Thursday’s Sports in Brief

NFL

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - An NFL statement intended to clarify to officials the emphasis on quarterback hits may have raised questions with Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews.

NFL football operations chief Troy Vincent said Thursday that the powerful competition committee had clarified to game officials the techniques used in such hits. A lack of consistency on such calls also has been a source of contention throughout the league.

Matthews has been called for a roughing-the-passer call in each of the Packers’ first three games. Two of the hits appeared to be normal tackles.

“I don’t know if that statement really expresses how they’re going to call it moving forward,” Matthews said after practice on Thursday.

RENTON, Wash. (AP) - Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin says he’s ready to return to the lineup this week against the Arizona Cardinals.

Baldwin has missed the past two games for Seattle after injuring the MCL in his right knee in the team’s season opener against the Denver Broncos.

Baldwin returned to the practice field on Wednesday for the first time since defensive tackle Domata Peko rolled up on the back of his leg in Denver.

“I know Pete has a press conference coming up eventually (on Friday) so you’ll have to ask him. … I’m ready to go,” Baldwin said on Thursday.

“That’s going to be their call. There’s a lot of things that go into it, obviously, the precautionary reasons of making sure that I’m healthy fully so that I can go for the rest of the season and not just this game.”

BASEBALL

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia was ejected for hitting Jesus Sucre on a leg in retaliation for Tampa Bay reliever Andrew Kittredge throwing an inside pitch at Austin Romine, possibly costing the left-hander a $500,000 bonus based on innings.

With New York ahead 7-0, Sabathia hit Jake Bauers around a hand with two outs in the fifth.

Kittredge threw his initial pitch in the sixth high and tight to Romine, and plate umpire Vic Carapazza issued a warning to both benches.

New York opened an 11-0 lead and Sabathia hit Sucre on his first pitch in the bottom half, causing Capapazza to eject the pitcher and Yankees manager Aaron Boone.

Sabathia stared toward the Tampa Bay side of the field while walking to the Yankees dugout on the third-base side after being tossed. Relievers in both bullpens stood up but the other players remained in the dugouts.

Sabathia had thrown 55 pitches and the five innings raised his season total to 153 - two shy of a $500,000 performance bonus in his contract for reaching 155 innings.

The 38-year-old left-hander entered 8-7 and lowered his ERA to 3.65. He has a $10 million base salary in his one-year contract.

CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell will miss the rest of the regular season while Major League Baseball investigates domestic violence allegations from his ex-wife.

MLB and the players’ association have agreed to extend his administrative leave by four days through Sunday. Russell was first placed on administrative leave Sept. 21.

Melisa Reidy has alleged years of physical and emotional abuse, which he has denied.

Russell can challenge the leave before an arbitrator. He continues to be paid his $3.2 million salary.

Chicago has clinched its fourth straight postseason appearance. The 24-year-old infielder is batting .250 with five homers and 38 RBIs. He was an All-Star two years ago and helped the Cubs win their first World Series title since 1908.

GOLF

GARLAND, Texas (AP) - Tony Romo was 11-over par for 27 holes in the first stage of the Web.com Tour’s Qualifying Tournament.

The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback opened with an 8-over 79 at Firewheel at Garland Bridges and had a 3-over 39 on the Masters Nine. He was 74th in the 76-player field, with the top 22 and ties advancing to the second stage.

“I’ve felt pressure with playing (tournament golf) before, but I just didn’t play well today,” Romo said. “Off the tee I struggled and made everything very difficult. I made way too many high numbers. Like anything in golf, you have to go back and see what the reasons were and then subtly work on them.”

Romo will complete the second round on the Champion Nine on Friday, and play the third round Saturday.

Mexican amateur Alvaro Ortiz had the lead at 9 under.

TENNIS

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) - Jim Courier is finished as captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team after eight years in the job.

The U.S. Tennis Association announced that Courier is “stepping down,” less than two weeks after the Americans lost to host Croatia 3-2 in the Davis Cup semifinals.

The United States had a 10-8 record in World Group play since Courier was appointed in October 2010, twice making it as far as the semifinals.

The country’s most recent Davis Cup title came in 2007.

Courier was part of Davis Cup-winning teams as a player in 1992 and 1995. He also won four Grand Slam singles titles and reached No. 1 in the rankings.

BOXING

NEW YORK (AP) - HBO is getting out of the live boxing business after more than 1,000 fights over four decades of telecasts.

The network will televise the Oct. 27 middleweight title fight between Danny Jacobs and Sergiy Derevyanchenko, then bow out from a sport of which it has long been a leading proponent.

Showtime, HBO’s main competitor for cable boxing telecasts, plans to enhances its schedule for 2019.

Since its first fight on Jan. 22, 1973 - a huge one in which George Foreman knocked out Joe Frazier for the heavyweight crown in Jamaica - HBO televised a symmetrical number of 1,111 bouts, some pay-per-view, the rest on the cable channel. That includes a high of 32 appearances by Oscar de la Hoya and Roy Jones Jr.