
I Dig Sports

Rennes came from behind to stun lacklustre Paris St Germain with a deserved 2-1 victory at Roazhon Park in France's Ligue 1 on Sunday.
PSG coach Thomas Tuchel left Neymar, who has been linked with a move away from the club, out of his squad for the second consecutive week and his side struggled to break down the resilient French Cup holders in the Brazilian's absence.
The visitors were gifted the opener when Edinson Cavani tapped in after a defensive mix-up, but M'Baye Niang's strike drew Rennes level on the stroke of half-time before Romain Del Castillo headed in the winner early in the second period.
The reigning French champions could have done with Neymar's spark as they were frustrated by their well-drilled hosts, who have become something of a bogey team for PSG.
Sunday's victory marked Rennes' fifth Ligue 1 win against the Parisians in the last 10 years, more than any other club. They also beat the Parisians in last season's French Cup final.
PSG captain Thiago Silva insisted that the ongoing saga around his compatriot's future played no part in his team's poor performance.
"For everyone it's difficult, but it's not an excuse," he told Canal Plus television channel. "Neymar was not there. We must think of ourselves. I hope it's the last (defeat of the season)."
Rennes join Lyon and Nice at the summit of the table on maximum points after the opening two rounds of the season, while the defeat leaves PSG in eighth.
The reigning French champions were frustrated by their well-drilled hosts, who have become something of a bogey team for PSG.
Sunday's victory marked Rennes' fifth Ligue 1 win against the Parisians in the last 10 years, more than any other club. They also beat the Parisians in last season's French Cup final.
"We were not attentive," Silva conceded. "You have to raise your head, try to be better at the next game because it was not the Paris St Germain that we know.
"A physical problem? I don't think so. We worked well. Rennes have been more solid defensively, more attentive, I do not know exactly what happened."
The home side started brightly but their hard work was undone on 36 minutes when Cavani pounced on a slack pass from Damien Da Silva to slot home an easy finish.
However, Rennes drew level on the brink of half time when Niang took down a cross just inside the PSG box, turned his marker and lashed a left-footed finish into the bottom corner.
The hosts then took the lead within three minutes of the restart when impressive 16-year-old midfielder Eduardo Camavinga lofted a cross into the path of Del Castillo to head home unmarked from close range.
PSG looked shell-shocked and risked going further behind when defender Jeremy Morel's volley came back off the post and a late push to salvage a point proved futile.
Tagged under
Sam Cook, Mohammad Amir put pressure on Kent batsmen
Published in
Cricket
Sunday, 18 August 2019 13:25

Kent 125 for 6 (Bell-Drummond 55, Cook 3-25) v Essex
Three-wicket bursts by Sam Cook and Mohammad Amir helped Specsavers County Championship leaders Essex to command a rain-interrupted opening day to the 168th Canterbury Cricket Week encounter with Kent. By stumps at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence Kent had limped to 125 for 6 after 53 overs with Cook and Amir sharing the spoils for the visitors.
Chelmsford-born paceman Cook wrecked Kent's top-order during a stint of 3 for 7, while Amir hit his straps later in the day after the hosts had mounted a partial recovery courtesy of a three-hour innings of 55 by No. 3 Daniel Bell-Drummond and a gritty 35 from keeper-batsman Ollie Robinson.
Batting first after an uncontested toss, Kent lost Zak Crawley in only the fourth over of the day. Driving down the wrong line at a full delivery from Amir, Crawley was bowled through the gate, losing his off stump to make it 7 for 1.
With heavy cloud cover and the floodlights on from the third over, Amir and Jamie Porter continued to set the Kent batsmen a stern examination until rain stopped play at 11.38am with Kent on 11 for 1 after only 9.1 overs. With the covers on and pools of rainwater quickly forming on the outfield, the players went in for lunch as umpires Ian Blackwell and Paul Baldwin eventually deemed that play could re-start at 3.29pm with the loss of 43 overs in the day.
