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From Mike DiGiovanna: Shohei Ohtani continued his march toward baseball’s first-ever 50-50 season, belting his career-best 47th home run, stealing his 48th base and driving in three runs, and Tommy Edman hit two homers for the second straight game to lead the Dodgers to a 10-8 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Chavez Ravine on Wednesday night.
The score was tied 7-7 in the seventh when Will Smith hit a one-out double to right-center and took third on Max Muncy’s groundout. Miguel Rojas walked, and Lux, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the fifth, lined a clutch two-out single to center field to score Smith for an 8-7 lead.
Edman, who homered from the right side of the plate in the first inning, followed with a two-run homer to right — this one from the left side of the plate — for two big insurance runs and a 10-7 Dodgers lead.
Evan Phillips rebounded from Tuesday night’s blown save to retire the side in order in the eighth, and Michael Kopech survived a harrowing ninth inning, as the Dodgers pushed their National League West lead to five games and reduced their magic number to clinch the division to 12 with 16 games to play.
Kopech, who gave up one earned run in his first 17 innings with the Dodgers, walked three batters to open the ninth before getting Isaac Parades to hit a sacrifice fly to right. The Cubs gifted the Dodgers an out when Seiya Suzuki was thrown out attempting to steal third. Michael Busch struck out to end the game.
Hernández: Forget all the injuries. The Dodgers are going to win the World Series
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ANGELS
Matt Wallner homered for the second straight game, Brooks Lee snapped an 0-for-19 slump with a go-ahead, two-run double and the Minnesota Twins beat the Angels 6-4 on Wednesday night.
Royce Lewis nearly had his sixth career grand slam for Minnesota in the seventh inning as his drive to left field initially was called a home run, but a review showed that the ball hit the top of the wall and back into play for a two-run double.
Wallner’s 13th homer into the bullpens in left-center tied it after the Angels’ Taylor Ward led off the game with his 23rd homer. Willi Castro had an RBI single to snap an 0-for-16 skid during a three-run fourth inning for Minnesota.
RAMS
From Gary Klein: It’s only one game, but the rash of injuries suffered by Rams in their season-opening loss at Detroit harks back to 2022, when the defending Super Bowl-champion Rams were ravaged by injuries that contributed to the worst Super Bowl hangover in NFL history.
On Wednesday, the Rams placed receiver Puka Nacua (knee sprain) and offensive linemen Steve Avila (medial collateral ligament sprain) and Joe Noteboom (lateral ankle sprain) on injured reserve.
They also signed three offensive linemen: veterans Ty Nsekhe and Geron Christian Sr. and rookie Dylan McMahon, a sixth-round pick who was on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad. Veteran cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon also was signed to the practice squad.
CHARGERS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: J.K. Dobbins would never say his triumphant return to the field one year after suffering a torn Achilles was satisfying. The Chargers running back wouldn’t even say that rushing for 135 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1 was emotional.
He has bigger plans.
“I knew that’s how hard I worked,” Dobbins said after the game. “I knew it was going to show. I knew my prayers were going to be answered.”
After starring for the Chargers in Week 1, Dobbins could become the first Chargers running back to start a season with back-to-back 100-yard rushing games when the team faces the Carolina Panthers at 10 a.m. PDT on Sunday.
From Chuck Schilken: Encino has been a hot spot for home break-ins recently, but burglars were unsuccessful in getting into the house of Reggie Bush.
The former USC and NFL star was at his San Fernando Valley home Tuesday night when three male suspects attempted to break in.
“Everyone is safe,” Bush said in a text message to The Times.
The Los Angeles Police Dept. confirmed that officers responded to a burglary call around 11 p.m. on the Encino block where Bush lives. LAPD Officer Charles Miller said a resident of the house reported hearing a window break and broken glass was found outside. Nothing was stolen.
UCLA BASKETBALL
From Ben Bolch: Once hailed as the fastest player in college basketball, he now moves with the push of a button. His motorized wheelchair whirring to life, “Rocket Rod” Foster uses the joystick attached to the end of an armrest to roll forward inside his West Los Angeles apartment.
He can raise his right arm to roughly shoulder level. His left arm, the weaker one, can only go up several inches. Foster can’t cut his food or get out of bed without help from his live-in sister. Even she is sometimes powerless to protect the onetime UCLA star from the perils of this terrible disease.
One spill getting out of the modified recliner that serves as his bed required a 911 call and three firemen to help get him back on his feet. Sleep is fitful, mornings even worse. Foster wakes up exhausted, slowly gaining strength. Physical therapy comes with its own hazards. If he reaches the point of fatigue while using a foot pedal designed to strengthen his muscles, it might actually accelerate his illness.
It’s so tempting to curse this rare affliction that can leave anyone in its clutches feeling helpless. Then Foster remembers the salvation that started with the Jeep accident almost 40 years ago. The moment that essentially ended his NBA career also commenced a more wholesome life rooted in unrelenting faith.
