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Michael Harris II shouldn’t have been 90 feet away from scoring the go-ahead run in the first place.

But he was, after Teoscar Hernández took a bad route to his line-drive triple. Then, to make matters worse, Dodgers left-hander Kris Bubic lost control of a sweeper. It flew high and outside, off the end of catcher Will Smith’s glove and to the edge of the grass behind home plate.

Harris scored standing up. And the Dodgers handed the lead back to the Atlanta Braves.

The Dodgers had every advantage heading into Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the Braves. In a 3-2 loss to even the series at one win apiece, they gave away every edge they had.

“The advantage for us is we have an opportunity to not let their pitching staff come up for air,” manager Dave Roberts said this week, when asked about how taxed the Braves pitching staff was coming out of their wild-card series. “… We have an opportunity to really expose them if we take the right at-bats and the right approach.”

Braves left-hander Ray Kerr, who excelled out of the Braves bullpen down the stretch as a long reliever, served as the opener Sunday, in the Braves’ second straight bullpen game this series and third overall. And for the second straight day, the Dodgers failed to score against the Braves opener or even run up his pitch count to get him out of the game early.

The Dodgers managed just two hits off Kerr, each to open an inning. Freddie Freeman lined a single into right field to kick off the second inning. And Miguel Rojas sent a double into the left-field corner to begin the third.

The Dodgers stranded both.

The failure to bring in Rojas was especially egregious. Tommy Edman popped up a bunt immediately after. Then Mookie Betts, the Dodgers’ only other baserunner before Kerr handed over the ball with two outs in the third inning, drew a four-pitch walk. Shohei Ohtani came up to the plate with two runners on and popped up a high cutter on a full count. He was the last batter Kerr faced.

So, the Dodgers offense let the Braves come up for air. And Dodgers left-handed starter Blake Snell’s short start forfeited their starting pitching advantage Sunday.

His first inning could have been a bigger blow. With one out, Snell gave up a single to Ronald Acuña Jr. and then walked Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies to load the bases. He escaped with just one run scored, on a grounder up the middle from Mauricio Dubón. Betts made a diving stop but had no chance at throwing out Dubón at first.

Snell then struck out Sean Murphy to end the inning, finishing the at-bat with three straight curveballs for strikes.

The one-run deficit could be erased. But the damage on his pitch count, up to 27 in that first inning, was done.

Snell surrendered just one more hit, but when he issued his fifth walk of the game, with two outs in the fourth inning, his pitch count was already up to 90 pitches. Roberts strode from the dugout to pull him from the game. Snell had lasted just one inning longer than the Braves’ opener.

In the bottom half of the inning, Freeman, who was optimistic that he could shake off his September slump over the bye week, tied up the game with a solo homer. But in the fifth, the Dodgers handed the lead right back to the Braves.

With two outs, in an 0-2 count, Bubic got Harris to chase an outside sweeper moving away from him. Harris leaned over to get his bat out to it and send a line drive into the left field corner.

Hernández took a circuitous route to the ball, trying to cut it off and then having to adjust back when it became clear he was too shallow. He still only missed the ball by inches, and it carromed off the wall, allowing Harris to reach third base, in position to score on a wild pitch.

The Braves expanded their lead in the seventh inning against Dodgers hard-throwing right-hander Edgardo Henriquez, who gave up a single to Olson and an RBI double to Harris.

Then right-hander Roki Sasaki got himself into a bases-loaded situation in the eighth, with Ronald Acuña Jr. at the plate, but got out of it with a double play. Sasaki then retired the side in order in the ninth.

By contrast, the Dodgers offense barely threatened in the late innings. The Braves relievers retired 15 of the last 16 batters they faced to end the game, with Max Muncy’s solo home run in the ninth the only exception.

Rookie Josue De Paula made his psotseason debut as a pinch hitter, with two outs in the ninth. But he popped up in foul territory to end the game.

Next, the series heads to Atlanta, where the Braves will have home-field advantage for two games.

Though the Dodgers would eventually break open the game via the long ball, and despite the Atlanta Braves being forced to throw a bullpen game coming out of a taxing wild-card round, Game 1 of the NLDS began as a pitching duel.

Braves left-hander Dylan Dodd held the Dodgers to just two hits through three scoreless innings. But Dodgers left-handed starter Tarik Skubal was even more impressive, despite the heat. He set the Dodgers up for a 5-3 victory to take control of the series.

“A really good starting rotation obviously is really helpful, but it is very impactful for quality of life,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said before the game. “We have gone through years where our starting rotation hasn’t been as good. In ’24 that wasn’t a strength of our roster. We won the World Series. The quality of life is way more difficult than being able to pencil in a Skubal, a [Blake] Snell, a [Yoshinobu Yamamoto], and a [Tyler Galsnow.]”

The temperature at first pitch was 100 degrees, and still climbing, making it the second-hottest recorded first-pitch temperature in postseason history, behind only Game 1 of the 2017 World Series between the Dodgers and Astros (103), according to Elias Sports Bureau.

The announced attendance was over 50,000, but far fewer fans were in their seats in the dangerous temperatures.

Skubal’s command wasn’t at its sharpest in the first inning, with his changeup consistently missing high. But he adjusted before the second and went on to limit the Braves to one run through six innings.

The difference was clear when contrasting Braves leadoff hitter Drake Baldwin’s first and second at-bats against Skubal.

Skubal fell behind with his first pitch of the game, a fastball below the zone. He worked back, with another fastball for a strike and a foul-tipped changeup low and away. But then, in a two-strike count, Skubal missed his spot, giving Baldwin a thigh-high changeup that he could drive.

That sharp single through the middle of the infield was one of just two hits he gave up Saturday. And after it, he retired 15 straight batters.

By the time Skubal faced Baldwin again, with two outs in the third, his whole arsenal was dialed in. Four of the last five outs he’d recorded were strikeouts, with a different putaway pitch for each: slider, sinker, curveball, changeup.

This time, Skubal was the aggressor, getting to a 0-2 count with a slider and sinker inside. Then Baldwin avoided chasing a pair of sliders to even the count. Skubal came back inside with a fastball that Baldwin fouled off.

