A6 The BulleTin • Monday, July 5, 2021 ON THE AIR SCOREBOARD MONDAY WATER SPORTS World Surf League, Corona Open Mexico HORSE RACING America’s Day at the Races TENNIS Wimbledon WTA, Hamburg European Open BASEBALL MLB, Chicago White Sox at Minnesota MLB, Boston at L.A. Angels SOCCER Copa America semifinal, Brazil vs. Peru HOCKEY Stanley Cup Final, Tampa Bay at Montreal CYCLING Tour de France, Stage 10 Time 6 a.m. TV FS2 BASKETBALL 10 a.m. 11 a.m. 4 a.m. (Tue) FS2 ESPN2 Tennis 4 p.m. 7 p.m. ESPN ESPN 4 p.m. FS1 5 p.m. NBC 4:30 a.m. (Tue) NBCSN TUESDAY TENNIS Wimbledon, Ladies’ Quarterfinals WTA, Hamburg European Open WTA, Hamburg European Open WATER SPORTS World Surf League, Corona Open Mexico SOCCER CONCACAF Gold Cup, Second Round CONCACAF Gold Cup, Second Round Copa America semifinal, Colombia vs. Argentina CONCACAF Gold Cup, Second Round BASKETBALL NBA Finals, Milwaukee at Phoenix BASEBALL MLB, N.Y. Yankees at Seattle CYCLING Tour de France, Stage 11 5 a.m. ESPN, ESPN2 2 a.m. (Wed) Tennis 3 a.m. (Wed) Tennis 6 a.m. FS2 1:30 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 6:30 p.m. FS2 FS2 FS1 FS2 6 p.m. ABC 7 p.m. ESPN, Root 3:30 a.m. (Wed) NBCSN Listings are the most accurate available. SPORTS BRIEFING MLB Mariners continue surge, beat Rangers 4-1 — While it’s Yusei Kikuchi heading to the All-Star Game, no member of the Seattle Mariners’ starting rotation has provided a big- ger boost this season than Chris Flexen. And when Flexen is pitching in his home park, good luck solving the tall right- hander. “You know he’s going to give you a chance to win the game, is going to keep you in the ballgame,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “I’m really impressed with how he contin- ues to develop.” Flexen added to his impressive first season in Seattle by allowing one run in six innings, Luis Torrens hom- ered for the seventh time in his past 13 games and the Mari- ners beat the Texas Rangers 4-1 on Sunday. Seattle extended its recent surge, winning its fifth straight series of longer than two games, and has won 11 of 15 overall. Seattle begins a three-game series Tuesday with the New York Yankees. BASKETBALL Luka Doncic rallies Slovenia into Olympics — Olympic qualifying is underway, and if you’re wondering why Team USA hasn’t been in the headlines, it’s because they’ve already handled business. But Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic and Slovenia are headed to the Olympics for the first time, after winning 96-85 at Lithuania on Sunday. Doncic — the MVP of the tournament in Lithuania — was simply brilliant: 31 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists, the first triple-double by any player in any of the four Olympic qualifying tournaments that were played in the past week to determine the last four teams in the Olympic field. “I don’t care about the MVP,” Doncic said. “We won here. We’re going to the Olympics, the first time in our country. It’s amazing.” Also Sunday: Canada’s national team, with a roster coached by the Toronto Raptors’ Nick Nurse and headlined by 10 NBA players, dug themselves a 13-point hole and ultimately lost in the semifinals, 103-101, to a Czech Re- public national team with only one NBA player, Tomas Sato- ransky. Team USA already solidified their spot in Tokyo. — Bulletin wire reports Tour Continued from A5 “Just to be taking part on the Tour de France in the first place is a dream. Then to achieve a victory like this one is excellent, a great reward to everyone