NEW YORK — Trevor Richards had a feeling he would be on the move on Tuesday. He just didn’t know where he would be going.

Prior to this year’s trade deadline, the veteran relief pitcher already had been traded three times in his career, including twice at the deadline. And this year, the Blue Jays had given him a heads up that it might happen, too, to prepare him for the possibility.

“It’s always a whirlwind,” Richards said. “This is the fourth time being traded, though, so I kind of know how it goes, and luckily I was on the road, so it’s easier to just pick up and go and meet the team.”

Once he got the news, he hopped in a car and made the drive from Baltimore, where the Blue Jays were playing, to New York, getting in Tuesday night.

Richards, a seven-year veteran, will slot into the Twins’ bullpen, where he will give the Twins another look against lefties and should be able to throw multiple innings.

“He’s a guy that when you bring him into the bullpen, you have a guy that’s pretty much open to anything and is like, ‘Just pitch me,’ ” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It makes our lives very easy, and we can find very good ways to use him.”

He was activated by the Twins on Wednesday, taking the roster spot of Brock Stewart, who was placed on the injured list with a shoulder strain.

It’s a tough blow for both the Twins and Stewart, a late-inning reliever, who first landed on the injured list on May 3 and was out until July 24, spending nearly three months recovering and rehabbing from right shoulder tendinitis.

“I feel for him,” Baldelli said. “He’s very upset after working his way back and again dealing with something health-related. It doesn’t mean his season is over. I don’t believe that.”

Baldelli said Stewart was healthy when he returned — “He was as healthy as you could want him to be after that period of time,” the manager said — but he started feeling something again in his shoulder on Monday.

When he has been healthy across the past couple seasons, he has been one of the most effective relievers in the majors and has been a late-inning set-up option for the Twins. But keeping him healthy has been a monumental task.

Stewart had been knocked around since his return, giving up eight runs in just 2 1/3 innings, including four on Monday in an outing in which he recorded just two outs.

“It’s challenging. It’s difficult. It’s tough,” Baldelli said. “It’s rough news. That’s the reality of the situation. Brock’s going to meet it head on, as are we.”

Briefly

The Twins might be getting another reliever back soon with Justin Topa (knee) progressing well on his rehab assignment. He threw 14 pitches and struck out two during a one-inning outing for the Triple-A Saints on Tuesday. Topa has yet to make his season debut. … Carlos Correa (plantar fasciitis) has progressed to hitting overhand-pitching batting practice. If all continues to go well, he could start jogging in the upcoming days. … Wednesday was the first day this season that Willi Castro did not appear in the game. Though the all-star said playing 162 was a goal of his, he said he wasn’t sad to not play Wednesday. “I just think being healthy right now, I don’t have to play all the games,” Castro said. “They put me in there, and as a player, you want to be in there.”

NANTERRE, France (AP) — Katie Ledecky has tied one of swimming’s most impressive records.

Chances are, she’ll have it all to herself by the time she completes the Paris Olympics.

The 27-year-old Ledecky bumped her career total to 12 medals with a dominating victory in the 1,500-meter freestyl e Wednesday night, equaling three fellow Americans — Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson — for the most ever by a female swimmer.

Ledecky was first an Olympian in 2012

Ledecky won her first gold in London when she was just 15.

“It’s not easy, it doesn’t get any easier, so I do try to enjoy it each year and there’s different perspective that I have different years and different challenges that you face each year,” Ledecky said after winning the 1,500.

What’s next for Ledecky?

— She is expected to compete in the final of the 4×200 freestyle relay on Thursday. The U.S. took silver in that event at the Tokyo Games after winning gold in the two previous Olympics, so that seems like a pretty sure bet for lucky medal No. 13.

— Ledecky will be going for her fourth straight gold medal in the 800 freestyle, with the preliminaries set for Friday morning and the final to follow Saturday next evening.

“I have the relay tomorrow, that’s my next focus,” she said after the race. “Then, I’ll think about the 800.”

The American star now has eight gold medals in her career, seven of them coming in individual races. She came into these games already holding the record for the most individual golds by a female swimmer.

By ANDREW DAMPF, Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Katie Ledecky gritted her teeth and flexed her left arm atop the lane rope.

There was plenty of splashing, too, by one of the most accomplished swimmers to ever dive into the pool.

Ledecky dominated the 1,500-meter freestyle at the Paris Games on Wednesday for her eighth Olympic gold medal and 12th medal overall.

And that might not even have been the most impressive performance on a big night in the pool.

France’s Léon Marchand completed one of the most audacious doubles in swimming history by winning the 200 butterfly and the 200 breaststroke about two hours apart.

Leon Marchand, of France, celebrates after winning the men’s 200-meter breaststroke final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

There was also a world record in the 100 freestyle as Pan Zhanle of China lowered his own mark.

Triathlon success

An ambitious plan to clean up the long-polluted Seine River paid off when the swimming portions of the Paris Olympics triathlons were finally held in the waterway Wednesday.

