Yankees’ Mariano Rivera tears ACL in right knee

Mariano Rivera tore a ligament in his right knee before the New York Yankees lost, 4-3, to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night.

The 42-year-old right-hander was carted off the field at Kansas City after twisting his right knee shagging fly balls during batting practice.

Manager Joe Girardi revealed the severity of the injury after the game. Royals team doctor Vincent Key diagnosed a torn anterior cruciate ligament after looking at the MRI.

Baseball’s career saves leader was tracking down a ball hit by Jayson Nix in deep center field when his right knee appeared to buckle a step before the wall. He fell to the warning track and immediately grabbed his right knee, briefly covering his face with his glove and grimacing in pain.

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The San Francisco Giants’ Pablo Sandoval has a broken bone in his left hand that will require surgery, and the slugger is expected to miss four to six weeks.

ETC.

Suggs tears an Achilles’ tendon

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs will have surgery for a partially torn Achilles’ tendon, an injury he insists will not keep him sidelined for the entire 2012 season.

The injury occurred in Arizona while Suggs was practicing for an upcoming conditioning test, he said in a text message.

Suggs, the Associated Press NFL defensive player of the year in 2011, is expected to have surgery as soon as next week. A torn Achilles’ tendon usually requires a lengthy rehabilitation program, but Suggs has no intention of sitting out the season.

Asked whether he will play in 2012, he responded, “Absolutely,” and projected his return to occur in late October or November.

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A former U.S. attorney hired by the NFL to evaluate its investigation of the New Orleans Saints’ bounty program said the evidence shows players received payments for hits on targeted opponents.

Mary Jo White said in a conference call that evidence in the league’s investigation of the three-year pay-for-pain system provided “an unusually strong record” and came from people with “firsthand knowledge and corroborated by documentation.”

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Webb Simpson was nervous playing in the same group as Tiger Woods. It sure didn’t show in the Wells Fargo Championship at Charlotte, N.C.

Simpson chipped in from 35 yards in front of the par-four eighth green for eagle, and then made Woods shake his head and smile when he holed a 60-foot birdie putt that might have rolled off the 12th green if the cup didn’t get in the way. It led to a seven-under 65 for a share of the lead with Stewart Cink and Ryan Moore.

Woods, in his first tournament since a tie for 40th at the Masters, made too many mistakes early and had to one-putt three of the last four greens for a 71.

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The Big 12 Conference announced the hiring of Stanford Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby as its new commissioner.

The league announced the hire a few hours after Bowlsby broke the news to his staff and coaches at Stanford. He will take over from interim Commissioner Chuck Neinas on June 15.

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Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees was pepper-sprayed and arrested early Thursday after he allegedly ran away from an off-campus party and knocked the wind out of a police officer who caught up to him.

The 19-year-old Rees was charged with one count of battery, two counts of resisting law enforcement and one count of illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor.

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For the first time Thursday, the jury in the Roger Clemens trial in Washington saw in person the physical evidence the government says will link the 11-time All-Star baseball pitcher to anabolic steroids, evidence that Clemens’ lawyer has called a “mixed-up hodgepodge of garbage.”

The items were presented on Day 10 of the retrial on charges that Clemens committed perjury when he told Congress in 2008 that he had never taken steroids or human growth hormone. The first trial last July ended in a mistrial.

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The 2012 Amgen Tour of California, a cycling competition that runs May 13-20, will be shown live in high definition on NBC Sports Network.

The network will air a preview show May 6 and daily highlights will be shown each night of the race.

For the first time in the competition’s history, two hours of the final stage on May 20 at 10 a.m. will be broadcast live. The final stage will be reshown at 3:30 p.m.

The Amgen Tour of California features 16 teams and extends over 750 miles of highways, roadways and coastlines.

—Melissa Rohlin