PHILADELPHIA – The United States advanced to the quarterfinals of the Copa America, getting a first-half goal from Clint Dempsey and surviving DeAndre Yedlin’s early second-half ejection to beat Paraguay, 1-0, on Saturday night.
Dempsey scored his 51st international goal in the 27th minute, but the Americans’ defense was upended just three minutes into the second half.
Yedlin got his first yellow in the 47th for a slide tackle from the side into Miguel Almiron near the center circle and then when play resumed raised a foot and charged into Miguel Samudio near a sideline. Chilean referee Julio Bascunan immediately gave a second yellow, and Yedlin lifted both arms wide as if to say, why me?
Michael Orozco entered to play right back in the 50th, and Dempsey came off as the U.S. prepared to survive an onslaught. With Paraguay applying pressure, U.S. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann repeatedly turned to try to spur on the crowd of 51,041.
American goalkeeper Brad Guzan made an outstanding body stop on a short-range shot in the 82nd minute, then made a kick save on an attempt off the rebound. Gustavo Gomez put the ball past Guzan in the 89th but whistled for offside.
BROOKLYN, Mich. – Daniel Suarez passed Kyle Busch toward the end of the Xfinity Series race at Michigan and held on for his first career victory in NASCAR’s second-tier circuit.
Busch led much of the 125-lap Menards 250 race Saturday, but couldn’t stay ahead of the Mexican driver for the final two laps.
Busch, Paul Menard, Erik Jones and Elliott Sadler finished in the top five.
Jones raced with “Dave,” instead of his name painted above the driver side window. His father, Dave Jones, died this week after a short bout with cancer. He was 53.
Gordie Howe was mentioned during the invocation before the race about 70 miles west of Detroit, where he played much of his career for the Red Wings. Howe died Friday at 88.
MONTREAL – Defending champion Lewis Hamilton earned the pole position for the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix for a fifth time and the second year in a row.
Hamilton turned in the fastest lap of qualifying, completing the 2.71-mile (4.36-km) Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 1 minute, 12.812 seconds. That’s 1.5 seconds faster than his qualifying time from last year.
Mercedes teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg will start next to Hamilton on the front row for Sunday’s race. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who posted the fastest lap in practice, was third in qualifying and Daniel Ricciardo was fourth.
A light rain began falling during the morning practice, but the track remained dry for the afternoon qualifying run.
DENVER – The Colorado Rockies placed closer Jake McGee on the 15-day disabled list with left knee inflammation a day after he blew a save in the ninth.
McGee surrendered a three-run homer to Wil Myers on Friday night in a 7-5 loss. He had an MRI on Saturday morning.
The left-handed McGee has converted 15 of 18 save opportunities this season. Candidates to take his closer’s role include veteran Jason Motte or hard-throwing righty Carlos Estevez, who’s currently the team’s eight-inning specialist.
To take McGee’s place on the roster, the Rockies recalled lefty Tyler Anderson from Triple-A Albuquerque. He’s 1-1 with a 2.12 ERA with the Isotopes this season.
Anderson was taken with the 20th overall pick by the Rockies in the 2011 draft.
PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Pirates have put catcher Francisco Cervelli on the 15-day disabled list with a broken left hand that is expected to sideline him four to six weeks.
The Pirates also acquired backup catcher Erik Kratz from the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday for cash.
Cervelli left Friday night’s game against St. Louis after breaking his hamate bone on a swing. He had surgery Saturday.
Cervelli is hitting .257 with 21 RBI. Chris Stewart took over after Cervelli was hurt in the fourth inning.
Kratz is expected to join the Pirates for Saturday night’s home game against the Cardinals.
The 35-year-old Kratz made his big league debut with the Pirates in 2010. He also has played for Philadelphia, Toronto, Kansas City and Houston.
Kratz went to spring training with San Diego this season and was traded to Houston. He played 15 games for the Astros, was cut in mid-May and joined the Angels’ Triple-A team.
The Pirates also designated for assignment Triple-A right-hander Trey Haley.
MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota Twins pitcher Phil Hughes has a broken bone above his left knee that’s expected to require six to eight weeks to heal, raising doubt about whether the struggling right-hander will return this season.
An MRI test on Hughes revealed an impaction fracture on his femur, a tiny crack caused by a line drive by Miami’s J.T. Realmuto that hit him Thursday. Initial X-rays on Hughes showed no break, but the 29-year-old needed help walking off the field after he was struck. He has plenty of swelling and will need crutches to move around in the meantime, but he won’t need surgery.
After the bone has healed, he’ll need time to work his arm back into pitching shape, which could push the timetable into September.
“You can speculate that. We all know that there’s a process of getting a pitcher back in shape to pitch,” Manager Paul Molitor said Saturday.
Hughes, who is 1-7 with a 5.95 ERA, was recently demoted to the bullpen. With the Twins already a lost cause this season, there would be a question later this summer once Hughes has healed whether bringing him back in 2016 would be worth the risk. General Manager Terry Ryan balked at the notion of shutting down Hughes, who has three years and $39.6 million remaining on his contract after this season.
“I’m not one for that. I don’t want to rush anything and I certainly don’t want him not being competitive, but if all that is place, then, yeah,” Ryan said.
STUTTGART, Germany – Roger Federer squandered two match points and lost to Dominic Thiem, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, in a rain-interrupted Mercedes Cup semifinal on Saturday.
