Tuesday Sports in Brief
BASEBALL
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Texas rookie pitcher Ian Gibaut was suspended for three games Tuesday, a day after he threw a fastball behind San Diego’s Manny Machado following a grand slam in a dust-up over baseball’s unwritten rules.
Gibaut appealed the penalty imposed by Major League Baseball and was active for Tuesday’s game against the Padres. Rangers manager Chris Woodward wasn’t in the dugout — he was suspended one game and served it.
Gibaut and Woodward also were fined.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona will miss his team’s three-game series with the Pirates, which begins Tuesday night.
General manager Mike Chernoff said Francona will have a “scheduled procedure” to address a gastrointestinal issue. Francona also sat out seven games from Aug. 3-9 because of the ailment.
The Indians are hopeful Francona will be back in the dugout Friday night in Cleveland for the opener of a three-game series against the Tigers.
First base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. will again manage the club in Francona’s absence.
NBA
BOSTON (AP) — The Celtics say forward Gordon Hayward will be sidelined for around four weeks after suffering a severe right ankle sprain in Boston’s Game 1 win over Philadelphia in their first-round playoff series.
The injury occurred in the fourth quarter of the Celtics’ 109-101 victory Monday night when he went up for a rebound and rolled his ankle as he landed on teammate Daniel Theis’ foot. He limped to the locker room and didn’t return.
Hayward played 34 minutes and scored 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting with four rebounds before the injury, which the team described as a Grade 3 sprain, the most severe type.
The timeline for recovery means Hayward will miss the rest of the first round at a minimum and possibly some of the second if the Celtics advance.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Charlotte Hornets have suspended radio play-by-play broadcaster John Focke indefinitely after he used a racial slur on his Twitter account.
Focke used the slur while Tweeting about the Jazz-Nuggets playoff game. He has since deleted the tweet and apologized, saying it was a typo.
Focke wrote on Twitter that “I made a horrific error while attempting to tweet about the Denver-Utah game. I don’t know how I mistyped. I had (and have) no intention of ever using that word. I take full responsibility for my actions. I have been sick to my stomach about it every since. I’m truly sorry that this happened an I apologize to those I offended.”
HOCKEY
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Alex Tuch scored the tiebreaking goal 1:34 into the third period, and the Vegas Golden Knights rallied from an early two-goal deficit to eliminate the Chicago Blackhawks with a 4-3 win in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series on Tuesday night.
Vegas, the top-seed in the Western Conference, became the first team in the Stanley Cup playoffs to advance to the conference semifinals. The Golden Knights will face the lowest remaining seed in the next round.
SOCCER
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Ángel Di María scored one goal and set up two others as Paris Saint-Germain cruised to a 3-0 win over Leipzig on Tuesday to reach the Champions League final for the first time.
Marquinhos and Juan Bernat also scored as the Qatari-owned French club moved a win away from finally capturing an elusive European crown.
Neymar, who set up one of the goals with a neat backheel flick inside the area, is also a step closer to fulfilling his goal of winning the Champions League away from former club Barcelona.
PSG will play for the title on Sunday against either five-time champion Bayern Munich or fellow French club Lyon. They meet on Wednesday in the other semifinal of the mini-tournament being played in Lisbon because of the coronavirus pandemic.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles FC President Tom Penn is leaving his job to move into private business.
LAFC made the surprising announcement Tuesday.
Penn will remain an executive consultant for LAFC, but he is leaving to become the CEO of Co.Protect, which he recently founded. The company makes branded protective equipment.
LAFC general manager John Thorrington and chief business officer Larry Freedman will serve as interim co-team presidents, the club said in a statement.
COURTS
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — One of two men convicted in the murder of Michael Jordan’s father in 1993 will be released from prison in three years, state officials said Tuesday.
The N.C. Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission announced in a three-paragraph statement that it has granted parole to Larry Demery, who is to be released in August 2023, news outlets reported.
The 2023 release date arises from a portion of Demery’s parole agreement stipulating he will take part in a program which provides scholastic and vocational help to prepare him for life after he is released from prison, said Greg Thomas, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Public Safety.
A spokeswoman for Jordan declined comment on Tuesday.
OBITUARY
Dale Hawerchuk, a hockey phenom who became the face of the Winnipeg Jets en route to the Hall of Fame, has died at the age of 57 after a battle with cancer.
The Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts, a team Hawerchuk coached, confirmed the death on Twitter on Tuesday.
A teenage star, Hawerchuk was drafted first overall by the Jets in 1981. He went on to play nine seasons in Winnipeg and five in Buffalo before finishing up his distinguished 16-year NHL career with stints in St. Louis and Philadelphia.
Hawerchuk had 518 goals and 1,409 points in 1,188 regular-season games. He added 30 more goals and 99 assists in 97 playoff games.
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