Seven overs after the resumption Kent opener Sean Dickson shuffled half-forward to a Cook in-ducker to be hit on the knee roll and depart lbw for 8 then, in his next over, Cook snared the returning Kent skipper Sam Billings in near identical fashion, leg before for 1 on his season's first-class debut.
Cook struck again during his superb mid-afternoon stint by removing Heino Kuhn for 6 - Kent's fourth batsman to depart for a single-figure score. The South African's late decision to run a Cook off-cutter down to third man backfired when he chopped the ball on to off stump.
Kent rebuilt steadily either side of tea through Robinson and Bell-Drummond, who added 68 for the fifth wicket with Bell-Drummond extending a fine run of red-ball form that has led to him scoring either a fifty or a century in each of his last five, four-day appearances.
Bell-Drummond, Kent's leading championship run-getter for the season, notched his fifth half-century of the campaign from 99 balls and with seven fours, while Robinson, who contributed 35 in 98 minutes, batting with maturity way beyond his 20 years to help take Kent into three figures shortly before 6pm.
With six overs left in the day, Amir returned for a second spell to finally dislodge Bell-Drummond, who chopped on for a painstaking 55 with seven fours after aiming a late cut to a low-bouncing delivery. In his next over the Pakistan left-armer swung one in through the air to pluck out Robinson's off pole, leaving Darren Stevens, on his 300th first-class appearance, and No. 8 Ollie Rayner, to see Kent through to stumps without further alarm.
Tagged under
Tim Paine vows to keep hooking as Australia stick to Ashes blueprint
Published in
Cricket
Sunday, 18 August 2019 14:06

Australia captain Tim Paine has declared his team's 2019 Ashes blueprint will not be changing despite copping a battering from Jofra Archer's speed and Steven Smith's concussion at Lord's, with the Headingley Test following swiftly in its wake from Thursday.
This extends to Paine's desire to assert himself with the occasional hook shot, even though it briefly imperilled the tourists in fading light on the final day of a Lord's match that, despite losing five-and-a-half sessions to rain still provided much to cherish and remember. When Paine failed to clear the leaping Joe Denly halfway in from the boundary, the Australians had only four wickets in hand and seven overs still to face.
"You don't have a lot of time to think. Sometimes you get it wrong," Paine said. "I was thinking about ducking under it, but 150kph can make you do different things. I just didn't hit it where I would have liked to have hit it. I'm not going to over think it. I'm going to keep playing the way I want to play."
England's captain Joe Root foreshadowed that Paine would be receiving more of the same in the remainder of the series, and said he had been trying to corner his opposite number into hitting out against Archer, given the paceman's hostility and a field setting that made it hard to simply play defensively at the short stuff.
ALSO READ: Super sub Labuschagne steps into the breach for Australia
"You're always trying to mess around with things. On that wicket it was very difficult to get underneath the ball and with two short legs right around the corner, stand up and play it doesn't seem like a great option, and you don't really want to let it hit you," he said. "You're trying to play with their mind and see what different things they want to do. I was trying to keep [Travis] Head on strike as well at the other end for the spinner to bowl into the rough and it ended up working out quite nicely. We've seen him get out a couple of times, especially against us. I think he might get a few more."
The rearguard led by Smith's concussion substitute Marnus Labuschagne and the vice-captain Head allowed Australia to wriggle clear in the end, something that Paine said the team would take confidence from about the array of players capable of stepping up from their squad - even if Smith is ruled out of the Leeds match with the aftereffects of his concussion. Paine also indicated that the team did not need to rethink their plans, pointing to dropped catches and sub-par use of the DRS as reasons why the match could have turned out rather differently.
"We'll focus on what we think is going to win the games and our message from a captain or a coach won't change," Paine said. "We've got a pretty clear plan in place that we think if we execute we can win the Ashes in these conditions. Whether Steve's playing, whether James Pattinson is playing it doesn't matter. The players we pick are picked to play a role, they're really clear on that. They know what's expected. Everyone on our team does.
