Boston Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy announced Wednesday that he would be taking a leave of absence from the NESN booth to receive treatment for lung cancer.

Remy, who has been treated for lung cancer in the past, addressed Red Sox fans in a statement, saying in part, "As I've done before and will continue to do so, I will battle this with everything I have.

"I am so grateful for the support from NESN, the Red Sox and all of you. I hope that I'll be rejoining you in your living rooms soon."

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said the team dedicated Wednesday night's 4-1 win over the Detroit Tigers to Remy.

"Before the game, he texted me to go get them today," Cora said. "I told him we would and that we would be fighting alongside him every day. We all know how much he means to this franchise and this fanbase, and we'll all be grinding this out with him."

Remy, 68, played second base for the Red Sox from 1978 to 1984 and joined the NESN booth in 1988.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES -- The cheers kept getting louder, more exuberant, more prolonged. And so Clayton Kershaw turned to Max Scherzer and told him what had quickly become obvious.

"Give 'em what they want."

Throughout his 14-year major league career -- a career that includes three Cy Young Awards, two no-hitters and one World Series championship -- Scherzer had never received a curtain call. Not one he could remember, at least. But he got one on Wednesday night, in his Los Angeles Dodgers debut, after limiting the formidable and abhorred Houston Astros to two runs over seven sterling innings in a 7-5 victory.

At the behest of Kershaw, another three-time Cy Young Award winner, Scherzer spilled out of the third-base dugout, tapped the front of his new cap and saluted a sold-out crowd of 52,274 with an extended right arm, a fitting apex to a superlative first impression.

"You live for this," Scherzer said. "You live to pitch in front of 50,000 people going nuts."

Scherzer scattered five hits, walked one batter and accumulated 10 strikeouts -- three of which came against Jose Altuve, delighting what registered as the largest crowd to watch a 2021 baseball game for the second straight night.

The 37-year-old right-hander threw his fastball an average of 95.2 mph, a full tick faster than his previous high this season. The adrenaline coaxed from a raucous atmosphere certainly helped spark that, but Scherzer also attributed the increase to fully recovering from the triceps injury that prompted him to skip a start leading up to the trade deadline.

Scherzer generated 10 swings and misses with that fastball, but it was an effective curveball, he said, that opened everything up.

"From the moment I got to the ballpark, we got to the ballpark, you could just see that elevation, anticipation from our guys," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "The buzz in the crowd from the first pitch, him taking the mound, donning the Dodger [home uniform] for the first time -- he delivered. He delivered. Just the intensity. It was so much fun. And it was just really cool to see the crowd smell it and want him to finish that seventh inning."

Scherzer returned to the dugout in the middle of the sixth inning after having thrown 89 pitches, but Roberts offered up only encouragement at that point. Scherzer had retired 17 of 20 batters since giving up a first-inning home run to Michael Brantley, and Roberts didn't necessarily think twice about letting Scherzer come back out for the seventh, even though the Dodgers will heavily rely on him over these next couple months.

Scherzer began the seventh with a leadoff walk to Kyle Tucker, who later cut the Astros' deficit in half with a ninth-inning two-run homer off Kenley Jansen. But Scherzer made quick work of Robel Garcia and Jason Castro. On his 109th pitch, which matched his season high, Scherzer got pinch-hitter Chas McCormick, his last batter, to swing through a 96 mph fastball, completing seven innings for the seventh time this season and dropping his ERA to 2.75.

"With everything on the line, the way the crowd was -- that was a high-adrenaline start, coming here," Scherzer said. "Try not to do too much. Just pitch my game, go out there and do what I can do, and just try to navigate the lineup. The offense tonight went off."

Scherzer benefited from two home runs by Mookie Betts and another from AJ Pollock, but it was his outing that spoke volumes about what he can contribute moving forward.

The Dodgers -- 65-44 but still 3 1/2 games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants in the National League West -- are suddenly in a bind with their starting pitching. Trevor Bauer is on administrative leave and under separate investigations by MLB and the City of Pasadena Police Department after sexual assault allegations. Kershaw is nursing forearm inflammation that has kept him out since early July and is not currently throwing. Neither is Tony Gonsolin, who is on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. And Danny Duffy, acquired from the Kansas City Royals last week, might not be available until September.

