ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Rays two-way player Brendan McKay is scheduled to make his hitting debut against the Baltimore Orioles two days after winning his first appearance as a starting pitcher.

McKay was in the lineup as the designated hitter Monday night and batting eighth.

"It's great," McKay said. "You get to get everything out of the way quick and then you get those out of the way and then you're free to just relax and have fun and play."

The left-hander took a perfect game into the sixth inning in his big league debut Saturday against Texas. He was pulled after allowing one hit over six scoreless innings.

"I'm excited to see him hit," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "We saw a really, really good pitching performance. If he can do that at the plate, we've got something working, I guess."

McKay, a first baseman limited to DH this season, hit .216 (96 for 444) with 14 homers and 79 RBI over three minor league seasons. After a promotion this year from Double-A Montgomery, he had a .265 average (13 for 49) with four homers and 10 RBI at Triple-A Durham.

McKay is scheduled to pitch again Friday night against the AL East-leading New York Yankees.

"There's satisfaction in knowing that you're going to get a chance to do both," McKay said.

McKay will be available to pinch-hit on days he doesn't pitch or DH. He will have a bullpen session Tuesday.

"I'm still learning and asking questions kind of on the fly here," Cash said.

The Rays have another two-way player on the horizon at Durham with Jake Cronenworth. The infielder entered Monday hitting .338 with nine homers and 38 RBI, while allowing two unearned runs and four hits over 6 1/3 innings in six games.

Cronenworth has pitched as an opener five times and last week started a game at shortstop before pitching 1 1/3 relief innings.

"Look at what he's done offensively, and the pitching makes him that much more interesting of a player that can help a major league team," Cash said.

NEW YORK -- A month after setting a record for most home runs in a month, big league batters did it again and are on pace to shatter the season mark.

Batters hit 1,142 home runs in June, seven more than they had hit in May.

Five of the top six home run months have occurred in the last three years. August 2017 is third at 1,119, followed by June 2017 (1,101), May 2000 (1,069) and May 2017 (1,060).

A total of 3,421 home runs were hit in 1,255 games through Sunday, an average of 2.73 per game. That is up 19% from the 2.28 average through June last year, when 2,822 home runs were hit in 1,236 games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Batters are on pace to hit 6,624 home runs -- well above the record 6,105 set in 2017 and up from 5,585 last year.

Milwaukee's Christian Yelich leads the major leagues with 29 home runs, followed by New York Mets rookie Pete Alonso (28) and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Cody Bellinger (27).

A year after strikeouts surpassed hits for the first time, whiffs remain ahead: 21,871 to 21,554. Though there were more strikeouts than hits in March (949 to 848) and April (6,799 to 6,371), hitting has picked up in the warmer months. There were 7,170 hits to 7,137 strikeouts in May and 7,165 hits to 6,986 strikeouts in June.

The major league batting average was .251 through June. That is up three percentage points from last year's average, the lowest since 1972 -- the year before the American League started using the designated hitter.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died Monday, the team announced. He was 27.

Police responded to a report of an unconscious man in a hotel room in Southlake, Texas, and pronounced Skaggs dead at the scene. No foul play is suspected and an investigation is ongoing, police said.

"It is with great sorrow that we report Tyler Skaggs passed away earlier today in Texas," an Angels statement said. "Tyler has, and always will be, an important part of the Angels Family. Our thoughts and prayers are with his entire family during this devastating time."

The Angels' game against the Texas Rangers scheduled for Monday was postponed.

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told media that he had only discussed the postponement of Monday's game with MLB, but he would be open to talking if the league feels more should be done.

MLB posted a statement to Twitter from commissioner Rob Manfred that read in part, "All of us at Major League Baseball extend our deepest condolences to Tyler's wife Carli, their family, their friends and all of his Angels' teammates and colleagues. We will support the Angels' organization through this most difficult period, and we will make a variety of resources available to Tyler's teammates and other members of the baseball family."

