BASEBALL
BOSTON (AP) - David Price pitched six innings of three-hit ball, and major league RBI leader J.D. Martinez broke a fifth-inning tie during another two-out rally Wednesday night that led the Boston Red Sox to a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers for a 2-0 lead in the World Series.
Craig Kimbrel closed out the win at noisy Fenway Park, putting the Red Sox halfway to their fourth championship in 15 seasons.
Game 3 is Friday in Los Angeles. The Dodgers would need a win to avoid an 0-3 deficit that no World Series team has ever recovered from.
The Red Sox have won 14 of their last 16 World Series games, dating to a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004.
BOSTON (AP) - St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina has won the Roberto Clemente Award, a fitting honor for the star who grew up on Puerto Rico and idolized the island’s late Hall of Famer.
Major League Baseball presented the award Wednesday before Game 2 of the World Series. It is given to the player who best represents Clemente’s humanitarian efforts.
Molina has worked tirelessly to help Puerto Rico recover from the effects of Hurricane Maria last year.
The 36-year-old Molina and his wife, Wanda, in 2010 created the Foundation4 (Fundacion4) to improve the lives of underprivileged children on the island who have been affected by poverty, abuse and cancer.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Kansas forward Silvio De Sousa was benched indefinitely by the top-ranked Jayhawks on Wednesday after his name surfaced in testimony connected with the corruption scandal rocking college basketball.
The 6-foot-9 De Sousa, one of the Jayhawks’ top rebounders, is out while the school and NCAA look into his eligibility. He could miss a good chunk - or perhaps all - of the regular season, which begins with a high-profile game against No. 10 Michigan State on Nov. 6 in Indianapolis.
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self emphatically denied Wednesday night that members of his staff ever offered impermissible benefits to prospective players
CYCLING
Lance Armstrong’s former team manager said he’s been given a lifetime ban from cycling for his role in a doping program that helped Armstrong win the Tour de France seven times.
Johan Bruyneel had been serving a 10-year ban. In a letter posted on social media Wednesday, Bruyneel announced the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport had extended the ban for life.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in 2012 investigated and exposed a complex doping system used by Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service teams when Bruyneel was manager. Armstrong was later stripped of his Tour de France wins.
The World Anti-Doping Agency had appealed Bruyneel’s 10-year ban, arguing it should be longer.
NFL
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) - The Denver Broncos have waived backup quarterback Chad Kelly a day after he was arrested on suspicion of criminal trespass after a couple reported he came into their suburban home uninvited and sat down on their couch “mumbling incoherently.”
General manager John Elway huddled with coach Vance Joseph and team president Joe Ellis and “we agreed that releasing Chad was the right thing to do,” Elway said in a statement.
About half an hour before the Broncos released him, Kelly appeared in Arapahoe County Court, where a court date of Nov. 8 was set for filing charges.
NBA
NEW YORK (AP) - Los Angeles Lakers coach Luke Walton has been fined $15,000 for public criticism of the officiating.
NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe announced the fine on Wednesday.
It stems from comments Walton made following the Lakers’ 143-142 overtime loss to the Spurs on Monday. The officials gave 38 free throws to San Antonio and just 26 to Los Angeles, even though the Lakers outscored the Spurs 74-50 in the paint.
Walton said the officials didn’t give the Lakers calls because they’re a young team.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Fired Ohio State assistant football coach Zach Smith has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct and an Ohio court issued a three-year protective order that keeps him away from his ex-wife.
Smith had been facing a criminal trespass charge stemming from a May dispute. According to Delaware Municipal Court documents, he pleaded guilty Tuesday to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and was fined $150.
Smith was fired in July by coach Urban Meyer after domestic violence allegations against the wide receivers coach surfaced.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) - Former Miami football coach Al Golden has filed a $3 million lawsuit against the university, seeking what he contends is unpaid settlement money.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court Wednesday - three years to the day after Golden’s final game at Miami, a 58-0 loss to Clemson in what is the worst margin of defeat in the school’s football history. The Hurricanes fired Golden on Oct. 25, 2015, the day after that game.
Golden made about $2.6 million in his final year at Miami, according to tax records.
COLLEGE CORRUPTION
NEW YORK (AP) - Three insiders from the world of college basketball recruiting have been convicted in a corruption case that prosecutors said exposed the sport’s underbelly.
A jury reached the verdict Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.
The government had accused a former Adidas executive, a business manager and the director of an amateur league in a scheme to funnel tens of thousands of dollars in secret payments to the families so the prospects would commit to Adidas-sponsored schools.
Prosecutors said the defendants committed fraud by concealing the payments that violated NCAA rules. Defense lawyers argued there was no evidence colleges suffered any harm.
HOCKEY
NEW YORK (AP) - Ottawa Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki has been suspended for one game without pay by the NHL for elbowing Boston defenseman Urho Vaakanainen on Tuesday night.
The NHL announced the suspension Wednesday.
The penalty will cost Borowiecki $6,452.
MMA
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada fight regulators extended the suspensions of UFC fighters Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, but allowed some prize money to be released to Nurmagomedov following a brawl inside and outside the octagon after their match in Las Vegas.
Nevada Athletic Commission Chairman Anthony Marnell III said Wednesday the suspensions will last until an investigation is complete, and the two fighters are required to attend a Dec. 10 disciplinary hearing in Las Vegas.
The five-member board voted unanimously on the suspensions and the release of $1 million of the $2 million withheld from Nurmagomedov immediately after the Oct. 6 brawl at T-Mobile Arena.
Marnell said he would have also withheld McGregor’s $3 million purse if he’d immediately seen video that later emerged showing McGregor trying to join fighting outside the cage.
SPORTS BETTING
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Online fantasy sports providers FanDuel and DraftKings can use the names and statistics of college football players without consent and compensation because the material has news value, the Indiana Supreme Court said Wednesday.
The court in a unanimous ruling rejected the claims of former players Akeem Daniels and Cameron Stingily of Northern Illinois and Nick Stoner of Indiana, who argued the companies violated their right of publicity by using their names and statistics without consent and compensation.
OBITUARY
OCEAN CITY, N.J. (AP) - Rod Rust, who coached Hall of Fame defensive lineman “Mean” Joe Greene at North Texas and later served as defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots’ 1985 Super Bowl team, has died. He was 90.
The Patriots announced Rust’s death Wednesday. He died Tuesday at his home in Ocean City, New Jersey, according to family friend Bobby April.
Rust spent more than four decades as a football coach, mostly as a defensive coordinator in the NFL with Kansas City, New England, Pittsburgh, the New York Giants and Atlanta. He spent one season as an NFL head coach with a Patriots team that went 1-15 in 1990. He also held several coaching jobs in the CFL.
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