A quiet Thursday for our Major League Baseball favorites. The Cardinals, Cubs and White Sox all took the day off. The Cards begin a weekend series at Busch Stadium tonight against the Rangers as 6-1 lefty Cole Hamels starts for Texas against St. Louis right-hander Michael Wacha. Cards network pre-game is 6:20 tonight on WJBC-AM 1230.
The Rangers come into St. Louis after receiving a gem on the mound yesterday afternoon from Colby Lewis, who was perfect through 7 2/3 innings and took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before settling for a complete-game two-hitter in a 5-1 win over the Oakland Athletics.
The Cubs host the Pirates this afternoon with lefty Francisco Liriano on the mound for the Bucs against 10-1 Cubs righty Jake Arrieta.
The White Sox are in Cleveland tonight. The South Siders send lefty Jose Quintana to the hill and the Indians give the ball to right-hander Trevor Bauer.
The CornBelters slugged four home runs and broke open a close game with a five-run seventh inning on the way to a 13-8 win over the River City Rascals at the Corn Crib. The Belters ended a two-game skid and salvaged a game in the series, and now travel to Frontier League West Division-leading Southern Illinois for a weekend series beginning tonight. Belters right-hander Chris Carmain gets the nod on the bump against Miners lefty Rick Teasley in a match-up of veterans. 7:05 first pitch, 6:50 pre-game on WJBC.com tonight from Rent One Park in Marion.
The Chiefs trimmed their magic number for a playoff spot to two with a 4-3 victory over the Burlington Bees.
The NBA Finals go to a deciding Game 7 on Sunday in Oakland after the Cleveland Cavaliers jumped out to a huge lead early in Game 6 and beat the Golden State Warriors 115-101. LeBron James led the Cavs with his second straight 41-point game.
Rain kept most off the course at the U.S. Open. Only nine players finished the first round and 78 players didn’t even make it to the tee box. Play resumes this morning.
The U.S. men’s soccer team has reached the semifinals of the Copa America tournament by beating Ecuador 2-1.
When he got to campus back in March, new Illinois football coach Lovie Smith counted 50 or 60 Illini players who owned scooters. By August, Smith says they will be gone. Smith has banned his players from riding scooters. He says he is concerned about player safety. He said few if any players wore helmets.
