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From Jack Harris: Tuesday night was the Shohei Ohtani show at Dodger Stadium.
Too bad much of the supporting cast failed to show up.
Despite two hits and some timely baserunning from Ohtani, who continues to lead the majors in batting average, slugging percentage and OPS, the Dodgers never gained traction in an 7-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Instead, they endured a lackluster performance from starting pitcher Gavin Stone, who gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings.
They received little production from the rest of their lineup, which managed only six hits while struggling with Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt.
And in their one chance to erase a night-long deficit — the Diamondbacks opened the scoring with two runs in the second inning — the Dodgers came up short, leaving a potential tying run stuck in scoring position to end a sixth-inning rally.
It all meant Ohtani’s havoc-wreaking efforts were wasted, with the slugger’s fourth-inning double, sixth-inning RBI single and two stolen bases (one of which led to an error that allowed him to score) all winding up for naught in what was the Dodgers’ fifth loss in 19 games this month.
Hernández: Freddie Freeman can still be great. He just has to do more to tap into it
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JJ REDICK POLL
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NBA PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
All times Pacific
Conference finals
Western Conference
No. 3 Minnesota vs. No. 5 Dallas
Wednesday at Minnesota, 5:30 p.m., TNT
Friday at Minnesota, 5:30 p.m., TNT
Sunday at Dallas, 5 p.m., TNT
Tuesday at Dallas, 5:30 p.m., TNT
*Thursday, May 30 at Minnesota, 5:30 p.m., TNT
*Saturday, June 1 at Dallas, 5:30 p.m., TNT
*Monday, June 3 at Minnesota, 5:30 p.m.. TNT
Eastern Conference
No. 1 Boston vs. No. 6 Indiana
at Boston 133, Indiana 128 (OT) (box score)
Thursday at Boston, 5 p.m., ESPN
Saturday at Indiana, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Monday at Indiana, 5 p.m., ESPN
*Wed., May 29 at Boston, 5 p.m., ESPN
*Friday, May 31 at Indiana, 5 p.m., ESPN
*Sunday, June 2 at Boston, 5 p.m., ESPN
NBA Finals
Game 1: Thursday, June 6, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Game 2: Sunday, June 9, 5 p.m., ABC
Game 3: Wed., June 12, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Game 4: Friday, June 14, 5:30 p.m., ABC
*Game 5: Monday, June 17, 5:30 p.m., ABC
*Game 6: Thursday, June 20, 5:30 p.m., ABC
*Game 7: Sunday, June 23, 5 p.m., ABC
*-if necessary
SPARKS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: The Sparks survived a fourth-quarter comeback attempt to secure their first win of the season, holding off the Washington Mystics 70-68 on Tuesday at Walter Pyramid. The Sparks (1-2) avoided their first 0-3 start since 2015 behind a balanced offense led by 20 points from Lexie Brown.
The guard hit two free throws with 14.7 seconds remaining that gave the Sparks a three-point lead. But the Mystics (0-4) scored quickly on the other end with a layup by Ariel Atkins. Sparks guard Kia Nurse made just one of two free throws with 7.6 seconds left, leaving the door ajar for the Mystics.
Cameron Brink slammed it shut. The No. 2 overall pick locked up Sharika Austin on Washington’s final possession, not even allowing the Washington forward to get a shot off at the buzzer.
ANGELS
Kyle Tucker homered twice to give him a major league-leading 17, and Jeremy Peña’s RBI single with one out in the 10th inning lifted the Houston Astros to a 6-5 win over the Angels on Tuesday night.
The Angels intentionally walked Yordan Alvarez with no outs in the 10th and Tucker on second as the automatic runner. Both players advanced on a fly out by Alex Bregman before Peña singled off Carlos Estévez (0-3) on a line drive to right field to give Houston the victory.
“Great teams have to be able to win coming from behind,” Peña said. “Hard-fought game from both sides and we’ve got to keep playing good baseball.”
Angels manager Ron Washington was asked about the performance of Estévez.
“I thought he was throwing the ball well,” he said. “You’ve got to give Peña credit. Their first five hitters are dangerous — very dangerous. We put ourselves in a good position to win it, but in the end they got it.”
RAMS
From Gary Klein: After conducting training camp at UC Irvine since their return to Los Angeles in 2016, the Rams this year are moving preseason workouts to Loyola Marymount, the team announced Tuesday.
Will starting quarterback Matthew Stafford, who wants his contract adjusted, be there when training camp opens in late July?
After watching Stafford go through the first workout of organized-team activities open to the media Tuesday, coach Sean McVay was asked if he was confident Stafford would be there for the start of training camp.
