Month: June 2021

Seattle Mariners pitcher Hector Santiago has been suspended 10 games and fined an undisclosed amount for a foreign substance found on his glove against the White Sox on Sunday. Santiago, who plans to appeal the ruling, will be allowed to play until the appeal process is complete.

The 33-year-old Santiago is the first player to be ejected for pitch doctoring since MLB began enforcing the new rules against foreign substances. The new rules included umpire checks on pitchers every few innings.  Umpire Phil Cuzzi found a sticky substance on Santiago’s glove when he was checked after being taken out in the fifth inning on Sunday. The glove was then put in a plastic bag by an MLB authenticator for testing.

Santiago has denied using any illegal substance, saying he was using rosin on his pitching hand, which is allowed. However, it’s only allowed on a pitcher’s throwing hand, not their glove. Santiago said on Sunday: “Once they take it back and check it, it’s just sweat and rosin. If they’re going to do all this science stuff, it’s going to be sweat and rosin. We’ll be all right.

Serena Williams sustained a knee injury during her first round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus at Wimbledon 2021 on Tuesday. Williams, a twenty-three time Grand Slam champion, slipped on the wet grass court at the All England Club in the first set of her match against Sasnovich. She attempted to play through the injury, but could not reach returns and broke into tears when she tried to serve. She later fell for a second time, waved to the crowd and walked off the court. Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion.

Women’s No. 1 Ash Barty advanced, beating Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-7, 6-1 in 1 hour, 44 minutes.“She is a hell of a competitor and a hell of a fighter,” Barty told reporters, when asked about Suarez Navarro. “It was a privilege to share the court with her today.”  Barty will face Russian Anna Blinkova or Hungarian Timea Babos in the second round.

Men’s No. 8 Roger Federer advanced, as well as No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, No. 6 Alexander Zverev of Germany and No. 12 Denis Shapovalov of Canada. Federer said he was “lucky” to advance out of the first round against opponent Adrian Mannarino of France. Federer and Mannarino were tied at two sets apiece when Mannarino retired in the fifth set due to what appeared to be a knee injury. “I wish him all the best and I hope he recovers quickly so we see him back on the court,” Federer said in his on-court interview. “He could have won the match at the end obviously. He was the better player. I definitely got a bit lucky.”  Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion, will face France’s Richard Gasquet in the second round.

Editorial credit: photoyh / Shutterstock.com

The Montreal Canadiens faced the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals from the Amalie Arena on Monday night.

Tampa Bay’s Yanni Gourde scored to help the Lightning take a 1-0 series lead in the championship round against the Canadiens, giving the Lightning a dominating 5-1 in Game 1.  The Lightning also got two goals from Nikita Kucherov, and a goal apiece by Erik Cernak and Steven Stamkos.

The Lightning are looking to become the first team to repeat as champions since the 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins.  Game 2 will take place on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m in Tampa.

Americans Frances Tiafoe and Sloane Stephens began Day 1 at Wimbledon with upsets Monday. Tiafoe upstaged men’s No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Stephens ousted women’s No. 10 Petra Kvitova.

Tiafoe earned the first upset of the day with a straight-sets win over Tsitsipas in 2 hours, 2 minutes. Tiafoe has never advanced past the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam; he next faces Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena or Canadian Vasek Pospisil in the second round. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Czech Jiri Vesely were among the other men’s players to advance through early first-round matches Monday.

Stephens, holds one Grand Slam title, defeated Kvitova in just 77 minutes. The 73rd-ranked American beat the Czech 6-3, 6-4. Kvitova is a two-time Wimbledon champion. No. 6 Sofia Kenin, Madison Keys, Danielle Collins and Lauren Davis were among the other American women to advance early Monday.

The final slate of openers air from 6 to 11:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday on ESPN and from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday on ESPN2. The women’s singles final is set for July 10, and the men’s final will be held on July 11.