bloodied

A bloodied female and her male companion were escorted out of SoFi Stadium during the fourth quarter of the Rams season opener Sunday along with two other spectators who had engaged in the same violent altercation.

The woman and her companion were wearing jerseys of the Houston Texans, who the Rams defeated 14-9. Video clips on social media showed her face covered with blood when security guards led her from Section 428 high above the end zone.

The incident appeared to begin with words and shoving between the woman in the No. 99 jersey of retired Texans legend JJ Watt and a woman wearing a Rams jersey. The altercation escalated, with the man wearing the No. 7 jersey of Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud pouring a cup of beer on the head of the woman in the Rams jersey.

Two men in Rams jerseys one row above the brawl stood and began shoving and grabbing the two Texans fans until security personnel arrived about two minutes into the incident.

The two men from the row above removed their jerseys — one of former Rams great Aaron Donald and the other of Rams receiver Puka Nacua — but additional security personnel arrived, handcuffed both men and escorted them away.

SoFi Stadium, which opened in 2020, has been plagued by brawls. Oakland chef Daniel Luna was in a medically induced coma for weeks after Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics discovered him lying on the ground in the stadium’s Lot L during the NFC Championship Game between the Rams and San Francisco 49ers.

It took three days and an inquiry from The Times before Inglewood authorities acknowledged the incident. Bryan Alexis Cifuentes, 33, was charged with one felony count of battery with serious bodily injury after video showed that he dropped Luna with one punch. Cifuentes pleaded not guilty and investigators determined that Luna started the altercation when he shoved Cifuentes.

Luna sued the Rams and L.A. County, claiming that because he was drunk deputies should have put him in a form of protective custody after he was denied entrance to the stadium because he didn’t have a ticket.

The suit was dismissed by Inglewood Superior Court Judge Ronald F. Frank, who wrote that “the Sheriff’s Department did not create the peril in which plaintiff found himself. [Luna] alleges that he was already inebriated when he was detained initially. The sheriffs took no affirmative action which contributed to, increased, or changed the risk which would have otherwise existed.”

At least four fights have broken out at Chargers games at SoFi Stadium. The most recent was a brawl in a game against the Raiders in September 2024. A video provided to KTLA shows showed a group of Chargers fans fighting a shirtless man.

Moments before the Chargers and Dallas Cowboys squared off at SoFi in 2023, the teams scuffled at midfield after several Cowboys ran through the Chargers’ defensive backs as they were conducting pregame drills.

Several fights broke out off the field during the game, including one on a concourse exit that involved a dozen or more fans. No fans were arrested, according to the Inglewood Police Department.

After a game between the Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs in November 2022, a man was thrown over a railing. A person who recorded a video of the incident told KABC-TV Channel 7 that the fight began after one man bumped into another. A third man tried to intervene and was thrown over the railing onto the concrete steps below.

A 2022 poll of more than 3,000 fans by Sportsbook Review concluded that many NFL stadiums are more violent than SoFi Stadium and that fans generally feel safe attending games at the venue.

Crimes in and around stadiums occur all too often, with 39.2% of poll respondents reporting having witnessed or fallen victim to at least one crime in or outside a stadium. Only 5.4% of fans had witnessed a crime at SoFi, and only one of those polled said they had been a victim of a crime while attending a Rams or Chargers home game.

Sportsbook Review updated its rankings last week, with SoFi moving up from the 15th to the 11th most dangerous NFL stadium. M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens, is ranked as the most dangerous; Highmark Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills, is ranked as the safest.

Andrew Friedman gave a longer answer Sunday morning when asked about the Dodgers’ recent — and, by the feel of it, familiar — pitching woes so far this year, the club’s president of baseball operations bemoaning another wave of injuries that has left the pitching staff shorthanded.

But the gist of his answer was in the two words he uttered at the start of it.

“Not fun,” he said.

In the Dodgers’ 6-4 loss to the Angels later in the day, it became even less so.

As things currently stand, Tony Gonsolin is effectively the No. 2 pitcher in the Dodgers’ rotation, thrust into such a prominent role with Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki injured. But in a four-run, four-inning start, Gonsolin was derailed by his own physical issue, battling a bloody hand in a three-run first inning that put the Dodgers behind the eight ball.

