Dodgers beat the Padres
From Maddie Lee: The crack of the bat reverberated throughout Petco Park. The crowd let out a collective, “Oh.” And Shohei Ohtani started his trot around the bases.
Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill made a valiant effort to bring back the home run. But after leaping and stretching his torso over the top of the wall, the ball fell just out of his reach.
Ohtani, hitting while pitching for the first time in almost four weeks, had homered on the first pitch of the game. Then, helping the Dodgers to a 4-0 win and series victory against the Padres on Wednesday, Ohtani threw five shutout innings and gave up just three hits.
“The goal as a pitcher is to not give up the first run,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “So I was able to not do that and happy that we were able to score first.”
He lowered his ERA to 0.73, which is the best mark of any pitcher who has started a game this season. It’s also the sixth-lowest ERA through the first eight starts of a season (excluding openers) that a pitcher has recorded in the live-ball era (since 1920), according to MLB.com. Fernando Valenzuela, with an 0.50 ERA through eight starts in 1981, leads the pack.
Shaikin: From the Big Apple, sour grapes toward the voice of the Dodgers
Angels lose to the Athletics
Jeff McNeil hit a tying homer in the ninth inning and Tyler Soderstrom had an RBI single in the 10th to rally the Athletics past the Angels 6-5 on Wednesday night.
The Angels loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 10th but left-hander Hogan Harris got Jorge Soler to ground out, sending the Angels to their 23rd loss in 29 games.
A’s reliever Scott Barlow (1-0) threw a scoreless ninth for the win. Angels right-hander Chase Silseth (1-1) took the loss after giving up an unearned run in the 10th.
UCLA men’s basketball adds four players
Forwards Filip Jovic of Auburn and Sergej Macura of Mississippi State as well as guards Jaylen Petty of Texas Tech and Azavier Robinson of Butler have joined UCLA through the transfer portal, coach Mick Cronin said Wednesday.
Jovic averaged 6.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in all 37 games for Auburn last season, helping the Tigers win the NIT title. Macura averaged 5.0 points and 4.8 rebounds in 28 games for Mississippi State last season.
Petty averaged 9.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 33 games as a freshman at Texas Tech. Robinson averaged 6.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 22 games as a freshman at Butler.
This day in sports history
1881 — A small group of tennis club members meets at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City to form the world’s first national governing body for tennis: the United States National Lawn Tennis Assn. The new organization is created to standardize tennis rules and regulations and to encourage and develop the sport.
1891 — Australian boxer Peter Jackson and future world heavyweight champion Jim Corbett fight a No Contest in 61 rounds at California Athletic Club, San Francisco.
1932 — 1st Curtis Cup for Women’s team amateur golf: U.S. wins, 5½-3½ at Wentworth Club (Wentworth, England).
1966 — Muhammad Ali TKOs Henry Cooper in six for heavyweight boxing title.
1966 — Kauai King, the Kentucky Derby winner ridden by Don Brumfield, wins the Preakness Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths over Stupendous.
1971 — Chelsea win 11th European Cup Winner’s Cup against Real Madrid 2-1 in Athens (replay).
1977 — Heavily favored Seattle Slew, ridden by Jean Cruguet, wins the Preakness Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths over Iron Constitution, a 31-1 shot.
1979 — The Montreal Canadiens win their 21st Stanley Cup by beating the New York Rangers 4-1 in Game 5.
1981 — The New York Islanders win the Stanley Cup in five games with a 5-1 triumph over the Minnesota North Stars.
1988 — Risen Star, ridden by Eddie Delahoussaye, spoils Winning Colors’ bid to become the first filly to win the Triple Crown by capturing the Preakness Stakes.
1989 — LPGA Championship Women’s Golf, Jack Nicklaus GC: Nancy Lopez wins for the third time, by three strokes over Ayako Okamoto of Japan.
1995 — The Penske Racing Team is shut out of the 33-car Indianapolis 500 field when two-time winners Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi fail to qualify. Unser is the first Indianapolis 500 winner to fail to qualify the next year.
2005 — Afleet Alex, ridden by Jeremy Rose, regains his footing and his drive after being cut off by Scrappy T in a frightening collision and breezes home to win the Preakness Stakes. Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo finishes third.
2005 — English FA Cup Final, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (71,876): Arsenal beats Manchester United, 5-4 on penalties after 0–0 (a.e.t.); Gunners’ 10th title.
2006 — Detroit holds Cleveland to the lowest point total in a Game 7 in NBA history and advances to its fourth straight Eastern Conference final with a 79-61 win over the Cavaliers.
2006 — The Swedish ice hockey team Tre Kronor takes gold in the World Championship, becoming the first nation to hold both the World and Olympic titles separately in the same year.
2008 — UEFA Champions League Final, Moscow: Manchester United beats Chelsea, 6-5 on penalties after scores tied at 1-1 after extra time; first all-English final in the competition’s history.
2009 — Evgeni Malkin scores three goals — two in the third period — for his first NHL playoff hat trick and leads Pittsburgh to a 7-4 win over Carolina and a 2-0 advantage in the NHL Eastern Conference finals. Teammate Sidney Crosby scores the first goal of the game for a record-tying sixth goal to start a playoff game. Bobby Hull of the Blackhawks (1962) and Edmonton’s Fernando Pisani in 2006 also had six game-opening goals in a playoff year.
