delivers

Christian Moore hit an infield single with two outs and the bases loaded that bounced off reliever Taylor Rogers’ leg to score Zach Neto and give the Angels a 6-5, 11-inning victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night.

Vaughn Grissom hit a solo homer in the ninth off Twins reliever A.J. Minter to tie it at 5.

In the 10th with one out, the Twins’ Royce Lewis hit a shallow flyball out to Angels right fielder Josh Lowe. Ben Ross tagged at third, but Lowe’s strong one-bounce throw got to catcher Moisés Ballesteros in time for a sweeping tag of Ross at home to end Minnesota’s threat.

In the eighth, Angels’ pinch-hitter Adam Frazier doubled down the right-field line against reliever Yoendrys Gomez to drive in two runs to narrow the Twins’ lead to 5-4.

Angels reliever Tayler Saucedo (1-1) got the win an inning of scoreless relief. Rogers (6-4) took the loss in 1⅔ innings of work.

Minnesota remains technically still in the race for the American League wild card, but has almost no chance. The Twins are at least 6½ games behind five teams for the last wild-card spot with seven games remaining.

The Angels’ Jose Siri hit a two-run homer in the fourth and the Twins’ Ryan Kreidler launched a solo shot in the fifth.

Twins starter Joe Ryan gave up two runs and seven hits while striking out five in five innings.

Angels starting pitcher Reid Detmers lasted five innings, surrendering four runs and six hits while striking out five. He has 204 strikeouts this season, the most of any Angels pitcher since Shohei Ohtani had 219 in 2022.

A man from London was determined to find his sister, following the death of their mother

A brother and sister have finally been reunited after they both applied to appear on the ITV show.

The latest episode of Long Lost Family, which aired on Thursday (September 10), followed Michael, 56, who was trying to find his older sister, whom he had never met. The retail worker from South East London was determined to fulfill his mother’s dying wish to track down his sister, who had been given up for adoption as a baby.

Mary had been in a Catholic mother and baby home when she took care of her daughter, Angela, for three months before she was placed for adoption. But Michael explained that his mother didn’t think she had a choice.

Their mother, Mary, died of cancer eight years ago at the age of 74, and she had asked Michael to find his sister, Angela, for her. “She said, could you please try and find Angela for me please?” Michael shared. Ever since then, he has been desperate to find her.

Two years ago, in an attempt to find his sister, Michael took a DNA test and got a match with a woman named Gemma. The DNA report suggested that she was his half-sister. He assumed that Gemma was Angela’s new adoptive name and messaged her, however, he never received a reply.

“It’s made me happy, but in another way, it’s made me sad because obviously she’s been looking. It makes me think, why is she not on here, she’s given up. I’m so close now,” he said.

Michael went on: “I’m so close. And it’s like just a brick wall is just there. But I want to knock this brick wall down, but it’s very difficult.” In a twist, the Long Lost Family team discovered that Gemma, who had been named Angela at birth, had also contacted the show in the past to find her biological family.

Gemma was told about her mother’s death off-screen before host Nicky Campbell informed her that she had a brother, and passed on an emotional message. “Your brother, Michael, wanted to tell you that she didn’t want to give you up for adoption. She thought about you every day. She always, always loved you, and she wanted to tell you that. She wanted to see you and tell you that”, Nicky told Gemma.

Later in the episode, Davina McCall informed Michael of the wonderful news that Gemma had been found. This left him feeling incredibly emotional to hear that his sister wanted to have contact with him.

Davina explained: “She has been looking for 30 years. She was really sad to hear that your mum had died, but she was so grateful that someone was looking for her. She applied for Long Lost Family, so it’s incredible.”

Michael couldn’t wait to meet her but wistfully said, “I just wish my mum was here. 30 years? Oh god, if only I had knew.” Gemma traveled from Manchester to London to meet her brother, and when they came face-to-face, they could not stop crying. “This has been the best day of my life. It’s like a dream come true, I finally met my sister,” Michael added.

Long Lost Family is available to stream on ITVX

Teoscar Hernández stepped into exactly the kind of situation the Dodgers had failed to capitalize on during the past couple of games: runners in scoring position. And with one out in the ninth inning, the Dodgers were running out of chances for a comeback.

Hernández worked a full count against St. Louis closer Riley O’Brien with runners on first and second. Then he got a sinker up and over the middle of the plate, a pitch he could drive. And he did.

Hernández lined it into the left-center field gap. Tommy Edman scored easily, and Mookie Betts slid across the plate head first as the throw came in high and too late.

The Dodgers walked off the Cardinals with a 3-2 victory Thursday, narrowly avoiding a series sweep at Dodger Stadium.

“We needed it,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Obviously for seven innings, it didn’t look good at all. Then we found a way to scratch one across. But a win’s a win, however it looks.”

Before Hernández’s walk-off double, the Dodgers (83-57) had taken 26 at-bats with runners in scoring position over two games. Only one of those had resulted in a hit.

Hernández, however, unlocked something on a long fly out he hit in Detroit on Saturday.

“It’s just the way my body was reacting, was more under control,” he said. “I was able to notice everything that I was doing, even though it was an out. …That was the swing that is leading to all the good results that I’ve been having lately.”

Hernández, who entered this series with a .668 OPS against right-handed pitchers, had been struggling for so long that Roberts contemplated a left-field platoon.

Teoscar Hernández hits a walk-off double against the St. Louis Cardinals in the ninth inning Thursday at Dodger Stadium.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“I told Dave, if you feel like you have to use somebody else in there, just do it,” Hernández said. “But know that I am going to keep working and I’m going to try to be ready for the times that you need me.”

On Sunday in Detroit, Hernández hit a home run off Framber Valdez. And when rosters expanded on Sept. 1, the Dodgers decided against bringing up an outfielder who could share playing time with Hernández, betting that he could end his slump.

