NEW YORK — Mike Trout hit his fifth homer of the series and the Angels overcame a homer by Aaron Judge in their 11-4 victory over the New York Yankees on Thursday afternoon for a four-game split.
Trout, who recently made a mechanical adjustment, went six for 16 with five homers and nine RBIs in the series. Trout hit his latest homer with one out in the seventh inning when he sent a 2-2 slider from reliever Angel Chivilli about halfway up the left field bleachers for a 7-4 lead.
Trout homered in his fifth straight game at Yankee Stadium and became the fourth to hit five homers in a series against the Yankees. The others were Jimmie Foxx (1933), Darrell Evans (1985) and George Bell (1990), according to MLB researcher Sarah Langs.
Trout’s latest homer contributed to a rare loss for the Yankees when Judge and Giancarlo Stanton homer in the same game. Including the postseason, New York is 53-8 when the duo both connect.
Jo Adell added a grand slam in the eighth for the Angels, who lead the AL with 32 homers.
Judge hit his 89th career first-inning homer and Stanton hit a two-run shot to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead in the fourth before the Angels scored four runs in the sixth off Max Fried (2-1) and Fernando Cruz. Ben Rice also homered in the sixth.
Trout walked three times and scored the tying run in a four-run sixth on a double by former Yankee Oswald Peraza, who also hit a two-run homer in the first.
Vaughn Grissom hit a go-ahead RBI single, and Josh Lowe hit a two-run single for a 6-3 lead.
The Yankees lost for the seventh time in nine games and Fried gave up five runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings. Manager Aaron Boone was ejected for the first time this season after New York batted in the eighth.
Brent Suter opened the game and went two-plus innings. Sam Aldegheri (1-0) gave up a run in 1 2/3 innings.
It was do or die Wednesday night at Intuit Dome and the Clippers did not do enough to keep their season alive, blowing a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter and losing to the Golden State Warriors, 126-121.
Having rebounded from a franchise-worst 6-21 start to earn the next-to-last berth in the NBA play-in tournament, coach Ty Lue’s resilient bunch could not extend its historic comeback on its home floor.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 35 points, Kristaps Porzingis and and Gui Santos each had 20 and Brandin Podziemski added 17. The Warriors were 19-of-41 from 3-point range.
Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points while Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland each added 21 points for the Clippers, who won three of the teams’ four regular season meetings, including a 115-110 victory in the same arena four days earlier.
The Clippers got off to a hot start, scoring 12 straight points to take a 10-point lead 3:19 into the game but Golden State used a 12-2 run of its own to tie it and took a 17-16 lead on Curry’s three-pointer just before the seven-minute mark. A 15-5 run put the Clippers back up 31-22 at the end of the first quarter.
Steph Curry falls to the court to grab a loose ball against Clippers Bennedict Mathurin and Kris Dunn in the third quarter.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Porzingis’ three-pointer from the top of the key put the Warriors in front early in the second quarter but the Clippers closed the first half with a flourish. Draymond Green got assessed a technical foul and Leonard made the ensuing free throw to give his team a 10-point lead and the Clippers headed to the locker room ahead 61-53.
Back-to-back buckets by Jones Jr. pushed the Clippers’ lead to 10 points with 7:48 left in the third quarter, but again the proud Warriors responded on a rare four-point play by Curry to pull within four. The Clippers pushed the lead back to 11 before Golden State used a 5-0 run to creep within 89-83 heading to the fourth quarter.
Porzingis’ three-pointer whittled the Warriors’ deficit down to three with 8:16 left but Garland’s three-pointer pushed the margin back to eight with 6:36 left. Al Horford’s three-pointer gave the Warriors a 117-115 lead with 2:12 left, Lopez hit a pair of free throws to tie it with 1:51 left, but Curry, as he has done so many times in his career, sank a three-pointer to put his team up 120-117 with 50 seconds remaining and the visitors hung on.
IKawhi Leonard walks off the court after the Clippers’ season-ending loss.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The Warriors’ reward is a flight to Phoenix where they will take on the Suns in a Friday night matchup to decide the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference. The Suns had a chance to clinch the No. 7 seed Monday but lost at home to Portland, 114-110. Should the Warriors prevail they will meet No. 1-seeded and defending champion Oklahoma City in a best-of-seven series opening Sunday on the road.
He held the Mets to two hits in eight scoreless innings, the longest start of his pro career. He carried a perfect game into the fifth inning, with his defense backing up his efficient effort.
Shortstop Miguel Rojas fully laid out to his left in the second inning to field a sharp grounder off Bo Bichette’s bat, and then casually threw to first to complete the diving play. Third baseman Max Muncy made a leaping grab on Tyrone Taylor’s third-inning line drive.
Wrobleski made quick work of the rest.
Miguel Rojas doubles during the fourth inning Monday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
He finally gave up a single to Jorge Polanco, on a ground ball through the right side of the infield, for the Mets’ first baserunner of the game with one out in the fifth inning.
Then Wrobleski induced Francisco Alvarez to bounce a soft ground ball up the middle. Dodgers second baseman Santiago Espinal set up next to the base to field the ball and turn an inning-ending double play.
Wrobleski got to flash the leather himself in the seventh. With two outs, he splintered Mark Vientos’ bat with an inside fastball and caught the resulting line drive.
Wrobleski didn’t allow a second baserunner until the eighth, retiring another nine straight before Alvarez hit a line drive single into shallow center field. One batter later, Wrobleski got out of the inning, with his pitch count at 90.
Left-handed reliever Tanner Scott took over in the ninth with a 4-0 lead and completed the shutout.
The Dodgers jumped out to an early lead. In the first inning, Mets starting pitcher David Peterson hit leadoff hitter Shohei Ohtani in the right shoulder with a 94-mph sinker. Next, Kyle Tucker drew a walk, and Will Smith drove in Ohtani with a single up the middle.
They piled on in the third with a three-run home run from Andy Pages, the Dodgers’ hottest hitter to start the year.
Roster move
The Dodgers put reliever Ben Casparius on the 15-day injured list Monday and recalled Kyle Hurt from triple A. It was the first bullpen-related roster move of the season.
Casparius (9.64 ERA) gave up a single and issued a walk in the seventh inning against the Rangers on Sunday, and when he came out for the eighth, he immediately gave up another single and walk, then left the game.
“I think [the injury] has some correlation to his second up last night,” Roberts said. “But as far as before, doubtful.”
Casparius is scheduled to undergo an MRI exam, manager Dave Roberts said.
