Dodgers defeat the Rays
From Maddie Lee: Whenever Shohei Ohtani is questioned, it seems, he does something spectacular.
On Tuesday, with discussion still swirling over whether his knee problem from the week before would influence his two-way availability when he took the mound Wednesday, Ohtani broke open a scoreless standoff with a sixth-inning solo home run.
It held as the winning run, as the Dodgers went on to beat the Rays 1-0.
“That’s just him,” Dodgers starting pitcher Justin Wrobleski said of Ohtani. “He’s obviously the best player of all time. I’m super lucky and blessed to be his teammate and watch him play. It’s been super cool.”
Up to that point, neither team’s starting pitcher had flinched.
Wrobleski had given up just three hits in six scoreless innings. And, along with five strikeouts, he hadn’t allowed more than one baserunner in any inning, squashing the scrappy Rays’ ability to manufacture a run.
Shaikin: The Dodgers are ruining baseball! Stop them! But first let me vote for all their players
Angels defeat the Diamondbacks
Mike Trout hit a two-run home run and an RBI double for the Angels in a 7-0 shutout of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night.
Trout’s 436-foot two-run shot to center came in the fifth inning and gave the Angels a 5-0 lead, and his sixth-inning double drove in Denzer Guzman.
Reid Detmers (3-5) worked seven innings for the Angels, giving up no runs and three hits while striking out three. He has given up three or fewer earned runs in each of his past five outings and nine of his last 10.
From Kevin Baxter: Growing up the son of an NFL wide receiver, Alex Freeman said he felt a lot of pressure to play the American version of football, not the one the rest of the world plays.
“I always got asked if football was the path,” he said last summer. “But I always had a secret love for soccer.”
And he had to keep it a secret because he wasn’t sure his father Antonio, a Super Bowl winner with the Green Bay Packers, would understand.
But his stepfather did. Jake Hinkle introduced Alex to the sport and served as his first coach while his mother Rochelle urged him on.
Now his biological father, who last played in 2004, the year his son was born, has joined the cheering section as well.
“I was with him at the hotel,” Freeman said, “and he was just giving me those kinds of speeches that you hear from a dad. He’s just telling me to be myself. I think he knows that being myself has gotten me to this point. So why change that, right?”
He put a massive exclamation mark on what has been a breakout 13 months by setting up Gio Reyna for the final goal of a 4-1 win for the U.S. in its World Cup opener against Paraguay. The U.S. returns to group play Friday in Seattle where it will face Australia, with the winner of the match taking the inside track toward advancing to the knockout rounds as the group champion.
Swanson: He lost his father to Iran’s regime. At the World Cup in L.A., he cheered for Team Melli
Click here for complete TV schedule, groups and players to watch
Tuesday’s World Cup results
Group I
France 3, Senegal 1
Norway 4, Iraq 1
Group J
Argentina 3, Algeria 0
Austria 3, Jordan 1
Today’s World Cup TV schedule
All times Pacific
10 a.m. Portugal vs. DR Congo, Fox, Telemundo
1 p.m. England vs. Croatia, Fox, Telemundo
4 p.m., Ghana vs. Panama, FS1, Telemundo
7 p.m., Uzbekistan vs. Colombia, FS1, Telemundo
World Cup Group standings
Group A
Country, W-D-L, Goal Differential, Points
Mexico, 1-0-0, +2, 3
South Korea, 1-0-0, +1, 3
Czechia, 0-0-1, -1, 0
South Africa, 0-0-1, -2, 0
Group B
Switzerland, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Canada, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Qatar, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Bosnia-Herzegovina, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Group C
Scotland, 1-0-0, +1, 3
Morocco, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Brazil, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Haiti, 0-0-1, -1, 0
Group D
United States, 1-0-0, +3, 3
Australia, 1-0-0, +2, 3
Turkiye, 0-0-1, -2, 0
Paraguay, 0-0-1, -3, 0
Group E
Germany, 1-0-0, +6, 3
Ivory Coast, 1-0-0, +1, 3
Ecuador, 0-0-1, -1, 0
Curacao, 0-0-1, -6, 0
Group F
Sweden, 1-0-0. +4, 3
Japan, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Netherlands, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Tunisia, 0-0-1, -4, 0
Group G
Belgium, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Egypt, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Iran, 0-1-0, 0, 1
New Zealand, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Group H
Spain, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Cape Verde, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Saudi Arabia, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Uruguay, 0-1-0, 0, 1
Group I
Norway, 1-0-0, +3, 3
France, 1-0-0, +2, 3
Senegal, 0-0-1, -2, 0
Iraq, 0-0-1, -3, 0
Group J
Argentina, 1-0-0, +3, 3
Austria, 1-0-0, +2, 3
Jordan, 0-0-1, -2, 0
Algeria, 0-0-1, -3, 0
No games played yet for the remaining groups
Group K
Portugal
Congo DR
Uzbekistan
Colombia
Group L
England
Croatia
Ghana
Panama
The top two teams in each group plus the next eight best third-place teams advance to the next round.
Lawrence Tanter is no longer the voice of the Lakers
From Broderick Turner: The smooth and soothing voice that generations of Lakers fans grew so accustomed to when Lawrence Tanter was the longtime public address announcer has put down his microphone.
Tanter, known as the “Voice of the Lakers,” has retired from his game-day role, the team announced Tuesday, and he will become a special advisor for Lakers game presentation.
Tanter, 76, sat in his courtside seat as the public address announcer for 43 years at Lakers games, starting in 1982 when they played at the Forum and lasting until late March, when the team announced he would miss a game to attend to his health. Those with knowledge of the situation who are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said he had a stroke.
This day in sports history
1954 — Rocky Marciano scores a 15-round unanimous decision over Ezzard Charles at New York to retain the world heavyweight title.
