Alex Morgan scored a record-tying five goals as the United States opened its Women's World Cup campaign with a tournament-record 13-0 win over Thailand in Group F on Tuesday in Reims, France.

After the match, manager Jill Ellis defended her team's aggressive style of play even late in the match when result was beyond doubt.

"This is a world championship, so every team here has been fantastic to get to this point. And I think that to be respectful to opponents is to play hard against opponents. It's a tournament where goal differential is important," Ellis said.

"When you get a deluge of goals like that, it's a good feeling. It builds confidence."

The pre-tournament favorites and defending champions took it right to Thailand in the opening minutes, with a Morgan goal ruled out for offside inside of 10 minutes.

Minutes later, Morgan's second strike would stand up when she found space in between two Thai defenders and headed home a Kelley O'Hara cross to put the U.S. up 1-0.

Rose Lavelle doubled the lead for the Americans before the 20-minute mark, picking up the ball just inside the attacking third, dribbling to the top of the penalty area and smashing a swerving shot past Thailand keeper Sukanya Chor Charoenying.

A set piece led to the third goal for the U.S. just past 30 minutes, as Lindsey Horan hit her close-range shot into the roof of the net. Thailand was lucky to not concede another before the break, with Ellis' team continuing to dominate the match and keep their opponents under constant pressure.

"We really just came into this game and really wanted to showcase ourselves and what we've been preparing for and what we've been working on," Morgan said after the match. "I think we did that. Every goal matters in this tournament and that's what we were working on this game."

The U.S. picked up right where it left off in the first half after the break, scoring four goals in just over 10 minutes.

Sam Mewis, who started in midfield after Becky Sauerbrunn was held out for precautionary reasons with an injury, started things off in the 50th minute before Morgan, Lavelle and Mewis all added their second goals to make it 7-0.

Morgan scored her third and fourth as the match approached full-time, and Megan Rapinoe added another on the counter-attack in between to put the U.S. up 10-0.

"Obviously we have the utmost respect for everyone we play, but it's the World Cup," said team captain Rapinoe.

Substitute Mallory Pugh then scored to put the U.S. up 11-0 and Morgan added her fifth goal of the night to join compatriot Michelle Akers as the only two women to score five in a single match at the World Cup.

Veteran Carli Lloyd then added a 13th goal of the night for the U.S. to reach the final scoreline and give the Americans a record for both margin of victory and goals scored, surpassing Germany, who beat Argentina 11-0 in 2007.

Thailand, ranked No. 34 in the world, was clearly outmatched even though the team has shown progress on the world stage. Making its World Cup debut in 2015 four years ago, Thailand finished third in its group but earned its first win, a 3-2 victory over Ivory Coast.

- When is the FIFA Women's World Cup?
- Full Women's World Cup fixtures schedule

At the final whistle, Lloyd and Christian Press were seen consoling the Thailand goalkeeper. Morgan put her arm around an opponent, who was wiping away tears on the pitch moments after the final whistle.

"They were disappointed of course, they intended to make an impression in this first match and they were disappointed," coach Nuengruethai Srathongvian said through a translator. "Yes, they are all athletes and they will be resilient. We've got two more games to play and we need to bounce back."

The group-leading U.S., who had a 39-2 shot advantage to improve to 6-0-2 in World Cup openers, next faces Chile before playing Sweden in its last match before the knockout rounds begin.

Sweden, who defeated Chile 2-0 earlier on Tuesday in Rennes, ousted the U.S. in the teams last meeting in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.

REIMS, France -- The last team off the field four years ago in Canada, when it hung around amid the confetti to celebrate its third world championship, the United States was the last contender to take the field in the 2019 Women's World Cup.

The Americans looked like a team that was tired of waiting.

Paced by a record-matching performance from Alex Morgan, whose five goals equaled Michelle Akers for the most by an American in a World Cup, the U.S. women routed Thailand 13-0 on Tuesday. The final tally set a record for the most prolific offensive performance in tournament history.

