Reds’ Miley accused in Skaggs’ case

Reds left-hander Wade Miley, pictured, is accused in court documents of providing drugs to the late Tyler Skaggs, an Angels pitcher who died of an accidental overdose in 2019. Skaggs’ former agent, Ryan Hamill, said in a deposition that Skaggs told him he was using pain pills containing oxycodone, which were provided by Miley. The deposition is part of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Skaggs’ family against the Angels in California. A former publicist for the Angels, Eric Kay, was convicted in Texas of providing the fentanyl-laced pills that an autopsy said contributed to Skaggs’ death. Kay was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison. Skaggs died in the team hotel in a Dallas suburb. His body was found hours before what was supposed to be the start of a series between the Angels and Rangers. Miley is not facing criminal charges, and it’s not the first time his name has come up in relation to Skaggs’ death. During the sentencing phase of Kay’s case, prosecutors used a recording of a conversation between Kay and his mother in which Kay said Miley was one of Skaggs’ drug suppliers.

Clark set to return against Liberty

Caitlin Clark ended practice Friday by making a halfcourt shot and winning a little bit of lunch money in the process. And with that, the Fever star is ready to play again. Clark — barring any unforeseen setbacks — is expected to be in the lineup when the Fever play host to the reigning WNBA champion Liberty on Saturday afternoon. She missed the last five Fever games with a quadriceps injury. “As long as we don’t have any regressions, she’s going to be ready to roll,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. Clark returned to practice this week, and her comeback game just happens to be a nationally televised one against the Liberty — the defending champs and, at 9-0, the last unbeaten team left in the league this season. The Liberty are winning their games by an average of 19 points. “I’m really excited,” Clark said. “I think it’s definitely been a process. I think the hardest part is when you like begin to feel really good and then it’s just a process of working yourself back into actually getting up and down and getting out there with my teammates.”

NASCAR runs into travel snags

NASCAR’s first Cup Series race outside the United States was off to a bumpy start Friday with several teams yet to arrive in Mexico City because of travel issues in North Carolina. At least one chartered flight to Mexico City was grounded Thursday with an engine issue, leaving teams scrambling to find alternative routes to get to Mexico. Some drove to Atlanta to catch a commercial flight. But when the track opened Friday, many were not at Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Trackhouse Racing was among them — Daniel Suarez, pictured, arrived Tuesday with some support personnel so he was not affected — but the communications director for the Cup team had been summoned to help unload the Trackhouse cars off the truck because no crew members were available. The trucks came directly from last Sunday’s race in Michigan and arrived at the Mexico City track on Thursday. NASCAR said only “a select few” teams aren’t on site Friday morning. But, it seems most are Xfinity Series teams based on a revamping of the weekend schedule. —Associated Press