"It's not so much about the person. We've been lucky that we've had Steve Smith batting really well but I thought Marnus came in and batted as well as anyone did in the Test match. We wanted two [substitutes] - I think if Smithy is averaging 62, you want to bring a couple of batters in. But Marnus played superbly, for a guy in probably his [sixth] Test. He got hit hard in the face second ball and I thought he showed great character great skill and technique. We know Marnus is a quality player and he's getting better all the time. We're happy with the way he played.
"At one stage we thought we were going to have to run some gloves out to him [Head] to tell him we were not chasing the total. But that is the beauty of Heady and Marnus and something we want them to do, play the same way regardless of the situation and if you do that in your first five Test matches that will give you some real belief and we don't want to take away their courage and natural attacking style of play."
Other spot fires in the Australian side include the underperformance of David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, while Usman Khawaja is also yet to pass 50 for the series. Nevertheless the strength of the pace attack - likely to be reinforced by Pattinson for Headingley - and the steel shown at various points across Lord's meant that Australia were still decent value for their 1-0 series advantage with three to play.
"We'll get to Leeds, have a look at the conditions and pick the best team to win the game and take 20 wickets," Paine said. "I think if you look at top-order batting across the two teams it shows you it's probably a pretty difficult place to be batting on either side. Yes, those guys would like more runs. We know how good David is, he's got 7000 Test runs at 50 and Cameron Bancroft I thought in this game looked pretty good, faced a lot of balls … probably would've liked to have scored a few more runs but I thought he acquitted himself pretty well again against some pretty high-quality bowling.
"I wouldn't say it was a great escape at all. I would've said we played reasonably well to 3 for 130 and then you have a little something that doesn't quite go your way and you've got a guy bowling 150kph and it's quite dark and it's difficult. That's Test cricket but we found a way out of it. I'm really proud of our team. But I thought in our first innings as well, I thought the way our tail stuck at it in a pretty uncomfortable batting period of time.
"I know some tails wouldn't dig in like ours did so I was really proud of the way they went about it in the first innings. Guys bowling at that pace take time to get used to and Jofra bowls from quite a height. He gets steep bounce. It can take a little bit of time to get used to, there's no doubt about that. I think the reason a lot of guys were hit in this game was because the pitch was actually a little bit two-paced as well. It was very difficult to decide whether to pull or duck because you duck and some didn't get up, you'd try and stand up and pull and it took off."
As for the fact that the Lord's stalemate meant Australia needed only one win from the remaining three Tests to retain the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001, Paine had not yet given himself time to ponder this. But it was not hard to imagine that, on the bus to Yorkshire on Monday morning, he will.
Tagged under
James Vince flatters to deceive as Rikki Clarke keeps Surrey in contention
Published in
Cricket
Sunday, 18 August 2019 14:15

Hampshire 222 for 7 (Holland 51, Clarke 5-52) v Surrey
James Vince illustrated the dilemma he poses for England's selectors on a rain-affected day one of Hampshire's Specsavers County Championship match with hosts Surrey at The Oval.
With selector James Taylor in attendance, Vince, playing just his third Championship fixture of the season, unleashed some trademark cover drives to make 47 out of the visitors total of 222 for 7 - this after the first session was lost to heavy mid-morning rain. However, the Hampshire skipper was given a life when dropped at slip on 40 by Scott Borthwick before a second loose stroke against the bowling of Morne Morkel saw him snaffled by Ben Foakes three short of 50.
So, as with so many of his innings in an England shirt this was another to file in the drawer marked "nice cameo". Instead it was Surrey's Rikki Clarke who stole the headlines with a season's best 5 for 52 as Surrey had the best of an absorbing day's cricket.