So, to end the at-bat, Skubal went to his signature changeup, which he’d regained feel for the previous inning. It dove out of the bottom of the strikezone, and Baldwin swung through it, ending the inning on a strikeout.

Skubal strutted off the mound, hit the palm of his glove twice, and slapped hands with catcher Will Smith.

Skubal didn’t allow another baserunner until the sixth inning, when Sean Murphy launched a top-rail sinker for a solo homer.

Dodger pitcher Tarik Skubal is congradulated by Will Smith after making quick work of the Braves in the second ining.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers’ lead, however, remained intact. Two innings earlier Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández broke up the scoreless tie with a two-run homer.

Hernández knows how to fire up a crowd in a big postseason moment. And he seized his chance when he got a cutter down the middle from Braves reliever Victor Mederos. Hernández tossed his bat back toward the home dugout, and it sliced through the air end-over-end.

With the Dodgers’ lead cut to one run, Skubal labored through the rest of the sixth inning, issuing a pair of walks, his first of the game. Smith and pitching coach Mark Prior came out for separate mound visits. But manager Dave Roberts stayed in his seat and trusted his Game 1 starter to face Braves cleanup hitter Matt Olson for a third time.

Skubal escaped the inning by getting Olson to chase an outside fastball and fly out to left field.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Dodgers’ bats came alive. Right fielder Kyle Tucker, in his first postseason game as a Dodger, hit a two-run home run. And Max Muncy joined in with a solo homer of his own.

Dodgers relievers Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia each retired the side in order, in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Lefty Tanner Scott, whom Roberts plans to use in a fireman role, surrendered a two-run homer to Ozzie Albies in the ninth. But right-hander Evan Phillips came in to record the final out.

Heading into the Birmingham-Cleveland high school football game on Friday night, something had to give in the West Valley League opener. The host Patriots hadn’t lost a league game since 2017 and had beaten Cleveland 13 consecutive times, by an average score of 40-8.

Cleveland, however, was undefeated and looking for its first 6-0 start since 2004.

It wasn’t pretty, but a superlative defensive effort and two impressive first-half drives gave the Cavaliers just enough to defeat the Patriots 14-9. Birmingham fell to 1-5.

Neither team’s most potent offensive weapon was able to take over the game.

Cleveland running back Moyosoreoluwa Odebunmi did most of his damage early, rushing for 40 yards on the Cavaliers’ opening drive, which ended with quarterback Julio Avalos’ one-yard touchdown run.

Odebunmi again carried much of the load on Cleveland’s second drive, contributing 39 yards and scoring on a two-yard run to give the Cavaliers a 14-0 lead.

While Odebunmi was producing for Cleveland, the Cavaliers largely stifled Birmingham’s top offensive threat, wide receiver Paul Turner.

Turner’s biggest play was a 45-yard punt return that set up the Patriots’ lone touchdown, a six-yard pass from quarterback Daniel Kakooza to Aidin Irizary late in the third quarter that cut Cleveland’s lead to 14-9.

“We knew that was one of the keys to getting the win, containing him,” Cleveland coach Mario Guzman said of Turner. “We knew he’d get his catches. That’s inevitable — the kid’s a baller. But we knew if we could contain him, rally and tackle, we’d be in a good position.”

The fourth quarter turned into a comedy of errors. Birmingham blocked a punt to take over at the Cleveland 11, only to have Cleveland block the ensuing field-goal attempt. The Patriots later got another opportunity when Chris Barrera recovered a fumble.

Kakooza then rediscovered Turner, connecting with him six times on the drive as Birmingham drove to the Cleveland three-yard line. But the Patriots again came away empty.

For weeks last spring, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High coaches and players waited for The Decision from their best football player, Tahj Skinner, on whether he would agree to play quarterback.

Think of it as important to Notre Dame as LeBron James’ “Decision” was to the Miami Heat.

“It was never yes. It was never no,” one of Skinner’s teammates said.

Skinner wanted to focus on being a top safety even though he started high school at Chaminade playing quarterback, transferred to Notre Dame as a sophomore and played quarterback for the junior varsity team. He wanted that college scholarship as a defensive back.

Finally, in June, after committing to UC Davis as a safety, Skinner agreed to play quarterback for the good of his high school team, and Friday night’s 28-21 win over Chaminade in a Mission League opener showed how much the Knights (6-0) need him.

Skinner passed for three touchdowns, intercepted a pass and returned it 54 yards for a touchdown and recovered Chaminade’s attempted onside kick to seal the win.

“It was completely up to me,” Skinner said of playing quarterback. “But at the end of the day, I’ll do anything for coach [Evan] Yabu. I mean he’s the only reason I’m in the position I’m in right now.”

Mica Weaver of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is hoisted up after a touchdown.

(Craig Weston / For The Times)

In handing Chaminade (5-1) its first defeat, Notre Dame took advantage of the absence of Chaminade quarterback Jeremy Mellalieu, whose right hand was wrapped in a soft cast because of a ligament injury. The Eagles were able to come up with a new game plan, using freshman quarterback Hendrix Coleman along with several running backs and receiver Andrew Cordero in a wildcat formation.

Coleman came through with two touchdown passes to Cordero. The game went back and forth until Skinner’s game-clinching, 54-yard pick-six with 1:18 left gave Notre Dame a 28-14 lead.

“Thankfully, he said yes,” Yabu recalled of the waiting and anticipation once Skinner agreed to add quarterback to his other duties.

There was entertainment from both sides in unsung players stepping up. After throwing his first touchdown pass to Cordero on fourth down, Coleman saw his 300-pound teammate, Kingston Williams, moving toward him in a celebratory mood. It looked like Williams wanted to do a chest bump.

Coleman, at 170 pounds and the cousin of former Newbury Park quarterback Brady Smigiel, didn’t become a quarterback without having some quick instincts and intelligence. He turned his body slightly as Williams approached and gave the giant lineman a pat in his chest as the stadium lights went on and off.

The first half ended in a 7-7 tie as both teams struggled to move the ball. Notre Dame got its touchdown on its opening possession, on a 50-yard pass from Skinner to Mica Weaver.