Those concerns were at the crux of the motivation behind sending an impressive package of prospects to the Washington Nationals in exchange for Scherzer and All-Star shortstop Trea Turner last week. The Dodgers' desperate need for starting-pitching depth was illustrated earlier Wednesday with the signing of four-time All-Star Cole Hamels, who has made only one start since the beginning of the 2020 season and is still in the process of building arm strength.

But Scherzer is the one the Dodgers will rely on in October.

"We need to get there first," Roberts pointed out, "and he's a very big part of that process."

Hansle Parchment catches Grant Holloway to score a Jamaican victory over the hot favourite on Thursday in Tokyo

There was a huge shock in the 110m hurdles as nine years after winning Olympic bronze Hansle Parchment went two places better as he won gold in a season’s best time of 13.04.

World champion Grant Holloway went into Tokyo as one of the biggest favourites in any event. In the US trials he just missed the world record with a 12.81 in his semi-final and that gave him two tenths of an advantage over his rivals and his case was seemingly helped when defending champion Omar McLeod, who was second in the world rankings with 13.01, was controversially overlooked after the Jamaican Trials after messing his final up.

The Jamaicans were ridiculed for leaving behind their fastest man but the selectors had the last laugh as they took first and third with Holloway losing all momentum over the closing hurdles and only holding on to second thanks to a spectacular dive.

The American ran 13.02 in his heat and a repeat of that would have won him gold. He got a solid start and reaction (0.136) and at halfway was hurdling at his best well clear of the field and seemingly on his way to a 12.8 clocking but as the race went on he began to lose his fluidity and speed.

Parchment went past Holloway in the final metres and so too seemingly did Levy but the American was given the verdict 13.09 to 13.10.

“The greatest feeling, the greatest feeling, I’ve worked so hard. It’s unbelievable that I caught this guy (Holloway). I’m really grateful,” said Parchment.

The 31-year-old went into the event ranked outside the world top 10 and was third in the Jamaican Championships and the one probably most vulnerable to those who thought McLeod, who was much faster in his semi-final, should be in Tokyo and his qualifying rounds did not suggest he would win the gold.

Holloway did his best to smile and wave the US flag but was clearly bitterly disappointed.

“Everybody knows I’m going to get out strong. Now it just comes to a point where I’ve got to finish strong. I did it once when I was two shaves (0.02s) off the world record so I know I can do it. I just think the nerves, the big atmosphere got the best of me a little bit. But I’m young, I’ve got a lot of races under my belt so I’ll take this with a grain of salt and I keep moving forward. This was not the outcome that I wanted but it enables me to say I’m an Olympic medallist.”

Devon Allen maintained his consistency and went one better than he did in Rio in 2016 with 13.14 for fourth.

Pascal Martinot-Lagarde narrowly became the leading European in fifth in 13.16 and he was followed home by Asier Martinez of Spain in 13.22 and Andrew Pozzi who ran 13.30 for seventh.

For half of the final the Briton showed the speed that took him to a world indoor title and he was in the thick of the medal battle but he lost his rhythm over the last few hurdles. However it was still his best ever global outdoor performance by some distance as he made the final at the fifth attempt.

He said: “Unfortunately I didn’t quite have the race that I wanted. I just didn’t quite have enough today and it’s difficult to say but that’s just the situation… I gave it my best. I’ve worked really hard in order to be here and try be in my best shape, but that’s all I had today.

“I arrived in a good place. There’s no excuses unfortunately. I just didn’t have enough and that’s just the way it is. I prepared really well, worked really hard with an amazing group of people who have supported me so much and I’m just very grateful for everyone that’s given me the opportunity to come out here and give it my best.”

GB through to men’s 4x100m final

Jamaica also got great news in the 4x100m semi-finals. They won comfortably in 37.82 and then there was further bad news for USA in the next heat as they sensationally failed to make the final.