We are deeply saddened by the tragic news that Tyler Skaggs, 27, passed away this morning. https://t.co/q150hyH01J pic.twitter.com/y1X5ctlWDl

— MLB (@MLB) July 1, 2019

Skaggs last pitched Saturday, going five innings at home against Oakland. He had gone 7-7 this year in 15 starts, recording a 4.29 ERA with 78 strikeouts in 79⅔ innings.

A Los Angeles-area native, Skaggs was born in Woodland Hills and went to high school in Santa Monica. His mother, Debbie, was the longtime softball coach at Santa Monica High School. She famously provided postgame tips on his pitching mechanics, even deep into his big-league career.

Skaggs was drafted by the Angels with the 40th pick in the first round of the 2009 draft, the same Angels draft class as Mike Trout. They were roommates in the low minor leagues before Skaggs was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in August 2010.

Skaggs made his major league debut two years later, and Arizona traded him back to the Angels after the 2013 season.

Rest in peace, Tyler. You will be missed dearly. pic.twitter.com/4DDTMZssNo

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 1, 2019

Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark said in a statement that "the fraternity of players is stunned and saddened today by the untimely death of Tyler Skaggs."

Skaggs' death comes 10 years after another Angels pitcher, Nick Adenhart, died in a car crash along with two other people in April 2009. A drunk driver was convicted of murder and sentenced to 51 years to life in 2010.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Vijay Shankar has been ruled out of the 2019 World Cup with a fractured toe. Mayank Agarwal is set to fly out as his replacement and will join the squad later this week. India have two fixtures remaining, against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on July 2 and July 6 respectively.

"Vijay sustained a non-displaced fracture of the left big toe, which will require a minimum of three weeks to heal. The injury rules him out of the ongoing World Cup," stated a BCCI media release.

Vijay was struck on his left foot by a Jasprit Bumrah yorker at training on June 20. The injury was not perceived to be serious initially and Vijay was part of India's XI for the match against Afghanistan on June 22 and West Indies on June 27. However, the injury flared up on Friday, two days before the England game. On match-eve, he missed an option training session even as the support staff oversaw rigorous net sessions for Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant, who replaced Vijay in India's XI on Sunday.

The selection of Agarwal and not Ambati Rayudu, one of five stand-bys named earlier, is possibly a sign of him being looked at as the third opener. KL Rahul spent considerable time off the field during the England game after bruising his back while attempting a catch at the boundary. It was deemed to be an external injury and he eventually returned to open the batting and was dismissed for a nine-ball duck.

Agarwal, uncapped in the shorter formats, Agarwal made his Test debut in Melbourne in December last year after being called in as a replacement for the injured Prithvi Shaw. He was to undergo a fitness assessment this week before flying out to the Caribbean with the India A team for five one-dayers and the third unofficial Test.

Agarwal has been a prolific List A batsman for Karnataka, averaging 48.71 in 75 innings, having aggregated 3605 runs with 12 hundreds and 14 half-centuries. He had a prolific run in England with the India A squad last year, scoring 287 runs in four one-day innings at an average of 71.75 and strike rate of 105.90.

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22-year-old clocks the fastest 20km time by a British athlete in Britain, while Amy Hunt wasn’t the only athlete to impress in Mannheim

While the Prefontaine Classic action from Stanford can be read about here, the Watford BMC Grand Prix here, and Amy Hunt’s record-breaking run in Mannheim here, there were numerous other top-class performances worldwide and on British shores over the weekend.

British Grand Prix of Race Walking, June 29

Callum Wilkinson produced the fastest 20km performance by a British athlete in Britain when he beat training partner Tom Bosworth to victory at the British Grand Prix of Race Walking in Leeds on Saturday.

The 22-year-old 10km British record-holder clocked a course record of 81:46 at Roundhay Park as he not only beat the man who has won this event for the past three years but also won the national title and secured his spot on the British team for the IAAF World Championships later this year.

