BASEBALL
Joe Girardi admitted he has interest in the Cubs’ managerial vacancy, though he added he’s mostly interested in returning to the game.
Appearing on WSCR-AM 670’s “Mully & Haugh Show” on Wednesday morning, Girardi was careful not to appear to be campaigning for the Cubs’ job.
“When you look at managing in major-league baseball, there are only so many jobs,” he said. “So anything that comes across your desk you’re going to be very interested in. … There are 30 jobs and obviously 10 teams in the playoffs, so those jobs probably aren’t open. So you start to look at the other jobs that are available, and obviously I have a lot of ties to Chicago.
“And any job out there is going to interest me because I would like to manage again.”
Girardi would not confirm if he has an interview scheduled. Cubs President Theo Epstein has declined to reveal any names on his “broad list” of candidates, other than the three internal options — special assistant David Ross and coaches Mark Loretta and Will Venable.
Girardi has 988 career wins over 11 seasons, including 10 with the Yankees, whom he guided to a World Series championship in 2009.
• Mets star Jeff McNeil had surgery on his broken right wrist a week after his first All-Star season was cut short by the injury.
• Houston Astros Manager A.J. Hinch expects shortstop Carlos Correa to play on Friday the AL Division Series opener.
Correa missed the last week of the regular season because of a sore back, but Hinch said that he has been working out all week and feels great.
Hinch says Justin Verlander will start Game 1 on Friday.
• The Cleveland Indians are exercising ace Corey Kluber’s $17.5 million option for next season.
TRACK & FIELD
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Dina Asher-Smith charged to victory in the 200 meters at the world track championships, underlining her status as a top contender for next year’s Olympics in Tokyo.
Asher-Smith added 200 gold to the silver she won Sunday in the 100.
Asher-Smith won in a British-record 21.88 seconds, 0.04 ahead of fast-finishing U.S. runner Brittany Brown, and can now target a third medal in the 4×100 relay Saturday. The bronze went to Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambunji.
The men’s 110 hurdles ended with recriminations after Olympic and 2017 world champion Omar McLeod veered out of his lane and into Spain’s Orlando Ortega before falling.
Grant Holloway of the U.S. stayed clear of the drama to win a fairly slow final in 13.10, the same time he’d run in the previous round.
Pawel Fajdek of Poland, the undisputed king of hammer throw at the world championships, sealed his fourth consecutive title with a throw of 80.50 meters. No other man has won more than two.
• Rachel Schneider of Sanford finished eighth in her 5,000-meter heat and did not qualify.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: Washington Mystics star Elena Delle Donne has a herniated disk in her back.
The league’s MVP left Game 2 of the WNBA finals on Tuesday night after playing only a few minutes in the first quarter because of back spasms. She didn’t return, and a test revealed the herniated disk. Delle Donne is undergoing treatment and the team said it would update her status Saturday. The series is tied 1-1, with Game 3 at Connecticut on Sunday.
SOCCER
UNITED STATES: Defender Sergino Dest was left off the U.S. roster for CONCACAF Nations League matches against Cuba and Canada, a decision that keeps open his option to switch allegiance from the Americans to the Netherlands.
The 18-year-old made his U.S. debut at left back in an exhibition against Mexico on Sept. 6 after playing for the Americans at the 2017 Under-17 World Cup and this year’s Under-20 World Cup. The son of a Surinamese-American father and Dutch mother, Dest has become a regular this season at Dutch power Ajax, which reached last year’s Champions League final.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: With Liverpool throwing away a three-goal lead at Anfield and Barcelona trailing at the Nou Camp, two of the favorites for the title were in a spot of bother in their iconic stadiums.
Then their biggest stars came through.
Mohamed Salah latched onto Roberto Firmino’s flick and cushioned a shot into the net in the 69th minute to earn titleholder Liverpool a 4-3 win over Salzburg.
Luis Suarez was Barcelona’s savior against Inter Milan, equalizing with a brilliant volley in the 58th after pulling away from his markers to the edge of the area and then collecting a pass from Lionel Messi before stroking home a cool finish in the 84th to seal a 2-1 win.
PREMIER LEAGUE: David Pemsel has been hired to lead the league as chief executive.
The 51-year-old Pemsel’s appointment ends a long search to find a successor to executive chairman Richard Scudamore.
Scudamore drove the league’s huge commercial success over 20 years before retiring in November 2018.
HOCKEY
NHL: The Arizona Coyotes signed goalie Darcy Kuemper to a two-year contract extension with an average annual salary of $4.5 million.
• John Tavares was named the 25th captain in Toronto Maple Leafs history before the season opener against the Ottawa Senators, filling a role that had been vacant for more than 3 1/2 years.
TENNIS
CHINA OPEN: Andy Murray won consecutive singles matches for the first time since undergoing hip surgery in January while U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu won her 15th in a row at Beijing.
Murray beat Cameron Norrie 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-1 to make the singles quarterfinals at a tournament for the first time in 12 months.
No. 6-ranked Andreescu beat Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-6 (5) in a second-round match.
JAPAN OPEN: Novak Djokovic needed only two sets and 95 minutes to defeat wild-card entry Go Soeda 6-3, 7-5 and reach the quarterfinals at Tokyo.
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