Playing in front of a sold-out crowd at the Stade Auguste-Delaune that sounded and looked as if it were watching a game in Portland, Oregon, or New York, rather than the north of France, the United States took the game to Thailand from the opening whistle.

• Morgan nets five in U.S. women's record rout of Thailand

• Midfield key to U.S. women's success

• U.S. forward Tobin Heath would nutmeg you in a hot second

In addition to Morgan's five goals, Rose Lavelle and Samantha Mewis each scored twice, and Lindsey Horan, Carli Lloyd, Mallory Pugh and Megan Rapinoe added single goals.

By the end, the U.S. women weren't competing against an overmatched Thailand as much as against what France did to electrify this nation last Friday in the tournament's opening game. First and last, those were the command performances. It's hard to argue the United States didn't one-up the hosts.

Alex Morgan makes the stage hers

Earlier in the week, a French journalist asked Morgan how she felt about being the most popular non-French women's player in France. As beloved as the home team is, she might have won over even a few of the locals Tuesday.

Morgan has talked openly about the disappointment she felt with her own performance in the 2016 Rio Olympics, but she nearly matched the entire U.S. goal output in that tournament with her quintet of goals against Thailand. Better still, some of her best moves on the night came with the ball at her feet trying to set up teammates. She was fully integrated into an attack operating at something close to its peak. That isn't a coincidence.

"To tie Michelle Akers record is obviously incredible," Morgan said. "But even more than that I think that this was such a great team performance for us. We were able to execute on so many chances that we had and we showed just how diverse our attack really is. And we know that every goal counts in the group stages, and that's why we had to keep going."

How many goals is too many goals?

The U.S. women had the game comfortably in hand a few minutes into the second half, when Mewis made it 4-0. The game was long since settled by the time Mewis and Lavelle scored within two minutes of each other to make it 7-0 with more than 30 minutes to play.

Still, on and on the United States came, wave after wave creating chances and goals until the U.S. women had topped the 11-0 record win Germany put on Argentina in the 2007 World Cup.

But to put blame on the United States ignores two obvious points. First, the Americans didn't make the rules under which the number of goals scored is part of deciding the outcome of the tournament. Goal differential counts. The U.S. women want to win their group. Unlike just about any other sport, they have a vested interest in running up the score.

And second, it isn't the United States' fault it can't clear its bench. It is allowed three subs. It used three subs.

"If this is 10-0 in a men's World Cup, are we getting the same questions?" U.S. coach Jill Ellis asked at repeated queries about the score. "I think a World Cup, it is about competing, it is about peaking, it is about priming your players ready for the next game."

But beyond that, why is it the obligation of the U.S. team to act in the interest of a creating a picture of a falsely level playing field. Why shouldn't FIFA or the Asian Confederation get blamed for not doing more to promote the women's game in places where it lags behind?

Are we really going to blame players for celebrating a goal, in many cases in their first World Cup, instead of looking at the underlying reasons for the disparity in the first place?

It's understandable that Thai players looked stunned and embarrassed after the game, far from the joyous scenes after they beat Ivory Coast in the World Cup debut four years ago. It is unfortunate for them. But it's also competition. Both sides of it.

"Obviously we have the utmost respect for everyone we play," Rapinoe said. "But it's the World Cup, and that's part of it. That's part of growing the game and growing the pool."

Here is a breakdown of the U.S. women's total shot location (40), goal placements (13) and key numbers from the match:

• The Americans' 13 goals against Thailand were the most in a game in men's or women's World Cup history.

• The United States men's national team has scored 12 World Cup goals in the past 6,202 days.

• Alex Morgan is the just the second player in Women's World Cup history to score five goals in a single game. Michelle Akers was the first in 1991.

The kids are all right

The United States is the oldest team in this year's World Cup, thanks to a core of veterans already in their 30s (a group that will include Morgan by the time the World Cup ends). But it's also a team that featured six players making their World Cup debut in Tuesday's starting lineup.

None of them looked nervous. And the midfield looked positively precocious.

