OXNARD, Calif. -- The Dallas Cowboys are not asking for sympathy when it comes to their negotiations with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons, but they would like some understanding and they would like time.

"We have a very unique situation," executive vice president Stephen Jones said. "We have a quarterback, who played at the top of his game last year, second in MVP voting, who can leave [after this season]. And then we've got two players who can't leave ... We could sign one of them and both of them -- rightfully so -- believe they should be the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league. And totally respect that. So very difficult situations that we're trying to work through with them. They want to win. They want to put a ring on their finger, and they understand the difficult situation we have."

The Cowboys held their first training camp practice Thursday without Lamb, their All-Pro receiver, who remains in Houston, working out as he awaits his contract. Prescott and Parsons were on hand, but there's not a guarantee either will be in Oxnard, California, next summer for training camp.

Prescott will be a free agent next March. Parsons will be entering the fifth-year option of his rookie deal if he does not sign an extension before then and could follow Lamb's holdout plan.

While it might feel tenuous to those outside of the organization, it doesn't to coach Mike McCarthy, who is also entering a contract year.

"That's not the way we're wired," McCarthy said, adding, "We're energized by what's in front of us."

If Lamb, who is due $17.99 million this year on the fifth-year option, and Parsons, who is under contractual control through 2025, are seeking deals that would make them the highest-paid non-quarterbacks in the league, then those contracts would average more than $35 million a year. Prescott, who is in the final year of a deal that pays him $40 million on average, is looking at a deal that could make him the highest-paid player in the NFL, north of $55 million per season.

Prescott said once training camp begins, his involvement in the talks will end.

"Those guys definitely need to get paid and need to get their money," Prescott said. "I've gotten a contract and so the last thing I'm going to ask them to do is take less. But this is a two-way street when you're talking about contracts. I've gotten older. I've got a decision in this thing so it's not just one-way here."

Prescott reiterated he wants to remain with the Cowboys, but acknowledged he has an "obligation," to other quarterbacks and his teammates on what he accepts. If Prescott accepts a new deal with the Cowboys or hits the open market, he will be well-compensated.

In recent years, he has seen Tom Brady leave the New England Patriots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Aaron Rodgers be traded by the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets.

"I want to be here, but when you look up all the great quarterbacks I've watched played for other teams," Prescott said. "So, my point in saying that is that that's not something to fear. That may be a reality for me one day. It may not be my decision. So that's the freedom that I have is [to] be where your feet are, make the most of it, be confident in yourself, make your team better. I love my teammates and I love that locker room and I love everything about being here in Oxnard and being a Dallas Cowboy, so that's what allows me to be free and focused and understand that in time who knows what comes?"

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he does not worry about Prescott being elsewhere in 2025. He calls the contractual issues, "business as usual," and is not afraid of the "ambiguity," that comes from uncertain futures of players and coaches.

His focus is on 2024 and ending a Super Bowl drought that is 28 years and counting. For all of the losses in free agency, Jones was quick to point out 14 Pro Bowlers remain on the current roster even if there have not been substantial improvements made to a team that lost in the wild-card round last January to Green Bay.

"I'm more about winning the award for the best way to end the season than I am winning the award for showing up at camp with my house in order," Jones said. "I'm more worried about ending the season than I am a fast start ... I take a lot of solace in the fact that we've had the 12 [win] seasons, the wins that we've had over the last several years. The fact that we've got the personnel we've got here at camp, the coaches we got. I take a lot of solace that we're going to be there to get a chance to go to the playoffs and do better."

NICE, France -- Trinity Rodman was nervous on the bus ride into the stadium here Thursday night. It was her first Olympic game for the United States women's national team, and Rodman knew she needed to get touches on the ball before she'd really feel comfortable.

Turns out, that wasn't a problem.

Rodman's dazzling spin move -- she proudly called it a "Trin Spin" -- led to a gorgeous goal early in the first half and stood as the highlight of a 3-0 victory over Zambia that wasn't nearly as close as the scoreline might indicate.