Hernández went six for 13 in three games against the Cardinals (70-71), with Roberts remarking it was “as good as I’ve seen him versus [right-handers] since April.”

“I’ve always said that we’re better when he’s in the lineup,” Roberts said. “But performance certainly matters, and this series, albeit a small sample, was really good. As you get to the postseason and towards the end of the season, we’ve got to start figuring out who we can play, who we can count on, who’s dependable. And the at-bats he’s taken these last three games, really good.”

Hernández and Edman — hitting leadoff in place of Shohei Ohtani, who got the day off while dealing with a nagging biceps problem — were the only Dodgers with hits Thursday. Edman led the team with four, but Hernández’ second knock was the most important one.

“It was huge to finally get that big hit,” Edman said of Hernández. “We were kind of pressing a little bit in those first two games. Everybody was kind of trying to do too much in the big spots. Teo came through huge in that moment. Just can’t say enough about him, and that was just such a huge at-bat, and able to kind of steal that win today.”

Parker Messick pitched six innings of one-run ball and Austin Hedges hit a two-run homer in the Cleveland Guardians’ 4-2 victory over the Angels on Monday night.

Jo Adell hit a go-ahead single for the Guardians against his former team. Messick (10-8) gave up three hits, struck out four and walked one while extending to nine his string of consecutive starts with two or fewer runs allowed.

Through 26 starts, the rookie left-hander has a 2.50 ERA with 156 strikeouts in 155 innings.

Colin Holderman struck out three of four batters in the seventh. Hunter Gaddis tossed a scoreless eighth and Cade Smith gave up a run in the ninth before earning his 34th save.

Cleveland (66-66) won its fifth straight and pulled within 2½ games of the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.

Angels rookie George Klassen (2-2) gave up three runs — two earned — and six hits in 5⅓ innings.

Adell, acquired from the Angels on Aug. 3, snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-out single in the fifth — his 13th RBI in six games. Hedges made it 4-1 with a two-out homer off reliever Blake Weiman in the sixth.

The Angels (52-80) pulled to 4-2 on Gustavo Campero’s sacrifice fly in the ninth, but Christian Moore flied out to the left-center warning track with a runner on for the final out.

Messick retired his first nine batters before Zach Neto and Mike Trout opened the fourth with singles. Neto went to third on Trout’s hit, and Trout took second on the throw.

Trout was caught off the bag on Vaughn Grissom’s hard grounder to second but stayed in a rundown long enough for Grissom to reach second.

Moisés Ballesteros dunked an RBI single into center for a 1-1 tie, advancing Grissom to third. Messick escaped further damage by striking out Jose Siri and getting Campero to pop out.

Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the third when Steven Kwan and José Ramírez singled, Adell walked and Nathaniel Lowe hit a sacrifice fly.

Up next: Guardians RHP Gavin Williams (12-7, 3.72 ERA) will oppose Angels RHP Walbert Ureña on Tuesday night.

Alek Thomas is used to playing center field at Dodger Stadium.

Over parts of five seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the 26-year-old grew accustomed to being booed in L.A., all while watching baseball’s latest dynasty take shape.

“It’s funny, because they always hated me whenever I came out there in center field,” Thomas said before Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. “I was, like, ‘Come on, guys, I’m Mexican too. You don’t have to yell at me; like, we’re on the same side here.’

“But, obviously … it doesn’t matter where you’re from. ‘If you’re not a Dodgers guy, you’re not my guy.’”

Thomas, whom Arizona designated for assignment 28 games into the season before trading him to the Dodgers in May, is, well, a Dodgers guy now.

He was called up from triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday after center fielder Andy Pages sustained a hand fracture after being hit by a pitch Friday.

“Great buy-in [and] great teammate,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Thomas before the game. “Really good defender. Had a good chat with him earlier. … he’s happy to be back in the big leagues.”

One could imagine how nice it felt for Thomas to hit an RBI single in the fourth inning, in his first game with the Dodgers and the team’s 12th sellout of the season.

“It’s been a little while,” said Thomas, who has spent 55 games in Oklahoma City this year. “So, I’m super glad to be back, and happy to help the team in any way, shape or form.”

Thomas looked solid in his primary role as a defender.

Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal delivers against the Pirates at Dodger Stadium on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

He also showed some hustle, turning a should-be groundout into a two-bagger in the eighth after an error by Pirates first baseman Rafael Flores Jr.

“Andy’s a great player, and speedy recovery for him,” Thomas said. “But I’m gonna try and play my brand of baseball; that’s why the Dodgers got me. So, yeah, I’m just gonna go out there and be myself.”

Tarik Skubal and the Dodgers were themselves, too, after a rough start.

The left-hander gave up three runs and three hits in the first. But Skubal recovered to earn his first win with the Dodgers (79-51), giving up five hits and striking out 11 over seven innings to earn a standing ovation upon his exit.

Teoscar Hernández, who entered with two RBIs over his past 16 games, put the Dodgers on the board with a run-scoring single in the fourth. Six pitches later, Thomas earned his RBI, shrinking the Pirates’ lead to 3-2.

Starter Jared Jones, a Whittier native, lasted four innings for the Pirates (63-68). He gave up two runs on three hits with five strikeouts. Pirates reliever Yohan Ramirez struggled in his place.

Kyle Tucker ended his 0-for-26 drought at home with a go-ahead, two-run single off Ramirez in the fifth.

Relievers Evan Phillips, Jack Dreyer and Tanner Scott combined for two shutout innings. Dreyer struck out Oneil Cruz looking to end the top of the eighth with a runner on third, fighting off the Pirates’ final gasp.

The Dodgers have now taken the three-game series against Pittsburgh and are victors of five straight games for the first time since late May.