BASEBALL

The Portland Sea Dogs had July’s record winning streak reduced by a game on Tuesday, losing 6-3 to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the resumption of  a suspended game from July.

The suspended game was actually the second game of a July 4 doubleheader, with Portland winning the first game to start their streak, which ended at 15 games on July 22. With Tuesday’s loss at Manchester, New Hampshire, the streak ended up being 14.

The suspended game started in the fourth inning with the game tied at 3.

The Fisher Cats took the lead in the fourth on a two-run double by Chavez Young, who scored on a wild pitch in the sixth inning.

The Sea Dogs had just two singles and a walk in the final four innings.

In the second game, New Hampshire scored five runs in the first inning and held on for a 6-5 win.

Portland scored twice in the ninth inning on a two-run homer by Danny Santana.

The Sea Dogs dropped 3 1/2 games behind Somerset for first place in the Northeast Division. Only the division winner advances to the playoffs.

BASKETBALL

WORLD CUP: USA Basketball will face Puerto Rico, Mexico and Cuba in the first round of qualifying for the 2023 Basketball World Cup.

The Americans, who won a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in Tokyo but finished only seventh at the most recent Basketball World Cup two years ago, found out their qualifying opponents Tuesday when the draw was held at FIBA headquarters in Mies, Switzerland.

It will also be the first major tournament for USA Basketball with Grant Hill as managing director. Hill is succeeding Jerry Colangelo in that role; Colangelo oversaw each of the last four Olympics for the U.S., helping assemble teams that won gold medals each time.

The U.S. has won the World Cup five times, most recently in 2014.

There are 80 teams in the qualifying rounds. It begins with a double round-robin; all teams in the various groups for the first round will play the other three teams in their group twice. First-round games will be played during three different windows – Nov. 20-30, Feb. 21-March 1 and June 27-July 5.

Second-round games begin in August 2022 and run through February 2023. The next World Cup – to be hosted by the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia – takes place from Aug. 25 through Sept. 10, 2023.

WNBA: Jonquel Jones scored 21 of her career-high tying 31 points in the first half and visiting Connecticut beat the Washington Mystics 85-75 for its ninth straight victory.

It’s the longest winning streak for Connecticut (21-6) since a 12-game run in 2006.

• Kelsey Mitchell scored 25 points, Teaira McCowan added 15 – including two free throws to cap the scoring with 15.3 seconds to play – and tied her career high with 19 rebounds and the Indiana Fever beat the visiting Los Angeles Sparks, 74-72.

• Kayla McBride scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Napheesa Collier added 21 points and 14 boards, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the visiting New York Liberty, 72-66.

Minnesota (16-9) has won three straight games and 9 of 11. The Lynx pulled within a half-game of Seattle for the No. 3 seed in the playoffs with seven games to play.

COLLEGES

COVID MANDATE BLOCKED: A judge blocked Western Michigan University from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine requirement on four female soccer players, ruling they are likely to prevail on claims it violates their constitutional religious rights.

U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney in Grand Rapids, Michigan, issued the temporary restraining order on the day of the school’s deadline for athletes to get an initial shot or be unable to practice or compete. He said while the university had not had an opportunity to respond to the lawsuit, “WMU’s vaccination requirement for student athletes is not justified by a compelling interest and is not narrowly tailored.”

He scheduled a hearing concerning a temporary injunction on Sept. 9. Unlike at other Michigan universities, Western’s vaccine requirement does not extend to all students and employees, though the unvaccinated do have to undergo weekly coronavirus testing. The four athletes said they were denied religious exemptions to play without getting a dose.

SPORTS BETTING

CONNECTICUT: A legislative committee approved proposed state regulations for a new gambling market in Connecticut, a major step toward legalized sports wagering, online casino gambling and other new forms of betting in the state.

Connecticut now awaits the U.S. Department of the Interior’s approval of changes to agreements between the state and its two federally recognized tribal nations, who play major roles in the state’s gambling expansion plan.

After months of work, the state Department of Consumer Protection submitted the wide-ranging package of proposed rules to the General Assembly’s Regulations Review Committee under a fast-tracked process. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration and the tribes – the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans – have expressed a desire to have a legalized sports wagering system up and running by the time the regular NFL season kicks off on Sept. 9.

SOCCER

BARCELONA: Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba have taken pay cuts at Barcelona to allow the team to register Sergio Aguero to play in the Spanish league, the Catalan club said Tuesday. They follow another senior player, Gerard Pique, in taking a salary reduction to enable their financially troubled club to register new players and fit into the league’s strict financial fair play regulations.

