Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit believes he is “definitely quicker than last season” as he prepares to blast out of the starting blocks at his first World Cup.

The 22-year-old has carved out a reputation as one of world rugby’s finest finishers, combining blistering pace with a box-office ability to score spectacular tries.

And the sport’s biggest stage now awaits a player good enough to thrill a worldwide audience through his dazzling skill-set.

Asked to compare his speed with a year ago, Gloucester star Rees-Zammit said: “I would say I am even faster.

“I feel the fittest I have ever been, and I am just raring to go. In terms of numbers, I am definitely quicker than last season.

“Being so fit, it just allows you to repeat and repeat all day. Being able to do it once or twice isn’t good enough. I have got to maintain that and keep doing it.

“The (training) camps in Switzerland and Turkey lived up to expectations. They were the hardest things I have ever done.

“I feel so fit now. I am ready to perform, I am ready to play. We are all ready to go.

“We’ve got some very quick players – Rio (Dyer), Josh (Adams), the whole back-three, Mason Grady is rapid as well and the nines are very quick. We have got great pace in this squad.”

Fellow wing Adams has proved a source of inspiration to Rees-Zammit, who remembers watching as a 17-year-old while he excelled at the last World Cup in Japan.

Adams’ finished the tournament as top try-scorer with seven, a figure bettered only by three players in one World Cup campaign – Jonah Lomu, Bryan Habana and Julian Savea.

Adams’ 20 touchdowns for Wales mean he is in the same try bracket as greats like Sir Gareth Edwards and Gerald Davies, and Rees-Zammit is a huge fan.

“Josh helps me massively, doing analysis and making me learn the game better,” Rees-Zammit added.

“He has done it all, he has been on a (British and Irish) Lions tour and he has been top try-scorer at the World Cup. He is an unbelievable player.

“I was 17 at the last World Cup watching him score loads of tries while I was at Hartpury College. He was unbelievable.

“He was the stand-out player at the last World Cup. To be able to train and play with him day in, day out is so special.”

Despite his age, Rees-Zammit offers considerable experience on the back of 27 Wales caps and a Lions tour to South Africa in 2021.

“I feel quite experienced at such a young age,” he said. “Being on a Lions tour was amazing but being at a World Cup for your country is really special as well.

“I would never have have thought I would have gone to a World Cup, so I am absolutely over the moon to have this opportunity. I’ve got to take it now.”

Paddington continues his journey to superstardom in a Juddmonte International Stakes which may be short on numbers, but is bristling with quality at York on Wednesday.

The Group One contest has been won by some of the real greats and this year sees Aidan O’Brien’s all-conquering three-year-old up against a thriving Royal Ascot winner, a Classic-winning filly who cannot be dismissed lightly and a course-and-distance scorer yet to reach his ceiling.

It has been a phenomenal rise to the top for Paddington, who was competing in handicap company at the beginning of the season but has progressed through the ranks to become a multiple Group One winner and one of the best colts in training.

Having extended his winning run to seven in the Sussex Stakes when showcasing his dominance over a mile, the son of Siyouni now faces his toughest cast at 10 furlongs as he bids to join other Ballydoyle giants on the Knavesmire roll of honour.

Should Paddington be victorious, he would gain an automatic entry into the Breeders’ Cup Classic, a race O’Brien did not dismiss when speaking after the Sussex Stakes and in which he went so close with Giant’s Causeway, winner of the Juddmonte International in 2000.

“He’s an amazing horse really and all he’s done is progress with each race,” O’Brien said.

“There’s nothing much else I can say about him, every time we’ve asked him a question he keeps coming up with it.

“Everything has gone well with him since his last run. The ground is fine and we know he stays the trip.

“He went to the Coral-Eclipse for his first run over a mile and a quarter, so this is a little bit further on a flatter track.

“It will be interesting to see and we’ll take it race by race with him at the moment.”

Frankie Dettori is locked with Lester Piggott on five race victories and will get one final opportunity to become the leading rider as he deputises for the suspended Jim Crowley aboard John and Thady Gosden’s Mostahdaf.

