Los Angeles Angels pitcher Felix Pena will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL in his right knee.

Pena, who pitched in a combined no-hitter less than a month ago, suffered the injury in Saturday's game against the Cleveland Indians and was carried off the field.

The Angels placed Pena on the 10-day injured list amid a series of roster moves before Sunday's game in Cleveland. Shortstop Andrelton Simmons (ankle) and rookie pitcher Griffin Canning (elbow) also were placed on the 10-day IL.

Pena, 29, will undergo surgery on his knee and is expected to need six to nine months to recover, Angels manager Brad Ausmus told reporters.

A four-year veteran, Pena is 8-3 with a 4.58 ERA in 22 games -- seven starts -- this season. He made history on July 12 when he threw seven no-hit innings in relief of Taylor Cole, completing the second combined no-hitter in Angels history.

Simmons told reporters that he reinjured the same ankle that forced him to miss a month earlier this season. The four-time Gold Glove winner is uncertain how long he will be sidelined.

Canning, 23, underwent an MRI that revealed inflammation but no structural damage in his pitching elbow, according to Ausmus. The Angels hope the right-hander, who is 4-6 with a 4.76 ERA this season, will return soon.

The Angels promoted infielder Wilfredo Tovar, first baseman Jared Walsh and right-hander Luke Bard from the minors to replace Pena, Simmons and Canning on the 25-man roster Sunday.

St. Louis Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter has been activated from the injured list after missing nearly three weeks with a foot injury.

The Cardinals announced Carpenter's activation amid a series of roster moves before Sunday's game against the Oakland Athletics.

St. Louis also recalled right-hander Ryan Helsley from Triple-A Memphis, optioned infielder Rangel Ravelo to Memphis and designated right-hander Mike Mayers for assignment.

Carpenter has been on the 10-day IL since July 16 after fouling a ball off his right foot. The three-time All-Star is batting just .215 with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs this season.

Pitcher Shane Bieber is 10-4 with a 3.40 ERA for a Cleveland Indians team that leads the AL wild-card race. One thing he is not: pop singer Justin Bieber, a fact that baseball card maker Topps seems to have forgotten.

The 24-year-old righty tweeted a photo of his baseball card that mistakenly refers to him as "Justin" in the blurb on the back.

Is it too late to say sorry?

— Topps @ NSCC Booth No. 676 (@Topps) August 3, 2019

Topps took the issue in stride, replying to Bieber with song lyrics from a popular Justin Bieber tune. A tweet that Shane Bieber amusingly acknowledged.

This is not the first time the Indians pitcher has addressed sharing a last name with the Canadian pop star. In 2018 during Players Weekend, when MLB allowed players to put their nicknames on the backs of their jerseys, Bieber decided to go with "NOT JUSTIN."

Bieber is slated to start Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Angels.

The Chicago Cubs have placed All-Star catcher Willson Contreras on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain.

The Cubs announced the move Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after Contreras suffered the injury while running out a fly ball in Saturday's game against Milwaukee.

It marks the second trip to the IL in less than a month for Contreras, who was sidelined with a foot injury in mid-July -- an injury that prompted the Cubs to acquire catcher Martin Maldonado in a trade with the Kansas City Royals.

The Cubs traded Maldonado to the Houston Astros this past Wednesday, however, once again leaving them with depth problems at the catching position. Catcher Taylor Davis was recalled from Triple-A Iowa in a corresponding roster move Sunday.

Contreras, 27, is batting .275 with 19 home runs and 57 RBIs this season. Victor Caratini figures to see the bulk of the playing time at catcher with Contreras sidelined.

The 2019 Boston Red Sox have been a team searching for its identity the entire season, marked by a series of false starts. At times, this club has shown flashes of being capable of making noise in the postseason. The latest example came over a week ago, when Boston wrapped up wins in five of six from the division rival New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, stoking excitement around Fenway Park and in the fan base that the team was finally primed to make a run to October and climb up the wild-card standings.

But just as frequent as the highs have been the swift, harsh lows. Boston followed up its series victory over the Yankees by getting swept by the Rays, followed by losses in all three games against the Bronx Bombers so far this weekend at Yankee Stadium. Red Sox pitching has gotten clobbered, allowing 51 runs during the seven-game losing streak, unable to stop the bleeding and highlighting the lack of pitching acquisitions at the trade deadline by president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

Every confidence high seems to be followed immediately by emotional lows, in often gut-wrenching fashion.