1961 — Gene Littler shoots a 68 in the final round to edge Doug Sanders and Bob Goalby in the U.S. Open.
1962 — Jack Nicklaus beats Arnold Palmer by three strokes in a playoff to win the U.S. Open.
1962 — Brazil beats Czechoslovakia 3-1 in Santiago, Chile to win its second straight FIFA World Cup title. Czechoslovakia scored first on a goal by Josef Masopust at 15 minutes. Two minutes later Amarildo tied the score. In the second half, Zito and Vavá scored goals to give Brazil the victory.
1973 — Johnny Miller shoots a 63 in the final round to win the U.S. Open by one stroke over John Schlee at Oakmont, Pa. Miller’s 8-under 63 is the first ever carded in a major championship.
1976 — The 18-team NBA absorbs four of the six remaining ABA teams: the New York Nets, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets.
1979 — Hale Irwin wins the U.S. Open by two strokes over Gary Player and Jerry Pate.
1989 — The Quebec Nordiques select Swedish center Mats Sundin with the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft. He’s the first European player to be taken with the first pick.
1990 — Fifty-year-old Harry Gant becomes the oldest driver to win a NASCAR race as he posts a 2.4-second victory over Rusty Wallace in the Miller 500 at Pocono International Raceway.
1991 — Payne Stewart escapes with a two-stroke victory over Scott Simpson in the highest-scoring U.S. Open playoff in 64 years.
1992 — Philadelphia 76ers trade Charles Barkley to Phoenix Suns.
1994 — O.J. Simpson doesn’t turn himself in on murder charges, LA police chase his Ford Bronco for 1½ hours before he eventually gives up (seen live on national TV).
1995 — Claude Lemieux snaps a tie at 3:17 of the third period as the New Jersey Devils open the Stanley Cup finals with a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. The victory, the ninth on the road, breaks the NHL playoff record for road wins.
2007 — Angel Cabrera holds off Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk by a stroke to capture the U.S. Open. Cabrera shoots a 1-under-par 69 in the final round at brutal Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.
2007 — Kate Ziegler breaks swimming’s oldest world record, shattering the 1,500-meter freestyle mark by 9 1/2 seconds at the TYR Meet of Champions Mission Viejo. Ziegler wins the 30-lap race in 15:42.54, easily erasing Janet Evans’ 1988 mark of 15:52.10 set in Orlando, Fla. At the time, Evans was the first woman to break 16 minutes.
2008 — The Boston Celtics win their 17th NBA title with a stunning 131-92 blowout over the Lakers in Game 6. Kevin Garnett scores 26 points with 14 rebounds, Ray Allen scores 26 and Paul Pierce, the finals MVP, adds 17.
2010 — The Lakers beat Boston for the first time in a Game 7 to repeat as NBA champions. The Lakers win their 16th NBA championship, dramatically rallying from a fourth-quarter 13-point deficit to beat the Celtics 83-79.
2011 — Rory McIlroy becomes the first player in the 111-year history of the U.S. Open to reach 13-under par, and despite a double bogey into the water on the final hole, his 5-under 66 is enough set the 36-hole scoring record at 131.
2012 — Webb Simpson wins the U.S. Open outlasting former U.S. Open champions Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell.
2018 — Brooks Koepka wins a second consecutive U.S. Open, the first player to do so since Curtis Strange in 1989.
2024 — Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 in Game 5 to clinch the club’s record 18th NBA Championship. Boston forward Jaylen Brown voted Finals MVP.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1915 — George “Zip” Zabel of the Chicago Cubs was called into the game against the Brooklyn Dodgers with two out in the first inning. He won 4-3 in the 19th inning in the longest relief effort in the majors.
1943 — Player-manager Joe Cronin of the Boston Red Sox hit a three-run pinch homer in both games of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia A’s. The Red Sox won the opener 5-4 and lost the second game 8-7.
1960 — Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox connected for his 500th home run off the Cleveland Indians. Williams, the fourth to accomplish the feat, hit a two-run homer off Wynn Hawkins in a 3-1 win.
1971 — Don Kessinger of the Chicago Cubs went 6-for-6, with five singles and a double, in a 7-6, 10-inning decision over the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.
1978 — Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees struck out 18 Angels to set an American League record for left-handers. Guidry, who struck out 15 in the first six innings, ended with a 4-0 four-hitter.
1993 — Baseball owners voted 26-2 in favor of expanding the playoffs for the first time in 25 years, doubling the teams that qualify to eight starting in 1994.
2007 — Brandon Watson extended his hitting streak to 43 games, breaking a 95-year-old International League record with a base hit in the Columbus Clippers’ 9-8 loss to the Ottawa Lynx. Jack Lelivelt set the IL record for the Rochester Hustlers in 1912.
2007 — Frank Thomas hit his record-breaking 244th homer as a designated hitter in Toronto’s 4-2 loss to Washington. The solo shot in the third inning moved Thomas past Edgar Martinez for the most homers by a DH in major league history.
2009 — Ivan Rodriguez catches the 2,227th game of his career, breaking Carlton Fisk’s record, in Houston’s 5 – 4, 10-inning loss to his former team, the Texas Rangers. For Texas, Omar Vizquel, the all-time leader for games played at shortstop, picks up his 2,677th hit, tying Luis Aparicio for most hits by a Venezuelan player.
2008 — Seattle’s Felix Hernandez struck out the side on nine pitches in the fourth inning of a 5-4 win over Florida, becoming the 13th pitcher in American League history to accomplish the feat.
2016 — Michaeal Saunders leads the Toronto Blue Jays to a 13-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles with three home runs and 8 RBIs.
2021 — The Arizona Diamondback set a new all-time mark with their 23rd consecutive road loss losing to the Giants 10-3.
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. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.