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Torres nears Olympic berth at 41

OMAHA, July 3 (UPI) -- Dara Torres, who at age 41 is trying to make her fifth U.S. Olympic team, qualified Thursday for the 100-meter freestyle final at the U.S. Swimming Trials.

Torres had the second-fastest time in the semifinals and if she can duplicate that in Friday's final, she will become the oldest American female swimmer to compete in the Olympics.

American record holder Natalie Couglin had the fastest semifinal time of 53.66. Torres had a 53.76, followed by Lacey Nymeyer in 54.07.

Torres has won nine Olympic medals, most recently a bronze in the 100 freestyle at the 2000 Games in Sydney. She missed the Athens Olympics after giving birth to her first child.

Thursday's three finals were won by Scott Spann (200-meter breaststroke), Elaine Breeden (200-meter butterfly) and Garrett Weber-Gale (100-meter freestyle).

Weber-Gale edged American record holder Jason Lezak in the freestyle. Superstar Michael Phelps originally entered the event, but withdrew after the preliminaries. Although he entered eight events, Phelps is expected to gain an Olympic spot in only five.

Steve Marino leads on PGA Tour

BETHESDA, Md., July 3 (UPI) -- Steve Marino, seeking his first PGA Tour victory in his third year on the circuit, grabbed a one-shot lead Thursday in the first round of the AT&T National.

Marino birdied three of the first four holes and shot a 5-under 65 at the Congressional Country Club. His best finish to date on the tour has been a second, which came in Mexico this year while the world's top players were competing in the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Jeff Overton, Frank Lickliter, Rod Pampling and Bob Estes were all at 66 while the large group at 67 included Stuart Appleby, Alex Cejka and Anthony Kim.

Masters champion Trevor Immelman and Rocco Mediate, who lost to Tiger Woods in a playoff at last month's U.S. Open, both shot 73 and will need a good score Friday to make the 36-hole cut.

Marino has three top-10 finishes to his credit this year and is 50th on the FedEx Cup points list.

The highest-rated player on that list in the field this week is sixth-ranked Ryuji Imada, who shot a 74 in the opening round.

Diamondbacks stun Brewers with comeback

PHOENIX, July 3 (UPI) -- Conor Jackson's two-run single finished off a six-run ninth and the Arizona Diamondbacks stunned Milwaukee Thursday with a come-from-behind 6-5 win.

The Brewers were up 5-0 going into the bottom of the ninth when the Diamondbacks jumped on Milwaukee relievers Guillermo Mota, Brian Shouse and Salomon Torres -- who gave up all six runs without recording an out. Chad Tracy delivered a pinch-hit three-run triple for the D'Backs.

Leo Rosales (1-0) pitched a scoreless inning in relief to get the win for Arizona, which came into the game with just two wins in its last eight games.

Torres (4-2) finished with a loss and a blown save -- and Brewers' starter Manny Parra saw a strong effort go down the drain. Parra held Arizona to four hits in six innings, with three walks with four strikeouts.

J.J. Hardy had four hits, including a home run, and Mike Cameron homered for the Brewers, who lost for the fifth time in eight games.

Arizona moved back to .500 after falling below the breakeven mark on Wednesday.

New York bats go silent against Boston

NEW YORK, July 3 (UPI) -- Jon Lester allowed five hits and struck out eight while going the distance Thursday, carrying the Boston Red Sox to a 7-0 blanking of the New York Yankees.

New York could not manage a run against Lester after scoring 18 the night before against Texas.

The Red Sox, coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays, got to Andy Pettitte for two runs in each of the first two innings.

Lester (7-3) won his fourth straight decision. He hasn't lost since dropping a decision to Oakland May 25.

Mike Lowell singled in a run in the first and contributed a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Jacoby Ellsbury had a two-run double in the second.

Pettitte (9-6) allowed five runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings.