Daily Republic
Monday, June 27, 2021 SECTION B Paul Farmer . Sports Editor . 427.6926
Led by Simone Biles, U.S. gymnastics team is set The Washington Post ST. LOUIS — The list of possible U.S. women’s gymnastics teams could be jumbled and picked at random, and the group could still head to Tokyo favored to rack up medals and win the team gold. That’s the expectation for any team led by Simone Biles, the world’s best gymnast, who will soon head to Japan and be in position to earn even more titles than she already has. Sunisa Lee and Jordan
Chiles have seemed poised all season to join Biles on the four-member Olympic team. Their strong performances here at the U.S. Olympic trials only strengthened their cases. But then there was the fourth spot, and the selection committee had to choose. Grace McCallum, an 18-year-old from Minnesota, earned the nod Sunday night. McCallum finished fourth after two days of competition here at the Dome at America’s Center.
But those results weren’t enough to guarantee an Olympic berth. Only the top two finishers, Biles and Lee, left the arena and entered the waiting room with guaranteed trips to Japan. McCallum had only a narrow edge over MyKayla Skinner – threetenths of a point based on the cumulative score of eight routines. And Skinner, an Olympic alternate in 2016, had the advantage of a vault that could contend for an individual medal.
When the gymnasts emerged from the tunnel, wearing new Team USA sweatsuits and overcome with emotion, McCallum stood with the four-member team. But Skinner, 24, will still go to Tokyo. She was named as one of the two individual athletes who will compete, joining Jade Carey, who had already clinched her spot. The six athletes, and a crew of alternates, celebrated as confetti rained down from the ceiling. Fireworks exploded behind them.
And in a few weeks, they will travel to Tokyo with Biles as their leader and as the new faces of U.S. women’s gymnastics. Since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, Lee has emerged as one of Team USA’s top all-arounders behind Biles, including winning three medals at the world championships in 2019. Lee excels on bars with a routine that combines difficult release elements. Her score on that event alone a 15.300 on the first night
of the trials Friday, and then a 14.900 on Sunday is enough to significantly lift the U.S. team total. In St. Louis, Lee earned the best two-day combined score on bars and beam. Her all-around total Sunday led the field, even ahead of Biles. Biles fell on beam and had a couple of minor mistakes on the other apparatuses. She will be disappointed with that showing, but she is still the See Team, Page B8
Kyle Busch rolls to win in 2nd Pocono Cup race Tribune Content Agency
Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group/TNS
The Oakland Athletics’ Tony Kemp scores a run on a bunt by Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Cole Irvin
against the San Francisco Giants’ Buster Posey in the sixth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Sunday.
Tribune Content Agency
with three starts. Kapler remembers Irvin for his ability to set a good pace and his ability to consistently throw strikes. Only two other starters have completed seven innings against the Giants this season – the Dodgers Walker Buehler and Washington’s Joe Ross. It was his ability to be economical with his pitches that put Irvin over the top against rookie Sammy Long (1-1), whose control issues led to his demise in the sixth inning of his second major league start. The Giants were victimized by a ruthlessly efficient sixth inning by the Athletics which was fueled by Long’s control issues. The A’s ended up scoring three times with only one hit – a
A’s put temporary halt to Giants’ momentum, avoid being swept SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants have made a living grinding out at-bats, with opposing pitchers compiling high pitch counts and early exits. Not so Sunday against the Athletics and lefthanded starter Cole Irvin at Oracle Park. Irvin prevented the Giants from a threegame sweep of the San Francisco Giants, throwing eight shutout innings with two walks and eight strikeouts as the Athletics won 6-2 before a crowd of 35,920. Irvin threw 100 pitches, 71 of them strikes, in what tied the longest outing of his career before Deolis Guerra replaced him in the ninth. The only Giants hits against Irvin
were a single by Buster Posey and two ground ball singles by Darin Ruf. The Giants got to Guerra for two runs in the ninth, highlighted by a Posey single and doubles from Donovan Solano and Steven Duggar, before Lou Trivino got the final out for the Athletics with a strikeout of pinch-hitter Brandon Crawford. The Giants, who still own the best record in the major leagues at 50-27, visit the second place Los Angeles Dodgers for games on Monday and Tuesday. The Athletics (47-33) open a three-game series against Texas beginning Monday at the Coliseum. Irvin (6-7) pitched for Philadelphia under Kapler in 2019, going 2-1 in 41 2/3 innings in 16 games
run-scoring single from Aramis Garcia. It started when Long plunked Chad Pinder in the back, then threw a pitch under Tony Kemp’s chin. That prompted a visit from pitching coach Andrew Bailey, and when Long walked Kemp, it was manager Gabe Kapler’s turn. John Brebbia came on in relief, giving up the line single to Garcia for a 3-0 lead. After Skye Bolt struck out, Irvin pushed a bunt to the right, with first baseman Darin Ruf making a glove flip late to Posey at the plate with Kemp scoring. A third run came home when Elvis Andrus lofted a sacrifice fly to right. Garcia also added a See A’s, Page B8
