first pitch

Clayton Kershaw blew a kiss to his family, pounded a fist in his glove, then made the familiar trot from the Dodgers’ dugout to the Chavez Ravine mound.

This time, however, he did it alone.

In what was his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium, coming one day after he announced that he would retire at the end of this year, Kershaw took the field while the rest of his teammates stayed back and applauded.

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On a night of appreciation for his 18-year career, the moment belonged to him — and an adoring fan base that has watched his every step.

The first time Kershaw ever pitched at Dodger Stadium, he was a much-hyped and highly anticipated 20-year-old prospect. His talent immense. His Hall of Fame future in front of him.

When he did it for potentially the last time on Friday night, he was a much-beloved and long-admired 37-year-old veteran. Hardened by the failures that once defined his baseball mortality. Celebrated for the way he had learned to overcome them.

Few athletes in modern sport play for one team, for so long. Fewer still experience the emotional extremes Kershaw was put through, or manage still to weather the storm.

When Kershaw was asked about Dodgers fans during his retirement news conference Thursday, that’s the dynamic he quickly pointed to.

“It hasn’t been a smooth ride,” he said. “We’ve had our ups and downs for sure.”

Between boundless cheers and intermittent boos, historic milestones and horrifying heartbreaks, triumphant summers and torturous falls.

In regular-season play, baseball has maybe never seen a more accomplished pitcher. Kershaw’s 2.54 ERA is the lowest in the live-ball era among those with 100 starts. He is one of the 20 members of MLB’s 3,000 strikeout club. He is one of four pitchers to win three Cy Youngs and an MVP award.

In October, however, no one’s history has been more checkered. There were implosions against the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013 and 2014. The infamous fifth game of the 2017 World Series against the sign-stealing Houston Astros. The nightmare relief appearance in 2019 against the Washington Nationals. Nine trips to the playoffs in his first 11 seasons, without winning a championship once.

In those days, it made Kershaw’s relationship complicated with Dodger Nation. He was heroic until he wasn’t. Clutch until the autumn. It didn’t matter that he was often pitching on short rest, or through injuries and strenuous workloads, or in situations no other pitcher would have ever been tasked. He was the embodiment of the Dodgers’ repeated postseason failings. The face of a franchise that could never clear the final hurdle.

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1. Clayton Kershaw reacts after getting San Francisco’s Jerar Encarnacion to hit into a double play in the third inning Friday night at Dodger Stadium. 2. Kershaw acknowledges the cheers from the Dodger Stadium crowd after exiting the game in the fifth inning. 3. Kershaw acknowledges the crowd after leaving the game in the fifth inning. 4. Kershaw is congratulated by his teammates as he exits the game. 5. Kershaw is embraced by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts as he leaves the game in the fifth inning. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s almost like a relationship, right?” Kershaw said. “You’ve been in it 18 years with them. There’s some great times, and then there’s some times where you probably want to break up for a minute.”

In his case, though, that’s how such an enduring bond was built.

He persevered through such struggles. He kept coming back every season. He finally got over the hump with World Series titles in 2020 and 2024. He never shied away from even his darkest moments.

“With that responsibility as the ace, you’ve got to take on a lot of scrutiny or potential failures,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Everything wasn’t optimal for him. But he never complained about it. Never made an excuse for it.

“I think the fans, certainly at his highest moments, have shown their love for him and support. In those other times, I think it’s just, the fans have been hurting along with him. Wanting so much for a guy that’s been such a stalwart and a great citizen and person for this city and organization.”

“I think the respect, the universal respect, is certainly warranted 10 times over.”

Over a 6-3 win against the San Francisco Giants that ended just minutes after the Dodgers clinched their 13th consecutive postseason berth, that’s what was celebrated from Kershaw’s first pitch to his last.

The left-hander threw 4⅓ innings of two-run ball, striking out six batters on four hits and four walks, but it wasn’t his stats that mattered. He struggled with his command, averaged only 89 mph with his fastball, and left the mound with the Dodgers trailing, but the memories from this night will go far beyond that.

From the moment Kershaw emerged on the field at 6:23 p.m., fans rose to their feet. They cheered and chanted his pregame routine in the outfield and bullpen. They roared when his name was introduced shortly before first pitch.

They knew this could be his Dodger Stadium send-off, a sentimental opportunity to say thank you for all he accomplished and all he endured.

Kershaw felt a swirl of emotions, as well, sitting teary-eyed in the outfield while taking in the scene before the game began.

“You’re trying to focus on the night and getting outs, but it’s a special day,” Kershaw said. “It’s the last time here, potentially, and this place has meant so much to me for so long. I didn’t want to not think about it.”

