MILWAUKEE -- The Chicago Cubs say they are in disbelief as losses continue to mount on the road, many coming in late-inning, heartbreaking fashion.

The latest? Saturday's 5-3, 10-inning loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, which dropped them into a second-place tie with their National League Central rivals.

"I've never seen anything like this," reliever Steve Cishek said. "I have no answers. I really don't."

Cishek blew a 2-0 eighth-inning lead Saturday night. The Cubs retook the lead in the 10th inning on an Albert Almora Jr. home run. But hot-hitting Brewers Christian Yelich and Keston Hiura both went deep off Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel in the bottom of the 10th, sending Chicago to 19-31 away from Wrigley Field this season.

"It's disappointing," Kimbrel said. "We need to win games like that. It sucks."

The Cubs are 1-4 on their current road trip, and in each loss, they were leading or tied in the eighth inning or later.

It has led to some ugly moments:

• Their eight blown saves in July is tied for the most in baseball.

• On Saturday, they blew multiple save opportunities in the same game for the second time this season. Only the Mets have done that more.

• In 542 appearances before this season, Kimbrel had given up multiple home runs in the same outing just only once. In 12 games as a Cub, he has done it twice already.

The meltdown Saturday came after starter Jon Lester asked out after seven innings due to an illness that led to him being scratched from a start earlier in the week. He was pitching a gem against Milwaukee but said he was "gassed."

"Not too many times I go up to Joe [Maddon] or Tommy [Hottovy, pitching coach] ... but tonight was one of them," he said. "Tonight was very tough. I felt like we were in pretty good control of that game. That's how quick things can turn around here."

Maddon went to Cishek despite the right-hander throwing 26 pitches over two innings in Friday's 3-2 loss to the Brewers. He was greeted with a home run by Ben Gamel and a double by Lorenzo Cain on the next pitch.

Was he gassed, too? Maddon didn't think so.

"Cishek was ready to go today," the Cubs manager said.

The Cubs are 5-11 in one-run affairs away from Wrigley this season. There are many questions but no answers right now for the disparity between their stellar 36-18 mark at home and the results on the road.

"It's tough to be on this end," first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. "Seems like when it doesn't go your way it pours on you at different times of the season. This is one of those stretches. We just have to keep fighting.

"It's strange. It's something this era of Cubs baseball hasn't experienced. It should even out [on the road]. Not to where we want it. This year it hasn't, but we can start writing our own script tomorrow."

The Cubs and Brewers are a game behind the first-place Cardinals in the Central. The Cubs head to St. Louis after Sunday's series finale. With a 4-14 road record within the division, the Cubs are desperate for a victory.

"You see the division," Cishek said. "It's close all the way through. We just have to think of it as a rough stretch."

BOSTON -- At the end of arguably the worst week a New York Yankees pitching staff ever has gone through, pitching coach Larry Rothschild stood before reporters in the team's clubhouse Saturday evening and took ownership of the poor performances his group has posted in recent days.

"It's my responsibility to get it right," he said.

Rothschild's comments came moments after the Boston Red Sox blasted the Yankees for a third consecutive game at Fenway Park, this one by a 9-5 decision. New York's loss marked the sixth straight game in the rivalry in which Yankees pitching has allowed eight or more runs.

It also marked the seventh game this week in which New York allowed opposing teams to score seven or more runs. After the Colorado Rockies scored eight in a victory at Yankee Stadium last Sunday, the Minnesota Twins scored eight, 12 and seven runs in a series New York actually won. Since Thursday, the Red Sox have beaten the Yankees by plating 19, 10 and nine runs in respective games.

"It's been really tough," Rothschild said. "It's tough on [the pitchers], it's tough on the team."

Mostly, it has been the Yankees' starting pitching that has let them down in recent days. Since June 29, the rotation has posted a 7.09 ERA, the second-worst ERA in the majors across that span. Only the Detroit Tigers' 7.30 mark is worse.

Masahiro Tanaka's 12 earned runs allowed on Thursday -- the second most a Yankees starter ever has given up in a single game -- certainly helped inflate that figure. His individual ERA this season shot up from a 4.00 to a 4.79 following that horrid outing.

Prior to June 29, the day the Yankees beat Boston in a 17-13 offensive explosion in London, the New York starters' ERA was a more respectable 4.13.

Saturday's ineffective pitcher was lefty CC Sabathia, who actually cruised to a 1-2-3 first inning. It was the first time a Yankees starter had a clean opening frame since Tanaka did it last Saturday at home against Colorado.

"Had his slider, had the changeup, had his cutter going early," manager Aaron Boone said of Sabathia.