Boston now sits 5.5 games out of even making the playoffs, trailing both the Rays and the Oakland Athletics in the fight for the second American League wild-card slot. Slowly, the realization is settling in that the 2019 Boston Red Sox might be like most sequels to Hollywood blockbusters, and the worst-case scenario for a baseball team in Boston: extremely expensive and utterly forgettable.

To be clear, this isn't a bad baseball team. Boston boasts MLB's best offense, leading all teams with 642 runs, nine more than the second-place Minnesota Twins. Xander Bogaerts has arguably been the best shortstop, ranking second among AL position players in FanGraphs WAR at 5.4, hitting .309/.389/.570 with 25 homers, 37 doubles and 84 RBIs, a would-be candidate for the MVP if Mike Trout wasn't already so far ahead of the pack. Just 22 years old, Rafael Devers has turned into one of the most offensively dynamic third basemen in baseball, spraying liners to all fields to the tune of .323/.372/.567 with 22 homers. Mookie Betts has had an up-and-down season, but still ranks among the top 15 in fWAR. In the rotation, David Price has quietly put together a consistent, strong season. Matt Barnes and Brandon Workman have emerged as the team's lockdown relievers. While the offense was largely inconsistent in the first half, it has put together a strong second half, leading MLB with 139 runs scored.

Many of the team's concerns now fall squarely onto the pitching staff. Fervor rose among Red Sox fans at the trade deadline when the team did not go out and acquire more arms. Many in the clubhouse were angry when Boston did not add relief pitching at the deadline, according to multiple sources. Fox's Ken Rosenthal asked Betts before Saturday's doubleheader if the team was bothered by the lack of a move for a reliever at the deadline.

"You could say yes, you could say no," Betts said. "That's all stuff in the clubhouse we can't control. It's from the top. We've got a talented group and we've proven that we can do it. It's a matter of going out and executing and taking care of what you can."

Dombrowski's deadline inaction was only further underlined by Houston's acquisition of Zack Greinke as its third starter. Tampa Bay also made several moves to improve its team, highlighted by the deal for slugger Jesus Aguilar from the Brewers. Dombrowski defended the inaction by citing his trade for right-hander Andrew Cashner.

"You know, we didn't make a trade on the trading deadline day last year," Dombrowski told the media after the deadline. "We did get Cashner already, so it's not like we haven't done something to help our ballclub."

In his four starts since the trade from Baltimore, Cashner has posted a 6.94 ERA in 23⅓ innings, allowing 18 runs while striking out 16 and walking 10 batters. Left-hander Chris Sale has openly admitted to the media this season that he's been terrible, posting a 4.68 ERA, a huge drop-off from his 2.11 mark in 2018. Among qualified starters (excluding Price, due to his brief stint on the injured list), Eduardo Rodriguez currently owns the lowest ERA in Boston's rotation at 4.19. That group ranks 20th among all MLB teams with an unsightly 4.99 team ERA.

Boston's lack of a deal to add a reliever shines a spotlight directly on Nathan Eovaldi, whom Dombrowski touted as a major addition to the bullpen when the flamethrowing starter returned from the IL. "We are going to add Nathan Eovaldi," Dombrowski said two weeks before the deadline. "Some people seem to not grasp onto that. He's a big addition for us."

Eovaldi's five relief appearances so far have been a mixed bag; he has allowed five runs in 4⅔ innings, though his initial rustiness after not throwing in a game for more than two months is understandable. Lefty rookie Darwinzon Hernandez could be a difference-maker, touching 97 mph on the radar gun, striking out 15 (but walking five) in 6⅔ innings since returning to the majors July 16.

One of the major conversations heading into the season was about Boston's risk of having to pay luxury-tax penalties, potentially preventing the team from making a significant move at the trade deadline. The impetus fell on Dombrowski to decide how to use that money. The decision to sign postseason hero Eovaldi to a four-year, $68 million contract had already locked up $17 million for this season, a large financial commitment to a pitcher who had undergone two Tommy John surgeries and has started more than 30 games once in eight seasons. Owner John Henry, who committed to the largest payroll in baseball heading into the season, told WEEI.com that the team did not face luxury-tax issues.

"We're already over budget and we were substantially over our budget last year and this year," Henry said. "We're not going to be looking to add a lot of payroll."

Eovaldi's deal erased the possibility that Boston would re-sign Craig Kimbrel or Joe Kelly, let alone spend big on relievers. The Red Sox also signed Steve Pearce to a one year, $6.25 million deal after his World Series heroics, further restricting any financial flexibility to make a big trade at the deadline. By the end of April, Eovaldi found himself on the injured list with loose bodies in his throwing arm, returning in July as a reliever. He has thrown 25⅔ innings this season. Pearce has spent most of the season injured, hitting .180/.245/.258 in 29 games.