Bosworth also booked his Doha place. Although his time of 84:10 for second was outside of the world qualifying mark, the Commonwealth silver medallist had already produced the required standard earlier this year.

“This is my first national title and to win it in Leeds in front of my friend is extra special,” said Wilkinson.

Italian Teodorico Caporaso (84:33) took third overall, while British under-23 50km record-holder Cameron Corbishley was fourth (third in the British race) in 84:42.

The women’s race was won by Pembrokeshire Harriers’ Heather Lewis in 94:49, ahead of Cardiff’s Bethan Dayies (96:59) and Erika Kelly (1:42:54). The winning time was outside the Doha qualifying mark of 93:30, however.

Mannheim, Germany, June 29-30

Aside from Amy Hunt’s sensational 22.42 200m, there were plenty of other top junior performances at this meeting.

Joshua Zeller improved to 13.26 in winning the 110m hurdles to go second all-time in the UK in the junior event. His previous PB was 13.49 from this event last year and he moved ahead of world indoor champion Andy Pozzi, who ran 13.29 in this meeting in 2011, on the all-time lists.

Holly Mills improved her PB to 6.51m in the long jump to move in the UK all-time top 10 juniors and Josie Oliamyk to 6.34m in second.

Multi-eventer Mills also improved her javelin best to 32.95m at the meeting.

Joe Ferguson won his 200m in a PB 20.76 while Aaron Sexton won another heat in 20.79.

Lucy-Jane Matthews won her 100m hurdles in a PB 13.53.

Alastair Chalmers won his 400m hurdles in 50.60 while the British men’s relay team ran 40.04 and the women 44.66, with both line-ups leading the way.

Seniors also competed and Daryll Neita improved her legal season’s best 100m to 11.21.

La Chaux de-Fonds, Switzerland, June 30

Imani Lansiquot went fourth all-time in the British women’s 100m rankings with a 11.09/1.9 100m clocking for third in a race wn by Tebego Mamathu’s 11.04.

Jodie Williams won her 400m to go top of the UK rankings with a PB 51.22.

Emily Diamond was also inside the world qualifying mark of 51.80 with a 51.74 clocking in a different race, though times here do not count for qualifying.

Alex Wilson won the 200m in a Swiss record 19.98, while  Harry Aikines-Ayeetey ran a windy 10.00 100m heat before a 10.13 final.

Zhang Yaoguang won the long jump with a leap of 8.25m.

Anthony Zambrano’s Colombian 400m record 44.68 defeated Davide Re’s Italina mark of 44.77 while, in another race, Dwayne Cowan ran a season’s best 45.77.

Ratingen IAAF Decathlon, Germany, June 29-30

German Kaz Kazmirek won the Decathlon with an 8444 score while Verena Preiner won the Heptathlon in an Austrian record 6591 score.

Long Beach, USA, June 29

Olympic and World medallist Will Claye produced a 18.14/0.4 world-leading triple jump to go third all-time behind Jonathan Edwards and Christian Taylor

Brittney Reese achieved a 6.95m long jump to go secondin the World 2019 lists.

Bottnaryd, Sweden, June 29

Daniel Stahl went equal fourth on the world discus all-time list with a Swedish record 71.86m and only Jurgen Schult, Virgilijus Alekna and Gert Kanter have thrown further. It is the world’s longest throw since 2008.

Herne Hill Open, June 29

Clare Elms set her 15th British age group record in the first six months of the year as her 2:22.38 800m broke Carolyn Oxton’s 21 year-old mark and former world W55 record.

Harbour Club Last Friday of the Month 5km, London Hyde Park, June 28

There were wins for Andy Greenleaf (15:21) and W50 Susan McDonald (18:45).

Watford Open Graded Meeting, Watford, June 26

Lewis Sullivan went top of the UK under-15 rankings with a 1500m time of 4:08.77.

Lee Valley Four Fest Open, Lee Valley, June 26

Daryl Neita was again inside the World championships qualifying mark with a 100m time of 11.25.