Kyle Busch scored his second win of the season Sunday with his car stuck in fourth gear almost the entire race. The No. 18 driver might not have had a functional clutch at the end of 140 laps, but he had just enough fuel to outpace the field. The final 20 laps of the Explore the Pocono Mountains 350 race were all about fuel strategy with multiple teams trying to stretch their supply. Busch was sitting in sixth place with the best car on fuel mileage at that point, while William Byron was told to save from second place. It was a question of whether Byron could make it, and if not, who could — Denny Hamlin? Kurt Busch? Byron assumed the lead with eight laps to go when Brad Keselowski pitted from first. A few laps later, Byron was in the pits and Hamlin was up to first place with just two laps left. Hamlin was eyeing his first win of the season, but again fell short as his fuel dwindled. He headed to pit road while his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate
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Tribune Content Agency Coming into the Bay Bridge Series, the Giants were averaging 9,655 fans per game. Then Oracle Park opened up to near-capacity – and the team drew 106,016 for the three games against Oakland, with fans of both the teams filling every section and providing a huge volume of noise and excitement. “That was great,” said Giants left-hander Sammy Long, a Sacramento native who started Sunday after growing up going to games at Oracle Park and the Coliseum. “The crowd was electric for both sides. “After I was out of the game, I looked around and it looked like it was the biggest crowd of the weekend, so to be able to pitch in
front of all those people. . . . You know, the Bay Bridge Series is one that I grew up looking forward to. Tto be on the mound for one of those games, that was awesome.” Giants catcher Buster Posey has played in the series many a time, but the fact that the stadium was full for the first time in more than a year and a half made it all the more special to him. “It’s nice,” Posey said. “The energy was definitely there and makes it more fun for the players for sure, and I would think it makes it more fun for the fans as well. . . . It was definitely a good, good atmosphere for all three games, and it seemed like the fans were equally as excited to be there as we were to
play in front of them.” The Giants might add even more seating capacity after the All-Star break, which is when they will consider eliminating their few remaining socially distanced sections.
Briefly: Starter Logan Webb (shoulder) threw a 20-pitch simulated inning and is headed for a rehab assignment this week. “He didn’t have great command but I think that’s to be expected,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “First time out and his arm looked good, he stayed in his delivery, so that’s a good step.” . . . The Giants opened the breezeway behind the arches in right starting with Friday’s games; there has been speculation that with the archways closed, the ball travels better. Through the extremely small sample size of the weekend series, a grand total of four home runs were hit between the two teams. Entering the series, San Francisco alone had hit 45 in 34 home games.
See Busch, Page B8
Expos continue road trip, fall 9-3 to Casper Oilers Daily Republic staff
Giants draw more than 100K for Bay Bridge Series, ‘electric for both sides’
headed into his white flag lap and then across the finish line in first. Kyle Larson finished second. “Great job to my team,” Busch said on NBCSN, thanking No. 18 crew chief Ben Beshore. “Thanks to Matt, the fuel guy, for getting it full. That’s a big important one today. Really great to take home another checkered flag.” Beshore after the race described how the transmission issue made restarts difficult. The team attempted unsuccessfully to send a crew member into Busch’s car at the end of the second stage to attempt to pry the shifter from high gear. It didn’t work, and the car needed a push from crew members to get back on track. Busch pitted before the final restart and the team added fuel, hoping the race stayed green, while other teams tried to stretch their tank. The victory for Busch snapped Hendrick Motorsports’ six-win streak after Alex Bowman took the checkered flag at the same
FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield Expos American Legion baseball team fell behind early and couldn’t get the big hit when it needed it in dropping a 9-3 decision to the Casper (Wyoming) Oilers in Bozeman, Montana, Sunday. The Expos, 34-8 overall and 5-3 on their 16-day, fivestate road trip, had a 9-7 victory over the same team, Saturday. The Oilers got all the runs they needed when they pushed across four runs in the top of the second inning and never trailed. The Expos countered with single runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings but were unable to take advantage of the
10 walks they received, stranding 11 runners while managing six hits, all singles. Getting hits for the Expos were Reilly Ramirez, Aidan Robles, Ryan Kariolich, David Abilez, Gavin Arpaia and Eli Blurton, with Abiliez, Drew Carrington and Blurton driving in runs. Carrington started on the mound and took the loss, yielding four runs (two earned) on two hits and four walks over three innings. Two of three relievers also gave up runs. The Expos are scheduled to play at the Helena (Montana) Senators on Monday and at the Kennewick (Washington) Outlaws before heading to Eugene and Roseburg, Oregon, for seven games before returning home on July 5.