The team needed to be perfect during this decathlon stretch of 14 games against the Yankees and the Rays, arguably the toughest portion of its entire schedule. Boston has barely hung on, with a 5-8 record in those contests going into Sunday. But the persistent question about whether the Red Sox could turn their season around has been with them for months -- it started two weeks into the season, after they started 3-8 on the West Coast swing against the Mariners, Athletics and Diamondbacks and hasn't stopped since, with two months left in the regular season.

That question might come to define the entire year for the Red Sox.

BELLEVILLE, Kan. — Jake Bubak kept his Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals perfection alive by storming to a $7,000 payday in Saturday night’s United Rebel Sprint Series-sanctioned second annual Belleville 305 Nationals 30-lap finale at the Belleville High Banks.

It completed a duplication of last year’s Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals two-night sweep with the Arvada, Colo., shoe now four-for-four in event competition aboard the Coyote Candle Company No. 74x Sprint Car.

While Bubak didn’t wire the field this time around, he bettered himself in the lapped cars department by leaving just six other cars on the lead lap after lapping all but seven other cars in last year’s inaugural event.

This time, Tyler Drueke earned the pole position for the feature with Bubak alongside. But it was fourth-starter Jason Martin gunning into the lead on the initial circuit ahead of Bubak, Jed Werner and Drueke.

Martin held off Bubak for a half dozen rounds before Bubak powered by for the point. Martin tried to fight back, but Bubak began to slip away as the laps clicked off.

Bubak reached traffic in short order and spent the last two-thirds of the feature slicing through the field. By the time the checkered flag flew, Bubak held more than a half-lap advantage over Drueke, who made a late move past Martin to snare runner-up honors.

Martin settled for the show position behind Bubak and Drueke with Luke Cranston picking off several positions in the closing circuits to snare fourth.  J.D. Johnson rounded out the top five with Joe Wood, Jr. and Jed Werner the final cars on the lead lap.

The finish:

Feature (20 Laps):  1. 74b-Jake Bubak (2) [$7,000], 2. 12-Tyler Drueke (1) [$3,500], 3. 5x-Jason Martin (4) [$3,000], 4. 11-Luke Cranston (9) [$2,500], 5. 98-J.D. Johnson (7) [$2,000], 6. 03x-Joe Wood, Jr., (8) [$1,750], 7. 50-Jed Werner (3) [$1,650], 8. 911-Ty Williams (5) [$1,600], 9. 7x-Shane Sundquist (10) [$1,550], 10. 95-Buddy Tubbs (6) [$1,500], 11. 0-Steven Richardson (14) [$1,450], 12. 15-Jack Potter (11) [$1,400], 13. 27-Andy Shouse (19) [$1,350], 14. 911x-Tim Crawley (18) [$1,300], 15. 16-Scott Cochran (21) [$1,250], 16. 03-Shayle Bade (17) [$1,200], 17. 45x-Kyler Johnson (23) [$1,150], 18. 2J-Zach Blurton (12) ($1,100], 19. 2b-Brett Becker (16) [$1,050], 20. 1s-Ryan Voss (13) [$1,000], 21. 7-Toby Chapman (20) [$1,000], 22. 17-Todd Plemons (24) [$1,000], 23. 54-Trey Gropp (15) [$1,000], 24. 88J-Jeremy Huish (22) [$1,000].

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — The 29th annual MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank will go down in history as one to remember.

Australia’s James McFadden won a battle with Brian Brown that saw five lead changes to cash in on the $15,000 top prize. His win also earned him rookie-of-the-year honors and a bonus $500 from sponsors Jetco and Pace Performance.

The 25-lap main event saw McFadden leading Brown, Joey Saldana, Wayne Johnson and Aaron Reutzel early. The only caution of the race occurred two laps in, when Scott Bogucki performed a 360 spin and tapped the wall.

While McFadden was true to the low groove early, Brown stormed the high side into the lead on lap three. Undeterred, the Warrnambool, Victoria resident steamed back by to the point to lead lap four. Meanwhile, Johnson passed Saldana third.

A great battle ensued for the lead and Brown made another charge to lead lap seven.  He changed to McFadden’s low groove, but James went up top at that point and shot back around the No. 21 to lead for good on lap eight.

The leaders hit lapped traffic at the halfway point.  Brown reeled in McFadden at a couple of points in the late stages, but never mounted a serious threat for the win.

McFadden’s win came ahead of Brown, Johnson, Reutzel and Saldana.

In preliminary action, Robbie Price won the E.  Spencer Bayston won the D main, while Jack Dover took the C. Gio Scelzi claimed the B.