Ghana’s Sean Safo-Antwi ran the fastest men’s 100m with a 10.20 clocking.

Hercules Wimbledon Night of 3000m, June 26

There were British age group records for W55 Clare Elms (10:11.24) and M75 Peter Giles (12:01.82).

Sub-14 5000m runner Owen Hind was fastest with 8:21.00.

Serena Williams has told the BBC she's in a "good place" ahead of this year's Wimbledon tournament.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion spoke to BBC Breakfast's Sally Nugent about motivation, motherhood and recovery.

She said she'd had a "rough, rough time" overcoming recent injuries, but is now no longer in pain.

There are some big names available on a free transfer in summer 2020 from Europe's biggest clubs if they don't put pen to paper soon. Here are the top ones, with the help of Transfermarkt.

Christian Eriksen (Tottenham)

Tottenham were able to avoid a mess by signing Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld up to one-year extensions, meaning they will also expire in 2020, but they haven't made any ground with Eriksen as yet. The Denmark midfielder would be a massive loss and if he doesn't want to commit then a €100m move to Real Madrid looks the best bet.

Marcus Rashford (Man United)

Manchester United have made a habit of adding the option for a further year to all their deals, so there's no fear Rashford will leave in 2020. In fact, he's likely to stay and sign a new contract this summer to double his wages. Meanwhile, Eric Bailly and Nemanja Matic are the other two on the agenda, along with those who are already into their one-year extensions.

David De Gea (Man United)

And, of course, De Gea. Arguably the best goalkeeper around struggled towards the end of the season and those rumours of a move to Real Madrid started up again. Sources have told ESPN that United will move for Atletico's Jan Oblak if De Gea departs.

Nabil Fekir (Lyon)

It seems a long time ago when Fekir was on the verge of a move to Liverpool before it fell through. The France midfielder is in talks over a new deal, but Liverpool are still keen and Chelsea will be watching the situation carefully too.

Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

Sergio Ramos evidently has a deal until 2021 rather than the reported 2020, but Modric does not and at 33 he could well decide it's time to move, having almost joined Inter Milan last year. Goalkeeper Keylor Navas is another who surely won't want to stick around given his lack of playing time.

Edinson Cavani (PSG)

Cavani has cut a frustrated figure at PSG behind Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in goals and status. At 32, he will be considering his next move. Manchester United might also be keen on right-back Thomas Meunier, who looks set to move on before his deal expires at the same time. Thiago Silva is also out of contract, but may have few takers.

Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea)

Now that the Eden Hazard saga has been put to bed finally, Chelsea can turn their attentions to a host of other wingers whose contracts are expiring next summer. Hudson-Odoi has been linked with a move to Bayern Munich but the Blues will want to tie the England international down once he recovers from injury. Willian and Pedro's deals are also expiring, so the club need to act fast.

Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham)

Tottenham have tracked the 19-year-old winger for some time and, helped by the fact that Fulham were relegated, they look set to land him this summer. Sessegnon is worth a reported £35m, which will only get lower as his contract runs down, so Fulham would be wise to sell now.

Timo Werner (RB Leipzig)

Liverpool and Bayern Munich have led the charge to land the 23-year-old Germany striker, who has made it very clear he will not sign an extension at Leipzig. Liverpool stars Sadio Mane and Naby Keita were certainly keen to make their case why he should move to Anfield.

Mario Gotze (Dortmund)

Forever to be known as the man who scored the winner in the 2014 World Cup final for Germany, Gotze may feel like he has some more to prove. Still only 27, after a failed move to Bayern, links to Liverpool (and former boss Jurgen Klopp) won't go away. But the club are in talks over an extension and Portugal left-back Raphael Guerreiro is another that Dortmund will want to keep.

PHILADELPHIA -- Just over a minute into second half stoppage time, the U.S. was clinging to a 1-0 lead in its Gold Cup quarterfinal against Curaçao, and U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter opted to make his second substitution of the night and bring on defender Omar Gonzalez for midfielder Paul Arriola.