The Italian last tasted success in the contest aboard his Derby hero Authorized in 2007, but it could prove worth the long wait as he links up with a Royal Ascot winner at the peak of his powers.

John Gosden said: “The plan has always been to come here after Royal Ascot. There’s no change in Plan A, it was always to give him the time.

“He benefited from time between Saudi Arabia and running in Dubai through to June and, again, we’ve taken a similar spacing with him. He’s fine.”

A return to a mile and a quarter saw Mostahdaf thrive in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes where he romped to an imperious four-length triumph over a stellar cast and he has optimum yardage once again as he bids to give owners Shadwell back-to-back wins in the race following Baaeed’s memorable success 12 months ago.

“If I’m honest I was a bit surprised to see him win quite like that, but I probably shouldn’t have been after the way he won in Saudi earlier this year. He was very impressive there and really quickened,” explained Angus Gold, racing manager for the owners.

“I thought he ran well in the Sheema Classic at Meydan too, where Equinox just killed him off the bend and he didn’t get home, but I was still surprised to see just how well he was travelling against a proper Group One field at Royal Ascot, and just how well he quickened.

“I’d probably underestimated him, and it was great to see.”

He added ahead of the Qipco British Champions Series showpiece: “Frankie has had a sit on the horse. It was nothing testing, but he seemed very happy and John and his team were happy too.”

Mostahdaf is joined in the select quartet by stablemate and last year’s Prix de Diane heroine Nashwa, who excelled in the Falmouth Stakes on her penultimate start and wasn’t disgraced when defending her Nassau Stakes at Goodwood most recently.

“The slow pace didn’t really suit her in the Nassau Stakes and the ground was not entirely to her liking,” said Gosden senior.

“But she’s a nice filly and it’s important to run in races of this nature.”

As usual, Hollie Doyle partners Nashwa, and she is full of hope.

“I’m always delighted to be getting back on Nashwa and I thought it was a solid run at Goodwood considering the slow pace and not very nice ground,” she said.

“They had an easy time on the front end and Nashwa moved up like the best filly in the race, but she’d possibly been further back than ideal on that ground, which probably blunted the turn of foot she showed in the Falmouth.

“She takes her races very well, and I’m hearing good reports from home through Teddy Grimthorpe (owner Imad Al Sagar’s racing manager).”

Andrew Balding’s Dante winner The Foxes completes the line-up with connections seeking an upset at a venue where he has proven form.

“The others may be proven at a higher level, but I do feel The Foxes is an improving horse and we haven’t seen the best of him yet,” said Alastair Donald, racing manager for owners King Power.

“It looks like he’ll get his preferred conditions of fast ground and we know he likes the course and distance. It might end up being a trappy race and, you never know, it’s worth being there.

“I think if there was a slow pace, which there might be, that would suit us as well, and you have to be excited about taking them on.”

Grand Alliance opened up a new range of options when going down gallantly to Sober in the Prix Kergorlay at Deauville on Sunday.

The Charlie Fellowes-trained four-year-old split the two best stayers in France with Prix Maurice de Nieuil winner The Good Man back in third.

Despite being a half-brother to top seven-furlong specialist Dutch Connection, the gelding, who was bred by owners Paul and Susan Roy, now looks to have found his niche.

“He ran very well. In fairness, we stepped him up in trip on the advice of Ryan Moore after he had only ridden him once and as Ryan so often is, he was right,” said Fellowes.

“We always thought he was very ground dependent but going over two miles, he can run round in third gear rather than fifth.

“Sober and The Good Man are the two best stayers in France and he’s split them. The ground drying out probably just suited Sober more than us.

“Looking at his pedigree, you wouldn’t think he would stay a yard further than a mile, but the staying trips seem to suit him and it’s opened up a load more doors.

“There’s obviously the Cadran (September 30) and the Doncaster Cup (September 15) but that is not too far apart, so it will be one or the other on the way to Ascot.

“That’s two and a quarter miles at Donny, but Ryan suggested it and it makes sense as he’s won there before, it’s left-handed and Flat, so it could well be Donny and then Ascot on Champions Day.