The Dodgers rallied, erasing what grew to a 4-0 deficit on Shohei Ohtani’s RBI single in the fifth and Will Smith’s tying three-run home run in the seventh. But then a banged-up bullpen gave the Angels the lead right back, with Travis d’Arnaud going deep in the eighth against Anthony Banda — himself forced into a high-leverage role lately, despite a disappointing start to the year, because of injuries to Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips and Kirby Yates (who became the latest pitcher to hit the injured list on Sunday with a hamstring strain he suffered the night before).

Angels center fielder Kyren Paris, right, narrowly avoids colliding with left fielder Taylor Ward after making a catch on a fly ball in the seventh inning Sunday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Friedman argued the Dodgers’ injury problems this year don’t compare to the dire straits they navigated en route to last year’s World Series title. Unlike then, the team hasn’t suffered any season-ending losses. In the big picture, they remain confident they’ll have enough depth to mount a title defense.

And yet, the team hasn’t discovered the secret to better health. Their rotation problems are giving the bullpen an unsustainably grueling workload. And figuring out how to better protect the club’s expensive stable of arms is “by far the No. 1 thing that keeps me up at night,” Friedman said.

“I mean, everything from my brain is about what we can do, like, how we can solve this,” Friedman added, the self-described “deep dive” the organization took into pitching injuries this offseason having yet to yield better results. “It’s like a game of Whack-a-Mole, and things keep popping up. … The definition of enough depth, I think is a fool’s errand. I don’t know what enough depth means. I think more is always better with pitching depth.”

But, with the team now ranking 21st in the majors with a 4.22 team ERA, what they have currently certainly isn’t enough.

Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin can’t field a ball hit by the Angels’ Luis Rengifo in the second inning Sunday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

After Gonsolin gave up a leadoff home run to Zach Neto on a sunny afternoon at Dodger Stadium, trainers came to the mound to check on the right-hander. As they examined his throwing hand, the television broadcast zoomed in on streaks of blood covering the backside of his pants.

While Gonsolin’s exact problem wasn’t immediately clear, the right-hander’s struggle to command the baseball quickly became obvious. With one out, he walked Yoán Moncada, looking visibly uncomfortable as he sprayed the ball wide of the zone. In a 2-and-0 count to his next batter, Taylor Ward, Gonsolin threw a fastball over the heart of the plate. Ward crushed it for a two-run homer.

Gonsolin settled down from there, giving up just one more run the rest of the way. But his pitch count never got back under control, requiring 97 total throws to complete the fourth.

It was already the 14th time in 47 games this season that a Dodgers starter failed to work into the fifth.

All those short starts have had a cascading effect on the bullpen. And pitchers such as Banda have had to compensate as a result.

Sunday’s outing marked Banda’s 21st appearance this year, becoming the fifth Dodgers reliever to reach that mark. Entering the day, no other team had more than three.

After pitching a clean seventh inning, Banda returned for the eighth and was bitten again by a common problem. In a 3-and-1 count against d’Arnaud, he threw a center-cut sinker that d’Arnaud crushed to left. It was Banda’s fifth home run yielded this year, tying the total he gave up in 48 appearances over all of last year. And this time, the Dodgers couldn’t answer back, getting tripped up by pitching problems again en route to the Angels’ first three-game Freeway Series sweep since 2010.

Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas shouts in frustration after striking out against the Angels in the seventh inning Sunday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Aberdeen defender Jack MacKenzie was left bloodied after being struck by what seemed to be a seat – thrown by one of his own fans – amid a pitch invasion following his side’s Scottish Premiership defeat at Dundee United.

Unused subtitute MacKenzie was on the pitch while the United supporters invaded the playing surface after their side denied Aberdeen fourth place.

And he was felled by a projectile hurled from the area of the ground that housed a travelling support restricted in number after objects were aimed at United manager Jim Goodwin in the last meeting at Tannadice.

Speaking to BBC Scotland after his side sealed a European place on Saturday, Goodwin labelled the incident “a disgrace”.

“I deliberately took myself off the pitch as quickly as I could because we’ve had previous with the Aberdeen supporters in the past,” the former Pittodrie boss said.

“I’m really disappointed to hear young Jack has been hit by an object thrown by his own supporters. He’s inside having stitches now, it’s an absolute disgrace.

“It’s probably taken something as serious as this to happen for the authorities to finally step in and do something about it to identify these idiots who let down a really good club.”