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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — If something happened once, it can happen again. That’s kind of what Yogi Berra was getting at when he said “it’s like deja vu all over again.”

Berra, the late Yankee catcher and once New Jersey’s unofficial poet laureate, spent most of his life within walking distance of East Rutherford, N.J., where history could repeat itself all over again in Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina. And that makes his words newly relevant.

Argentina and Lionel Messi, the reigning champions, will be seeking to become the first to repeat in 64 years while Spain will be playing in the title game for just the second time ever. And the similarities to its first trip, in 2010, are uncanny.

Sixteen years ago Spain became just the second reigning European champion to win a World Cup. It will enter Sunday’s game as the reigning European champion.

In the run-up to the 2010 World Cup, Spain ran off a 35-game unbeaten streak, which matched the longest in history at the time. La Roja will enter Sunday’s game with a 37-game unbeaten streak, which matches the current longest streak in history.

And that 2010 team was known for an absence of ego and a depth of character, a blue-collar collection of quiet superstars built around a core of Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández and Carles Puyol, players who emphasized humility, unity and selflessness.

This team? It’s the same.

“We’re one big family,” center back Pau Cubarsí said in Spanish.

A family that has already achieved its goal, according to coach Luis de la Fuente. So while Argentina may be feeling the pressure of chasing World Cup history, De la Fuente said his team is playing with house money

“I don’t believe in the idea that finals are there to be won. They’re there to be enjoyed,” he said. “What’s to come could be the icing on the cake.”

Of course a cake is nothing without the icing. But then Spain hasn’t had to separate joy from success in this World Cup, enjoying an unbeaten run to the final whose only blemish has been a tournament-opening draw with Cape Verde.

That was the first of six clean sheets for Spanish keeper Unai Simón, though it’s really been a group effort with Simón facing an average of just two shots on goal a game.

De la Fuente, 65, whose only senior international appearance as a player came in the 1988 Olympics, coached Spain’s U-23 team to a silver medal in the Tokyo Games in 2021 then took over the national team a year later, after it crashed out of a second straight World Cup in the round of 16.

De la Fuente spent nearly two decades coaching at the youth level, including nine years with Spain’s U19 and U21 national teams. But seven months after taking over the senior team, he led Spain to its first UEFA Nations League title and a year after that it won its first Champions League title in more than a decade. La Roja has lost just twice in 48 games under De la Fuente, who has the highest winning percentage of any man who has managed more than nine games for Spain.

Given his background, De la Fuente trusts young players — with an average age of 26.7, Spain has the sixth-youngest roster in the World Cup — and his starting lineup includes two teenagers in Cubarsí and forward Lamine Yamal. The core of the team — Simón, Mikel Merino, Dani Olmo, Rodri, Mikel Oyarzabal, Fabián Ruiz — are players he coached to European youth-level championships and ones he has known for half their lives.

That has given the team a level of familiarity and trust that goes both ways.

“This team never ceases to amaze me,” the coach said. “The scope for improvement is endless. It was a labor of love, a process. It was about reaching the crucial moment in the best possible shape.”

And they’ve gotten there, said right back Pedro Porro, another product of De la Fuente’s youth teams, by all pulling in the same direction.

“From the very first day we got here — not just me, but the whole team — we’ve been working toward a common goal,” Porro said. “That’s part of the process. There are no excuses.”

That, too, is something De la Fuente brought to the job, though it’s not an original concept for Spain. It’s more like deja vu all over again.

“We are ordinary, generous people,” the coach said. “We’ve recaptured the spirit of 2010.”

TOURS are now available of a secret network of rivers located under a major UK city.

However, adventure-seekers will want to be quick as tickets are selling out fast.

The Sheaf & Porter Rivers Trust have officialled launched its summer Megatron tours, which run for 16 weeks.

These tours will be run by volunteers, who will take explorers on twice-daily trips around Sheffield’s underground.

Dating back to the mid-1800s, the Megatron is a large maze of tunnels located under various parts of the city, including the railway station, BBC Sheffield, the Sheffield Archives, and Red Tape Studios.

The extravagent system was originally constructed to contain the overflow from the rivers Sheaf, Porter, and the Don.

BLIMP MY RIDE

I took the ultimate London sightseeing tour aboard the Goodyear blimp

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I toured Amalfi coast and found less crowded restaurants & clear blue waters

However, the system of rivers eventually became polluted and even covered over the years.

Now, the Trust is working to uncover and restore these historic features, even taking those who dare venture into the depths of the Megatron on tours in order to fund the project.

On these tours, volunteers share their passion for the ecology of the city’s waterways and other interesting facts as they guide you on the two-mile water walk.

Ticket prices help to fund everything from river clean-ups to the installation of “light wells”, which cast some light onto the hidden rivers for the first time in 150 years.

If you’re looking to participate, make sure you have the proper attire before you embark on this underground adventure.

Varying water depths throughout the tour mean waders and sturdy footwear are recommend.

You will also want to be fairly agile for this experience, with lots to navigate, from slippery algae-covered rocks to tight gaps that require crouching.

This tour also provides glimpses into the city’s industrial past, with aged grindstones, crucible caps, even some tools found along the way.

You may also spot some stalactiteshanging from the tunnels, but make sure you don’t touch these.

And Broad Street West, the culvert transforms into a large single looming arch, named “Megatron” by urban explorers.

