Sports – Page 477 – North Platte Post Archive

Escobar, Ventura Lead Royals Past Twins, 6-3

Posted on July 31, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alcides Escobar hit a two-run triple and Yordano Ventura pitched seven effective innings as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-3 Thursday.

Escobar’s triple highlighted a four-run seventh. The inning also included Jarrod Dyson’s run-scoring single. Dyson stole second and third and scored on catcher Eric Fryer’s throwing error.

Ventura (8-8) limited the Twins to two runs, one earned, on five hits, while striking out seven.

Danny Santana led off the game with a home run. Mike Moustakas committed two throwing errors in the third to gift the Twins with an unearned run.

Caleb Thielbar (2-1) retired only one of three batters he faced for Minnesota.

Phelps to Compete in 4 Events at US Nationals

Posted on July 31, 2014

Michael Phelps has entered four events at next week’s U.S. national championships.

Less than four months after coming out of retirement, Phelps will compete in the 100-meter freestyle, 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle and 200 individual medley at the meet in Irvine, California.

The national championships, along with the Pan Pacific Championships in Australia a couple of weeks later, will determine the American team for next year’s world championships.

The 29-year-old Phelps is the most decorated Olympic athlete with 18 gold medals and 22 medals overall. He retired after the London Games, having accomplished all his goals and saying he had no desire to swim into his 30s.

But he began plotting a comeback less than a year later. Since returning, he has competed in four meets.

New System in NFL Stadiums to Measure Player Stats

Posted on July 31, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL players will wear transmitters inside their shoulder pads this season to help measure stats such as how far they ran during a game.

The league said Thursday that it will install real-time location systems in 17 stadiums. The receivers located throughout the venue will collect data including position, speed and distance that will be compiled into a database. Coaches, broadcasters and fans will have access to these “next-generation” stats during the game.

The Zebra Technologies systems will be installed in Atlanta, Baltimore, Carolina, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, New England, New Orleans, Oakland, San Francisco, St. Louis and Washington. All but two of those stadiums are hosting Thursday night games.

Arrieta Pitches Cubs Past Rockies 3-1

Posted on July 31, 2014

CHICAGO (AP) — Jake Arrieta struck out seven in seven innings, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.

Arrieta (6-2) allowed one run and three hits in his first victory since June 30 at Boston. The 6-foot-4 right-hander has a 1.73 ERA in his last 11 starts, holding opponents to a .162 batting average.

The Cubs won three of four in a matchup of last-place teams. The Rockies have lost four of five and 11 of 15 overall.

Pedro Hernandez (0-1) allowed three runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings in his first start for Colorado.

Stuck in Limbo, Royals Stand Pat at Trade Deadline

Posted on July 31, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Stuck in limbo between contending and conceding, the Kansas City Royals opted to stand pat as baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline passed Thursday, even as several other teams pulled off splashy moves.

The Tigers, who led the Royals by 4 1/2 games in the AL Central at the start of the day, landed arguably the biggest coup in left-hander David Price. The Mariners and Yankees, neck-and-neck with Kansas City in the wild-card hunt, also were involved in a series of trades.

Meanwhile, Royals general manager Dayton Moore said his perennially building club checked on potential trade targets but “at the end of the day, there weren’t any players we could get our hands on that would be upgrades over what we have.”

The Royals haven’t made the playoffs since 1985.

Nuggets Sign 1st-Round Picks Nurkic, Harris

Posted on July 31, 2014

DENVER (AP) — The Denver Nuggets reached deals with first-round picks Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris on Thursday.

The team picked up the rights to both players in a draft-night trade with Chicago that sent high-scoring Creighton forward Doug McDermott to the Bulls along with forward Anthony Randolph, who was later dealt to Orlando.

The 7-foot Nurkic was the 16th overall pick in the draft. He averaged nearly 12 points and six rebounds for Cedevita Zagreb last season in the Adriatic League.

Harris was taken at No. 19. He averaged 16.7 points and 2.7 assists last season for Michigan State.

The 19-year-old shooting guard had a solid summer league for the Nuggets, leading the team with an 18.6 scoring average.

NBA to Put Twitter Handle on Ball in 2014-15

Posted on July 31, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA is adding its Twitter handle to its official game ball for next season.

The league announced the change on Thursday. The handle @NBA will be added to the left of the league’s logo, making it the first game ball to have it in any of the four major pro sports in North America.

The NBA’s Twitter account has 10.7 million followers, by far the most when compared to the NFL, MLB and NHL.

Unlike a few years back when the league tried to introduce a new synthetic leather game ball, the Spalding ball’s composition will not change. The league quickly abandoned the synthetic ball.

Huskers Ranked 22nd in Preseason Coaches Poll

Posted on July 31, 2014

Lincoln — On the eve of fall practice, the Nebraska football team was ranked 22nd in the initial Amway Coaches Poll released Thursday morning. The Huskers received 228 points in a poll of 62 FBS head coaches.

Nebraska returns 14 starters, including All-America candidates Ameer Abdullah and Randy Gregory, and 45 letterwinners from a team that went 9-4 and capped the year with a Gator Bowl victory over Georgia.

Nebraska is one of four Big Ten teams in the top 25, joining Ohio State (sixth), Michigan State (eighth) and Wisconsin (14th). In addition, five other 2014 opponents – Iowa, Miami (Fla.), Minnesota, Northwestern and Fresno State – were among the teams also receiving votes.

Fans will have their first chance to see the 2014 Huskers on Friday, as the Huskers will host Nebraska Football Fan Day presented by U.S. Cellular. Fan Day will run from 2 to 3:30 p.m. inside Memorial Stadium with all Husker players and coaches that will be part of fall camp in attendance and available to the fans.

· Amway Coaches Poll Link: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/polls/

Chiefs Safety Berry Leaves Practice with Injury

Posted on July 31, 2014

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — Eric Berry left Chiefs practice on Thursday after hurting his lower right leg, the second injury that the Pro Bowl safety has sustained so far in training camp.

Berry missed some time earlier with a dislocated finger.

It was unclear what happened to Berry during one of the early sessions of practice at Missouri Western. He was checked by trainers in the injury tent next to the field, then talked with other team officials on the sideline before leaving the field on a cart.

Berry was able to put weight on the leg, but was noticeably limping. Chiefs coach Andy Reid was expected to discuss the nature and severity of the injury after practice.

Rockies Beat Cubs 6-4 in 10 Innings

Posted on July 30, 2014

CHICAGO (AP) — Brandon Barnes hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the 10th inning, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 6-4 on Wednesday night.

Colorado loaded the bases on two walks and Michael McKenry’s third hit of the game before Barnes singled to left with one out against Wesley Wright (0-2). Drew Stubbs then scored on a wild pitch, helping the Rockies stop a three-game slide.

Rob Scahill (1-0) pitched a scoreless inning for his second major league win and Adam Ottavino got three outs for his first career save. Scahill was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs before the game, bolstering Colorado’s bullpen after it used eight relievers in Tuesday night’s 16-inning loss.