Sports: Sanchez great, but Tigers continue tailspin

The Tigers lost to the Royals 4-1 Wednesday night as Kansas City swept the Tigers in their home park.  The Tigers scored just one run in each of the three games.  The Tigers have lost 8 of their last 10.  Detroit scored first as Victor Martinez homered off Yordano Ventura in the second.  Anibal Sanchez was brilliant for the Tigers. He went 7 innings, giving up no runs, just one hit, and struck out 8.  Eric Hosmer broke up Anibal Sanchez's no-hit bid with a double in the seventh inning after spoiling his perfect game bid with a walk in the fifth.   Sanchez left after 7 innings and Justin Wilson gave up the game tying homer to Alex Gordon.  Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Shane Greene. Drew Butera added an RBI single later in the inning.   The Tigers hit into three double plays, left 9 runners on base and were 0-8 with runners in scoring position.  The Tigers stay 6 games behind Cleveland in the Central division and 3 ½ games out of Wild Card contention.  The Red Sox come in for four games starting Thursday afternoon.    Matt Boyd will start for the Tigers.  Broadcast time is 12:45 on WBCK.

Olympics

After three straight close games, the American Men’s Basketball team advanced to the semifinals by sprinting past Manu Ginobili and Argentina, 105-78 on Wednesday night. Kevin Durant finished with 27 points   The US will play Spain on Friday in a rematch of the last two gold-medal games.

Team USA swept all three medals in the women's 100-meter hurdles.  Brianna Rollins won the gold, and Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin came in behind her for the silver and bronze. That's the first time a country has ever swept that event in the Olympics.

Kerri Walsh-Jennings and April Ross beat Larissa and Talita of Brazil to get the bronze medal in beach volleyball last night.  (The score was 17-21, 21-17, 15-9.)

Reigning Olympic and world champion Ashton Eaton of the U.S. is the leader through five events of the decathlon. Eaton has 4,621 points after winning the 400 meters, putting him 121 points in the lead.

The men's indoor volleyball team has advanced to the Olympic semifinals after beating Poland in straight sets for a fourth straight victory since a surprising 0-2 Olympic start.

Lions

The Detroit Lions, 1-0 in pre-season play after beating Pittsburgh, will take on Cincinnati tonight at Ford Field.  Hear the game at 6:30 on WBCK.

Golf

Qualifying medalist Alex Smalley rallied to beat Scott Harvey 2 and 1 on Wednesday in the first round of the U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills.