first game

It’s early in the morning, and Birmingham baseball coach Matt Mowry is at the supermarket looking through the flowers section before classes begin. He’s engaged in an unseen, often undervalued duty as a coach — providing comfort to players and their families.

One of his players, 16-year-old sophomore outfielder JJ Rodriguez, lost his father, Anthony, 53, on a Saturday morning last month when he died in his sleep at home. Mowry is looking for a bouquet of flowers to present to JJ’s mother, Nancy, before his first game back.

There are no easy answers how to help a family dealing with grief. Mowry went through his own tragedy in 2022 when his wife, Amy, died of cancer. He prays for her before each game, looking up to the sky while grasping his wife’s necklace, then kissing a ring that has her fingerprint tattooed on it.

The message Mowry told JJ: “Times are going to be tough There’s moments you’re going to break down. It’s OK. You don’t have to hide it.”

The reason No. 1-seeded Birmingham doesn’t open the City Section Open Division baseball playoffs until Thursday is because Anthony’s funeral is Wednesday, and players and coaches will be there to provide support.

Anthony Rodriguez, the father of Birmingham baseball player JJ Rodriguez, died last month.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles)

JJ missed a couple days of school and one game after his father’s death. He wanted to be alone and was skeptical about coming back any time soon.

“He would message me and tell me coming here and being around my teammates would make me more comfortable and get my mind off things,” JJ said of Mowry. “I wanted to be alone a little bit because my mind was not in the right place. But the day I came back, I learned these guys are my family.”

JJ has become an important part of his team, starting in left field while batting No. 9 in the order. The Patriots won their first West Valley League title in 20 years and are trying to win their sixth City title under Mowry.

JJ and his mother have appreciated the emotional support, allowing them to try to heal from their sorrow.

His mother told him, “Be strong for everyone else. Your dad will always be proud of you.”

There’s a candle in the room where his father was found.

“I sometimes go there and be alone at night and talk to myself,” he said.

Before games, JJ says a prayer and thinks of his father.

“Every game,” he said. “It’s for you, Dad.”

On May 23, the City final will take place at Dodger Stadium.

Imagine the thrill for players of the two teams who reach the final. They’ll get to walk the infield, put some grass in their pockets, look up into the stands, hang out in the dugout of the two-time defending world champions.

For JJ, his father won’t be able to watch him. Or maybe he will. Every day is a step forward to healing. It’s hard, but he’s got a coach watching over him.

“I talked to him about what my son went through in the same situation,” Mowry said. “I had him get back out with the guys and be there whether he practiced or played.”

JJ is back and thankful to his baseball family.

The Sparks signed guard Kate Martin to a developmental player contract Sunday just hours before their first game of the season. About 45 minutes before tipoff, Martin arrived in Los Angeles.

“It’s been chaotic, but honestly, found a lot of clarity, a lot of confidence, and where I’m at and where the future of my career is heading,” she said. “So honestly, kind of all over the place, but feeling really good and having a lot of clarity right now.”

Martin was a surprising end-of-training camp cut for the Golden State Valkyries after she averaged 6.2 points per game in 42 contests last season. But Golden State was deep at the wing position, making Martin expendable with its other positional needs.

Speaking publicly for the first time since being cut, she was emotional, but excited for the opportunity with the Sparks.

“I chose L.A. because of the way they approached me,” she said. “I just feel honored for the opportunity. And opportunities don’t always come around in this league. And so for the year that I got cut to be the year where there are development spots, I feel very grateful for that.”

The Sparks had one developmental spot left after signing Louisville graduate Laura Ziegler during training camp.

Martin will be available to be on the active roster for 12 games, while receiving a weekly stipend of $750 in addition to a pro-rated minimum salary of $6,000. She has the most experience of any player signed to a developmental contract across the league with two full seasons under her belt.

“(Martin is) great in the locker room, great teammate, super hard worker,” said Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon, who coached Martin in her rookie season. “She’s somebody who came in with pro habits and a lot of times from college, that’s hard to do, but she came in and was a nice piece for us.”

The 25-year-old was a fan favorite with the Valkyries and had the third highest-selling jersey in the WNBA last season despite coming off the bench for Golden State.

Martin first went viral during the 2024 draft when she was selected 18th overall by Las Vegas and was in the room to support her Iowa teammate, Caitlin Clark. She averaged 2.6 points per game in 34 games as a rookie with the Aces before being selected by the Valkyries in the expansion draft in December 2025.

“Now my expectations for myself are to buy into being an L.A. Spark,” Martin said. “I know that roles are ever changing throughout the season, but right now, I’m gonna be where my feet are, and I’m going to buy into this role as a development player. I’m going to learn, I’m going to grow, and I’m just going to make the most of this opportunity.”

