Second-round play at the Sanderson Farms Championship was suspended by darkness Friday night in Mississippi.

The horn sounded at 8:03 p.m. ET, with much of the second wave still on the golf course at the Country Club of Jackson. The event remains behind schedule after severe weather washed out play Thursday afternoon, prompting an early restart Friday.

Fifty-seven players will return Saturday morning to compete their second rounds when play resumes at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Ben An at 12 under par leads by two shots over J.T. Poston, George McNeill, Scottie Scheffler and Tom Hoge, all of whom have completed 36 holes.

Hoge, the 18-hole co-leader following a first-round 64, finished his second round in the dark Friday night, holing a 4-footer on the ninth green to close out a 2-under 70.

Notables outside the projected 3-under cut line include Lucas Glover (-2), Cameron Smith (-2), Doug Ghim (E), Maverick McNealy (E through 12), 17-year-old Akshay Bhatia (E), and Jimmy Walker (+2).

Antonio Brown has been released by his second NFL team in less than two weeks. The New England Patriots announced Friday they were parting ways with the star wide receiver, whom they signed when he was released by the Oakland Raiders just before Week 1.

Brown has been publicly accused of sexual misconduct by two different women in the time since the Patriots signed him, and once new allegations of his behavior toward one of those women surfaced overnight Thursday, the Patriots decided they'd had enough.

It has been a bizarre saga for Brown since he forced his way out of Pittsburgh via trade during the offseason. His time with the Raiders was marked by controversy over his preferred choice of helmet, the accidental freezing of his feet in a cryotherapy chamber and a public feud with team management over fines for missing work. The Patriots agreed to terms with him hours after his release from Oakland on Sept. 7, but it wasn't long before far more serious controversies began to surface.

Brown is under NFL investigation and without a job. Here's a look at some of the key facts of the situation as it stands:

Why did the Patriots cut him now?

The Patriots claim they did not know when they signed Brown on Sept. 9 that his former trainer Britney Taylor was planning to file a lawsuit against him alleging sexual assault. She did that three days later, but New England kept him on the team last week, and he played in their Week 2 victory over the Miami Dolphins.

This week, a Sports Illustrated story was published that included a fresh allegation of sexual misconduct against Brown by a different woman. That woman told Sports Illustrated on Thursday that Brown had sent her intimidating and threatening text messages after the story ran, and her attorneys said Thursday they were sharing those texts and that information with league investigators. The Patriots woke up to that news Friday morning and, according to sources, held a series of meetings to determine the best course of action in light of the most recent development and all of the issues that were piling up around Brown.

Coach Bill Belichick, who has control over the composition of the team's roster, walked out of his regular Friday news conference because he didn't want to answer questions about Brown, and the reporters who cover the team understandably kept asking them anyway. Several hours later, the Patriots released a short statement that read, "The New England Patriots are releasing Antonio Brown. We appreciate the hard work of many people over the last 11 days, but we feel that it is best to move in a different direction at this time."

Will the NFL take action against Brown?

The NFL's investigation into Brown's off-field conduct began Monday when league investigators interviewed Taylor, who filed the lawsuit last week accusing Brown of sexual assault. That investigation, a league source said Friday after Brown's release, "will continue." The league has been interviewing other witnesses besides Taylor this week and has been gathering information on all of the accusations against Brown. At this time, the league is not scheduled to interview Brown. Usually, the interview with the player happens at the end of the investigation, after the league has compiled all of its evidence.

Often, the NFL will put a player who is under investigation on the commissioner's exempt list, which keeps him off the field but still allows him to be paid while the investigation is conducted. But a league source said Friday that a player must be signed to a team to be eligible for the list, which means Brown can't be put there unless another team signs him.

Will he end up being suspended?

To know that, we would have to know more about the league's findings so far and what will be revealed as the investigation continues.

Could he serve the suspension while not signed by a team?

Yes, if Brown were to be suspended, he could technically serve the suspension while he was a free agent.

Let's say, for example, the league decided to suspend him eight games (literally just speculation here, just picking a figure out of the air) and the decision came down today (which it won't). He would be suspended for the next eight weeks, meaning he would be eligible to play in Week 11, even if he didn't sign with another team until a month from now.

Could another team sign him? And will one?

Brown is a free agent and can sign with any team. There's no way to predict or account for the actions of all 32 teams. Realistically, though, any team that signs Brown would almost certainly want to wait until the investigation into him is completed and it knows what discipline, if any, he would be facing.