The name was chosen in response to Manchester’s “Optimus Prime” culvert, both of which took inspiration from after the comic and movie series “Transformers”.

While the first section of the culvert is built from huge stone blocks from the old Castlefolds Wholesale Market, a shorter stretch of blue brick under Exchange Street was built around 1890 to serve as a ramp for electric trams travelling from Rotherham to central Sheffield.

You may also spot some wildlife on your tour, with a variety of birds, invertebrates, and even the Daubenton’s bat taking up residence.

The public is advised that points of the water can reach chest height on this tour, with rainfall impacting both the current and depth.

While the Sheaf and Porter River Trust Megatron Tour has sold out for July, more information on ticket releases for August and September can be found here.

Published on
14/07/2026 – 7:53 GMT+2

The price of Brent crude climbed to just over $84 a barrel after soaring nearly 10% on Monday. US benchmark crude was up 1.4% at $79.20 a barrel.

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Oil prices are still below their wartime peak of nearly $120 a barrel, but uncertainty over the future stability of supplies deepened as the US and Iran each asserted they controlled the Strait of Hormuz.

US share futures were down 0.3% as the U.S. launched more strikes on Iran after President Donald Trump said Washington was “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the strait.

Fighting in the region has kept oil tankers from using the waterway to deliver crude to customers from the Persian Gulf, driving up fuel prices worldwide.

Asia-Pacific shares slip overnight

In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 1% to 66,574.96 and the Kospi in South Korea declined 3.2% to 6,589.37.

The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.8% to 3,884.32, even though the government reported that China’s exports jumped 27% in June from a year earlier as adoption of artificial intelligence drove strong demand for computer chips and other technology.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.1% higher, to 24,230.46, while in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.5% to 8,767.00.

Monday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 0.8%, coming off its fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.6%.

Chip stocks like Micron Technology helped lead the way lower. Micron fell 4.4%, eating into what had been a stellar rise of 243.1% for the year so far.

Worries are rising that stock prices have shot too high and that the demand may not be sustainable if AI doesn’t deliver as much profit and productivity as expected.

Nvidia fell 3.5%. Because it’s the largest stock on Wall Street by value thanks to the euphoria around AI, it was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

Investors turn to earnings

Much of Wall Street’s attention this week will be on profit reports from companies saying how much they earned during the spring. On Tuesday alone, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo are all releasing their latest quarterly results.

Analysts are forecasting that companies in the S&P 500 index will deliver overall growth of 23.6% from a year earlier, according to FactSet. If they’re right, it would be the second straight quarter of growth better than 20%.

Companies across industries will need to deliver strong growth to justify the big moves their stock prices have made. Indexes are near records despite their sharp recent swings due to worries around AI stocks.

More costly oil would push inflation higher, potentially leading the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates. Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.

In other dealings early Tuesday, the US dollar slipped to 162.34 Japanese yen from 162.35 yen. The euro rose to $1.1391 from $1.1381.

Additional sources • AP

PHILADELPHIA — Jordan Walker silenced Philadelphia’s boo birds by homering on his last six swings, chasing down Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber in the final round and becoming the first St. Louis Cardinal to win the MLB All-Star Home Run Derby on Monday night.

Schwarber hit 11 homers during his 15-swing turn in the final round. Philadelphia, fans, who loudly booed everyone but Schwarber and Bryce Harper throughout the night, quietly headed to the exits when Walker’s winning shot soared over the left field wall.

“I was once told you don’t boo nobodies,” Walker said. “So it feels pretty good.”

Schwarber advanced out of the first round and then beat Boston’s Willson Contreras in a head-to-head matchup in the second round to face off against Walker, a 24-year-old who beat Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero in Round 2.

Schwarber, the major league home run leader, had fans roaring on every swing.

Swinging away with the top button on his Cardinals jersey undone, the 24-year-old Walker seemed nonplussed by the jeers and the massive stage during All-Star festivities.

“He earned it,” Schwarber said.

Walker chewed a big wad of bubble gum and wore his cap backward just like Hall of Famer and derby great Ken Griffey Jr. He celebrated with his family immediately on the field, while his father rejoiced in recalling how Walker started hitting long home runs when he was 6 years old.

He fulfilled this childhood dream in dramatic fashion. Walker hit his seventh homer with two swings remaining and his eighth on the next swing to earn bonus swings. Needing to hit four straight homers to win, the right-handed-hitting Jordan knocked one off the top of the center field fence 401 feet away. He reached 10 homers, and Philadelphia fans booed with all their might, only for Jordan to finish the sensational surge and celebrate as fireworks shot off around him.

“That was impressive,” said Schwarber, a runner-up for the second time.

Walker is a first-time All-Star for the Cardinals having a breakout season. He has a career high 22 homers after struggling with a combined 11 over the previous two years.

Those final six in Philadelphia are now stamped on the derby highlight reel.

Revamped Derby format delivers drama

MLB ditched its timed clock and returned to a swing format, with each hitter continuing to swing if he went deep on his final one.

The extra time between swings gave hitters time to track their home runs — and Philadelphia a smidge more time to unleash those throaty boos at Contreras and Walker.

Each player had 20 swings in the first round and the top four advanced. Hitters were seeded for the second round, where No. 1 faces 4 and 2 meets 3.

Each player got 15 swings in the second round, with batters homering on their final swings continuing until they fell short.

Gelston writes for the Associated Press.