And then?

"They got some balls on the plate, and that hurt him a little bit," Boone added.

Sabathia gave up a 310-foot solo home run to Andrew Benintendi -- the second shortest non-inside-the-park homer in the majors since 2015 -- with two outs in the second inning, then let three more runs come across in the fourth. Another run chased him from the game in the fifth inning.

"Just didn't make enough pitches," Sabathia said. "That's a good lineup over there, and left too many pitches over the middle."

Sabathia, a noted ground-ball, weak-contact pitcher since developing his cut fastball in 2015, failed to induce a groundout on Saturday. Everything the Red Sox put in play against him was either home runs, fly-ball outs, line drives off the Green Monster or line-drive singles that cleared the infield.

He became the fourth big league starter this season to fail to get a ground-ball out in an outing of at least 4⅓ innings.

"With the stuff I have now, I have to be pitching to the corners," said the 39-year-old Sabathia, whose days as a power pitcher are long behind him. "A lot of balls left middle."

Asked what has been the common thread to the struggles his staff has had of late, Rothschild said there wasn't one specific aspect to point out.

"It's not one thing. It doesn't just happen with one thing; it's different things for different guys," Rothschild said. "But first-pitch strikes and things like that haven't been good. It's just a bunch of different stuff that has been reviewed and talked about and tried to be corrected.

"With each individual, you go with what you've seen and what needs to get corrected. We talk about it, and if it's something mechanical or pitchwise or gripwise or whatever, we do it in the bullpen and try to correct it there."

The day after Tanaka's 12-run outing, he and Rothschild were in the visitors bullpen at Fenway Park, working on his famed splitter. It didn't have the bite in his previous start it had at earlier points this season.

The Yankees also have spent time reviewing their pitchers to see if any are tipping pitches, Boone said earlier this weekend.

"It's a matter of just continuing to dive in with each guy, where we can make small little adjustments, and attacking the game plan in the best way possible," Boone said. "Making sure we're leaving no stone unturned in terms of making the guys make whatever little adjustments or subtle things they need to change -- and also not overreacting to a bad week of baseball."

He might be avoiding the overreaction, but Sabathia admitted that this stretch has been "frustrating."

"We've been the reason why we've been losing games," he said, speaking for the pitchers. "We want to turn that around."

New York gets its chance to do just that Sunday night, when right-hander Domingo German takes the mound. At 12-2 with a 4.03 ERA, he has been arguably the Yankees' best pitcher this season. German's most recent start didn't go well, though, as he gave up eight runs -- all earned -- in an outing at Minnesota on Monday in which he failed to get out of the fourth inning.

German has been sharp for the Yankees when pitching immediately after losses this season, though: He is 5-0 in such appearances. New York is hopeful for that version of the slender righty to show up in the series finale as it seeks to stave off a Red Sox sweep.

"Crazy things happen in this game," Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge said. "You have a couple weeks where every ball is falling, pitching is doing well, and then you have a couple weeks where the offense can't get it going or the pitching can't get it done. That's just part of it. The biggest thing is making sure we can learn from our mistakes, making sure we can improve on this next time we face these guys."

The Twins have traded for reliever Sergio Romo, whose playoff experience will deepen a bullpen in need of help as Minnesota tries to hold off the Cleveland Indians in the American League Central.

The Twins on Saturday night announced the deal that netted them Romo, Chris Vallimont, a right-handed starter in High-A, and a player to be named later from the Miami Marlins in exchange for Double-A first baseman Lewin Diaz.

The 36-year-old Romo has spent the season as the Marlins' closer, racking up 17 saves to go along with a 3.58 ERA in 37⅔ innings.

"They're in a really, really good position to make a playoff push. That's exciting. It's super fun baseball to play,'' Romo said after the Marlins' 9-2 loss to Arizona on Saturday night.

"But kind of mixed feelings based on the fact I get to leave a bunch of dudes I've grown to love. Cool dudes who allowed me to be myself."

Romo won three championships with the San Francisco Giants, closing out the final game of the 2012 World Series in memorable fashion when he froze Miguel Cabrera on a down-the-middle fastball. In 23⅓ career playoff innings, Romo has a 3.09 ERA.

He provides a strong right-handed complement to left-hander Taylor Rogers, who has emerged as the Twins' closer and one of the most valuable relievers in the league for first-year manager Rocco Baldelli.

"[Romo's] ultra-competitive, he wants the ball and he's scared of nothing,'' Baldelli said. "I think everyone knows him as a pitcher. He's been around a very long time. He's had a very successful career, he's pitched in some big, big spots, and once you get to know him you can see how he's had success in those spots.''

