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Cardinals’ Oh Seung-hwan

has impressive first half

St. Louis Cardinals reliever Oh Seung-hwan concluded the first half of his rookie season in the Major League with an impressive two wins, two saves, 14 holds and no losses with a 1.59 earned run average while allowing only 26 hits. Oh also grabbed 59 strikeouts during 45 games he’s pitched in.

Oh started out the season with a setup job, rather than as a closer, for the Cardinals. But All-Star closer Trevor Rosenthal struggled mightily on the mound and this forced Mike Matheny, the Cardinals manager, to consider his options. At the end, Matheny picked Oh for the closing assignment in Rosenthal’s stead.

Oh’s last save came on Monday, when he took over the mound after Cardinals reliever Jonathan Broxton in the ninth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers. Oh concluded the last inning of the Cardinals’ 5-1 win rather quickly, taking out three batters straight with two flyouts and one line-out.

By Choi Hyung-jo

GOLF

Spieth exits Olympics team, is latest star to withdraw

TROON, Scotland - Jordan Spieth withdrew from the Olympics on Tuesday, leaving golf without its top four players when the sport returns to the Games for the first time since 1904.

The decision was announced by International Golf Federation President Peter Dawson.

Spieth was the last player to say he was not going to Rio, telling the IGF it was for “health reasons.”

Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy previously withdrew, all citing the Zika virus.

AP