who has supported me over the years,” O’Connor said. “It’s been a wild ride.” O’Connor finished more than five minutes ahead of Mattia Cattaneo and Sonny Colbrelli. Pogacar responded to a late attack by Richard Car- apaz to defend his overall lead by finishing sixth, just over six minutes behind O’Connor. Roglic crashed badly during Monday’s third stage in the western Brittany re- gion and had been struggling since. The Jumbo-Visma team said the Slovenian rider would focus on new goals. “It’s just too much for my body at the moment and yeah, I cannot race,” the 31-year-old said. Blazers Continued from A5 Forward Robert Covington, brought in during a November trade to help elevate the defense, talked nu- merous times during the season about the team’s issues with communication, playing with maximum effort and at- tention to detail. Early in the season, Damian Lillard discussed the team’s overall lack of ac- countability when it came to playing defense. Billups, who spent this season as an assistant with the Los Angeles Clip- pers, said he wants the Blazers to treat defense with as much attention to de- tail as they do offense. “Just having a defensive mindset, defensive mentality, just to compete every single day and to be physical and to communicate and things like that,” he said. NBA playoffs NBA FINALS (Best-of-7; x-if necessary) Tuesday: Milwaukee at Phoenix, 6 p.m. Thursday: Milwaukee at Phoenix, 6 p.m. Sunday, July 11: Phoenix at Milwaukee, 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 14: Phoenix at Milwaukee, 6 p.m. x-Saturday, July 17: Milwaukee at Phoenix, 6 p.m. x-Tuesday, July 20: Phoenix at Milwaukee, 6 p.m. x-Thursday, July 22: Milwaukee at Phoenix, 6 p.m. WNBA EASTERN CONFERENCE W L Connecticut 12 6 Chicago 10 9 new york 9 9 Washington 7 10 atlanta 6 10 indiana 2 16 WESTERN CONFERENCE W L las Vegas 13 4 Seattle 13 4 Minnesota 8 7 dallas 9 9 Phoenix 7 8 los angeles 6 10 Saturday’s Late Games Minnesota at Phoenix, late Sunday’s Games atlanta at las Vegas, 3 p.m. Seattle at los angeles, 6 p.m. Monday’s Games dallas at new york, 4 p.m. Tuesday’s Games no games scheduled. Pct .667 .526 .500 .412 .375 .111 GB — 2½ 3 4½ 5 10 Pct .765 .765 .533 .500 .467 .375 GB — — 4 4½ 5 6½ MLB Pct .538 .494 .488 .481 .427 GB — 3½ 4 4½ 9 Pct .600 .518 .500 .482 .361 GB — 7 8½ 10 20 Pct .634 .631 .581 .435 .271 GB — — 4 16½ 30½ Softball Continued from A5 The technological revolution that has altered Major League Baseball also has impacted Olympic softball. Eriksen sees that both with South Florida, where he has been coach since 1996, and the U.S. “We play Australia and we play Japan and we play Can- ada and Mexico — a lot. So we have pretty good data and the analytics on teams that we play,” Eriksen said. Holdovers The 15-woman U.S. ros- ter includes 38-year-old left- hander Cat Osterman, the last holdover from the 2004 gold Powell, Covington and center Jusuf Nurkic have the reputation of being good defenders. Lillard and fellow guard C.J. McCollum, not so much. Billups, twice named to the NBA’s all-defensive team as a player, will be expected to get Lillard and McCol- lum to elevate their play on defense. Billups, a former All-Star point guard, played for a defensive-minded Detroit team that won the championship in 2004 with the second-highest-rated defense in the league. Olshey is con- fident Billups’ resume will help him make an impact on Lillard and Mc- Collum. Strengthening a strong offense Billups spent a lot of time working with