Jamaica won the opening semi in a world lead 37.82 with Britain’s team of CJ Ujah, Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake combining superbly for a clear second in 38.02 with Japan just bagging the final automatic qualifying spot with 28.16 just ahead of France (38.18).

Brazil (38.34) and Trinidad & Tobago completed the six finishers as both Netherlands and South Africa came to grief.

The Britons were pleased with their morning’s work. Ujah said: “No medals are won in the heats, we’ve got a big Q as one of the qualifiers and we’ll get a good lane in the final and I’m sure we’ll step up our game again and stretch the checks a bit and head for gold.”

Hughes said: “For me I’m just going out there to stay focused, hitting the check mark and give my very best on the back straight an hopefully put the guys in the lead. We’re in the finals and I’ll be rolling in the finals.”

Kilty said: “It was very safe, we need to go at least half a second quicker to get the gold and I think we can. We’ve got to push the changeovers out and the outgoing runner has to go off harder. We’ve all got to run faster legs its as simple as that. We want to win every heat we’re that good, we want to win the final. That was safe and all 4 of us know we’ve got more to give there.”

Mitchell-Blake: said; “I realise how important he (Zharnel) is to the team and for everyone to be firing. And collectively, we’re good enough to get the job done. That’s where our focus is right now to each of us raise our individual games and do a better job collectively.”

The second heat was probably the greatest quality 4x100m heat in history. It was a cracking race with China just winning by two thousandths of a second in 37.916 to Andre de Grasse’s Canada who ran 37.918 to keep him on course for his sixth Olympic medal.

Close in third were Italy, who also had an Olympic champion in their team in Marcell Jacobs on lane two and they set an Italian record 37.95.

Germany in fourth in 38.06 and Ghana’s national record 38.08 took the two fastest losers spots. That meant USA just missed out with a time of 38.10.

They did not take it lightly either as though they rested their 200m men they fielded their three 100m representatives – Trayvon Bromell, Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker together with 9.93 performer Cravon Gillespie but their change overs were not up to scratch.

However, they no doubt thought a time of 38.10 would have been good enough before the race. That time would have won medals in 21 of the 24 Olympic finals including the three from 2004 to 2012!

Former Cuban dominates Olympic final on Thursday with Cuba and Burkino Faso winning the other medals

The world leader and two-time world silver medallist Pedro Pichardo finally won the big one as he dominated the triple jump with the three longest jumps as Portugal won their second title in four Games following Nelson Evora’s win in 2004.

His 17.98m was the third longest Olympic win in history, only bettered by Mike Conley’s 18.17m and Kenny Harrison’s 18.09m in 1992 and 1996.

The former Cuban started in great form with a pair of 17.61m efforts in the opening two rounds to immediately make a mark on his rivals.

Yaming Zhu jumped a PB 17.41/1.3 in the second round. However the Chinese athlete’s mark was surpassed shortly after by Yasser Mohamed Triki’s Algerian record of 17.42/1.0.

In the third round Will Claye, who has won seven global outdoor medals without winning gold, brought himself into medal contention with a 17.44/0.4 to go second. However that did not last the round, as world indoor record-holder Hugues Fabrice Zango moved up to second with a 17.47m jump after being out of the qualifying positions until that leap.

Before the round was over, though, Pichardo seemed to effectively end the contest as he jumped a Portuguese record 17.98/0.0. Note he did however jump 18.08m as a Cuban in 2015.

After his stunning start, Pichardo could go on holiday for the last three rounds and he fouled his fourth and sixth round effort and passed the fifth as he won gold with much to spare.

His best jump consisted of a 6.48m hop, a 5.34m step and a 6.16m jump as his speed was recorded as 36.4kph which was surprisingly slower than all the other leading jumpers.

The major change over the last three rounds was Yaming Zhu sailing out to 17.57/1.7 to move Zango down to third and Claye to fourth.

Zango, who jumped 17.43m in the final round, did have the consolation of taking Burkino Faso’s first ever athletics medal in any event.