Despite the morning rain delaying play until 1.10pm, Vince elected to contest the toss and had no hesitation in batting having won it. Openers Ian Holland and Felix Organ, both of whom made maiden first-class centuries in July, justified his decision by negotiating the new ball, though not without a number of alarms.
Holland in particular rode his luck, most notably when dropped on 12 when slashing England seamer Sam Curran to Jordan Clark in the gully.
He survived another scare on 19 when attempting to pull a short one from Clarke he got a top edge, the ball just evading the clutches of Ben Foakes as he ran back towards the boundary from his place behind the stumps. Adding insult to injury, Holland then edged another at catchable height through the slips later in the over.
However, it was Organ who was first to go, brilliantly caught by Foakes off Jordan Clark with the score at 73.
Vince was immediately in the groove, smiting three glorious fours off Morkel in the 27th over. At the other end, Holland appeared to have settled after his early sketchiness and raised his 50 with his seventh boundary and at 110 for 1 Hampshire were sitting pretty. However, Clarke changed the course of the afternoon with two wickets in five balls, trapping Holland in front for 51 before sending Sam Northeast packing for just 6, meaning Hampshire were 116-3 at tea.
Rille Rossouw came out bristling with aggression, but after striking Clarke for successive boundaries he became the veteran seamer's third victim, hitting another drive into the midriff of Mark Stoneman at cover. And Vince didn't make the most of his reprieve, Morkel extracting revenge for his earlier punishment, though the Hampshire skipper will reflect it was a ball he should have left alone.
The floodlights were soon on and runs slowed to a trickle before bad light intervened with more than 18 overs remaining. Ten overs were lost before the players before in bright sunshine, allowing Clarke to claim a fourth victim, pinning Liam Dawson plumb lbw. And his five-for was completed when Aneurin Donald nicked one through to Foakes, giving the stand-in skipper his third catch of the day.
Tagged under

Lancashire 85 for 1 (Jennings 46*) trail Glamorgan 257 (Hemphrey 56, Patel 54, Carey 51, Bailey 4-50) by 172 runs
Lancashire assumed control of their top-of-the-table Specsavers County Championship Division Two clash with Glamorgan after the opening day at Colwyn Bay. Tom Bailey and Danny Lamb claimed four wickets apiece as the Red Rose bowled the hosts out for 257 before reaching 85 for 1 in reply - a deficit of 172 runs.
It could have been worse for Glamorgan but for on-loan Samit Patel, who hit a half-century on his debut and combined expertly with the tail, most significantly Lukas Carey who crashed his way to fifty, after the hosts had been in disarray at 145 for 8. But Lancashire finished the day content with their work with Keaton Jennings four runs short of a half-century and Josh Bohannon on 6.
Glamorgan opted to bat on a ground which is traditionally batsman friendly, but they might have regretted their decision after slipping to 12 for 2 in the seventh over. Nick Selman and Shaun Marsh, playing his first Championship game after breaking his arm during the World Cup, were both dismissed by Bailey who bowled an accurate opening spell.
Lancashire were without Graham Onions who suffered a hamstring injury before play started, but the other four seamers compensated for his absence by taking three wickets before lunch.
Charles Hemphrey and Billy Root began the recovery by adding 50 for the fourth wicket, but from the first ball after lunch Root became Bailey's third victim. Hemphrey went on to score a patient 54 with eight boundaries before he became the fourth lbw victim of the innings - his dismissal starting a collapse of four wickets for only six runs.
Patel, who has been signed on loan by Glamorgan from Nottinghamshire for Championship games only until the end of the season, watched from the other end as Chris Cooke and Graham Wagg feathered catches to the wicketkeeper while Ruaidhri Smith was bowled first ball playing back when he should have been forward.
Two wickets were taken by the young allrounder Lamb, who had earlier taken his first Championship wicket when he dismissed David Lloyd leg before. This is Lamb's fifth first-class game and he ended with the creditable figures of 15-2-70-4.
