Nicole Bolton made an impressive return to action for Western Australia with back-to-back half-centuries on the opening weekend of the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL).

Bolton, who was part of the Australia squad that retained the Ashes in England in July, opted out of the tour of West Indies to focus on her mental health following a previous break from the game last season.

In the first two matches for Western Australia she struck 77 off 106 balls against Queensland and 63 off 80 balls against Tasmania to help her side begin with a brace of victories. In the Tasmania game she also picked up 2 for 26 from her 10 overs.

Speaking at the end of the West Indies tour, Australia coach Matthew Mott said he had been in contact with Bolton over recent weeks.

"Bolts and I have been in touch via WhatsApp and she's in a really good frame of mind and looking forward to the first round of the WNCL," Mott said. "For her it's just about reentering and getting back into the swing of things and hopefully scoring some runs, but she seems really happy which is great."

Australia will name their T20I and ODI squads on Wednesday for the series against Sri Lanka that starts at the end of month. After a cleansweep in the Caribbean, Mott said that he did not foresee many changes.

Bolton, who isn't considered as a T20I player, featured in the three ODIs on the Ashes tour with scores of 2, 1 and 4 while also playing in the Test.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Rookie quarterback Daniel Jones had an impressive first start in place of Eli Manning, rallying the New York Giants from an 18-point first-half deficit to a 32-31 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

Jones accounted for four touchdowns, including a seven-yard run on fourth down that put the Giants ahead for the first time with 1:16 remaining in the game.

"We had a chance there at the end of the game. That's all you can ask for," said Jones about the eight-play, 75-yard game-winning drive. New York's previous four possessions resulted in three punts and a turnover. "We kinda struggled to move the ball there at points and -- just a great job, great job moving the ball down the field as a team. We got some guys open, and they made plays. So great job, loved the fight and loved the grit of this win."

Jones finished 23-of-36 for 336 yards with two passing and two rushing touchdowns, flashing the poise and playmaking ability that made the Giants fall in love enough to make him the No. 6 overall pick in this year's draft.

Giants co-owner Steve Tisch told ESPN this was the beginning of a "new chapter." He was immensely impressed by the poise and composure of his 22-year-old quarterback. So too were his teammates. They raved about Jones afterward for the way he handled the huddle and seemed to fit in seamlessly in his first NFL start. There was even a moment in the second quarter with the Giants trailing 12-3 where Jones -- who rarely curses -- stepped into the huddle and yelled, "Let's f------ score!" according to wide receiver Russell Shepard.

Moments later, Jones kept the ball on a zone-read play for the go-ahead score.

The Giants (1-2) topped 17 points for the first time this season against a Todd Bowles-led defense that had looked solid the first two weeks. They escaped with the victory after Tampa Bay missed a 34-yard field goal attempt as time expired.

It was the Giants' first victory first victory when trailing by 18+ points at the half since 1949, according to Elias. They had lost 55 straight. Jones also became the second player since the 1970 merger to record two rushing TDs and two passing TDs in his first NFL start. The other was Detroit's Eric Hipple in 1981.

Manning had been the team's full-time starter for all but one game since 2004, but coach Pat Shurmur made the switch after last week's loss to the Buffalo Bills, saying that Jones was the better option for the Giants. The rookie proved Shurmur correct, at least in his first career start.

Jones led the Giants on four touchdown drives and flashed playmaking ability throughout. He ran for a touchdown in the first and second halves and used his legs on numerous occasions to create positive gains on plays that would have otherwise been dead.

"You can start to see -- and as you get to appreciate him as a player -- there's plenty of things he needs to do better. But as you get to -- there's certain things that I knew about this kid when we drafted him: He was tough, he was competitive, and in my opinion he's a winner," Shurmur said. "Now, the rest of it is just pure quarterback stuff. And because of those first three things, that's why he's gonna have a chance moving forward."

Jones rallied the Giants from a 28-10 halftime deficit. He hit tight end Evan Engram in stride running across the field for a 75-yard touchdown on the opening possession of the second half. He made a brilliant throw across his body deep downfield to fellow rookie Darius Slayton after shuffling around the pocket later in the third quarter. Later in that same drive, Jones dropped a perfectly placed ball into the arms of Sterling Shepard in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown, cutting the lead to 28-25.