Thiem led 5-0 in the second set before winning the tiebreaker in which he saved the match points for his second straight win over Federer.
Thiem beat Federer in the third round of the Italian Open before Federer took a month off to deal with a back injury. That win was on clay, while Saturday’s came on grass, Federer’s favorite surface.
Thiem, with three ATP titles this year, reached his maiden Grand Slam semifinals at the French Open, and the Austrian has jumped to No. 7 in the world.
Thiem will play either Juan Martin del Potro or Philipp Kohlschreiber for the title.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Title holder Nicolas Mahut recovered from losing the first set and 19 aces from Sam Querrey to win their semifinal, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, at the Ricoh Open on Saturday.
Mahut will play Gilles Muller for his third title at the Rosmalen tournament. Mahut, seeded eighth, also won the grass-court event in 2013.
Muller, seeded seventh, had 22 aces in beating No. 3 Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), to make the final. Karlovic had 21, but also made six double-faults.
Kristina Mladenovic will play CoCo Vandeweghe for the women’s title.
Mladenovic came from behind to beat top-seeded Belinda Bencic, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. The third-seeded Mladenovic fired 15 aces to prevent Bencic from reaching her second straight final on the Rosmalen grass courts.
Vandeweghe, seeded sixth, had eight aces in brushing aside Madison Brengle, 6-4, 6-2. Vandeweghe won the tournament in 2014.
It’s the first final of the year for both Mladenovic and Vandeweghe.
NOTTINGHAM, England – Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic fought out of trouble in both sets to beat Ashleigh Barty of Australia, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7), to reach the Nottingham Open semifinals on Saturday.
Barty had two set points in the first set, and was a break up in the second before leading 4-2 in the last tiebreaker.
Pliskova was to play fourth-seeded Monica Puig of Puerto Rico in the semifinals late Saturday. The quarterfinals were washed out on Friday.
Puig defeated Tamira Paszek of Austria, 6-4, 6-3, to reach her first semis since January in Sydney.
The other semi featured the unseeded Alison Riske of the United States against Saisai Zheng of China. Riske, who won a minor tour event in Eastbourne last week, overcame Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, 6-3, 6-3, and Saisai beat the last local hope, qualifier Tara Moore, 6-2, 6-4.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri baseball Coach Tim Jamieson resigned after 698 victories in 22 seasons.
Jamieson coached eight All-Americans and 10 freshman All-Americans, and 75 players were drafted with 10 playing in the major leagues. The list includes Max Scherzer, Ian Kinsler, Aaron Crow and Kyle Gibson.
Jamieson was a two-time coach of the year and his 2006 team was the first No. 4 seed to an NCAA Regional. Missouri also won the Big Eight in 1996 and the SEC Tournament in 2012 under Jamieson.
The school said Saturday it was exploring the possibility of Jamieson staying in an administrative role while beginning a nationwide search for a new coach.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Daniel Berger shot a 1-under 69 on a hot, sticky Saturday at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, giving him a three-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and D.A. Points.
Berger, the 2014-15 rookie of the year who had led after a round on tour only once before this event back in 2014, now has led consecutive rounds as he looks for his first PGA Tour victory. Berger carded four birdies, a bogey and a double bogey to reach 10-under 201.
Mickelson (68), Stricker (66) and Points (64) were 7 under.
Seung-yul Noh (67), Colt Knost (67) and Brooks Koepka (69) were 6 under.
With so many experienced players and big names chasing him, Berger hit 13 of 18 greens playing conservatively enough with six straight pars at one point that he finished Saturday with the same three-stroke lead he had after the second round.
SAMMAMISH, Wash. – Top-ranked Lydia Ko bogeyed the 18th hole Saturday to cut her lead to one stroke heading into the final round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Seeking her third straight major title, Ko shot a 1-under 70 to reach 2 under. She won the Evian Championship in September in France for her first major title and took the ANA Inspiration in April in California.
Brittany Lincicome and Gerina Piller were tied for second. They each shot 71, with Lincicome also bogeying the 18th.
The 19-year-old Ko used her deft short-game to save shots on the 16th and 17th holes, but couldn’t avoid dropping a shot at the last when her third shot went to the back of the green and she missed a 15-foot par putt.
Second round co-leaders Brooke Henderson and Mirim Lee each shot 73 to drop into the group at even par. Only three players were under par, but 13 were within three shots of the lead.
FLOURTOWN, Pa. – Bernhard Langer was all alone under par at windy Philadelphia Cricket Club.
The 58-year-old German star also was in position to win the Constellation Senior Players Championship for the third straight year, sitting at 2-under 208 for a three-stroke lead over Jay Don Blake with a round left.
After playing the first 11 holes in 2 over with two birdies and four bogeys, Langer birdied the par-4 12th to get back to even par for the tournament. He added birdies on the par-5 15th and par-3 16th and closed with two pars on the A.W. Tillinghast-designed Wissahickon Course.
Langer won in 2014 at Fox Chapel in Pittsburgh and last year at Belmont in Massachusetts. He won the Regions Tradition last month in Alabama for his sixth senior major and 27th tour victory.
Blake birdied the par-4 18th for a 71. Jeff Sluman (70), Woody Austin (71), Wes Short Jr. (72), Bart Bryant (72) and Brandt Jobe (74) were tied for third at 2 over.