College Football
HOUSTON -- The family of a Rice football player who died during practice two years ago filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday against the school, former coach Todd Graham, the NCAA and others.
Dale Lloyd II died a day after he collapsed during a conditioning workout Sept. 24, 2006. The 19-year-old freshman's death was linked to sickle-cell trait and created the basis for the lawsuit filed by Houston attorney Mark Lanier in state district court in Harris County.
"Skin color and flagrant ignorance tragically killed" Lloyd, said the lawsuit, which was first reported by Houston television station KRIV. "A simple blood test could have saved Dale. Instead, Dale's African-American heritage was tossed aside and a family is forever without a son."
Graham, the coach at Rice when Lloyd died, left for Tulsa after one season. He declined to comment Tuesday through Tulsa athletic department spokesman Don Tomkalski. A picture of Lloyd has hung in Graham's office since he returned to coach at Tulsa last year.
MLB
Red Sox 5, Indians: BOSTON -- Defending World Series champion Boston clinched a playoff berth Tuesday night with a 5-4 victory over Cleveland.
Tim Wakefield outpitched Cliff Lee (22-3), and midseason acquisition Jason Bay hit the go-ahead single as Boston scored three times in the fifth to rally from a two-run deficit.
With the win, the Red Sox moved 6 1/2 games ahead of New York in the wild-card race with five games left. Boston still has a chance to catch Tampa Bay in the AL East.
Cleveland loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth before Jonathan Papelbon came on to get four outs and record his 41st save.
Wakefield (10-11) allowed four runs, six hits and a walk in six innings, striking out six. It's his 10th season in Boston with 10 or more wins, tying Roger Clemens for the most in franchise history.
Lee had won 11 straight decisions in 13 starts since picking up his second loss on July 6.
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Rays 5, Orioles 2, Game 1; Rays 7, Orioles 5, Game 2: BALTIMORE -- Tampa Bay reduced its magic number to win the AL East to two with a franchise first: a doubleheader sweep.
After James Shields pitched seven effective innings in the opener, the Rays rallied to win the nightcap for the sweep, that combined with Boston's victory over Cleveland, left them three games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East in pursuit of its first division title.
In the second game, Tampa Bay trailed 5-1 before Evan Longoria homered and pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro singled in two runs off Jamie Walker (1-3) in a six-run eighth. The Rays had five hits through the first seven innings and six in the eighth.
Jeff Neimann (1-2) pitched 2 1-3 innings and J.P. Howell got five outs for his third save.
The victory enabled the Rays (95-62) to break the record held by the 1991 Atlanta Braves for most wins by a team that owned the worst record in the majors one year earlier.
Baltimore has lost eight straight and 27 of 33. The Orioles have also dropped 11 straight to Tampa Bay and are 3-14 overall against the Rays.
It was the 14th doubleheader in Tampa Bay history; the Rays had split seven and been swept six times.
In the first game, Shields (14-8) tied the club record for wins, set in 1998 by Rolando Arrojo. He gave up eight hits, struck out eight and walked one.
Garrett Olson (9-10) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings but lost his third straight start.
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Twins 9, White Sox 3: MINNEAPOLIS -- Jason Kubel went 3-for-4 with two homers, including going back-to-back with Delmon Young in the seventh to put the game out of reach, and Minnesota moved within 1 1/2 games of Chicago in the AL Central.
Scott Baker (10-4) gave up one run and five hits in seven innings, easily outshining Javier Vazquez (12-15), who last four inning and gave up five runs and seven hits, including a two-run homer and a triple to Kubel.
The Twins practically need a sweep of the four-game series to position themselves for a fifth division title in seven years.
Chicago's Ken Griffey Jr. passed Sammy Sosa for sole possession of fifth place on the career list with his 610th home run, a two-run shot off Matt Guerrier in the ninth.
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Mets 6, Cubs 2: NEW YORK -- Johan Santana sparked New York with an unusual broken-bat infield single and struck out 10 in eight innings, leading the Mets to a 6-2 victory over Chicago on Tuesday night.
Jose Reyes had a three-run triple for his 200th hit of the season and David Wright drove in two runs for the Mets, who ended a three-game skid reminiscent of last season's epic collapse.
New York, which entered with a one-game lead over Milwaukee in the wild-card race, moved within 1 1/2 games of NL East-leading Philadelphia, which lost 3-2 to Atlanta. The Phillies won the division title last year after the Mets blew a seven-game lead with 17 to play.
Santana (15-7) allowed two runs and seven hits to improve to 8-0 with a 2.26 ERA in his last 16 starts.
Reed Johnson and Kosuke Fukudome both had two hits for Chicago, which secured home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs with its 9-5 victory over New York on Monday night.
With one out in the fifth, Sean Marshall hit Nick Evans and Santana followed with a broken-bat grounder up the middle. Marshall eluded a piece of Santana's bat but the ball got past him and kicked off the broken wood, bouncing off the glove of shortstop Ronny Cedeno.
After an out and a walk, Wright lined a tying two-run single to left. New York added four runs in the sixth off reliever Chad Gaudin (4-2).
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Braves 3, Phillies 2: PHILADELPHIA -- Casey Kotchman homered and Mike Hampton won for the first time in a month for Atlanta.
Philadelphia leads New York by 1 1/2 games in the NL East. Its magic number for clinching the division remained at four.
The Phillies twice had serious shots at big innings against the oft-injured Hampton (3-3). They left the bases loaded in the third and ran themselves out of a rally in the sixth to lose for only the second time in 12 games.
Hampton allowed two runs in six innings to win for the first time since Aug. 16, against San Francisco. Kelly Johnson extended his career-best hitting streak to 21 games.
Mike Gonzalez worked the ninth for his 14th save.
Cole Hamels (14-10) committed a throwing error that led to an unearned run in the third.
NFL
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Saddled with a 12-game losing streak, the rebuilding Kansas City Chiefs may decide they need a win more than a long look at a young quarterback.
Without coming right out and saying so, coach Herm Edwards strongly hinted Tuesday that veteran Damon Huard would probably get the nod on Sunday against Denver and that second-year man Tyler Thigpen would return to the bench after one start.
"I'll decide on that tomorrow. Sleep on it a little bit more," Edwards said. "I'm leaning that way. I've got to address the team, exactly what we're going to do."
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