Off the wire

This is a July 19, 2019, file photo showing Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy smiling on the first green during the second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
This is a July 19, 2019, file photo showing Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy smiling on the first green during the second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.

BASEBALL

HR record topped

Major League Baseball hitters have punctuated a power-packed year by shattering the record for most home runs in a season. Jonathan Villar of the Baltimore Orioles connected Wednesday night for the 6,106th home run of the season. That topped the mark of 6,105 set in 2017. There are plenty more to come, too -- the record was broken with 18 days left in the regular season. The rise in home runs during recent seasons has been tied to changes in the baseballs that have made them fly farther. Villar's three-run shot off Caleb Ferguson of the Los Angeles Dodgers at Camden Yards was the 22nd home run of the night. It was Villar's career-high 21st home run. Baltimore entered Wednesday having allowed a record 279 home runs. New York Mets rookie Pete Alonso began the day with a major league-leading 47 home runs. The Minnesota Twins led the majors with 277 after Jorge Polanco connected in the third inning against Washington ace Stephen Strasburg at Target Field. The Twins' total is the most for a team in a single season. In August, big league batters broke the monthly home run record for the third time this year when they hit 1,228 home runs, the Elias Sports Bureau said Sunday. That surpassed the 1,142 in June and 1,135 in May. There were 5,585 home runs last year. In 2017, Alex Gordon hit the record-breaking 5,694th home run of the season. That topped the mark set in 2000 at the height of the Steroids Era.

Yelich news today?

The Milwaukee Brewers said Wednesday there was no update yet on Christian Yelich's broken right kneecap. Yelich was back in Milwaukee on Wednesday for further tests, a day after the reigning NL MVP was hurt when he fouled a ball off himself during a game in Miami. The Brewers said they hope to have an update today. The team said after Tuesday night's 4-3 loss that the star outfielder would miss the rest of the regular season. They didn't say whether Yelich might be able to return for the playoffs that begin Oct. 1 if they make it that far -- Milwaukee is one game behind the Chicago Cubs for the second NL wild-card spot. Yelich hit .329 with 44 home runs and 97 RBI along with 30 stolen bases. He was leading the majors in slugging percentage and OPS when he was hurt.

HORSE RACING

Record Keeneland sale

A filly by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah hasn't even set foot on a racetrack but she's already setting records. On Wednesday, the yearling filly, who is known only as Hip No. 498 for now, sold for a record $8.2 million at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in Lexington, Ky. It's the highest price yet for offspring by American Pharoah and it's the highest price ever paid for a filly at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, a huge annual auction of thousands of Thoroughbred yearlings. The price tied for fourth highest ever paid at the sale. (The official September record is $11.7 million for a son of Kingmambo named Meydan City, purchased on behalf of Godolphin in 2006.) What made this one so special? She's the quintessential blue blood. Besides being the daughter of a Triple Crown winner, she's also the half-sister of four-time champion Beholder, as well as top stallion Into Mischief and 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Mendelsohn. According to Keeneland, the filly was purchased by Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm; she was consigned by breeder Clarkland Farm, which purchased her mother, Leslie's Lady, for $100,000 at the 2006 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

FOOTBALL

Former Steeler Davis dies

Sam Davis, the guard who helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win four Super Bowls in the 1970s, has died. He was 75. Davis was found dead Tuesday at New Life Personal Care in McKeesport, southeast of Pittsburgh. Davis, who suffered from dementia and was legally blind, had been reported missing from the facility earlier in the day. There was no evidence of foul play, according to the McKeesport Police Department's Facebook page. Davis played 168 games with the Steelers from 1967-79, helping pave the way for running back Franco Harris and protecting quarterback Terry Bradshaw during Pittsburgh's run atop the NFL in the 1970s. Davis started in all four of the team's Super Bowl victories in the 1970s. The 6-1, 255-pound Davis made the Steelers as an undrafted rookie out of Allen University in 1967. He managed to forge a role with the team when the Steelers hired Chuck Noll as head coach in January 1969.

FSU hires Leavitt

Florida State Coach Willie Taggart is hiring former Oregon defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt as an analyst to help fix a flailing defense, a person involved with the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday night. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the hiring was still being finalized. Leavitt worked with Taggart in 2017 during the one season Taggart was head coach at Oregon. The Athletic first reported Leavitt would be joining Florida State's staff in the off-the-field role of quality control analyst. Leavitt stayed behind when Taggart took the Florida State job after the 2017 regular season, hoping to land the head coaching job at Oregon. That went to Mario Cristobal. Leavitt remained defensive coordinator last year, but parted ways with Cristobal after the season and has been out of college coaching since. Florida State (1-1) allowed 1,040 yards in its first two games, relinquishing double-digit leads in both. The Seminoles rank 83rd in the country in yards per play allowed (5.56) and 124th in yards per game (520.0).

GOLF

McIlroy selected PGA Tour player of year

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Rory McIlroy is the PGA Tour player of the year, and even he was a little surprised.

In a vote of the players, who presumably gave as much weight to the whole season as the four biggest weeks, McIlroy won the Jack Nicklaus Award over Brooks Koepka. It was the third time McIlroy won the award, and the first time without having won a major.

“I’m at a loss for words,” McIlroy said Wednesday.

Moments earlier, McIlroy was sitting down with Nicklaus at The Bear’s Club in South Florida to receive the Byron Nelson Trophy for having the lowest adjusted scoring average when a bronze of the Nicklaus Award was placed on the table. McIlroy looked at it and said, “I’ve already got two of those,” he said.

“Well, you’ve got three now,” Nicklaus told him.

McIlroy won three times, including The Players Championship and the Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup and its $15 million prize. He also had a tour-best 14 top 10s and finished out of the top 20 only four times in the 19 tournaments he played.

“I couldn’t be more proud to win this award for the third time,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, very … somewhat surprised, but honored that my fellow players thought enough of my year to award me this honor again.”

Koepka, who won the PGA of America’s player of the year based on points, was seen as the favorite for the tour’s award.

He won three times, same as McIlroy, led the FedEx Cup in the regular season and won the money title by nearly $2 million over McIlroy. What stood out the most in Koepka’s season, however, were the majors. He won the PGA Championship, joining Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners since the PGA switched to stroke play in 1958. Koepka was runner-up at the Masters and the U.S. Open, and he tied for fourth in the British Open, nine shots behind.

Nicklaus (1973), Woods (2005) and Jordan Spieth (2015) are the only other players to have finished in the top four in every major for the year.

Sports on 09/12/2019

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