“I’m confident that he’s been out here leading the way,” McVay said.
If that sounds noncommittal, well, at least McVay is consistent.
SOCCER
From Kevin Baxter: Emma Hayes called up her first roster as coach of the women’s national team Tuesday and it includes a lot of familiar names, with 19 players from April’s roster returning for a pair of friendlies with South Korea next month.
Hayes, whose $2-million salary makes her the highest-paid women’s coach in the world, was named U.S. coach in November but couldn’t take charge of the team until she finished her duties with Chelsea of the Women’s Super League. That happened last weekend when Chelsea beat Manchester United 6-0 to win its fifth straight WSL title under Hayes.
Now she takes over the women’s national team less than 10 weeks before its Olympic opener, giving her precious little time to get acquainted with her players. That may be one reason why Hayes called in veteran Alex Morgan, who recently returned to training after being sidelined a month with an ankle injury. Also summoned to training camp is midfielder Rose Lavelle, who has been limited to 169 minutes with her NWSL club, Gotham FC, because of a leg injury.
————
LAFC advanced to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals for the third time in club history with a 3-0 win against Loudoun United, a team in the USL Championship division, at BMO Stadium on Tuesday night.
Timmy Tillman got LAFC on the board early with a goal in the eighth minute. It remained that way until the second half, when Cristian Olivera scored in the 52nd minute.
Tomás Ángel scored in the 61st minute to conclude the scoring.
LAFC is trying to find the winning blend of youth and aging stars
NHL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
All times Pacific
Conference finals
Western Conference
C1 Dallas vs. P2 Edmonton
Thursday at Dallas, 5:30 p.m., TNT
Saturday at Dallas, 5 p.m., TNT
Monday, May 27 at Edmonton, TBD, TNT
Wed., May 29 at Edmonton, TBD, TNT
*Friday, May 31 at Dallas, TBD, TNT
*Sunday, June 2 at Edmonton, TBD, TNT
*Tuesday, June 4 at Dallas, TBD, TNT
Eastern Conference
M1 New York Rangers vs. A1 Florida
Wednesday at New York, 5 p.m., ESPN
Friday at New York, 5 p.m., ESPN
Sunday at Florida, noon, ABC
Tuesday at Florida, 5 p.m., ESPN
*Thursday, May 30 at New York, 5 p.m., ESPN
*Saturday, June 1 at Florida, 5 p.m., ABC
*Monday, June 3 at New York, 5 p.m., ESPN
*-if necessary
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1975 — Artis Gilmore scores 28 points and grabs 31 rebounds to lead the Kentucky Colonels to a 110-105 victory over the Indiana Pacers for the ABA championship.
1988 — Atlanta’s Dominique Wilkins trades bucket for bucket with Boston’s Larry Bird in the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semifinals until the Celtics escape with a 118-116 victory. Wilkins finishes with 47 points and Bird has 34 — with 20 of his points scored in the fourth quarter. The teams shoot a combined .588 percent from the field, the second highest mark in playoff history.
1988 — LPGA Championship Women’s Golf, Jack Nicklaus GC: Sherri Turner birdies final 2 holes to win her only major title, 1 stroke ahead of runner-up Amy Alcott.
1991 — NFL Owners agree to add 2 teams in 1994.
1993 — Riddick Bowe successfully defends his IBF and WBA heavyweight titles with a second-round knockout of Jesse Ferguson at RFK Stadium in Washington.
1994 — Toronto NBA franchise unveils name “Raptors” & logo.
1997 — The Chicago Bulls win the lowest-scoring playoff game in NBA history, a 75-68 victory over the Miami Heat. The 143 combined points were two fewer than the previous postseason low set by Syracuse and Fort Wayne in 1955.
2003 — Annika Sorenstam becomes the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event in 58 years when she shoots a 71 in the first round of the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas. Sorenstam misses the cut the next day by four shots.
2006 — Pat Summitt becomes the newest millionaire coach — and the first in women’s basketball. Tennessee raises Summitt’s salary to $1.125 million for next season and extends her contract six years.
2009 — Dara Torres sets an American record in the 50-meter butterfly at the Texas Senior Circuit No. 2 meet at Texas A&M. The 42-year-old, breezes to victory in the 50 fly, touching the wall in 25.72 seconds to beat her record time of 25.84 seconds from the morning preliminaries. Both her times beat Jenny Thompson’s American record of 26.00 seconds, set in Barcelona in 2003.
2022 — PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Southern Hills CC: 2017 champion Justin Thomas beats Will Zalatoris by 1 stroke in a 3-hole playoff after 54-hole leader Mito Pereira double bogeys the 72nd hole.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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