BASEBALL
Pedro Castellanos drove in both runs as the Portland Sea Dogs beat the Hartford Yard Goats 2-1 on Tuesday night at Hartford, Connecticut.
Castellanos had a homer in the sixth and an RBI single in the eighth as the Sea Dogs won their eighth straight.
Victor Santos had a no-hitter for 5 1/3 innings before Hartford’s Jose Gomez grounded a single to left. Sean Bouchard had an RBI double two batters later.
In the three-team playoff picture, Portland fell three games behind Bowie (won a doubleheader against Altoona) and moved with 2 1/2 games of Somerset (which lost to Akron). All three teams have five games left, and only one team will get the final playoff spot.
GOLF
PGA: Patrick Cantlay was voted PGA Tour player of the year on the strength of his four victories, including a one-shot advantage at East Lake that made him the FedEx Cup champion.
Tuesday’s announcement was another big step for Cantlay, a 29-year-old Californian who went from being the No. 1 amateur in the world to being unable to play for some three years because of a career-threatening back injury.
Now he has the Jack Nicklaus Award after a big finish to his best season. Cantlay won four times this season, capped off by the FedEx Cup. No one else won more than twice.
The PGA Tour does not release vote totals or how many players even voted. It presumably was a tight race between Cantlay and Jon Rahm, the No. 1 player in the world.
Rahm finished one shot behind Cantlay at the Tour Championship, where Rahm started the tournament four shots behind. He picked up his first major this year at the U.S. Open with a birdie-birdie finish. Rahm also had a six-shot lead going into the final round of the Memorial until having to withdraw with a positive COVID-19 test.
Cantlay wound up winning the Memorial for his second win of the season, and then he set himself apart at the end. He won the BMW Championship at Caves Valley with as clutch a putting performance to beat Bryson DeChambeau in a playoff, and then he won the Tour Championship to collect the FedEx Cup and its $15 million prize.
Rahm, meanwhile, won the PGA of America award as player of the year. That’s based on points, with triple value for winning a major.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR: NASCAR will open the 2022 season inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in one of the biggest shakeups to its schedule in years.
The annual exhibition Clash, held at Daytona International Speedway since 1979, will shift to Los Angeles next year. The invitation-only race was always the kickoff to competitive NASCAR racing and held the week before the season-opening Daytona 500.
The 2022 race will be held Feb. 6, one week after the Super Bowl and two weeks before the Daytona 500. The race will be inside the stadium on a temporary, quarter-mile, asphalt track. The historic Coliseum is home of the University of Southern California football team and seats 77,500.
Eligibility for The Clash has not been announced, but the drivers will be using the Next Gen cars that are set to debut in 2022.
HOCKEY
NHL: Former Boston Bruins center Fred Stanfield, the mild-mannered sidekick to Bobby Orr on the high-scoring teams of the early 1970s, has died. He was 77.
Stanfield died Monday and the Bruins announced his death Tuesday. A cause of death was not given.
A native of Toronto, Stanfield played six seasons in Boston, helping the Bruins win the Stanley Cup in 1970 and 1972 as the No. 2 center behind Phil Esposito.
He was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in 1967 as part of one of the most famous trades in NHL history, swapped along with Esposito and Ken Hodge for Gilles Marotte, Pit Martin and Jack Norris.
Stanfield finished his career with 211 goals and 405 assists for 616 points in 914 games for the Blackhawks, Bruins, Minnesota North Stars and Buffalo Sabres from 1964-1978. He added 21 goals and 35 assists in the playoffs.
Stanfield centered Boston’s second line between Johnny Bucyk and Johnny McKenzie and manned one of the points alongside Orr on the team’s proficient power play.
Stanfield scored 20 or more goals in all six of his seasons with the Bruins, his best showing coming in 1971-72 when he notched 79 points (23 goals, 56 assists) in 78 games. He added seven goals and nine assists during the playoffs to help lead the Bruins to the Cup.
In six seasons playing together, Stanfield, Hodge and Esposito combined for 650 goals and 925 assists for 1,575 points. Stanfield’s totals were 135 goals and 274 assists for 409 points.