the Clippers’ defense this season so he became familiar with the Blaz- ers’ offense having faced them three times. The Blazers put up big numbers, PGA Tour NHL playoffs FINALS (Best-of-7; x-if necessary) Tampa Bay 3, Montreal 0 Monday: Tampa Bay at Montreal, 5 p.m. x-Wednesday,: Montreal at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m. x-Friday: Tampa Bay at Montreal, 5 p.m. x-Sunday, July 11: Montreal at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m. MLS AMERICAN LEAGUE East Division W L Pct GB Boston 53 32 .624 — Tampa Bay 48 36 .571 4½ Toronto 43 39 .524 8½ new york 42 41 .506 10 Baltimore 27 57 .321 25½ Central Division W L Pct GB Chicago 49 34 .590 — Cleveland 42 39 .519 6 detroit 38 46 .452 11½ Kansas City 35 48 .422 14 Minnesota 34 48 .415 14½ West Division W L Pct GB houston 52 33 .612 — oakland 49 37 .570 3½ Seattle 45 40 .529 7 los angeles 42 41 .506 9 Texas 33 51 .393 18½ Saturday’s Late Games oakland 7, Boston 6, 12 innings l.a. angels 4, Baltimore 1 Texas 7, Seattle 3 Sunday’s Games Tampa Bay 5, Toronto 1 houston 4, Cleveland 3, 10 innings detroit 6, Chicago White Sox 5 Minnesota 6, Kansas City 2 n.y. Mets 10, n.y. yankees 5, 7 innings, 1st game Seattle 4, Texas 1 Boston 1, oakland 0 l.a. angels 6, Baltimore 5 n.y. yankees 4, n.y. Mets 2, 7 innings, 2nd game Monday’s Games Chicago White Sox (Cease 7-3) at Minnesota (ober 0-1), 4:10 p.m. Cleveland (allen 1-5) at Tampa Bay (hill 6-3), 4:10 p.m. detroit (Peralta 1-1) at Texas (allard 2-4), 5:05 p.m. Cincinnati (Gutierrez 3-3) at Kansas City (Minor 6-6), 5:10 p.m. Boston (Pérez 6-4) at l.a. angels (Suarez 3-1), 6:38 p.m. Eastern Conference W L T Pts GF GA new england 7 2 3 24 20 15 orlando City 6 2 3 21 19 9 Phila. 5 3 4 19 15 11 nashville 4 1 6 18 14 11 ny City FC 5 3 2 17 18 11 d.C. united 5 6 1 16 17 14 new york 5 5 1 16 16 14 CF Montréal 4 3 4 16 12 10 Columbus 4 3 4 16 11 9 atlanta 2 3 6 12 11 13 Cincinnati 3 5 2 11 10 18 Chicago 2 7 2 8 10 17 inter Miami CF 2 7 2 8 9 17 Toronto FC 1 8 2 5 13 27 Western Conference W L T Pts GF GA Seattle 7 0 5 26 21 8 Sporting KC 7 3 2 23 22 15 la Galaxy 7 3 0 21 17 15 Colorado 5 3 2 17 16 12 la FC 4 4 3 15 13 12 Minnesota united 4 4 3 15 12 14 houston 3 3 6 15 16 17 Portland 4 6 1 13 14 19 Real Sl 3 3 4 13 14 12 austin FC 3 5 4 13 10 12 San Jose 3 7 2 11 14 22 FC dallas 2 4 5 11 13 17 Vancouver 2 6 3 9 12 18 noTe: Three points for victory, one point for tie. Saturday’s Late Games la FC 1, Real Sl 0 Sunday’s Games Vancouver 2, FC dallas 2, tie Seattle 1, Colorado 1, tie Sporting KC at la Galaxy, 7:30 p.m. NWSL W L T Pts GF north Carolina 5 2 1 16 14 orlando 4 2 3 15 12 Portland 5 3 0 15 14 houston 4 3 1 13 10 Gotham FC 3 1 3 12 7 Washington 3 2 3 12 8 Chicago 3 4 2 11 6 louisville 3 4 1 10 6 Reign FC 2 5 1 7 5 Kansas City 0 6 3 3 5 noTe: Three points for victory, one point for tie. Sunday’s Game north Carolina 2, orlando 0 GA 4 10 6 8 3 8 13 12 10 13 TENNIS Wimbledon Men’s Singles Third Round hubert hurkacz (14), Poland, def. alexander Bublik, Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Matteo Berrettini (7), italy, def. aljaz Bedene, Slovenia, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. lorenzo Sonego (23), italy, def. James duckworth, aus- tralia, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. ilya ivashka, Belarus, def. Jordan Thompson, australia, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Felix auger-aliassime (16), Canada, def. nick Kyrgios, australia, 2-6, 6-1, 0-0, ret. medal-winning