Sussex 158 for 1 (Evans 65*, Salt 63*) beat Kent 154 for 8 (Bell-Drummond 50, Mills 3-23) by nine wickets

Vitality Blast leaders Kent Spitfires lost their maximum record when they were outplayed by Sussex Sharks at Hove. The Sharks, who themselves are unbeaten in the competition, moved to second place in the South Group table with this emphatic victory by nine wickets with four overs remaining.

Chasing 155, Sussex got off to a fine start when Luke Wright and Phil Salt powerd 38 runs off the first four overs before Wright was bowled by Adam Milne with the last ball of the fifth over for 24 off 18 balls.

Sussex were looking strong at 81 for 1 at the halfway stage, with Salt leading the charge with an unbeaten 40. But in the final stages even Salt's destructive batting was overtaken by Laurie Evans, who hit Fred Klaasen for 16 in three deliveries. Evans finished with 65 not out from 35 deliveries, with six fours and three sixes, while Salt's unbeaten 63 from 44 ball included six fours and two sixes.

Jofra Archer, keen to prove his fitness for the second Ashes Test against Australia at Lord's, returned for the Sharks and so did Chris Jordan, replacing Reece Topley, who was not 100% fit.

Archer, who will also play for Sussex 2nd XI in a three-day match against Gloucestershire at Blackstone, starting on Tuesday, went for 20 in his first two overs. But Jordan broke through for the Sharks in the third over when his offcutter hit the top of the dangerous Zak Crawley's off stump.

Daniel Bell-Drummond responded by hitting Jordan for successive sixes over square-leg as Kent raced to 52 after five overs before some tight bowling by Tymal Mills, who dismissed Ollie Robinson and Heino Kuhn in successive overs, and Rashid Khan, who bowled Bell-Drummond with a googly for 50, gave the Sharks some control in the middle overs.

When Archer returned to bowl the 17th over, with the Spitfires 130 for 5, he conceded just three runs. And in the next over Mills dismissed the dangerous Mohammad Nabi for a 29-ball 43. In his final over, Archer conceded just five runs and had Milne caught in the deep by Phil Salt to finish with figures of 1 for 28 from his four overs.

Birmingham is not a classically beautiful city. Unlike Paris, for example, it was bombed heavily in the war. And afterwards it was rebuilt hurriedly and cheaply to ensure its factories continued to supply the country that had come to rely on it.

For it was here that the Spitfire was built. Here where the munitions were made that helped defeat the Nazi empire. Here where, the night after a bombing raid that lasted 13 hours in 1940, the synagogue in the centre of the city opened its doors and offered its help to the community. Here where the computer, the pen, the whistle and the internet have their roots. Here where the first world's oldest cricket league was established and here where the first plastics - cellulose-based, so biodegradable - were invented. Elgar and Shakespeare lived locally. Unions were born in the region and the city became a model for the multicultural community.

Now, if you're the sort who thinks of beauty in terms of sunsets and white teeth, in terms of Instagram 'influencers' and Love Island contestants, this may not mean much. But maybe, in an unconventional way, there is beauty aplenty in Birmingham, its history, its invention and its people.

So maybe it was fitting that this was the scene for Rory Burns' maiden Test century. He is not, by any means, a classically beautiful batsman. He plays, unlike Joe Denly, few of those elegant strokes that have a crowd purring their approval. And in this innings he had a control percentage of just 75 per cent; remarkably low for a Test centurion. 34 times he played and missed. Only Joe Root, of England players, has a century - the one against Australia at Cardiff in 2015 - with a higher false shot percentage in the CricViz database.

But this was an innings, in its way, all the more impressive for those very reasons. While other England openers of recent times may have become flustered by the regularity of ball beating bat, Burns has the priceless ability to put such moments behind him and concentrate on the next delivery. And while many of the words used to describe have an air of faint compliment about them - ungainly, limited, resilient and phlegmatic - they could also have been used to describe Alastair Cook. And his career worked out OK, didn't it?