“With the Prix Royal-Oak being two-five, that might just be stretching him a bit too far, but hopefully his owners can now have some fun with him.”

Baker Mayfield has his first win of the season, securing the starting quarterback job for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles named Mayfield the starter over Kyle Trask on Tuesday.

While Trask, a second-round pick in 2021, played well in the preseason, the Bucs opted to go with experience for their season opener against the Minnesota Vikings on September 10.

Mayfield, the top overall pick of the 2018 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns, has made 69 regular-season starts and takes over the reins at quarterback for Tampa Bay after the future Hall of Famer Tom Brady retired 

Acquired in March as a free agent on a one-year deal, Mayfield started Tampa Bay's first preseason game, completing 8-of-9 passes for 63 yards with a touchdown before giving way to Trask.

Mayfield did not play in the second exhibition game, while Trask got the start. In the two games, Trask completed 26-of-38 passes for 317 yards with a touchdown and interception.

Mayfield began last season as the Carolina Panthers starting quarterback but struggled with injuries and inefficient play, and was eventually benched in midseason. He later requested and was granted his release after appearing in six games for the Panthers.

Claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Rams, Mayfield showed improved play with his new team, completing 63.8 per cent of his passes while throwing for three touchdowns with two interceptions in four starts.

In 12 overall games in 2022, Mayfield finished with 2,163 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions and a 79.0 passer rating that ranked 30th out of 33 qualified quarterbacks.

For his career, the 28-year-old has compiled 16,288 passing yards, 102 passing touchdowns and 64 interceptions along with a passer rating of 86.5.

His best season came in 2020, when he threw for a career-high 26 touchdowns and produced a 95.9 quarterback rating while leading Cleveland to an 11-5 regular-season record and a win over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round of the AFC playoffs.

Victory for Frankie Dettori on Mostahdaf in the Juddmonte International on Wednesday would make him the most successful jockey in the race’s illustrious history.

Dettori currently sits alongside the legendary Lester Piggott on five wins apiece, and the Italian has one more chance to make the record his own before he heads off into retirement.

He has partnered some truly great horses to win the York showpiece, such as Halling (1996), Singspiel (1997), Sakhee (2001) and his first Derby winner Authorized (2007). A spare ride following the suspension picked up by Jim Crowley, Mostahdaf would certainly fit alongside that list.

His four-length victory in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes last time out was jaw-dropping in its brilliance – but in Paddington he faces a genuine Horse of the Year candidate.

“I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy some great days of racing at York over the years, including winning the St Leger there on Sixties Icon whilst the stands were being rebuilt at Doncaster,” Dettori said his World Pool blog.

“The Juddmonte International has been a lucky race for me too, and one more win would take me past Lester Piggott as the race’s most successful jockey. I’ve won it with some of the greats like Sakhee, the Derby winner Authorized, Sulamani, Halling – he was a machine – and Singspiel. They were all serious horses, and hopefully Mostahdaf is too!”

He went on: “Him and Paddington are arguably the two best mile-and-a-quarter horses around, so we’ve got a great race on our hands. We’ve got to give 9lb to a very good three-year-old, so it won’t be an easy task, but my fella has done nothing wrong this year.

“I rode him the other day and he’s beautiful. A really strong, powerful horse, which is what you’d want to see in a five-year-old. Paddington is entitled to be a short-price favourite, but Mostahdaf has really stepped up this season and I’m looking forward to having a crack at it.”

Dettori also has leading claims in the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes on the unbeaten Leger favourite Gregory, like Mostahdaf trained by John and Thady Gosden.

“Gregory comes here off the back of a good win in the Queen’s Vase at Ascot, but it’s so hard to know what kind of form he’s in as he does nothing in the mornings. He’s so laid back that I don’t even think bombs would move him!” said Dettori.

“I’d like to think that he’ll improve again for that run at Ascot, which was only his third start, but we only know as much as anyone else that’s seen him race.”

Three-time champion Max Whitlock has been named in a five-strong Great Britain men’s team for next month’s World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp.