Logically, the substitution made sense: Gonzalez's aerial ability would help see the game out. It paid off as the U.S. ultimately prevailed but emotionally, the effect was much different. The move encapsulated a night that was utterly underwhelming.

In this match, the U.S. wasn't facing one of the region's heavyweights, it was facing Curaçao, whose national team was only formed in 2011 after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles and its roster graced with veterans of the Eredivisie. Sure, Curaçao had been the tournament's surprise package by reaching the knockout stages of the Gold Cup for the first time in its history, but it was still ranked 79 by FIFA and considered one of the minnows.

- Ratings: Pulisic 6/10 bails out U.S.
- Gold Cup: Full fixtures schedule

Tournament play is about "survive and advance," as the late collegiate basketball coach Jim Valvano was fond of saying. On this occasion, the U.S. did thanks to Weston McKennie's 25th minute winner, and now it finds itself in the Gold Cup semifinals with a match against Jamaica in Nashville this Wednesday.

"When you get to the knockout stages, everyone wants to move on to the next round, and they're going to give absolutely everything," said U.S. midfielder Christian Pulisic, who assisted on McKennie's goal. "Curaçao, 100 percent wanted that today. You could see that in the way that they played. We came out with the win and we're on to the next one. That's all we're looking at."

None of those facts can excuse this U.S. performance, however.

This was not a win that involved a 40-shot barrage and ab opposition goalkeeper having the game of his life to keep the game close. Rather, this was a win in which the U.S. limped across the finish line, content to cede possession to the tune of a 59.7%-40.3% disadvantage in the second half.

Putting on an extra defender to secure a victory against a relative minnow was sobering to say the least. Despite the win, and fourth consecutive clean sheet, it felt like step backward.

Granted, this was a night when the Americans' press wasn't working, with Curaçao keeper Eloy Room proving adept at finding the open man, enabling the visitors to play out of the back. But the problems went deeper than the U.S. being unable to force turnovers.

McKennie and Michael Bradley looked out of sync defensively in the U.S. midfield, allowing Curaçao to play through them at times with relative ease. On more the one occasion, one could see Bradley desperately trying to chase down a Curaçao attacker from behind, as clear a sign as any that all was not well with the U.S. defense in transition.

What was curious -- and disappointing -- was Berhalter's response to it. With a 1-0 lead, the U.S. sat deeper and dared Curaçao to break them down.

Afterwards, Berhalter was asked if ceding possession was intentional, and he responded by saying: "We weren't going to press the goalie. You saw in the first half that the goalie didn't want to play the ball forward. We were happy not to fall into the trap of trying to press them. It would cost us more energy than it was worth, so we dropped off and mostly didn't press goalkeeper."

Left unexplained was why the U.S. couldn't be the team to keep possession, make Curaçao chase, and prey on their desperation to score a goal that would even the match.

Certainly against high-calibre teams it can be argued that the U.S. isn't adept at the possession game, but it's a task that seems doable in a tournament like the Gold Cup. Even Pulisic sounded a bit conflicted by the approach. "As long as they weren't breaking us down, we were okay in the end," he said. "But obviously we would like to have the ball more than we did today."

It's also not what Berhalter has been preaching since he took over, yet here his conservative impulses took over. It isn't the kind of dynamic play to win fans over either.

The extent to which the approach doesn't bode well for the semi is debatable. Jamaica has skillful attacking players, but they aren't as good in possession as Curaçao. The Reggae Boyz are also willing to use their speed on the counter and, as a recent friendly between the two teams showed, they are savvy with their timing in terms of when and where to pressure the U.S.

But the onus will be on the U.S. attack, one that seems as dependent as ever on Pulisic. On this night, Tyler Boyd was energetic, but didn't take good care of the ball; Arriola, aside from one telling cross that was skied over the bar by Gyasi Zardes, was barely noticeable.