With Julie Ertz starting in the back line in place of Becky Sauerbrunn, the entire midfield of Horan, Lavelle and Mewis started in their first World Cup game. All helped fuel the U.S. attack, well before each got on the score sheet. With Horan looking a lot like former standout Lauren Holiday in the deep midfield, sending passes around the field like a quarterback, Mewis and Lavelle brought their own considerable attacking skills to bear.

"It gave us all a good feeling to know that we could contribute at this level," Mewis said. "I know that for all of us this has been a dream for so long. And to be able to contribute to the team out there and feel like we were doing something right felt really good."

It might also reveal something that after scoring a goal and drawing gasps of approval from many in the stands with some of her footwork, Lavelle wasn't ready to bask in the praise.

"I just think I didn't connect some of my passes," Lavelle said. "And I don't think I was as clean, technically, as I should be."

There is always next time. And there will be many next times for this group of midfielders.

The opener the U.S. women needed

The camera on the world feed found Hope Solo a few times, the former U.S. goalkeeper in the arena while working as an analyst for the BBC. Solo's recent criticism of U.S. coach Jill Ellis was the closest thing to a dark cloud over this team entering the opener. In making it all about the coach, Solo also boosted the idea that this was a team without its own identity, a team without the strong personalities to win anyway. Well, this looked like a team that the United States is going to enjoy watching -- and in many cases, getting to know in the coming weeks.

"I don't know if we need to really make a statement," Rapinoe said. "We're us -- I feel like it's always on our backs anyway. ... But yeah, we wanted to have a good performance and have a good feeling, obviously. We know the competition will be much stronger from here on out and hopefully once we get to the knockout stages."

The United States was always going to win this game, probably comfortably. But in making sure of success by playing so aggressively early -- in a tournament in which many top teams have struggled to squeeze out wins -- this U.S. team created breathing room for itself.

Ertz buys time for Sauerbrunn

Sauerbrunn, a veteran defender, was held out because of a minor quad injury, but team officials said before the game that she was at 95%, and the decision to sit her (she was in uniform and available) was precautionary. The U.S. women don't play again until Sunday, giving her five extra days to recover. Without saying as much, the message was essentially that someone who played every minute in the 2015 World Cup and 2016 Olympics could have played in a game in which the United States needed its defense.

And no, there wasn't a lot of defending for Ertz or anyone else to do. Yet in anchoring a back line that had more than 300 collective caps -- but only a fraction of them as defenders -- Ertz looked the part of veteran leader after coming on as a young sensation in 2015. And in acting as the go-between for instructions from the bench and shifting to a holding midfield role at times, allowing the U.S. women to play out of a 3-4-3 for stretches, she highlighted this team's versatility.

The U.S. women are better with Sauerbrunn. They're also better for knowing they have a darn good deputy.

All signs still point to a showdown with Sweden

It looked for much of the evening elsewhere as if Chile might copy fellow South American entry Argentina in springing a group-changing surprise. But where Argentina was able to hold on for a draw against Japan on Monday, Chile conceded two late goals after a weather delay and lost to Sweden in Group F.

That means the U.S. women and Sweden are still on track for a group finale that will settle who finishes first (and takes a road that could lead through Paris and a quarterfinal against France). And with the goal differential it built up Tuesday, the United States could enter the finale knowing a draw would be enough to top the group.

Sweden again goes first Sunday, playing Thailand in Nice. The U.S. women then play Chile in Paris.

Australian cricket's prime time broadcast footprint is to be vastly expanded as the WBBL launches its first standalone tournament from October 18 to December 8.

Twenty-three of the 59 games will be shown on free-to-air network Seven and the subscription broadcaster Fox Sports, with the vast majority programmed for Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays in effort to focus the competition around times when most viewers can watch outside the school holidays.

The eight prime time televised games will be Sydney Sixers v Sydney Thunder on October 18, Sydney Sixers v Brisbane Heat on October 19, Perth Scorchers v Melbourne Renegades on November 1, Perth Scorchers v Melbourne Stars on November 2, Sydney Thunder v Sydney Sixers on November 15, Sydney Thunder v Brisbane Heat on November 16, Hobart Hurricanes v Brisbane Heat on November 22, and Hobart Hurricanes v Adelaide Strikers on November 23.