The event will represent the 30-year-old’s first global outing since he won his second career Olympic gold medal at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Whitlock became the first British man to win a world gold medal in 2015 in Glasgow, and the first to defend the title in Montreal in 2017. He also won gold in Stuttgart in 2019.

Whitlock said: “I’m really excited to be selected for my seventh World Championships. This one however feels special – my first major competition since Tokyo Olympics.

“I’ve worked harder, become fitter and approached this build-up like never before. I’m excited to be back with the team with some big targets ahead.”

Whitlock is joined in the squad by James Hall, Courtney Tulloch, Jake Jarman and Harry Hepworth.

Gregory puts his Betfred St Leger aspirations to the test in Wednesday’s Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes at York.

Trained by John and Thady Gosden, the high-class colt is a perfect three out of three in his career so far and is as short as 2-1 for the final Classic of the season at Doncaster on September 16 having enhanced his reputation with a taking success in the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot.

The son of Golden Horn was sporting the colours of Qatari-based owners Wathnan Racing for the first time when surging to victory at the Royal meeting and he will now bid to lay down a marker ahead of a potential trip to Town Moor next month in a race the Clarehaven team won with Logician in 2019 en route to St Leger glory.

John Gosden said: “He’s coming back two furlongs in distance from the Queen’s Vase and I think he’s going to be well suited by the St Leger distance.

“We planned the autumn campaign with him so that it was always one run and then to the Leger.”

Last year James Ferguson enjoyed one of the biggest days of his fledgling training career when Deauville Legend claimed the Voltigeur title and he is out to repeat the dose with Canberra Legend, who also carries the silks of owner Boniface Ho.

The Australia colt burst onto the scene when winning the Feilden Stakes in impressive style earlier in the season and following encouraging runs at both Royal Ascot and in the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood, the Kremlin Cottage handler is confident there is still more to come.

“Obviously it’s a big ask for him, but I feel he has been developing throughout the year and crying out for a mile and a half,” said Ferguson.

“I thought he ran very well in the Gordon (at Goodwood) and this will teach us a lot about him. I think he is in as good form as I’ve ever had him and the race has cut up enough for me to feel it is worth taking our chance.

“He’s getting better with every run. Put a line through the Dante the last time he went to York and I think he’s probably a bigger price than what he should be.”

Continuous is the sole Aidan O’Brien representative, bringing course form to the table having been third in the Dante.

He was last seen chasing home King Of Steel in the King Edward VII Stakes, while two and a half lengths behind Continuous when third at Ascot was Artistic Star, with Ralph Beckett’s runner also having a bit to find with Canberra Legend from when they met on the Sussex Downs recently.

Charlie Appleby’s Castle Way completes the line-up and is another who will have one eye on a visit to Town Moor as he attempts extend his three-race winning streak after adding the Bahrain Trophy to his reappearance win in the Newmarket Stakes.

Assistant coach Mike Catt admits injured hooker Dan Sheehan is “instrumental” in Ireland’s style of play and would be a “big loss” for the Rugby World Cup.

Sheehan put a dampener on Saturday’s 29-10 victory over England by limping off shortly before half-time, with Ireland’s coaching staff still anxiously waiting to discover the extent of his foot issue.

The 24-year-old remained in Dublin for treatment as Andy Farrell’s men flew to France to prepare for this weekend’s final warm-up match, against Samoa in Bayonne.

Rob Herring, Ronan Kelleher, Tom Stewart and the uncapped Diarmuid Barron have travelled and will seek to stake their claims for the number two role.

Catt insists Ireland’s coaching team have full confidence in the back-up options but concedes potentially losing “world-class” Sheehan for part or all of the World Cup, which starts on September 8, would be a major blow.

“I think what you get from Dan, he’s one of the best hookers in the world currently, so he’s going to be missed in whatever team he plays in,” he said.

“But we’ve got full faith in Rob Herring and Ronan Kelleher and Tom Stewart.