“I’m over the moon!” said McFadden beside the Kasey Kahne Racing No. 9m. “I have to thank Mike Heffner for loaning us the motor for the weekend. Obviously, this thing ripped. That was a hard race. It felt like 40 laps, not 25! I’m just pumped! I was watching the big screen. I knew (Brown) was going to run the top. The bottom was fast…I just kept missing it a little bit, and that was enough for him to get next to us.  I decided to pound the top and it worked out.”

“I’m just so proud of my team,” said Brown, whose team had to leave the track and replace their engine after not getting hot laps in.  “Races are won, and teams are made over adversity.  We went 25 laps as hard as we could go, and got beat.  Hat’s off to James.  He moved when he saw me there, and he did a good job.”

“This car was good,” said Johnson.  “I just wish we’d have started a little closer to those guys, but halfway through the race, I felt I was picking up on them really good.  I started getting closer, and I started driving it harder.  I just started making mistakes.  Once I calmed down, it was too late.  Knoxville is an awesome place.”

Evan Epperson won his second career feature with the Pro Sprints presented by Pace Performance.

The finish:

Feature (25 laps): 1. 9M, James McFadden, Warrnambool, VIC, Aust. (1); 2. 21, Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO (3); 3. 2c, Wayne Johnson, Tuttle, OK (7); 4. 87, Aaron Reutzel, Clute, TX (6); 5. 12N, Joey Saldana, Brownsburg, IN (2); 6. 56N, Davey Heskin, St. Michael, MN (11); 7. 26, Cory Eliason, Visalia, CA (13); 8. 21K, Thomas Kennedy, Winnipeg, MB, Can. (9); 9. 5, Dusty Zomer, Sioux Falls, SD (5); 10. 09, Matt Juhl, Tea, SD (19); 11. Gio Scelzi (21); 12. Austin McCarl (22); 13. 15H, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Sunnyvale, TX (8); 14. 14, Paul McMahan, Nashville, TN (4); 15. 5H, Colby Copeland, Roseville, CA (12); 16. Mason Daniel (23); 17. 9, Ryan Giles, Grimes, IA (10); 18. 4x, Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA (17); 19. 71P, Parker Price-Miller, Kokomo, IN (14); 20. 83H, Justin Henderson, Tea, SD (16); 21. 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA (18); 22. 17w, Harli White, Lindsay, OK (15); 23. Scott Bogucki (24); 24. 4J, Lee Grosz, Harwood, ND (20). Lap Leaders: McFadden 1-2, Brown 3, McFadden 4-6, Brown 7, McFadden 8-25.

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NEW RICHMOND, Wis. — With six laps remaining in Saturday night’s USA Nationals feature at Cedar Lake Speedway, it appeared as though defending event winner Brandon Sheppard was going to repeat victory in the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series race.

But there was one driver behind him who had never been so hungry for his first win in the prestigious event — Chris Madden.

Madden slid his Scott Bloomquist Racing “Team Zero” No. 0m up in front of Sheppard’s Rocket Chassis house car in turn two to take the lead, which he held onto through a green-white-checkered finish to claim his first USA Nationals title over Tim McCreadie and Sheppard.

“It’s pretty awesome to come back home,” Madden said. “We drove our first race with Scott back at I-80, had a shot to win that race and wound up second. So, to come here and back it up with a win, it’s pretty awesome. It says a lot for Team Zero.”

That’s right – Saturday night was only Madden’s second event behind the wheel of his Great America Steak Company machine.

Put simply, Madden had the most consistent car on the race track on Saturday night. Never dropping below fourth over 100 laps, he spent the better part of the race’s final quarter battling door-to-door with Sheppard. Madden dominated the bottom lane, while Sheppard preferred the top.

The two played cat-and-mouse until the race’s deciding moment with six laps to go. Sheppard bobbled on the cushion coming out of turn two, allowing Madden to get a run on him down the backstretch. Madden patiently waited for the right moment and pulled the trigger as they came back around into turn one, driving it in deep to slide directly into Sheppard’s line on the top.

“I knew I wasn’t going to catch Sheppard at the pace I was running,” Madden said. “So I just slowed down my pace a bit, got in a rhythm. I said, ‘if I catch him right here, I’ve got to go by him.’”

When Sheppard got to the exit of turn two, the hole had already closed and he was forced to get on the binders, giving up the top spot to Madden. A green-white-checkered finish put a tiny bit on extra pressure on Madden out front, but he got a great restart and persevered to seal the deal.