Burns came into this match under considerable pressure. It wasn't just that he hadn't made 30 in his previous six Tests innings, it was that his dismissals at Lord's - particularly his second-innings dismissal, where he reached to defend a wide delivery and edged behind - did not befit an opening batsmen. Many prominent pundits recommended dropping him and there was concern about him from the England management.

Burns knew all this. But he didn't fret about it any more than he wasted energy worrying about those balls beating his bat. Instead, he avoided the newspapers - "I stuck my head in the sand," as he put it - cleared his mind and went for several sessions with the man who had coached him since he was six years old. Neil Stewart is not as well-known as his brother Alec or his dad Micky, but several generations of Surrey batsmen swear by him. And somewhere in those sessions, he reminded Burns of the qualities that have made him one of the top run-scores in Division One of the County Championship in each of the last three seasons.

So Burns was more compact here. And while he was beaten really quite often, he ensured he played the line of the ball and did not follow it. And even when it seemed he was stuck on 99 - he spent 10 balls there; only two England batsmen have spent longer on the score this century - he retained his composure and waited for the ball that was in one of his scoring areas. One he could turn, nudge, nurdle or drop into a gap. By stumps he had recorded the fifth century by an England opener in their last 100 Test innings and the first in the first innings of a home Ashes since Graham Gooch in 1993.

He had some fortune. He was lucky to survive a leg-before appeal off Nathan Lyon on 21 - had Australia reviewed, he would have been out - and three or four times, he flashed outside off stump. But he wasn't dropped, he didn't tire and he will resume, in the morning, for his seventh session in succession on the field.

"I just tried to stay true to what has got me here," Burns said. "I just tried to stay level. I wasn't tired; I've done that [bat all day] before in county cricket. But it's quite a slow, attritional wicket and, in a way, that probably suits how I go about my business. It was nice to just keep going on the treadmill and be as stubborn as I could be."

There may be a lesson here. Burns has, in many ways, developed the tough way: he wasn't drafted straight onto the Surrey staff and he didn't play lots of England age-group cricket. Instead he went to university - he was a product of the MCCU system at Cardiff - played club cricket overseas and found his own way to do things over years in county cricket. A method that is built on resilience and mental strength as much as it is range of stroke and natural ability. Maturing through those institutions may have been key.

He has a series of unusual trigger movements which he has worked out for himself. It includes an odd peer towards the leg side, as if the midwicket fielder has just said something appalling about his parentage, as the bowler runs in, a flourish of the hands as he completes his backlift and a stance which suggests he is mooning the square-leg umpire. But there is logic in there: the jerk towards the leg side is to ensure his head is level and his dominant eye is trained on the ball; the flourish of the hands is to ensure his wrists are relaxed and do not push at the ball and the stance is to ensure he is balanced. "You wouldn't coach kids to do it that way," he said with a smile afterward. "But sometimes you have to scrap."

Now compare that to James Vince. Who looks pleasing. Who oozes class. Who graduated, at every stage, through England systems and was seen as a future star from his teenage years. But on the evidence of what we've seen so far, who looks to have the game - the mentality as much as the technique - to succeed in Test cricket? Sometimes aesthetics can fool us into making the wrong judgments about players.

Cricket is an odd game for spectators. Many of those making their way to the ground in the morning would have been excited for the day ahead yet delighted to reach lunch and then tea having experienced some uneventful cricket. There was none of the drama of the Ireland Test at Lord's. Instead it was wonderfully, reassuringly incident free. The run-rate - 2.96 over the course of the innings so far - is England's sixth lowest in any Test innings since April 2016. And yet it was, from an England perspective, arguably as encouraging a day with the bat as they have enjoyed this year.

For this contribution from Burns - and Root, to be fair, who set a fine example by taking 70 balls to hit his first boundary - was exactly what England have required for years.

They have been down the route of taking the attack to bowlers. They have experimented with aggressive openers and attempting to hit bowlers off their length. It took them nowhere. Instead they have taken the more old-fashioned route here: they've waited they've accumulated and they've started to ground down an attack that already looks a bowler short. Saturday presents a great opportunity to build a match-defining position.