“It gives these guys an opportunity, they’ll have a pop this weekend and, depending on the diagnosis, we’ll see how we go on the back end of it.

“But he (Sheehan) is a world-class rugby player, he’s been instrumental in terms of how to play our game, so he’d be a big loss for everybody.”

South Africa-born Herring, Ireland’s only hooker remaining from the 2019 World Cup in Japan, came off the bench to replace Sheehan in the 37th minute against Steve Borthwick’s side at the Aviva Stadium.

Sheehan’s Leinster team-mate Kelleher is yet to feature at Test level since the Six Nations but head coach Farrell is positive he will be fit for the World Cup in spite of a hamstring issue.

Stewart made his Ireland debut off the bench in the 33-17 win over Italy on August 5, while fellow international rookie Barron is awaiting his maiden outing having trained in camp this summer.

Speaking of Sheehan’s condition, Catt continued: “We still haven’t got a confirmation on what it is. He’s still seeing the specialist, he’s obviously being rehabbed back in Dublin.

“Hopefully Andy will have a bit more of an outcome-based answer (later in the week). As we currently stand, he’s seeing specialists and getting the proper treatment.

“We’ll have much clearer idea tomorrow or Thursday in terms of where he’s at and what his return dates are.”

Ireland’s World Cup opener is on September 9 against Romania in Bordeaux. Farrell will name his final 33-man squad for the tournament on Monday.

Duhan van der Merwe admits he could never have envisaged a rise to prominence that means he is going to his first Rugby World Cup as a talismanic figure within a Scotland backline loaded with “X factor”.

The 28-year-old South-Africa-born wing was relatively unheralded when he first joined Edinburgh in 2017 following an underwhelming year in France with Montpellier.

But his career has taken off emphatically since then. After impressing in the Scottish capital, and following three years of residency in Scotland, the swashbuckling back earned an international debut for Gregor Townsend’s team against Georgia in October 2020, who return to Murrayfield this Saturday for a pre-World Cup warm-up match.

Van der Merwe – who had a stint at Worcester before returning to Edinburgh almost a year ago – was part of the 2021 British and Irish Lions squad, is seventh on Scotland’s all-time try-scoring list, and is cast as one of the most exciting wings on the planet as he heads to his first World Cup in France at the start of next month.

“I’m absolutely buzzing,” he told the PA news agency, reflecting on the recent confirmation that he is in the World Cup squad. “It’s something I’ve been working towards over the last couple of years in the back of my head so getting the phone call from Gregor was really special for me and my family.

“If you’d told me about six years ago when I first joined Edinburgh that I’d be playing for Scotland and going to a World Cup, I’d probably laugh at you and say, ‘no chance’.

“I think a lot of it is down to coaches having belief in me and a lot of it is down to hard work and dedication to get where I am today. I was a pretty raw player when I first joined Edinburgh, so fair play to all the coaches throughout the years for helping me improve my skills and understand the game more. I’ll always be thankful to them.

“As a young player, I always strived to be the best player I could be. I always knew I was quick and strong but I never thought I’d be where I am today. I’m just absolutely buzzing.”

Van der Merwe is intent on showing in France, on the biggest stage of all, why his stock is so high, and he believes that opposing teams planning to stop any of the Scottish backs will have a problem.

“I absolutely love going up against the best of the best,” he said. “That’s where I can showcase what I can do. But most importantly, my number one job is just to do my best for Scotland and hopefully all the other bits will come.

“I guess teams and players analyse you as a player and that’s when it gets quite fun because you have to find ways of beating defenders, getting line-breaks and scoring tries. It just makes it more exciting for me.

“But if teams want to focus on me, that potentially means there is space for someone else. I think with the players we have in this squad, you can’t just look at one, two or three players and just focus on them because throughout our backline everyone’s got X factor.”

Darcy Graham, Kyle Steyn, Finn Russell, Blair Kinghorn, Ben White, Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu are just some of the Scottish backs who have excelled in the lead-up to the World Cup.

“It’s absolutely brilliant to play with these guys,” said Van der Merwe. “Having Finn at 10 is always special. As a winger, you always think you’ll definitely score with him at 10.

