Good Morning! Here’s what happened in the world of sports on Tuesday, July 23.

MLB

A summer day with only baseball to keep us occupied… here’s what you missed if you didn’t tune into last night’s games:

• Pittsburgh rookie phenom Paul Skenes went 8.1 innings, striking out eight and giving up just four hits. Unfortunately for Skenes and the Pirates, the St. Louis Cardinals scored just enough and beat him 2-1. In addition to the win, congratulations are in order for St. Louis starter Lance Lynn, who registered his 2,000th career strikeout. There are only five other active ballplayers who have reached that milestone– I’ll tell you who they are at the end of today’s issue.

• Tyler O’Neill hit two home runs and the Boston Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 6-0.

• Giants rookie Tyler Fitzgerald has now homered in five straight games! An incredible accomplishment, though the Giants fell to the Dodgers 5-2. LA is now 5-0 since the all-star break.

• On Monday, Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said the team “probably won’t do a lot of moves that only help us for this year.” Chicago lost to the Brewers 1-0 last night, which I guess is part of their plan to win another World Series in the next 108 years.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

As if winning an Olympic medal wasn’t already cool enough, the medals at this year’s games are embedded with pieces of the Eiffel Tower. The opening ceremony is Friday at midday– can you feel the excitement building?

We’ve got an Olympic scandal! The Canadian women’s soccer team issued an apology after a drone flown by one of their staff members was caught spying on New Zealand’s practice. Sounds like a mad lib, but I promise this story is true.

PLAY OF THE DAY

We’ve got plenty of time today, so let’s honor two outstanding plays of the day. First up, Texas Rangers shortstop Jonathan Ornelas shows off the range:

mlb

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And next, a laser from Oakland Athletics outfielder Lawrence Butler:

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

OLYMPICS: USA vs France– Men’s Rugby at 10:30 AM and Men’s Soccer at 3 PM, on USA and Peacock

• A big first day as rugby and soccer kick off the 2024 games. If you’ve never seen rugby before, check it out– it’s very cool, and you’ll pick up on most of the rules pretty fast. The US men’s soccer team will be the underdog tomorrow against the host country, but who wants to miss the first major competition of this summer’s games?

SOCCER: MLS All-Star game, 8 PM on Apple TV MLS Season Pass

• One last all-star game, in case you haven’t had enough of them lately. The best players in the MLS take on the best players from Mexico’s top league, Liga MX. Unfortunately, Messi is still injured.

MLB: Mets @ Yankees, 7:05 PM

• The last Subway Series game of the year– the Yankees are looking for their first win against the Mets this season, and they’ll have ace Gerrit Cole on the mound. Last time out against the Mets, Cole gave up six runs and only made it through four innings.

Trying out a new format here for the Olympics– big games (with an emphasis on the USA) will be highlighted as usual, but if you have a favorite event you’ll find every sport on the daily schedule below…

OLYMPICS DAY ONE

All Olympic events are on NBC, USA and/or Peacock.

TRIVIA: In addition to Lance Lynn, who are the five active MLB starters with 2,000 or more strikeouts?

Answer: Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, and Gerrit Cole

“I can only control my own performance. If I do my best, then I can feel good at the end of the day.” -Michael Phelps

Enjoy your Wednesday!