TUESDAY SPORTS PAGE: WRIGHT-FOREMAN DOES IT AGAIN

Justin Wright-Foreman’s franchise-record 39 points powered the Saskatchewan Rattlers (7-11) to an important 86-84 win over the Brampton Honey Badgers (6-10) on home court to keep their playoff aspirations alive. 

With the game tied at 84, and both teams one basket away from victory in target score time, Wright-Foreman raced to the hoop and got a contested shot in transition to go—setting a new Rattlers record for most points in a game. The shot came after both teams had multiple chances to end the game in target score time. 

“I saw a hole in the defence and we kept on getting good looks at the basket,” Wright-Foreman said after the game. “I just wanted to use my speed and get downhill.” 

The loss dropped Brampton to one game behind the Montréal Alliance for the east’s final play-in spot. The Honey Badgers will square off against the Alliance at the Verdon Auditorium in their next game on Sunday July 23. 

Saskatchewan, meanwhile, will look to start a win streak against the Vancouver Bandits on Wednesday night at the SaskTel Centre.

The Toronto Blue Jays will aim to extend their win streak to five games when they open a three-game series later today against the visiting San Diego Padres. Right-hander Alek Manoah (mah-NOH’-ah) will start on the hill for the Blue Jays, while right-hander Joe Musgrove is scheduled to pitch for the Padres. The Jays have won eight of their last nine, while the Padres are 6-and-4 in their past 10.

—

Two teams the Blue Jays are chasing in the A-L East lost last night. The Texas Rangers, who trailed the visiting Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 early, scored a run off a wild pitch in the ninth inning to record a 3-2 win. And in Baltimore, the Orioles blew a 4-1 lead to the Los Angeles Dodgers and lost 6-4. The Dodgers scored five times in the sixth, including four runs off of Chris Taylor’s grand slam. The loss snapped the Orioles’ eight-game win streak.

—

Connor Wong hit a two-run double and singled in a run for a career-high three R-B-Is and the visiting Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 7-0 last night for their eighth win in nine games. Nick Pivetta matched his career high with 13 strikeouts over six innings of one-hit relief. The A’s lost their eighth straight game.

—

Shohei Ohtani tied the score in the seventh inning with his major league-leading 35th home run and pinch-hitter Michael Stefanic hit a game-ending single in the 10th to give the Los Angeles Angels a 4-3 win over the visiting New York Yankees last night. Ohtani has homered in three straight games for the third time. The Yankees have lost seven of nine games and dropped into last place in the A-L East.

—

Australia’s Victoria state has officially withdrawn as host of the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said his government last year agreed to host the next edition of the quadrennial event but not at any cost. He said his government had initially budgeted 1.8-billion dollars to stage the Games in five regional cities but recent estimates put the potential cost as high as 4.8-billion dollars.

(CEBL PR, CP)