What Jones showed on the field in his first career start was much the same as what the team has seen ever since he stepped into the building earlier this year. He checked all the boxes this spring and summer, and completed better than 85 percent of his passes during the preseason.

The lone knock was ball security. After three fumbles in the preseason, Jones lost a fumble on one of his four snaps late in the season-opening loss to the Dallas Cowboys. He also lost a pair of fumbles on Sunday when he was sacked in the third and fourth quarters against the Bucs.

But the positives significantly outweighed the negatives in this outing. Jones displayed impressive composure and poise not usually seen from rookie quarterbacks. It looked like he belonged right from the start when he completed five of his first six passes in the first quarter.

Jones' first career touchdown came on a 7-yard scamper early in the second quarter. It was a zone-read on which he kept the ball and outraced the nearest defender to the pylon. Bucs coach Bruce Arians noted in the week leading up to the game that the biggest difference between Manning and Jones was the youngster's mobility.

Jones finished with 28 yards on four rushes, but it was his ability to escape pressure on multiple plays that proved invaluable. As one coach told ESPN recently about Manning, when a play with him at the helm was off schedule, it "was over."

That clearly was not the case with Jones, as the Giants' offense scored more points Sunday than it had in the first two games combined. Not that the unassuming Jones was ready to proclaim his greatness after one start. He was asked after the game to give a postgame speech.

"No speech," Jones said. "Giants on three."

The Rams have run zone coverage a league-high 79% of the time this season, which could be a bad sign for Baker Mayfield. Mayfield has averaged 10.1 yards per dropback against man coverage but just 4.8 against zone, per ESPN pass coverage metrics powered by NFL Next Gen Stats.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Kansas City has become Major League Baseball's fourth 100-loss team this season, matching the major league record.

The Royals were defeated 12-8 by the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins on Sunday, joining the Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers and Miami Marlins as clubs with 100 defeats. The only other season to feature four 100-loss clubs was 2002, when the Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays each dropped 106 games and Kansas City fell on the final day of the season for its 100th loss.

It's also a banner year for baseball's best. There have never been four 100-win teams in the same season, but that could change. The New York Yankees (102), Houston Astros (102) and Los Angeles Dodgers (100 wins) already have eclipsed the mark, and the Atlanta Braves (96) Minnesota (95) and Oakland Athletics (94) could still get there.

Three teams reached 100 wins in both 2017 and '18. Before then, there were only three 100-game winners in 1942, '77, '98, 2002 and '03.

CHICAGO -- Paul Goldschmidt and the St. Louis Cardinals celebrated the franchise's first postseason berth in four years with a champagne toast in the visitor's clubhouse.

It was another sweet finish.

Goldschmidt hit a tiebreaking double in the ninth inning and the Cardinals clinched a playoff spot by rallying past the Chicago Cubs 3-2 on Sunday for their first four-game sweep at Wrigley Field in almost a century.

"Just relentless on our guys' part," manager Mike Shildt said. "That's the way we play baseball. That's the way we compete."

NL Central-leading St. Louis qualified for October for the first time it won the division in 2015. It also stayed three games ahead of Milwaukee.

It was the fifth consecutive win for the Cardinals, who came back for a 9-8 victory Saturday on consecutive homers by Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong against Craig Kimbrel in the ninth.

This time, Chicago manager Joe Maddon sent a dominant Yu Darvish (6-8) back to the mound to go for his first complete game since 2014. But the result was the same in the Cubs' fifth consecutive one-run loss and sixth straight overall.

"If you just play back the tape it's almost unbelievable that it turned out this way," Maddon said.

Pinch hitter Jose Martinez sparked the winning rally with a leadoff triple that glanced off the glove of diving center fielder Albert Almora Jr.

"It was hit hard and it went over my head and I missed it," Almora said. "That's it."

Dexter Fowler followed with a sacrifice fly, tying it at 2. After rookie Tommy Edman singled and stole second, Goldschmidt hit a grounder down the third-base line to put the Cardinals in front for good in the Cubs' rainy home finale.

