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Dickey wins 13th, Mets end skid

WASHINGTON, July 19 (UPI) -- David Wright hit a pair of home runs and drove in five runs Thursday in powering the New York Mets to a 9-5 win over the Washington Nationals.

The Mets ended a six-game losing streak.

Wright connected for a two-run home run in the first and a three-run shot in the fourth while the Mets were building a 9-1 lead off Washington's Gio Gonzalez (12-5).

Gonzalez was charged with six runs -- all earned -- on six hits walked walking three in 3 1/3 innings.

New York starter R.A. Dickey (13-1) scattered 10 hits and a walk over 7 1/3 innings n matching Tampa Bay's David Price for the major-league lead in wins. Price picked up his 13th win earlier Thursday.

After Wright staked the Mets to a 2-0 lead in the first, the Nationals got a home run from Ryan Zimmerman. But New York added an Ike Davis home run in the second, two runs in the third, with Davis driving in the second, for a 5-1 edge.

Josh Thales walked and scored on a Ruben Tejada single before Andres Torres also walked the next inning. Wright followed with a shot to straight-away center for his 14th home run of the season and a 9-1 lead.

Washington chipped back with a Michael Morse sacrifice fly in the sixth, an RBI double and run scored by Morse in the eighth and Roger Bernadina's run-scoring single in the ninth.

U.S. Olympic team blasts Britain

MANCHESTER, England, July 19 (UPI) -- Deron Williams and Carmelo Anthony each scored 19 points Thursday in the United States' 118-78 men's basketball exhibition win over Great Britain.

Russell Westbrook had 15 points and eight assists while LeBron James scored 14 points and Kevin Durant 13.

The United States shot 60.3 percent from the floor and was helped by 27 turnovers from Great Britain. The Americans were able to convert the turnovers for a total of 33 points.

Luol Deng paced Great Britain with 25 points while Pops Mensah-Bonsu chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds.

The United States has an exhibition Sunday against Argentina in Barcelona. The Americans start Olympic play July 29 against France.

Wiggins close to Tour de France win

BAGNERES-DE-LUCHON, France, July 19 (UPI) -- Alejandro Valverde posted a solid ride for Thursday's stage win but Bradley Wiggins appears to have locked up the overall title of the 2012 Tour de France.

Valverde led much of mountainous Stage 17 and built a large lead that he was able to keep for the stage victory.

However, finishing second was Chris Froome with his Sky Procycling teammate Wiggins in third. That allowed Wiggins to increase his overall lead on everyone in the field except Valverde, who is well back in the overall classification, and Froome.

Valverde pulled away from the lead group about 65 miles into the race and had a good lead by the time he reached the final Category 1 climb that marked the end of Thursday's ride. Even then, Wiggins and Froome steadily cut into the lead before settling for a 2-3 finish.

Valverde covered the 89.1-mile route from Bagneres-de-Luchon to the Peyragudes ski resort in 4 hours, 12 minutes, 11 seconds. Froome and Wiggins were closing in the final mile or so of the race and ended up 19 seconds back.

While Wiggins stays 2 minutes, 5 seconds ahead of Froome, who is second overall, he increased his edge on third-place Vincenzo Nibali to 2:41 with three stages to go.

Jurgen Van Den Broeck, who is 5:53 back, is the only other rider within 8 minutes of the lead.

Friday's Stage 18 is a 138.3-mile run across southern France north from Bagnac-sur-Cele to Brive-La-Gaillarde.

Wimbledon changing tournament dates

LONDON, July 19 (UPI) -- The All England Club said Thursday the Championships at Wimbledon will be pushed back one week in 2015, creating more time between it and the French Open.

As of 2015, Wimbledon will start three weeks after the conclusion of the French Open. In 2015, Wimbledon will run from June 29-July 12. This year the tournament was played June 25-July 8.

Organizers said they made the change to give players a chance to recover from the French Open and adjust to grass courts after the clay in Paris.

The current schedule has the tennis year's second and third major tournaments played in a 6-week period.

"All our research indicates that there is widespread support within the game for extending the gap between the French Open and Wimbledon and, importantly, we think most players will welcome the prospect of a longer grass court season and spending more time on the softer surface of grass," said All England Club Chairman Philip Brook.