We can't rule it out, but it would be very surprising if a team signed him while the NFL's investigation was still ongoing.

How much money did this whole thing cost the Patriots?

That's going to be a matter for arbitrators and courts. The one-year contract Brown signed with the Patriots on Sept. 9 included a $9 million signing bonus and $1 million in fully guaranteed 2019 salary.

If a player is on the roster at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, he gets paid for that week, so the Patriots technically would have paid him two game checks worth $62,500 (one-sixteenth of $1 million) each. So, he earned $125,000 in salary -- plus a $33,333 per-game roster bonus for the one game he played -- for his time there. Now, the salary was guaranteed, but the Patriots can easily argue that the circumstances that led to his release voided those guarantees and that they don't have to pay them.

The signing bonus is trickier, since NFL contract language that voids guaranteed salary doesn't automatically find a player in default of his signing bonus. Technically, the Patriots haven't paid any of it yet. The first $5 million was due this coming Monday, and the remaining $4 million was deferred until Jan. 15.

New England probably won't want to pay any of that signing bonus, and a league source said the team's way out of it is through a representation warranty clause that says it's a breach of contract if Brown didn't disclose an existing situation that would have prevented his continued availability (that is, if he knew about Taylor's pending lawsuit and didn't tell the Patriots before he signed with them). Another source said the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) considers a signing bonus "money earned," regardless of the payment schedule, so any attempt by the Patriots to avoid paying the signing-bonus money probably would result in a grievance filed by Brown and the union.

Part of the NFLPA's job is to push back on teams' attempts to get out of contracts, so any team action that potentially would set a precedent of not paying signing-bonus money probably would result in a fight between the union and the league and/or team. The Raiders, as a general rule, don't include signing-bonus money in their deals, and Brown's was not an exception. So their attempts to void guaranteed salary and recoup the money they spent on him would be less likely to incur a grievance than would the Patriots' effort to escape signing-bonus payments.

And what about salary-cap charges?

Since Brown was released after June 1, the Patriots can split the charge for the signing bonus over the next two years. Add in the $1 million salary for this year and New England's cap charges for Brown would be $5.75 million in 2019 and $4.75 million in 2020. If the team were able to successfully fight to get all of the salary and bonus money back, it would get back this year's $5.75 million as a salary-cap credit in 2020, and the $4.75 million charge for next year would be wiped away.

But let's step back for a second and realize that there are currently three NFL teams carrying dead-money salary-cap charges for Brown in 2019: The Pittsburgh Steelers, who traded him to the Raiders in the spring, are carrying a $21.12 million dead-money charge on their cap for Brown, and the Raiders are carrying a $1,193,627 dead-money charge this year and another $666,667 next year.

Brown was on Oakland's roster as of 4 p.m. ET the Tuesday before the Raiders' Week 1 game, so they're technically on the hook for $860,294 in salary (one-seventeenth of the $14.625 million they were scheduled to pay him in 2019). The rest of the dead money in Oakland is the result of workout bonuses treated as signing bonus for cap purposes. Like the Patriots, the Raiders can (and will) fight to get their money back, and if they do, they'll get cap credits for it in 2020.

Is Brown entitled to termination pay?

He could be. NFL rules allow a player, once in his career, to file for and collect termination pay if he is released by a team. If the player is on that team's roster for Week 1, he is entitled to 100% of his base salary in termination pay. If he is not on the roster for Week 1, he is entitled to 25% of his base salary in termination pay.

Brown was not, technically, on any team's Week 1 roster, since he was released by the Raiders before 4 p.m. ET on the day before the season's first Sunday and not officially signed by the Patriots until two days later. He technically would be entitled to $250,000 (25% of $1 million) in termination pay if he wanted to pursue that. But as with the guaranteed salary, it's all up in the air because of extenuating off-field circumstances that could affect Brown's right to any of his money at all.

LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill remains undeterred despite a season in which he missed 12 weeks because of a flexor tendon strain in his pitching elbow and then reinjured his knee last week in the first inning of his return.

Eight days after suffering what was diagnosed as a strained left MCL against the Baltimore Orioles, Hill threw nearly 20 pitches to a handful of teammates Friday afternoon and reported no pain.

He will start against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday, throwing the first two innings, then pitch in the regular-season finale against the San Francisco Giants if all goes well.

Hill, who is less than six months away from his 40th birthday, is still hopeful of helping the Dodgers during the postseason.

