Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais kept his word to Edwin Diaz, matching the closer's flashy haircut after a milestone save over the weekend.
Servais had promised he'd get a styled cut similar to Diaz's if the closer got 50 saves. Diaz, 24, notched his 50th save on Saturday, and Servais sat in the chair for Diaz's personal barber Tuesday.
"I think it's looking fresh, man," Diaz told MLB.com. "I think he looks like the swaggiest manager in the league."
Diaz had 36 saves by the All-Star break, so that's when he started taking the bet seriously.
"I told him [his barber] to be ready when I get my 50th save -- to fly wherever we are and do the haircut for Scott," Diaz said. "He said, 'Yeah, let's do it.' "
The hairdo includes a pair of shaved lines along each side of the head, coming to a point behind the ear before curving toward the back of the head. Not exactly a natural look for the 51-year-old Servais.
"I've got to get some sun on the back of my head, my forehead," Servais told MLB.com. "The question is for the national anthem tonight. It's a team rule. I'll just have to put my head down and grin and bear it. That's all I can do."
'Lucky loser'
Peter Polansky still was trying to qualify for the U.S. Open when fellow players began congratulating him.
When it comes to tennis's luckiest loser, there was no need to wait to see if he'd win.
Polansky lost to No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev on Tuesday in the first round, but not until after he'd become the first player to compete in all four Grand Slam tournaments in a season as a "lucky loser."
That is the term for someone who falls in the final stage of qualifying, yet still is randomly drawn into the main field when a spot opens up because of a withdrawal. That's how the 119th-ranked Canadian got into the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2018.
And though he went 0-4 once he got to the majors, his good fortune made him the envy of some players far better than him.
"A couple of them have come up to me and just like rubbed my shoulders to try to get some luck, that kind of thing," Polansky said.
Polansky's ranking rose to a career-best 110 in June, not that far from the top 101 spots that qualify automatically for the U.S. Open.
They said it
• From Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: "Corey Bellemore, winner of this year's Beer Mile World Classic in Vancouver, B.C., was disqualified when race officials ruled he didn't consume enough beer during the race's four mandatory brew stops. It's believed to be the first time in sports history in which a runner was stripped of his title for failing to fail a drug test."
• From comedy writer Brad Dickson: "Breaking news: Urban Meyer has been suspended for almost as long as the average booth review takes."
• From Brad Rock of Salt Lake City's Deseret News, on Kobe Bryant's $6 million stake in a sports drink now worth $200 million: "That's smart investing. Or as Kobe likes to call it, padding your stats."
Sports on 08/30/2018