Chaminade put together an impressive 80-yard scoring drive to start the third quarter, taking a 14-7 lead on Marquis Jones’ seven-yard run. Again Skinner showed off his athleticism with a touchdown pass of 51 yards to Weaver to tie the score 14-14.

Finally, in the fourth quarter, Skinner connected with speedster Emmanuel Pullins for a 44-yard touchdown and a 21-14 lead before his interception return.

“I was having so much fun,” Skinner said. “I knew what this game was going to take. It was important for us to come out and show Chaminade what we had.”

DENVER — Mile sigh.

The Rams came here aiming to put together a second consecutive impressive prime-time performance.

And for the first half against the Denver Broncos on Sunday night, it looked like the Rams would do just that.

But the Rams’ 16-point halftime lead literally vanished into thin air.

After rallying briefly, the Rams could not hold off the Broncos in a 30-26 defeat in front of 76,633 at Empower Field at Mile High.

Matthew Stafford passed for two touchdowns, and Harrison Mevis kicked four field goals for the Rams, but it was not enough.

Broncos quarterback Bo Nix passed for two second-half touchdowns and dived one yard for a touchdown with 47 seconds left, dropping the Rams’ record to 1-2.

Under 10th-year coach Sean McVay, the Rams had started a season 1-2 only once before. In 2024, the Rams were 1-2 after three games and 1-4 after five. They rebounded to finish 10-7 and advanced to the divisional round, where they lost to the eventual Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles.

Next Sunday, the struggling Rams play the Eagles in Philadelphia.

Against the Broncos, less than a week after limiting the New York Giants to two field goals in a 28-6 victory at SoFi Stadium, the Rams’ defense dominated for two quarters.

But the Rams could not overcome Nix or a Broncos defense that got a 66-yard interception return for a touchdown by safety Talanoa Hufanga, who also intercepted a pass in the end zone on the final play.

The Rams built a 16-0 halftime lead on Stafford’s touchdown pass to Tyler Higbee and three field goals by Mevis.

But the Broncos ended any hope of a shutout midway through the third quarter when what had been a mostly anemic offense came to life.

Nix fired a five-yard touchdown pass to Pat Bryant and then completed a two-point conversion pass to Jaylen Waddle to cut the lead in half.

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix passes against the Rams in the first half Sunday.

(Jack Dempsey / Associated Press)

A few minutes later, Nix found tight end Nate Adkins for an eight-yard touchdown pass and then fired a two-point conversion pass to Bryant to tie the score.

The Broncos were driving again early in the fourth quarter when Rams cornerback Josh Wallace intercepted a pass, setting up Mevis’ fourth field goal for a 19-16 lead.

The Rams got the ball with about seven minutes left and Stafford connected with Adams for a 49-yard gain. But Hufanga picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown that put the Broncos ahead, 23-19.

But Stafford’s 48-yard touchdown pass to receiver Konata Mumpfield put the Rams back in front, 26-23.

Nix all but sealed the victory when he dived and reached over the pile for the one-yard touchdown with less than a minute left.

The Rams drove to the Broncos’ 14-yard line with two seconds left. But after a false-start penalty, Stafford’s pass was intercepted by Hufanga in the end zone.

Stafford completed 30 of 55 passes for 390 yards. He was sacked four times.

Davante Adams caught seven passes for 137 yards and Higbee had eight catches for 62 yards.

Running back Kyren Williams rushed for 88 yards and had 70 yards receiving.

Nix completed 17 of 34 passes for 186 yards.

California Deputy Atty. Gen. Marissa Roy has a lead in the race to replace Los Angeles City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, who lost her seat in a historic primary rout this spring, new polling shows.

Among likely Los Angeles voters, Roy leads by 10 percentage points over her rival, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney, following the pair’s shocking electoral upset in June, according to a poll released last week by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times.

The spread closely mirrors City Councilmember Nithya Raman’s breakaway lead in her bitter fight to unseat Mayor Karen Bass, who has outraised her for months.

But that’s where the similarities end.

The mayor’s contest has been called a “knife fight” for its no-holds-barred campaigning. It has also drawn sustained — and occasionally sensational — national attention since Raman’s buzzer-beating entrance in February.

By contrast, the city attorney’s race remains all but unknown: More than two-thirds of likely voters are still undecided, versus about a third who remain uncommitted in the mayor’s contest, polling showed.

L.A.’s top litigator commands a budget of nearly $200 million, plays a role in shaping city ordinances, and wages court battles on behalf of the public. The city attorney also prosecutes misdemeanors — a job most other cities keep separate. Each year, the office weighs some 120,000 violations, deciding whether to file charges and how to pursue them.

More recently, city attorneys across the country have championed activist litigation, spearheading suits against the Trump administration, among others.

Yet, few local voters know the job exists, and fewer still know the candidates by name.

Seventy percent of likely voters said they had no opinion of either McKinney or Roy — a fairly typical result for a down-ballot race, experts note.

Still, new data about voter priorities could signal how those undecideds might shake up the race in its final weeks.

Roughly a third of L.A. voters rank “moving homeless people indoors” and “crime and public safety” as top priorities, respectively; just slightly less say “fixing streets, sidewalks, streetlights and other city infrastructure” is essential.

McKinney, 58, pitches himself as a law-and-order moderate with plans to use the city attorney’s prosecutorial power to reduce disorder and move unhoused people off the streets. He manages more than 300 people at the district attorney’s office and spent decades in the courtroom securing high-profile convictions — advantages that he contends outweigh his lack of civil litigation experience.

Roy, 34, campaigns with an aura of sunny progressive pragmatism, arguing that the city can rein in ballooning liability in part by tackling its vexing infrastructure issues. She nods to the recent $17-billion settlement with Meta — a case her team at the attorney general’s office led — as evidence of the kind of ambitious, public interest litigation a large municipal attorney’s office could join.

Those disparate visions — along with crucial endorsements and influxes of cash — helped the pair define clear brands and constituencies going into the primary.

Both also got a boost from nationwide anti-incumbent fervor, staking sides across a mutual opponent whose name recognition had turned sour while rarely taking aim at each other.

But the general election is a different animal.

Although the Los Angeles electorate has been moving leftward for years, primary voters typically skew older and more conservative than those who show up for the general election, experts said.