Fifteen other fixtures will also be broadcast live in morning and afternoon time slots. Sydney Sixers and Brisbane Heat, with six matches each, get the most full broadcast coverage, followed by Sydney Thunder, Adelaide Strikers, Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Renegades (five), and Hobart Hurricanes and Melbourne Stars (four). Finals matches, the two semis on December 7 and the final on December 8, may also fill prime time slots depending on whether the host venue is equipped with floodlights.

In the fourth season of the competition, Cricket Australia is unashamedly using the WBBL as a vehicle to expand cricket's footprint on the season - never before have so many matches been aired in prime time so early in the season. Historically, it is not until the first international matches of the season in November that cricket has had a regular place at the broadcast table.

"It's something we've been building towards and last year's final series has proved that the WBBL is ready to stand on its own two feet," CA's executive general manager fan engagement Anthony Everard said. "The volume of televised content nearly doubled last season with the 23 broadcast matches averaging 213,000 on Seven and Fox Cricket.

"To build on this, fans will have a more consistent broadcast offering this season with seven consecutive festival weekends around the country broadcast live, with all remaining matches streamed on cricket.com.au. Festival weekends will also give families the best chance to come and experience the game all around the country."

The tournament is built around a series "festival weekends" at North Sydney Oval, Brisbane's Allan Border Field, the WACA Ground in Perth, Adelaide's Karen Rolton Oval, Bellerive Oval in Hobart and Junction Oval in Melbourne. The tournament semis and final will be hosted by the top ranked team after the 14 qualifying rounds in early December.

Broadcast audiences for the WBBL last season maintained a trend of growing interest in women's sport, intertwined with CA's long-term thinking about growing the game as a sport for all. This edition of the WBBL will also serve as a taster for the kind of cricket likely to be seen in February and March, when Australia hosts the women's T20 World Cup.

"This is monumental for the women's game," Everard said. "The players showed that last year with more totals of over 150 than the first previous three seasons of the rebel WBBL combined, all culminating into an incredible standalone finals festival weekend.

"Moving the entire tournament to its own standalone period is the first step towards achieving that ultimate goal of being the best women's league in the world, giving the world's best female cricketers from across the globe the platform to show fans what they are capable of."

WBBL festival weekends

Sydney | North Sydney Oval - October 18-20
Brisbane | AB Field - October 26-27
Perth | WACA - November 1-3
Adelaide | Karen Rolton Oval - November 9-10
Sydney | Drummoyne Oval - November 15-17
Hobart | Blundstone Arena - November 22-24
Melbourne | CitiPower Centre at Junction Oval - November 30 - December 1

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- What is supposed to be their final training camp as the Oakland Raiders before next year's planned move to Las Vegas will be documented like never before, as the team announced Tuesday that it will star in HBO's reality series "Hard Knocks" come August.

While both owner Mark Davis and coach Jon Gruden have let their displeasure at the notion of cameras peering into their privacy be known -- Davis jokingly told ESPN in March that he would rather fire Gruden than subject the team to the voyeuristic show -- both put up resigned faces.

"Everybody wants to be a Raider," Davis said in a team-issued news release. "Now they'll find out what it takes to become one."

"Everybody wants to be a Raider. Now they'll find out what it takes to become one."

We'll see you in August: https://t.co/dZ1LvS7gRv #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/rTz6AnrCbl

— Oakland Raiders (@Raiders) June 11, 2019

Earlier Tuesday, at the start of a three-day mandatory minicamp attended by everyone on the roster, Gruden was highlighting his three first-round draft picks in defensive end Clelin Ferrell, running back Josh Jacobs and safety Johnathan Abram.

"Who knows? Maybe 'Hard Knocks' will come and cover that," Gruden said through a grimace. "That'd be awesome, wouldn't it?

"We are trying to worry about this team, this week. We've got a lot of adversity we're facing right now with this team. We got a lot of distractions. I think we are playing in three countries. We've got about two months without a home game. We are in a process of moving. And we are going to try like crazy to keep all of our best players as we head to Las Vegas."

