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She lit the fire to start the Olympics, but Naomi Osaka‘s Tokyo 2020 dreams were extinguished far too soon on Tuesday in just over an hour by Marketa Vondrousova. With a flurry of unforced errors and growing frustration, Osaka’s Olympics ended with a 6-1, 6-4 loss to Vondrousova, ranked No. 42 in the world.

Osaka looked out of sorts throughout against Vondrousova, her serve failing to produce the goods (winning just 25 of 43 points on her first serve). She made 32 unforced errors compared to Vondrousova’s 10.

When asked afterward what went wrong, she responded: “Everything — if you watch the match then you would probably see. I feel like there’s a lot of things that I counted on that I couldn’t rely on today.”

It wasn’t meant to be like this for Osaka. Chosen to light the Olympic torch at the opening ceremony, Osaka was essentially the face of these Games, which were going to plan for the hosts, who were tied with the United States for most gold medals as a country.

Osaka took an eight-week break before the tournament and had looked so comfortable through the first two rounds with victories over Zheng Saisai and Viktorija Golubic, but then it unraveled on Tuesday as Typhoon Nepartak came hammering down on the roof of Ariake Tennis Court.

It has been a rollercoaster 2021 for the four-time Grand Slam champion. Having won the Australian Open in February, Osaka was the player to beat on the women’s tour. But when the French Open rolled around, she announced she was going to skip the tournament’s press conferences, citing her mental health.

After winning her first-round match at Roland Garros, she withdrew from the tournament and later decided not to participate at Wimbledon, focusing on bringing back the gold medal for Japan.

“I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this,” Osaka said. “I think it’s maybe because I haven’t played in the Olympics before and for the first year (it) was a bit much. I think I’m glad with how I played, with taking that break that I had.”

It looked like it was all laid out perfectly for her when Ash Barty, the world No. 1, went out in the opening round of the Olympics, opening the door for Osaka to continue Japan’s gold medal run at its home Games.

By the time Osaka took the court on Tuesday, Japan was up to eight gold medals: two in skateboarding, four in judoka and one each in swimming and table tennis. Osaka dreamt of adding another.

But that dream did not come to fruition. She dropped the first set in 24 minutes, and though she staved off three match points in the second set, her backhand sailed wide, sending Vondrousova to the quarterfinals.

“How disappointed am I? I mean, I’m disappointed in every loss, but I feel like this one sucks more than the others. I do know that my expectations were a lot higher,” Osaka said. “I feel like my attitude wasn’t that great because I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure, so that’s the best that I could have done in this situation.”

Still, while the loss will surely hurt Osaka, she has already left a strong legacy off the court in her home country. The image of her lighting the torch was a symbol of hope for a country that has gone ahead and put on an Olympic Games amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

She has also made an impact in ending the stigma surrounding mental health. In her self-penned piece in TIME Magazine, which came out before the Games, she spoke of wanting to make Japan’s people “proud,” and that didn’t necessarily need to be accomplished with a medal.

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Reports: AL batting leader Kwan headed to IL

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Reports: AL batting leader Kwan headed to IL

CLEVELAND — Guardians leadoff hitter Steven Kwan is headed to the injured list with a hamstring strain, and Cleveland will call up prospect Kyle Manzardo, according to multiple reports.

Kwan, who entered the weekend leading the AL in batting, underwent an MRI after leaving Saturday’s game with tightness.

The team has the results and intends to place Kwan on the 10-day injured list on Monday, The Associated Press reported.

Kwan’s injury is giving the Guardians a chance to add the hard-hitting Manzardo, who was acquired last year from Tampa Bay at the trade deadline for pitcher Aaron Civale.

Manzardo is a middle-of-the-lineup slugger who might be able to bolster Cleveland’s light-hitting offensive attack. He entered the season ranked No. 83 among the top 100 prospects in MLB, according to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.

The Guardians didn’t want to rush Manzardo, so they had him open the season at Triple-A Columbus. But the 23-year-old has been on a tear with the Clippers, hitting eight homers and driving in 14 runs in the last 14 games.

The Guardians believe he’s ready to take on major league pitchers.

“He’s been good against left-handed pitching, his approach against lefties has improved,” president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said before the Guardians beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-1 in their series finale on Sunday.

“He’s worked really hard at his defense, both his footwork around the bag and his throwing and he continues to put up and manage really good at-bats.”

Manzardo will likely be used primarily as the team’s designated hitter, but can spell Josh Naylor at first base.