At the start of the first inning, his teammates made sure he wouldn’t. As Kershaw headed to the mound, the Dodgers’ fielders made an impromptu decision to stay back and let him be serenaded with an extended ovation.

“I didn’t love it,” Kershaw joked. “But it was a great gesture.”

And as he stood on the mound alone, he smiled and waved at a moment 18 years in the making.

“This is one of those moments where Dodger fans, you all have seen him for 18 years and watched his career grow and everything that he’s gone through,” Roberts said. “People are going to back and go, ‘I was there for the last time he started a home game at Dodger Stadium.’”

From there, the night was surprisingly tense.

Kershaw gave up a home run on the third pitch of the game to Heliot Ramos. He spent the next four innings battling traffic, stranding two runners later in the first, another two in the second, and two more in the third after a Wilmer Flores RBI single.

By the fourth, it was clear Kershaw was not long for the evening. His pitch count was rising. The bullpen was active. And with two outs in the inning, Willy Adames was extending a two-strike at-bat.

On the ninth pitch of that battle, however, Kershaw finally got a whiff on a slider. For the first time since the first inning, Dodger Stadium erupted once again.

Watch Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw’s full start against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

Kershaw returned to the mound in the fifth, and struck out Rafael Devers with a fastball at the knees.

With that, his night was over, along with maybe his Dodger Stadium career.

“I feel like the moments that we have right there in front of us, it’s history,” second baseman Miguel Rojas said.

“You had to just kind of be there to really feel the emotions,” shortstop Mookie Betts added.

In the stands, applause echoed through a sell-out crowd of 53,037 — which included former teammates Austin Barnes, Andre Ethier, Russell Martin, Trayce Thompson and AJ Pollock; as well as other Los Angeles sports icons from Magic Johnson to Matthew Stafford (a childhood friend of Kershaw’s from Texas).

After receiving hugs from his infield, and embracing Roberts with an apology (“I’m sorry I pitched so poorly tonight”) and a request (“Not trying to be disrespectful, but I’m keeping this ball”), the pitcher then made the slow walk back from the rubber.

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw makes a hugging gesture as he walks off the mound to a standing ovation at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

He took a deep breath. He gave a hugging motion to his family sitting in the loge level. He donned his cap, and repeatedly said thank you to a crowd that never ceased to cheer.

“It hasn’t always been a smooth ride, but you guys have stuck with me,” Kershaw, who also re-emerged from the dugout for a raucous curtain call, reiterated in a postgame on-field interview.

“Dodger Stadium is a super special place, and the fans are the main reason why,” he added in his postgame news conference with reporters. “They continue to come out and support us. Every night, it’s 50,000 people. I wish I had better words other than I’m just so honored and thankful to hear those ovations. I’ll never take that for granted.”

Now, one more October awaits — with the Dodgers (87-67) officially clinching a postseason berth Friday after roaring to the lead on back-to-back home runs from Shohei Ohtani and Betts in the bottom half of the fifth.

Kershaw’s role in this last title chase is uncertain. With a loaded rotation, but shaky relief corps, the Dodgers’ best use for him could come out of the bullpen. Roberts said he envisions Kershaw fitting somewhere on the playoff roster. Kershaw said he can “do the math” and is prepared “to do whatever I can to help.”

Either way, his legacy with the Dodgers, and its forever indebted fan base, had already long before been graciously cemented.

“I’m kind of mentally exhausted today, honestly, but it’s the best feeling in the world now,” Kershaw said. “We got a win, we clinched a playoff berth, and I got to stand on that mound one last time. I just can’t be more grateful.”

“Perfect night,” he later added. “It really was.”

Dave Roberts started out of the dugout with a walk.

Once Blake Snell caught his gaze, it turned into a trot.

With two out in the seventh inning, and Snell trying to put the finishing touches on his best performance in a Dodgers uniform, Roberts appeared to be coming to the mound after a pair of walks to turn to his shaky bullpen with a three-run lead.

As he usually does when removing a pitcher, his gait was slow — at least, initially.

Once Snell saw him coming, however, Roberts picked up his pace — as he will sometimes do when electing to leave a pitcher in the game.

This time, it was the latter.

After a brief discussion between manager and starting pitcher, Snell stayed in.

Five throws later, the $180-million offseason signee rewarded the decision, striking out Otto Kemp with a 95-mph fastball to put an emphatic ending on his scoreless seven-inning start, one that lifted the Dodgers to a 5-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Entering Wednesday, all the discussion around the Dodgers had centered on the bullpen. The slumping unit was coming off two of its worst performances of the season. The majority of Roberts’ pregame address with reporters was spent dissecting how to fix it.

