(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Rookie outfielder Jack Suwinski hit his 14th home run and the Pittsburgh Pirates spoiled Jameson Taillon’s return to PNC Park with a 5-2 win over the New York Yankees. Taillon lost for the first time since April 11 after giving up a solo shot to Daniel Vogelbach in the first inning and a two-run homer just over the center-field wall by Suwinski in the fourth. Taillon, who spent more than a decade in the Pirates’ organization before being traded to New York in 2021, was pulled with one out in the sixth after allowing five runs and six hits with five strikeouts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart this week in Indonesia at a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 bloc of nations. The State Department says Blinken will see China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bali at the gathering of the world’s leading industrialized nations. But, it was silent on whether Blinken would also meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who will also be attending the G-20 event. The U.S. and China are at severe odds over numerous issues ranging from trade and human rights to Taiwan and disputes in the South China Sea. They are also divided over Russia’s war in Ukraine, with China supporting the Russian explanation for the conflict.

NEW YORK (AP) — The fossilized skeleton of a T. rex relative that roamed the earth about 76 million years ago will be auctioned in New York this month. The Gorgosaurus skeleton will highlight Sotheby’s natural history auction on July 28. The Gorgosaurus was an apex carnivore that lived in what is now the western United States and Canada during the Late Cretaceous period. It predated its relative the Tyrannosaurus rex by 10 million years. The specimen being sold was discovered in 2018 in the Judith River Formation near Havre, Montana. It measures nearly 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 22 (6.7 meters) feet long.

After the U.S. Supreme Court revoked the federal right to abortion that’s been in place for half a century, companies like Amazon, Disney, Apple and JP Morgan pledged to cover travel costs for employees who live in states where abortion is now illegal so they can terminate pregnancies. But they gave no details on how they will do this and it’s not clear if they will be able to — legally — while protecting employees’ privacy and keeping them safe from prosecution.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for governor, Doug Mastriano, often makes the baseless allegation that Gov. Tom Wolf’s policy of readmitting COVID-19 patients from hospitals to nursing homes caused thousands of deaths. It’s a claim for which no investigator or researcher has provided any evidence. In fact, researchers point to something entirely different. They say nursing home employees ushered in the virus every day to the buildings. Meanwhile, criminal investigators found administrators flouting staffing requirements or infection-control procedures. No Pennsylvania nursing home has leveled a claim like Mastriano’s. And readmissions were routine in every state during the pandemic to keep hospital beds open. Wolf’s office says Mastriano’s claims are “patently false.”

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Scores of people watching a Fourth of July fireworks show in Philadelphia ran for cover when gunshots rang out shortly after the show had started. The gunfire forced them to leave behind strollers and other personal items as they sought refuge from what many feared was an active shooter. Two Philadelphia police officers working at the event suffered graze wounds in the gunfire Monday in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum. The shooting came just hours after another holiday shooting in suburban Chicago left at least six people dead and at least 30 wounded.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new poll shows that many Americans don’t expect to rely on the digital services that became commonplace during the pandemic after COVID-19 subsides. That’s even as many think it’s a good thing if those options remain available in the future. The poll comes from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll shows that close to half or more of U.S. adults say they are not likely to attend virtual activities, receive virtual health care, have groceries delivered or use curbside pickup after the coronavirus pandemic ends. Still, close to half of adults also say it would be a good thing if virtual options continue.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street futures slipped Tuesday ahead of the reopening of U.S. markets from the Independence Day holiday, following declines in Europe and an upbeat session in Asia. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials fell 0.6%, as did futures for the S&P 500. The war in Ukraine and its impact on energy supplies are casting a shadow over the global economic outlook at a time when central banks are raising interest rates to slow inflation. While most pandemic restrictions are gradually being lifted across Asia, a resurgence in COVID-19 infections has taken hold in Europe and the U.S.. Oil prices fell.

Brittney Griner made an appeal to President Joe Biden in a letter passed on to the White House through her representatives saying she feared she may never return home and asking that he not “forget about me and the other American Detainees.” Griner’s agent says the letter was delivered on Monday. The Phoenix Mercury All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist is in the midst of a trial in Russia that began last week after she was arrested on Feb. 17 on charges of possessing cannabis oil while returning to play for her Russian team. The trial will resume Thursday.