Stanfield was traded to Minnesota for goalie Gilles Gilbert in May 1973.
• Liam McHugh, Keith Jones and Anson Carter are joining Turner Sports’ NHL coverage, the network said as it announced the rest of its coverage team for the upcoming season.
McHugh and Jones come over from NBC, which will not be carrying NHL games for the first time since 2004 after Turner and ESPN won the rights earlier this year. McHugh will host the studio coverage and will be joined by Carter, Rick Tocchet and Paul Bissonnette. The network announced earlier this year that Wayne Gretzky would be a studio analyst for big regular-season games, including the Winter Classic, and the playoffs.
Jones, who was in the studio for NBC, will be an ice-level analyst for select games.
Brendan Burke and Darren Pang will form the second commentary team after it was announced earlier that Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk would be the top team. Pang was ESPN and ABC’s top analyst for 13 years (1991-2004) and did do some games for NBC.
Jennifer Botterill, Jackie Redmond and Tarik El-Bashir have been hired as contributors.
The first games on TNT will be on Oct. 13 when the New York Rangers face the Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks take on the Colorado Avalanche.
• Former New York Rangers forward Jim Vesey is among three players the New Jersey Devils have signed to tryout contracts.
The Devils also announced the signings of center Mark Jankowski and defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon. They will join the team when all players report to the NHL camp on Sept. 22 at Prudential Center.
SOCCER
PELE: Retired Brazilian soccer star Pele was moved out of intensive care as he continues to recover from surgery to remove a tumor from his colon.
The 80-year-old Edson Arantes do Nascimento was in good clinical condition and will remain “from now on recovering in his room” at Albert Einstein Hospital, the Sao Paulo facility said in a statement.
Pele, the only male player to win three World Cups, has had mobility problems since a failed hip replacement surgery in 2012, forcing him to use a walker and wheelchair. In recent years, he has also undergone kidney and prostate procedures.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Salzburg was left to rue two missed spot kicks in its 1-1 draw at 10-man Sevilla in a messy opener that featured four first-half penalties.
Salzburg converted only one of its three penalties, all earned by inspired striker Karim Adeyemi before 40 minutes were up in Seville.
Luka Sucic’s spot kick gave the Austrian team the lead in the 21st minute. But Sucic and Adeyemi, both age 19, missed two others in the first half.
Ivan Rakitic equalized for Sevilla against the flow of play from a penalty in the 42nd.
• Cristiano Ronaldo’s early goal could not save Manchester United from another loss in Switzerland, 2-1 against a sharp and robust Young Boys team.
Jordan Siebatcheu, the United States forward on as a substitute, struck in the fifth and last minute of stoppage time when the ball broke into space behind the United defense.
Ronaldo’s record-extending 135th Champions League goal in the 13th minute was the first of his – and United’s – only two shots of the game. He was substituted in the 72nd.
• Juventus claimed its first win of the post-Cristiano Ronaldo era by beating Malmo 3-0 after a flurry of first-half goals.
Alex Sandro’s 23rd-minute opener was followed by goals in the space of 60 seconds by Paulo Dybala – from the penalty spot – and Alvaro Morata on the stroke of halftime in the south of Sweden.
• Host Villarreal was frustrated by Atalanta in its return to the Champions League after a 10-year absence, being held to a 2-2 draw.
The Europa League champions rallied to take the lead in the second half but conceded late to relinquish the opening win at home.
Robin Gosens equalized in the 83rd minute after Remo Freuler had put the visitors ahead six minutes into the match. Villarreal got on the board with Manu Trigueros before halftime and went ahead with a goal from Arnaut “Danjuma” Groeneveld in the second half.
• Thomas Muller scored a goal and Robert Lewandowski added two more to help Bayern Munich deal host Barcelona its first loss of the post-Lionel Messi era, 3-0.
• Benfica was lucky to escape with a point against host Dynamo Kyiv in a 0-0 draw.
Mykola Shaparenko volleyed the ball past Benfica goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos in the last minute of stoppage time for what the Ukrainians thought was the winner. Video review disallowed the goal for an offside in the build-up.
Seconds before, Vlachodimos had seen one Dynamo shot hit his crossbar and parried another from Vitaliy Buyalskiy on the rebound.
• French champion Lille failed to take advantage of an extra man when it was held to a 0-0 draw by visiting Wolfsburg.
Wolfsburg played for more than 30 minutes with 10 players after imposing United States center half John Brooks was sent off in the 63rd minute for a second yellow card following a handball.
• Romelu Lukaku ensured Chelsea made a successful start to its title defense by clinching a 1-0 victory over visiting Zenit St. Petersburg.
PREMIER LEAGUE: Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott had surgery on his broken left ankle.
The 18-year-old Elliott was hurt following a challenge by Leeds defender Pascal Struijk and was carried off on a stretcher during the 3-0 win in the Premier League on Sunday.
BASKETBALL
OBIT: Gene Littles, a former coach of the Charlotte Hornets who was the all-time leading scorer in High Point University men’s basketball history, has died. He was 78.
A news release from the school said Littles died on Sept. 9 but did not give a cause of death. Details of a memorial service will be released later, it said.
Littles was a three-time NAIA All-American who in 1969 led High Point to a school-best 28-3 record and the quarterfinals of the NAIA Tournament. His No. 14 jersey was retired by the school.
Littles was drafted by the Dallas Chaparrals of the ABA and the New York Knicks of the NBA. His ABA rights were acquired by the Carolina Cougars, with whom he earned a spot on the league’s all-rookie team as a starting point guard. He finished his career with the Kentucky Colonels, who beat the Indiana Pacers to win the 1975 ABA title.
Littles then joined the coaching staff at Appalachian State before moving to the head coaching job at North Carolina A&T, where he led the Aggies to two Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference titles. He was the MEAC coach of the year in 1979.
In 1986, Littles became an NBA assistant coach, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers for the last 19 games of the season. In 1990, Littles was named head coach of the Charlotte Hornets midway through the season and remained in that role for the following season. He was an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets in 1994-95 and served as the interim head coach for the last 19 games of that season.
NBA: The NBA told its teams that it is going ahead with a plan where those who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus will not need to submit to regular testing. Those who are unvaccinated, however, will undergo rigorous testing – one test on practice or travel days, and at least one test on game days.
Teams were given parameters of the plan earlier this month and the league, in a memo obtained by The Associated Press, revealed more details to its clubs about how the testing will work. Many of the tests given this season will be administered through Cue Health, which provides rapid molecular tests and processes them through mobile technology in about 20 minutes.
Tests that will clear an unvaccinated player to be in a game will still be of the PCR variety, the league said.
• The Indiana Pacers have lost backup point guard Edmond Sumner indefinitely with a torn left Achilles tendon.
Team officials acknowledged Sumner was injured during an offseason workout. They said he had surgery Monday in New York.
The 6-foot-4, 196-pound Detroit native was Indiana’s second-round pick in 2017 but his career has been slowed by a series of injuries including a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during his final season at Xavier.
Sumner slowly played his way into the Pacers’ regular rotation and appeared poised for a more significant role this season after guard Aaron Holiday was traded to the Washington Wizards this summer.
In 53 games last season, Sumner averaged 7.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.6 steals – all career highs – and 0.9 assists.
• Forward Aaron Gordon and the Denver Nuggets have agreed on a four-year, $92 million contract extension.
His agent, Calvin Andrews, confirmed the contract to The Associated Press. The deal contains a player option for Gordon for the ’25-26 season.
OLYMPICS
OBIT: Yuriy Sedykh, a two-time Olympic champion in the hammer throw whose world record from 1986 still stands, has died. He was 66.
The Russian track and field federation said Sedykh died early Tuesday following a heart attack.
Sedykh won gold at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics, but missed the 1984 Los Angeles Games because of a Soviet boycott. He returned to win a silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and won a world title in 1991.
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