"Obviously I'd like that to be as a starter," he said. "I don't know how that's going to be laid out. It's not my call. My thing is just getting ready."

Hill had been toying with the position of his left foot on the rubber in hopes of diminishing the pain in his push-off leg. But the biggest difference, he said, was felt by the brace he sported on his left knee during the session. The pain Hill initially felt was from the breaking up of scar tissue, which subsided quicker this time than it did when he experienced something similar during spring training.

"It took three or four days, and then it started to feel pretty good," Hill said. "I would feel confident to go out there and pitch without the brace, but at the same time I know it's not a very smart idea to go out there and possibly tweak it again."

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has said his team would be "a little unconventional" with its fourth starter in the postseason, using a combination of relievers rather than one traditional starting pitcher. The strategy was a byproduct of Hill either being unavailable or not properly stretched out by then. But Hill's session offered encouragement, even though the extent to which he can help remains hazy.

Roberts didn't notice Hill compensating for his troublesome elbow or knee.

"He was letting it go," Roberts said. "We don't have any information as far as pitch characteristics, but as far as swings, the fastball was coming out well and the breaking ball had the right shape."

NEW YORK -- New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia is getting set to close his career as a reliever.

New York manager Aaron Boone said before Friday night's game against Toronto that Sabathia will work out of the bullpen next week as the American League East champions prepare for the playoffs.

The 39-year-old lefty has pitched in relief just once in his 19-season career, going 1⅓ innings in a deciding Game 5 loss to Detroit in the 2011 AL Division Series.

Sabathia's other 583 appearances have all come as a starter. He is 5-8 in 22 starts with a 4.99 ERA this season and has dealt with knee trouble.

Sabathia has said this will be his final season playing in the majors.

The Yankees are still figuring out their rotation for the postseason, which begins Oct. 4 with the best-of-five division series. Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, J.A. Happ and Luis Severino are among the candidates to start.

Severino came back from a lat injury and made his season debut with four shutout innings in a start Tuesday. Domingo Germán, the team's top winner at 18-4, was put on administrative leave Thursday under Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy and his status for the postseason is uncertain.

Boone said he anticipates using Sabathia in a controlled setting next week at Tampa Bay. If that goes well, Boone said he would try it "a little more on the fly" next weekend at Texas. Boone envisions a "significant role" for Sabathia in the postseason.

"That's why we want to do this a couple of times. He's certainly on board with it and wants to do it," Boone said.

"I feel like for obviously as much as he has to deal with the knee, I feel like he's in at least a pretty good place right now to be able to do it," Boone said.

Another night, another powerful statement from Pete Alonso.

The rookie New York Mets slugger on Friday hit his 50th home run of the season, sending a towering two-run shot to deep right-center field as the Mets built a 5-0 lead against the Reds in Cincinnati.

Alonso continues to chase the rookie home run record. New York Yankees slugger Aaron Juge set it with 52 in 2017, but Alonso is now just two away from tying him, with the remainder of Friday's game and then nine full contests still to go after that.

Reds reliever Sal Romano was the victim Friday, as he watched Alonso crush a 96 mph fastball some 437 feet at Great American Ball Park. It was Alonso's 34th home run of at least 400 feet; the only other players with more than 30 such homers this year are the Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout (32) and Kansas City Royals' Jorge Soler (31).

At 24 years, 287 days, Alonso is the third-youngest player to hit 50 in a season. Only Prince Fielder (23 years, 139 days) and Willie Mays (24, 137) were younger.

Alonso became the 30th player in major league history to have at least one season with 50-plus homers. The last non-rookie to hit 50 home runs in a season for New York's teams was Alex Rodriguez, who had 54 en route to winning American League MVP in 2007.

It's been a record-setting season already for Alonso. He set the National League rookie home run mark with his 40th more than a month ago. The following week, he set the Mets' franchise home run record with his 42nd.

The Mets are the 21st franchise with a 50-HR hitter and the 12th in the NL. The only NL franchises without one are the Rockies, Dodgers and Nationals.

New York (79-73) entered Friday 3½ games behind in the race for the second NL wild-card spot.

ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.

ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Braves clinched their second straight NL East title as Ronald Acuna Jr. hit his 41st homer in a 6-0 win over San Francisco on Friday night that eliminated the Giants from postseason contention in Bruce Bochy's last year as San Francisco manager.

