Tuesday Sports in Brief

MLB

HOUSTON (AP) — The Atlanta Braves have won their first World Series championship since 1995, hammering the Houston Astros 7-0 in Game 6.

Jorge Soler hit his third home run of the Series, a go-ahead three-run drive in the third off Luis Garcia, and Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson also connected.

Max Fried allowed four hits over six innings for the win.

Steadied by 66-year-old manager Brian Snitker, an organization man for four decades, the underdog Braves won the franchise’s fourth title, about 9 1/2 months after Hall of Fame slugger Hank Aaron died on Jan. 22 at 86.

The loss left Houston’s 72-year-old Dusty Baker still seeking his first title as a manager.

HOUSTON (AP) — Atlanta Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos tested positive for COVID-19 and wasn’t with the team when it clinched the World Series championship Tuesday night.

Anthopoulos said he tested positive for the virus Saturday. He was back in the Atlanta area during the Braves’ 7-0 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 6.

“We were not going to take any chances,” he said.

Anthopoulos said he and his wife are fully vaccinated and no one in his family had any virus-related symptoms. He said he woke up his 9-year-old son in the ninth inning and got to watch the end of the game as a family.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Georgia, Alabama, Michigan State and Oregon were the top four teams Tuesday night in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season with Ohio State and Cincinnati up next.

At sixth, the unbeaten Bearcats have the best ranking ever in the selection committee’s Top 25 for a team from outside the Power Five conferences, but still sit behind three teams (Alabama, Oregon and Ohio State) that have already been beaten.

Michigan, Oklahoma, Wake Forest and Notre Dame rounded out the top 10.

Only once in the seven-year history of the CFP have the four teams in the committee’s initial ranking made the final four. That was last season.

STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) — Georgia Southern hired former Southern California coach Clay Helton on Tuesday, seven weeks after USC fired him.

Helton was the first coach fired this season, and was two games into his eighth season at USC. The 49-year-old was 46-24 with the Trojans, including a Rose Bowl victory after the 2016 season and a Pac-12 title in 2017.

Georgia Southern fired coach Chad Lunsford after a 1-3 start to the season. The Eagles (2-6, 1-4 Sun Belt) are last in the Sun Belt’s East Division heading into Saturday’s game against No. 21 Coastal Carolina.

NFL

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Las Vegas Raiders released Henry Ruggs III just hours before the promising young receiver faced an initial court appearance on multiple felony charges after a fiery predawn vehicle crash that left a woman dead and Ruggs and his female passenger injured.

The 22-year-old Ruggs and his passenger were hospitalized with unspecified injuries that police said did not appear life-threatening after the Chevrolet Corvette he was driving slammed at high speed into the rear of a Toyota Rav4 on a busy thoroughfare in a residential area several miles west of the Las Vegas Strip about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday.

The Toyota burst into flames and the driver and her dog died, police said. The woman was not immediately identified.

Ruggs “showed signs of impairment,” police said in a statement that did not identify the woman who died, the injuries that Ruggs or his passenger received or name Ruggs’ passenger, who remained hospitalized.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have signed 2012 NFL MVP and four-time All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson to help replace NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry.

The Titans announced Tuesday they signed Peterson to the practice squad. This is the sixth NFL team for Peterson, 36, who had been unsigned since finishing last season with Detroit. Tennessee plans to add him to the active roster with the Titans (6-2) visiting the Los Angeles Rams (7-1) on Sunday night.

NHL

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks held settlement talks Tuesday with an attorney for a former player who is suing the team after he accused an assistant coach of sexual assault in 2010 and the team largely ignored the allegations.

The sides met for about an hour, according to Susan Loggans, who represents former first-round pick Kyle Beach. Loggans also is part of a second lawsuit against the team by a former high school student whom Brad Aldrich was convicted of assaulting in Michigan.

SOCCER

GENEVA (AP) — Former FIFA officials Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini have been charged with fraud and other offenses by Swiss prosecutors after a six-year investigation into a controversial $2 million payment.

The 85-year-old Blatter and 66-year-old Platini face a trial within months at federal criminal court in Bellinzona.

Swiss federal prosecutors say “this payment damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini.”

Platini requested the money from FIFA in January 2011 as additional salary for working as Blatter’s presidential adviser from 1998-2002. Blatter and Platini have long denied wrongdoing. They cite a verbal agreement they had more than 20 years ago.

LONDON (AP) — Tottenham hired Antonio Conte on Tuesday as its third manager in seven months, handing a return to the Premier League for the title winner with Chelsea.

Conte’s contract runs through the end of the 2022-23 season with an option to extend. Conte arrives a day after the firing of Nuno Espirito Santo, who was dismissed for losing half of his 10 Premier League matches in charge.

Conte, who has been out of work since leaving Inter Milan after winning Serie A in May, won the Premier League title and the FA Cup in his two seasons at Chelsea before leaving in 2018.

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