Polls suggest that fact could create an uphill battle for McKinney, whose sway is biggest among conservatives, about 19% of the city’s electorate.

Some 21% of Republicans and nearly 30% of self-identified MAGA voters favored McKinney in the most recent poll, while Roy is favored by 25% of Democrats and by 3 in 10 voters who identify as progressive or democratic socialists.

By contrast, about a quarter of Republican voters now say they favor Bass for mayor, while Raman has a 14-point lead among Democrats. (Both are about equally underwater with MAGA voters.)

Like Raman, Roy has deep ties to the city’s insurgent democratic socialist political machine and hard-won endorsements from its progressive clubs. She has also successfully courted L.A.‘s influential unions and got an early boost from the L.A. County Democratic Party when it endorsed her this spring.

McKinney is endorsed by the city’s powerful police union and championed by L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman.

João Klauss and Justin Haak scored following a second-half own goal by Colorado’s Reggie Cannon and the Galaxy rallied to beat the Rapids 3-2 on Saturday night.

Rookie Donavan Phillip scored his second goal four minutes into his fourth start to give Colorado (11-13-3) the lead. Phillip got assists from Josh Atencio and Jackson Travis in making his eighth appearance.

Paxten Aaronson came through with his career-high seventh goal for a 2-0 lead in the 39th minute with assists from Rob Holding and Loïc Williams.

The Galaxy (9-10-9) cut it to 2-1 in the 53rd minute on Cannon’s miscue, and Klauss scored his sixth goal — unassisted in the 66th to tie it.

Haak scored for the first time this season to give the Galaxy the lead in the 74th minute. It was his third career goal after scoring twice in 81 appearances with New York City FC from 2019-2025.

JT Marcinkowski finished with two saves for the Galaxy, which went 3-1-1 this month.

Nico Hansen saved four shots for Colorado in a 1-2-2 September.

The Galaxy improve to 5-4-5 at home after starting play eighth in the Western Conference.

The Rapids entered in seventh place before falling to 2-10-2 on the road.

Up next for the Galaxy: at St. Louis City on Oct 11.

The International team need five points on the final day to secure a first Presidents Cup in 28 years after holding off a United States fightback on day three in Medinah.

The Internationals were behind in every match at one stage but will go into Sunday’s singles holding a 10-5-7.5 lead.

The hosts had the better of the morning session, winning two and tying one of the four-balls.

But the teams split the afternoon foursomes, with Canada’s Corey Conners saving par at the 18th to win the final match on the course and preserve the Internationals’ three-point lead.

The International team have only won the President’s Cup once since its inception in 1994 and never on American soil.

“We were down in every match, and to come back and get one and a half points out of this morning, we felt that was a little victory because we were down everywhere,” said team captain Geoff Ogilvy.

“This afternoon, the same thing happened. Team USA played so well all day. They played some really high-level foursomes, especially this afternoon.

“For the boys to somehow come back and pinch two points out of that and split the session was amazing.”

Sunday sees 12 singles games take place, with each side needing 15.5 points to seal victory.

The International team produced a brilliant fightback in the foursomes on day two of the Presidents Cup to take a 7-3 lead over the United States.

The US had been 3-2 up after the fourballs on Thursday but in a stunning turnaround were beaten in all five matches in the alternate-shot format in Medinah on Friday.

It boosted their hopes of a first victory in the event since 1998 and only a second since the competition began in 1994.

Geoff Ogilvy’s side secured their first point of the day as Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama saw off Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman 3&2.

Canadian duo Corey Conners and Nick Taylor then produced a stunning result as they held on to beat world number one Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns by one hole.

Burns almost snatched a half when his 20-foot putt at the last lipped out.

Open champion Ryan Fox and Min Woo Lee also edged a see-saw contest with Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark by one hole, before Adam Scott and Christiaan Bezuidenhout defeated Justin Thomas and Cameron Young 3&2.

Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim wrapped up the day with a dominant 4&3 victory over Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.

There will be four further foursomes matches and four more fourballs on Saturday, with 12 singles games taking place on Sunday.

A stunning new poll showing Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman gaining a double-digit lead over incumbent Karen Bass in the mayor’s race is increasing pressure on Bass and her allies to go sharply negative against her opponent and to seek support from conservative and undecided voters to narrow the gap.

The poll, conducted by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times, showed Bass trailing Raman by 11 percentage points — with 28% of likely voters saying they supported the mayor while 39% said they would vote for Raman. The remaining 33% were undecided, an unusually high number this close to the Nov. 3 election.

“The bottom line is this is a huge shot in the arm politically for Raman — and it’s not a good day for the mayor,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, a former L.A. City Council member who now runs the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Dan Schnur, a former Republican political consultant, said the poll could have instant negative effects for the mayor’s fundraising ability as potential supporters might now view Raman as the favorite in the race.

“The most immediate tangible result of a poll like this is that Bass’ greatest advantage was her fundraising and it now becomes much more challenging to raise money,” he said.

Bass, appearing Wednesday at a news conference in Hollywood, said she’s seen multiple polls that show a tight race. She said that Raman is “absolutely not” the front-runner in the race.

Mayor Karen Bass speaks at Vermont/Santa Monica Metro Center on Wednesday, touting progress on construction of affordable housing.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

The mayor said she is working to highlight the city’s progress in making rent more affordable, pointing to newly released numbers that show that more than 10,000 units of housing with restricted rents have been built since she took office in December 2022.

“The No. 1 issue to Angelenos continues to be lack of affordability, and our primary way of addressing that from the city is housing,” she said. “So we are absolutely addressing affordability.”

Others in the Bass camp seemed more anxious about the poll results.

“It put a pit in stomachs,” said one supporter close to the Bass campaign who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the poll. “But there is still an outside chance for Bass. It’s not total doomsday.”

The supporter said that the Bass campaign truly doesn’t believe Raman’s lead is that big, but that the poll was still “not good news,” especially for fundraising.

Mike Bonin, a progressive former L.A. City Council member who now runs the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State Los Angeles, said Bass needs to focus on winning over voters who chose former reality television personality Spencer Pratt in the primary election in June. Many of those voters are now on the fence.