Berhalter acknowledged improvements to the U.S. attack are needed. "I think it's about speed, speed of moments, having a mentality to turn their defenders, having a mentality to disorganize their defense and get behind their defense," he said. "We could have been more aggressive with that tonight for sure."

One obvious change would be to get Jozy Altidore on the field from the start given his holdup play and. more importantly, his ability be a playmaker when he drops deeper into midfield. That would relieve Pulisic from shouldering all of the creative burden and provide another conduit to the wingers.

Yet Berhalter, for whatever reason, seems reluctant to go that route. U.S. Soccer insists Altidore is healthy; Berhalter said that the team's intention in the second half to utilize transition opportunities in attack didn't suit Altidore, so that was why he wasn't used in this match. But with each passing game, it seems Berhalter simply prefers Zardes, as mindboggling as that sounds.

Heading into the Gold Cup, reaching the final was considered the minimum in terms of success for the Americans. Getting there now will require a performance well beyond what was delivered in the quarters.

England's win on Sunday has pushed them to 10 points. What does that mean for the semi-final race?

England's win against India means that Sri Lanka are out. Even if they win their two remaining matches and England lose to New Zealand, Sri Lanka will finish on the same number of points as England, but with one lesser win (because of two rained out matches), which is the first criteria for teams level on points.

With Australia already through, five teams are battling for the three remaining spots: India, New Zealand, England, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Among them, India and New Zealand are better placed, all but through, because of their superior net run rate - explained in more detail below - while England, Pakistan and Bangladesh are fighting for one slot.

Can England still qualify if they lose to New Zealand on Wednesday?

Yes, they can. For that, they will need to hope India beats Bangladesh and Bangladesh beat Pakistan. Such a scenario would have both Bangladesh and Pakistan on nine points, with England qualifying as the fourth team with 10 points.

The weather is set fair at Chester le Street for Wednesday's clash between England and New Zealand. Even if there is a no-result, England will still make it because of their superior net run rate, compared to Bangladesh and Pakistan.

What about Bangladesh and Pakistan? How has England's win affected their chances?

Both sides need 11 points, but as things stand, only one of them can get there because one of their remaining clash is against each other on Friday.

For Pakistan to qualify, they have to beat Bangladesh and hope New Zealand beat England. Similarly, Bangladesh need to win their last two games and then hope New Zealand beat England. Neither side can afford a loss, however.

Are Bangladesh/ Pakistan out for sure if England beat New Zealand? What about the net-run-rate scenarios among the teams on 11 points?

If India lose their two remaining games and if New Zealand lose to England, then three teams - India, New Zealand and Pakistan/Bangladesh - will finish on 11, vying for two spots.

If Pakistan beat Bangladesh and are the third team on 11 points, then New Zealand and India will qualify, as Pakistan's NRR of -0.792 is far too much of a handicap.

For them to nudge ahead, India will have to lose each of their matches by around 150 runs (or the sum of their losses will have to be around 300), and Pakistan will have to beat Bangladesh by around 200 runs.

For Pakistan to go past New Zealand, the result of the two relevant matches - Pakistan beating Bangladesh and England beating New Zealand - will have to be in the region of around 220 runs each.

For Bangladesh, the NRR situation isn't quite as dire, but it is still rather improbable. If, for example, the results of all three matches - Bangladesh's wins versus India and Pakistan, and India's defeat against Sri Lanka - are in the region of around 75 runs, then Bangladesh will go ahead of India on NRR.

To move past New Zealand, Bangladesh will need the results of the three relevant games - wins in their last two games, and New Zealand's loss to England - to be in the region of around 80 runs.

So is it fair to assume that India and New Zealand are both practically through to the last four?

Yes, given the improbable NRR scenarios, India and New Zealand are both pretty much through. The priority for them would be in terms of securing the best possible positions among the top four: India can still finish on top if they win their last two, and Australia lose to South Africa, but a top spot is beyond reach for New Zealand.

The more immediate battle, though, is among England, Pakistan and Bangladesh for the fourth spot.