"I swung and missed a couple times at some pitches in the middle," Goldschmidt said. "Luckily, I was able to hit that last one down the line."

Miles Mikolas pitched 7 2/3 innings of two-run ball and Tyler Webb (2-1) got the last out of the eighth for the win. Andrew Miller worked the ninth for his sixth save.

Nicholas Castellanos hit his career-high 27th homer for Chicago (82-74), which dropped four games back of the Brewers for the second NL wild card. The Cubs finished with a 51-30 home record after losing their last six games of the year at Wrigley.

It was the first four-game series sweep for St. Louis (89-67) at Chicago's famed ballpark since May 1921.

"It kind of seems that we've got the magic going," Edman said. "At any point, we know we're not out of it."

Castellanos also scored the first run of the game when he scampered home on Yadier Molina's passed ball in the first. But DeJong tied it with his 29th homer, a massive drive to Waveland Avenue in the third.

It was still tied when Castellanos led off the sixth with a drive to center for his 16th homer in 49 games since he was acquired in a July 31 trade with Detroit.

The Cubs were without Kris Bryant for most of the day after the slugger sprained his right ankle trying to beat out a double play in the third. X-rays taken at the ballpark were negative.

ONE SWEET TUNE

Gary Pressy threw out a ceremonial first pitch before his 2,687th and final game as the organist at Wrigley. He also led the crowd in the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch.

Pressy is retiring after beginning his career at Wrigley in 1986.

ABOUT THE NUMBERS

The announced attendance was 38,606, bringing the season total at Wrigley to 3,094,865. The Cubs' attendance last year was 3,181,089, but that included a crowd of 38,450 for the Cubs' NL Central tiebreaker loss to the Brewers.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Cardinals: An MRI on Kolten Wong's ailing left hamstring showed a Grade 2 strain. The infielder is hoping to return during the Cardinals' last series of the season against Chicago in St. Louis. "I'm hoping to give this enough time where it definitely won't hinder me going on," he said.

Cubs: SS Javier Baez could return to the field Tuesday at Pittsburgh for the first time since he broke his left thumb. He struck out as a pinch hitter Saturday in his first plate appearance since the injury. "The biggest thing is just closing his glove on defense," Maddon said. "So if he's able to do that and he's making great progress you may see him."

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (13-9, 3.83 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series at Arizona on Monday night. Wainwright is 4-0 in September, allowing one earned run in 27 innings. LHP Alex Young (7-4, 3.27 ERA) pitches for the Diamondbacks.

Cubs: Following an off day, Chicago begins a three-game set at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. The team hasn't announced its starting pitchers for the series. RHP Mitch Keller (1-5, 7.74 ERA) pitches for the Pirates in the opener.

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs keep making history, just not the kind they want, as their season continues to fade away.

On Sunday, they became just the second team in 100 years to get swept at home in a four game series and lose all four by a single run. They also became the first major league team since 2011 to lose five straight one-run games. It's the first time it's happened to the franchise since 1915.

Chicago is now four games back of the Milwaukee Brewers for the second wild-card spot.

"If you play back the tape, it's almost unbelievable that it turned out this way," an incredulous Joe Maddon said after losing 3-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals. "The last six have been wash and repeat."

The Cubs completed their home schedule losing their final six games at Wrigley Field, five by one run, as they also lost to the Cincinnati Reds, both Tuesday and Wednesday, before the Cardinals swept them. It's all but dashed their playoff hopes.

"How did it that all happen?" Maddon asked rhetorically. "How did we lose all those four games? They were one run better than us every night, and we were really evenly matched, and that's all I will concede."

Three of the four losses to the Cardinals came with the Cubs leading or with the game tied in as late as the ninth inning.

On Sunday, starter Yu Darvish was attempting to finish off his first complete game of the season, but everything changed after Jose Martinez hit a triple to lead-off the inning. Three batters later the Cardinals took the lead for good when Paul Goldschmidt doubled home Tommy Edman who had singled.

Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel blew Saturday's save and was unavailable for Sunday's contest, but Maddon said he would have left Darvish in the game either way.