“And then Blair at full-back, I’ve played with him at Edinburgh for years and he’s unbelievable, he’s got real X factor. Kyle Steyn, Ollie Smith, all these guys, the competition among the backs is really good at the moment.

“I wouldn’t say there’s anyone who is definitely going to start against South Africa because everyone is pushing for that starting jersey. I absolutely love that competition between us.”

The Scots, ranked fifth in the world, are in a top-heavy World Cup pool with Ireland and world champions South Africa, but Van der Merwe is adamant his team believe they can get through to the quarter-finals and beyond.

“Oh yes, 100 per cent,” he said. “If you want to be the best in the world, you have to beat the best in the world. What a challenge it is for us in our pool stage to go up against South Africa and Ireland and Tonga, who are a brilliant team as well.

“If we want to get to the quarter-finals we have to beat them. It’s a real test for us but I believe with the players we have in our squad we can beat any team on our day.”

Asked how far away Scotland are from being viewed on the same level as the top teams in the world like Ireland and France, Van der Merwe, with no hesitation, said: “Really close, really close.

“We’ve showcased that against France (in Saint-Etienne earlier this month). We probably dropped off for five to 10 minutes and good teams will punish you when you drop off but that’s something we can work on.

“We’ve showcased what we can do as a team, coming from behind and almost beating France in France. We’ve got a very special group.”

Savethelastdance and Bluestocking will renew rivalry at York on Thursday with the pair among 10 fillies declared for the Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks.

Aidan O’Brien’s Savethelastdance ground out a half-length win over the Ralph Beckett-trained Bluestocking in an attritional renewal of the Irish Oaks at the Curragh a month ago.

The rematch is set to take place on far less demanding ground on the Knavesmire though and there is little between the duo in the market.

Al Husn bids for back-to-back Group One wins for Roger Varian after causing a minor upset in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood, while Karl Burke fires a twin assault, with Lancashire Oaks heroine Poptronic joined by her stablemate Novakai, who dominated a Listed contest at Newmarket on her latest outing.

John and Thady Gosden will be hoping Free Wind can bounce back to her best after floundering in the Goodwood mud three weeks ago and Rosscarbery is an interesting contender for Paddy Twomey after chasing home Emily Dickinson in the Curragh Cup.

O’Brien’s second string Warm Heart, the William Haggas-trained Sea Silk Road and Stay Alert from Hughie Morrison’s yard complete the quality field.

Day two of the Ebor Festival gets under way with the Sky Bet Lowther Stakes, for which nine juvenile fillies are set to go to post.

Relief Rally is a major contender for the Haggas team after running away with the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury, while O’Brien runs Cherry Blossom, who could hardly have been more impressive when opening her account at the second attempt at the Curragh.

Star Of Mystery (Charlie Appleby) and Beautiful Diamond (Burke) also feature.

Cal Raleigh homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs to lead a 15-hit outburst by the scorching Seattle Mariners, who rolled to a 14-2 rout of the Chicago White Sox on Monday to extend their winning streak to seven games.

Raleigh went 3 for 5 with three runs scored and accounted for half of the Mariners' four homers as Seattle won for the 15th time in 18 games. Teoscar Hernandez and Dominic Canzone added solo shots with Hernandez finishing with two hits and three RBIs.

The Mariners' surge has moved them past the Toronto Blue Jays for the AL's final wild card and within two games of slumping Texas for first place in the American League West. The Rangers twice blew late leads in a 4-3, 11-inning loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.

Seattle also received strong pitching from ace Luis Castillo, who struck out nine while holding the White Sox to one run in seven innings to win his third consecutive start.

Chicago starter Touki Toussaint was tagged for five first-inning runs and seven overall before being removed with none out in the fifth.

Diamondbacks rally twice late to stun struggling Rangers

Tommy Pham's walkoff two-run double in the 11th inning capped a second late rally that catapulted the resurgent Arizona Diamondbacks to a stunning 4-3 win over the reeling Texas Rangers to open a key two-game series.