“Before the results, has to be confidence,” Roberts said, comparing the relief corps’ struggles to the second-half scuffles that the offense only recently emerged from. “It’s just kind of trying to reset a mentality, a mindset and expect that things happen. … You can’t chase a zero in an inning until you execute the first pitch, and then keep going like that. And I think that right now you can see that they’re kind of trying a little too hard.”

On Wednesday night, however, Snell made their job easy.

Efficient from the start with the kind of aggressive, attacking game plan he had acknowledged was missing in his last three outings, Snell went to work quickly against the Phillies, retiring the side on eight pitches (and two strikeouts) in the first inning, en route to setting down the first eight batters he faced.

Brief trouble arose in the third, when Bryson Stott and Harrison Bader had back-to-back singles.

But then Snell froze Kyle Schwarber with a curveball, one of the seven punchouts he recorded with the pitch. He had a season-high 12 strikeouts on the night.

And after that, the Phillies didn’t put another runner aboard until the seventh, with Snell breezing through the next 12 batters.

In the meantime, the Dodgers built a lead. Freddie Freeman homered to lead off the second. Ben Rortvedt (starting his third straight game behind the plate, even with Dalton Rushing back from a leg injury) added an RBI single later in the inning, following an Andy Pages hit-and-run single that put runners on the corners.

Another run came around in the fourth, after Pages worked a two-out walk, stole second, took third on a wild pickoff throw and scored on an RBI single from Kiké Hernández (who played third base in place of Max Muncy, who still felt “fuzzy” on Tuesday from a hit-by-pitch he took to the head over the weekend).

And from there, the Dodgers watched Snell cruise, with the $182-million offseason acquisition attacking the corners of the strike zone while also inducing misses on 24 of 54 swings.

The night culminated in the seventh, after walks to Nick Castellanos and Max Kepler drew Roberts out of the dugout. In the bullpen, left-hander Alex Vesia was getting warm. For a brief moment, it appeared the game would be in the hands of the relievers.

Snell had other ideas, signaling Roberts to hurry to the mound in the middle of his walk before seemingly pleading his case to stay in.

Whatever he said, Roberts listened.

Snell stayed on the rubber. A crowd of 50,859 roared in approval.

Against his final batter, Kemp, Snell fell behind, missing low with a changeup before pulling a fastball wide. Undeterred, he went back on the attack, getting one foul ball with a heater on the inner half, then another with a curveball that leaked over the plate. The count was 2-and-2. Chavez Ravine rose to its feet.

The next pitch — Snell’s 112th of the night — was another fastball, this time on the upper, outside corner at 95.3 mph. Kemp swung through it. Snell screamed and pumped his fist. In the dugout, Roberts raised an arm in the air, then began clapping as Snell walked off to a raucous ovation.

The next two innings were refreshingly simple. Alex Vesia retired the side in the top of the eighth. The Dodgers made it a five-run lead by scoring twice in the bottom half of the frame, including on Shohei Ohtani’s 51st home run of the season. Embattled closer Tanner Scott spun a stress-free ninth, pitching three consecutive scoreless outings for the first time since early July.

Come October, that’s the kind of blueprint the Dodgers (who maintained a two-game lead in the National League West over the San Diego Padres) will have to try and replicate.

Their bullpen still needs fixing. Their relief issues aren’t solved. But more gems like Snell’s would certainly help.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Zach Neto homered on the game’s first pitch and the Angels, with manager Ron Washington present for the first time in more than two months, beat the Texas Rangers and All-Star pitcher Jacob deGrom 4-0 on Monday night.

José Soriano (9-9) struck out six over 5⅓ innings and gave up four hits in his first start since coming off the paternity list. Four relievers finished off the Angels’ sixth shutout this season.

Washington hasn’t managed the Angels since June 19, and revealed before the game that he is recovering from quadruple bypass heart surgery eight weeks ago. He won’t return to managing this season, but wants to be with the Angels, and watched from a booth upstairs after being with them pregame.

DeGrom (10-6) is 0-4 in five starts since his last win July 22, and the right-hander was pitching for the first time in 10 days after Texas skipped his last scheduled start because of shoulder fatigue. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner struck out seven, walked two and hit a batter over five innings. He gave up two runs and three hits.

Travis d’Arnaud had an RBI single in the Angels fourth, and Luis Rengifo had an RBI double in the sixth. Logan O’Hoppe led off the ninth with his 19th homer.