Hurt posted a 3.68 ERA in seven spring-training appearances this year. He last pitched in a major-league game in April 2024, before undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Phil Collins, Luther Vandross, Oasis, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Sade, Wu-Tang Clan, Joy Division and New Order will join the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year at its annual induction ceremony, the organization announced Monday evening. The news was revealed on “American Idol” by Lionel Richie, a judge on the TV talent show who was himself inducted into the hall in 2022.
The 2026 class of inductees — set to be welcomed Nov. 14 in a ceremony at the Peacock Theatre in downtown Los Angeles — represents a broad array of styles and genres, including hip-hop, R&B, Britpop, heavy metal and post-punk. Yet the group contains only two women: the Nigerian-British soul singer Sade and New Order’s Gillian Gilbert; that result is likely to attract criticism after years in which organizers have sought to diversify the hall’s ranks along race and gender lines.
Three of the new members — voted in by a group of more than 1,200 musicians, executives, historians and journalists — are joining the hall after being nominated for the first time: Vandross, the R&B star whose voice was prominently sampled in Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning “Luther”; Wu-Tang Clan, the boisterous rap group that recently undertook what it called a farewell tour; and Collins, who’s getting in as a solo act after being inducted as a member of Genesis in 2010. (An act becomes eligible for induction 25 years after the release of its first commercial recording.) The remaining inductees had all been previously nominated.
Artists nominated for the 2026 class who didn’t make the cut include Mariah Carey, Shakira, Lauryn Hill, Melissa Etheridge, INXS, New Edition, Pink, the Black Crowes and the late Jeff Buckley.
Several other musicians will be honored at November’s ceremony. Celia Cruz, Fela Kuti, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte and Gram Parsons will receive the hall’s Early Influence Award, while the Musical Excellence Award will go to Linda Creed, Arif Mardin, Jimmy Miller and Rick Rubin. The television impresario Ed Sullivan is to be honored with the Ahmet Ertegun Award, a commendation for non-performers named after the late Atlantic Records co-founder who started the Rock Hall with Rolling Stone magazine’s Jann Wenner in the mid-1980s. These are posthumous honors for a number of recipients, including Vandross, Cruz, Kuti, Parsons, Creed, Mardin, Miller and Sullivan.
The 2026 ceremony in L.A. will be filmed and shown in December on ABC and Disney+. Organizers said 2027’s event will take place at the hall’s home in Cleveland.
Rory McIlroy birdies the 12th and 13th holes to move to 13-under par and extend his lead in the final round of The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
AUSTIN, Texas — Defender Maya Yoshida scored a first-half goal, Erik Thommy tallied in the second and the Galaxy beat Austin FC 2-1 on Saturday.
Yoshida took a pass from Marco Reus in the 34th minute and scored for the first time this season to give the Galaxy a 1-0 lead. Yoshida has six goals in 80 appearances for the Galaxy. Reus has three assists this season and 15 in 34 career appearances.
Thommy gave the Galaxy a two-goal lead in the 78th minute with his first goal for the club. Thommy had 19 goals in 101 appearances over four seasons with Sporting Kansas City. Defender Emiro Garces subbed into the match in the 66th minute before notching his first assist this season and his third in 36 appearances. Goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski also snagged an assist.
Austin cut it to 2-1 in the 85th minute on Myrto Uzuni’s second goal of the season and his eighth in 34 career matches. Defender Guilherme Biro earned his first assist after collecting one through his first 67 appearances and Facundo Torres grabbed his fourth in his first season with Austin after tallying 16 in three seasons with Orlando City. All four of Torres’ assists have come off set pieces.
The Galaxy’s Erik Thommy points to the sky after scoring against Austin FC on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
(Scott Wachter / Getty Images)
Marcinkowski turned away five shots for the Galaxy (2-3-2) in his third start this season.
Brad Stuver totaled five saves for Austin (1-3-3).
The Galaxy picked up their first road win of the season while handing Austin its first loss at home.
Austin swept the Galaxy last season — 1-0 at home and 2-1 on the road.
The defending Masters champion was sprinting away from the field Friday, building a six-shot lead heading into the weekend and putting himself in prime position to become the first repeat winner since Tiger Woods in 2002.
McIlroy atoned for two bogeys with nine birdies, shooting a seven-under-par 65 to improve on his stellar 67 in the opening round.
At 12 under, he now holds the largest 36-hole lead in Masters history.
“When I was standing on the 12th tee, I didn’t imagine that I would be six ahead going into the weekend,” said McIlroy, who birdied six of the final seven holes despite hitting into the trees on holes 13, 15 and 17.
“I’ve always had the ability to go on these runs … but it’s staying aggressive. My little mantra today was keep swinging, and keep swinging hard at it.”
And he completed that masterpiece in the afternoon, when the legendary course was even firmer and more slippery than it was in the morning. The warm weather and cloudless skies set the stage for a test of surgical precision in the final two rounds.
“These greens are going to be concrete,” said Wyndham Clark, who followed an even-par round with a four-under 68. “Obviously getting really fast without the wind, so it’s going to really matter hitting it in the fairway and the angles, and being patient.”
Rory McIlroy walks across Nelson Bridge with his caddy during the second round at the Masters.
(Eric Gay / Associated Press)
Fifty-four competitors from 15 different countries made the cut from a starting field of 91.
Of his jaw-dropping finishing scramble, McIlroy said: “The only way I can describe it is everything that you see or any situation that you come across, you can find a positive in it. And then you see birdies and you can see ways to make birdies. Hit it in the trees at 13, fine, I can make a birdie doing it this way. Hit it in the trees at 15, same thing.”
Whereas McIlroy created separation, Tyrrell Hatton made a case for inclusion. He was two over after Thursday but played himself back into contention with a 66 on Friday, hitting all 18 greens in regulation and becoming just the third player in 30 years to do that at the Masters. He is tied for seventh with Clark.
Patrick Reed, who shot a 69 in the first round, matched that in the second to claim a share of second place with Sam Burns.
Reed, who left for LIV Golf but announced in January he plans to return to the PGA Tour, played golf locally at Augusta State University and won this tournament in 2018. He said that Masters experience helps in a big way now.
Of winning a green jacket, he said, “Until you do, you always have that little voice of doubt in the back of your mind.”
Patrick Reed hits off the 18th tee during the second round of the Masters on Friday.
(Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
Asked if his near-miss in 2025 serves as extra motivation this year, Rose said: “Not really, if I’m honest. I don’t really need to try any harder, know what I mean? Trying harder ain’t going to help me.”