The Twins have shuffled relievers in and out during the past week, designating veteran Blake Parker for assignment and calling up rookies Cody Stashak and Sean Poppen. The Twins, who at 63-41 hold a one-game lead over the Indians, have cobbled together a middle-of-the-pack bullpen but needed to upgrade it as Wednesday's trade deadline approaches.

"[Romo's] got a lot of experience in the big leagues and he's going to help us a lot. His experience is going to help us,'' Twins pitcher Martin Perez said.

Minnesota is expected to pursue at least one more major league pitcher before the deadline.

The Marlins continue to explore selling some of their cadre of young starting pitching in hopes of improving their future as they barrel toward a 100-loss season. At 39-63, the Marlins are six games behind the next-worst team in the National League (Pittsburgh), and in addition to dealing a starter, they could trade second baseman Starlin Castro.

"We felt like we maximized an expiring asset and were able to add, in our opinion, one of the most productive, impactful power hitters in all of minor league baseball,'' Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said of the Romo deal.

The 22-year-old Diaz was hitting a combined .297 with 19 home runs and 61 RBIs in Class A and Double-A.

The 22-year-old Vallimont was a combined 6-7 with a 3.16 ERA for two Class A teams this season.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Coverage of the MK5000 PB Special at Milton Keynes, incorporating the England Athletics 5000m Championships

Jessica Judd and Ben Bradley won the elite races at the MK5000 PB Special at Milton Keynes to claim the English titles.

In good conditions of light rain and relatively cool weather after the midweek heatwave with not too much wind, athletes lived up to the PB title of the event with 11 of the 12 race winners setting PBs.

The one exception was Judd but she was probably the most impressive winner of the night.

With a superb last kilo around 2:50 world university champion Jessica Judd wins England 5000m Champs from Louise Small and Nicole Taylor @mk5000pbspecial pic.twitter.com/J42Mvw1wHn

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) July 27, 2019

Jennifer Walsh set a 15:30 pace but the other runners ignored it and she ran the first five laps alone as the pack ran at 15:50 pace.

The pace continued through 3km in 9:30 but the fourth kilometre slowed as they went through in 12:48.

Louise Small made the first move and took Judd away but the World University Games champion took off on the penultimate lap and covering the last kilometre in 2:49, she won in 15:37.38.

READ MORE: Jess Judd wins World University Games gold

Small took the silver medal in 15:48.39, holding off a late kick by Nicole Taylor who ran a PB 15:49.25.

Bradley won the men’s title but for most of the race he was well off the pace.

James West was the pacemaker and he led through 3km in 8:12 and only Jack Gray was able to go with the 13:40 pace. After West dropped out at two miles, Gray began to slow and his nearest pursuers Mohamed Mohamed and 10,000m champion Adam Hickey gradually closed.

In an exciting finish Ben Bradley wins English title in PB 13:56 from Mohamed Mohamed with John Sanderson putting a dive in for third after Jack Gray had led most of the race @mk5000pbspecial pic.twitter.com/0BVsNaxCLk

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) July 27, 2019

However, it was Aldershot’s Bradley who came from well back in the chasing pack who proved the strongest in the final kilometre and on the last lap and he won in a PB 13:57.33 for the race victory of his life, though he was treading water in the finishing straight, having kicked from some way back.

Mohamed of Hillingdon rallied strongly to take the England silver in 13:57.84 with John Sanderson throwing himself across the line to take bronze in a PB 13:58.73, three hundredths of a second ahead of Hickey. Gray finished sixth.

READ MORE: Sam Stabler’s double with a difference

In an earlier race Clare Elms improved her British W55 record to 17:42.99.

Ahead of her, Caroline Hoyte was eight seconds outside the British W45 record with 17:09.08.

Overall the event was a huge success with multiple PBs, enthusiastic crowds lining the track and the beer and food stalls doing a roaring trade – so much so that lager and some of the food stalls ran out well before the championship races that climaxed the meeting.

Elsewhere, there was further 5000m track action taking place at Nottingham’s Harvey Hadden Stadium and there the winners of the 5000m Track Challenge elite races were Mohamud Aadan in 13:56.37 and Naomi Taschimowitz in 16:06.06.

Results from the final 4 races of the day. Full list of results are now available at https://t.co/SLAJvZEisN …. with 71% of runners setting a new PERSONAL BEST! pic.twitter.com/KrdyWaCu69

— The 5000m Track Challenge (@Track_Challenge) July 28, 2019

A list of 45 candidates seek election to the IAAF Council in various roles

Seb Coe is set to be re-elected unopposed as the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) but there will be strong competition for a number of other positions on the IAAF Council.