Burns has given them the platform. And, from an England perspective, what a beautiful platform it is.

The relationship between the UFC and its former featherweight champion Cris 'Cyborg' Justino appears to be done.

In an interview released on the company's YouTube channel on Friday, UFC president Dana White declared he is "out of the Cyborg business" and will waive any contractual matching rights he owns on one of the biggest stars in female mixed martial arts.

"I'm going to release her from her contract and I will not match any offers [she receives]," White said. "She is free and clear to go to Bellator [MMA] or any of these other promotions and fight these easy fights she wants. Done. Done deal. I will literally, today, have my lawyer draft a letter to [Justino's team saying] that she is free and clear."

White's statement effectively eliminates any hope of a rematch between Justino (21-2) and two-weight champion Amanda Nunes (18-4). Nunes claimed Justino's 145-pound title in December, in a shocking 51-second knockout victory. White has repeatedly claimed Justino doesn't want the rematch, which Justino has accused him of lying about.

Justino, 34, fought out her UFC contract less than one week ago, at UFC 240 in Edmonton. She defeated Felicia Spencer via unanimous decision.

In an appearance on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show earlier this week, Justino demanded White apologize publicly for "bullying" her in the past and damaging her brand. Even before White's comments on Friday, Justino said she intended to test free agency and field offers from other promotions. Apparently, she is now legally free to do so.

Justino's team did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The relationship between the UFC and Justino began in 2013, when the UFC signed her to a promotional deal that allowed her to fight in the all-female promotion Invicta FC. Justino made five appearances in Invicta, before transitioning to the UFC in 2016.

It's been a rocky pairing, to say the least. Justino has repeatedly pointed to one moment in 2014, when White said she looked like "[male fighter] Wanderlei Silva in a dress and heels." Just this week, Justino re-posted video of that interview on her social media.

"I'm suffering bullying," Justino said this week. "Where is the code that you don't do this? He is the boss. How does the boss make fun of your athlete? It's a girl, say she has a penis, she's a guy. You have to have rules. This is not right. I have a daughter, I have a mom, I have a dad. My daughter had a problem in school already because of this."

White disputed Justino's perspective on the matter in the interview posted on Friday, and said his comment from 2014 was connected to a drug test Justino failed in 2011 and has been widely taken out of context.

"[Former UFC champion] Ronda [Rousey] said, 'That woman has taken so many drugs, she's not a woman anymore. She's an it,'" White said. "Once she said that, I was doing a media scrum and was asked about Ronda's comments.

"I said to the media, 'Did you see her at the MMA awards? Did you not think she was on steroids?' ... I was saying she looked like Wanderlei Silva in a dress, what I meant was she had the same physique as Wanderlei Silva. And one month later, Wanderlei Silva evades a drug test and gets a three-year suspension from the sport."

Originally from Curitiba, Brazil, now fighting out of Southern California, Justino is tied with Valentina Shevchenko as the No. 2 pound-for-pound female fighter in the sport, according to ESPN. In addition to MMA, she has expressed interest in accepting a professional boxing match.

Despite Justino's apparent departure from the company, White said the UFC will continue to promote the 145-pound female weight class.

New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president David Griffin clarified comments he made about the challenges of building a title contender around LeBron James during their three seasons in Cleveland together, saying Friday that he maintains a "positive relationship" with James.

In a Sports Illustrated story published Thursday, the former Cleveland general manager called his experience with those James-led Cavaliers teams "miserable" and questioned James' desire to win.

On ESPN's The Jump on Friday, Griffin said he did a poor job of framing a conversation about dealing with the "noise" surrounding those teams.

"The fact that there was so much scrutiny in everything that we did, when I was speaking about being uncomfortable and being miserable, it was my inability to deal with that media scrutiny," Griffin said. "It wasn't the man himself. It was everything that came with a team led by LeBron James. It had nothing to do with being miserable with LeBron. We had and have a very positive relationship."