MINNEAPOLIS — Trevor Larnach homered and drove in two runs, Ryan Jeffers added a two-run double, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Angels 4-2 on Sunday and head into the All-Star break with eight wins in their last nine games.

Larnach’s single in the third inning scored Luke Keaschall, tying the score at 1. Jeffers followed with a double that knocked in Ryan Kreidler and Larnach for a 3-1 lead.

Larnach added a 405-foot homer to right in the eighth inning, his seventh of the season, as the Twins (48-49) won their fifth straight series.

Minnesota starter Taj Bradley (9-3) worked seven innings, giving up six hits and two earned runs with six strikeouts and a pair of walks. Andrew Morris struck out two over the last two innings and earned his third save.

Josh Lowe and Denzer Guzman hit solo home runs for the Angels (38-59), who dropped their fourth straight series. Lowe’s eighth of the season came in the second inning, and Guzman added his fourth in the seventh inning.

José Soriano (8-6) gave up five hits, three earned runs and two walks in five innings.

Up next for Angels: Host the Detroit Tigers for a three-game series starting Friday.

The Dodgers’ 9-2 loss to the Diamondbacks on Saturday wasn’t enough to prevent them from going into the All-Star break with the best record in the majors — that much is ensured. But the uninspired all-around performance sealed a series loss on the final weekend of the season’s first half.

The Dodgers (61-35) put little pressure on the Diamondbacks pitching staff. And Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto wrapped up his first-half campaign with his highest-scoring start of the season; he surrendered six runs in six innings.

Over the All-Star break, Yamamoto (2.85 ERA) will get the week to rest. Before the game Saturday, manager Dave Roberts confirmed Yamamoto, an All-Star for the second consecutive year, will not pitch in the game.

The timing of his start Saturday, three days before the Midsummer Classic, suggested as much. Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to have his left knee drained coming out of the All-Star break and will not travel to Philadelphia. So Justin Wrobleski, who was added to the National League roster Saturday, is the only Dodger set to pitch in the All-Star Game.

Yamamoto held the Diamondbacks to one run through the first five innings. But his final inning quickly unraveled. It started with a leadoff walk and peaked with a three-run home run from James McCann.

The Dodgers finally rallied for two runs in the sixth and then fell quiet again. The Diamondbacks then scored three runs against Landon Knack in his three-inning season debut coming off the injured list.

Yamamoto’s uncharacteristic sixth inning ended his streak of quality starts at five, including two that lasted eight innings or more. He leads the team with 110⅔ innings pitched.

“His delivery is so consistent, repeatable,” Roberts said before the game. “He uses his body so efficiently. I just see how he takes care of himself, and the tax wasn’t going to be a problem for him.”

Yamamoto’s workload, along with Wrobleski’s emergence, have helped the Dodgers weather injuries to pitchers who were expected to be major contributors.

In a promising sign for closer Edwin Díaz’s recovery timeline, he started a rehab assignment with single-A Ontario on Saturday. Díaz made just seven appearances for the Dodgers before undergoing an operation to remove loose bodies from his right elbow in late April.

“He’s been throwing pretty effortlessly, free, maybe a week after he started throwing,” pitching coach Mark Prior said.

He estimated that Díaz would return in about three to four weeks if his progression goes smoothly.

Blake Snell — who also had loose bodies removed from his pitching elbow, undergoing a NanoNeedle Scope procedure on May 19 — threw two simulated innings to batters Saturday.

Snell is scheduled to begin a minor-league rehab assignment next weekend, Roberts said. Prior believes Snell will need at least four to five outings, likening it to a spring training buildup.

“The goal would be to get him fully built up to 90ish pitches before he comes back,” Prior said.

Tyler Glasnow, who had been sidelined for more than two months with a lingering back injury, threw a bullpen session Friday.

“It was like 95, 96 [mph] in his ‘pen, but he does that rolling out of bed when he’s healthy,” Prior said. “But it’s a good sign.”

Glasnow has had plenty of back and forth in his rehab, however. Twice he started playing catch only to be shut down when back spasms returned.

“The schedule is starting to move with a little bit more consistency than it had been,” Prior said. “So he’s in a good spot.”

Glasnow is scheduled for another bullpen session on Monday.

Hull KR head coach Willie Peters told BBC Radio Humberside:

“I’m very disappointed. We need to look at what happened. I need to be accountable, players need to be accountable, staff need to be accountable.

“I’m not bothered about the scoreboard, I’m bothered about performance. That was a really, really poor performance.

“We got back at half-time to 6-6, we had an opportunity to put pressure on in the second half, but we didn’t do that. It was our doing.

“We had ill discipline, yellow cards. It hurts. The refereeing decisions are not my concern – my concern is my team and that performance.”

Hull KR: Hampshire, Davies, Hiku, Gildart, Burgess, Lewis, May, Sue, Lawton, Whitbread, Martin, Batchelor, Minchella

Interchanges: Litten, Broadbent, Luckley, Dezaria

Wakefield: Rourke, Walsmsley, Scott, Tate, Johnstone, Trueman, Smoothy, McMeeken, Smith, Rodwell, Storton, Vagana, Tevaga

Interchanges: Pitts, Hamlin-Uele, Faatili, Lawford

Referee: Chris Kendall.

The L.A. Zoo’s elephants are now in Tulsa, and the zoo’s longtime nonprofit partner is now in bankruptcy court.