Barcelona, which recently announced its debt at 1.35 billion euros ($1.6 billion), was unable to keep longtime star Lionel Messi because of financial regulations. As a result, Messi signed for Paris Saint-Germain but Aguero, his fellow Argentina international, will be free to play for Barcelona once he recovers from a calf injury that could keep him out until mid-October.

MLS: Portland Timbers midfielder Eryk Williamson is out for the season because of a left knee injury that will require surgery.

Williamson tore his ACL on Sunday during Portland’s 2-0 victory over the Sounders in Seattle.

Williamson has played for the Timbers for three seasons, making 31 starts. He has four goals and seven assists with Portland.

He also played for the U.S. national team in this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, making four appearances and two starts.

An MRI revealed the ACL tear. Williamson will undergo surgery next week.

HOCKEY

NHL: The Chicago Blackhawks announced a four-year contract extension with defenseman Connor Murphy. The deal runs through the 2025-26 season and carries a $4.4 million salary-cap hit.

The 28-year-old Murphy has turned into one of Chicago’s most reliable defensemen. He had three goals and 12 assists while averaging a career-high 22:09 of ice time over 50 games last season.

The 6-foot-4 Murphy was selected by the Coyotes in the first round of the 2011 NHL entry draft. He was traded to the Blackhawks in June 2017 along with Laurent Dauphin for Niklas Hjalmarsson. Murphy made his NHL debut in November 2013. He has 28 goals and 82 assists in 494 career games.

WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Marie-Philip Poulin scored in overtime and Canada beat the five-time defending champion United States 3-2 at Calgary, Alberta, for its first gold medal at the women’s hockey world championship since 2012.

Poulin, the Canadian captain, skated down the left side, took a pass Jocelyne Larocque and sent it off the crossbar and post before going in. Play continued in the sudden death three-on-three overtime until the buzzer sounded after a video review.

Canada fell behind 2-0 in the first period – for just its second deficit in the tournament. But the Canadians scored two goals, 2:29 apart, in the second to tie it.

Brianne Jenner scored on a power play when she corralled the puck in front of the net and brought it from backhand to forehand to get around the left pad of Nicole Hensley.

Jamie Lee Rattray tied it by redirecting Larocque’s shot from the point. Rattray nearly won it with 90 seconds to go in regulation but her breakaway shot went off Hensley and deflected off the post.

Five of the last seven world finals between Canada and the U.S. have gone to extra time, including 2011, ’12, ’16, and ’17.

Alex Carpenter opened the scoring for the United State for a third straight game. She batted her own rebound between the legs of goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens.

Carpenter scored her fifth goal of the tournament, all in the last three games, on a power play just 12:35 into the game.

In the third-place game, Petra Nieminen scored her sixth goal of the event and Finland beat Switzerland 3-1.

CYCLING

SPANISH VUELTA: Fabio Jakobsen celebrated his 25th birthday with his third stage win at this year’s Spanish Vuelta on Tuesday, with Odd Christian Eiking holding on to the overall lead.

Jakobsen prevailed along with his Deceuninck-Quick Step teammates through the twisty finale of the 180-kilometer (111.8-mile) 16th stage that took riders from Laredo to Santa Cruz de Bezana in northern Spain. Jakobsen, who had also won the fourth and eighth stages, finished the sprint ahead of Jordi Meeus and Matteo Trentin.

The Dutch rider has been enjoying his greatest results since being involved in a horrific crash that left him fighting for his life in an induced coma more than a year ago.

There was no change at the top of the general classification, with Eiking comfortably staying ahead of Guillaume Martin and two-time defending Vuelta champion Primoz Roglic. The Norwegian rider said the Lagos de Covadonga will be “very decisive” on Wednesday.

“It will be a really hard racing from the start,” Eiking said. “It will be a lot of fun to race up there.”

The 185-kilometer (115-mile) 17th stage will see riders complete two loops around a circuit that includes an unprecedented climb at Collada Llomena before they take on the difficult Lagos de Covadonga summit.

LUGE

U.S., CANADA LOSE RACES: Luge’s governing body took upcoming World Cup races away from the U.S. and Canada, citing ongoing difficulties in getting foreign athletes into and out of the North American countries during the pandemic.

The planned World Cup stops in Whistler, British Columbia, and Lake Placid, New York, will now both be held at the 2014 Sochi Olympic track in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. They will be the second and third stops on the World Cup schedule, the first from Nov. 26-28 and the second from Dec. 3-5.

The World Cup season will begin at the new track built for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, with racing being held Nov. 19-21.

The International Luge Federation’s decision means that there will be no World Cup events in any of the three sliding sports – bobsled, skeleton and luge – in North America for a second consecutive season.