"I saw Jake (Arrieta) pitch pretty well when he won his Cy Young, but this is like equivalent of all that," Maddon said. "He absolutely deserved a better fate."

Darvish has been a strikeout machine for the Cubs, fanning 12 more in 8.1 innings on Sunday. In doing so, he became the fourth different Cubs pitcher, since 1920, to record at least 10 strikeouts in three consecutive games.

"It's tough, for sure," Darvish said. "But we did our best."

A dazed locker room tried to put into words a last week that saw their playoff odds plummet from 77% entering Monday to 2.4% on Sunday, according to Fangraphs data.

"Just not really sure how that happens," outfielder Ian Happ said. "It's bad luck. It's a lot of things. And it's not fun. We played pretty good baseball. It just didn't turn our way."

Anthony Rizzo added: "This is growing pains. You take the good with the bad, wherever you can, and you learn. And try to grow as a person."

The Cubs play their final six games of the season on the road and could be without Kris Bryant who sprained his ankle as he hit first base early in Sunday's game.

HOUSTON -- George Springer, Justin Verlander and the Houston Astros put a check mark in the September box.

And amid the celebration of clinching their third straight American League West title, they were already thinking ahead to what they might achieve in October.

"You can't ever take the first goal for granted," Verlander said. "I know everybody says we're going to win the World Series, but you can't do that without this first. So, step one complete. Now we have the divisional round coming up and we'll ... prepare for that and try to win 11 games."

Springer hit a career-high three homers, Verlander posted his MLB-leading 20th win and the Astros secured the division crown in grand fashion, routing the Los Angeles Angels 13-5.

A crowd at Minute Maid Park that was cheering from Verlander's first pitch got even louder as Springer homered three times in the first four innings. The Astros kept breaking away and improved to 102-54, a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees for the best record in the majors.

After the final out, the Astros held a bouncing group hug in the middle of the diamond and posed for a team picture. It hasn't been determined who they will face in the playoffs as they try for their second World Series championship in three years.

Would run through several brick walls for @ajhinch. pic.twitter.com/HGu3mofN7p

— Houston Astros (@astros) September 22, 2019

Manager AJ Hinch spoke to the team in the clubhouse as the players broke out the bubbly and began a spraying celebration.

"I don't ever want to disrespect the things we've already accomplished, but when you're in the moment everything feels like it's the best of all time," Hinch said. "We've done a lot of good things around here over the last five years that I've been here. Every accomplishment seems to be building and building to being better. I like hanging flags; flags for divisions matter, flags for the World Series matter, and I want our guys to appreciate that."

Springer, the MVP of the 2017 World Series, had two chances to tie the big league record for home runs in a game. He popped up with the bases loaded in the fifth and grounded out in the seventh.

Verlander (20-6) yielded six hits and two runs in five innings to reach 20 wins for the second time in his career and the first since winning the AL MVP and Cy Young Award in 2011, when he went 24-5 for Detroit. This year's AL Cy Young front-runner struck out five to leave him six strikeouts shy of becoming the 18th pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,000.

The 36-year-old righty has fanned 288 this season, second most in his career and second in the majors behind teammate Gerrit Cole.

Verlander, who leads the AL with a 2.53 ERA, is the first Astros pitcher to win 20 games since Dallas Keuchel went 20-8 during his Cy Young campaign in 2015.

It's the second time Verlander has started a game in which the Astros clinched the division after he did it soon after he was acquired from Detroit in 2017.

"The last time I clinched the division for the Houston Astros we went on to do some pretty special things that year," he said. "Glad to be out there. These moments as an organization are so special. I'm just so happy to be a part of it."

The Astros won their ninth division title. They took the NL West in 1980 and 1986, the NL Central in 1997-99 and 2001 and their three most recent titles in the AL.

Springer homered in his first three at-bats to help Houston take a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning. The Astros added six runs in the fifth, highlighted by a two-run homer from Alex Bregman to make it 10-2.

"The first at-bat was huge just because we're all waiting to get the lead so we can feel like we're going to clinch," Hinch said. "George does it within the first couple of pitches. He followed it up with a couple more homers. ... Our vibe was really good today. We wanted to celebrate today."

