BASEBALL
Bob Welch dies at 57
Former Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Bob Welch has died at the age of 57, the Oakland Athletics said on Tuesday. The Athletics said Welch died in Seal Beach, California, in the Los Angeles area, but a cause of death was not immediately known. Welch pitched for the Athletics from 1988 to 1994 after spending 10 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a member of three American League pennant winners with Oakland from 1988 to 1990 and won a World Series title with the A’s in 1989. He won the Cy Young Award as the league’s outstanding pitcher after a 1990 season that included a record of 27-6. No pitcher has reached as many as 25 wins in a season since. In 17 major league seasons, starting in 1978, Welch compiled a record of 211-146 with a 3.47 ERA.
BASEBALL
Machado gets five-game ban
Baltimore third baseman Manny Machado was banned for five games and fined an undisclosed amount on Tuesday for actions that sparked a benchclearing brawl in a game against Oakland. Machado insisted it was unintentional, but he was ejected from the game on Sunday when his bat slipped from his hands and sailed down the third-base line close to Alberto Callaspo, after Machado had swung and missed on a pitch from Fernando Abad with two outs in the eighth inning. Abad’s previous pitch had been an inside brush-back that angered Machado. Players from both teams flooded onto the field and both Machado and Abad were tossed from the game. Abad was fined an undisclosed amount on Tuesday for intentionally throwing at Machado. Machado was listed in the starting lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Boston Red Sox, likely indicating he plans to appeal the suspension.
RUGBY UNION
Wales win warmup match
Uncapped scrumhalf Gareth Davies scored on his debut as Wales ran in five tries to beat South African provincial side the Eastern Province Kings 34-12 in a tour match on Tuesday. The Scarlets’ No. 9 notched the fifth and final try to add to earlier efforts from flanker Josh Turnbull, center Cory Allen, flyhalf James Hook and wing Alex Cuthbert. Hook also kicked three conversions and a penalty. The Kings, who are to return to Super Rugby in 2016 after a one-season stint last year, scored tries through wing Shakes Soyizwapi and prop Simon Kerrod. Flyhalf George Whitehead added a conversion. The match was the only warmup for Wales ahead of the first Test against South Africa in Durban on Saturday.
RUGBY UNION
Steyn withdraws from ’Boks
Springbok fullback Frans Steyn will not play in the forthcoming Tests against Wales after he withdrew from the squad to consider his career in international rugby, the South African Rugby Union (SARU) said on Tuesday. “He has asked for some time to consider his international playing future and we must respect that,” SARU CEO Jurie Roux said in a statement. “Let me make it clear that he has not retired from international rugby, but he has requested a break from it.” The 27-year-old is expected to sign a contract in Japan after finishing play for South African side the Coastal Sharks later this year. “The environment in the Springbok squad is fantastic and I would like to state categorically that my relationship with Heyneke Meyer, the rest of the management and my teammates is very good,” Steyn said.
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
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