Acuna scored four runs to back Mike Foltynewicz (8-5), who allowed three hits in eight innings. Atlanta's 19th division title tied the New York Yankees for the most since Major League Baseball split into divisions for the 1969 season.

Atlanta's win ensured it will finish ahead of second-place Washington and will start the NL Division Series at home on Oct. 3, most likely against the NL Central champion.

Braves players ran onto the infield to celebrate as soon as Acuna caught Alex Dickerson's game-ending flyout.

Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev won their Laver Cup doubles match as Team Europe lead Team World 3-1 after day one of the event in Geneva, Switzerland.

Federer and Zverev beat Jack Sock and Denis Shapovalov 6-3 7-5.

Shapovalov also lost to Dominic Thiem while Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas beat American Taylor Fritz.

Sock had earlier beaten Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1 7-6 to secure Team World's only point of the opening day.

Shapovalov and Sock converted just one of 16 break points, failing to take any of six set points in one game off Zverev's serve during the crucial second set.

After Zverev held serve to level the set at 5-5, a double fault from Shapovalov in the next game gave the Team Europe pair a crucial break.

Federer served out the next game to secure victory and move further ahead in the all-time Laver Cup standings with 13 points.

Speaking in front of his home crowd, Swiss world number three Federer said: "All of us tennis players travel around the world for 10, 11 months of the year.

"There's no place like playing at home, so this is a very special night for me."

Austrian world number five Thiem saved three match points against Canada's Shapovalov in the opening singles match of the competition before going on to win 6-4 5-7 13-11 courtesy of a super tie-break.

Tsitsipas also needed a super tie-break to overcome fellow tournament debutant Fritz 6-2 1-6 10-7.

That put Europe back in front after American Sock became the first Team World player ever to win an opening-day singles match with victory over Fognini.

Two points per match are on offer on day two of the three-day tournament, with the first team to reach 13 points declared the winner.

The Laver Cup is into its third year but this is the first time the tournament is an officially sanctioned ATP Tour event.

The previous tournaments, in Prague and Chicago, took place on an exhibition basis.

England will contest the 2020 World Cup without doctor Phil Riley as part of their backroom staff after he resigned in the build-up to the tournament.

Riley, who became team doctor almost 12 months ago, left for "personal reasons" according to the Rugby Football Union.

His final game was England's World Cup warm-up game against Italy.

Eddie Jones' side start their campaign against Tonga on Sunday, with Rob Young brought in to replace Riley for what is his second spell in the role.

Young previously worked under Jones from 2017-18 before stepping down himself, also for personal reasons, to create the vacancy for Riley.

More than 25 personnel have left in the wake of Jones taking charge four years ago, many of them signing non-disclosure agreements that are strictly enforced by the RFU.

RICHMOND, Va. – Austin Cindric will start his pursuit of the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship from the pole position after topping qualifying on Friday afternoon at Richmond Raceway.

Cindric turned a lap of 22.708 seconds (118.901 mph) around the three-quarter-mile D-shaped oval to earn the pole with his No. 22 MoneyLion Ford.

He’ll look to deliver Team Penske a victory during the Go Bowling 250 under the lights and advance his way into the second round of the playoffs right away, but Cindric did have a nervous moment on his money lap.

The son of Team Penske president Tim Cindric just scraped the outside wall exiting turn two on his second lap, dusting off the right-rear quarter panel of his Mustang before reining it in on the other end.

“Man, on these short tracks you just have to get every hundredth (of a second), but I guess hindsight being 20/20, if we had known we had the pole by a tenth and some change … maybe we take it a touch easier,” Cindric chuckled. “But this is great, to get on the pole in the first round and the first race of the playoffs. It’s awesome. We’ve got MoneyLion on pole and hopefully we can stay there the whole race.”

Justin Allgaier will join Cindric on the front row, after a time of 22.826 seconds (118.286 mph) with the No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro out of the JR Motorsports stable.

Regular-season champion Tyler Reddick was third, just in front of Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe.

Harrison Burton qualified sixth-quick, best among the non-playoff drivers, while playoff contenders Justin Haley and Noah Gragson followed in seventh and eighth, respectively.

Another driver hoping to crash the party, Gray Gaulding, slotted in ninth ahead of Michael Annett.

