on to win for the third time in the past five NASCAR Cup Series races at the 3/4-mile track. He moved to the front when Busch was caught speeding entering pit road during green flag pit stops, causing him to relinquish a big lead and fall back to 10th. Even with Busch’s trouble, Truex led a 1-2-3 finish for JGR — the sixth in its history — with Denny Hamlin finishing second and Christopher Bell third. Truex won despite being black-flagged on the first lap for beating Hamlin, who began in pole position, to the start-finish line as the field went green.
› PORTLAND, Ore. — Alex Palou recovered from a near disaster when he and Chip Ganassi Racing teammate
Scott Dixon went off course to avoid a posssible collision on the first lap of Sunday’s IndyCar event at Portland International Raceway, and Palou settled in to win for the third time this season and regain the lead in the championship chase. The victory put the 24-year-old Spaniard back on top of the points standings for the ninth time in 14 races this season. The second-year IndyCar driver will take a 25-point advantage over
Pato O’Ward into next weekend’s road course race at Laguna Seca in California after holding off Alexander Rossi on two restarts in the final 20 of 110 laps to preserve the victory at Portland. Dixon, whose six IndyCar titles includes last year’s, was third.
› A simmering championship battle in Formula One erupted in spectacular fashion Sunday as points leader Max Verstappen and reigning champion Lewis Hamilton crashed out of the Italian Grand Prix, which was won by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. As Hamilton and Verstappen fought for position midway through the race, their cars came together in a move that almost seriously injured Hamilton. Race stewards ruled Verstappen “was predominantly to blame for the collision” and penalized him with a threeplace on the starting grid for the next race, the Russian GP on Sept. 26. Ricciardo finished 1.747 seconds ahead of teammate
Lando Norris and 4.921 ahead of Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas.
GOLF
› VIRGINIA WATER, England — Billy Horschel wasn’t surprised he came up short of being picked to represent the United States in the upcoming Ryder Cup, but he was frustrated he didn’t receive a consolation call this past week to let him know he wouldn’t be on the team. So he went out and took down a bunch of leading Europeans by himself. Horschel birdied Wentworth Golf Club’s storied 18th hole after an approach shot that spun back to put the ball within two feet of the cup, finishing with a 7-underpar 65 on Sunday for a one-shot victory at 19-under 269 in the BMW PGA Championship. He became only the second American to win what is traditionally regarded as the biggest event on the European Tour, after Arnold Palmer in 1975. Kiradech Aphibarnrat (64), Laurie Canter (67) and Jamie Donaldson (66) were runners-up to Horschel, who added a second European Tour victory to go with six in his PGA Tour career.