Key moment: Texas was coming off consecutive shutout wins and a three-game sweep over Cleveland before Neto’s leadoff homer extended his single-season franchise record to nine. He has 22 homers overall.

Key stat: Soriano faced the minimum 12 batters through the first four innings, benefiting from double plays after surrending leadoff singles in the third and fourth innings.

Up next: A matchup of left-handers Tuesday when Yusei Kikuchi (6-8, 3.42 ERA) pitches for the Angels and Patrick Corbin (6-9, 4.61) goes for Texas.

On a night the Dodgers had a stadium-wide giveaway promotion for the anime show “Demon Slayer,” the club slayed a few recently troublesome demons of its own.

In the opening game of this season’s biggest series to date, they finally found a way not to trip over themselves.

By beating the San Diego Padres 3-2 at Dodger Stadium, the club moved back into a tie with the Padres for first place in the National League West.

They got six strong innings from Clayton Kershaw; plus, in a refreshing change of pace, plenty of crisp, clean defense behind him.

And though a lineup that lost Max Muncy to the injured list with an oblique strain before the game was largely contained by the Padres (who had to go with a bullpen game after scheduled starter Michael King was shelved with a shoulder injury), the Dodgers still managed to break their four-game losing streak thanks to their biggest weakness of late.

For the first time in what felt like several weeks, a scuffling bullpen finally didn’t cough up a late, narrow lead.

The Dodgers (69-53) came into this weekend’s rivalry series reeling in a way that once seemed impossible for this year’s $400-million team.

Since July 4, they were just 12-21. What had been a nine-game division lead then was transformed into a one-game deficit to the Padres, who came to Los Angeles riding high thanks to a monster trade deadline and a recent 14-3 streak.

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More dark clouds formed a few hours before first pitch when Muncy (who missed Wednesday’s game with side soreness) was placed on the injured list with a Grade 1 oblique strain, sidelining him for at least the next several weeks.

And though the Dodgers had taken five of seven games from the Padres (69-53) earlier this season, they suddenly felt more like an underdog now, searching for answers to their recently inconsistent offense, unsound fundamentals and untrustworthy bullpen (which had squandered five games in the past two weeks).

“I don’t like to be embarrassed. I don’t think our players do [either],” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “So this series, I’m expecting high intensity and high performance.”

The Dodgers delivered on both.

Kershaw set the tone, displaying a vintage demeanor even with his ever-diminished stuff. Before the game, he marched through the clubhouse and hunched over his locker, leafing through a scouting report while teammates carefully tip-toed around him. Between innings, he quietly paced in the dugout while avoiding almost any human contact. And when he was atop the mound, he pounded the strike zone and executed pitch after pitch, yielding his only run in the second inning when Ramón Laureano (one of several sizzling San Diego deadline acquisitions) clipped the outside of the left-field foul pole to open the scoring.

“There’s just no one more intense or focused than Clayton,” Roberts said. “He has a way of elevating people’s focus and play.”

It certainly appeared that way. Defensively, the Dodgers helped Kershaw out by turning several tough plays around the infield — from Freddie Freeman picking a ball in the dirt the second inning, to Alex Freeland and then Kershaw himself making tough plays in the third and fifth, respectively.

At the plate, the Dodgers also managed to capitalize on a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity in the third, after singles from Michael Conforto and Freeland were followed by a popped-up Miguel Rojas bunt that Padres third baseman Manny Machado couldn’t catch with a dive.

The Dodgers didn’t get another hit in the inning, but Shohei Ohtani drove in one run by beating out a potential double-play ball. Mookie Betts then added a go-ahead sacrifice fly.

The score remained 2-1 until Teoscar Hernández belted an opposite-field homer in the seventh, producing a massively important insurance run.

Then, it was up to the bullpen, which was asked to protect the kind of slim late-game lead they’ve squandered all too often during the team’s recent skid.

Dodgers relief pitcher Jack Dreyer celebrates after the final out of a 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Ben Casparius pitched a scoreless seventh inning, stranding a two-out double from Jackson Merrill.

Alex Vesia created a jam in the eighth by hitting two batters and loading the bases on a walk. But the Padres only managed one run, with Vesia getting Luis Arraez to hit a sacrifice fly before Blake Treinen came on and retired Manny Machado on a first-pitch pop-up.

In the ninth inning, surprisingly, Roberts didn’t stick with Treinen — who they’ve been wary of using for multiple innings as he continues to work his way back from an early-season elbow injury.

The move might’ve been questionable. But, at long last, the result didn’t backfire.

Alexis Díaz and Jack Dreyer pitched around a single from Merrill in the ninth.