It was a rough day for Scottie Scheffler, ranked No. 1 in the world, as his 74 put him 12 shots back of McIlroy.
Bryson DeChambeau was on the bubble all day before a triple-bogey seven on the 18th hole. He missed the cut six over.
Two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson missed the cut, as did 66-year-old Fred Couples, who was playing well Thursday until taking a quadruple-bogey nine on the 15th hole.
McIlroy played with 18-year-old amateur Mason Howell, who was sufficiently impressed as the defending champion birdied each of the final four holes.
“You’ve got to stay in your own lane, but it’s hard not to watch that,” Howell said. “That chip-in on 17 was unreal. That was one of the coolest things I’ve seen in sports, and I got to witness it in person, so that was awesome.”
His third home run — a no-doubt-about-it 401-foot walk-off to right-center field, gave the Dodgers an 8-7 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday at Dodger Stadium.
They improved to 10-3, winning despite closer Edwin Díaz’s first blown save as a Dodger.
Muncy’s first home runs, in the second and fourth innings, gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead and then pulled them within a run, 3-2.
Those homers — Nos. 2, 3 and 4 this season — gave him 213 for his Dodgers’ tenure, tying and then surpassing Steve Garvey for third-most in the franchise’s Los Angeles history.
Muncy is only the second player in Dodgers history to have a walk-off homer as part of a three-home run game, joining Don Demeter, who accomplished the feat on April 21, 1959, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Max Muncy hits a walk-off home run to cap his three-home run night in an 8-7 win over Texas.
It marked the second three-homer game of Muncy’s career and his 20th multi-homer game.
And they kept the Dodgers in a game that went back and forth, up and down, bobblehead style.
Andy Pages went three for three with four RBIs and had a go-ahead two-run double and a two-run home run to provide crucial insurance that kept his club in the game.
His double in the sixth — he smacked Robert Garcia’s 84-mph slider into right field to bring home Muncy and Teoscar Hernández — gave the Dodgers a 5-4 lead.
And Pages’ two-run home run to center field off Luis Curvelo in the eighth brought home Muncy, who had singled. It also brought his MLB-leading batting average to .449 — and wasn’t just icing on the cake but fortification against the Rangers’ hitters who wouldn’t quit.
After Dodgers’ starter Tyler Glasnow exited after pitching six innings and giving up four runs on five hits — including two home runs — while striking out seven, Alex Vesia and Tanner Scott both pitched a scoreless inning before closer Díaz entered in the ninth.
The Dodgers’ closer gave up a single to former Dodger Joc Pedersen and then a two-run home run to Evan Carter that cut the lead to 7-6. Then Ezequiel Duran singled in Sam Haggerty to tie the score.
The Dodgers made it interesting by playing from behind for the ninth time in 13 games: The Rangers quickly responded to Muncy’s first homer, taking a 3-1 lead in the third inning when former Dodger Corey Seager teed off for a 409-foot, three-run home run to center field.
Max Muncy hits a walk-off home run to lift the Dodgers to an 8-7 win over the Texas Rangers at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
(Back on June 12, 2024, in his only other game at Dodger Stadium as a member of the Rangers, Seager hit a three-run home run. That one was a go-ahead blast off Walker Buehler that gave Texas a 3-2 victory.)
In the fifth inning Friday, Wyatt Langford deposited a Glasnow curveball into the Dodgers’ bullpen; his first home run this season pushed Texas’ advantage to 4-2.
Shohei Ohtani then singled to right to move Freeland to third — and, notably, to extend his on-base streak to 44 games, the most ever for a Japanese-born player and the fourth-longest such streak in Dodgers history.
Ohtani has also reached base on all seven of his bobblehead nights.
This season, the Dodgers determined that they needed two games — Friday and July 8 — to honor Ohtani’s “Greatest Game” with the bobblehead treatment.
Max Muncy runs the bases after hitting his walk-off home run in the ninth inning against Texas on Friday night.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
On Friday, all 53,675 fans went home with a bobbling figurine of Ohtani at the plate, a memento honoring his performance in Game 4 of the NLCS last October. He not only pitched six shutout innings and struck out 10 in that 5-1 NLCS-clinching victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, but he also hit three home runs that traveled a combined 1,342 feet.
The Dodgers’ Miguel Rojas won’t take bereavement leave or travel back to his native Venezuela following the sudden death of his father, Miguel Rojas Sr., manager Dave Roberts said before the game.
“There’s a lot going on in Venezuela,” the Dodgers manager said. “And a lot of his family is kind of dispersed around the world, essentially. He just feels they’ve got a handle on it down there, so he’s going to stay with us.”
CINCINNATI — Jorge Soler hit a grand slam in a five-run eighth inning, Zach Neto and Josh Lowe also homered, and the Angels beat the Cincinnati Reds 10-2 on Friday night to snap a seven-game losing streak at Great American Ball Park.
Jack Kochanowicz (2-0) yielded just one run and two hits over seven innings.
Soler also had a two-out double in the third before scoring on Yoan Moncada’s infield single for a 2-0 lead.
Neto’s fifth home run of the season made it 4-0 and Lowe, who was batting .091 (three for 33) coming in, homered over the left-field wall in the sixth for a 5-1 lead.
The Angels improved to .500 or better after 14 games for a sixth straight season, and eighth of nine.
Cincinnati’s Chase Burns (1-1) gave up five earned runs, seven hits and four walks over 5⅓ innings.
Sal Stewart entered leading all rookies with 16 hits, eight extra-base hits, and 32 total bases before going 0 for 3 against the Angels.
Eugenio Suárez had Cincinnati’s only hit through four and he added the Reds’ second hit on a single in the sixth. Elly De La Cruz hit his fourth homer of the season in the ninth.
The Angels’ last win in Cincinnati came on April 1, 2013, in the first interleague opening day game in MLB history.
Up next: Angels RHP George Klassen (0-0, 6.75 ERA), who took a no-decision in his major league debut on April 5, goes against Cincinnati LHP Brandon Williamson (1-1, 4.76), who picked up his first major league victory on April 6.
McIlroy, who is hoping to become just the fourth player after Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods to win back-to-back Masters titles has held a six-shot lead at this point in a major before.
He went on to win the 2011 US Open by eight shots – claiming the first of his five majors – and also spreadeagled the field with an eight-shot victory at the 2012 US PGA Championship.
