Reuters Sports News Summary

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs. Day, Mickelson close in on leader Taylor at Pebble Beach

Australian Jason Day and defending champion Phil Mickelson put the pressure on leader Nick Taylor with sizzling play but could not catch the Canadian in a low-scoring second round at Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Friday. Taylor, with a six-under 66, wound up with a two-stroke lead over Day (64) and a three-shot margin over five-times champion Mickelson (65), whose bogey at the last at Monterey Peninsula disrupted his run for the low round of the day. Osaka suffers woeful Fed Cup return

Naomi Osaka's return to Japan's Fed Cup team after a year's absence turned sour on Friday as the world number 10 suffered a thrashing at the hands of Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo. The two-time Grand Slam champion was expected to give Japan a huge boost in their bid to overcome five-time champions Spain at the La Manga Club near Murcia, but lost 6-0 6-3. NBA notebook: Bucks, Lakers remain favorites after trade deadline

The Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks remain the betting favorites at most sportsbooks despite standing pat at the NBA's trade deadline. While many of their chasers scrambled to add impact players before the deadline, the Bucks remain seven games ahead of the Toronto Raptors atop the Eastern Conference, while the Lakers hold a 2 1/2-game edge over the Clippers in the West. NTSB says Bryant helicopter engines showed no signs of catastrophic internal failure

The engines of the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter that crashed into a steep hillside killing basketball superstar Kobe Bryant and 8 others near Calabasas, California on Jan. 26 showed no evidence of a "catastrophic internal failure," the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Friday. The NTSB investigative update said "viewable sections of the engines showed no evidence of an uncontained or catastrophic internal failure." Soccer: Canada edges past Costa Rica to grab Tokyo Olympics ticket

A second-half strike by Jordyn Huitema earned Canada a grinding 1-0 win over Costa Rica in a CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying championship semi-final on Friday, to secure their place at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games. The victory also sends Canada through to Sunday's final where they await the winner of the other semi-final, in which World and Olympic champions United States take on Mexico, with the winner also securing an Olympic berth. Canadian Dunfee finds solace in race walking

Canadian Evan Dunfee grew up dreaming about competing in the Olympics but was not good at sports and looked unlikely to fulfill his ambition until a desire to prove schoolyard bullies wrong led him to race walking. Dunfee describes his younger self as the quintessential kid to pick on given his curly red hair, thick-rimmed glasses and lack of coordination, but he found solace in a sport that itself is often the butt of jokes. Brazier eyes NFL future -- after Olympics

Not satisfied with being an 800m world champion, Donavan Brazier is looking at life beyond the track - perhaps even the NFL. In the short term, Brazier, who set an American record while grabbing the 800m gold at last year's world championships in Doha, has only one objective - to grab gold at the Tokyo Olympics later this year. Veteran Morales retires after 13 seasons

Kendrys Morales is retiring after 13 seasons, ESPN reported on Friday. Morales, originally from Cuba, batted .265 with 213 homers and 740 RBIs in 1,363 major league games. NFL notebook: Browns hire ex-49ers aide Woods as DC

The Cleveland Browns officially hired former San Francisco 49ers defensive backs/run-game coordinator Joe Woods as defensive coordinator on Friday. Woods was reportedly the favorite for the job for weeks, but he did not want to turn his focus from the 49ers during their run to Super Bowl LIV. He'll reunite with new head coach Kevin Stefanski, whom he knows from the Minnesota Vikings. Astros front office set sign-stealing scheme in motion: WSJ

New details emerged on Friday in the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal that has engulfed professional baseball, with the Wall Street Journal reporting https://www.wsj.com/articles/houston-astros-cheating-scheme-dark-arts-codebreaker-11581112994 that the Astros' front office set a program in motion to decode opposing catchers' signs. The report, which cites a letter from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and interviews with several people familiar with the matter, said the Astros' front office used an algorithm based off Excel spreadsheets dubbed "Codebreaker" during the 2017 season, which included the team's World Series-winning run, and into 2018.

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