The Dodgers finally held on to a late lead. And after spending the last 48 hours in second place, the team climbed back to the top of the division standings, exorcising the close-game demons that had so dauntingly haunted them over the last several weeks.

On the first day of spring training, at a Camelback Ranch facility adorned with ever-present reminders of the team’s 2024 World Series title, a Dodgers staff member took in the scene, then chuckled while reflecting on the club’s trek to a championship.

“Last year was not a fun year,” the staff member said. “At least, not until the end.”

Indeed, in the afterglow of the franchise’s first full-season title in more than three decades, the turbulent path getting there became easy to forget.

Last season’s Dodgers dealt with a wave of injuries to the pitching staff, inconsistencies in the lineup, and the club’s lowest full regular-season win total (98) in six years.

Fast-forward six months, and this year’s Dodgers find themselves in a similar place.

They are again navigating absences on the mound and in the bullpen over the last several weeks. Their offense has gone from leading the majors in scoring over the first half of the season, to suddenly sputtering over the last month and a half.

And after a 7-4 loss to the Angels on Monday, in the opener of a three-game Freeway Series at Angel Stadium, they are on pace for only 92 victories with a 68-51 record, clinging to what has dwindled to just a one-game lead in the National League West over the San Diego Padres.

Little fun. Lots of frustration.

Monday’s game was a lost cause from the start.

Despite getting an extra day of rest this week, after flipping places in the rotation with Tyler Glasnow for Sunday’s loss against the Toronto Blue Jays, Yoshinobu Yamamoto turned in one of his worst starts in the majors.

He gave up a home run to Zach Neto on his first pitch of the night, and another run later in the first inning after two walks (one of them on a missed third strike call from home plate umpire Dan Iassogna) and a Yoán Moncada single.

Then, in the fifth, his outing completely fell apart. Five of the first seven batters of the inning reached base (four singles and a hit by pitch). Four runs crossed the plate (including two on a Mike Trout single). And after Yamamoto walked his fifth batter with two outs, manager Dave Roberts was forced into an early hook, removing Yamamoto after 4⅔ innings and six runs (the most Yamamoto has yielded in his 41-game MLB career).

The Dodgers’ lineup didn’t do much better.

Over the first six innings, they failed to figure out Angels right-hander José Soriano and his upper-90s mph sinker, managing just two hits while striking out six times.

By the time they finally put a runner in scoring position in the seventh, the deficit had grown to 7-0 on Neto’s second home run of the night (this time off Alexis Diaz). And even then, they came up empty, with Alex Freeland grounding into an inning-ending double-play against former Dodgers reliever Luis García with the bases loaded.

Angels shortstop Zach Neto runs the bases after hitting a home run in the first inning Monday night.

(Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)

Eighth-inning home runs from Shohei Ohtani (his 42nd of the season, and the 100th of his career at his old home stadium in Anaheim) and Max Muncy (a three-run drive inside the right-field foul pole) put the Dodgers on the board at long last.

But it was far too little, much too late — allowing the Angels (57-62) to improve to 4-0 against the Dodgers this season after sweeping a series at Chavez Ravine back in May.

When coupled with Sunday’s maddening loss to Toronto (a defeat that left Roberts outwardly perturbed in his postgame news conference), the last 48 hours have represented another backward step in a Dodgers’ campaign that is quickly growing full of them.

It has zapped whatever momentum was building after the team’s two series-opening victories against the AL East-leading Blue Jays last weekend. It has dropped the club to 12-19 since the Fourth of July, the fifth-worst record in the majors over that span. And, most consequentially, it has opened the door for the Padres (who have won three in a row and five out of six) to potentially take the division lead ahead of their visit to Dodger Stadium on Friday.

The only silver lining: The Dodgers overcame similar struggles last year, doing just enough down the stretch to win the division and march all the way to an unlikely championship.

But they were hoping to avoid such headaches this season, and mount a more enjoyable defense of their title.

With less than two months remaining in the season, that dream has come and gone.

The Dodgers can still win another World Series. But the road to this point has been anything but fun.

Sunday was one of those cloudless late-summer Dodger Stadium afternoons in which the flags in center field stirred lazily in the slight breeze and the air felt far hotter than the thermometer said.

The temperature was 83 degrees at the matinee’s first pitch, yet many fans crowded into the top rows of the reserved and loge levels and stood atop the outfield pavilions in search of shade from an unrelenting sun that hovered directly overhead.

As for the Dodgers, they were just as hot as the weather until the bullpen gate swung open at the start of the eighth inning Sunday, with relievers Blake Treinen and Alex Vesia giving up three solo home runs in the span of six batters in a 5-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The deciding run scored when second baseman Ernie Clement drove Vesia’s first pitch over the wall in left field for this eighth homer of the season, ruining another splendid outing from starter Tyler Glasnow and a big offensive day from Shohei Ohtani, who reached base four times before striking out against reliever Mason Fluharty with the bases loaded in the ninth.

Mookie Betts followed by grounding into a force out, the second time in as many innings the Dodgers left the bases loaded. The Dodgers had 10 hits and 13 walks on the afternoon but were one for 10 with runners in scoring position, stranding 16.

Even more important: The loss, combined with the Padres’ win over the Boston Red Sox in San Diego, cut the Dodgers’ lead in the National League West to two games.

The Blue Jays came to Los Angeles after a three-game sweep of the Rockies in Colorado in which they scored 45 runs and had 63 hits. Against the Dodgers, Toronto scored just three times and had just 17 hits entering the fifth inning. Glasnow did his part, giving up two runs and four hits through 5 2/3 innings, striking out eight. It was his fifth stellar start in six outings since returning from an inflamed shoulder last month and he left with a 3-2 lead, the first time since his first start of the season in March that he left a game with a chance at a win.

But the bullpen couldn’t hold it, with Treinen giving up back-to-back homers to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Addison Barger with one out in the eighth. After the Dodgers came back to tie the score on a bases-loaded walk to Freddie Freeman in the bottom of the inning, Vesia gave the lead right back in the ninth.

Glasnow, as he has all season, deserved a better fate. He has given up more than two runs just once in his last nine starts and has given up just 20 hits in 34 2/3 innings since returning from the injured list. Yet he has little positive to show for it, with nine of his 11 starts ending with no decision despite a 3.06 ERA and .172 opponents’ batting average.

“I really like the way that he’s got the blinders on it, and nothing’s affecting him,” Dodger manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “To say a player, specifically Tyler, is unflappable is a big compliment, and I think that that’s something he’s worked on because he gets emotional.

“There’s things that you can’t control at times, and his ability to kind of lock back in, he’s been really, really impressive.”

Glasnow got off to a slow start, getting an out on his first pitch then missing the strike zone on five of his next six before Guerrero — who came in hitting .364 lifetime against Glasnow — drove a run-scoring double to the wall in center field.

But by the time Glasnow came out to start the second inning, he had a lead. Ohtani evened the score, lining his 23^rd career leadoff home run into the right-field bleachers to run his hitting streak to nine games, matching his season high. Two outs later, Freeman put the Dodgers in front, slicing an 0-2 pitch over the wall in left-center for his 14^th homer of the season.

Glasnow, who continued to struggle with his control, nearly gave the lead back, loading the bases on two walks sandwiched around a double by Joey Loperfido. But after a mound visit from pitching coach Mark Prior, the right-hander got Nathan Lukes to ground into an inning-ending double play.

That allowed the Dodgers to extend their lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second when Freeman walked with the bases loaded.

Glasnow wouldn’t be in trouble again until the sixth, when Bo Bichette led off with a single and came around to score on a two-out flare to right by Ty France, cutting the lead to 3-2. That drove Glasnow from the mound an out short of the seventh inning.

The Dodgers missed a chance to add to that lead shortly after Glasnow left when Ohtani was thrown out at third on the front end of a double steal with two on and two out and Freeman at the plate to end the sixth. That proved costly when Treinen, the fourth reliever summoned to close out the game, coughed on the lead on the back-to-back homers.

Freeman wouldn’t be denied his next opportunity, drawing his second bases-loaded walk of the game, and the fourth walk of the inning, on a full-count pitch to tie the score with two out in the eighth.

But while the Dodgers would load the bases again the ninth, they would get no more.

All eyes are on Shohei Ohtani, as he made his long-awaited return to the pitching mound and delivered his first pitches as a member of the Dodgers on Monday night in a 6-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Ohtani last pitched on Aug. 23, 2023, while with the Angels. He underwent his second Tommy John surgery the following month.

Ohtani is 38-19 with 3.01 earned-run average over 86 starts in his MLB career entering Monday’s game and finished fourth in the AL Cy Young Award voting in 2022, when he went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA. He is expected to help bolster a depleted Dodgers starting rotation that has been missing Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, among others, for extended stretches this season.

Shohei Ohtani pitches for the Dodgers against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Shohei Ohtani delivers against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Shohei Ohtani pitches against the San Diego Padres on Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani in Phoenix in February.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani throws during spring training in Phoenix in February.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani enters the field at the Tokyo Dome for a workout ahead of the Tokyo Series against the Chicago Cubs in March.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani warms up during a baseball spring training workout in Phoenix.

