The Chicago White Sox hired Kansas City Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol to replace Hall of Famer Tony La Russa as their manager, it was announced Thursday.

General manager Rick Hahn mentioned in a statement the 52-year-old Grifol’s experience in a variety of coaching and scouting roles at the major and minor league levels. He also cited the fact that Grifol is bilingual and called him a “modern baseball thinker.”

Grifol will try to lift a team coming off a disappointing season. The White Sox finished second in the AL Central at 81-81 and missed the playoffs after running away with the division in 2021. La Russa missed the final 34 games because of health problems and announced he would not return, ending a disappointing two-year run with the franchise that gave him his first job as a big league skipper.

Grifol spent the past 10 seasons in a variety of coaching roles with Kansas City under former managers Ned Yost and Mike Matheny. He was part of teams that captured back-to-back pennants and won the World Series in 2015.

Grifol spent the past three seasons as the Royals bench coach. He interviewed for the managing job after Matheny was fired as part of a widespread shakeup within the organization after a 65-97 finish. The Royals hired Tampa Bay Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro as manager on Sunday night.

Gordon leads by one at Mayakoba

Will Gordon ran off four straight birdies to start the back nine on the El Camaleon course and finished with a 9-under 62 to take a one-shot lead over Russell Henley in the PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

Harris English took another step back in his recovery from hip surgery and was at 64, part of a group that included former British Open champion Francesco Molinari.

Without the No. 1 ranking next to his name for the first time since March, Masters champion Scottie Scheffler hit plenty of iron shots close and converted them into a 65. Also at 65 was two-time defending champion Viktor Hovland.

Gauff eliminated from WTA Finals

Tears gathered in Coco Gauff’s eyes as she sat on the WTA Finals sideline during a changeover after giving away a lead in what would become a 7-6 (6), 6-3 round-robin loss to Daria Kasatkina that ended the 18-year-old American’s hopes of reaching the semifinals in Fort Worth, Texas.

Gauff, who is ranked No. 4, fell to 0-4 in her debut at the season-ending tournament for the best in women’s tennis — 0-2 in singles and 0-2 in doubles with Jessica Pegula.

Earlier Thursday, top-ranked Iga Swiatek beat Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-2 by taking control with an eight-point run that launched a match-ending stretch in which she grabbed nine of 11 games.

Swiatek has won all four sets she’s played so far while dropping a total of just 10 games.

The results mean that Swiatek clinched a semifinal berth and that No. 6 Garcia will face No. 8 Kasatkina for the other spot available in their group.

• Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the quarterfinals at the Paris Masters with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Grigor Dimitrov and Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the last eight by winning his 15th consecutive match.

Alcaraz, the U.S. Open champion, will next play Holger Rune for a place in the semifinals after the Danish teenager beat Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-5.

Auger-Aliassime, who is bidding to win a fourth straight title, defeated French veteran Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-3 at the indoor hard-court event.

Lorenzo Musetti upset U.S. Open runner-up Casper Ruud 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, while American player Frances Tiafoe defeated Alex De Minaur 6-3, 7-6 (5). Tiafoe has a career-best 35 wins in 2022.

The 20-year-old Musetti will play Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals after the 21-time Grand Slam champion beat Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-4, 6-1.

American Tommy Paul beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-4 and will next face fifth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas, who eliminated French qualifier Corentin Moutet 6-3, 7-6 (3) to earn his tour-leading 59th win of the year.

Louisville escapes major sanctions

An independent panel has placed the Louisville basketball program on two years of probation and fined it $5,000, but spared the school major penalties from NCAA allegations leveled in the aftermath of a federal investigation of corruption in college basketball.

The Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) also declined to penalize former Cardinals coach Rick Pitino, whom the NCAA initially cited for failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance. Chris Mack, Pitino’s successor who was fired in January, also was not penalized for additional allegations announced last year by the NCAA.

Former Cardinals assistant coaches Jordan Fair and Kenny Johnson received two-year show-cause orders for Level I violations. The IARP concluded that Fair “was knowingly involved” in arranging a cash payment in exchange for a player enrolling at Louisville.

The IARP, created to examine complex cases, also restricted Louisville’s recruiting visits for this academic year and issued a public reprimand.

The NCAA in May 2020 accused Louisville of committing a Level I violation for an improper recruiting offer and several Level II violations. Pitino was accused of failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance.

It followed a federal investigation of corruption in college basketball announced in September 2017. The school acknowledged it was the subject of allegations related to the recruitment of Brian Bowen II.

Barcelona star Pique retiring

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, a three-time Champions League winner with the club who also helped Spain win the 2010 World Cup, has announced his retirement at age 35.

Pique said in a video posted on his Twitter account that “this Saturday will be my last game at Camp Nou.”

“It is the moment to end this stage of my life,” Pique said. “I always said that after Barcelona there will be no other club, and that is the way it is going to be.”

Pique has played 615 games for Barcelona, scoring 52 goals. In addition to the treble of European Cups, he helped Barcelona win eight Spanish league titles and seven Copa del Rey crowns among other titles.

Pique also helped his country win the 2012 European Championship before retiring from international soccer in 2018.

Barcelona hosts Almería on Saturday.

Pique’s retirement comes after he split up with pop star Shakira, the mother of his two children, this summer.