Mallory Swanson scored the other two goals for the Americans just over a minute apart to give new coach Emma Hayes a straightforward win in her major tournament debut, but Rodman's turn on defender Martha Tembo was the standout moment that made the small but spirited crowd at the Allianz Riviera take notice.

Taking a pass from Lindsey Horan in the 17th minute, Rodman whirled around in an instant before calmly finishing beneath Zambian goalkeeper Ngambo Musole.

"That was just an instinctual thing because I haven't really trained that," Rodman said. "But it worked out perfectly.

"I think in that situation I knew that if I took a touch in front of me, it probably would've put me out of the frame of the goal," Rodman added. "I was trying to just put her off balance, which worked, so I'm happy about that."

The U.S. dominated most of the first half, peppering the Zambia goal even before Pauline Zulu was sent off for fouling Sophia Smith and denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. The U.S. registered 27 shots for the game and hit the bar twice in addition to having several chances cleared off the line.

"The first part of the first half was exceptional -- to come out the way we did," Hayes said. "The intention, the intensity, the decision-making, the execution -- it should have been at least five at half-time."

That isn't a stretch, particularly at the rate Swanson scored. First she took a pass from Horan and snapped a sharp finish in the 24th minute, then she tallied again just 66 seconds later after receiving a ball from Smith to set a new USWNT record for shortest time between goals, shattering Carli Lloyd's previous mark of 2 minutes, 19 seconds in the 2015 Women's World Cup final.

"I was so proud of her," Horan said of Swanson, who was making her first Olympic appearance since 2016. "It's going to give her a burst of confidence and that's what we want from our forwards."

Rodman said she and the other attackers have talked to each other about wanting to show that they're more than the stereotypical speed-and-athleticism combo that American players are often pigeonholed as. Goals like these will certainly do that, but everyone on the U.S. team also knows that performances against largely overmatched sides such as Zambia mean little compared to how the team fares against more talented squads -- such as, say, Germany, which the Americans will face on Sunday in Marseille.

"Our connections have been so good," Rodman said of the chemistry among the American attackers. They're improving every game ... and they're just going to keep getting better."

Hayes said she was simply being cautious in removing Smith in the first half after she hurt an ankle, and was similarly cautious with Rose Lavelle's substitution minutes into the second half as she has been managing a leg injury.

Hayes didn't offer an update on Jaedyn Shaw, who was scratched before the game after suffering a leg injury in training on Wednesday, saying only that she'd need to evaluate Shaw again on Friday.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Max Scherzer always has the mindset to be aggressive on the mound, attack hitters and find ways to pitch around lineups while being in the strike zone.

Along the way over 17 big league seasons, the three-time Cy Young Award winner has piled up a lot of strikeouts. The Texas Rangers right-hander now has more than any other active pitcher.

Scherzer moved into 10th place on the career strikeout list with 3,400 after passing former teammate and fellow three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander while fanning a season-high nine in the Rangers' 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.

"When you're talking about a milestone like this ... this is all about durability. This is about being year-in, year-out healthy," Scherzer said. "I know I've been shaking some injuries here as of late, but over the course of my career, I've been able to be healthy and be durable and be able to make my posts and go out there and compete just year-in, year-out, and continue to get better every single season."

Two days before his 40th birthday and five days after an outing limited to two innings because of arm fatigue, Scherzer (2-3) threw 62 of 85 pitches for strikes. He allowed one run and walked one while pitching three-hit ball over six innings. It was only his seventh start since offseason back surgery.

"Incredible career he's had, and reached quite a milestone. Amazing, now he's in the top 10 in strikeouts," Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said.

"A huge bounce-back game for Scherzer. I mean absolutely dominant," catcher Andrew Knizner said. "All his stuff was working. Slider was sharp, heater was coming out hot, mixing all of his pitches, hitting spots. ... Just a classic game from Scherzer. And honestly, I think he was getting better as the game went."