Pratt received 26% of the vote in the primary, and most of the voters who cast ballots for him — 63% — say they still haven’t decided whom to vote for in the runoff, the poll found. Among the Pratt voters who have decided, 22% favored Bass compared with 16% for Raman.

Bonin said he expects Bass and her allies to attack Raman’s progressive views in order to reach Pratt voters. Raman is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and opposed raises for Los Angeles Police Department officers that had been championed by Bass.

“The nature of the attacks will try to reach the Pratt voters particularly since they are the largest bloc of undecideds and they skew conservative,” Bonin said.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing LAPD officers, is already airing campaign ads critical of Raman over her opposition to a law barring homeless encampments next to schools. In the coming days, the group will also roll out commercials highlighting Raman’s ties to the DSA, which has endorsed her mayoral bid, said union spokesman Tom Saggau.

“Our own poll told us that the Pratt folks were very much undecided, and that when they heard more about Nithya’s record, and her co-governing with DSA, they moved off of her,” he said, adding that his group still views the race as a dead heat.

Raman, not surprisingly, cheered the poll results.

“This poll reflects the momentum we’re seeing on the ground. Angelenos are ready for change and want to see a City That Works,” Raman said in a post on Instagram.

Raman campaign officials said the poll probably will help their fundraising efforts, which they said had already been gaining momentum over the last few weeks. And Schnur, the former GOP political consultant, said the wide lead allows Raman to spend more time touting her own credentials instead of disparaging Bass.

“For the most part Raman has the front-runner’s luxury of putting out a positive message and reinforcing her own credentials,” Schnur said.

Estevan Montemayor, who is running the pro-Raman Estamos con Nithya independent expenditure group, said his group’s role will be to inform voters about Raman’s positives while the Bass campaign attacks.

“They’re gonna come after Nithya and we’re gonna be here to tell her success story,” he said.

Bass supporter Stuart Waldman, chief executive of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, said the large number of undecided voters this close to the Nov. 3 election is worrying but also leaves an opening for Bass to gain ground.

“Any swing in any direction could make a big change,” Waldman said. “We have no idea who’s going to vote. … Usually by this point in time, everything has tightened up.”

Councilmember Nithya Raman, lower right, campaigns at a Latinos Con Raman rally at La Cita Bar in downtown Los Angeles.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

In courting those undecided voters, however, Bass is burdened by high unfavorability numbers, according to the Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll.

The mayor had 63% unfavorable ratings, the poll found, with 28% favorable and 9% having no opinion. By comparison, 40% had a favorable view of Raman, according to the poll, while 39% said they had an unfavorable view of her and 21% had no opinion.

Mike Murphy, a Republican political consultant, said that Bass needs to accept responsibility on core issues upsetting Angelenos about her tenure, such as homelessness and the 2025 Palisades fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes. In a recent interview with The Times, Bass said her biggest mistake as mayor was being in Ghana when the fire began amid high wind warnings.

“You have to say, ‘I hear you,’” he said. “Voters don’t think Karen gets that they are mad about things that happened during her term.”

Then, Murphy said, he believes Bass needs to attack Raman as being more establishment than Bass.

Murphy noted that Bass has frequently attacked Raman for being “at City Hall longer than I have,” which he called a powerful message to voters who are considering Raman because they want change. Raman was elected in 2020 and Bass in 2022.

Other polls taken in the campaign have shown a closer race than the Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll.

In an internal Raman campaign poll from early September, the council member was ahead, 44% to 39%, with 17% undecided. She was also leading, 38% to 32%, in a poll commissioned by the group Streets for All, which is backing Raman.

In an early August poll commissioned by an independent expenditure group supporting Bass, the mayor had the edge, 41% to 35%, with 24% undecided.

Mayor Karen Bass greets community members after speaking at Vermont/Santa Monica Metro Center.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

The Bass campaign cited some of those polls when responding to the Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll Wednesday, calling it an “outlier poll” and accusing the pollsters of getting it wrong.

“In the primary … they got it wrong and undercounted Karen Bass’ support,” campaign spokesperson Alex Stack said in a news release.

Stack added that polls conducted online, like the Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll, “systematically [undercount] working-class families, seniors, and non-English speaking communities who regularly turn out on Election Day.”

Mark DiCamillo, the director of the Berkeley IGS Poll, defended the methodology, saying he has spent 45 years polling in California and eight years running the Berkeley IGS Poll.

“What would you expect from a campaign down by double digits? They attack the poll,” he said.

At the colloquium established shortly after the second world war to prevent future wars, United States President Donald Trump did just the inverse: He platformed his unceasing threats against Iran, suggesting almost casually on Tuesday that he could “annihilate” the country he has waged war against since February 28.

But behind closed doors on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), a flurry of diplomatic activity concerning the ongoing US-Iran war has also been unfolding, as world leaders gather in New York.

The US and Iran held indirect talks for three hours on Tuesday. US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, with Trump calling it a “very good” and “very productive” meeting. Trump also met Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders that day, with senior officials from the region mulling a Qatari proposal for a common security framework involving Iran and the Gulf states.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New York early on Wednesday – the first time a leader whose country is at war with the US has set foot on US soil to address the gathering. And Chinese President Xi Jinping will skirt New York to instead meet Trump one-on-one in Washington, DC – his first state visit to the US in just less than a decade. Xi lands on Wednesday evening.

All these separate diplomatic initiatives, analysts tell Al Jazeera, are parts of a push to bring Iran and the US back to the negotiating table. According to Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tehran, Tohid Asadi, Araghchi’s meeting with Witkoff and Kushner was to convey Tehran’s latest set of conditions to end the war, following the collapse of the June 60-day memorandum of understanding (MoU) finalised in Islamabad, Pakistan.

But analysts say expecting an actual deal to emerge this week from the diplomatic meetings in the US would be unrealistic. Multiple actors and mediators in the conflict are testing possible off-ramps, but core disagreements between Washington and Tehran remain unresolved.

“I am sceptical that a breakthrough deal can emerge this week, but a series of understandings can build confidence for renewed diplomacy,” Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, told Al Jazeera.

Too early for a breakthrough

Vakil is hesitant to call the current moment ripe for a diplomatic breakthrough – it is far too early, and there is a history of negotiations failing, she said.

