BASEBALL
Newcomb on 7-day IL
Atlanta Braves pitcher Sean Newcomb has been placed on the seven-day injured list for players with concussion symptoms, four days after he was hit on the back of the head by a line drive. Atlanta Manager Brian Snitker said Wednesday that Newcomb felt uncomfortable after a light workout. Newcomb had passed a concussion test, and the Braves were hoping he would be back in the bullpen by Wednesday. He was injured last Saturday against Philadelphia and left in the third inning. J.T. Realmuto's liner left the bat at 102 mph and hit the pitcher's head so hard that the ball bounced into the protective netting above the visitors' dugout on the third-base line. Snitker said Newcomb will likely make a rehab appearance with Class AAA Gwinnett before rejoining the roster and will pitch out of the bullpen when he returns. He's getting bumped out of the rotation by Dallas Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks), who is scheduled to make his 2019 debut Friday in Washington.
Yanks release Farquhar
The New York Yankees have released right-hander Danny Farquhar, ending the relief pitcher's comeback try with New York more than a year after he collapsed in the Chicago White Sox dugout because of a ruptured aneurysm and brain hemorrhage. The Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders announced the move Wednesday. Farquhar buckled during a game with Chicago on April 20, 2018, and was hospitalized until May 7. He became a free agent after the season and signed with New York on a minor league contract. Farquhar, 32, pitched in three major league spring training games. After spending time in extended spring training to build up arm strength, Farquhar made two appearances with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this month, allowing seven runs in three innings.
Velazquez on IL again
The Boston Red Sox have put right-hander Hector Velazquez on the 10-day injured list, a day after a recurrence of back trouble that sidelined him a few weeks ago. Velazquez has a low back strain, and the Red Sox made the move before playing at Minnesota on Wednesday night. Right-hander Josh Smith was recalled from Class AAA Pawtucket. Velazquez, 30, gave up one run in four innings during Tuesday night's 4-3 loss in 17 innings to the Twins. It was his first game since being activated from the injured list Monday -- he'd been out since May 30 with a low back strain. Velazquez is 1-3 with a 5.59 ERA in 19 games, seven of them starts. Smith, 31, is 0-2 with a 6.28 ERA in eight games for Boston, including two starts.
Shoulder inflammed
The Chicago White Sox have placed left-hander Manny Banuelos on the 10-day injured list and recalled right-hander Carson Fulmer from Class AAA Charlotte. Banuelos is dealing with shoulder inflammation. Banuelos, 28, is 3-4 with a 6.90 ERA in 13 games, eight starts, in his first season with Chicago. The White Sox are off today and June 27, but they will need to cover the opening in their rotation Tuesday in Boston. They could go with a bullpen day. Fulmer, 25, was selected by the White Sox with the eighth overall pick in the 2015 amateur draft. He is 1-1 with a 6.97 ERA in eight relief appearances with the White Sox this season. The team announced the moves before Wednesday night's game with the crosstown Cubs.
Vols extend contract
Tennessee has extended the contract of baseball Coach Tony Vitello through June 2024. Athletic Director Phillip Fulmer announced the deal Wednesday. The first-time head coach just led Tennessee to its first NCAA Tournament berth and 40-win season since 2005. The Volunteers went 2-2 in the Chapel Hill Regional, finishing as runner-up to host North Carolina. The Vols also finished third in the SEC with 14 victories and had their most victories (26) over nonconference teams since 2000. Tennessee began this season with 15 consecutive victories, its best start in program history. Through Vitello's first two seasons, Tennessee has won 16 games against ranked opponents. Vitello was an assistant coach at Arkansas in 2014-17 before becoming Tennessee's head coach
OLYMPICS
Group near bankruptcy
The International Boxing Association said it is near bankruptcy, days before a decision to formally exclude the body from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. AIBA chief executive Tom Virgets told board members it will be insolvent if International Olympic Committee members derecognize the troubled body as expected on Wednesday. Virgets said in a letter to AIBA executive committee members that IOC decisions "were clearly designed to bankrupt" it. He said AIBA has less than $400,000 in the bank, is releasing all but three staff, and cannot afford to challenge the IOC at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The IOC board last month recommended excluding AIBA after appointing an inquiry panel to investigate its finances, governance and integrity of judging and refereeing Olympic bouts. A key factor was AIBA members electing Gafur Rakhimov as president while on a U.S. sanctions list with suspected links to organized crime. The IOC is working on a fresh qualification program next year to send male and female boxers to 13 medal events in Tokyo.
Number of cases may rise
The number of Russian athletes accused of receiving banned treatments from a doctor could rise to 70, the country's anti-doping agency said Wednesday. The agency, known as RUSADA, previously said Monday it would file cases against 33 athletes from numerous sports suspected of receiving banned intravenous infusions. RUSADA chief executive Yuri Ganus said that is just the "first package" of cases and a planned second package could take the number to 70. The cases are all linked to a sports academy in central Russia's Chuvashia region, a major center for track and field. RUSADA said many of the athletes were underage when they were given the infusions and some come from cycling, skiing and Paralympic sports.
BASEBALL
Officials: Ortiz shooting case of mistaken identity
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was shot in the back by a gunman who mistook him for the real target, another man who was seated at the same table at an outdoor cafe, Dominican officials said Wednesday.
The Dominican Republic’s attorney general and national police director told reporters that the attempted murder was ordered from the United States by Victor Hugo Gomez, an associate of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel. They said Gomez had hired a gang of killers to eliminate his cousin, whom Gomez suspected of turning him in to Dominican drug investigators in 2011.
The cousin, Sixto David Fernandez, was seated with the former baseball star on the night of June 9, when a gunman approached and fired a single shot, hitting Ortiz, the officials said. Fernandez owned an auto-repair shop and was friends with Ortiz, according to Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez and Maj. Gen. Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte, director of the Dominican Republic’s national police.
Ortiz remains hospitalized in Boston, where doctors have upgraded his condition from guarded to good.
At least 11 people have been arrested in the case so far, ranging from the alleged gunman to a series of drivers and relatively minor accomplices. Rodriguez and Bautista said the case of mistaken identity began when one of the accomplices shot a blurry photo of Fernandez seated at the Dial Bar and Lounge in an upscale section of Santo Domingo. In the photo, a white freezer obscures Fernandez’s lower body.
Ortiz was wearing white pants on the night of the shooting and the law-enforcement official said that the gunman, Rolfy Ferreyra, mistook him for the target and fired.
Ferreyra is a skinny, tattooed 25-year-old whom U.S. prosecutors said is wanted on armed robbery and gun charges in New Jersey. His driver was captured immediately after the shooting when he fell off the motorcycle he was trying to use to escape. Ferreyra and the other suspects were captured over the next few days.
Gomez, the alleged mastermind, is believed to be in the United States and is being sought by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bautista said.
The weapon used in the shooting, a Browning Hi Power semiautomatic pistol, was buried in the garden of one of the suspect’s home and was later turned over to police by his mother, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Sports on 06/20/2019