The litany of woes at the L.A. Zoo grew longer last month as the city’s nonprofit partner, the Greater Los Angeles Zoological Association, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing “incessant litigation” from the city of Los Angeles as the cause.

The city sued GLAZA — its partner for more than half a century — in 2024 over a $50 million endowment that each side argued was theirs to steward.

The city won a preliminary injunction in Los Angeles Superior Court that barred GLAZA from keeping the money when its contract with the zoo ended last year. Following the split and lawsuit, GLAZA dwindled in size from 42 full-time employees to just four part-time employees.

Now GLAZA says it owes its creditors, including more than $300,000 that it needs to pay a law firm that has represented the nonprofit in its legal battle with the city.

“The City has designated an army of eight attorneys to overwhelm GLAZA with endless discovery, depositions, and court filings all to run up GLAZA’s legal fees,” the nonprofit said in a statement shared with The Times. “As a result, GLAZA has been left with no options other than to seek protection from the bankruptcy court to ensure the survival of GLAZA and the protection of its donors.”

Following its separation from the city, GLAZA executives hope the nonprofit can work in the animal conservation efforts in Southern California.

On July 1, the City Council approved $250,000 in outside lawyers related to the bankruptcy case.

The zoo is facing headwinds as membership has declined precipitously and facilities have deteriorated, according to an Los Angeles County civil grand jury report.

The city attorney’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment on GLAZA’s bankruptcy.

Pratt’s new frontier

Former mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt was far from Los Angeles as he took a meeting with President Trump in Washington, D.C., a few days ago.

Pratt, who came up short of the Nov. 2 runoff by a few percentage points, met with the president in the Oval Office, posting a photo of the rendezvous to social media Tuesday.

“I will never stop fighting for my community,” he wrote.

Pratt paired the visit with an announcement of a new media endeavor he plans to launch called “WAR.” He said the foundation will fight against political corruption, advocate for transparency in government and “restore common sense.”

The website for the foundation doesn’t have additional details, just a link to contribute and a link to a website selling Pratt merch.

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Pratt also posted a 9-minute video Wednesday calling out California’s election system, claiming that the results of the June 2 primary were skewed by fraud.

Representatives for Pratt’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Phoning it in

After the flag salute and brief comments, L.A. City Council meetings kick off with a public comment period, during which crusading citizens often let loose on city officials as the council members quietly listen, leave the room or chat among themselves.

It’s not always L.A.’s finest hour, as certain commenters often resort to slurs and ad hominem attacks about the council members’ race, ethnicity and even physical appearance.

On July 1, public comment expanded as new state law, SB 707, went into effect, requiring the council to take telephonic public comment.

The council also had to verbally state the amendments they make to motions due to the new law, Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson noted. Historically, the council has affixed amendments to a bulletin board in council chambers.

After frequent speaker Armando Herman used the N-word at the July 1 meeting, Harris-Dawson noted that the state legislature had done nothing about offensive comments at public meetings.

“Our friends in the state legislature made the decision to require us to have telephonic public comment. They did nothing, zero, about what we just heard. Since they want to intervene in our meetings, I’d call on them to do something about what they just heard,” he said.

The council did ban commenters from using the N-word and C-word last year. Speakers who use those words receive a warning and are booted from the meeting if they do it again.

Harris-Dawson said the new state law was “problematic” and noted another issue.

“We can’t verify if calls are bots or foreign agents, which poses a security risk,” he said in a statement to The Times.

State of play

— BOYLE-ING OVER: Mayor Karen Bass, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and County Supervisor Hilda Solis were roundly booed and heckled by Boyle Heights residents during a town hall Thursday about the Boyle Heights fire. The three officials struggled to speak over the irate audience.

— SOLAR FLARE: Before the Boyle Heights warehouse fire, Lineage representatives lobbied City Hall over the rooftop solar array. The company says it was seeking a safer alternative to rapid shutdown devices.

— FISCAL EDUCATION: The Los Angeles Unified School District is facing “severe” indications it could be insolvent as soon as next year and has 45 days to fix its budget or risk an outside takeover. The Los Angeles County Office of Education has projected a $231 million cash shortfall by 2027.

— HIT THE STREETS: The LAPD is considering shutting down its police academy for part of 2028 to allow hundreds of officers to hit the streets for the Olympics, according to department sources. The move could lead to a drop in police hiring.

— LEGEND GONE: Billy G. Mills, one of the first Black men elected to L.A.’s City Council, died June 27. Mills was a civil rights leader before being elected to the legislative body in 1963, the same year Tom Bradley was elected to be a council member.

— IT TAKES A VILLAGE: Billionaire developer Rick Caruso’s Palisades Village will reopen in August after more than $100 million in renovations following the January 2025 wildfire.

— EVICTION BENEDICTION: Thousands of formerly homeless people whose housing subsidies will expire in December are no longer at risk of eviction, local housing officials announced Thursday. An infusion of new funds approved by Congress this year and a waiver of eligibility procedures have staved off a potential crisis that would have left 4,200 back on the street.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program had no operations this week.
• On the docket next week: The City Council remains on recess until Aug. 4.

Stay in touch

That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

MINNEAPOLIS — Vaughn Grissom went two for three with a home run and two RBIs, and the Angels beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3 on Friday night to break a five-game skid at Target Field.

Grayson Rodriguez (3-2) gave up three runs and six hits in 5⅓ innings while Kirby Yates pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save this season.