The IAAF has announced a list of 45 candidates from across the globe who have put themselves forward for election to the international federation’s governing board.

The candidates seek election into 18 positions on the Council at the IAAF Congress on September 25, two days ahead of the World Championships in Doha.

READ MORE: Seb Coe elected as IAAF president

Those 18 positions include one president, four vice-president and 13 individual member roles.

Of those four vice-presidents, at least one must be female.

In addition to the 18 positions there will be six area presidents, who have already been elected, and two members of the athletes’ commission (one female and one male) who will be elected by the commission in November, making a total of 26 IAAF Council members.

The IAAF advised that a focus on increasing the gender balance on the Council, with the areas conducting gender leadership seminars, has seen a 10% increase in female candidates.

There are three women, including 1992 Olympic 400m bronze medallist Ximena Restrepo of Colombia, among the 11 candidates seeking election as vice-presidents.

Ukraine’s 1988 Olympic pole vault gold medallist Sergey Bubka also hopes to be re-elected as a vice-president. He was unsuccessful in his bid to become president when he stood against Coe four years ago.

“We have a strong list of candidates from 44 countries applying for IAAF Council positions which demonstrates the global strength of our sport,” said Coe.

“I am particularly pleased that almost 40% of the individual candidates are female, something we have seen reflected across our area elections, with four of our areas electing a female vice-president.”

The full list of IAAF Council candidates can be downloaded here.

Pole vaulter moves to No.2 on the outdoor all-time list, while DeAnna Price sets American hammer record

A superb performance by Sam Kendricks at the USA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, saw him clear an American pole vault record of 6.06m to move to second on the world outdoor all-time list.

It puts him No.3 on the global all-time rankings combining both indoor and outdoor performances, behind Renaud Lavillenie (6.16m) and Sergey Bubka (6.15m), with only Bubka with 6.14m having cleared higher than Kendricks outdoors.

Reigning world champion Kendricks, who already had his place for the IAAF World Championships in Doha secured, claimed his sixth consecutive US title after a perfect record which saw him clear heights from 5.46m through to 5.91m on his first attempts.

He had the competition won with his 5.81m clearance but raised the bar to the record height and managed it on his second attempt before his fellow vaulters joined him in celebration.

A new American Record calls for a dog pile on @samkendricks ? 6.06m!! ? pic.twitter.com/MLohsI7nIM

— Sandi Morris, OLY?? (@sandicheekspv) July 27, 2019

Cole Walsh was second and KC Lightfoot third as they both cleared 5.76m. Zach Bradford in fourth (5.71m) also made the team for Doha.

Another American record was broken by DeAnna Price as she threw 78.24m to improve on her previous hammer best of 78.12m.

The top four athletes all threw beyond 75m, with Gwen Berry second after a 76.46m best, Brooke Andersen third with 75.30m and Maggie Ewen fourth with a PB of 75.04m.

Fred Kerley claimed the men’s 400m win as he clocked a PB of 43.64 to move to No.7 on the world all-time list.

Michael Norman, who sits fifth on that all-time list with his PB of 43.45, finished second in 43.79, while Nathan Strother was third in 44.29.

Vernon Norwood was fourth in a PB of 44.40, while Paralympic medallist and double amputee Blake Leeper clocked 44.48 in fifth.

READ MORE: Christian Coleman and Teahna Daniels win 100m at US Champs

The women’s 400m final saw Shakima Wimbley retain her title in 50.21 as Allyson Felix, just eight months after having her first child, finished sixth in 51.94 to put her in the running for a 4x400m relay place at the World Championships in Doha, which would be her 13th global championships.

The 100m hurdles title was won by world record-holder Keni Harrison as she clocked 12.44 ( -1.2m/sec) ahead of Nia Ali (12.55) and Brianna McNeal (12.61), while Rai Benjamin clocked 47.23 to win the men’s 400m hurdles.

Brittney Reese won her eighth US long jump title with a leap of 7.00m and Vashti Cunningham claimed the high jump title with a 1.96m clearance.

A total of five athletes broke 4:04 in the 1500m, led by Shelby Houlihan in 4:03.18 as Jenny Simpson ran 4:03.41 for the runner-up spot to continue her feat of having made every world or Olympic team since 2007.

Hillary Bor clocked 8:18.05 to win the steeplechase, while Michael Shuey threw a PB of 82.85m to take the javelin title, winning by a single centimetre.

Coverage of day one and day two action can be found here, while results are here.

American teenage sensation Coco Gauff returned to court for the first time since her memorable Wimbledon run with a win in Washington Open qualifying.