It’s unclear how much Martin will play with the Sparks, but she might have a path because they lack wing depth. The Sparks are backcourt heavy, then have three bigs in Nneka Ogwumike, Cameron Brink and Dearica Hamby. Rae Burrell and Sania Feagin fill that role, but Martin could bring a three-point shot and energy off the bench.

“It’s a great fit for us,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “Thrilled how that worked out. It’s no secret, I love shooters. I think it’s a great add. And I think this gives her a chance in the developmental spot to just kind of settle and really pour into the player development. Her work ethic is unbelievable.”

DENVER — What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies.

With a 9-6 loss Sunday at Coors Field, the two-time defending World Series champions lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Dodgers again couldn’t hold a lead, letting the Rockies tee off for 15 hits.

Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park — though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.

Before that, the Rockies — who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season — chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers’ relievers. That included closer Edwin Díaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.

Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.

(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.

“They both weren’t sharp,” said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers — though he did have real concern, especially about Díaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.

Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn’t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, “today was a tough evaluation,” the manager said.

“It really was,” Roberts said. “Because, you know, I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.”

And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2018?

It’s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward’s otherwise sweet debut.

Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward’s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.

“When I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,” Ward said. “That was a pretty special moment.”

He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.

The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland — and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.

Sasaki went 4-2/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.

The Dodgers fell behind 6-4 in the seventh when Treinen — who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice — gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.

The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.

The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.

Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.

“The plate discipline, being a better hitter … he’s done all that,” Roberts said. “He’s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That’s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn’t done that.”

If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.

“I used it to keep going. ‘OK, if I’m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?’” he said. “‘What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’

“I used it as fire to keep working.”

That will be the Dodgers’ assignment too.

In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).

DENVER — The hottest team in baseball, the coldest game in franchise history.

And a California kid on the mound, battling the inclement elements, this time beating the 35-degree chill.

Last April, a deluge in Philadelphia derailed the Dodgers and Tyler Glasnow in a frustrating defeat against the Phillies.

On Friday, in his first game at Coors Field, the Dodgers’ towering right-hander proved his manager Dave Roberts right: “He’s grown exponentially. I don’t see that these conditions are going to affect him today.”

Dodger Max Muncy follows the flight of his solo home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano Friday in Denver.

(David Zalubowski/AP)

Indeed not. The former Newhall Hart High standout got the better of the weather and the Colorado Rockies. And his Dodgers teammates put runs on the board like they were logs in the fireplace, scoring at least one run every inning until the sixth inning en route to a breezy 7-1 victory.

Sparked by Max Muncy’s leadoff home runs in the second and fifth innings, the hot hitters up and down the Dodgers’ lineup sapped the suspense from the first of a four-game wraparound series.

Most of the crowd of 28,783 loved to see it. Thousands of dutifully bundled Dodgers supporters chanted and cheered as their boys in blue notched their 15th victory in 19 games, maintaining momentum in the first game of a 13-consecutive-game stretch.

Colorado right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano took the loss after leaving the game after the fourth inning with the Rockies trailing 5-0, having given up five runs on nine hits and thrown 91 pitches (just 51 of them for strikes).

As the grounds crew works to clear snow while Dodgers third baseman Santiago Espinal tosses a snowball at a coach before the team played the Rockies Friday in Denver.

(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

Conversely, Glasnow (2-0) got the win, going seven innings and yielding just one run and two hits, striking out seven and walking two on 92 pitches. The Rockies (7-13) scored only in the fourth inning, when Troy Johnston’s groundout pushed across Mickey Moniak to make it 5-1.

The Dodgers’ first run came on much more quickly, when Will Smith’s one-out sacrifice fly brought home Shohei Ohtani, who’d led off the game with a double — he went two for three off Sugano on Friday, making the Dodgers’ superstar six for seven all time against his countryman.

Smith’s first RBI was his ninth this season, in his 35th game at the famously hitter-friendly park, though he still had another in him.

Muncy’s 434-foot home run in the second made it 2-0 and his double down the line in the third drove in Smith, who’d reached on a broken-bat single that sent Roberts scurrying in the dugout. That gave the Dodgers their third run before Andy Pages’ sacrifice brought home Freddie Freeman to make it 4-0.

The Dodgers pushed it to 5-0 in the fourth inning when Smith singled to left to score Kyle Tucker, who’d doubled off the center field wall.

And then Muncy led off the fifth with his second solo shot, giving him his 21st career multi-homer game, and his fourth at Coors Field. After Alex Freeland hit a sacrifice fly to left to bring home Pages, the Dodgers led 7-1.

Hyeseong Kim was one of three Dodgers who didn’t score, but the speedy South Korean reached on a single and a walk and twice stole second.

For all the contributors keeping warm up and down the Dodgers’ lineup, the members of the Rockies’ ground crew were the real heroes of Friday’s game. They plowed the outfield grass and shoveled away the couple inches of snow that piled up between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to prepare a playable field by gametime at 6:40 p.m.