It was close though as Triki scared the medallists in the the fifth round improving his Algerian record to 17.43/1.0 but he fell just four centimetres short.

Necati Er (17,25), Donald Scott (17.18) and Yaoqing Fang (17.01) completed the top eight with 17 metre jumps.

Warner on target for Olympic record

Canadian Damian Warner maintained his dominance in the first three events of the second day – the hurdles , discus and pole vault.

The Rio bronze medallist and overnight leader carried on his good form from Tuesday with an Olympic record 13.46 in the 110m hurdles despite a 1.0m/sec headwind to stay on course for the overall Olympic decathlon record at the very least.

After six events his score was 5767 points, 162 clear of Australia’s world junior champion Ashley Moloney who ran a PB 14.08 and 5605 points.

Pierce LaPage remained third with 5454 after a 14.39, although world record-holder Kevin Mayer moved closer by winning his heat in 13.90/0.1 to be on 5327 points with Americans Grant Scantling (5309 after a 14.03) and Steve Bastien (5290 after a 14.42) keeping in touch with a medal chance.

In the discus, Warner threw slightly further than he did in Gotzis with a 48.67m which increased his lead over Moloney (44.38m) to 251 points as the pair were now on 6610 and 6359.

LePage moved a little closer to the Australian with a 47.14m putting him on 6265 with Mayer also improving thanks to a 48.08m and he was on 6157 points.

Grenada’s Commonwealth champion Lindon Victor had the best throw of 49.75m and he moved from 11th to sixth and 6028 points.

If there was one event where Warner could have his Olympic dream shattered it was the pole vault which is one of his weakest disciplines but he did better than he did at Gotzis by equalling his PB with a third-time clearance at 4.90m to score him 880 points and put his total to 7490 points and put him within rane of 9000 points and a Commonwealth and Olympic record.

Moloney vaulted 5.00m for a total of 7269 points with LePage matching the mark and a score of 7175 points.

Meyer moved closer with a 5.20m vault which left him just 46 points down on the Canadian with two events to go.

The best vault came from Marcel Uibo who cleared 5.50m to move from 19th to 12th.

TOKYO -- A slow exchange left the American 4x100-meter relay team in an all-too-familiar spot at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday -- out of medal contention.

And this time, not even racing for one.

The team of Trayvon Bromell, Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker and Cravon Gillespie failed to make the final after finishing sixth in their qualifying heat, extending a quarter-century of misery for the country that brings the deepest track team to the Games.

"We've definitely got to pick it up for the worlds next year, and the next Olympics, because this is unacceptable," Gillespie said afterwards.

Added Kerley: "We just didn't get the job done today. No excuses."

The United States hasn't won the Olympic 4x100 since 2000 and hasn't made it cleanly to the finish line in a final since taking a silver medal in 2012. But they gave that one back because of a doping ban against Tyson Gay.

This marked the first time the U.S. has failed to make the final since 2008, when Gay was involved in a bumbled exchange. The U.S. got DQ'd for another bad pass in the medal race in 2016.

This time, the sprinters made it around the track, but it was ugly.

Finishing the second leg, Kerley repeatedly misconnected with Baker, to the point that they were practically side by side and barely running by the time they exchanged the stick.

Baker made up some ground on a fast-disappearing field and Gillespie tried to close on the anchor leg, but China, Canada and Italy finished 1-2-3 and the rest of the field pulled away, as well.

When asked what happened on the exchanges, Baker said: "We are all running fast right now. Fred [Kerley] is running 9.8 and I am running 9.8. Trying to time that up perfectly with a couple of practices is tough."

This marks the 10th time since 1995 that the men have botched a relay at a world championships or Olympics.

The women made it through with a no-drama heat of their own and will race for the medal Friday.

Meanwhile, Hansle Parchment of Jamaica won gold in the 110-meter hurdles in 13.04 seconds by overtaking American Grant Holloway right near the end.

Holloway, the world champion, was in front through nine out of the 10 hurdles, but suddenly faded on the last. Parchment flew past him to add an Olympic gold to the bronze medal he won at the 2012 London Games.