Glamorgan were struggling at 145 for 8 but the home team were then indebted to Patel and the tail with the last two wickets adding a further 112 runs. Patel and Carey shared 60 for the ninth wicket, before Patel feel to Bailey for 54, but Carey bludgeoned fifty from 29 balls and was undefeated on 51 when Michael Hogan, who had struck an equally rapid 32, was last man out. The final pair added 52 as Glamorgan gained two batting points.
Openers Jennings and Alex Davies made a steady start for Lancashire with the latter striking early boundaries. Jennings was troubled by Hogan who had a confident lbw appeal turned down by the umpire, the ball pitching marginally outside leg stump.
The opening pair put on 59 in 17 overs before Smith, in his first Championship game of the season, dismissed Davies leg before for 32, not long before the weather intervened. Play resumed with no further alarms for the visitors who are well-placed to capitalise on their opening day's work.
Tagged under
Archer could be weapon that turns the Ashes, suggests Joe Root
Published in
Cricket
Sunday, 18 August 2019 14:43

Joe Root, England's captain, believes that Jofra Archer's addition to the bowling attack has "potentially" changed the course of the Ashes, after another sustained and dramatic display of hostile fast bowling almost inspired England to a remarkable final-day Test victory at Lord's.
Less than 24 hours after unleashing a shattering bouncer to Steven Smith in Australia's first innings, Archer almost repeated the dose with his second delivery to Smith's concussion replacement, Marnus Labuschagne, which struck the newly included batsman flush on the visor at more than 91mph.
And Root, who had been one of the many England batsman in the firing line when Mitchell Johnson ignited the 2013-14 Ashes with his haul of 37 wickets in the 5-0 whitewash, believes that Archer's pace and fear factor could have a similar effect, especially with the third Test at Headingley set to begin in just four days' time.
ALSO READ: Miller: Archer evokes Lomu on 'frightening' debut
"He's come in and made a massive impact," Root said. "He's added a different dynamic to our bowling group and given Australia something different to think about.
"It's pleasing to see someone come in on Test debut, shake up things and live up to the hype - even some of the hype he put on himself. It makes for a very interesting last three games.
"He makes things happen with such a unique action and natural pace, which is always in the game on any surface. That with the skill of the others, makes for a tasty combo.
"One thing it will do is make them think about how they're going to have to come back," he added. "He is going to come at them, and it's always nice when you're stood at slip and not batting against him.
"He's very different to other options that we've had previously in this team, and on a different surface, which might nibble and swing a little bit more to add that into a quartet, it's a really big bonus for the team. You always feel like you've got something different to turn to."
Though England remain 1-0 down in the series, Archer's impact wasn't the only positive to emerge from the Lord's Test. Ben Stokes managed to translate his serene batting in the World Cup into his seventh Test century, but first since the Bristol incident in September 2017, and even Jos Buttler, without going on to make a significant score, looked more at ease against the red ball in making 31 in a key stand of 90 that set up England's victory push.
"Things can change very quickly in sport. At the start of the week we wanted a big response and we have definitely done that," Root said. "It felt like we put them under huge pressure. It shows how much we're in this series."
Stokes, who was named Man of the Match for his unbeaten 115, added of Archer: "I am not sure there will be a better debut in terms of announcing yourself.
"The spell [to Smith on day four] was incredible to watch," he told Test Match Special. "We were laughing he was going to be top of the rankings after one Test. We are very lucky he is in our team. He gives you an extra dimension."
However, Australia's captain, Tim Paine, attempted to play down Archer's impact, pointing out that, despite being on Test debut, he is hardly an unknown quantity on the international and franchise circuit.
"We've seen him for a few years now [in T20 cricket] and we know the package he brings with his pace," Paine said. "That's something every team wants to have. It's up to us to make some plans and get better [against him]. It's not all doom and gloom."
