BASEBALL

Matt Kroon and Nick Podkul each drove in two runs as the Reading Fightin Phils beat the Portland Sea Dogs 7-3 in an Eastern League game on Sunday afternoon at Hadlock Field in Portland.

Reading (28-40) snapped Portland’s two-game winning streak and went 4-2 in the series.

The first half of the regular season came to a close with Portland finishing in second place of the Northeast Division with a 40-29 record. The second half begins on Wednesday in New Hampshire against the Fisher Cats.

Phillip Sikes had a two-run home run in the seventh inning for the Sea Dogs. Chase Meidroth and Tyler McDonough each had two hits for Portland.

Sea Dogs starter Chih-Jung Li gave up five runs (four earned) in five innings, walking four and striking out seven to take the loss.

NECBL: Nathan Waugh was 2 for 4 with two doubles and scored three times as the Vermont Mountaineers beat the Sanford Mainers 9-2 in Montpelier, Vermont.

Marshall Toole added a double and two RBI for Vermont (11-3-1) and Tyler Cox had two RBI.

Nicholas Roselli had three hits, including a home run and scored three times for Sanford (6-9).

BASKETBALL

WNBA: Brittney Griner will be starting in the WNBA All-Star Game a year after she was an honorary choice by the league while she was being detained in Russia.

The Phoenix Mercury’s center was chosen by fans, media and players for her ninth All-Star game. Last season all the players wore Griner No. 42 jerseys for the second half of the game that was played in Chicago.

A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart were the top voter getters among fans and will be the captains of the two teams when the game is played in Las Vegas on July 15. The two players were also captains last year and are each making their fifth All-Star appearances. Wilson’s team won the game last year.

Other frontcourt players chosen to start include rookie Aliyah Boston of the Indiana Fever. She would be the first rookie to start an All-Star game since Shoni Schimmel did it in 2014. Overall eight rookies have been chosen to start the All-Star Game.

Satou Sabally of Dallas and Elena Delle Donne of Washington round out the frontcourt starters.

The backcourt starters are Las Vegas teammates Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young, Seattle’s Jewell Loyd and Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale.

• The last-place Phoenix Mercury fired coach Vanessa Nygaard and replaced her with assistant Nikki Blue for the remainder of the season, the team announced.

The Mercury have gotten off to a rough start, dropping 10 of their first 12 games, including a 97-74 loss in Seattle on Saturday night.

• Breanna Stewart’s three-point play with 19.7 seconds left in overtime lifted the New York Liberty to an 89-88 win over the Washington Mystics in New York.

Sabrina Ionescu scored 31 points and Stewart added 18 for New York, which trailed by 17 in the first quarter and by eight with 2:28 left in regulation before tying the game with 2 seconds left on a layup by Courtney Vandersloot.

• Alyssa Thomas had a historic triple-double, DeWanna Bonner scored 26 points to move into ninth in WNBA history and Connecticut cruised to a 96-72 win over Chicago in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Thomas had 14 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds for her fourth regular-season triple-double, the most in WNBA history. Candace Parker and Sabrina Ionescu both have three triple-doubles.

HOCKEY

NHL: Jordan Staal is staying with the Carolina Hurricanes after signing a four-year contract worth $11.6 million.

The team announced the deal with their captain, less than a week before Staal would have become an unrestricted free agent.

He’s not going anywhere, sticking around to try to help the team win the Stanley Cup. And Staal is doing so on an annual salary cap hit of $2.9 million through the 2026-27 season that’s a bargain for a player considered one of the best defensive forwards in hockey.

TENNIS

QUEEN’S CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS: Carlos Alcaraz won the Queen’s Club Championships final in London for his first ATP title on grass and reclaimed the top ranking, ensuring he will enter Wimbledon next month as the No. 1 seed.

Despite struggling at times in the first set, Alcaraz beat Alex De Minaur 6-4, 6-4 for his fifth title of the year and 11th overall.

BERLIN OPEN: Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová showed she’s ready to try for a third title by beating Donna Vekić 6-2, 7-6 (6) to win the Berlin Open for her 31st career victory.

HALLE OPEN: Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik upset Andrey Rublev 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the final in Halle, Germany ahead of Wimbledon.

BIRMINGHAM CLASSIC: Jelena Ostapenko staved off a late comeback to beat top-seeded Barbora Krejcikova in Birmingham, England to win her second title on grass.

In a battle of the top two seeds and former French Open champions, it was the second-seeded Latvian who came out on top, winning 7-6 (8), 6-4.

VENETO OPEN: American teenager Ashlyn Krueger won her first WTA title after rallying to beat top-seeded Tatjana Maria in the final in Gaiba, Italy.

The 19-year-old Krueger prevailed 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 over the more experienced German.

SOCCER

SAUDI PRO LEAGUE: Kalidou Koulibaly became the latest soccer star to head to Saudi Arabia after joining Al-Hilal from Chelsea on a three-year contract.

The Senegal international has followed in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante by opting to play in the lucrative Saudi Pro League.