The Raiders could provide the HBO show with a treasure trove of storylines: From polarizing receiver Antonio Brown, who was acquired from the Pittsburgh Steelers, to middle linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who was voted the dirtiest player in the game a few years ago while with the Cincinnati Bengals, to left guard Richie Incognito, whose list of run-ins with teammates and the authorities is as long as his list of on-field accolades, to quarterback Derek Carr, who is entering what many see as a make-or-break season, to undrafted rookie defensive tackle Ronald Ollie, who already had a star turn in 2016 on Netflix's "Last Chance U."

"It's a hard knock life for us," Brown tweeted.

Plus, as Gruden noted, the team is in a lame-duck transition year, as it is leaving Oakland for the second time, having called Los Angeles home from 1982 through 1995. Gruden is already a TV star from his nine years in ESPN's Monday Night Football booth, and general manager Mike Mayock spent 14 years as an analyst for NFL Network.

All the show is missing is Marshawn Lynch, who was not re-signed by Oakland.

The other candidates for "Hard Knocks" this year were the San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, Detroit Lions and Washington.

Redskins coach Jay Gruden lobbied for the show to chronicle his older brother's team back in May.

"If they were smart, they would go to Oakland," Jay Gruden said. "What an entertainment value that would be: Antonio Brown, Jon Gruden, Paul Guenther, Vontaze Burfict, [Richie] Incognito. You'd be crazy not to go to Oakland. You can do us next year."

HBO's cameras will get a peek at two days of joint practices with the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams in Napa. The Raiders and Rams will scrimmage on Aug. 7 and Aug. 8 before opening the exhibition season against each other on Aug. 10 at the Oakland Coliseum, a source told ESPN.

The new "Hard Knocks" season premiers Aug. 6.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Thunder All-Star Paul George had a procedure to repair a small labrum tear in his left shoulder.

A Thunder spokesman made the announcement on Tuesday.

George had surgery to repair a partially torn tendon in his right shoulder about a month ago. It was announced at that time that he would have the additional procedure at a later date. Both shoulders hampered him in the final two months of the season. His timetable for recovery remains the same, and his status will be evaluated before the start of the upcoming season.

George is a finalist for the NBA's Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year awards. He ranked second in the league with 28 points per game and led the league with 2.21 steals per contest.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The NBA said the Toronto Raptors' Marc Gasol should have been given two free throws with 49 seconds left of Game 5 of the NBA Finals in Toronto, a game that the Raptors lost to the Golden State Warriors by one point on Monday.

Gasol was fouled by the Warriors' DeMarcus Cousins on a drive, the NBA said in its Last Two Minute Report that was issued Tuesday. Gasol missed the shot and tumbled to the floor, but no foul was called.

Golden State led 106-103 at the time. The Warriors wound up prevailing 106-105, staving off elimination and sending the series back to Oracle Arena for Game 6 on Thursday night.

The NBA said Cousins moved into Gasol, "initiating contact that affects his driving shot attempt."

CHICAGO -- The woman struck by a foul ball during Monday night's game at Guaranteed Rate Field was treated at a nearby hospital and released Tuesday morning, according to a Chicago White Sox spokesman.

The unidentified woman was sitting in the stands just past the White Sox dugout down the third base line and was struck by a hard liner in the fourth inning off the bat of Chicago's Eloy Jimenez. She was bleeding around the head area, and was covered with a towel. She walked up toward the concourse with assistance of stadium personnel.

She then was taken to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center.

"She came back here with her friend and picked up her car this morning," said Scott Reifert, the White Sox's senior vice president of communications.

"We've left a couple of messages for her -- we always reach out -- and we haven't heard back."

Reifert said he had no information about the nature of the treatment and it will be up to the woman whether or not her name is made public.

The incident was just the latest scary moment to raise the issue of fan safety. Last month, a liner off the bat of the Cubs' Albert Almora Jr. struck a young girl in the stands at Houston's Minute Maid Park.

Almora reacted emotionally and had to be consoled by teammates and stadium personnel after breaking down on the field. Jimenez reacted Monday night by putting his hands on his helmet after the fan was struck.