The 15-year-old, who beat Venus Williams on her way to the last 16 at the All England Club, won 6-4 6-2 against fellow American Maegan Manasse.

Gauff will next play either eighth seed Hiroko Kuwata of Japan or fellow American Maria Sanchez.

Another win will see Gauff reach the third main draw of her career.

Although now ranked 143rd in the world after her Wimbledon exploits, she was unsure whether she would even get into Washington qualifying because she had to use her pre-Wimbledon ranking of 313th to gain entry.

Gauff was the youngest woman to reach the second week of Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati in 1991.

LEXINGTON, Ohio – Will Power kicked his recent bad luck to the curb by winning the pole for the NTT IndyCar Series Honda Indy 200 on Saturday afternoon at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Power’s fast time of 1:05.1569 for a speed of 124.757 mph was the 57th NTT IndyCar Series pole in Power’s career.

When told that he was first, Power let out a wicked scream that could be heard over his radio communication.

“I was sticking it to the year,” Power said. “There you go. Take that one off me.

“I literally nailed every sector. Yeah, wasn’t a sector… I’d be surprised if there was a sector that I wasn’t P1 in. If there is, I’d be really disappointed.

“After the year we’ve had, even the last couple of weeks we’ve had, it’s been bloody terrible. Couple mistakes by me. Very determined to get pole here. I’m equally so to win the race.

“I’m just happy. I think it beats you down a bit when you have constant bad runs, things just don’t flow your way. Mistakes by myself, that sort of thing, so…

“There’s always a turning point. That’s the good news. When you have a bad race, the good news is there’s a good chance the next one will be good. If that’s no good, the next one will be good. If 10 of them, like mine, haven’t been good, the next one is definitely going to be good.”

Power’s performance denied Alexander Rossi a perfect day. Earlier on Saturday, Andretti Autosport announced Rossi had signed a contract extension to stay with the team for at least the next three years. The team also extended its contract with Honda for the next four years.

Rossi had just completed two increasingly fast laps with his fast time of 1:05.5317 (124.044 mph), putting him on the pole as the checkered flag waved.

Power was still on the track, however, and when he was the last car to turn in a timed lap, it was the fastest.

“I think ultimately we came up short, through Will just got pretty clever there, did two laps on a set of tires, but didn’t push on the first lap,” Rossi said. “He had I think a bit longer tire life. Good job to them.

“I think our car is really good. I think it’s probably the strongest car on the primary tire, which is obviously good for tomorrow. We’ll have to go out and try and get the lead early and see what we can do from there.”

Team Penske’s other two drivers were third and fourth with Josef Newgarden’s 1:05.7885 (123.560 mph) and Simon Pagenaud’s 1:05.7885 (123.358 mph), respectively.

Sebastien Bourdais was fifth at 1:06.2040 (122.784 mph) with rookie Felix Rosenqvist’s Honda rounding out the Fast Six at 1:06.4914 (122.253 mph).

“I thought we definitely would have it based at that point based on what guys did on their first run,” Rossi said of his fast time. “The car was great. We were on for a similar lap. I had a pretty big slide in turn four and five. I think we just ran out of tire. We’ll have to look at that.

“You’re always disappointed if you miss it by one or two hundredths because there’s a lot of things you can look back on the lap, things you could have done differently. Once there’s a gap of that size, it’s okay.”

Power will be looking for his first victory of the season when the field takes the green flag on Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

“It’s just typical of me,” Power said. “I just want to win. I just think you can’t think about winning, honestly. That may have been my mistake the last few races. You get a bit desperate to get a win.

“You just got to take what it gives you simply. You just can’t make those little mistakes at the end of races like I have the last two weeks.”

CLEVELAND -- Thanks to Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, "I woke up feeling dangerous" has become the unofficial maxim for the city of Cleveland.

Now, the mantra is on a downtown mural.

Artist Jason Tetlak, who holds the Guinness record for the largest 3D mural, painted Mayfield's catchphrase on a metal shipping container near FirstEnergy Stadium and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Mayfield's name, revealed through a red filter, is hidden within the mural itself.

Tetlak, a lifelong Browns fan, said he got Mayfield's permission for the art piece before starting on it this weekend. After a big game as a rookie last season, Mayfield famously said, "when I woke up this morning, I was feeling pretty dangerous."

The phrase has since appeared on T-shirts and signs throughout Northeast Ohio. Now it's a mural, too.

"This energy is building here," said Tetlak, who now lives in Jacksonville, Florida, but attends Browns watch parties. "We're all kind of waking up feeling dangerous this season."