(Matt York / Associated Press)

Fans head up some stairs wearing Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto jerseys before the game between the Dodgers and the Detroit Tigers at Dodger Stadium on March 27.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani runs onto the field during introductions during the Dodgers’ home opener in March.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani throws a live batting practice before a game against the New York Mets on May 25.

(Adam Hunger/AP)

The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani throws in the outfield before a game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 4.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers coaches keep a watchful eye as Shohei Ohtani throws in the bullpen before the game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 4.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers fans watch as Shohei Ohtani throws in the outfield before the game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 4.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani plays catch before the Dodgers take on the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 2.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

Shohei Ohtani walks past a throng of journalists before the Dodgers play an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome in March.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Fifteen minutes before first pitch on Sunday, Giants catcher Logan Porter trotted in from the visitor’s bullpen. He’d usually be accompanied by the starting pitcher, which was set to be left-hander Kyle Harrison.

Instead, Porter stood on the first-base line for the national anthem, turned to his left and whispered to his teammates. As they all received the information from Porter — reminiscent of the children’s game “Telephone” — other Giants teammates likely learned one-by-one that Harrison had been traded.

“It was crazy,” Dodgers second baseman Tommy Edman said. “You don’t expect a trade like that this time of year and just getting the pitching change at the last minute.”

The odd scene at Dodger Stadium was because of a reported blockbuster trade that involved the Boston Red Sox sending infielder Rafael Devers to the Giants in exchange for Harrison, right-hander Jordan Hicks and two prospects — a move that further bolsters the talent in the L.A.-San Francisco rivalry.

“Those guys over there are doing a great job of putting a team together and obviously, they want to win,” said shortstop Mookie Betts, who was teammates with Devers in Boston from 2017 to 2019.

San Francisco manager Bob Melvin was forced to turn to long reliever Sean Hjelle, who rapidly warmed up for the start, against a Dodgers offense that had scored 11 runs Saturday night. As Betts said after the game, no matter who the Giants were going to throw at them in response, they were prepared. The Dodgers had done their “homework,” he said.

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It was more of the same from the Dodgers’ offense in a 5-4 victory Sunday. The top of the order manufactured a run via an Andy Pages sacrifice fly in the first inning. Edman hit a solo home run — his 10th — in the second. Pages put a cherry on top in the fifth after Shohei Ohtani (three for three, one walk) and Mookie Betts set the table with singles.

The Cuban slugger’s three-run home run helped the Dodgers (43-29) restore a two-game lead over the Giants (41-31) in the NL West standings.

“It’s really emotional, a special moment to hit a home run in that situation because I haven’t seen him,” Pages said through an interpreter, speaking about his father back in Cuba. “It’s hard sometimes. But it was really special to hit a home run on Father’s Day.”

On the mound, Dustin May was looking to get back on track.

May’s recent starts left more to be desired from the former top prospect who had been struggling with his command and not tallying many swinging strikes. He had struck out just six batters across his last 11 innings — striking out just one in his last outing.

Although May couldn’t find his strikeout pitch, his start Sunday was the sixth time he had pitched through the sixth inning in 2025. He walked four batters for the second time in as many starts — the only time he’s issued at least four free passes in back-to-back games in his career — and struck out three batters. He didn’t have his best stuff, but showed his mettle in the fifth inning.

Dodgers pitcher Dustin May delivers against the Giants at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

Whereas he crumbled in the fourth, giving up a two-RBI triple to Jung Hoo Lee to give the Giants a 3-2 lead, he battled out of a bases-loaded jam to keep San Francisco at bay, inducing Porter into an inning-ending groundout.

After Pages further strengthened his All-Star case with his 13th home run, the Dodgers’ bullpen took care of business. Alex Vesia tossed a shutout seventh, while Kirby Yates (one run) and Tanner Scott (zero runs and struck out the side) finished it off in the eighth and ninth, respectively.

“It was good to see us find a way to win a ballgame,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Dustin got a little traffic there in the fourth but he finds a way, as he has shown, to still manage to get through six and to use the guys we wanted to and win a ballgame.”

Sasaki’s status uncertain

Ohtani will start Monday against the San Diego Padres, but it’s still not clear when right-hander Roki Sasaki will return. Roberts said Sasaki (right shoulder impingement) recently halted his throwing program.

“There was some rubbing, is the word he used,” Roberts said. “He’s pain-free. When we start that build-up, it should be soon. He’s already moving around. We all feel encouraged where he’s at right now, as far as the pain.”

