BASEBALL

Brandon Walter was tagged for nine runs, seven earned, and lasted just 11/3 innings Tuesday night as the Portland Sea Dogs lost to the Hartford Yard Goats 11-4 in an Eastern League game at Hartford, Connecticut.

The Sea Dogs have lost four straight for the second time this season.

Hartford scored three runs in the first and seven in the second to chase Walter, who in his first five starts was 1-0 with a 0.93 ERA with 39 strikeouts and just one walk in 29 innings. Against Hartford, he allowed seven hits and one walk. His ERA jumped to 2.97.

Ezequiel Tovar and Aaron Schunk each had a homer and two RBI for the Yard Goats. Brenton Doyle also had two RBI.

Pedro Castellanos was 2 for 4 with two RBI for the Sea Dogs, and David Hamilton was 3 for 5 in the first game of a six-game series.

GOLF

The PGA Tour is denying releases to golfers who asked to play in the first of a series of Saudi-funded tournaments next month in England, a bold move by Commissioner Jay Monahan in trying to quash Greg Norman’s latest bid to start a lucrative rival league.

The first LIV Golf Invitational is scheduled for June 9-11 at Centurion Golf Club outside of London, with a 48-man field competing for a $20 million purse over 54 holes. The winner gets $4 million – to date the richest prize in golf – and last place gets $120,000.

The tour informed the players who are seeking releases late Tuesday afternoon, and then notified all players of the decision in a short memo, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

“We have notified those who have applied that their request has been declined in accordance with the PGA Tour Tournament Regulations. As such, Tour members are not authorized to participate in the Saudi Golf League’s London event under our regulations,” the memo said.

“As a membership organization, we believe this decision is in the best interest of the PGA Tour and its players.”

While the names of players who have signed up has not officially been released, Phil Mickelson said through his agent he has asked for a conflicting event release to the London event. Lee Westwood confirmed last week he asked the PGA Tour and European tour for a release.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer and Ian Poulter also were among those who sought releases.

Norman is the CEO of LIV Golf Investments, funded primarily by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. He told Sky Sport earlier Tuesday he would have six of the top 50 players in the world at the London event and 19 of the top 100.

Now that Monahan has staked his position, it’s up to the players to decide if they still want to go and risk losing PGA Tour membership.

BASKETBALL

WNBA: Kelsey Mitchell scored 26 points, Crystal Dangerfield had 10 points and six assists against her former team and the Indiana Fever beat the visiting Minnesota Lynx 82-76 to snap a six-game losing streak in the series.

Dangerfield, who was waived by Minnesota a week ago, made a jumper from the free-throw line to extend Indiana’s lead to 76-72 with 2:26 left and added two free throws at 18.9 to seal it. Dangerfield, the 2020 rookie of the year, was 3 of 7 from the field with no turnovers in 21 minutes.

• Elena Delle Donne scored 12 of her 19 points in the second half, Myisha Hines-Allen had 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and the host Washington Mystics used a big third quarter to beat the Las Vegas Aces 89-76.

Washington trailed by 13 points at halftime before outscoring the Aces 24-7 in the third for a 60-56 lead. The Mystics extended their advantage to 74-60 midway through the fourth.

TENNIS

FRENCH OPEN: Veteran French players Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon have been handed wild cards to play in the main draw at the French Open, organizers said Tuesday.

A former Australian Open runner-up, Tsonga announced earlier this season that he will retire after the clay-court Grand Slam event. Play begins at Roland Garros on May 22. Simon said he is retiring at the end of the season after 20 years of playing professional tennis.

Tsonga and Simon are both 37 years old and helped France win the Davis Cup in 2017.

ITALIAN OPEN: At 37, John Isner is just happy to be back on tour in Europe with his wife and three kids.

No longer dreaming of a Grand Slam title, he’s trying to make the back end of his tennis career not seem “like such a job” and make it “fun.”

Yet there’s serious business coming up Wednesday with a second-round match against 10-time champion Rafael Nadal in the second round at Rome.

In other action on the red clay courts, five-time champion Novak Djokovic looked solid in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Aslan Karatsev in his opening match.

In a women’s matchup of two U.S. Open champions, Bianca Andreescu advanced when Emma Raducanu retired due to a lower back injury with Andreescu ahead 6-2, 2-1.

CYCLING

GIRO d’ITALIA: German cyclist Lennard Kämna won the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia on the slopes of Mount Etna while Juan Pedro López moved into the overall lead on Tuesday as the Italian grand tour returned to home soil.

Kämna, who rides for Bora-Hansgrohe, had time to raise his arms over his head as he crossed the line just ahead of López, who banged his handlebars in frustration. It was a second grand tour stage win for the 25-year-old Kämna, who won a stage on the Tour de France two years ago.

SOCCER

MANCHESTER CITY: Manchester City has agreed to sign Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund, bringing in one of the world’s most exciting young players as a belated replacement for club great Sergio Aguero.

The 21-year-old Haaland will join City on July 1, the Premier League champions said in a brief statement, subject to personal terms being finalized.

The Norway striker will cost 60 million euros ($63.2 million) after City activated the release clause in his Dortmund contract. He is set to sign a five-year contract with the club he supported as a kid and for whom his father, Alf-Inge, played from 2000-03.

VIDEO: The FIFA video game will be disappearing after the maker failed to strike a new licensing deal with world soccer’s governing body.

Instead, EA Sports FC will be introduced from 2023 after the company creates the final game in partnership with FIFA later this year.

EA has been producing a FIFA game for around three decades and its fond association with fans worldwide helped the Zurich-based organization’s brand when it was tarnished amid a wave of arrests of soccer officials in 2015.

DORTMUND: Borussia Dortmund signed Germany forward Karim Adeyemi from Austrian champion Salzburg.

The Bundesliga club said the 20-year-old Adeyemi signed a contract through June 2027 after completing a medical examination in Dortmund earlier in the day.

AUTO RACING

INDY 500: Sarah Fisher is getting a promotion for this month’s Indianapolis 500.

Race organizers announced they selected the IndyCar veteran and local fan favorite to be the celebrity pace car driver for the May 29 race. Fisher has been the regular pace-car driver for series events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for years.

This time, though, she won’t be taking a handoff when a non-racing celebrity pulls off the historic 2.5-mile oval. She’ll be driving the entire time.