Wade Meckler and Tyler Heineman also had two hits apiece for the Angels, whose previous win at Minnesota was in September 2024.

Brooks Lee and Josh Bell each went two for four with a double for the Twins (46-49).

The Angels (38-57), who have lost eight of their last 10 games, have the worst record in the major leagues.

Grissom hit the first pitch of the fourth inning over the wall in left field. Jorge Soler followed with a double and later scored on a balk by Twins starter Zebby Matthews (4-6) that gave the Angels a 2-1 lead.

Matthews surrendered four runs and nine hits in six innings.

Meckler scored when Nolan Schanuel hit the last of four consecutive singles to lead off the fifth inning before Grissom followed with a sacrifice fly that made it 4-1.

Trevor Larnach doubled to lead off the first inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kody Clemens. Lee hit a run-scoring double and pinch-hitter Austin Martin had an RBI groundout in the sixth that made it a one-run game.

Larnach walked with one out and moved to third when Ryan Jeffers doubled in the seventh, but Samy Natera Jr. retired Clemens and Bell to end the threat and preserve Minnesota’s 4-3 lead.

Minnesota is 10-4 with a plus-41 run differential in its last 14 against the Angels, dating to September 2023.

Up next: Angels RHP Ryan Johnson (1-4, 6.99 ERA) starts Saturday opposite Joe Ryan (6-5, 2.85) in the second of a three-game series.

The Dodgers suffered a deflating 9-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium on Friday to start their final series before the All-Star break.

But if there was a silver lining to the Dodgers rough performance, it was that superstar Shohei Ohtani looked fine at designated hitter after being scratched from his scheduled start because of irritation in his left knee.

Ohtani, will not participate in next week’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia, hit a leadoff home run off Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez.

“I found out yesterday morning,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s injury. “So if there’s a chance that we could kind of be proactive and get it drained and do whatever we need to do to try to manage it, along with the rest for the All-Star break, we were gonna do that.

“But obviously the way he’s swinging the bat hasn’t really affected performance,” Roberts added. “We have certainly curtailed the stealing bases. But he feels good, obviously, and he’s gonna be DH’ing the next three games.”

The Diamondbacks took advantage of the Dodgers’ bullpen game — and three defensive errors.

Right-handed pitcher Kyle Hurt opened and surrendered two runs on three hits through 1⅔ innings.

Arizona’s Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo opened the game with base hits. Corbin Carroll grounded into a force out at second, moving Marte to third, before Gabriel Moreno singled on a liner to right that scored Marte. Carroll then scored on an errant throw to third from Kyle Tucker that went into the Dodgers’ dugout.

After Ohtani hit his 21st homer of the season, Andy Pages hit a tying 419-foot blast to left-center for his 17th homer.

But that was all the Dodgers (61-34) would score against Rodriguez, who gave up seven hits and struck out five over six innings to improve to 8-3.

Dalton Rushing walks back to the dugout after grounding out to end the game in the Dodgers’ 9-3 loss to Arizona on Friday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Arizona’s bullpen then held the Dodgers to just two hits — both coming in the ninth inning off Drey Jameson.

Will Klein (3-4) took the loss after surrendering one run through 1⅔ innings.

After Brock Stewart gave up a two-run home run to Tim Tawa in the fourth, Arizona (47-47) tacked on two more runs in the fifth after the Dodgers’ second error.

Stewart walked Perdomo to start the frame. Then, Carroll grounded into a fielder’s choice in front of the plate and reached first safely, with an errant throw by Rushing allowing Perdomo to reach third. Moreno grounded out to third to drive in Perdomo. A balk by Edgardo Henriquez followed by a wild pitch allowed Carroll to score.

Arizona extended its lead in the sixth after Tawa hit an RBI single to left and Perdomo drove in a run on a groundout to first. Tawa ended his four RBI performance with a run-scoring single in the eighth.

Reliever Alex Vesia threw a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth consecutive scoreless outing to cap a night the Dodgers probably would like to forget.

LONDON — A local boy sleeps in his own bed, plays in front of a king and queen and makes a Cinderella run to the Wimbledon semifinals. Sounds like a Hollywood script that might never see the silver screen.

But it’s no fairy tale — it’s Arthur Fery’s out-of-nowhere performance over the last 10 days.

Fery, a virtually unknown British wild card with a triple-digit ranking, has become the emotional heartbeat of Wimbledon while legitimately diverting some national attention from England’s World Cup quest.

The royal treatment at his matches across the All England Club has come in more ways than one.

Fery, who grew up five minutes from Wimbledon and is staying at home during the tournament, first played before grass-court king Roger Federer, Wimbledon’s eight-time singles champion, during Monday’s fourth-round victory. Two days later, he beat No. 9 seed and French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli of Italy in the quarterfinals 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-0 in front of Queen Camilla.

Ranked 114th, Fery had never reached the semifinals of an ATP Tour event, let alone a major, before his brief chat with the queen following the match.

“She just said, ‘Congratulations, keep going,’” 23-year-old Fery told reporters later. “I told her it was my birthday on Sunday, so it would be great to play the Wimbledon final on my birthday.”

That’s still a match away. To get there, Fery will have to get past one of the hottest players on tour: No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev, who is fresh off his first Grand Slam title at the French Open. Looming on the other side of the draw is a highly anticipated showdown between defending champion Jannik Sinner against 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic.

If Fery can continue his magical run to the end, he would become the first British wild card to win a Wimbledon title.