Griffin also addressed his comment that James wasn't "the same animal anymore" after winning a championship with the Cavaliers in 2016. Griffin said Friday that he had failed to instill a sense of urgency in the team following the championship and that his fear over James' declining desire to win proved "unfounded."

"My belief at that time was there is no way anyone can be born in Akron, Ohio, deliver the first championship in 52 years to Cleveland, Ohio, and be the same human being," Griffin said. "It's not possible -- you're a person, you're a human being -- and my fear at that time was that [James] wouldn't have that same animal-like desire to win. And what we've seen is he's gone to multiple Finals since, so it was an unfounded fear."

Griffin and a person close to James spoke to each other after the SI story was published, sources told ESPN on Thursday, and Griffin expressed that some context was missing behind his comments. James' camp encouraged Griffin to clear up his stance on the record, sources said.

Griffin said Friday that the SI story was supposed to be about the Pelicans and the lessons he learned while being in charge of the Cavaliers, saying his quotes about his experience with James in Cleveland in the story were "sensationalized" and "taken out of context."

Information from ESPN's Dave McMenamin was used in this report.

A marquee matchup of two new dynamic duos created this offseason will headline the NBA's Christmas slate this year.

The LA Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers will play at Staples Center on Dec. 25, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The meeting will pit LeBron James and new teammate Anthony Davis against reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

James will likely play in his 14th Christmas game this year and break a tie with Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade, Earl Monroe and Dolph Schayes for the second-most all time, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Only Kobe Bryant (16) has played more. James has scored 338 points on Christmas, which ranks third behind Bryant (395) and Oscar Robertson (377).

Other games set for Christmas are the New Orleans Pelicans at the Denver Nuggets and the Boston Celtics at the Toronto Raptors, sources told Wojnarowski.

The NBA champion Raptors will play on Christmas for the first time since 2001.

Sources told ESPN's Tim MacMahon that the Houston Rockets will play at the Golden State Warriors in their new Chase Arena opening this season.

Rounding out the typical five-game Christmas slate will be the Milwaukee Bucks and reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo playing at the Philadelphia 76ers, league sources told ESPN's Malika Andrews.

CHICAGO -- Cubs veteran Ben Zobrist is finally returning to baseball after leaving the team for personal reasons in May.

Zobrist, 38, will join Class A South Bend on Friday, beginning a monthlong rehab process before returning to the big league team.

"The plan is for him to play rehab games on and off for the month of August," Cubs president Theo Epstein said Friday morning. "I don't think he'll play straight through. He's going to take some time off in between these stints to continue to get his body in shape and continue to practice. He's not going to come back as an everyday player, anyway, so it makes sense to get him ready this way."

Shortly after he left the team, and was placed on the restricted list, Zobrist and his wife filed for divorce. Epstein says he's been keeping in shape while attending to his family over the past several months.

"He's not going to come back and embarrass himself," Epstein said. "If he can't get to the point where he feels like he can play this game at a high level, we'll go in a different direction. But we're full speed ahead, trusting the person."

Zobrist has been a key member of the Cubs' four consecutive playoff seasons, hitting .300 for the first time in his career in 2018. He was the 2016 World Series MVP after signing a 4-year, $56 million deal with the team.

The Cubs have missed his presence both in the clubhouse and at the top of the batting order, where their leadoff hitters rank last in on-base percentage in the National League.

"I don't know," Epstein said when asked how much he expected from Zobrist. "All I keep falling back on is that I trust the person. He would not be attempting to come back if he didn't think he could play at a high level."

At some point, Zobrist will make his way to Triple-A Iowa to complete his rehab. For now, however, he's taking things a few days at a time.

"It's what's best for him and his personal situation combined with the baseball situation," Epstein said.

Just a few weeks after lighting up the radar gun at a Coors Field speed pitch cage during a Colorado Rockies game, 23-year-old Nathan Patterson is getting his shot to play for a major league team.