After forcing extra innings on Ketel Marte's solo homer in the ninth inning, the Diamondbacks trailed 3-2 with two outs in the 11th when Pham drove Rangers closer Will Smith's pitch into the gap in right-center field to plate Marte and Geraldo Perdomo and give Arizona an improbable eighth win in 10 games.

The Diamondbacks closed within a half-game of the San Francisco Giants for the National League's final wild card spot.

Texas, meanwhile, was dealt a season-high fifth straight loss and saw its lead over second-place Houston in the AL West reduced to 1 1/2 games after the Astros recorded a 9-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Monday.

The Rangers got eight shutout innings from Jordan Montgomery and a solo homer from Adolis Garcia to carry a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but couldn't hold it as Marte homered off reliever Aroldis Chapman with one out.

Texas regained the upper hand on Nathaniel Lowe's two-run double in the top of the 11th, but Smith intentionally walked Marte to put two on in the bottom of the frame before Perdomo delivered an RBI double to trim the lead to 3-2.

Montgomery yielded just four hits and a walk while striking out six in a tough-luck no-decision.

Harper's inside-the-park home run highlights Phillies' rout of Giants

The Philadelphia Phillies hit four home runs, including an inside-the-park shot from Bryce Harper, in a 10-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants that opened a three-game series between National League playoff contenders.

Edmundo Sosa, Alec Bohm and Kyle Schwarber also went deep to back seven strong innings from Aaron Nola as the Phillies strengthened their hold on the NL's top wild card spot. The defending NL champions now own a 2 1/2-game advantage on the Chicago Cubs, who moved past San Francisco by a half-game for the No. 2 wild card with Monday's 7-6 win over the Detroit Tigers.

Sosa gave Philadelphia a 3-1 lead with a two-run homer off Sean Manaea in the second inning, and the Phillies increased the margin with a two-run fifth highlighted by Harper's second career inside-the-park homer. The two-time NL MVP raced around the bases to extend the advantage to 5-2 before Bryson Stott doubled home Bohm for a four-run cushion.

Schwarber's 33rd homer of the season followed Johan Rojas' two-run triple in the seventh to give Philadelphia a commanding 10-2 lead.

Nola surrendered solo homers to Joc Pederson and Lamonte Wade Jr. over his first three innings before shutting out the Gians over the remainder of his stint. The standout right-hander scattered seven hits and one walk while striking out five.

The Indianapolis Colts have granted disgruntled running back Jonathan Taylor permission to seek a trade as the team and the 2021 NFL rushing champion remain locked in an ongoing contract dispute, multiple outlets reported Friday.

Taylor, the runner-up for the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year in 2021, initially requested a trade upon reporting to training camp in late July with the Colts unwilling to discuss a contract extension. The fourth-year pro is entering the final season of his rookie deal and is scheduled to earn $4.3 million in 2023.

According to ESPN, the Colts are seeking a package equivalent to a first-round pick for Taylor, who ran for a franchise-record 1,811 yards in 2021 to become the first Colts player to lead the NFL in rushing since Hall of Famer Edgerrin James did so in back-to-back seasons in 1999 and 2000. 

The Colts' reluctance to extend Taylor seems to stem from injuries that lessened his production this past season. The 24-year-old is currently on the physically unable to peform list while recovering from ankle surgery that ended his 2022 campaign in December.

Taylor also briefly left camp last week for what the Colts said was an excused absence to attend to a personal matter. He previously was away from the team for a short period to undergo therapy on his ankle through an outside source. 

Ankle issues limited Taylor to 11 games last season, which he finished with 861 rushing yards and four touchdowns while averaging 4.5 yards per attempt.

Taylor averaged 5.5 yards per carry during his superb 2021 season in which he also tied for the NFL lead with 20 total touchdowns while playing in all 17 games.

Since entering the NFL as a second-round pick of the Colts in 2020, Taylor's 33 rushing touchdowns are tied for second in the NFL and his 3,841 rushing yards are the fourth most of any player, trailing only Derrick Henry, Dalvin Cook and Nick Chubb.