And he plans to maintain an aggressive approach around Augusta National over the weekend as he bids to match Faldo, Phil Mickelson and Lee Trevino’s haul of six majors.
“Don’t protect it. Go out and play freely, keep swinging,” he said when asked what advice his 2011 self would have for him before Saturday.
McIlroy led that year’s Masters by four shots going into the final round, but carded an eight-over-par 80 to tumble down the leaderboard.
“A big part of the lesson from the 2011 Masters to the 2011 US Open was don’t get protective,” he added. “Go out there and keep playing, keep trying to make birdies, stay as trusting and as committed as possible.”
McIlroy also said he plans to watch tennis and spend time with his daughter Poppy to take his mind off the third round.
“That distraction is usually a good thing for me, especially with a late tee time and the lead,” he explained.
“There are two really good semi-finals at Monte Carlo in the tennis. So I’ll watch those.
“We’ve been watching the tennis early in the mornings. And then hopefully spend some time with Poppy. I think we’re about halfway through Zootopia 2.”
It seems bizarre to say now given his dominant position, but there was a spell on Friday where you felt McIlroy was still not playing close to his best.
When McIlroy bogeyed the 10th, he dropped back alongside 2018 champion Reed on six under and his untidiness meant it was all to play for.
Some drives were being sprayed, some approaches were not as precise as they should have been.
At the end of his round, the statistics showed McIlroy ranked 90th in the 91-man field for accuracy off the tee.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter. His exceptional short game held his round together and when things did click into place on the tees and fairways, he motored through the back half in fabulous fashion.
After winning last year, there is not a melodrama every time he makes a bad shot. McIlroy has learned how to be patient around Augusta.
That seems to spell bad news for the rest of a leaderboard stacked with Green Jacket wearers, major title holders and Ryder Cup stars.
Staying even-tempered at the most famously punishing golf course in the world is a trait which two of the big names chasing McIlroy also recognise is necessary to succeed there.
Three-time runner-up Justin Rose, who is tied fourth, is targeting his own redemptive win after losing to McIlroy in last year’s sudden-death play-off and credits his own patience for his back-nine climb up the leaderboard on Friday.
“Early on things were tough out there. But I settled down and built the round back up,” said Rose, who is seven behind McIlroy after a three-under 69 on Friday.
“It’s a continuation of being on the leaderboard from last year and keeping the dream alive. I need to keep it as free as I can.”
Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who had a run of 14 successive pars, joined English pair – and victorious Ryder Cup team-mates – Rose and Tommy Fleetwood on five under par after two birdies in the final three holes.
“I was hitting good shots and just wasn’t converting but I was patient out there,” said Lowry, whose sole major win came at the 2023 Open.
But there is another contender, also from that European band of brothers, who has not yet learned how to stay calm at Augusta.
Tyrrell Hatton might have to learn quickly if he is going to push McIlroy.
The 30-year-old Englishman knocked in seven birdies on the way to a six-under par 66, seemingly carding the round of the day only to be matched by McIlroy.
“I definitely don’t stay calmer or more patient this week. If anything, I am probably more on edge,” said Hatton.
“I will just take each shot as it comes and see what we end up with.”
AUGUSTA, Ga. — After the career grand slam, a grand entrance.
Rory McIlroy, who last year became the sixth man to win all four major championships, got off to a spectacular start at the Masters on Thursday to claim a share of the lead with a five-under-par 67.
In one sense, the pressure is off. No more wondering about winning a green jacket. Yet he was relieved to feel those familiar butterflies on the first tee.
“Look, we’re playing the first major of the year, it’s the Masters,” he said, having overcome a slightly wobbly start to collect five birdies in his final 11 holes. “If I felt absolutely nothing on that first tee, that’s not a good sign.
“So it was nice to feel my hand shaking a little bit when the tee went into the ground, and struggle to put the ball on top of the tee. So I knew I was feeling it. That’s a good thing. That’s why we want to be here. We want to be able to play our best golf when we’re feeling like that.”
Among those two shots off the lead is 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed, who said the warm and dry conditions figure to make a difficult course even more challenging.
“It definitely has the teeth in it to make it really, really tough,” Reed said. “The greens are already getting firm, crusty, and bouncy.”
He said the 17th green, typically one of the firmest on the course, is a good example of that.
“I actually broke one tee on the hole trying to fix a ball mark,” he said. “You already know it’s going to get crusty. You know it’s going to get fast, and it’s going to take a lot of patience.”
Some stars struggled. Two-time champion Bubba Watson shot four-over, as did the long-hitting Bryson DeChambeau, who tied for fifth last year.
Said Shane Lowry, who finished two under: “This might be the toughest Masters we’ve played in a while.”
Bryson DeChambeau reacts after his tee shot on the 12th hole Thursday at Augusta National.
(Eric Gay / Associated Press)
There’s something about this storied tournament that can make even the steeliest of players weak in the knees. Mason Howell, the 18-year-old amateur playing with McIlroy, was taking such vicious swings at the ball that his hat came off three times during his round, including on the opening tee.
“That hasn’t happened in a while,” said Howell, who last year became the third-youngest winner of the U.S. Amateur. “I mean, I was going to swing out of my shoes to see if I could cover that right bunker [on No. 1].”
Even the legendary Jack Nicklaus, who won the Masters a record six times, duck-hooked his ceremonial tee shot early Thursday morning, sending it over the head of patrons lining the left side of the downward slope in front of him.
“I got it high enough to hit it about 110 yards over their heads to the left,” said Nicklaus, 86, who won his last green jacket 40 years ago. “I don’t know what was running through my mind other than not hurt anybody.”
Fred Couples, 66, the oldest competitor in the field, went from a tie for eighth to a tie for 43rd … on one hole. He had a nine on the par-five 15th, landing in the water twice.
Couples, who had been two under to that point, finished quadruple bogey, double bogey, double bogey.
Collin Morikawa, who shot a 74 at two over, said he doesn’t feel quite right, physically, although it doesn’t feel like a back issue to him.
“Physically there’s no pain,” he said. “It’s just a trust thing. My legs don’t want to trust that it’s going to hold up the back and the rest of the body. When that’s feeling wobbly, plus you add the adrenaline and the nerves, it’s just not — it’s not easy…”
He called Thursday “the toughest round I’ve ever played,” and said he could not remember waking up quite as nervous as he was before the start of this tournament.
“I honestly didn’t know if I was going to make contact,” he said.
Rory McIlroy plays a shot from the 12th tee during the first round of the Masters on Thursday.
(Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
McIlroy, playing in his 18th Masters, said he leaned heavily on his experience to maintain an even keel. A year ago, he had two double-bogeys on Thursday, and two more on Sunday, yet never panicked.
So this time, when he found himself hitting out the trees on some early holes, he resisted the urge to get too “guide-y” on his shots and instead kept swinging away.
“Even though I wasn’t hitting fairways the first few holes, I still kept swinging,” he said. “I didn’t try to get the tee down and hit fairway finders. I just trusted that eventually I’ll start to make some good swings. So that was a little bit different.”
The biggest difference? What he achieved a year ago.
“It’s easier for me,” McIlroy said, “to make those swings and not worry about where it goes when I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on and have a Coke Zero at the end of the day.”
Less than a year after “The Handmaid’s Tale” concluded its startling and emotionally draining look at what can happen when unchecked power and totalitarianism become codified, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian saga expands on screen with “The Testaments” — and shifts focus to the simmering rebellion of teenage girls, led by actors Chase Infiniti and Lucy Halliday.
Based on Atwood’s 2019 novel of the same name, the new series takes place three to four years after “The Handmaid’s Tale” finale, which kicked off the beginning of the end of Gilead. It is set at an elite preparatory school to groom future wives, made up of daughters of Commanders, many of whom have been taken away from their birth parents, and so-called Pearl Girls, recruited from outside of Gilead. It is named after and run by Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd), the profoundly complex antagonist from the original series.
Infiniti plays Agnes MacKenzie, the daughter of a high-ranking Commander, but her actual identity is Hannah, the kidnapped biological daughter of June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss). Meanwhile, Halliday plays Daisy, a recent arrival to the Pearl Girl squad who is really there as an undercover spy for the Gilead’s resistance group, Mayday, under the guidance of June. In a departure from the book, Daisy is not June’s other daughter, Baby Nicole.
Bruce Miller, who developed “The Handmaid’s Tale” and served as showrunner for much of its run, returned to adapt the sequel. And much like how June summoned her power to fight against the world that confined her, Miller thinks the grit that Agnes, Daisy and their young peers possess to bring it all down is the reason “The Testaments” won’t feel like doomscrolling.
In “The Testaments,” Daisy (Lucy Halliday), left, is a recent arrival to the Pearl Girl squad who is paired with Agnes MacKenzie (Chase Infiniti), the daughter of a high-ranking Commander, by their school’s overlord, Aunt Lydia.
(Disney)
“The hope that it has is why viewers should be ready to come back,” Miller says. “What kind of women has Gilead built? They built the kind of women that could really bring down Gilead. All the things Gilead told them not to do — become friends, develop their own moral compass — they’ve done them all. If June knocked Gilead on its back, her daughter is gonna stand on their neck until it dies.”
The first three episodes of the series are now streaming on Hulu. In an early April video conversation, The Times caught up with Infiniti and Halliday to discuss their induction into “The Handmaid’s Tale” universe, observing Moss in action and the playlist that made an impression on set. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Tell me about your knowledge of Margaret Atwood’s universe. Had you read either book before this project? Did you watch “The Handmaid’s Tale?”
Infiniti: [Points to Halliday] You’ve got the Margaret Atwood No. 1 fan right here.
Halliday: I am the Margaret Atwood No. 1 fan — I hold my hands up. I’d read all of her books. I’d read “Handmaid’s” and “The Testaments” prior to this job and, obviously, I knew about the show.
Infiniti: My first exposure to the story was through the show. I was in high school when “The Handmaid’s Tale” first started airing, and so I remember it kind of taking over my school campus. Everybody was watching it, everybody was talking about it, and I just remember it being so, so massive. And then after that, I read the books.
Halliday: “The Testaments” book came out when I was in school, and my friend brought it in, and we spoke about it at lunchtime. It’s very serendipitous, it’s full circle.
What types of conversations were you having about it?
Halliday: It always feel timely regardless of what point you’re approaching the text at. I think, particularly at the time I read it, and now with this show, what appealed to me was that it was a younger perspective, and it was a new voice in Gilead. I had a level of interest that I hadn’t expected, just because I was a teenage girl at the time I was reading this book and [saw] another experience of a teenage girl that, in some ways, mirrored my own, despite, obviously, I don’t live in Gilead.
After starring in the Oscar-winning “One Battle After Another” as the daughter of revolutionaries, Chase Infiniti is poised to lead another revolution in “The Testaments.”“You feel an extra sense of responsibility playing somebody so young who is fighting for something that is bigger than them,” she says.(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Chase, how do you see Agnes and how do you think her identity may shift when she is maybe living as Hannah? And Lucy, how do you see the Daisy in flashbacks versus the Daisy we meet in Gilead?
Infiniti: I haven’t thought about how Agnes will be when she is free as Hannah. I have concepts in my mind, but I don’t want to form anything too soon that will change the way that I personally could perform, if we’re lucky [enough] to have a Season 2 and beyond. But I think the growth that you see in Agnes, from even just Season 1, you really see her grow into herself and understand her place and understand her voice in the world.
Halliday: It’s an interesting juxtaposition because Daisy in Toronto is free and liberated and happy, but in a way, she’s not as open-minded as she could be. For example, when it comes to Gilead, she’s got these very strong, preconceived ideas of who these people are. She thinks they’re primitive, and she’s got no interest in befriending them. And then she comes to Gilead, and suddenly she’s lost access to a lot of the opportunities she had in Toronto, where she doesn’t have freedom, she can’t just do whatever she wants to, say what she wants and a there’s a great deal of oppression. But by experiencing these girls and by befriending these girls, she is actually now opening her mind to be more susceptible to friendship, and … understanding individuals who are different from who she is.
Let’s get into Agnes and Daisy’s relationship. They’re initially suspicious and distrusting of each other. What intrigued you about their dynamic?
Infiniti: Lucy has a great description about how she views Agnes and Daisy, which I think is very accurate.
Halliday: I see Agnes and Daisy as being two cats in a room sniffing each other out. And it’s because I think they immediately recognize the inherent similarities present in the other person, and that scares them because the other person, from both of their perspectives, is a foreigner, is not what they want to be associated with, yet there’s this innate kindred spirit present, and they can’t deny that. They’re the same language, just in different fonts. We see that throughout the season, and they really, like, rub off on each other and they have something to give to the other person.
There’s one big change from book to screen. Daisy is not Baby Nicole, the half-sister of Agnes. What did you make of that change, Lucy?