The Oakland Athletics, who had been keeping track of the righty for some time, recently signed Patterson to a minor league contract.

Patterson went viral after video of him throwing well into the 90s at the cage in Coors Field hit social media. Last summer, he hit 96 mph under the same circumstances at a Triple-A Nashville Sounds game.

View this post on Instagram

"How can you not be romantic about baseball" -Billy Beane Words cannot describe this feeling and I cannot thank everyone enough who has been part of this journey so far! My family has given me nothing but constant love and support throughout the last 9 months as I pursue a dream of mine that I've had since I was a little kid. It's been a roller coaster to get here with many challenges and overcoming adversity. I'm grateful for all the trainers, coaches, friends, @rsrbaseball and everyone else who has supported me thus far! And for those who tell you that you can't achieve your dreams, use that as fuel to work even harder. Because those people are the ones that settle. I'm grateful for the @athletics organization for giving me this opportunity! This story is not over. It is not the beginning. I am writing the next chapters and excited for this journey! Time to focus even more, work even harder, and it all starts with your mindset. Go after your dreams and make them a reality!

A post shared by Nathan Patterson (@njpatterson12) on Aug 1, 2019 at 2:10pm PDT

The Athletics began talking with Patterson in January. He was training at that point and, after healing from a wrist injury, played in a men's league to stay on top of his game.

When he tried his hand in the speed pitch cage in Denver and the result circulated on social media, the A's took notice again.

"A few days later the A's gave me a call," Patterson said, according to MLB.com.

Patterson has been assigned to Oakland's rookie team in the Arizona League.

"While we understand that this is a great story, we want to let Nathan settle in to the organization and focus on his development as a baseball player," a team spokesman said.

CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Indians pitcher Danny Salazar returned to the injured list with a strained right groin, one day after appearing in his first game in two years.

Salazar, troubled by injuries to his right arm the last two seasons, pitched Thursday for the first time since the 2017 American League Division Series. He allowed two runs in four innings against Houston on Thursday. Afterward, he said his groin bothered him during the game.

Salazar made the All-Star team in 2016, but has been dealing with injuries since. He didn't pitch last season and had shoulder surgery last July.

Pitcher Tyler Olson has been placed on the 10-day IL because of a non-baseball medical condition. Hunter Wood and Phil Maton were recalled from Triple-A Columbus.

The Los Angeles Angels designated catcher Jonathan Lucroy for assignment, the team announced Friday.

The move comes as catcher Max Stassi reported to the team after being acquired from the Houston Astros at the trade deadline Wednesday.

A two-time All-Star, Lucroy was hitting .242 with seven homers and 30 RBIs in 74 games this season. He joined the Angels in December after spending the 2018 season with the Oakland Athletics.

Lucroy had been reinstated from the injured list Wednesday after being injured in a home plate collision with Astros outfielder Jake Marisnick. Lucroy suffered a concussion and broken nose and missed 18 games.

Stassi, 28, had played in parts of every season with the Astros since his debut in 2013. He is batting .167 in 31 games this season after playing in a career-high 88 games in 2018.

Left-hander Adam McCreery cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The dust from the trade deadline has finally settled, and we're ready to turn our full attention back to the diamond, where things will be heating up as we move into August.

Here's what we'll be watching this weekend:

The Red Sox and Yankees meet again on Sunday Night Baseball (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET). Which team took a bigger hit by standing pat this week before the trade deadline?

Eddie Matz: My gut says it's Boston. But given how well the Indians and A's have been playing, and how aggressive the Rays were at the deadline, and how large of a sample size we have on the 2019 Red Sox, I can't say I blame Dave Dombrowski. Better to save the prospects, save the dough, and hope you can sneak into the postseason as is. Of course, the Red Sox could always add someone before the Aug. 31 deadli ... oh, wait. Scratch that.