After a couple of canceled swim practices and a day’s delay because of the river’s water quality, the women’s and men’s events finished in spectacular fashion — on the Pont Alexandre III bridge with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

“It’s magical,” said newly minted gold medalist Cassandre Beaugrand of France. “It’s the best route we’ve had in a long time and I know all the other athletes feel the same.”

Beaugrand navigated slippery roads that turned the cycling portion into a series of spills following an early morning rain.

The men’s triathlon, which started less than an hour after the women finished, there was plenty of stifling heat and humidity to deal with as the sun came out in full force. Alex Yee of Britain used a burst at the end to catch and pass Hayden Wilde of New Zealand to win the gold medal by six seconds.

U.S. men beat South Sudan in basketball

The U.S. men’s basketball team had an easier time with South Sudan in the rematch than it did when the teams first met a couple of weeks ago. The U.S. clinched a trip to the quarterfinals with a 103-86 victory.

Guatemala’s gold

A spinal injury ended Adriana Ruano’s Olympic dream as a gymnast. She came back as a shooter and won Guatemala’s first Olympic gold medal.

Ruano was training for the 2011 world championships in gymnastics, a qualifier for the London Olympics the following year, when she felt pain in her back.

Adriana Ruano Oliva of Team Guatemala is congratulated by her coach as she wins the gold medal after competing in the Shooting Trap Women’s Final on day five of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 31, 2024 in Chateauroux, France. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

An MRI showed the then-16-year-old had six damaged vertebrae — a career-ending injury — and Ruano’s doctor recommended she take up shooting if she wanted to stay in sports without aggravating her injured back.

That advice paid off Wednesday as Ruano won gold in the women’s trap with an Olympic-record score of 45 out of 50.

Djokovic still chasing gold

Novak Djokovic is three wins away from earning the only big title he lacks.

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Djokovic needed a bit of time to assert himself before taking control with a five-game run for a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Dominik Koepfer of Germany, reaching the singles quarterfinals for the fourth time at the Summer Games.

A gold medal is pretty much the only accomplishment of significance missing from the resume of Djokovic, a 37-year-old from Serbia who has won a men’s-record 24 Grand Slam titles and spent more weeks at No. 1 than anyone in the history of the computerized tennis rankings.

Djokovic next faces Staassefanos Tsitsipas.

Rafael Nadal’s Paris Games ended when he and Carlos Alcaraz were eliminated in the men’s doubles quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 loss to the fourth-seeded American duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.

Nuni Omot has been told by many people that he has NBA talent.

He believes he has an NBA game, as well, with his 6-foot-9 frame and versatility to shoot, create and defend multiple positions. That’s never been more true, he believes, than now.

Through years of play at various levels and locations of professional basketball, Omot has evolved into a greater and greater player.

“I’ve gotten better every year, and I think that people haven’t realized the growth that has happened. I continue to get better every year. I don’t think there’s much emphasis on that. Obviously, some people know the amount of work I put in,” Omot said before the start of the Olympics. “Obviously, the work is always going to show. Every year, I continue to get better, I continue to figure it out. The game continues to slow down as you play longer and as you continue to play. I think that’s my advantage, my versatility and for the years I’ve been playing, I’ve obviously gotten smarter, I’ve gotten better, I’ve gotten more wise and whatnot.”

But there are only so much chances to strut your stuff in front of important eye balls. One of those, the Mahtomedi grad knew, was in these Olympics. Specifically, in Wednesday’s group play bout against Team USA — the greatest collection of men’s basketball talent a competitor can lace their shoes up against.

Omot met the challenge. The 29-year-old forward scored 24 points on 8 for 12 shooting — including 3 for 5 from 3-point range — in South Sudan’s 103-86 loss in France.

Omot was the game’s leading scorer and one of the most impactful players on the floor. South Sudan out-scored the U.S. in Omot’s 28 minutes of play. The contest was justification for the way he feels about his game.

“A lot of guys that they’ve given so much credit and who they hype up so much, I’ve always found myself to either be at the same level or play even better than,” Omot said. “I don’t want to compare myself to other people, and I just continue to try to dominate every time I can and just show the reason why I should be playing at a level.”

South Sudan will meet Serbia — who’s led by reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic — in its final group play game on Saturday. If the Bright Stars win that game, they’ll move onto the quarterfinals in their first Olympic Games.

Each victory would guarantee another opportunity for players like Omot to prove themselves on a giant stage against high-level competition.

“For me, I feel like this is going to be a real big opportunity for myself, for people across the world to see who I really am as a player on the global stage,” Omot said before the games. “Obviously, I never played at the highest level in the NBA, I never played at the highest level in Europe, in Euro League, so my thing is just to show it’s never been talent that’s the issue. It’s just obviously people being able to see it live and against the best people, so I think this is going to be a huge thing for me.”

Thus far, he’s taking full advantage of the opportunity.

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