Infiniti: Wait a minute. I thought we were sisters this whole time. [laughs]
Halliday: It actually didn’t impact the story that much because in very many ways, Agnes and Daisy are sisters. Their relationship hasn’t altered because of this information. June is still an incredibly important figure in both of their lives. June adopts Daisy when her family is gone, so they still share all of these pieces of their history. They’ve had very similar life experiences, although unbeknownst to each of them, and the bond that they create for themselves is a sisterhood, and they have a love for each other by the end of the season. Although the lineage may be different, just about every single other aspect of Margaret Atwood’s original Daisy and Agnes remains.
An exterior shot of the elite preparatory school to groom future wives that is central to the story of “The Testaments.” It is named after and run by Aunt Lydia, the profoundly complex antagonist from the original series.
(Disney)
A girl’s menstrual cycle is a key character in this story — the power and promise it holds in the eyes of these teenage girls. What was it like to get back to that mindset of your younger self and your ideas of it then? Agnes is frustrated by the rigidness of being a girl, but she’s also curious about what’s to come, and getting her period is critical to that.
Infiniti: I feel like mine and Agnes’ experiences could not be more different. She was very excited to get it, and she was very eager, too, because of what it promises. And she was scared, but she knew that this was the hopeful step, if she was blessed by God, right, to become a wife — it would only benefit her to have it. Also, there’s so much secrecy around it, and a lot of things that these girls are just not taught about what it actually means to get your period, as opposed to the outside “next steps” that they go through. But I remember when I got mine, I was so scared. I remember I cried because I didn’t know what to do.
Were you home? I was at a sleepover and was mortified.
Infiniti: I was in math class at school — and that’s extra terrifying because I was really bad at math. I just remember being very scared. So, when Agnes gets it, I was a bit in awe of the way that she handles it and the way that she takes it and doesn’t let her fear hold her back in her tracks. That’s something that I found to be very intriguing. But you do feel bad because they don’t really know anything about what it means to have your period, what it means to become a woman and go through puberty like that, and all the changes that are going to happen.
Halliday: Periods are not talked about, really, in a mainstream manner. Whereas in Gilead, it’s not a liberated place, it’s not a really progressive society, but periods are spoken about quite freely. I don’t necessarily have anything to say about it, but I do think it’s an interesting idea that even though we, in society, would like to think of ourselves as not being in Gilead, we’re not as freely speaking about periods and menstruation the way that they do there.
Infiniti: I remember in Episode 2, when Agnes goes through that ceremony and she’s literally telling everybody. She’s like, “I was blessed by God. Yo, I’m on my period.” It was crazy. She said it exactly like that, by the way [laughs]. There’s a whole system to announce that this thing has happened because it’s so uncommon in Gilead.
Halliday: On the set, I remember Mike Barker [who directed the first three episodes] called “menarche playlist” and it was just a bit of a laugh.
Infiniti: One of them was totally “… Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears.
Halliday: But I just remember that we’re on set in 2025 and people would be like, “What’s menarche?”
Infiniti: The period aspect is something that I really love that you get to see in the show; you see how openly they all talk about it with each other. Because with your friends, you have very open dialogue, and those are the people who teach you how to use a pad, those people teach you to use a tampon, how to properly take care of yourself in that way. That’s something that I really love about the show is that we get to highlight that, and that’s one of the bonds that it brings between people. Or in the case of our show, the bond that it brings, but also the amount of chaos that it can bring, too, since fertility is so low in Gilead.
In “The Testaments,” Lucy Halliday stars as Daisy, a new Pearl Girl who is really an undercover spy for Mayday.“I hope people watch the show and it only further ignites their disgust for these things and their shock, because we should never be comfortable,” she says.(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
We talked earlier about the flashback and what we learn about how Daisy found herself in Gilead. But we didn’t dig into Elisabeth Moss — she’s an executive producer, but also we get to see her as June. It starts as a brief glimpse, and more in Episode 3, getting the backstory on how she agrees to let Daisy be a spy at the school and help in Mayday’s mission to bring down Gilead. What was it like having Elisabeth on set?
Infiniti: I snuck onto set when she was working with Lucy, don’t worry. She just showered us with so much love and support. That was the biggest gift that we could have gotten since, in a way, she is “The Handmaid’s Tale.” She is the handmaid in “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Halliday: Getting to watch her was truly a privilege because she is so knowledgeable, she is an encyclopedia when it comes to this world and when it comes to Gilead and these characters. And I wanted to leech off of that. I wanted to take that home with me because it really further enforced to me the importance of being prepared as an actor, and it’s something that I know we both took seriously in terms of our work ethic when approaching this job. But it definitely was daunting — I think that was actually my first day on set, was a scene with her.
Actors often talk about how their costumes inform their performances. The red garments in “The Handmaid’s Tale” became such a symbol of resistance in real life. Here, you’ve got the plum and green garments that are in accordance with a narrow view of what is acceptable for women to wear. How did the costumes inform your work?
Infiniti: The first thing it really taught me was that my posture is not as good as I thought it was because those costumes really force you to take over perfect posture. I remember when we first started to wear them every single day, for at least 12 to 14 hours [a day], your back is hurting because of how perfectly straight you’re standing. Even though the costumes are made to fit you exactly, they are restrictive and so you feel immediately like you’re thrown into Gilead and thrown into these girls’ shoes. You have to be almost like a doll, in a sense.
Halliday: I physically was a different character when I was in the scenes in Toronto versus when I was in Gilead because I was inhabiting the space in a very different way. It felt like a full transformation, and it was so helpful in terms of understanding how Daisy would feel in that environment because she’s not getting to present herself in any way that she would feel comfortable or would normally do it.
Infiniti: And you had your little pearl [in your ear].
Halliday: I would check if it was there for maybe a month after we finished filming. I was walking around looking like a Secret Service agent.
Infiniti: I was like, “Is that how the Pearl Girls communicate with each other?”
Halliday: It was like the Starship Enterprise.
Lucy Halliday, right, and Chase Infiniti of “The Testaments.”(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Many people speak of the timeliness of the themes of this show. When you’re actively playing these characters, are you thinking about the politics of the story or does that element come later when you’re reflecting on it or watching it?
Halliday: I don’t think it’d be possible to tell a story without being conscious of any sort of parallels because we all watch the news, we’re all aware of the world we live in. But it’s also worth remembering that none of it was ever intended to be a documentary. Margaret Atwood wrote it based on history, and so everything was always factual, but it was historically factual, and it’s just so happened to be that, unfortunately, we’re seeing events repeat themselves or being emulated in reality.