Sam Miller: Without question, it's the team that might miss the playoffs entirely because of its inactivity. I once had a really good bottle of olive oil, and I could almost never bring myself to use it. I would interrogate every dish: Are you the dish that will most bring out the flavor, so that I truly notice and appreciate every note of olivey goodness? Eventually it went rancid. The Red Sox seem like they're overthinking their olive oil: "If we were closer to first place, I would have been more open-minded," Dombrowski said. But the Red Sox, more than maybe any other team in baseball, are teetering between making and missing the playoffs entirely -- they basically have 50% playoff odds at FanGraphs -- and that seems like a really important time to make a move. Trades aren't just about finishing touches on 108-win rosters.

David Schoenfield: According to the New York Post, it was definitely the Yankees, as the back cover of the paper featured Brian Cashman looking like a zombie with the headline, "The Walking Deadline." I mean, let's ignore that Zack Greinke had a no-trade clause to New York that he certainly would have deployed, so the Yankees weren't getting him anyway. Plus, they should get Luis Severino back, and maybe Dellin Betances, and prospect Deivi Garcia could potentially help in the bullpen down the stretch. So I'm with Sam: One win for the Red Sox could be the difference between getting into the playoffs or watching from a resort in the Caribbean. It's surprising Dombrowski didn't add at least one reliever to the bullpen.

There's another rivalry rematch from last weekend in Chicago, as the Brewers face the Cubs. With the deadline behind us, who makes the postseason: the Cubs, the Brewers, neither or both?

Matz: It's amazing how quickly things can change. Between a banged-up Max Scherzer and an uninspiring deadline haul, the Nationals are hurtin' for certain. The Cardinals have been rolling, but they rolled over at the deadline. The deGreinked Diamondbacks lost some major venom, and the Giants ... well, they can't possibly keep it up. (Or can they?) All that said, I still don't think the Brewers have anywhere near enough pitching -- in the rotation or the pen -- to get it done this year. Cubs take the Central, while Milwaukee takes the month of October off.

Miller: The trade deadline forces us all (and teams themselves) to declare, in a somewhat stark binary, who is "in it" and who is "out of it." But the truth is that there are two months left, and a lot of teams we're not thinking about at all are not that far out of it! The Padres, Rockies, Giants, Diamondbacks, Reds, Pirates and Mets have, combined, a little better than a one-in-three chance of claiming one of those two wild-card spots. Which is all to say that it's not just that the Brewers have to overtake at least one team; and it's not just that they have to hold back the Phillies, who are just one game behind them; but they have to dodge all the little unexpected land mines that the rest of the field can provide. So, they've got a good shot at making the playoffs, but a slightly better shot of missing them. (The Cubs should feel nervous because all of the above applies to them, too, but they're a better team, and they didn't just lose their best starting pitcher for six weeks.)

Schoenfield: I'll take the Cubs to win the division over Milwaukee for a clear and obvious reason: Their rotation has a 3.87 ERA and has been mostly healthy. The Brewers have a 4.78 ERA, and Brandon Woodruff and Jhoulys Chacin are on the injured list. The Cubs also made some minor additions that will help their depth -- Nicholas Castellanos, Tony Kemp, David Phelps. Another key is Yu Darvish, who has quietly pitched much better, with a 3.68 ERA over his past 11 starts, holding batters to a .192 average. He'll start Sunday. (And don't forget the Cardinals. FanGraphs gives them a 22.8% chance of winning the division, as compared to 17.5% for the Brewers, and also better odds of winning a wild card.) I'll pick the Braves or Nationals for one wild card and will stick with my hope for a five-way tie for the second one.

What else has your attention this weekend as we push toward the final third of the season?

Matz: The Franimal. I've said it before in this space, but I'll say it again: Franmil Reyes is the second coming of Big Papi. Between the huge power and the even huger personality, he has all the makings. Cleveland isn't the tailor-made market that Boston is, but the trade from the Padres to the Indians reminds me of when David Ortiz went from the Twins to the Red Sox early in his career, then proceeded to become a legend. Reyes is ready for launch.

