MLB
CHICAGO (AP) — The Cleveland Guardians are dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak that sidelined manager Terry Francona and several of the team’s coaches, prompting the postponement of Wednesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox.
Shortly after Francona’s positive test became known, Major League Baseball said there were “several positive COVID-19 tests” across the Cleveland organization and canceled Wednesday’s series finale for allow more testing and contact tracing. No makeup date has been announced.
This is the first coronavirus-related postponement since the start of the season on April 7.
There are no known current cases among Cleveland players.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego Padres manager Bob Melvin underwent prostate surgery on Wednesday.
The team announced Melvin’s surgery in their 7-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs. He had no further details and said there likely won’t be any updates until next week.
Melvin said Tuesday he didn’t think he had cancer, but doctors wouldn’t know until after the operation. He said he hoped to miss only the first six games of the team’s upcoming nine-game road trip, which begins Friday night in Atlanta and continues through Philadelphia and San Francisco.
ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Braves wide receiver Manny Piña will undergo season-ending surgery after tests revealed ligament and cartilage damage in his left wrist.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said ahead of Wednesday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox that the loss of Piña meant William Contreras would continue to be the best replacement for starter Travis d’Arnaud. Contreras, 24, started the season with Triple-A Gwinnett.
Piña, 34, signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the Braves ahead of the season.
NBA
DENVER (AP) — Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic won a second consecutive NBA Most Valuable Player trophy on Wednesday to become the second straight international player to win two in a row.
The 27-year-old from Sombor, Serbia averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists to earn MVP honors. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo – originally from Greece – won the title in 2019 and 2020.
International players finished 1-2-3 in this year’s MVP voting. Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who led the league in scoring average, was second and Antetokounmpo was third. Phoenix’s Devin Booker finished fourth.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The Atlantic Coast Conference is considering changes to its soccer programming model which could include eliminating divisions by 2023.
Discussions take place between league schools at the ACC’s annual spring meetings in Amelia Island, Florida. Commissioner Jim Phillips told reporters Wednesday that the league also plans to speak with ESPN as the ACC Network’s television partner.
The focus is on a 3-5-5 model that would have teams playing three opponents as permanent programming partners each year, then rotating the other 10 teams over two seasons in the eight-game schedule (five a year , five the next).
As a result, the teams would play every other team in the league twice in four years.
CAR RACE
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tourism officials have committed $19.5 million over the next three years to sponsor Formula 1 races on a course that includes the Las Vegas Strip.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s board of directors voted unanimously on Tuesday to spend $6.5 million a year to partner with Liberty Dice Inc. on the Las Vegas Grand Prix, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Last week, F1 parent and owner Liberty Media Corp. announced plans to pay $240 million for an unspecified property near the Strip for a pit and paddock complex.
Plans were announced on March 30 for Las Vegas to join Miami and the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on the F1 calendar next year.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Wake Forest fired women’s basketball coach Jen Hoover on Wednesday, parting ways with the former Demon Deacons player after 10 seasons.
The school announced the move Wednesday evening, with athletic director John Currie outlining the overall trajectory of the program as well as the turnover of the coaching staff. Wake Forest has only made the NCAA Tournament twice, although Hoover guided the Demon Deacons there in 2021.
This year’s team went 16-17 and only 4-14 in the league. After the season, the three assistants left, with associate head coach Erin Dickerson Davis becoming William & Mary’s head coach.
HORSES RACE
Upset Kentucky Derby winner jockey Rich Strike is serving a four-day suspension from Ohio Race Stewards that his agent says won’t stop him from riding in the Preakness next week .
The stewards suspended Sonny Leon last week for reckless driving in the third race on April 27 at Thistledown Racecourse, east of Cleveland, in which they determined he had “deliberately and aggressively” directed One Glamorous Gal towards the rail to block the other horses in the stretch. Leon interfered with jockey Alexander Chavez aboard the Ultra Rays, the ruling said, and One Glamorous Gal was disqualified from third place and finished sixth.
It is Leon’s fifth suspension since last fall and includes a 15-day sentence in West Virginia for providing a false and altered document. Leon’s original eight-day suspension in Ohio was reduced to four because he did not appeal; he began serving the sentence on Monday and it ends on Thursday.
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