It was his 464th career game and 455th start, second only to Verlander's 519. Scherzer's 216 wins are second on the active list to the 260 by Verlander, 41, who hasn't pitched for Houston since June 9 because of neck stiffness that caused him to go on the injured list.

Scherzer has also played for Arizona, Detroit, Washington, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Mets. He was part of World Series titles with Washington in 2019 and the Rangers last season after being a trade deadline acquisition from New York.

"For me, this is all about the World Series. That's what motivates me," Scherzer said. "My motivation is to win the World Series. And so that's really kind of the only goal I have, and really the only thing I play for. ... When that's my mindset, you know, I feel like everything else falls into place."

Verlander and Scherzer were teammates with the Tigers from 2010-14, a span when both won baseball's top pitching award. Scherzer was the Cy Young winner in 2013, and then again in 2016 and 2017 with the Nationals. Verlander won that award in 2011, and in 2019 and 2022 with the Astros.

Scherzer passed Verlander with his third strikeout against Chicago, and 3,394th of his career, when Eloy Jiménez took a 93.3 mph fastball for a called third strike in the second inning. Scherzer had matched his former teammate with his second strikeout, when Andrew Vaughn swung and missed an 83.8 mph slider for the final out of the first.

"Ver's a great pitcher and we're going to continue going head-to-head over this for a while," Scherzer said. "We're going to be ping-ponging over this."

Scherzer had exited last Saturday's start against Baltimore, his first after the All-Star break, after two innings and 53 pitches.

Knizner said he knew in the pregame bullpen warmup that it was going to be a good outing Thursday. Scherzer agreed with the catcher that he was throwing his best pitches later in the game.

"That's a good sign," Scherzer said. "That's kind of a midseason form you're kind of looking for."

The subject of trade rumors as Tuesday's deadline approaches, Oakland Athletics All-Star right-handed closer Mason Miller landed on the 15-day injured list on Thursday with a fracture of his left pinky finger.

The move is retroactive to Tuesday. To fill Miller's spot on the 40-man roster, the A's activated right-hander Ross Stripling (elbow) to start Thursday night's series opener against the host Los Angeles Angels.

Per MLB.com, Miller broke the finger while preparing to exercise in the trainers room inside the A's clubhouse after Monday's win over the Houston Astros. The rookie placed his left hand on the training table in an awkward position, causing the injury. Miller had sealed the 4-0 victory with an 11-pitch, 1-2-3 ninth inning.

However, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Miller was apparently frustrated about something after the game and pounded his left hand on a table.

Miller, 25, has five years of team control remaining after this season, but his electrifying stuff has contenders interested in obtaining his services. In 34 appearances in 2024, he is 1-1 with a 2.21 ERA and 15 saves and leads all relievers with 70 strikeouts in 40 innings.

Miller also leads MLB with 306 pitches at 100 mph or harder and broke the record for the fastest pitch in All-Star Game history at 103.6 mph (since pitch-tracking began in 2008). He fired a perfect inning, striking out Shohei Ohtani and Trea Turner en route to earning the win.

Since making his major league debut with Oakland last season, Miller is 1-4 with a 2.92 ERA in 44 games (six starts) with 15 saves and 108 strikeouts in 74 innings.

Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.

Major League Baseball's trade deadline just got more complicated for teams interested in dealing for Chicago White Sox starter Garrett Crochet.

Crochet, 25, wants a contract extension if he's traded in order to pitch in the postseason this year, according to sources familiar with the situation. Crochet also is making it known he has no desire to pitch out of the bullpen, citing health concerns for all of the above requests.

The first-time starter already has doubled his single-season high in innings, pitching in 111 after totaling just 12 last year. In 21 starts, he also has struck out 157 batters, second most in the majors. However, there are concerns about his usage down the stretch considering the enormous jump in his workload.