Miller: I'm watching Dustin May's debut as the Dodgers' starter Friday. The Dodgers' postseason bullpen looks like a real weakness, but when they supplement it with their surplus starters in October, they might end up with a pretty strong group after all. May, a top pitching prospect, will not be in the postseason rotation, but he could end up being a difference-maker in relief.

Schoenfield: How can you not watch the debut of a top prospect with the nickname Gingergaard? May is built along the lines of Noah Syndergaard. He is 6-foot-6 with a long mane of red hair, thus the nickname. Beyond that, we get a Chris Sale-Domingo German matchup on Saturday. And speaking of Syndergaard, I'm curious to see whether the Mets can keep things rolling. They head into Pittsburgh riding a seven-game winning streak, and if they sweep the Pirates, the Mets will climb over .500.

PICK 'EM TIME

The Indians, who host the Angels this weekend, picked up a couple of power bats in Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes. Combined total bases for Puig and Reyes this weekend: over or under 9?

Matz: True story: Last time I saw Franmil Reyes, I asked him where his first name comes from. He laughed and told me that he never asked his parents that question and that he didn't know. One thing Reyes does know is how to mash. I expect him to bag nine bases this weekend all by himself (or close to it). Between him and Puig, I'm all aboard the over train.

Miller: When Puig was traded from Los Angeles to Cincinnati, there were many, "Oh yeah, let's see what Puig does in a bandbox!" takes. He didn't do much. But Progressive Field actually has been an even more hitter-friendly park than Great American (without getting quite so much recognition for it). So here it is, my scorching hot trade take: Puig and Reyes will combine for more than nine total bases in their first weekend series.

Schoenfield: Let's see, who is starting for the Angels? Not Nolan Ryan, Frank Tanana or Andy Messersmith. (Never heard of Messersmith? He is one of the most important players in MLB history. He played 1975 without a signed contract, and an arbitrator ruled him a free agent for 1976. Free agency was born because of his grievance. From 1969 to 1976 with the Angels, Dodgers and Braves, he went 119-86 with a 2.71 ERA and averaged 4.2 WAR per season. Very good pitcher.) But I digress. I'll take the over on the nine total bases.

Sunday night's matchup pits the Red Sox's David Price against the Yankees' J.A. Happ, neither of whom has been particularly sharp of late. Closest to the pin: total runs scored in Sunday's game.

Matz: In the nine previous games this season, the Yanks and Red Sox have averaged a combined 15.8 runs per contest. Balls are flying this time of year. This week alone, there were 619 grand slams hit across the majors (give or take). In other words, the scoreboard operator at Yankee Stadium is going to need an ice bath on Sunday night after posting all those crooked numbers. Seventeen total runs.

Miller: Sometimes what a struggling pitcher needs is for the whole sport to talk about how important it is for his club to upgrade at his exact position before the trade deadline. And then what that struggling pitcher really needs is for his team to stand pat -- and for all of that team's fans to panic because now they have to rely on ... you! Which is to say that Happ is throwing a four-hit shutout. Seven total runs in Sunday's game.

Schoenfield: Just noticed this. Price has pitched more than six innings just once all season (and that was against the Orioles). He has topped five innings just once in his past five outings. He has reached 100 pitches just three times in 20 starts and has made half of his starts on five or more days of rest (including four on six days and one on seven). Part of the problem with the Boston bullpen is that it has been tasked with throwing a lot of innings. Price was once one of the top workhorses in the league and pitched 230 innings as recently as 2016. He is no longer a workhorse. Eleven total runs.

TWO TRUE OUTCOMES

Each week, we ask our panelists to choose one hitter they think will hit the most home runs and one pitcher they think will record the most strikeouts in the coming weekend. Panelists can pick a player only once for the season. We'll keep a running tally -- and invite you to play along at home.

Home run hitters

Matz: Edwin Encarnacion

Miller: Franmil Reyes

Schoenfield: George Springer

Strikeout pitchers

Matz: Lance Lynn

Miller: Patrick Corbin

Schoenfield: Aaron Nola