Chase, you’re coming off “One Battle After Another,” which spoke of modern political division and extremism. How was it to go from that to something like this?
Infiniti: One of the cool things that I really loved about both of those projects is the fact that both Willa [her character in the film] and Agnes are revolutionary characters. You feel an extra sense of responsibility playing somebody so young who is fighting for something that is bigger than them. We’re privileged to be part of something that’s saying something about the world and has the ability to enact change in the world. We really wanted to make sure that we were doing justice by the story, by the writing, by Margaret Atwood’s work and telling the story as authentically as we can from our characters, so that in the most perfect situation, we can transcend the screen and continue to touch people and hopefully enact change in viewers’ own personal lives.
Halliday: We hope people enjoy it because it is a source of entertainment. We hope people feel hope because there’s friendship and there’s a beautiful storyline inherent to it. But I think also what would be great is if people watch it and they do feel shocked. People should feel shocked or taken aback or disgusted by these scenes because we have such an overabundance of exposure to scenes of these nature — whether it be on the news or whether it be on a fictional TV show — but we hear about these events all the time nowadays, and I think we run the risk of becoming desensitized to them. I hope people watch the show and it only further ignites their disgust for these things and their shock, because we should never be comfortable. We should never be able to sit with it and feel OK. We should always have that fire burning.
WASHINGTON — Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of President Trump, on Monday won a Supreme Court order that is expected to lead to the dismissal of his criminal conviction for refusing to testify to Congress.
Prodded by the Trump administration, the justices threw out an appellate ruling upholding Bannon’s conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol.
The move frees a trial judge to act on the Republican administration’s pending request to dismiss Bannon’s conviction and indictment “in the interests of justice.”
The dismissal would be largely symbolic. Bannon served a four-month prison term after a jury convicted him of contempt of Congress in 2022. A federal appeals court in Washington had upheld the conviction.
The justices also issued a similar order in the case of former Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, who was pardoned by Trump last year.
Sittenfeld had served 16 months in federal prison after a jury convicted him of bribery and attempted extortion in 2022. The high court order allows a lower court to consider dismissing his indictment.
The Justice Department brought the case against Bannon during Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency, but it changed course after Trump took office again last year.
Bannon had initially argued that his testimony was protected by Trump’s claim of executive privilege. But the House panel and the Justice Department contended such a claim was dubious because Trump had fired Bannon from the White House in 2017 and Bannon was thus a private citizen when he was consulting with the then-president in the run-up to the Capitol riot.
Bannon separately has pleaded guilty in a New York state court to defrauding donors to a private effort to build a wall on the U.S. southern border, as part of a plea deal that allowed him to avoid jail time. That conviction is unaffected by the Supreme Court action.
Ross Stewart capitalises on a “misjudgement” by Ben White to give Southampton a shock lead against Premier League leaders Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre maintained his strong form with a round of 64 for a four-shot halfway lead at the Texas Open in San Antonio.
MacIntyre had four birdies in his last five holes with his playing partner and Ryder Cup team-mate Ludwig Aberg of Sweden his nearest challenger.
Starting on the back nine, the world number 11 put down a marker with an eight-foot eagle putt at the par-five 14th and followed that up with birdies at his next two holes.
The only blemish for the 29-year-old was a bogey at the 17th before he regrouped to finish with a flourish for a confidence boost ahead of the Masters which begins in Augusta on Thursday.
“I’ve been driving the ball nice,” said the Scot. “I’ve got a new driver in the bag. Iron play today was exceptional I would say.
“I hit a pure wedge shot on 17, I thought it was absolutely dynamite there. Approach play, hitting the number, hitting the targets. Got to finish off with good putting. Overall, just really solid.
“I didn’t play here last year, just went straight into Augusta. This was an adjustment for that reason. I wanted to be sharp – or sharper – going into Augusta.”
Aberg had four birdies over his first 14 holes before an eagle at the sixth, but he finished with a bogey.
“For me, golf is about putting yourself in situations where you can win tournaments,” he said.
“I feel like I haven’t really done that very well the last 12 months or so, but starting to see it now, which has been really nice. Starting to get back into that level, which is really nice for me to see. So I’m looking forward to one more shot at it this week.”
Among those one shot back are six-time PGA Tour winner Tony Finau who is chasing a first win since April 2023 and who needs a win to be invited to the Masters.
The 36-year-old American finished his round strongly with an eagle putt at the 18th.
“It was nice to make an eagle on the last,” he said. “I hit a really good drive, pushed my second shot a little, got lucky, covered the water and was able to roll that one in. Sometimes those are the small little breaks that you need to be towards the top of the leaderboard.”
Determined to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of rival St. John Bosco on Thursday, No. 1-ranked Orange Lutheran turned to Texas-bound catcher Brady Murrietta, who came through with a memorable individual performance in a 5-4 road victory.
Let’s count the ways Murrietta made an impact.
In the top of the first inning, he had a double. In the bottom of the first, he threw out the speedy James Clark trying to steal second. In the fifth, he drove in a run with a sacrifice pop fly. In the top of the sixth, he broke a 3-3 tie by sending a hanging slider from closer Jack Champlin over the fence in left field for a two-run home run. In the bottom of the sixth, he tagged out the potential tying run at the plate.
Pro scouts were out en masse to see Orange Lutheran pitcher Cooper Sides, whose fastball touched 95 mph. He struck out eight in five innings.
Champlin had a two-run triple in the first inning against Sides. Champlin had given up only one earned run all season until Orange Lutheran scored three runs (one earned) in 2⅔ innings of relief. The Lancers were particularly excited because Champlin taunted them after saving Wednesday’s 4-1 win, leading to shoving and pushing after the game. As a precautionary measure, the teams did not shake hands after Thursday’s game.
Orange Lutheran improved to 8-3 and 1-2 in the Trinity League. No. 2 St. John Bosco is 11-3 and 5-1. The teams could meet again next week at the Boras Classic.
Cypress 6, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 2: Tate Belfanti allowed one hit in four innings and struck out four for Cypress, which finished third at the National Classic.
Concord De La Salle 6, Corona Centennial 3: The Spartans won the National Classic. Devin Bishop and Michael Nonis hit home runs for Centennial, which became the first team in four days to score against De La Salle.
Bell 1, Las Vegas Southeast Career Tech 0: The Eagles improved to 16-1 and went 4-0 in San Diego. Manuel Pasillas threw five scoreless innings and AJ Esquivel threw two scoreless innings for the save.