Crochet still has two more years of team control after this season before he becomes a free agent, but to push himself for another month in October, he wants security, according to the sources. And he prefers to stay in a starting pitching routine.

Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow signed a 5-year, $136.5 million extension in a similar situation last December after being traded from the Tampa Bay Rays -- though he was a much more accomplished pitcher, having been a starter his entire career.

Crochet broke into the league as a reliable reliever in 2020, undergoing Tommy John surgery two years later, before returning late last year. During the offseason, he expressed his desire to join the rotation and the rebuilding White Sox obliged. Now he's one of the more sought-after pitchers known to be available, but trading for him comes with a potential high price tag.

It's not known whether Crochet would change his stance after being traded. The White Sox could always hold onto him and revisit a deal in the offseason.

Teams interested in Crochet include the Dodgers, Orioles and Yankees, though the latter team might have already bowed out of the running, according to league sources.

MLB Network's Jon Heyman was first to report Crochet's desire for an extension.

WASHINGTON -- Hoping for a chance to stay in the game and pitch the second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, Dylan Cease received some help from the man who threw the first.

Cease was at 94 pitches through seven innings when Padres manager Mike Shildt glanced at Joe Musgrove.

"Joe is like, 'His stuff is pretty good,'" Shildt recalled. "Well, he's thrown one. He knows what this looks like. We let him ride."

Cease, 28, needed only nine pitches in the eighth and 11 in the ninth in a 3-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday that completed a three-game sweep.

After falling one out short of a no-hitter two years ago when he gave up a single to current teammate Luis Arráez, Cease retired Ildemaro Vargas and Jacob Young on a groundouts for the first two outs of the ninth, then got CJ Abrams to hit a flyout to right on a 1-0 slider.

"My thought was I'm going to throw a slider and I'm going to get it down, and if it's down he's either hopefully going to beat it into the ground or he can't put in play," Cease said. "I didn't like it off the bat. It looked very hitterish, but fortunately fate's on my side today."

Cease (10-8) struck out nine and walked three in the right-hander's third complete game in 145 big league starts. He threw a career-high 114 pitches in a game that included a 1-hour, 16-minute rain delay in the first.

"The first inning, he comes in and says 'I'm not quite there,'" Shildt recalled. "The second inning, 'Getting there.' Then the third inning, he just hit his stride."

Musgrove pitched the Padres' first no-hitter against Texas on April 9, 2021. Houston's Ronel Blanco threw the only other no-hitter this season, against Toronto on April 1.

Cease was within one out of a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox against Minnesota on Sept. 3, 2022, when Arráez lined a single to right-center on a 1-1 slider over the middle of the strike zone.

"I've been close and to finally get it done, it's one of those things that feels so remarkable and hard to believe," Cease said. "To be able to do it and go out and experience it, I really don't even know how to feel. Just happy."

He worried about the pitch count causing an early end to his outing.

"Thankfully, we were able to talk it out," Cease said. "I just said, 'I feel really good right now. Next inning, if I'm kind of erratic or use up too many pitches, pull me then. But give me a shot, at least.' Thankfully, we worked it out."

Shildt said he wasn't going to allow Cease's pitch count to rise into the high 120s. He said there was no further conversation after Cease breezed through the eighth.

"I just love the conviction," Shildt said. "I think it's important in my chair to be able to be open-minded and listen to your athletes. He felt good. He felt convicted. He made a really strong case. I want him to go out, too, but looking at the big picture and the factor [of the rain delay] before, and once I cleared that with him, he was good."

The closest Washington came to a hit was when Juan Yepez lofted a fly to shallow center in the fifth inning. The ball popped out of second baseman Xander Bogaerts' glove, but center fielder Jackson Merrill was there to snare the ball before it hit the ground.

"I was just playing keepy-ups, making sure it didn't hit the ground," Merrill said. "As soon as he calls me off, I'm there and I'm ready for anything that happened -- if it bounces off him, goes the other way, I'm ready for anything."

