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Denny Hamlin will start from the pole at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, the third time this season the NASCAR driver will lead the Cup Series field to the green flag at a road course.

Hamlin turned the two fastest laps in the final round of qualifying Saturday to edge William Byron for the top spot. Hamlin covered the 14-turn course in 70.392 seconds and reached a top speed of 125.298 mph. Byron was second at 124.961 mph.

“There were a few spots where I feel like I still could have got a little bit more,” said Hamlin, who earned the 40th pole of his Cup career. “But you can’t nitpick when you’re that good.”

Starting near the front is usually advantageous on road courses, where passing can be difficult. Hamlin, though, is 0-for-2 from the prime spot on NASCAR’s serpentine courses this season. He started from the pole in Sonoma and finished 36th, and he started first at Chicago and came home 11th.

Michael McDowell, one of the best drivers on road courses this season, will start third a week after winning for the second time in his career. McDowell dominated the Indianapolis Grand Prix.

Ty Gibbs, likely needing a win to make the playoffs, will start fourth. Two-time defending Watkins Glen winner Kyle Larson will start fifth as he tries to join Mark Martin (1993-95) and Jeff Gordon (1997-99) as the only drivers to win three straight in upstate New York.

AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch and Corey LaJoie round out the top 10.

Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, will start 15th in the penultimate race of NASCAR’s regular season. Elliott has two wins at the Glen. He also has seven career victories on NASCAR’s winding tracks, two more than any other active driver.

Elliott needs a win to make the postseason for the eighth consecutive year. The Hendrick Motorsports star has two races remaining to get it done — in New York or next week at unpredictable Daytona International Speedway.

Thirteen drivers have clinched berths in the 16-driver postseason field, including former series champs Busch, Larson, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr.

Two more past champions, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski, have solid holds on two of the remaining three playoff spots. Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez are on the bubble and need a victory or help. Wallace leads Suarez by 28 points.

Wallace will start 12th at the Glen, two spots ahead of Suarez.

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Springer’s 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

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Springer's 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

George Springer had a career-high seven RBIs, including his ninth grand slam, and the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day by beating the Yankees 12-5 on Tuesday and closing within one game of American League East-leading New York.

The seven RBIs are tied for the second most by any Blue Jays player in a home game, behind Edwin Encarnación (nine RBIs in 2015), according to ESPN Research.

Andrés Giménez had a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 2-0 deficit against Max Fried. After the Yankees tied the score 4-4 in the seventh, Toronto broke open the game in the bottom half against a reeling Yankees bullpen.

Springer went 3-for-4, starting the comeback with a solo homer in the fourth against Fried and boosting the lead to 9-5 with the slam off Luke Weaver after Ernie Clement‘s go-ahead single off shortstop Anthony Volpe‘s glove. Springer has 13 homers this season.

Toronto won the first two games of the four-game series and closed within one game of the Yankees for the first time since before play on April 20.

New York went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 3-for-24 in the series, while the Blue Jays were 5-for-7. After going 13-14 in June, the Yankees fell to 10-14 against AL East rivals.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.

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Astros’ Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

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Astros' Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

DENVER — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has experienced a setback in his recovery from a broken right hand and will see a specialist.

Astros general manager Dana Brown said Alvarez felt pain when he arrived Tuesday at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he had a workout a day earlier. Alvarez also took batting practice Saturday at Daikin Park.

He will be shut down until he’s evaluated by the specialist.

“It’s a tough time going through this with Yordan, but I know that he’s still feeling pain and the soreness in his hand,” Brown said before Tuesday night’s series opener at Colorado, which the Astros won 6-5. “We’re not going to try to push it or force him through anything. We’re just going to allow him to heal and get a little bit more answers as to what steps we take next.”

Alvarez has been sidelined for nearly two months. The injury was initially diagnosed as a muscle strain, but when Alvarez felt pain again while hitting in late May, imaging revealed a small fracture.

The 28-year-old outfielder, who has hit 31 homers or more in each of the past four seasons, had been eyeing a return as soon as this weekend at the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now it’s uncertain when he’ll play.

“We felt like he was close because he had felt so good of late,” Brown said, “but this is certainly news that we didn’t want.”

Also Tuesday, the Astros officially placed shortstop Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a fractured rib and recalled infielder Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A Sugar Land.

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Ohtani’s 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

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Ohtani's 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

Shohei Ohtani reached 30 homers for the fifth straight season, hitting a fourth-inning drive after fouling a pitch off the plate umpire, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Ohtani fouled the ball off Alan Porter’s right knee in the fourth. Ohtani checked on the umpire and stood by watching until Parker got up under his own power. The three-time MVP then hit a 408-foot shot to center, snapping an 0-for-6 skid and extending the lead to 6-1. He tied Cody Bellinger in 2019 for most home runs before the All-Star break in Dodgers history; Bellinger won National League MVP that year.

Ohtani joined Seattle‘s Cal Raleigh (33) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (30) as players with at least 30 homers by the All-Star break; it marks the fifth season that three players have reached the 30-homer threshold before the break (2019, 1998, 1994, 1969).

As for Ohtani, this is his third season hitting at least 30 home runs before the break, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for third most in MLB history (Judge and Mark McGwire each did so for four seasons).

During the seventh-inning stretch, Ohtani walked over and checked on Porter again before leading off.

Los Angeles scored its most runs this season in support of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6), staking the Japanese right-hander to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

The Dodgers won for the 13th time in 16 games and opened a season-high, eight-game NL West lead. They are 16-5 (.762 win percentage) since June 8, the best record in MLB during that span.

Every run Tuesday night was scored with two outs.

Yamamoto allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked one.

White Sox rookie Shane Smith (3-6) got two quick outs in the first before walking Will Smith and Max Muncy back-to-back. Teoscar Hernández followed with an RBI single, Andy Pages hit a run-scoring double and Michael Conforto had a two-run single.

Chicago’s lone run came on Lenyn Sosa‘s RBI single in the third.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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