Kwan’s injury is a blow to the Guardians and the two-time Gold Glove winner, who has been among baseball’s best hitters this season.

Before getting hurt while running down a fly ball, the 26-year-old Kwan was batting .353 with a league-leading 47 hits and 28 runs. He has gone 74 straight plate appearances before his last strikeout.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Ohtani clubs 2 HRs, now tied for MLB lead at 10

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Ohtani clubs 2 HRs, now tied for MLB lead at 10

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani went 4-for-4 with two home runs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 5-1 on Sunday afternoon to sweep the three-game series.

Ohtani launched a hanging curveball from Braves started Max Fried 412 feet over the center-field fence for a two-run homer in the first inning. He added a pair of singles in the third and the sixth before leading off the eighth inning with a 464-foot blast off reliever A.J. Minter deep into the left center field bleachers.

It was Ohtani’s first multihomer game with the Dodgers and the 17th of his career. He is now tied with Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna, the AngelsMike Trout and the OriolesGunnar Henderson for the major league lead with 10 home runs this season.

“I just feel like we’re overall playing really well,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “So that’s really helping me have quality at-bats. Just feeling good overall.”

Ohtani’s 25 extra-base hits are tied for the second most through the Dodgers’ first 40 games of a season since 1900, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. (Adrián González had 26 in 2015.)

Ohtani’s four hits also tied a career high. He’s batting .364, tied for the MLB lead with the PhilliesAlec Bohm.

“He just keeps doing things that we just hadn’t seen haven’t seen before,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s deep. People don’t hit the ball out there, whether you’re left-handed or right-handed.”

Teoscar Hernandez added a two-run homer and James Paxton took a shutout into the seventh inning for the Dodgers. Paxton (4-0) finished with 6⅔ innings pitched, 5 hits and 1 run allowed, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts to remain unbeaten on the season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Red Sox end Twins’ winning streak at 12 games

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Red Sox end Twins' winning streak at 12 games

MINNEAPOLIS — Ceddanne Rafaela hit the first Red Sox home run in seven games, Rafael Devers added another and Boston ended Minnesota’s 12-game winning streak by beating the Twins 9-2 on Sunday.

Vaughn Grissom and Dominic Smith had two-run doubles, and Boston ended a three-game slide in which it scored just four runs.

“Losing two out of three here [stinks], but winning this one is very gratifying,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “It took a total team effort.”

Ryan Jeffers homered and Trevor Larnach had an RBI single for Minnesota.

The Twins’ 12-game winning streak was tied for the second longest in team history behind a 15-win run in June 1991, the last season Minnesota won the World Series.

“It did feel like every time an opportunity arose in the past 12 games, it felt like we were always coming through,” Carlos Correa said. “Today was just one of the days that we’re not able to do that. But at the same time, looking at the big picture, it’s been a couple of good weeks. We’ve just got to keep going. It’s a fun team.”

With one out in the fifth, Rafaela hit a full count offering from Joe Ryan into the first row of the left-center-field seats for a two-run home run and a 3-1 lead. Rafaela hit the team’s previous round-tripper in Boston’s 17-0 win over the Cubs on April 27.

“I was just focusing to hit the ball and then good things happen,” said Rafaela, who played some old-school pepper before the game with hitting coach Pete Fatse to better get the barrel on the ball.

Grissom had a two-run double to give the Sox a 5-1 eighth-inning lead. Smith, the next batter, added a two-run double with the ball going off the glove of Manuel Margot, who was battling the sun on a cloudless 69-degree afternoon.

Devers hit a two-run shot in the ninth.

Boston starter Cooper Criswell, who threw five shutout innings in each of his prior two starts, allowed one earned run and struck out five in 4⅓ innings, but needed 80 pitches to do so.

Brennan Bernardino (1-1), the first of five Red Sox relievers, earned the win.

Tossing his team-high fifth quality start of the season, Ryan (1-2) allowed four hits and three earned runs while striking out five.

With the season’s second-largest home crowd of 29,638 in attendance, Jeffers hit a solo home run in the third inning for a 1-0 lead, a frame after Minnesota had a golden opportunity for some early damage.

Max Kepler, Correa and Larnach each singled to start the Minnesota second, but Criswell struck out Willi Castro and Carlos Santana before Jose Miranda hit a harmless bouncer back to Criswell.

“There are moments where if you’re able to do something, they really are tipping points, turning points,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We’ve been doing it, today we just didn’t do it.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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