Bogaerts also bobbled a ball after making a diving stop of Keibert Ruiz's grounder with one out in the eighth but recovered in time to throw out the slow-footed catcher at first.

"It feels like every no-hitter, there's a couple plays like that are just remarkable," Cease said.

Cease threw 60 sliders against the Nationals along with 39 fastballs averaging 98.3 mph -- 1.4 mph above his season average -- and 10 knuckle-curves. Cease induced 12 groundouts. The Nationals swung and missed 18 times, including six on strikeouts.

His previous complete games also were shutouts: a seven-inning three-hitter against Detroit on April 29, 2021, and the win over the Twins.

The no-hitter shortened the betting odds for Cease to win the NL Cy Young Award at ESPN BET, where he moved from 100-1 to 40-1. Cease is tied with Logan Webb for fifth-shortest odds for the award at ESPN BET, behind Atlanta's Chris Sale (+135), Philadelphia's Zack Wheeler (+185) and Pittsburgh rookie Paul Skenes (+275).

Cease allowed only three baserunners. Lane Thomas walked with one out in the first inning and was caught stealing, then reached on another walk in the fourth but was erased on Jesse Winker's double-play grounder. Abrams walked leading off the seventh and was stranded at second base.

Cease has pitched 22 shutout innings over his last three starts, and earlier threw seven innings of one-hit, shutout ball against Washington on June 26.

"He kept our hitters off balance all game and never really gave us much to hit," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.

Washington was no-hit for the second straight season. Then-Phillies starter Michael Lorenzen achieved the feat last Aug. 9.

San Diego has won five in a row and earned its third series sweep of the season and first on the road. The Padres swept Oakland and Washington at home last month.

Washington was swept for the sixth time this season and finished 0-6 against San Diego. It was the first time the Padres went undefeated against the Nationals/Montreal Expos franchise since both teams joined the National League in 1969.

San Diego loaded the bases in the first with a single and two walks against Patrick Corbin (2-10) before the delay after the first pitch to Ha-Seong Kim. When the game resumed, Kim worked a full count before poking a single to left-center that scored all three runners.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

On a humid, 83-degree day in the nation's capital, Dylan Cease was sweating through his San Diego Padres uniform, the brown pin-striped jersey now more of a dark gray. The ninth inning had just begun and Cease had yet to allow a hit. He had thrown 103 pitches -- a low enough total, even in today's game, to get a shot at completing the no-hitter.

Ildemaro Vargas battled for eight pitches, fouling off five pitches, before finally grounding out to second base. Jacob Young swung at a first-pitch slider and grounded out routinely to shortstop. CJ Abrams took a slider low and in and then swung at another one, lifting a soft liner to right field.

With that final out, Cease had his first career no-hitter -- just the second in franchise history after Joe Musgrove broke through in 2021 -- and completed one of the great three-game stretches in major league history.

On July 13, he allowed one hit with 11 strikeouts in six scoreless innings to beat the Atlanta Braves. Then, in his next start July 20, he allowed one hit with 10 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings to beat the Cleveland Guardians.

Now, he has gone the distance, striking out nine batters en route to the first no-no of his career.

Cease, who pitched 8 no-hit innings with the White Sox in a 2022 game before seeing the bid broken up by current teammate Luis Arraez, said he first started thinking about the no-hitter after the sixth inning, "but the pitch count was high, so it was like, 'Uhh ... .'"

He issued a leadoff walk in the seventh but managed to get through the inning in 16 pitches. He told manager Mike Shildt that he still felt great but figured he had to get through the eighth inning in 105 pitches. With an easy nine-pitch inning, he had room to go out for the ninth.