The Dodgers placed the 23-year-old rookie on the injured list May 13. Roberts did not specify what Sasaki’s condition is other than that he’s out indefinitely.

Piecing together the starting rotation for the week ahead, Emmet Sheehan is set to be activated Tuesday or Wednesday, Roberts said.

Nolan Schanuel hit a single into shallow center field in the 10th inning for the first walk-off hit of his career to drive in Jo Adell and give the Angels a 2-1 win over the Athletics on Tuesday night.

Reid Detmers (2-2) struck out two of three batters to strand the automatic runner in the top of the 10th.

Hogan Harris (1-1) took the loss for the A’s, who have lost 22 of 26 games.

The Angels trailed 1-0 in the bottom of the eighth when Travis d’Arnaud hit left-hander T.J. McFarland’s first pitch for a pinch-hit homer and a 1-1 tie.

Angels starter José Soriano gave up one run and two hits and struck out a career-best 12 in seven innings. He walked two. He threw a career-high 110 pitches, 71 for strikes, and induced 22 swinging strikes.

The A’s Mitch Spence, making his second start since being moved from the bullpen, gave up three hits, struck out four and walked none in five scoreless innings.

Soriano was virtually untouchable through five no-hit innings in which he racked up nine strikeouts and walked one. He lost his no-hit bid in the sixth when Brent Rooker drove an RBI double to left-center field just beyond the reach of a diving Adell for a 1-0 A’s lead.

Veteran right-hander Hunter Strickland, who signed a minor league deal on May 6, escaped a runner-on-second, no-out jam in the eighth and has not yielded a run in 11 innings over nine appearances with the Angels.

D’Arnaud’s eighth-inning shot was the second pinch-hit homer of his career. His first came for the Atlanta Braves against the Colorado Rockies on Sept. 4, 2021.

The crack of the ball off Jordan Woolery’s bat in the first inning sent a sharp, resounding message — the Bruins weren’t going to let their opponent dictate the tone this time.

Woolery, UCLA’s RBI leader, went two for three with a three-run homer, a triple and five RBIs to lead the Bruins to a 10-0, six-inning shutout over San Diego State in Game 2 of the Los Angeles Regional on Saturday afternoon.

The No. 9 Bruins (51-10) cruised into Game 6 of the regional, where they’ll have a chance to clinch a spot in the Super Regionals with one more win. Their opponent has yet to be determined for Sunday’s 4:30 p.m. PDT first pitch.

It was a complete role reversal. Just a day after UCLA’s bats stayed quiet through the first four innings in an eventual victory over UC Santa Barbara, the Bruins opened their second regional matchup with intent.

On the first pitch, Jessica Clements ripped a leadoff double. One pitch later, Savannah Pola dropped down a bunt and, spotting an uncovered second base, the speedy second baseman turned it into a heads-up double.

With runners in scoring position, Jordan Woolery did what’s become second nature — she brought them home, and did so with a bang.

Staying patient in the box, Woolery worked the count full, waiting for a pitch she could drive. She then clobbered a high fly ball that just cleared the glove of San Diego State center fielder Julie Holcomb, sailing over the wall for a three-run homer.

A candidate for national player of the year, Woolery is one of UCLA’s most consistent threats near the top of the lineup. She entered the regional ranked fifth in the nation with 75 RBIs — the second-highest single-season mark in program history.

Woolery added another RBI later, legging out a triple after a diving attempt by the Aztecs’ right fielder missed and the ball skipped past, allowing Clements to score. The hit brought her total to six RBIs for the weekend.

In an encore to her heroics at the plate and dominance in relief the night before, Kaitlyn Terry took the mound with poise and command. The left-hander turned in a smooth outing, giving up only two hits and one walk while striking out five.

Her only trouble came in the bottom of the third. A walk, an infield single and a fielding error loaded the bases, giving San Diego State a prime chance to take the lead. But Terry stayed composed.

After recording two outs, Terry dug in for a seven-pitch battle with Angie Yellen — and won, inducing a routine groundout to end the inning and preserve the Bruins’ lead.

From there, she settled in and found her rhythm, retiring nine straight batters and striking out three, earning the complete-game shutout victory.

A six-run rally in the sixth inning sealed the game via the run rule. Kaniya Bragg opened the onslaught with a two-run double, followed by an RBI single to right field from Terry. Then, just like the night before, Megan Grant delivered the finishing blow — a two-run triple that slammed high off the center-field wall, narrowly missing a three-run homer.

With the win, the Bruins notched back-to-back mercy-rule victories — their 27th of the season, extending a program record.