The Go Bowling 250 goes green at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on NBCSN, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: NASCAR Xfinity Series; Richmond Raceway; Sept. 20, 2019

1. #22 – Austin Cindric, 22.708 seconds (118.901 mph)
2. #7 – Justin Allgaier, 22.826 seconds (118.286 mph)
3. #2 – Tyler Reddick, 22.863 seconds (118.095 mph)
4. #20 – Christopher Bell, 22.961 seconds (117.591 mph)
5. #98 – Chase Briscoe, 22.973 seconds (117.529 mph)
6. #18 – Harrison Burton, 22.975 seconds (117.519 mph)
7. #11 – Justin Haley, 23.037 seconds (117.203 mph)
8. #9 – Noah Gragson, 23.042 seconds (117.177 mph)
9. #08 – Gray Gaulding, 23.088 seconds (116.944 mph)
10. #1 – Michael Annett, 23.095 seconds (116.908 mph)
11. #19 – Brandon Jones, 23.107 seconds (116.848 mph)
12. #00 – Cole Custer, 23.111 seconds (116.827 mph)
13. #39 – Ryan Sieg, 23.116 (116.802 mph)
14. #51 – Jeremy Clements, 23.121 seconds (116.777 mph)
15. #8 – Zane Smith, 23.136 seconds (116.701 mph)
16. #21 – Joe Graf Jr., 23.166 seconds (116.550 mph)
17. #89 – Landon Cassill, 23.189 seconds (116.435 mph)
18. #07 – Ray Black II, 23.310 seconds (115.830 mph)
19. #01 – Ryan Repko, 23.456 seconds (115.109 mph)
20. #61 – Chad Finchum, 23.492 seconds (114.933 mph)
21. #4 – Stephen Leicht, 23.522 seconds (114.786 mph)
22. #86 – Brandon Brown, 23.525 seconds (114.772 mph)
23. #99 – Matt Mills, 23.629 seconds (114.266 mph)
24. #74 – Tyler Matthews, 23.638 seconds (114.223 mph)
25. #17 – Joe Nemechek, 23.652 seconds (114.155 mph)
26. #90 – Dillon Bassett, 23.660 seconds (114.117 mph)
27. #5 – Vinnie Miller, 23.667 seconds (114.083 mph)
28. #36 – Josh Williams, 23.685 seconds (113.996 mph)
29. #52 – David Starr, 23.810 seconds (113.398 mph)
30. #35 – Joey Gase, 23.863 seconds (113.146 mph)
31. #66 – Mike Marlar, 23.883 seconds (113.051 mph)
32. #0 – Garrett Smithley, 23.906 seconds (112.942 mph)
33. #15 – B.J. McLeod, 23.919 seconds (112.881 mph)
34. #78 – J.J. Yeley, 23.942 seconds, (112.773 mph)
35. #93 – Hermie Sadler, 24.361 seconds (110.833 mph)
36. #38 – C.J. McLaughlin, 24.394 seconds (110.683 mph)
37. #13 – Stan Mullis, 25.289 seconds (106.766 mph)
38. #23 – John Hunter Nemechek, NT (0.000 mph)

For the second Friday in a row, Scottie Scheffeler finds himself near the top of a PGA Tour leaderboard.

After sharing the lead through two rounds last week at the Greenbrier, Scheffler at 10 under par sits two off the pace set by Ben An heading into the weekend at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

A college standout while at the University of Texas, the 23-year-old now finds himself a fully exempt rookie on the PGA Tour following a pair of wins earlier this year on the Korn Ferry Tour. Scheffler topped that circuit's Finals and overall points list to secure his priority status.

Coming off a tie for seventh last week in West Virginia in his first official start as a member, Scheffler hopes to prove a quick study when it comes to contending on Tour.

"Yeah, it's always nice getting that experience." he said. "I played in the last group on Saturday last week. Didn't have my best stuff on the weekend, but it was definitely good experience. Hung in there pretty well to finish top 10, so it was still a solid week overall."

His best stuff is pretty good — he signed for 62 in the second round last week — and so too, apparently, is his less-than-best. Scheffler opened with five birdies and a bogey in his first six holes Friday en route to a 66. He then said after the round that his "swing didn't feel too great today," but that he "got it around."

In his last four starts, from the start of the Korn Ferry Finals though last week's PGA Tour opener, Scheffler has finished first, T-11, T-7, T-7.

Technically, it's a fresh start, a new campaign on a new tour, but the former Longhorn is picking up right where he left off.

"Yeah, it's fun being out here," he said. "Game feels like it's in good shape, so it's nice getting off to a good start to the season.

"It's still very early — only six rounds in. I'm in good position this weekend; see what happens."