“Both sides have been negotiating for over two years and on two occasions, that ended with military conflict and these negotiations continue amid persistent military threats,” she said.

Iran has long pointed to its previous rounds of diplomatic talks with the US – in 2025 and again this year – as evidence that Washington can veer from negotiations to military action. It has cited the 12-day war last June, and the current conflict, which began with joint US-Israeli strikes on Tehran at a time Washington and Tehran were engaged in Oman-mediated dialogue.

Adel Abdel Ghafar, a senior fellow focusing on the Middle East at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said that there appears to be “genuine” movement towards reigniting negotiations – but also “a fair amount of posturing”. He referenced Trump’s praise for Tuesday’s indirect Iran-US talks and his pugnacious UNGA speech the same day.

A breakthrough hinges on whether Iran’s diplomats in New York can actually deliver, he said.

“Araghchi and Pezeshkian can negotiate, but any deal will need the consent of the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and the hardliners in charge of the war back home,” Abdel Ghafar told Al Jazeera.

There are specific indicators to watch for another round of US-Iran contact, the analysts said.

“The signs to watch for are another confirmed round of US-Iran talks, agreement on sequencing or reciprocal steps, and language from both sides becoming more specific about implementation rather than simply repeating maximalist demands,” said Vakil.

Abdel Ghafar added that, against the backdrop of UNGA, signs could include Araghchi or Pezeshkian meeting directly with US officials, in addition to supportive statements from more hardline elements of the Iranian administration back home.

The appearance of such indicators could lead to a stronger push for such talks when Trump meets Xi, as well as an easing of fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi group and the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, which has escalated in recent weeks, the analyst added.

The limits of Gulf and Chinese diplomacy

The analysts agreed that the Gulf states remain crucial in brokering a return to talks because they have channels to both warring sides, as well as a very strong interest in preventing further escalation, having absorbed the cost of the fighting since February. Qatar, Oman and other Gulf states have been involved in mediation efforts throughout the conflict.

“Qatar and Oman, in particular, can help translate broad political messages into workable arrangements on issues such as Hormuz and regional security,” said Vakil.

China, meanwhile, has less capacity or interest to mediate, she argued.

Beijing, however, could use its economic and political leverage with Tehran “to encourage compromise and give Iran greater confidence that any agreement will not leave it completely isolated”, said Vakil.

Abdel Ghafar pointed out that China remains Iran’s main customer for its oil, explaining why Beijing has pushed for a return to the June interim deal and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Still, I think neither can impose a settlement – it ultimately comes down to Washington and Tehran,” he said.

Hostilities and Hormuz

The tit-for-tat rhetoric has resulted in continued deadlock in the conflict, with each side unwilling to relinquish to the other’s demands and appear to admit defeat.

On Tuesday, following Trump’s remarks on annihilating Iran, Iran’s military warned that it is ready to respond with “crushing” attacks more severe than earlier in the war.

“The main challenge is finding a formula that both governments can present domestically as a negotiated compromise rather than capitulation,” said Vakil.

The Strait of Hormuz remains a key obstacle.

“It’s Iran’s strongest card and the thing Washington most wants back, with oil prices high and midterms approaching,” said Abdel Ghafar.

“Tehran will be reluctant to give it up without firm guarantees in return.”

Still, he warned that even if Washington and Tehran de-escalate, that does not automatically extend to the Red Sea.

The wider landscape of regional instability and conflict has created new conditions for Yemen’s unresolved war to flare up once again. The Bab al-Mandeb, now under effective Houthi control, has gained greater significance amid Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global oil and gas supplies.

“Calm in Hormuz won’t necessarily mean calm in Bab al-Mandab,” said Abdel Ghafar.

Los Angeles Councilmember Nithya Raman has taken a wide lead over incumbent Karen Bass in the L.A. mayor’s race, according to a new poll released Wednesday, although a high percentage of voters remain undecided less than two weeks before mail-in ballots are sent out for the Nov. 3 election.

Raman is favored by 39% of likely L.A. voters, compared with 28% for Bass, according to the poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, which was co-sponsored by The Times. The poll found that 33% of voters were undecided.

“Raman clearly has the advantage. Her task is a little less onerous than Bass’,” said Mark DiCamillo, the director of the Berkeley IGS Poll.

Adding to Bass’ low poll numbers are high unfavorability ratings.

The mayor had 63% unfavorable ratings, the poll found, with 28% favorable and 9% having no opinion. By comparison, 40% had a favorable view of Raman, according to the poll, while 39% said they had an unfavorable view of her and 21% had no opinion.

The survey released Wednesday was conducted online with a sample of 2,150 likely city voters between Sept. 15 and Sept. 20. It has a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.

The poll represented the strongest showing yet for Raman, who trailed Bass in almost every poll during the primary campaign and who came in second to Bass in the primary election, with 29% of the vote compared with Bass’ 34%.

Mayoral candidate and Councilmember Nithya Raman, center, enjoys a light moment with Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Action members at La Cita Bar in downtown Los Angeles.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Even so, DiCamillo said the large number of undecided voters means the race is far from over.

“It’s extraordinarily unusual to see this many undecided voters at this point in the race,” he said. Mail-in ballots will be sent out beginning Oct. 1, local elections officials say.

The large number of undecided voters can be linked to the elimination of mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt in the June 2 primary, according to DiCamillo. The former reality TV star received 26% of the vote in the primary, and most of the voters who cast ballots for him — 63% — say they haven’t decided whom to vote for in the runoff, the poll found.

Among those Pratt voters who have decided, 22% favored Bass compared with 16% for Raman.

One of the most significant findings in the poll was a massive “generational divide” among L.A. voters, DiCamillo said.

Raman, 45, dominated the 72-year-old Bass among younger voters, with 66% of likely voters ages 18 to 29 choosing the council member while just 4% chose Bass, according to the poll.

Raman also had 64% of likely voters ages 30 to 39 compared with Bass’ 12%, and the council member had 50% of likely voters ages 40 to 49 compared with Bass’ 18%. Raman also was leading among voters 50 to 64 years old by a slim margin of 35% to 33%.

Bass, meanwhile, led among the oldest set of voters — those 65 and up — but not by the same margins. Bass had 41% of likely voters in that group compared with Raman’s 21%.