Tagged under
McCoy injury likely makes Keenum Skins' top QB
Published in
Breaking News
Sunday, 18 August 2019 14:56

ASHBURN, Virginia -- The Washington Redskins remain uncertain about when quarterback Colt McCoy will be able to play in a game, leaving Case Keenum on track to start the season opener.
McCoy has yet to play in the preseason and said Sunday that he has visited noted foot specialist Dr. Robert Anderson twice since training camp began on July 25. McCoy suffered a broken right leg on Dec. 1 and needed three surgeries in the offseason. He has practiced throughout camp, but admitted early on that he was still having issues with his leg. He has not played in the preseason and did not practice Sunday.
McCoy said he did not have a setback in camp and said he expects to return "sooner rather than later."
"It might be two or three weeks into the season," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said of when McCoy might return. "We don't know yet. There's no timetable for him until he feels like he's 100% to push off that leg. Until that time comes, he's going to be rehabbing."
But nobody quite knows when, or why it remains an issue. However, when he was hurt last season, the Redskins did not place him on injured reserve, thinking he might be available should they reach the postseason.
"That was probably part of the issue," Gruden said. "He probably rushed back, we probably rushed him back. So they had to go back in a little bit. That was nobody's fault, just a fluke deal that something else happened. Hopefully we get him right. He'll do whatever he can to get right, we've just got to get it right first."
Throughout training camp McCoy has been alternating with Keenum on a daily basis as far as who takes the first-team reps.
Keenum has started the first two preseason games. He has completed 7-of-16 passes for 112 yards and one touchdown.
Gruden was not ready to name a starting quarterback, but said "ideally" one would be named after the third preseason game. The Redskins play at Atlanta on Thursday. They play at Philadelphia in the season opener.
"You might have your general thoughts on who it might be, but if something happens in the preseason game three where you might have to flop them, you never know," Gruden said.
Rookie Dwayne Haskins remains a possibility, but numerous people in the organization -- from front-office personnel to coaches and players -- have echoed the same point: He's talented but has a lot to learn before being ready to start. Because he's considered a pure drop-back passer -- and doesn't rely on his legs to threaten a defense -- the Redskins want him to master as many of the nuances of the position as possible before putting him in the game.
During training camp, Haskins, the 15th overall pick in the draft, consistently worked third in the rotation among the quarterbacks. In the preseason games, they have played some of the starting offensive line with him when he's been in the game. Gruden said they might give him more time with the starters Thursday. In two games, Haskins has completed 15-of-29 passes for 231 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He's been sacked five times and fumbled once.
The coaches and Haskins have pointed out how much he's still learning, from calling the plays in the huddle to handling protection calls and throwing in rhythm. They liked last week how, on his 55-yard touchdown pass, his hard count forced the safeties to rotate early. That enabled him to alter the protection and change his progression pre-snap.
Last week, Haskins told ESPN, "It's just going to happen naturally, organically. I had to come to terms with that. Now that I've been here for a little bit, it's like, man, it's a process. ... By no means am I settling. I know that I want to be great and I know I will be great. It's just that I have to be in a place where I know what I'm doing."
Tagged under
Raiders GM: Time for AB to be 'all-in, or all-out'
Published in
Breaking News
Sunday, 18 August 2019 16:53

NAPA, Calif. -- Antonio Brown left training camp again Sunday and while Mike Mayock said it was over the receiver's anger from being denied use of his helmet, the Oakland Raiders general manager also issued an ultimatum to Brown.
"You all know that AB is not here today, right?" Mayock told a group of beat reporters as practice began Sunday afternoon. "So, here's the bottom line -- he's upset about the helmet issue. We have supported that, we appreciate that. But at this point, we've pretty much exhausted all avenues of relief.
"So, from our perspective, it's time for him to be all-in, or all-out, OK? So, we're hoping he's back soon. We've got 89 guys busting their tails, we are really excited about where this franchise is going and we hope AB's going to be a big part of it, starting Week 1 against Denver. End of story. No questions, OK? Just wanted you guys to know where we were. Fair?"
