Off the wire

BASEBALL Holliday held out

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday was held out of the starting lineup Tuesday against Washington, the third consecutive game he has missed because of back tightness. Holliday missed Sunday’s game at Milwaukee and Monday’s game with Washington. Both times he was in the original starting lineup but was scratched right before the game. Manager Mike Matheny said Holliday is day to day. Shane Robinson replaced Holliday in left field Tuesday. Holliday is hitting .298 with 20 home runs and 91 RBI.

Chicago White Sox infielder Jeff Keppinger will have season-ending surgery on his right shoulder. Keppinger will have the operation Thursday in Chicago, Manager Robin Ventura said before the White Sox opened a two-game series against Cleveland. Keppinger has been playing with discomfort in his shoulder since spring training. He batted .253 with 4 home runs and 40 RBI in 117 games, primarily playing second and third base. Ventura said the injury affected Keppinger’s throwing more than his hitting. Ventura said the decision to have the surgery before the season ended was so Keppinger can begin a rehab program immediately and be ready for spring training. Keppinger, who signed a three-year contract in December, ends the season with a six-game hitting streak. After batting just .202 in April, he hit .312 in August and September.

Cleveland Indians All-Star starter Justin Masterson will return from an injury and pitch in relief during the team’s playoff push. With Cleveland fighting for a postseason spot, Masterson, sidelined with a strained oblique muscle since Sept. 2, will join Cleveland’s bullpen. Manager Terry Francona said the right-hander could appear in a game as early as today. The Indians have managed to stay in the playoff chase without their ace, who said he is looking forward to coming back and helping in any way he can. Masterson pitched a simulated game Sunday, the final hurdle before he could be cleared to return. While Masterson said he would love to start again this season, Francona indicated the only way that will happen is if the Indians play deep into October. Masterson is 14-10 with a 3.52 ERA in 29 starts.

MOTOR SPORTS Kahne says he’s OK

Kasey Kahne said he was frustrated he’d blown his championship chances by making a “hardheaded mistake” at New Hampshire on Sunday, and it boiled over into his brief televised interview that left viewers speculating about his health. Kahne said Tuesday there was nothing physically wrong with him following his accident at New Hampshire. Rather, he realized immediately after his crash with 47 laps remaining that his title hopes were over, and he allowed his anger to derail the now widely discussed interview with ESPN reporter Jerry Punch. He also said he couldn’t hear Punch over the roar of the cars. Kahne was running inside the top 10 at the time of the crash and wound up finishing 37th. It dropped him to last in the 13-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field.

GOLF Hargraves defeated

Chip Lutz and Douglas Hanzel won a pair of matches Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Senior Amateur Championship at Wade Hampton Golf Club in Cashiers, N.C., while Bev Hargraves of Helena-West Helena was eliminated. Lutz, of Reading, Pa., won 5 and 4 over Paul Schlachter of Pittsburgh and 3 and 2 over Robert Valerio of Hawthorne, Calif. Hanzel, of Savannah, Ga., defeated Mike Poe of Athens, Tenn., 4 and 3 and Peter Wegmann of Sea Ranch Lakes, Fla., 7 and 5. Hargraves was defeated Tuesday by Ray Thompson of Drexel Hill, Pa., 5 and 3. Brothers Stan (Tumbling Shoals) and Louis Lee (Heber Springs) and Ross McCaskill (Little Rock) did not advance to Tuesday’s rounds. The 18-hole championship match is scheduled for Thursday.

Defending champion Ellen Port defeated Patty Moore 4 and 3 on Tuesday to advance to the third round of match play at the Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at CordeValle in San Martin, Calif. Port won last year’s championship at Hershey (Pa.) Country Club, her fifth USGA title. Tanna Richard of Fort Smith beat Lynne Cowan of Rocklin, Calif., 2 and 1 in the round of 32 Tuesday morning but lost 2-up to Liz Waynick of Scottsdale, Ariz., in the round of 16 in the afternoon. The championship match is set for Thursday.

U.S. captain Tom Watson is suggesting wild-card picks be scrapped for future Ryder Cups. “If you really look at it, the purist form of Ryder Cup would be … no captain’s picks, 12 players who qualify,” Watson said Tuesday while speaking at a “Year To Go” news conference at Gleneagles ahead of the 2014 tournament at the Scottish course. If that had been the case at Medinah last year, Europe probably wouldn’t have returned home with the trophy. Ian Poulter, who helped Europe rally from 10-5 down, was one of two wild-card selections. Watson also said he considers Tiger Woods a pivotal figure for the U.S. team next year, despite the top-ranked player celebrating only one Ryder Cup victory.

SAILING Oracle wins again

Skipper Jimmy Spithill and defending champion Oracle Team USA sped past Emirates Team New Zealand on the upwind third leg Tuesday to win their astonishing seventh consecutive race and force a deciding 19th race in the longest America’s Cup ever. All but defeated a week ago, Oracle Team USA tied the faltering Kiwis 8-8 on the scoreboard by winning its 10th race overall. Oracle was docked two points for illegally modifying boats in warmup regattas. Race 19 is scheduled for today. Either Oracle will finish one of the greatest comebacks in sports history or Team New Zealand will get the elusive victory it needs to claim the Auld Mug for the second time in 18 years.

FOOTBALL NCAA restores some scholarships at Penn State

Bill O’Brien will soon have a few more scholarships to offer when he hits the recruiting trail.

He also has more reasons to finish his contract at Penn State.

The Nittany Lions received some rare good news Tuesday from the NCAA, which will restore some of the scholarships taken from the school as part of the punishment over the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Five will be reinstated next year, and more will be phased in until the school reaches normal totals in 2016-2017.

“We have to keep doing what we’re doing, which is work extremely hard to do what’s right for our football program here, for our players, our student-athletes and, most importantly, for the university, ” O’Brien said.

The NCAA credited the school for making significant improvements to its athletics programs after the child sex abuse scandal. The scholarship amount will continue to increase until Penn State reaches the full allocation of 25 initial football scholarships in 2015-2016 and 85 total in 2016-2017.

While the surprising reversal won’t help this year’s Nittany Lions (3-1), O’Brien was pleased the sanctions were eased for the long-term health of the program.

“It’s more about the future,” said O’Brien, who is in his second year at the school.

Even better for Penn State, the NCAA said it also may reduce the postseason play ban, depending on the university’s future progress.

The NCAA said the unanimous decision by its executive committee was based on the recommendation of former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, who has been serving as Penn State’s athletics integrity monitor.

With more players on the roster and the bowl ban potentially lifted, O’Brien would have more incentive to stay at Penn State. That’s certainly good news in Happy Valley, where O’Brien has been embraced as a successor to Hall of Famer Joe Paterno.

O’Brien replaced Paterno, who was fired in November 2011 in the aftermath of Sandusky’s arrest on child sex abuse charges. Paterno died about two weeks after O’Brien was hired in January 2012.

Sandusky is serving a 30- to 60-year state prison sentence for sexual abuse of 10 boys, including incidents inside Penn State athletics facilities. A state appeals court recently heard oral argument in his quest for a new trial.