Japan’s Hanyu overshadows Chen at figure skating worlds

The faceoff between Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen was no contest.

Japan’s Hanyu, looking every bit the champion of the sport, won the short program Thursday at the World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, distancing himself from Chen when the American fell on his opening quadruple lutz while Hanyu was sheer perfection.

Hanyu has been the sport’s biggest attraction for two Olympic cycles, each of which ended with him wearing a gold medal. He showed why in the short program packed with difficulty, style, artistry and a ton of energy.

There were no celebrations from the Chen camp. The twotime defending world titlist hasn’t lost a competition since the 2018 Olympics. But he’s now more than eight points behind Hanyu’s 106.98 points. And Hanyu’s countryman, 17-year-old sensation Yuma Kagiyama, is between the two favorites in second place.

Cardinals add CB Butler

The Arizona Cardinals added cornerback Malcolm Butler on a one-year deal in an effort to bolster a thin secondary and also traded center Mason Cole to the Minnesota Vikings for a sixthround draft pick.

Butler, a two-time Pro Bowl selection, comes to the Cardinals about a week after the team lost cornerback Patrick Peterson, who signed with the Vikings. Butler, 31, started all 16 games for the Tennessee Titans last season, had four interceptions and a careerhigh 100 tackles.

Terms of Butler’s deal were not disclosed.

• The Buffalo Bills agreed to sign running back Matt Breida to a one-year contract. Breida has four years of NFL experience and was a free agent after spending last season with the Miami Dolphins. He was limited to 254 yards rushing and 96 receiving in 12 games, including one start, on a Dolphins team that had difficulty establishing a running game.

• Carlos Dunlap is returning to the Seattle Seahawks on a two-year deal. Dunlap’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, confirmed the sides agreed on a new contract that is expected to be worth more than $16 million. It’s a major victory for Seattle bringing back its top pass rusher on a day they also signed former 49ers defensive end Kerry Hyder Jr.

• The Patriots re-signed running back James White. The deal is for one year and according to reports will pay him a guaranteed $2.5 million, in his eighth season for New England.

• Washington signed Adam Humphries to a one-year contract, a month after the oft-injured wide receiver was released by Tennessee.

White Sox’s Jiménez sidelined for 5-6 months

Chicago White Sox slugger Eloy Jiménez is expected to be sidelined for five to six months after rupturing his left pectoral tendon trying to make a play in the outfield during an exhibition game.

Jiménez needs surgery to repair the injury, putting his season in jeopardy.

• Matt Harvey is back in the major leagues with the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore selected the contract of the 31-year-old righthander one week before its season opener. Harvey gets a $1 million, one-year contract. He was 0-3 with an 11.57 ERA in four starts and three relief appearances last year for the Kansas City Royals. He has a 5.40 ERA in three spring training appearances this year, allowing six runs and 10 hits in 10 innings with six strikeouts and one walk. An All-Star with the New York Mets in 2013, Harvey was derailed by Tommy John surgery in 2013 and an operation in 2016 to correct thoracic outlet syndrome.

• Colorado feared the worst when left-hander Kyle Freeland bent down after tossing a pitch in an exhibition game and grabbed his shoulder. So it was promising news when an MRI revealed no further damage than a strain in his pitching shoulder, which will sideline him for at least a month.

• Pitcher Gio Gonzalez said he has retired after 13 major league seasons. The 35-year-old lefthander signed a minor league contract with the Miami Marlins and made one exhibition appearance, allowing seven runs and eight hits last Saturday while getting just one out against Washington, his former team.

González, a South Florida native, pitched in 12 games last year for Chicago White Sox with four starts and had an ERA of 4.83. He has a career record of 131-101 with a 3.70 ERA in 13 seasons for four teams.

• Tampa Bay reliever Nick Anderson has a partially torn ligament in his pitching elbow and likely will be sidelined beyond the All-Star break.

Johnson ties with unknown MacIntyre in Match Play

Bob MacIntyre grew up playing the rough-and-tumble Scottish sport of shinty, and he had more than enough fight to give Dustin Johnson all he could handle in the Match Play in Austin, Texas.

Johnson had to rally late with an eagle and a clutch birdie to send the match to the final hole, where both players missed birdie chances and settled for a tie.

Neither the world’s No. 1 player nor the 24-year-old from the tiny town of Oban were sure what to make of it.

“It was a tough match,” Johnson said. “Ended up making a really good halve, and definitely pleased with it.”

Ultimately, both remained in position to advance out of their group to the weekend knockout stage.

Some of the best in the planet were eliminated on the second day of round-robin group play.

Justin Thomas, the No. 2 seed, fell behind big on the front nine for the second straight day and couldn’t catch up. Thomas made a strong rally against defending champion Kevin Kisner before losing on the 17th hole.

Tyrrell Hatton delivered more highlights — not so much with a shot, but the artful tossing of a club and the sarcastic clapping of his hands — in losing to Sergio Garcia. The Spaniard, whose American home is in Austin, won his second match and thus eliminated Hatton, the No. 8 seed.

Other top seeds in the 16 groups who have no chance to move on were PGA champion Collin Morikawa (4), Tony Finau (12) and Viktor Hovland of Norway (13).

Today is the final day for groups, and Kisner’s victory set up a win-or-go-home match against Matt Kuchar, a past Match Play champion who beat Thomas on the first day and outlasted Louis Oosthuizen on Thursday.

Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer also square off today after both won went to 2-0 in their group. In other matches:

— Patrick Cantlay played another superb round and still had to go the distance, this time making seven birdies in a 1-up victory over Carlos Ortiz.

— Dylan Frittelli, the South African who hit the winning shot for Texas when the Longhorns won the NCAA title in 2012, has required only 29 holes to win both his matches.

— Ian Poulter had a 3-up lead with three to play when he was forced to the 18th hole by Cameron Smith, who stuffed his approach into 6 feet. No matter. Poulter delivered a 15-foot birdie putt to win a second straight match. Rory McIlroy won easily, but now needs Poulter to lose today to have any chance of advancing.

• Michelle Wie West struggled through a round of 9-over 81 in her first tournament in nearly two years, while Inbee Park shot a 6-under 66 to take the first-round lead in the Kia Classic at Aviara in Carlsbad.

U.S. national team defeats Jamaica in friendly

Sergiño Dest scored his first international goal with a spectacular 25-yard shot, Sebastian Lletget added a pair of second-half goals and the United States beat Jamaica 4-1 in an exhibition at Wiener Neustadt, Austria. Brenden Aaronson scored for the U.S. in the 53rd minute.

• Germany coach Joachim Löw won’t be at the World Cup in 2022, but his team took a step toward qualifying with a 3-0 win over Iceland in Duisburg, Germany, with the team also making a statement about human rights concerns.

The result was never in doubt after Germany took a 2-0 lead in the opening seven minutes. It was a commanding way to bounce back from a 6-0 loss to Spain in November which heralded the end of the 15-year Löw era.

He will step down as coach after the European Championship this summer after spending the last three years trying to rebuild a team which failed to get out of the group stage as defending champion at the 2018 World Cup.

Before the game, Germany’s players lined up in T-shirts bearing the slogan “HUMAN RIGHTS.” It came a day after a similar protest by Norway in reference to labor rights abuses in host nation Qatar.

Italy started its World Cup qualifying campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win over Northern Ireland in Parma.

Switzerland won 3-1 in Sofia, Bulgaria in the other Group C match.

Spain was held to a 1-1 draw by Greece in its opening qualifier.

In the other Group B match, Sweden defeated Georgia 1-0 as Zlatan Ibrahimovic set up the winning goal on his return to international soccer after almost five years.

Denmark’s Martin Braithwaite scored the 13th-minute opener in a 2-0 win over Israel in Tel Aviv that began the Danes’ World Cup qualifying program.

England won 5-0 over San Marino in London.

Ex-Yankee, AL president Brown dies at 96

Bobby Brown, an infielder who played on five World Series champions with the New York Yankees and later became a cardiologist and president of the American League, has died. He was 96.

He died Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas, the Yankees said.

Brown played with the Yankees from 1947-54, with Yogi Berra his roommate. He spent eight seasons in the majors and played in a career-high 113 games in 1948, batting .300 with three home runs, 48 RBIs. Overall, he batted .279 with 22 home runs and 237 RBIs.

He was president of the American League from 1984-94.

• Grand Canyon basketball player Oscar Frayer died from a car accident, three days after the Antelopes played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. He was 23. Frayer and his sister, 28-year-old Andrea Moore, were killed with an unidentified person in a car crash in Lodi, on Tuesday, the school announced.

Oklahoma’s Kruger retires

Oklahoma basketball coach Lon Kruger announced his retirement, culminating a 35-year career that included taking five different schools to the NCAA Tournament — with two of them reaching the Final Four — and more than 650 career wins.

Kruger, 68, led Florida to the national semifinals in 1994 and Oklahoma to the same spot in 2016. He is the only coach to lead five different programs — Oklahoma, Kansas State, Florida, Illinois and UNLV — to NCAA Tournament wins.

His 674-432 career record ranks 10th among active coaches in wins and 27th all time.

Norwegian ski jump champ Tande in induced coma

Olympic ski jumping champion Daniel-Andre Tande was hospitalized after a heavy fall at a World Cup event in Slovenia, with Norwegian team officials saying he was in a medically induced coma.

The 27-year-old Norwegian lost control midway through his jump during a ski flying event in Planica and crashed heavily into the snow before tumbling down the slope. He was treated for nearly 30 minutes and given oxygen before being flown by helicopter to a hospital in Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana.

The International Ski Federation (FIS) said on Twitter that Tande was in stable condition.

Alexander Stockl, the head coach of the Norway’s ski jumping team, told Norwegian news agency NTB that Tande had a broken collarbone and would be kept in an induced coma for 24 hours.

Tande is a former sky flying world champion and helped Norway win the team ski jumping event at the 2018 Olympics.

Broadcaster Stockton retires after 55-year career

Record-setting play-by-play announcer Dick Stockton is retiring after a 55-year career. Stockton has called at least 1,545 games on network television in the four U.S. sports leagues, which FOX said in a news release is the most of any broadcaster. He also worked college basketball for FOX and other networks.

Top-ranked Barty overcomes match point in Miami

Top-ranked Ash Barty rallied from a big third-set deficit and overcame a match point to win her opening match at the Miami Open against qualifier Kristina Kucova, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

Barty, who won the tournament’s most recent title in 2019, trailed 5-2 in the final set. In the next game she faced a match point, which she saved by ripping a weak serve for a winner.

Barty fell behind 0-40 serving in the final game but again rallied against Kucova, a Slovakian ranked 149th.