Astros’ Martes suspended
Houston Astros pitcher Francis Martes was suspended for the 2020 season following his second positive test for a performance-enhancing substance under baseball’s major league drug program.
Martes tested positive for Boldenone, the commissioner’s office said. Boldenone is sold under the brand name Equipose and is used commonly on horses.
A 24-year-old right-hander, Martes is on the Astros’ 40-man major league roster but hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2017.
He was suspended last March 12 for 80 games following a positive test for Clomiphene, a women’s fertility drug that has been used by some athletes to counter side effects of steroids use. Martes returned Aug. 21 and made two starts for the rookie level Gulf Coast Astros and one for Quad Cities of the Class A Midwest League. He was 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in 51⁄3 innings.
NFL
Tight end Demetrius Harris was among four players cut by the Cleveland Browns on Monday.
Harris, a former UW-Milwaukee basketball player, caught 15 passes for 149 yards and three touchdowns this past season for the Browns. He was scheduled to make $2.49 million in 2020.
TENNIS
Kim Clijsters’ first WTA Tour match since 2012 ended with a 6-2, 7-6 (6) loss to Garbine Muguruza at the Dubai Championships.
The 36-year-old Clijsters is making a second comeback – this time after more than seven years away from professional tennis.
The four-time Grand Slam champion announced in September that she was returning to the tour for a second time. She initially retired in 2007, got married and had the first of her three children. She returned about two years later and won her second and third U.S. Opens and an Australian Open. She retired again after the 2012 U.S. Open.
MISCELLANEOUS
Gymnastics star Simone Biles was named the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year for the third time, while Lionel Messi and Lewis Hamilton shared the men’s award.
Biles won five gold medals, including a record fifth all-around title, at the 2019 world championships in Stuttgart. That made her the most decorated gymnast ever at worlds with 25 medals.
Messi became the first soccer player to get the award after helping lead Barcelona to the Spanish league title, while Hamilton won his sixth Formula One championship.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UConn’s record streak of top five appearances in The Associated Press women’s poll is over.
The Huskies fell to sixth, ending a run of 253 consecutive weeks as one of the first five teams in the Top 25. That historic stretch dated back to Feb. 5, 2007. Connecticut’s run dwarfs the No. 2 all-time mark of 96 set by Louisiana Tech in the 1980s.
The longest current streak is now held by No. 1 South Carolina at 11.
GOLF
Mickey Wright, the golf great with a magnificent swing who won 13 majors among her 82 victories and gave the fledgling LPGA a crucial lift, died Monday of a heart attack. She was 85.
She had been hospitalized in Florida the last few weeks after a fall.
Wright joined the LPGA in 1955 and the Hall of Famer’s 82 wins place her second on the all-time list behind Kathy Whitworth, who won 88. The Associated Press in 1999 named Wright the Female Golfer of the Century and Female Athlete of the Year in 1963 and 1964.
HOCKEY
Miikka Salomaki had a goal and an assist to lead the visiting Milwaukee Admirals to a 4-1 victory over the Manitoba Moose. From Journal Sentinel wire reports