Arthur Fery reacts after defeating Flavio Cobolli in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Wednesday.

(Maja Smiejkowska / Associated Press)

Born in France, Fery’s family moved to Wimbledon when he was an infant. His mother played professional tennis. He was a top British junior but chose to sharpen his game for three years in the U.S. collegiate system at Stanford, as many of his compatriots have done.

“I came out with a lot of hunger coming out of that, and I was ready to attack the pro circuit,” Fery said.

After struggling with bone bruising in his arm that limited him to playing mostly on the lower-tier Challenger circuit in recent years, Fery is finally healthy and playing consistently.

His path to the last four in London has been a masterclass in clutch come-from-behind performances. The Brit has stared down near-certain elimination in multiple matches, repeatedly breaking his opponents’ momentum with Houdini-like on-court acts.

At 5-foot-9, Fery possesses a skill set perfectly suited for low-bounding grass.

His compact strokes, low center of gravity, and elite movement allow him to hug the baseline, take time away from opponents, and confidently execute delicate volleys at the net, according to ESPN analyst Chris Eubanks.

“He defends well,” said Eubanks, a 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinalist. “He can scrap. He can claw. He can dig his way back into points. And when he ventures forward, he’s very, very comfortable at the net. This is a picture-perfect example of someone whose game is built for the surface.”

Still, it’s hard to fathom the multitude of milestones for Fery, who briefly reached the No. 1 ranking in college and earned 2023 Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year honors before leaving early to pursue a pro career.

He arrived at Wimbledon with just one main-draw victory at a major, a losing record as a professional, and only one previous ATP quarterfinal, at Queen’s Club last month. He’s now 11-8, won his first two five-set matches, and is the first British wild card to reach the Wimbledon men’s semifinals in the Open Era. The only other men’s wild-card semifinalist was Goran Ivanisevic, who won the title as a wild card in 2001.

Fery, who started the season ranked No. 185 and will climb to at least No. 36 after the tournament, said there were a “lot of first times” as he reflected on his unprecedented run. “First five-setter, longest match that I’ve ever played, first time breaking into the top 100, first second week in a slam, all at home, five minutes from where I grew up. It’s a great story for me,” he said.

The gap with his fellow semifinalists is understandably massive.

Entering Wimbledon, Djokovic, Sinner and Zverev’s combined records include 29 Grand Slam titles, 2,088 match wins and 155 tour-level titles. Fery was 6-8 in tour-level matches with zero titles.

But he has singlehandedly lifted the tournament for locals. With top hopes Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu withdrawing before the tournament and the rest of Britain’s singles prospects falling one by one — 18 men and women were eliminated by the third round — Fery became the nation’s last knight standing.

If his first name inevitably evokes Arthurian legend, Fery’s march through the draw gave Britain reason to believe again. No sword, no Round Table, just world-class shot-making, a lion’s heart and a Centre Court crowd thrilled to rally behind him.

“This is really quite something to see on home soil,” said Russell Fuller, the BBC’s tennis correspondent, who compared it with Raducanu’s stunning U.S. Open win in 2021 as a qualifier.

Fery earned every bit of it.

In the first round against Damir Dzumhur, Fery dropped the opening set and trailed by a break in the second before surging back. Against Zizou Bergs in the third round, he faced a 4-1 deficit with a double break in the fourth set, and again fell behind 4-1 in the fifth, before somehow surviving.

Then, stepping onto Centre Court for the first time against former top-10 stalwart Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the fourth round, Fery clawed out of a 2-sets-to-1 hole and a break down in the fourth set to clinch the victory in a fifth-set tiebreak.

“He carries himself with humility, but he’s a fierce competitor, and he’s got a ton of belief in himself,” said Stanford men’s coach and former top-60 player Paul Goldstein, who flew to England Tuesday to see his former charge compete against Cobolli.

While Fery attempts to outmaneuver Zverev on Friday, the other semifinal features a 2025 Wimbledon semifinal rematch between seven-time Wimbledon winner Djokovic and top-ranked Sinner, who defeated the Serb in straight sets on his way to the title. It’s also their second Grand Slam semifinal meeting in 2026. At January’s Australian Open on hard courts, Djokovic bested 24-year-old Sinner in five sets before falling to now-injured Carlos Alcaraz in the Melbourne final.

Arthur Fery hits a return during his Wimbledon quarterfinal win over Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday.

(Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)

Djokovic, 39, enters the match after surviving a grueling five-set, 5-hour-plus quarterfinal slugfest against No. 3 Félix Auger-Aliassime that concluded just minutes before Wimbledon’s 11 p.m. curfew. But the seventh-seeded Serb has a way of defying Father Time and he has had two days to recover on a surface where points are shorter and generally less taxing on the body.

Italy’s Sinner, who defeated Alcaraz in last year’s Wimbledon final, has been efficient if not at the level that saw him capture five consecutive titles before crashing out in the second round at the French Open. After a first-round scare here, the four-time Grand Slam champion has dominated opponents behind his improving serve, winning 80% of his first-serve points. He hasn’t dropped a set since the opening round. Sinner leads the head-to-head with Djokovic 6-5.

According to Eubanks, Djokovic must disrupt Sinner’s movement to break his rhythm, and take his chances.

“He’s got to play similar to how he played in Australia, where it was just all-out aggression,” Eubanks said.

For Sinner, he added: “His serve can be a neutralizing force for what Novak is going to try to do.”

