BASEBALL
Royals pick up Frasor
The Kansas City Royals continued to make supplemental tweaks to their roster, in search of low-cost improvements, by acquiring right-handed reliever Jason Frasor from Texas on Wednesday. Kansas City shipped minor-league reliever Spencer Patton in exchange for the 36-year-old. Jimmy Paredes was designated for assignment to clear space on the 40-man roster for Frasor. The team also optioned righty Louis Coleman to Class AAA Omaha. Frasor struck out 30 batters in 29 1/3 innings with the Rangers. He has a 3.34 ERA in 38 games. The team has spent most of this season looking for stability in the middle of its bullpen. Coleman and lefty Tim Collins were key contributors to the unit in 2013. But neither has been effective this season. With Collins in Omaha, the Royals signed veteran southpaw Scott Downs at the beginning of the month. Frasor appears to fit a similar void, providing manager Ned Yost with more reliable options on the bridge to his late-game duo of Wade Davis and Greg Holland. Patton posted a 4.04 ERA for the Storm Chasers this season.
• The Detroit Tigers have recalled Andy Dirks' injury rehab assignment, and the team says the outfielder is dealing with muscular inflammation in his lower back from increased activity. Dirks remains on the disabled list. The 28-year-old Dirks has not played this season because of back problems that required surgery. He hit .256 last year in 131 games. Detroit leads the AL Central by 6 1/2 games, and the Tigers have been able to withstand Dirks' absence thanks to outfielders Rajai Davis and J.D. Martinez. Davis is hitting .296 with 24 stolen bases, and Martinez is batting .346 with 13 home runs.
• The International League jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as it beat the Pacific Coast League 7-3 Wednesday in the Class AAA All-Star Game in Durham, N.C. Elih Villanueva of the New Orleans Zephyrs, the starting pitcher for the PCL, gave up four runs in 1 2/3 innings, which put his team in a position it was unable to overcome. Liam Hendriks of the Buffalo Bisons, who started for the International League, yielded only one hit in two innings and had four strikeouts. Wilson Betemit of the hometown Durham Bulls got the scoring underway for the IL, driving in two runs, and Jhonatan Solano of the Syracuse Chiefs had a two-run home run in the bottom of the second, making the score 4-0. Joc Pederson of the Albuquerque Isotopes put the PCL on the board with a solo home run in the sixth and the IL came back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. The PCL had a run in the eighth and one in the ninth, but the effort was not enough.
TENNIS
Seeded players out
Serbian qualifier Filip Krajinovic defeated defending champion Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-0 Wednesday as a host of seeded players crashed out in the second round of the Hamburg Open. The 149th-ranked Krajinovic converted five of his 10 break point chances against the second-seeded Italian and dropped just eight points in the second set to win in only 54 minutes. Krajinovic next plays Serbia's Dusan Lajovic, who defeated 15th-seeded Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-3, 6-4. Fifth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia lost 7-5, 7-5 to 17-year-old Alexander Zverev, and another German wild card Tobias Kamke defeated 13th-seeded Argentine Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-4. Delbonis lost to Fognini in last year's final. Dustin Brown saved two match points in the third set before beating ninth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8). The popular German faces Pablo Andujar of Spain in the third round. Andujar earlier defeated Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Leonardo Mayer of Argentina upset 10th-seeded Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3) and will next play the 55th-ranked Dominic Thiem of Austria. Lukas Rosol beat 14th-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-2, 6-4. The Czech next faces 2006 winner and third-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain. Fourth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine bucked the trend by beating Poland's Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 6-1. Also, 16th-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy beat 2012 champion Juan Monaco of Argentina 1-6, 6-0, 7-6 (3). Home favorite and seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated Portugal's Gastao Elias 7-5, 6-1 in the late match. The German will next face 2011 champion Gilles Simon. The 12th-seeded Frenchman advanced following Martin Klizan's retirement before their match due to a left wrist injury.
• Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark defeated Karin Knapp of Italy 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Istanbul Cup on Wednesday. Kristina Mladenovic of France upset third-seeded Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-3 in the second round, while seventh-seeded Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia was ousted by Italy's Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-4 at the Koza World of Sport Complex. Fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine brushed aside Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-0, 6-3. The hardcourt Istanbul Cup has rejoined the WTA calendar after a three-year break during which time the Turkish city hosted the WTA finals.
• Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit is out of the Swedish Open, a day after beating top-seeded Alize Cornet. Kontaveit lost to Jana Cepelova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday in the second round. Lara Arruabarrena of Spain beat sixth-seeded Annika Beck of Germany 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) at Bastad Tennis Stadium and Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa defeated Germany's Laura Siegemund 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Two seeded players went out of first-round matches on Wednesday. Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada beat third-seeded Camila Giorgi of Italy 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 while Julia Goerges of Germany ousted seventh-seeded Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor of Spain 6-2, 6-0. Spain's Silvia Soler-Espinosa beat Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3.
MOTOR SPORTS
Jones' truck too low
NASCAR Trucks series driver Erik Jones has been docked 10 championships points after his winning truck failed a post-race inspection last week in Iowa. Jones, driving the No. 51 truck owned by star Kyle Busch, led 131 laps on Friday en route to his first victory in 2014. But an inspection revealed that Jones's truck was too low. Crew chief Eric Phillips was fined $6,000 and placed on probation through the end of the calendar year, and Busch was docked 10 owner points. The 18-year-old Jones will make his NASCAR Nationwide series debut this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway.
BOXING
Pacquiao back to China
Manny Pacquiao will return to China for his next fight, taking on Chris Algieri in the gambling enclave of Macau. The scheduled Nov. 22 fight for the piece of the welterweight title held by Pacquiao comes a year after the Filipino first fought in Macau, beating Brandon Rios on a decision that snapped a two-fight losing streak. Pacquiao last fought in April when he defeated Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas. A relative unknown, Algieri got the fight with Pacquiao by winning a split decision last month over Ruslan Provodnikov in a light welterweight title fight. Algieri, a former kick boxer, is 20-0 with eight knockouts, while Pacquiao is 56-5-3 (38 knockouts).
CYCLING
Gallopin earns first stage victory in France
OYONNAX, France — French rider Tony Gallopin led a late breakaway in a show of opportunism and savvy racing to win Wednesday’s 11th stage of the Tour de France as Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali retained the overall lead.
The peloton returned to action after the race’s first rest day with the 116.3-mile ride from Besancon to Oyonnax, not far from the Swiss border. The stage featured four small- to medium-sized hills near the end.
In the stage’s mini-drama, American Andrew Talansky, struggling through pain from crashes earlier in the race, dropped out of the pack and rode solo much of the day. In a show of grit, he finished some 32 minutes back — enough to qualify to ride another day under race rules.
Gallopin, who wore the yellow jersey for a day before Nibali recaptured it, first tried to break away with about 8.4 miles left but was reeled in. Then, in a late flurry with less than two miles to go, the Lotto-Belisol rider tried again. This time it worked.
He chiseled out a lead of several seconds and, desperately pedaling, held off a surging pack in the final several hundred yards. Gallopin won by several bike lengths, just enough for him to have time to lift his arms in celebration.
“Incredible,” said Gallopin of his first Tour stage victory. “I came to train for the Tour de France here … that really served me today. It’s really a victory that feels good.”
The top standings didn’t change because Nibali finished in the pack with the same time as Gallopin. Astana team leader Nibali has a lead of 2 minutes, 23 seconds over Australia’s Richie Porte. Alejandro Valverde of Spain was third, another 24 seconds back. Gallopin was in fifth, 3:12 behind Nibali.
Riders head off today on the 115-mile 12th stage from Bourgen-Bresse to Saint-Etienne, which features four small- to mid-sized climbs.
Sports on 07/17/2014