team, and 35-year-old left-hander Mon- ica Abbott, who joined Oster- man on the 2008 team. Osterman started and Ab- bott relieved her in the sixth inning of the 2008 gold medal game, a 3-1 loss to Japan that ended the Americans’ 22- game, eight-year Olympic win- ning streak. Eriksen said part of their jobs is to steady the rest of the team, to tell them: “Try not to get stars in your eyes of what’s going on around you, and at the same time, understand that it’s just another tournament, just happens to have five rings on it, but it’s still another tour- nament and you’re going to play softball and try to win the but one ongoing criticism revolved around a lack of ball movement. One reason was that the team relied heavily on 3-point shooting (40.8 attempts per game, second in the NBA) . Later in the season, after the acqui- sition of Powell, the Blazers began us- ing more player movement and the offense improved. The Blazers aver- aged 124.9 points per game over the final 12 games while going 10-2. That scoring output ranked second in the NBA. On the season, Portland aver- aged 116.1 points per game. Billups has no issue with shooting 3s, but he wants to get the best shot possible, not simply an open shot. “Offensively, this team was unbe- lievable,” Billups said. “I think we can even be better offensively with more ball movement, different schemes, different plays, executing a little bit better.” alexander Zverev (4), Germany, def. Taylor Fritz (31), united States, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Roger Federer (6), Switzerland, def. Cameron norrie (29), Britain, 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. daniil Medvedev (2), Russia, def. Marin Cilic (32), Croa- tia, 6-7 (3), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. Women’s Singles Third Round angelique Kerber (25), Germany, def. aliaksandra Sas- novich, Belarus, 2-6, 6-0, 6-1. Karolina Muchova (19), Czech Republic, def. anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (16), Russia, 7-5, 6-3. ajla Tomljanovic, australia, def. Jelena ostapenko, lat- via, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. emma Raducanu, Britain, def. Sorana Cirstea, Romania, 6-3, 7-5. Coco Gauff (20), united States, def. Kaja Juvan, Slovenia, 6-3, 6-3. Paula Badosa (30), Spain, def. Magda linette, Poland, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. Barbora Krejcikova (14), Czech Republic, def. anastasija Sevastova, latvia, 7-6 (1), 3-6, 7-5. ashleigh Barty (1), australia, def. Katerina Siniakova, Czech Republic, 6-3, 7-5. GOLF HOCKEY SOCCER BASEBALL NATIONAL LEAGUE East Division W L new york 43 37 atlanta 41 42 Washington 40 42 Philadelphia 39 42 Miami 35 47 Central Division W L Milwaukee 51 34 Cincinnati 43 40 Chicago 42 42 St. louis 41 44 Pittsburgh 30 53 West Division W L San Francisco 52 30 los angeles 53 31 San diego 50 36 Colorado 37 48 arizona 23 62 Saturday’s Late Games l.a. dodgers 5, Washington 3 Colorado 3, St. louis 2 San Francisco 6, arizona 5 Sunday’s Games l.a. dodgers 5, Washington 1 Pittsburgh 2, Milwaukee 0 Cincinnati 3, Chicago Cubs 2 San diego 11, Philadelphia 1 n.y. Mets 10, n.y. yankees 5, 7 innings, 1st game atlanta 8, Miami 7, 10 innings Colorado 3, St. louis 2 n.y. yankees 4, n.y. Mets 2, 7 innings, 2nd game San Francisco at arizona, 6:10 p.m. Monday’s Games St. louis (Kim 2-5) at San Francisco (Gausman 8-2), 3:05 p.m. l.a. dodgers (Buehler 8-1) at Miami (Rogers 7-5), 3:40 p.m. atlanta (Fried 5-4) at Pittsburgh (de Jong 0-3), 4:05 p.m. Milwaukee (Woodruff 7-3) at n.y. Mets (Megill 0-0), 4:10 p.m. Philadelphia (Moore 0-1) at Chicago Cubs (davies 5-5), 5:05 p.m. Cincinnati (Gutierrez 3-3) at Kansas City (Minor 6-6), 5:10 p.m. Washington (lester 2-3) at San diego (Musgrove 5-6), 7:10 p.m. Rocket Mortgage Classic Scores Sunday x-Cam davis (500), $1,350,000 68-68-67-67—270 Troy Merritt (245), $667,500 67-68-67-68—270 Joaquin niemann (245), $667,500 65-69-68-68—270 alex noren (123), $337,500 70-70-67-64—271 hank lebioda (123), $337,500 67-70-66-68—271 Bubba Watson (95), $262,500 68-73-67-64—272 Brandon hagy (95), $262,500 65-71-68-68—272 Mark anderson (78), $211,875 70-70-67-66—273 Sungjae im (78), $211,875 69-68-69-67—273 Seamus Power (78), $211,875 66-71-69-67—273 Kevin Kisner (78), $211,875 67-69-69-68—273 Chris Kirk (63), $166,875 67-68-70-69—274 Jason Kokrak (63), $166,875 69-69-67-69—274 Jason day (51), $121,875 67-73-69-66—275 Cameron Tringale (51), $121,875 71-70-68-66—275 Fabián Gómez (51), $121,875 67-71-70-67—275 Keegan Bradley (51), $121,875 71-68-68-68—275 Mackenzie hughes (51), $121,875 71-69-67-68—275 Kevin Tway (51), $121,875 71-68-67-69—275 Pat Perez (51), $121,875 67-69-69-70—275 Maverick Mcnealy (40), $81,750 68-69-72-67—276 Joel dahmen (40), $81,750 70-70-69-67—276 Roger Sloan (40), $81,750 65-75-68-68—276 Curtis Thompson (0), $81,750 69-72-67-68—276 Patton Kizzire (31), $56,411 68-72-73-64—277 Beau hossler (31), $56,411 68-69-72-68—277 Max homa (31), $56,411 70-65-74-68—277 lanto Griffin (31), $56,411 68-70-69-70—277 Scott Stallings (31), $56,411 68-73-66-70—277 Tom lewis (31), $56,411 65-69-71-72—277 Richy Werenski (31), $56,411 68-68-69-72—277 Patrick Reed (22), $41,875 69-72-70-67—278 Bo hoag (22), $41,875 70-68-71-69—278 doug Ghim (22), $41,875 70-68-71-69—278 Sean o’hair (22), $41,875 70-66-71-71—278 J.J. Spaun (22), $41,875 66-73-68-71—278 Rickie Fowler (22), $41,875 70-69-68-71—278 Robert Streb (17), $34,125 67-71-74-67—279 Brandt Snedeker (17), $34,125 70-71-71-67—279 henrik norlander (17), $34,125 68-72-70-69—279 lucas Glover (11), $24,116 68-72-73-67—280 Cameron Percy (11), $24,116 71-70-71-68—280 Patrick Rodgers (11), $24,116 70-70-72-68—280 nelson ledesma (11), $24,116 72-68-71-69—280 Michael Gellerman (11), $24,116 70-68-72-70—280 adam Schenk (11), $24,116 72-66-72-70—280 Michael Gligic (11), $24,116 67-73-70-70—280 Garrick higgo (11), $24,116 68-71-70-71—280 Russell Knox (11), $24,116 71-65-72-72—280 aaron Baddeley (11), $24,116 69-70-69-72—280 Kyle Stanley (11), $24,116 70-69-69-72—280 Scott Brown (6), $17,775 70-71-74-66—281 anirban lahiri (6), $17,775 71-69-73-68—281 Chesson hadley (6), $17,775 69-70-72-70—281 Tyler duncan (6), $17,775 70-67-73-71—281 Matt Jones (6), $17,775 70-69-71-71—281 nick Taylor (6), $17,775 72-68-70-71—281 Jonas Blixt (5), $16,575 68-71-72-71—282 Kramer hickok (5), $16,575 69-69-72-72—282 Matthew Wolff (5), $16,575 67-70-73-72—282 Josh Teater (5), $16,575 70-71-69-72—282 Vincent Whaley (5), $16,575 71-68-70-73—282 Matthew neSmith (5), $16,575 71-69-69-73—282 davis Thompson (0), $16,575 63-73-72-74—282 Si Woo Kim (5), $16,575 67-72-69-74—282 Chris Baker (5), $16,575 70-70-68-74—282 Camilo Villegas (3), $15,600 70-70-72-71—283 Ryan Brehm (3), $15,600 71-67-73-72—283 danny Willett (3), $15,600 68-70-71-74—283 Sebastián Muñoz (3), $15,600 69-69-69-76—283 Jimmy Walker (3), $15,075 69-72-73-70—284 Willie Mack iii (0), $15,075 68-73-72-71—284 Bo Van Pelt (3), $15,075 68-73-71-72—284 Sung Kang (3), $14,700 69-72-74-70—285 Phil Mickelson (3), $14,700 69-72-72-72—285 Byeong hun an (2), $14,475 71-70-69-76—286 Will Zalatoris (0), $14,325 70-68-74-76—288 CYCLING Tour de France Sunday’s 9th Stage A 144.9-kilometer (90-mile) ride from Cluses to moments instead of trying to win the medals.” Newcomers Among the younger Amer- icans are Rachel Garcia, a 24-year-old right-hander pitcher and infielder; De- jah Mulipola, a 23-year-old catcher; and Bubba Nickles, a 23-year-old utility player. Getting underway The U.S. opens the six-na- tion group stage on July 21 against Italy in Fukushima, where the Americans play Canada the next day. After a day off for the opening cere- mony, action shifts to Yoko- hama, where the Americans play Mexico on July 24, fol- Creating good shots for the likes of Powell, who is set to become an un- restricted free agent, Covington and Anfernee Simons would take pressure off Lillard and McCollum and also work to keep those players involved on offense. Billups said he envisions creating better movement by taking advantage of Nurkic’s passing skills and using him as a facilitator, allowing Lillard and McCollum to play off the ball. Recruiting talent Billups said he likes the roster as is but expects Olshey to do whatever he can to make improvements as he sees fit. “We have some versatile guys on our team,” Billups said. “I think highly of the roster. … I’m excited as heck about what we have right now.” Olshey has been able to make solid moves here and there that certainly Tignes 1. Ben o’Connor, australia, aG2R Citroen Team, 4h 26m 43s 2. Mattia Cattaneo, italy, deceuninck-QuickStep 5m 7s behind. 3. Sonny Colbrelli, italy, Bahrain Victorious, 5m 34s be- hind. 4. Guillaume Martin, France, Cofidis 5m 36s behind. 5. Franck Bonnamour, France, B&B hotels p/b KTM 6m 2s behind. 6. Tadej Pogacar, Slovenia, uae Team emirates, same time. 7. Richard Carapaz, ecuador, ineos Grenadiers, 6m 34s behind. 8. Jonas Vingegaard, denmark, Jumbo-Visma, same time. 9. enric Mas nicolau, Spain, Movistar Team, same time. 10. Rigoberto uran, Colombia, eF education-nippo, same time. Also 60. Sepp Kuss, united States, Jumbo-Visma, 30m 27s behind. 119. neilson Powless, united States, eF education-nippo, 31m 37s behind. 133. Brandon Mcnulty, united States, uae Team emirates, 32m 21s behind. 137. Sean Bennett, united States, Qhubeka-nexthash, same time. Overall Standings 1. Tadej Pogacar, Slovenia, uae Team emirates, 34h 11m 10s. 2. Ben o’Connor, australia, aG2R Citroën Team 2m 1s behind. 3. Rigoberto uran, Colombia, eF education-nippo, 5m 18s behind. 4. Jonas Vingegaard, denmark, Jumbo-Visma, 5m 32s behind. 5. Richard Carapaz, ecuador, ineos Grenadiers, 5m 33s behind. 6. enric Mas nicolau, Spaind, Movistar Team, 5m 47s behind. 7. Wilco Kelderman, netherlands, Bora-hansgrohe, 5m 58s behind. 8. alexey lutsenko, Kazakhstan, astana-Premier Tech, 6m 12s behind. 9. Guillaume Martin, France, Cofidis, 7m 2s behind. 10. david Gaudu, France, Groupama-FdJ, 7m 22s behind. Also 72. neilson Powless, united States, eF education-nippo, 1h 10m 43s behind. 93. Sepp Kuss, united States, Jumbo-Visma, 1h 21m 46s behind. 116. Brandon Mcnulty, united States, uae Team emirates, 1h 31m 23s behind. 