2011 — Shackleford wins the Preakness, holding off a late charge from Animal Kingdom to win as a 12-1 underdog. Ridden by Jesus Lopez Castanon and trained by Dale Romans, Shackleford wins by three-quarters of a length in 1:56.21.
2011 — Bernard Hopkins, at age 46, becomes the oldest fighter to win a major world championship, taking the WBC light-heavyweight title from Jean Pascal in Montreal. He takes the WBC, IBO and The Ring magazine titles from the 28-year-old Pascal (26-2-1), the Canadian fighter who was making his fifth defense. Hopkins (52-5-2) broke the age record set by George Foreman in a heavyweight title victory over Michael Moorer in 1994.
2016 — English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London: Manchester United beats Crystal Palace, 2-1 (a.e.t.); Jesse Lingard scores 110′ winner.
2016 — On same card, American boxer Jermell Charlo KOs John Jackson in 8th to claim vacant WBC super welterweight title, and Jermall Charlo beats Austin Trout on points to retain IBF version; first twins to hold world championships in same weight division.
2017 — The Tradition Senior Men’s Golf, Greystone G&CC: Defending champion Berhard Langer wins by five strokes over Scott Parel and Scott McCarron.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1926 — Earl Sheely of the Chicago White Sox hit three doubles and a home run against the Boston Red Sox. Sheely doubled in each of his last three at-bats the previous day to give him seven consecutive extra-base hits, tying a major league record. The six doubles in the two games also tied a major league record.
1930 — Babe Ruth hits three consecutive home runs in the first game of a doubleheader against the A’s.
1943 — In the fastest nine-inning night game in American League history, the Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators 1-0, in 1 hour, 29 minutes.
1948 — Joe DiMaggio had two home runs, a triple, double and single to lead the New York Yankees to a 13-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
1952 — Duke Snider’s home run highlighted a 15-run first inning in the Dodgers’ 19-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Brooklyn. Snider, Pee Wee Reese and Billy Cox each made three plate appearances in the first inning.
1986 — Rafael Ramirez of Atlanta had four doubles in seven at-bats as the Braves beat the Chicago Cubs 9-8 in 13 innings.
1996 — Larry Walker drove in a career-high six runs, hitting a pair of two-run homers, a triple and a double in the Colorado Rockies’ 12-10 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. His 13 total bases set a club record.
1996 — At Fenway Park, Seattle pounds out 19 hits to beat Boston, 13-7. Ken Griffey, Jr. becomes the 7th-youngest player to collect 200 homers when he connects in the M’s six-run 4th inning. Jay Buhner hits a two-run shot in the inning, the 5th game in a row he’s connected, and Edgar Martinez adds four hits in the game.
1997 — Roger Clemens earned his 200th victory, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-1 win over the New York Yankees.
2000 — For the first time in baseball history, there were six grand slams in a single day. Garret Anderson of the Angels hit the record-breaker off Kansas City’s Chris Fussell. J.T. Snow of San Francisco, Brian Hunter of Philadelphia, Jason Giambi of Oakland, and Adrian Beltre and Shawn Green of the Dodgers connected with the bases loaded before Anderson. The old mark of five was set in 1999.
2002 — The Diamondbacks set down the Giants, 9-4, behind Randy Johnson. Johnson notches the 3,500th strikeout of his big league career in the contest.
2004 — In his return to Texas, Alex Rodriguez is roundly booed by fans at the Ballpark in Arlington. The fans continue to show their displeasure as the Yankees third baseman drives a 2-1 pitch over the fence during his 1st-inning at-bat.
2004 — Jose Cruz Jr. went 4-for-4 with a homer and three doubles, leading Tampa Bay to a 5-3 victory over Cleveland.
2005 — The Texas Rangers set two club records in an 18-3 rout of the Houston Astros. Texas got home runs from Rod Barajas, Hank Blalock, Laynce Nix and Mark Teixeira in an eight-run, four-homer second inning. Texas slugged a team-record eight homers total on the day, also receiving blasts from Kevin Mench, Richard Hidalgo and two from David Dellucci.
2009 — Albert Pujols of St. Louis hit a homer in the first inning that knocked out the “I” on the Big Mac Land sign located in Busch Stadium’s left field. The Cardinals won 3-1.
2009 — Joe Mauer hit a grand slam, two doubles and drove in a career-high six runs as Minnesota routed the Chicago White Sox 20-1.
2010 — Dan Haren doubled twice, drove in three runs and pitched eight strong innings, offsetting Edwin Encarnacion’s three home runs for Toronto, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Blue Jays 8-6. Haren gave up four runs and nine hits and two of Encarnacion’s three homers.
2013 — Mike Trout hit for the cycle and drove in five runs to lead the Angels in a 12-0 rout of Seattle Mariners.
2015 — The Brewers’ Will Smith is ejected for having rosin and sunscreen on his forearm in the 7th inning of Milwaukee’s 10-1 loss to the Braves. Smith explains that he simply forgot to wipe off his arm before leaving the bullpen when called into the game. He will receive an eight-game suspension as well.
2018 — Baseball has a new phenom as 19-year-old Juan Soto of the Nationals, making his first start ever in the outfield after striking out as a pinch-hitter in his debut the day before, crushes the first pitch he sees from Robbie Erlin of the Padres for a three-run homer. He goes 2-for-4 in 10-2 win by Washington. He is the first teenager to homer since teammate Bryce Harper did so in his rookie year in 2012.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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