The Astros added six runs in a fifth, highlighted by a two-run homer from Alex Bregman to make it 10-2.

Springer, who has a career-best 38 home runs this season, got to work immediately, sending Jose Rodriguez's first pitch into left-center field for his franchise-record 12th leadoff homer this season. That left him one shy of the MLB record for leadoff homers in a season, set by Alfonso Soriano with the Yankees in 2003.

Jared Walsh and Michael Hermosillo hit back-to-back triples with two outs in the second to tie it up.

Los Angeles manager Brad Ausmus was asked if seeing the Astros celebrate on Sunday could provide motivation to his team.

"You hope for the younger guys," he said. "Older guys probably just look the other way. ... It's a lot more fun to be on that side."

Aledmys Diaz singled with no outs in the second and Springer connected off Rodriguez (0-1) again with two outs to put the Astros up 3-1.

There were two outs in the fourth when Springer sent a fastball from Jose Suarez into the seats in left field to make it 4-2.

The record of four homers has been done 18 times, mostly recently by J.D. Martinez for Arizona in 2017. This was the 14th time in a regular-season game in franchise history that an Astros player has hit three homers and the second time this season after rookie Yordan Alvarez also did it.

Alexander Zverev won a deciding rubber against Milos Raonic in Switzerland to earn Team Europe a dramatic 13-11 win over Team World in the Laver Cup.

Zverev beat Raonic 6-4 3-6 10-4 for Team Europe's third victory in a row.

Team World were 7-5 down overnight but John Isner and Jack Sock overcame Roger Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas 5-7 6-4 10-8 in the doubles to put them 8-7 up.

Taylor Fritz beat Dominic Thiem to make it 11-7 but Team Europe won after Federer beat Isner and Zverev also won.

Fritz secured a narrow 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 10-5 victory over Thiem, while 20-time Grand Slam winner Federer, playing in his home country, claimed a 6-4 7-6 (7-3) win over Isner in Geneva.

Both sides had player withdrawals for injuries on the final day, with Rafael Nadal pulling out for Team Europe and Nick Kyrgios for Team World.

Nadal was supposed to partner Federer in the doubles and face Kyrgios in a singles tie.

The Spaniard was replaced by Tsitsipas in the doubles, while Thiem came in for him in the singles ties - in which Fritz stood in for Kyrgios.

Team World have yet to win the competition since its inception three years ago.

"I'm very proud of my team," said Team Europe skipper Bjorn Borg. "I'm a very happy captain."

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Michael Cooper completed a weekend sweep of Pirelli GT4 America Sprint competition on Sunday at Road America.

Sunday’s Pirelli GT4 America Sprint race saw the green flag waved under wet and rainy conditions as Saturday’s race winner and championship leader Michael Cooper lead the field to the green flag in his No. 10 Blackdog Speed Shop McLaren 570S GT4.

At the start, Spencer Pumpelly and the No. 66 TRG Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR fell to fourth from second, but quickly moved back into the third position as the field went to turn five. Pumpelly continued his charge past Shane Lewis and the No. 72 Robinson Racing Camaro GT4 at Canada Corner for second and went into pursuit of Cooper for the lead.

While Drew Staveley and the No. 12 Ian Lacy Racing Ford Mustang GT4 pulled away from the rest of the Am field, Alan Brynjolfsson and the No. 7 Park Place Porsche 718 Cayman CS MR got past Tony Gaples in the No. 11 Blackdog Speed Shop McLaren 570S GT4 for second position in class, as the owner/driver continued to fall through the order in the wet conditions, ending up fifth.

With 13 minutes off the clock, Staveley was spun out of the class lead after contact with Jarrett Andretti and the No. 18 Andretti Autosport McLaren 570S GT4 at Canada Corner. Staveley was able to continue but would fall to second place, handing the class lead to Brynjolfsson. A full course caution was called shortly after as rain continued to pound the circuit.

With 23 minutes remaining on the clock, the race was red flagged and would not restart, handing the weekend sweep to Cooper.