Remarkably, this was Cease's sixth start this season of at least six innings allowing one or fewer hits. That's a major league record -- 10 pitchers, including Cease in 2022, are tied for second with four such games in a season. This might not be quite as impressive as it seems; since pitchers rarely throw complete games anymore (or even eight innings), seven of those other 10 pitchers did it since 2021. Still, it points to how difficult it is to square up Cease, especially his slider, which he threw 60 times Thursday. He leads the majors in strikeouts; batters are hitting just .191 against him (although his ERA is a bit high for a Cy Young contender at 3.50).

Now, about that three-start stretch. To say Cease's is an all-time great is a little more difficult since you're comparing him to pitchers who, back in the day, would have thrown three straight complete games. Still, he's the first pitcher to have three consecutive starts of at least six innings allowing one or fewer hits. Let's list some of the other candidates, leaving out the dead-ball era:

• Johnny Vander Meer, 1938 Cincinnati Reds (June 5-15): The only pitcher with back-to-back no-hitters, Vander Meer allowed three hits and one run in his start before the first no-hitter. But he also had 14 walks and 17 strikeouts over the three games. Three-start average game score: 84.7

• Sandy Koufax, 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers (July 3-12): He tossed three consecutive three-hit shutouts, racking up 26 strikeouts. Average game score: 89.0

• Koufax, 1965 Dodgers (Sept. 25-Oct. 2): With the Dodgers battling for the pennant (they'd win by two games over the San Francisco Giants), Koufax tossed two shutouts, allowed one run and fanned 38 batters in his final three starts. Average game score: 88.3

• Bob Gibson, 1968 St. Louis Cardinals (June 15-26): The best three-game stretch of Gibson's 1.12 ERA season: three straight shutouts with 26 strikeouts and 13 hits allowed (part of a stretch of five straight shutouts). Average game score: 86.7

• Nolan Ryan, 1972 Los Angeles Angels (Aug. 22-31): Three straight shutouts -- one of them 12 innings, which boosts his average game. Overall line: 30 IP, 13 H, 13 BB, 31 SO. Average game score: 89.3

• Dwight Gooden, 1984 New York Mets (Sept. 7-17): The 19-year-old rookie tossed an 11-strikeout one-hitter and then back-to-back 16-strikeout games, one of those another shutout. Average game score: 87.7

• Randy Johnson, 1997 Seattle Mariners (May 28-June 8): Three straight scoreless starts, including two 15-strikeout games and just seven hits allowed. Average game score: 89.7

• Roger Clemens, 1998 Toronto Blue Jays (Aug. 20-30): Three-hit shutout, three-hit shutout and two-hit shutout with strikeout totals of six, 18 and seven, respectively. Average game score: 90.3

• Pedro Martinez, 1999 Boston Red Sox (Aug. 30-Sept. 10): This was part of a ridiculous eight-start stretch where Martinez fanned at least 11 batters in every start (107 strikeouts in 62 innings with a 1.16 ERA). He allowed one run in six innings with 11 K's, no runs in eight innings with 15 K's and then one run in his famous 17-strikeout game against the New York Yankees. Average game score: 86.0

• Max Scherzer, 2015 Washington Nationals (June 14-26): A 16-strikeout one-hitter, followed by a 10-strikeout no-hitter (he lost a perfect game when he hit the 27th batter), followed by eight innings of two-run ball. Average game score: 89.3

• Clayton Kershaw, 2015 Dodgers (July 18-Aug. 1): Peak Kershaw was something. In this stretch, he allowed no runs in 25 innings with just 8 hits, 32 strikeouts and 1 walk. And in the game before this stretch, he tossed an eight-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts. Average game score: 88.7

• Dylan Cease, 2023 Padres (July 13-25): Two hits allowed over 22 innings with 30 strikeouts and no runs. Average game score: 85.0

Subjectively, I'd probably go with Scherzer's trio, which features probably the most dominant back-to-back efforts ever -- although you have to give Koufax extra credit for doing it in the final days of a heated playoff race in 1965. For me, Cease just didn't play quite enough innings to get the nod for the best three-start stretch ever.

Well, not yet -- but let's see what he does next time out.