West Ranch 6, Saugus 5: A four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh lifted West Ranch to the Foothill League win. Ty Diaz had two RBIs.
Hart 7, Golden Valley 4: Hayden Rhodes delivered two hits and three RBIs for Hart.
Valencia 9, Castaic 7: Justin Gaisford had a two-run home run for Valencia.
Corona Santiago 3, Aquinas 0: Troy Randall struck out 10 in five innings and Max Eldridge hit a home run to lead Santiago.
Foothill 2, La Habra 1: Caden Lauridsen struck out four with no walks while giving up two hits in a complete-game performance.
Agoura 6, Oak Park 0: Tyler Sterling had three RBIs for the Chargers.
Newbury Park 3, Thousand Oaks 0: Ben Miller and Chase Renzo combined on the shutout and Carson Richter had a three-run home run to lead the Panthers.
Oaks Christian 2, Westlake 1: Luke Puls had a solo home run and Gave Geyer threw three innings of scoreless relief.
Long Beach Millikan 4, Lakewood 0: Daunte Bell struck out eight with no walks in throwing the shutout.
Villa Park 4, Temecula Valley 2: Ezra Ornelas had two hits for Villa Park.
Softball
Norco 9, Corona del Sol 0: Leighton Gray and Isabella Ray hit home runs and Peyton May allowed three hits in a five-inning win at the Michelle Carew Classic.
HOUSTON — Isaac Paredes hit a tiebreaking two-RBI double with two outs in the eighth inning to help the Houston Astros to a 9-7 win over the Angels on Sunday despite a disappointing major league debut from starter Tatsuya Imai.
There were two outs in the eighth when the Angels intentionally walked Yordan Alvarez to give Houston runners at first and third. Alvarez stole second before Paredes hit a line drive off Drew Pomeranz (0-1) to put Houston on top 8-6.
Jose Altuve followed with a double to push the lead to 9-6.
Imai gave up three hits and four runs with four walks and four strikeouts in 2⅔ innings.
The Astros (2-2) are banking on him to have a big year after signing the right-hander to a three-year, $54-million contract following a stellar career in Japan where he was a three-time All-Star in eight seasons with the Pacific League’s Seibu Lions.
The Angels (2-2) had two on with one out in the ninth when Bryan King took over for Bryan Abreu. Nolan Schanuel hit an RBI single to cut the lead to two, but King struck out the next two batters for his first save.
Jorge Soler drove in three runs and Zach Neto hit a two-run homer for the Angels as they split the season-opening series.
The score was tied with one on and one out in the fourth inning when Neto made it 6-4 with his shot to the seats in left field.
Christian Walker’s two-RBI double with two outs in the fifth inning tied it 6-6.
Christian Vázquez drove in two runs with a single in Houston’s four-run second inning to give the Astros an early lead.
There was one out in the third when Imai walked Neto before he moved to third on a single by Mike Trout. Schanuel walked to load the bases and Soler cleared them with his double to the corner in left field to get the Angels within one.
Jo Adell’s two-out RBI single tied it at 4-4 and chased Imai.
Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz yielded four hits and six runs with five walks in four innings.
Darius Garland added 15 points and 11 assists and Derrick Jones Jr. 13 points for the Clippers, who made 45 of 77 shots (58.4%).
Gary Trent Jr. had a season-high 36 points to pace Milwaukee, which had only eight players available. Taurean Prince added 18 points and AJ Green scored 15 for the Bucks, who have lost 10 of their last 12 games.
The Bucks stayed close early, trailing 29-25 after one quarter with Trent scoring 11 points, including sinking three of five from three-point range.
The Clippers began to pull away in the second, holding a 57-46 lead at the half after leading by as many as 16. Leonard had 15 first-half points.
Brook Lopez, a member of the Bucks’ 2021 NBA championship team, was honored with a video tribute in his first visit back to Milwaukee. He was whistled for a technical foul as the teams were headed to the locker room at halftime.
The Clippers outscored Milwaukee 39-28 in the third and extended its lead to as many as 24 points in the fourth before the Bucks pulled within 11 in the late stages.
Sloppy play hurt Milwaukee, which committed 22 turnovers leading to 33 Clippers points.
Giannis Antetokounmpo sat out a seventh consecutive game for Milwaukee with a left knee hyperextension and bone bruise. The two-time MVP has played in a career-low 36 games this season.
The Bucks also were missing Kevin Porter Jr. (right knee), Bobby Portis (left wrist sprain), Kyle Kuzma (Achilles tendinopathy), Ryan Rollins (left hip flexor), Myles Turner (right knee), Gary Harris (personal reasons) and Thanasis Antetokounmpo (left calf).
Green and Ousmane Dieng fouled out in the fourth, leaving the Bucks with six available players to finish the game.
Up next for the Clippers: vs. the Portland Trail Blazers at Intuit Dome on Tuesday.
HOUSTON — Carlos Correa and Isaac Paredes each drove in two runs and sparked an eight-run sixth inning for the Houston Astros in an 11-9 victory over the Angels on Saturday night.
Trailing 6-4, the Astros tied it on a single by Correa and a throwing error by Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe. Houston took a lead on a single from Christian Walker.
The Astros tagged Angels reliever Walbert Ureña (0-1) for six runs on four hits in one inning.
Houston blew it open off a two-run single by Yainer Diaz and a two-run double off the right field wall from Jake Meyers to make it 11-6. The eight runs is the most scored in the sixth inning by Houston since scoring 10 against the Dodgers on July 4.
An Angels bullpen that had registered 7⅔ innings of scoreless baseball to start the season gave up eight runs between Ureña and Joey Lucchesi in the sixth inning alone.
Houston trailed 6-0 in the fifth, but a two-run double by Paredes chased Angels starter Reid Detmers.
Detmers, who was making his first regular-season start since Sept. 27, 2024, gave up three runs on six hits and struck out nine in 4⅔ innings.
Kai-Wei Teng (1-0) made his Astros debut in the fifth inning. Teng was acquired from the San Francisco Giants in January. He gave up no runs on one hit, struck out two and walked one in 2⅓ innings to register his first win.
Oswald Peraza and Jorge Soler homered in back-to-back innings to make it 3-0. Nolan Schanuel hit a three-run homer in the ninth to make it 11-9. The Angels have eight homers as a team, which tops the majors.
Cristian Javier gave up six runs on four hits, striking out one and walking four in 4⅔ innings.