133. Sean Bennett, united States, Qhubeka-nexthash, 1h 37m 56s behind. DEALS Transactions BASEBALL Major League Baseball American League BalTiMoRe oRioleS — Reinstated RhP Cesar Valdez from the 10-day il. optioned RhP isaac Mattson to nor- folk (Triple-a east). Sent lhP John Means to aberdeen (high-a east) on a rehab assignment. houSTon aSTRoS — Sent RhP Francis Martes outright to Sugar land (Triple-a West). KanSaS CiTy RoyalS — optioned CF edward olivares to omaha (Triple-a West). loS anGeleS anGelS — Recalled inF Jose Rojas from Salt lake (Triple-a West). neW yoRK yanKeeS — Reinstated lhP Wandy Peralta from the 10-day il. optioned inF Tyler Wade to Scran- ton-Wilkes-Barre (Triple-a east). oaKland aThleTiCS — Placed dh Mitch Moreland on the 10-day il. Reinstated oF Stephen Piscotty from the 10-day il. ToRonTo Blue JayS — Reinstated RhP Rafael dolis from the 10-day il. optioned lhP nick allgeyer to Buffalo (Triple-a east). Sent RhP Jeremy Beasley and lhP Travis Bergen outright to Buffalo. National League aTlanTa BRaVeS — optioned lhP Kyle Muller to Gwinnett (Triple-a east). Recalled SS orlando arcia from Gwinnett. ChiCaGo CuBS — Reinstated inF nico hoerner from the 10-day il. optioned inF Sergio alcantara to iowa (Triple-a east). loS anGeleS dodGeRS — Recalled RhP edwin uceta from oklahoma City (Triple-a West). optioned RhP Bru- sader Graterol for oklahoma City. MiaMi MaRlinS — Placed RhP John Curtiss on the 10- day il. Recalled RhP Jordan holloway from Jacksonville (Triple-a east). MilWauKee BReWeRS — acquired inF Kevin Kramer from Pittsburgh in exchange for lhP nathan Kirby. neW yoRK MeTS — Recalled RhPs nick Tropeano and yennsy diaz from Syracuse (Triple-a east). Placed RhP Sean Reid-Foley on the 10-day il, retroactive to July 1. Reinstated 3B Jonathan Villar from the 10-day il. PhiladelPhia PhillieS — agreed to terms with lhP Tyler alexander on a minor league contract. PiTTSBuRGh PiRaTeS — Recalled RhP nick Means from indianapolis (Triple-a east). optioned RhP Cody Ponce to indianapolis. Sent RhP luis oviedo to indianapolis on a rehab assignment. San dieGo PadReS — activated lhP Blake Snell from the 10-day il. optioned RhP Mason Thompson to el Paso (Triple-a West). WaShinGTon naTionalS — Signed RhP diego Moreno to a minor league contract. Sent lF andrew Stevenson on a rehab assingment to Rochester (Triple-a east). SOCCER Major League Soccer ToRonTo FC — Released head coach Chris armas. lowed by Australia and Japan. First and second place play for gold medal on July 27, when third and fourth meet for the bronze. U.S. dominance … until The Americans outscored opponents 122-4 and won two goals medals during their 22-game Olympic winning streak that started in 2000, in- cluding 51-1 in 2004 and 57-2 in 2008 before the loss in the final. Come and gone Softball and baseball are be- ing dropped again from the 2024 Paris Olympics but ap- pear likely to return for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. helped the roster. But he has yet to land a second All-Star since losing LaMarcus Aldridge to free agency fol- lowing the 2014-15 season. The team hopes someone with Bil- lups’ background as a champion and leader will help the Blazers land free agents or persuade players acquired via trade to sign long-term deals. Although Olshey said he is con- fident that the Blazers will improve next season, he didn’t close the door on making additions. “I willingly accept the responsibil- ity to make sure we’re as prepared as possible from a roster standpoint,” Ol- shey said. “I’m really excited,” Billups said. “Portland is a special place. It’s a unique franchise. Played against them for so long. I’m happy to be on the other side with these great fans and also happy to be a part of Rip City and the sponsors.”