The protective netting at Guaranteed Rate Field extends to the end of the dugout, which is the level of protection mandated by major league baseball. There has been some talk that it should be extended farther down the line.

"I think as an industry, probably all of baseball is gonna continue to take a look at it," Reifert said. "We really do every year.

"Obviously, the security and safety of our fans is important. I think we made the steps we did around baseball to address that."

Reifert said the White Sox are willing to work with fans who are concerned about safety.

"There are a lot of seats behind netting, so for people coming with young kids or if it's an important concern of theirs, they should absolutely ask at the ticket windows and we will accommodate them as best we can with seats that they know are gonna be protected," he said.

Atlanta Braves third baseman Josh Donaldson was given a one-game suspension following a skirmish with Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Joe Musgrove and catcher Elias Diaz on Monday.

Donaldson appealed the ruling and was in the lineup Tuesday night against the Pirates, hitting a solo home run in the second inning.

With two outs in the first inning of the game in Atlanta, Musgrove grazed Donaldson's jersey with a pitch. As Donaldson headed to first base, he exchanged words with Musgrove and then took a few steps toward the mound before Diaz intervened. Donaldson shoved Diaz. That prompted players from both dugouts and bullpens to spill onto the field. No punches were thrown and the field was quickly cleared.

Donaldson and Musgrove were both ejected, and Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was ejected by plate umpire Brian Gorman for arguing the decision to toss Musgrove.

ATLANTA -- A.J. Minter is back with the Atlanta Braves after a five-week stay at Triple-A Gwinnett, getting a chance to reclaim the job he lost as closer.

Atlanta recalled Minter on Tuesday to add another arm to its uncertain bullpen and placed starter Kevin Gausman on the injured list with plantar fasciitis.

Manager Brian Snitker said Minter improved his changeup and fastball command and added versatility by pitching multiple innings a couple of times in the minors. Luke Jackson remains the closer despite five blown saves in 14 chances.

Snitker said he planned to use Minter in a late-inning role. Minter went 0-4 with a 9.82 ERA and three saves in four opportunities, a span of 15 games, before he was sent down.

"He needed to back off the throttle a little bit, I think, at the time we sent him out," Snitker said. "We knew it was going to be good for him."

In nine games with Gwinnett, Minter was 0-1 with a 2.53 ERA. Minter missed most of spring training with left shoulder inflammation and returned from the injured list on April 4.

"He's a young player who doesn't have a whole lot to fall back on," Snitker said. "I think spring training was important for him, and he missed it. He just never really got caught up -- the arm strength, the whole thing. He throws hard, but he is a feel guy with his mechanics and all that. I think it was good. Hopefully. We'll see."

The Braves opened the season planning to use Minter as a left-handed closing option and Arodys Vizcaino from the right side. Vizcaino's season ended in April because of right shoulder inflammation, and he was traded to Seattle the following month.

The Braves' bullpen has a 4.26 ERA with 118 walks allowed in 243 innings.

Gausman began spring training as the team's No. 2 starter, but he went 2-5 with a 6.21 ERA in 13 starts.

Snitker said he didn't know yet who will take Gausman's spot in the rotation.

Both managers were tossed from the Texas Rangers-Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park Tuesday night.

Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi was initially thrown out after grounding out in the fifth inning. After he was thrown out at first, Benintendi appeared to have directed a comment to home plate umpire Angel Hernandez. Benintendi was then ejected by first base umpire Vic Carapazza

Benintendi's manager, Alex Cora, came out to argue the ejection and was also tossed by Carapazza.

After he was ejected, Benintendi continued to deliver invective to the umpires from the dugout.

The ejections were the first two of the season for the Red Sox, who trailed the Rangers at the time.

A half-inning later, Rangers manager Chris Woodward stormed from the dugout after an overturned call at second base. Asdrubal Cabrera was initially called safe trying to stretch a single into a double, but second base umpire Jordan Baker changed his ruling.

Woodward went straight for Hernandez, who let him rant for a bit before issuing the ejection.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.