Madden and the team banked $50,000 and a brand-new wooden eagle trophy. It was the biggest payday of his career.

The USA Nationals title also serves as SBR’s very first win in 2019 under new part-owner Cody Sommer and first with the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series.

“Cody is a great guy. I didn’t really know him that well until I came to do this. But he puts a lot of effort in to this, and he works as hard on these cars as anybody else does in the pit are does,” Madden said.

After all was said and done, Sheppard settled for a solid third-place finish after McCreadie got by Sheppard on the green-white-checkered restart and drag-raced him to the stripe to claim the runner-up spot.

“To be up there with [Madden and Sheppard] on the stage is truly amazing,” a grateful McCreadie said after the race. “These guys are some of the best in the business. Just to be a part of it, fighting hard for wins is fun — that’s why we all do it.”

The finish:

Feature (100 Laps) 1. OM-Chris Madden [5]; 2. 6m-Tim McCreadie [9]; 3. 1-Brandon Sheppard [6]; 4. 7-Ricky Weiss [7]; 5. 17M-Dale McDowell [15]; 6. 20-Jimmy Owens [16]; 7. 0-Scott Bloomquist [21]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb [4]; 9. 99jr-Frank Heckenast [3]; 10. 15b-Brian Birkhofer [19]; 11. 18-Chase Junghans [23]; 12. B1-Brent Larson [26]; 13. 97-Cade Dillard [2]; 14. 99B-Boom Briggs [25]; 15. 25z-Mason Zeigler [8]; 16. 1T-Tyler Erb [1]; 17. 40B-Kyle Bronson [20]; 18. 32-Bobby Pierce [24]; 19. 2-Brandon Overton [18]; 20. 29-Darrell Lanigan [14]; 21. 25-Shane Clanton [17]; 22. 3s-Brian Shirley [10]; 23. 1P-Earl Pearson [11]; 24. 18b-Shannon Babb [13]; 25. 28m-Jimmy Mars [22]; 26. 32s-Chris Simpson [12]; 27. 25F-Jason Feger [27] Hard Charger: 0-Scott Bloomquist[+14]

Everton have signed Juventus forward Moise Kean for an initial fee of €27.5 million on a five-year contract.

Kean, 19, broke into the Juventus first team last season and scored six goals in 13 league appearances, helping the club secure an eighth consecutive Serie A title.

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He also became the youngest player to score for Italy in a 2-0 win against Finland in a Euro 2020 qualifier.

"I am very proud and honoured to wear the Everton shirt. I will give my best to this team," Kean said.

"I was convinced to sign because Everton is a club looking to the future and so am I. I know about the size of the club. It has big ambition and I will work very hard to help us fulfil what we want to achieve.

"I am used to winning and I want to bring this winning attitude to the team. I hope I will be very good on the field and bring the fans joy."

The deal for Kean includes possible performance add-ons of €2.5m, which could take the fee to €30m.

He becomes Everton's fifth signing of the summer after midfielders Andre Gomes, Fabian Delph and Jean-Philippe Gbamin and goalkeeper Jonas Lossl.

"A striker was one of our priority signings this summer," Everton boss Marco Silva added.

"Moise is strong, fast, with many good qualities as a striker and he is just 19 years old. He has talent and he is ready to work, ready to improve our squad and gives us different solutions.

"He was at a big club, now he's come to another big club and is ready to fight for this challenge and to give everything to Everton."

Kean's exit could open the door for Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku to sign for Juventus as he seeks a move away from Old Trafford.

Sources have told ESPN FC that Juve have joined Inter Milan in the race to sign Lukaku this summer.

Ottis Gibson will not be South Africa's coach for the team's upcoming tour of India. Gibson's tenure as coach comes to an end in September and his services will not be retained. Cricket South Africa (CSA) has also announced sweeping changes to the way the national men's team will be run.

A new football style team manager will take overall charge of all aspects of the team, appointing coaching staff and captains. The coaches, medical staff, and the administrative staff will all report directly to the manager, who in turn will report to the director of cricket, working under the chief executive.

The Board of Directors of CSA approved the new structure at its meeting last week. The restructure includes the appointment of the position of director of cricket. Cricket South Africa's manager of cricket pathways, Corrie van Zyl, will assume the position of acting director of cricket until the position is filled. This effectively means that all cricketing decisions within the system will be managed by van Zyl until the position is filled on a full-time basis. In the meantime, CSA will advertise the positions of director of cricket, team manager and convenor of selectors.

"I would like to thank Ottis Gibson, other members of the team's current senior management, and our long-serving team manager, Dr Moosajee, for their national service to South African cricket," CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe said.

More to follow...