Holloway took silver in 13.09 and another Jamaican, Ronald Levy, won the bronze in 13.10 seconds.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

American successfully defends his title with crushing victory over Joe Kovacs and Tom Walsh in Tokyo

With a huge winning throw of 23.30m, Ryan Crouser came within just 7cm of his own world record in the shot put final in Tokyo on Thursday lunchtime.

The 28-year-old American won’t mind, though. He successfully defended his Olympic title – winning the crown by more than half a metre against a quality field – and he did it with an Olympic record that might survive for quite a few years.

Crouser was one of the hottest favourites of the Games and he lived up to the billing in emphatic style. His series was ultra consistent and his rivals simply could not match it.

He threw 22.83m, 22.93m, 22.86m, 22.74m, 22.54m and 23.30m. His final effort would have been a world record if he hadn’t of course thrown 23.37m at the US Olympic Trials in June – a performance that took down Randy Barnes’ 31-year-old world mark of 23.12m.

Fellow American Joe Kovacs took silver with 22.65m while New Zealand’s Tom Walsh earned bronze with 22.47m.

It was a reversal of the epic shot put clash at the 2019 World Championships in Doha where Kovacs threw 22.91m to win narrowly from Crouser’s 22.90m and Walsh’s 22.90m.

Darlan Romani of Brazil was fourth with 21.88m and Zane Weir of Italy fifth with 21.41m.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks signed goalie Adin Hill to a two-year contract Wednesday that avoids salary arbitration.

The Sharks acquired Hill last month in a trade from Arizona and are counting on him to team with James Reimer as their goaltending duo next season.

The 25-year-old Hill appeared in 19 games last season for Arizona, going 9-9-1 record with a .913 save percentage, 2.74 goals against average and two shutouts.

Hill has appeared in 49 career games with a 19-21-4 record, 2.79 goals against average and .909 save percentage.

Two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference were unable to determine a winner as the MLS-leading New England Revolution and Nashville SC played to a scoreless draw on Wednesday night in Foxborough, Mass.

Matt Turner made a pair of saves in his return from CONCACAF Gold Cup duty for league-leading New England (11-3-4, 37 points), which extended its unbeaten streak to five games after winning four straight entering the match.

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"Just a poor technical performance on our part. We did a lot of good things, had a lot of control in the game," Revolution coach Bruce Arena told the team's myTV38 telecast. "We created not enough chances and technically weren't good on the day."

Joe Willis stopped all six shots he faced to help Nashville (6-1-10, 28 points) pick up a point on the road and stretch its own unbeaten run to nine games (4-0-5).

Nashville, which beat New England 2-0 at home on May 8, has never lost to the Revolution since entering the league as an expansion side in 2020, going 1-0-3.

Revolution captain and midfielder Carles Gil was sidelined due to an injury. Gil, who leads the league with 15 assists, is expected to miss three-plus weeks as a result of a sports hernia, according to SB Nation.

Gustavo Bou gave the Revolution a chance to pull out a win in the first minute of second-half stoppage time when he floated a ball into the box for Teal Bunbury, whose header was corralled on a bounce by Willis.

Two minutes later, C.J. Sapong was able to slip a ball through the box on the other end, but Nashville was unable to maintain possession.

Before the match, four New England players -- Turner, Gil, Bou and Tajon Buchanan -- were named to the 2021 MLS All-Star Game. Injured Nashville defender Walker Zimmerman earned the first All-Star nomination in club history.

Nashville visits Inter Miami on Sunday night while New England hosts the Philadelphia Union.

Leicester City defender Wesley Fofana was carried off on a stretcher with a leg injury during the club's preseason friendly against Spanish team Villarreal on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old French defender was rashly tackled from behind by Villarreal forward Nino and received lengthy treatment at the King Power Stadium before being carried off.

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Fofana was a key member of Brendan Rodgers' side in his debut campaign last season.

Leicester face Manchester City in the Community Shield on Saturday, with the new Premier League season starting the following weekend.

Leicester won the match 3-2 with goals from Caglar Soyuncu, Harvey Barnes and Ayoze Perez.