“I don’t have faith in faith,” Foster said, “I have faith in knowing that God is in control.”
PAC-12 REBUILDING?
The Pac-12 is ready to begin its rebuild, targeting Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State and San Diego State of the Mountain West, with those schools applying for membership as soon this week, two people with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press on Wednesday night.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the conference’s plans and discussions with possible new members were not being made public.
The Pac-12 is currently a two-school conference, with Oregon State and Washington State the only remaining members after the conference was picked apart last year by other power conferences.
SPARKS
From Andrés Soto: Four of the Sparks’ starters scored in double figures, but it wasn’t enough. Dearica Hamby had a historic night, grabbing her 341st rebound to break Lisa Leslie’s 20-year-old single-season franchise record and enter the Sparks’ top-10 career rebounds list, but it still wasn’t enough.
The Sparks outrebounded the Seattle Storm, outscored them in the paint and had more second-chance points, but all of it wasn’t enough as the Sparks fell 90-82 on Wednesday in their penultimate home game of the season.
“It was a really, really well-played game,” Sparks coach Curt Miller said. “I thought both teams adjusted to the physicality around the rim. The officials let a lot go tonight but because of that, there was some flow in our game. I just thought it was a really good basketball game … a lot easier to walk into that locker room tonight and talk to them about all the positives that we did.”
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1936 — Fred Perry becomes the first foreign player to win three U.S. men’s singles titles when he defeats Don Budge, 2-6, 6-2, 8-6, 1-6, 10-8. Alice Marble ends the four-year reign of Helen Jacobs as U.S. women’s singles champion, with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
1955 — Tony Trabert wins the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association championships with a victory over Ken Rosewall. Doris Hart wins the women’s title.
1966 — Australia’s Fred Stolle beats countryman John Newcombe to win the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association championships. Stolle wins in four sets, 4-6, 12-10, 6-3, 6-4.
1976 — Jimmy Connors beats Bjorn Borg in four sets to win the U.S. Open.
1979 — Carl Yastrzemski reaches 3,000 hits off of NY Yankee pitcher Jim Beattie.
1981 — Tracy Austin wins her second U.S. Open singles title, edging first-time finalist Martina Navratilova, 1-6, 7-6, 7-6.
1982 — Jimmy Connors wins the U.S. Open, defeating Ivan Lendl, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
1984 — N.Y. Met Dwight Gooden sets rookie strike out record at 251.
1988 — 1st NFL regular-season game played in Phoenix; Dallas beats Arizona.
1995 — The Harlem Globetrotters’ 24-year, 8,829-game winning streak is stopped. It ends in a 91-85 loss to a team led by basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who scores 34 points in a competitive, unscripted game in Vienna, Austria.
1998 — Lindsay Davenport captures her first Grand Slam tournament singles title, defeating Martina Hingis, 6-3, 7-5 at the U.S. Open.
1999 — Andre Agassi comes back from two-sets-to-one down to win his second U.S. Open singles title. Agassi, who never loses his serve, defeats Todd Martin, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2. It’s the first five-set U.S. Open final in 11 years.
2004 — Roger Federer becomes the first man since 1988 to win three majors in a year, thoroughly outclassing Lleyton Hewitt 6-0, 7-6 (3), 6-0 to add the U.S. Open title to those he took at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
2005 — Mark Messier announces that he will retire from the NHL.
2010 — Houston running back Arian Foster rushes for a franchise-record 231 yards and three touchdowns in the Texans’ 34-24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. Foster is the first player in NFL history to rush for at least 200 yards and three touchdowns for an opening weekend.
2011 — Tom Brady passes for a team-record 517 yards and four touchdowns, including a 99-yarder to Wes Welker, and the New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins 38-24.
2011 — U.S. Open Men’s Tennis: Novak Djokovic wins his first US title; beats Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1.
2014 — Diana Taurasi and Candice Dupree score 24 points each and the Phoenix Mercury, playing without star center Brittney Griner, beat the Chicago Sky 87-82 to complete a three-game sweep of the WNBA Finals for their third championship.
2015 — Kent State dominates Delaware State in the Golden Flashes’ home opener, 45-13, but it’s overshadowed by a single point-after kick in the second quarter by April Goss. Goss, a four-year member of the Kent State team and a former high school soccer player, becomes the second female to score in a Division I game in NCAA history. Katie Hnida kicked a pair of extra points for New Mexico in 2003.
2015 — David Ortiz homers twice to become the 27th player in major league history to reach 500 homers, and Boston beats Tampa Bay 10-4.
2018 — Breanna Stewart leads the Seattle Storm to their third WNBA title, scoring 30 points in a 98-82 victory over the Washington Mystics in Game 3 of the best-of-five series.
2020 — Naomi Osaka wins her second U.S. Open title, beating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.