"Here's the bottom line -- he's upset about the helmet issue. We have supported that, we appreciate that. But at this point, we've pretty much exhausted all avenues of relief. So, from our perspective, it's time for him to be all in, or all out, OK? So, we're hoping he's back soon." Mike Mayock, on Antonio Brown
It has been an eventful and somewhat exhausting first Raiders camp for Brown, acquired in a March trade for a third- and a fifth-round draft pick. Because after being a mainstay during the team's offseason program, Brown began camp on the non-football injury list with frostbite on the soles of his feet thanks to a cryotherapy mishap in France in early July.
He left camp for two weeks seeking therapy for the feet, which included laser treatments.
Brown has also been upset with the league not allowing him to wear his Schutt Air Advantage helmet, the only helmet he's worn in his NFL career, because it is older than 10 years and, thus, no longer certified.
He returned to Napa on Tuesday and traveled with the team to Arizona for Thursday night's exhibition and ran routes and caught passes in pregame warm-ups. The Raiders were excited about Brown's return and after he was a full participant in Saturday morning's walk-through, the team anticipated him practicing fully as soon as Sunday.
"I'm not talking about it anymore," Raiders coach Jon Gruden said of Brown's helmet after the Arizona game. "It was a legal, certified helmet, you know? Somebody approved it, or he wouldn't have worn it."
Brown later responded critically to a Pro Football Talk report about his helmet issue with a tweet Saturday, calling out the NFL for "super prejudice."
In 24 days in Napa, Brown took a hot-air balloon ride at dawn on report day, participated in one pre-practice walk-through on July 28, was limited before leaving early on July 30, took part in pre-game warm-ups in Arizona on Thursday and was a full participant in Saturday's morning walk-through.
The Raiders were supposed to break camp Monday but ended a day early.
Asked earlier how much Brown changes the offense when he's on the field, Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Olson said:
"Significantly. He's one of the top players in the game. Any time you're able to have that kind of talent on the field, he's going to draw the attention of defensive coordinators and players. Just changes really dramatically when you have those type of players."
Tagged under

PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper left the game against the San Diego Padres after the fifth inning because of dehydration on a muggy Sunday.
"I feel better now," Harper said after the 3-2 loss. "It's weird. An hour ago, I couldn't see in front of me, kind of."
Manager Gabe Kapler said Harper had blurred vision and received an IV for hydration.
With a game-time temperature of 90 degrees, Harper was lifted prior to taking the field in the sixth inning. Harper, who signed a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Phillies in the offseason, has played in 123 of 124 games this season.
Harper singled in the fourth inning, pulling up abruptly after rounding first base while considering trying for a double, and also slid hard into second base in the frame while breaking up a double play.
Harper also made a strong throw in the top of the fourth, nailing Austin Hedges at second base as he tried to stretch a single into a double.
Tagged under

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- The Chicago Cubs activated closer Craig Kimbrel from the injured list just in time for the Little League Classic, the team announced Sunday.
Kimbrel has missed the past couple of weeks with inflammation in his right knee.
The Cubs have struggled all season to hold leads, blowing 10 saves since the All-Star break, the most in the National League.
On Friday, setup man Brandon Kintzler was activated from the IL, after rehabbing a pectoral injury, and he promptly blew a save after walking in the tying run against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs and Pirates play the rubber game of their series in Williamsport on Sunday night. A victory would give the Cubs their first road series win since mid-May.
Kimbrel has nine saves but a 5.68 ERA in 14 games with the Cubs since signing a three-year, $43 million deal with them in June.
Reliever Steve Cishek (hip) is due to come off the injured list later this week. The Cubs also called up outfielder Mark Zagunis to serve as their 26th man for Sunday night's game.
The Cubs sent right-hander Duane Underwood to the minors in the corresponding move when Kimbrel was activated.
Tagged under