The mayor has had negative favorability ratings since the 2025 Palisades fire.

According to the poll, 56% of likely voters thought Bass did a poor or very poor job responding to the disaster, which killed 12 people and destroyed more than 4,000 homes, including Pratt’s.

Fourteen percent of the likely voters thought Bass had done either an excellent or a good job and 17% thought she had done a fair job.

Mayor Karen Bass campaigns at Ernest E. Debs Regional Park on Sunday.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

The most important issues to likely voters were fixing city infrastructure, moving homeless people indoors, crime and public safety, and building more affordable housing, the poll found.

The poll shows Raman leading in nearly every geographic area of the city. Bass was leading in South Los Angeles and the Harbor region, 37% to 34%, but central Los Angeles as well as northeast and the east side of Los Angeles broke strongly for Raman.

The San Fernando Valley went 34% to Raman and 26% to Bass with 40% still undecided. The Westside favored Raman by a single percentage point, at 35% to 34%.

Raman has led in other polls recently, though none by as wide a margin as in the Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll. Shortly before the primary, a separate Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll showed Raman leading Bass in a potential head-to-head matchup by just four percentage points, with 32% support compared with the mayor’s 28%.

But the gap between the two has widened since then, the latest poll found, as Bass weathered a difficult news cycle, including rising homelessness numbers citywide as well as the fallout from the Lineage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights that burned for nearly a week, leaving rotting food and a rancid stench in the neighborhood for more than a month.

Raman, meanwhile, picked up largely positive headlines this summer. She gained key endorsements from the carpenters’ union and Unite Here Local 11, the union representing hospitality workers at hotels and the airport, as well as an endorsement from the Democratic Socialists of America. Street homelessness also dropped in her district, which she said was due to her office’s strong outreach, though the Bass campaign credited the mayor’s Inside Safe program for the reduction in Raman’s district.

On the negative side, Raman was booted from her position in the council as chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee, a move she said was politically motivated.

In an internal Raman campaign poll from early September, the council member was ahead, 44% to 39%, with 17% undecided. She was also leading, 38% to 32%, in a poll commissioned by the group Streets for All, which is backing Raman.

In an early August poll commissioned by an independent expenditure group supporting Bass, the mayor had the edge, 41% to 35%, with 24% undecided.

SACRAMENTO — Carlos Cortes and Zack Gelof each hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning as the Athletics rallied past the Angels 9-7 on Tuesday night.

Cortes launched a drive to right-center off Sam Bachman (1-3) to give the A’s a 7-6 lead, and Gelof cemented the comeback from a 6-0 deficit they faced just two innings before.

Cortes came off the bench as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and finished two for two with a triple and three RBIs. He also scored twice.

Hogan Harris gave up a run in the ninth but earned his 16th save by striking out pinch-hitter Oswald Peraza with two runners aboard.

Luis Medina (6-3) pitched a scoreless inning for the win as the Athletics clinched the season series with one game remaining between the bottom two teams in the AL West.

BMW PGA Championship – round three

-13 M Elvira (Spa), F Celli (Ita); -12 J Veerman (US), A Del Rey (Spa) JJ Spaun (US)

Selected others: -11 R McIlroy (NI), A Scott (AUS); -10 S Bairstow (Eng), M Wallace (Eng), R MacIntyre (Sco); -9 J Smith (Eng), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), A Rai (Eng); -7 R Fisher (Eng), S Lowry (Ire); -6 A Fitzpatrick (Eng); -5 D Law (Sco), J Rose (Eng), E Ferguson (Sco), T Hatton (Eng)

Rory McIlroy left himself two strokes behind the third-round leaders heading into the final day of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Northern Ireland’s world number two made a superb eagle on the 18th to stay in contention with a 72, leaving him on 11 under.

Spain’s Manuel Elvira and Italy’s Filippo Celli share the lead after both made birdies on the final hole to leave them 13 under.

But there is a congested leaderboard with 20 players within four strokes of the lead.

Alejandro Del Rey, JJ Spaun and Johannes Veerman are one shot behind with an exciting finish in store on Sunday.

McIlroy is attempting to win a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title and can boost his hopes by securing the second Wentworth title of his career.

“There are a lot of people around the leaders,” he said after another round in blustery conditions.

“I think the conditions over the last couple of days are the reason why no-one has got away from the pack, just because it has played so tricky and difficult.

“I’ll probably try not to look at the leaderboards on the front nine, and if I need to play a little bit more aggressively on the back, I’ll do it.”

JSerra converted on three fourth downs in the second half Friday, allowing the Lions to battle back from a seven-point, first-half deficit to beat host Bishop Amat 37-28.

With the nonleague victory, JSerra improves to 4-1, while Bishop Amat falls to 4-1.

JSerra quarterback Hayes Cloutier, who threw for two touchdowns and rushed for three, engineered all three second-half conversions, two with his legs and one with his arm.

The first, and most impressive, came on the Lions’ first possession of the half. Trailing 28-21 and facing fourth and three on the Bishop Amat 27-yard line, Cloutier zigged and zagged across the field, eluding most of the defense.

After the Lions tied the score, sophomore defensive back Sean Veritch snagged a deflected pass by Bishop Amat quarterback Domenico Doran, and the Lions drove to the Lancers’ 16-yard line. On fourth and 10, Evan Leddy kicked a 33-yard field goal to give JSerra an apparent 31-28 lead, but the Lions accepted a penalty on Bishop Amat that moved the ball to the 11-yard line.

JSerra coach Hardy Nickerson opted to go for it on fourth down, and Cloutier rewarded his gamble, scoring on an 11-yard run. Leddy’s extra point was blocked, and JSerra settled for a 34-28 lead.

JSerra High quarterback Hayes Cloutier leaps as he tries to evade a tackle by a Bishop Amat defenders.

(Nick Koza)

The Lions’ defense, which had given up scores on four of Bishop Amat’s five first-half possessions, then stiffened, forcing the Lancers to punt. With about two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Lions reeled off a 23-play drive, which included four JSerra penalties and ate up more than 10 minutes.

