Sports Briefs August 16, 2011
Baseball
The Detroit Tigers are the latest team hoping Delmon Young can finally live up to expectations. Once one of baseball's top prospects, the former No. 1 draft pick was traded Monday for a minor league pitcher and a player to be named. Detroit immediately put him in the lineup, batting third and playing left field. In his first at bat, he homered off fromer teammate Francisco Liriano.
Young has been bothered by injuries this year and is hitting .266 with four home runs and 32 RBIs in 84 games. He had what may have been his best season in 2010, hitting .298 with 21 homers.
The first-place Tigers add another potentially big bat to their roster as they try to hold on in the AL Central. They led Cleveland by 2 1/2 games heading into Monday night's action.
• AMERICAN LEAGUE
Jim Thome hit his 600th home run an inning after he hit No. 599 to help Minnesota outslug host Detroit.
Yankees 7, Royals 4: Derek Jeter had three hits and drove in three runs to lead New York at Kansas City.
Rangers 8, Angels 4: At Anaheim, Calif., Nelson Cruz and Mike Napoli hit back-to-back homers and Texas beat Los Angeles.
Orioles 6, Athletics 2: Robert Andino hit a go-ahead bases-loaded double in the seventh to lead Baltimore at Oakland.
• NATIONAL LEAGUE
Braves 5, Giants 4: Freddie Freeman's two-RBI single in the ninth lifted host Atlanta past San Francisco.
Brewers 3, Dodgers 0: Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Corey Hart all hit solo home runs in host Milwaukee's win over Los Angeles.
Pirates 6, Cardinals 2: Ryan Doumit hit a three-run home run to help host Pittsburgh past St. Louis.
Cubs 4, Astros 3: Geovany Soto had three hits and two RBIs as visiting Chicago won for the 12th time in 15 games.
Rockies 7, Marlins 4: At Denver, Jason Giambi hit a three-run homer to cap a four-run ninth, and Colorado rallied past Florida.
Mets 5, Padres 4, 10 inn.: Scott Hairston drove in the go-ahead run with a fielder's choice in the 10th to lead New York at San Diego.
Football
Frontier Conference football coaches have picked NAIA champion Carroll College as the favorite to win the conference again this season.
The Fighting Saints received five of the six first-place votes and 25 points overall in the coaches' poll.
Eastern Oregon University received one first-place vote and tied for second with Rocky Mountain College.
Montana Tech and Montana State-Northern tied for fourth, with Montana Western polling sixth.
Basketball
Former Milwaukee Bucks star Sidney Moncrief has joined the team as an assistant coach.
The 53-year-old Moncrief was an NBA assistant in Dallas (2000-03) and with Golden State (2007-09) along with a stint as head coach of the Fort Worth Flyers in the D-League in 2006-07.
Tennis
Her game growing stronger as the U.S. Open nears, Serena Williams soared from No. 80 to No. 31 in the WTA rankings following her victory in the Rogers Cup.
Williams has won her last two tournaments, the other title coming at the Stanford Classic two weeks ago. She has played in four tournaments since her return.
She beat Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday in Toronto, the latest step in a comeback from injury and illness that sidelined her 49 weeks. The U.S. Open starts Aug. 29.
- The Associated Press