A 22-yard run by Cloutier was key, as was his four-yard completion to Clark Cokely on a fourth-and-two play. The drive ended with a 44-yard field goal by Leddy that gave JSerra a 37-28 lead.

After surrendering 28 first-half points, JSerra held Bishop Amat scoreless, and running back Justin Clinton, who rushed for more than 130 yards, including a 67-yard burst and a 43-yard touchdown, in check in the second half.

“It was a heavyweight fight,” Nickerson said of the first half. “But my defensive staff just put it together in the second. We turned things up and made adjustments.

“We knew that if we could get in the throwing lanes and forced them to have to pass the football … we felt we would have a chance. And those guys went out and executed the second half and it was beautiful.”

The ex-Oklahoma state trooper’s nomination had stalled in the Senate as ICE faced growing scrutiny over its operations.

The White House has withdrawn the nomination of former Oklahoma state trooper Lance Schroyer to lead United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), without giving a reason for the decision.

The withdrawal was announced on Thursday. Schroyer, a senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, was nominated by President Donald Trump in June but had yet to receive a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who chairs the committee, had refused to hold a hearing until the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provided information he had requested about civilian deaths during ICE enforcement operations.

“I don’t have a concern with who the nominee was. I had asked them to give me an update on the internal investigation into civilian deaths,” Paul told The Associated Press news agency.

Paul said he had intended to hold a hearing on Schroyer’s nomination but learned that it had been withdrawn when the White House made the decision public.

ICE remains under scrutiny

Schroyer had little experience in immigration and had not previously worked at ICE or led a major law enforcement agency. Two US officials told the Reuters news agency when he was nominated that he had been a surprise choice for the position.

When announcing Schroyer’s nomination in June, Trump said on Truth Social that he had “firsthand experience getting Illegal Aliens OFF our streets” and called on the Senate to confirm him “IMMEDIATELY”.

The withdrawal comes as ICE remains under scrutiny over its enforcement operations as the Trump administration carries out its immigration crackdown.

Critics have raised questions about how the agency has recruited and trained officers as it rapidly expanded its workforce. Federal immigration officers have also shot and killed multiple people during enforcement operations, including two US citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.

ICE arrests have continued to increase, reaching nearly 51,000 in August, the highest monthly total of Trump’s second administration.

ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director since 2017. David Venturella is serving as acting director after Todd Lyons resigned earlier this year.

The White House has not indicated when it might announce another nominee to lead the agency.

WASHINGTON — The White House said Thursday that it was withdrawing its nomination of Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ensuring that an agency at the forefront of President Trump’s domestic agenda will remain without a Senate-confirmed leader for at least a while longer.

Schroyer, who has little experience in immigration, is close to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a former U.S. senator from Oklahoma.

The White House offered no comment in a brief statement.

The latest setback comes as the agency remains under withering scrutiny over its handling of enforcement operations. Critics have question how ICE has recruited and trained officers as it raced to hire thousands to carry out Trump’s promise of mass deportations. Officers have shot and killed multiple people, including two American citizens in Minneapolis this year.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, had refused to hold a hearing on the nominee until Homeland Security provided him with information he had been seeking about civilian deaths during ICE enforcement operations.

“I don’t have a concern with who the nominee was. I had asked them to give me an update on the internal investigation into civilian deaths,” Paul told The Associated Press. “And I’m still waiting.”

When Mullin took over the department in March, he pledged a lower-profile approach to immigration enforcement, pulling back on the aggressive, tumultuous crackdown on the streets of large cities that sparked widespread public condemnation.

Arrests have continued to accelerate, reaching nearly 51,000 in August, the highest single monthly arrest total during the second Trump administration.

Paul said he intended to hold a hearing on Schroyer’s nomination, but it never came to that. He heard about the nomination being withdrawn only when the White House made it public Thursday.

ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed leader since the Obama administration. David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, returned to the agency as acting director this year after Todd Lyons resigned.

When Trump nominated Schroyer in June, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that his pick was “a PATRIOT with real operational experience” and a “proven leader with DECADES of experience locking up the worst of the worst.”

The administration did not indicate when it might announce another pick for the position.

Ally Sentnor, Ary Borges and Taylor Suarez scored in Angel City’s 3-1 victory over the Seattle Reign on Wednesday night at BMO Stadium.

In the 18th minute, Angel City midfielder Maiara Niehue’s volley attempt drew a handball on Seattle Reign midfielder Angharad James-Turner. Sentnor converted her second penalty kick in consecutive weeks to open the scoring.

Off a corner kick from defender Evelyn Shores in the 40th minute, an unmarked Borges headed it home to double the lead. Within 30 seconds of subbing on, Suarez raced past multiple defenders and placed it in the side-netting for the 3-0 lead in the 81st minute.

Defender Sofia Huerta’s long-range blast in stoppage time provided the Reign with their lone goal of the game.

Angel City (10-8-6) is unbeaten four matches unbeaten and now only trails the Reign by a point for the last spot in the playoffs. The loss ended a three-game winning streak for Seattle (11-9-4).

Cal Raleigh had two hits and three RBIs, Josh Naylor had two hits and two RBIs and the Seattle Mariners kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 7-2 victory over the Angels on Wednesday night.

Randy Arozarena also walked, singled and scored three runs for Seattle, which is 5 1/2 games behind Texas and Houston in the American League West and 6 1/2 games behind the Chicago White Sox for the third AL wild-card spot with nine games left.

It was 2-2 when Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi (1-6) walked Arozarena and Dominic Canzone with one out in the fifth. Raleigh roped an RBI double to left for a 3-2 lead, and Julio Rodriguez was walked intentionally to load the bases.

Angels first baseman Vaughn Grissom made a sliding, backhand stop of Naylor’s potential double-play grounder, but his throw to second sailed into left field for an error, two runs scoring on the play for a 5-2 Seattle lead.

Mariners reliever Carlos Vargas (1-0) struck out Josh Lowe and Christian Moore — each on three pitches — with the bases loaded to end the bottom of the fifth, and Seattle pushed the lead to 7-2 on RBI singles by Canzone and Raleigh in the sixth.

Kikuchi threw 37 pitches during a two-run, three-hit first in which the Mariners scored on Raleigh’s sacrifice fly and Naylor’s RBI single.