On the other side of the ledger, Fery’s poise under pressure and deft use of the home crowd will be paramount to continue his surprise run against Germany’s Zverev, whom he called a “step up again” from his last five matches. Zverev, 29, is seeking his fifth major final and first at Wimbledon.

“I’m ready for it,” Fery said. “I have nothing to lose. I’m just going to go out there and … put my game on the court, do what I’ve done, believe in myself. We’ll see where that takes me.”

Home has never been closer to Centre Court. Nor has Arthur Fery ever been closer to tennis history.

A French court ruling has reopened Marine Le Pen’s path to the 2027 presidential election by suspending the effect of her electoral ban while she appeals. But the far-right leader says she will not campaign while wearing an electronic monitoring tag. Al Jazeera’s Reem Takieddine explains.

Marine Le Pen, the far-right French politician, announced Tuesday she is running for president next year after an appeals court shortened her election ban. Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement and ordered to wear a tracking bracelet and banned from running for office for five years.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Appeals court rules the far-right leader ineligible to hold public office for 45 months.

A French appeals court has opened the door for far right leader Marine Le Pen to potentially run in the 2027 presidential election but said she must wear an electronic tag.

A Paris appeals court on Tuesday ruled Le Pen guilty of misusing public funds but reduced the ban on her holding elected office to 45 months, with 30 suspended.

She must now decide whether campaigning in 2027 with a monitoring bracelet as part of her sentence to be served at home is possible.

A lower court last year sentenced Le Pen, 57, to a five-year ban from public office and two years in prison over a fake jobs scam at the European Parliament.

The three-time presidential candidate hopes to run in the race to replace outgoing centrist President Emmanuel Macron in 2027.

Le Pen has said that if the sentence prevented her from campaigning, she would hand the reins over to her 30-year-old lieutenant, Jordan Bardella, leader of their National Rally (RN) party.

More to come…

Jarren Duran and Willson Contreras homered, and five Boston pitchers combined to give up two runs over 6⅓ innings in relief of injured starter Ranger Suarez to lead the Red Sox to a 7-5 win over the Angels on Sunday night.

Boston’s eighth victory in 10 games completed a three-game sweep of the Angels, who have lost six straight and 12 of 19 since June 14.

Suarez, named to the American League All-Star team Saturday, exited with two outs in the third because of left adductor tightness, an injury he sustained when he jumped for Jo Adell’s chopper over the mound.

The left-hander was followed by Greg Weissert (1-2), Tyron Guerrero and Garrett Whitlock, who combined for 4⅓ hitless innings. Justin Slaten gave up a run in the eighth, and Aroldis Chapman gave up a solo homer to Zach Neto in the ninth before earning his 18th save.

The Angels scored twice in the first on Jorge Soler’s grounder and Adell’s RBI single. Boston tied it 2-2 in the second on Duran’s 13th homer, a two-run shot to right-center off starter Ryan Johnson (1-4).

Neto’s RBI double gave the Angels a 3-2 lead in the bottom half, but the Red Sox took advantage of Neto’s major league-leading 14th error to score three unearned runs in the third.

Tsung-Che Cheng led off with a bunt single. Anthony Seigler and Ceddanne Rafaela flied out, and Wilyer Abreu hit a routine grounder to shortstop that should have ended the inning.

Neto bobbled the ball for an error, though, and Contreras crushed Johnson’s next pitch for his 20th homer, a 446-foot shot to left-center that left his bat at 112 mph and gave Boston a 5-3 lead.

The Red Sox tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh on Abreu’s sacrifice fly and Masataka Yoshida’s RBI single for a 7-3 advantage.

The Angels scored in the eighth on Donovan Walton’s double and Adell’s RBI single.

Up next for the Angels: RHP Jose Soriano opposes Rangers RHP Jacob deGrom (7-5, 3.48 ERA) on Tuesday night in Texas.

Aroldis Chapman set the major league record for relief strikeouts after rookie Jake Bennett yielded five hits while pitching into the eighth inning for the Boston Red Sox in a 5-2 victory over the Angels on Friday night.

The 38-year-old Chapman broke Hoyt Wilhelm’s record with his 1,364th career strikeout as a reliever when he fanned Denzer Guzman leading off the ninth. The knuckleballing Wilhelm last pitched in 1972.

Chapman gave up back-to-back singles after his milestone strikeout, but got Jo Adell to ground into a double play to secure his 17th save.

Caleb Durbin hit a solo homer in the opener of a nine-game trip for the Red Sox, who have won six of eight.

In just his seventh career start, Bennett (3-3) struck out six with no walks while dominating the last-place Angels until the their two-run eighth.

Six days after the Yankees’ first 15 batters couldn’t get a hit off Bennett, the lanky left-hander retired the Angels’ first 13 batters before Vaughn Grissom’s fifth-inning single.

Bennett retired 22 of the Angels’ first 24 batters before Jose Siri homered in the eighth for the Angels, who have lost four straight.

Zach Neto added a two-out RBI single moments later to chase Bennett.

Reid Detmers (3-6) struggled through five innings while taking his first loss in eight starts since May 19 for the Angels, yielding five runs on seven hits with three walks.

Romy Gonzalez had three hits and drove in two runs for Boston. Durbin added his eighth homer leading off the fifth.

Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe was removed from the game and evaluated after taking a foul ball off his mask in the third. O’Hoppe went on the concussion injured list last September after getting accidentally hit by a backswing, and he went through the concussion protocol again two months ago after a home plate collision with Texas’ Josh Jung.

Trout hoping to return before All-Star Game

Angels center fielder Mike Trout bats against the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 16.

(Rick Scuteri / Associated Press)

Mike Trout believes he can return from a hamstring injury for the Angels next week, giving him enough time to be ready for the All-Star Game in Philadelphia on July 14.

Trout has been out since June 17, when he strained his right hamstring while running the bases against Arizona. He performed his normal pregame routine Friday and he expects to hit on the field this weekend.

Trout said he is optimistic about playing early next week, and manager Kurt Suzuki didn’t disagree.

“He looks good,” Suzuki said. “I saw him today when I first came in. He was working out. He was obviously on the road trip, doing his thing. He’s getting really close. Really, really close.”

The 34-year-old Trout hasn’t been officially selected for the All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park, but the two-time All-Star Game MVP is expected to be elected to the AL’s starting outfield in what would be his 12th All-Star nod.

The honor would be particularly special this year for Trout, who grew up 40 miles from Philadelphia in Millville, N.J.

The three-time AL MVP hasn’t participated in the All-Star festivities since 2019. He wasn’t able to play because of injury after being selected from 2021 to 2023, and he injured his knee early in the 2024 season before not being selected last year.

Trout has bounced back and stayed mostly healthy for the Angels this season, posting a team-leading .866 OPS with 17 homers and 36 RBIs in 74 games.

He said last week that he probably wouldn’t participate in the home run derby as he tries to stay healthy.

Roki Sasaki’s abysmal appearance faded away in the Dodgers’ 12-7 win over the San Diego Padres after Los Angeles rose from a catatonic first inning. The Dodgers roared back from a 6-0 deficit as Andy Pages skirted a tying double down the left-field line, and Mookie Betts and Max Muncy each drove in runs to give them the lead in a four-run fourth inning. All of which sent the sellout crowd into jubilant celebrations, some jumping, others breaking out World Cup chants.

“I don’t know,” manager Dave Roberts said of the team’s ability to turn the game around. “Thankfully, it played out the way I didn’t expect, or the way it started.”

By the time the game ended, Sasaki’s three-inning start seemed like a murky nightmare the Dodgers awoke from in a sweat. Except the Dodgers weren’t dreaming, and the team hadn’t done much to assuage the concerns with Sasaki.

The problem with Sasaki isn’t his stuff. On his best nights, when the velocity and command combine, Sasaki blows past batters with a triple-digit fastball and cutting off-speed pitches. The problem has been how to tick the radar without making the strike zone look like a Jackson Pollock painting — and recently, it has.

Sasaki’s June swoon, impervious to the calendar change, continued into Thursday’s series opener against the Padres, in which the right-hander gave up three home runs and seven hits before Roberts called it quits going into the fourth inning.

“They were on everything,” Roberts said. “You could see it.”

One possible concern? Tipping pitches. While Roberts and catcher Dalton Rushing said the team would need to do some more research into Sasaki’s start, both left the door open to this answer.

“That would be a big explanation as to how they felt like they were on every pitch,” Rushing said.

As San Diego chugged through its lineup, Sasaki struggled to keep up. With his first pitch, he gave up a double to Fernando Tatis Jr., who scored on Manny Machado’s home run that left center fielder Pages staring at the ball’s path as it plopped down on the other side of the blue outfield fence.

The inning was only a preview of the Padres’ power. Each of the nine San Diego batters got his chance against Sasaki in the second, and the team quickly dug the Dodgers into a six-run hole. He surrendered two home runs in the second inning. First, Jackson Merrill blasted a ball to left-center field, and, two outs later, Jake Cronenworth drove in two runs with a shot to right-center.

Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo that he felt like he needed work on his command to improve, but he felt like his fastball was good.

Roki Sasaki has his head down after giving up a solo homer to Jackson Merrill in the second inning.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“I don’t think my stuff was bad today,” Sasaki said. “Overall, it wasn’t great but a lot of things evolved.”

Part of Sasaki’s issue lies with his approach. Roberts said he wants the second-year pitcher to be aggressive, to play the cat-and-mouse game required to beat batters in the box. But when given the opportunity, Sasaki has shrunken in recent outings, struggling with his command and his ability to pitch deep into games.

“We had a great May, so let’s just get back to competing and making pitches,” Roberts said.

When reliever Will Klein walked out to the mound in the fourth to the aggressive, rambunctious clamor of the Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” and collected two scoreless, one-hit innings, the relief was immediate: The Dodgers took the lead.

The lineup already was revving, as Dalton Rushing homered in the second inning while Sasaki was still in the game, and both Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy drove in runs in the third, cutting the deficit to two. The Dodgers broke through against the Padres’ bullpen to score six runs in the fourth and fifth innings.

“The bullpen was fantastic tonight, and then the offense came up big,” Roberts said.

A late catch by Pages helped close out the game after he gloved a ball despite ramming into the padding of the center field wall. A combined effort by Paul Gervase and Tanner Scott shut down San Diego’s ninth-inning momentum after it pushed across a run.

“Turned back around, was able to find the ball and make a really good catch right there,” Tucker said. “That was a huge out.”

The Dodgers (57-31) beat their division rivals for the fifth time in seven games to open a 13-game lead over both San Diego and Arizona. The Padres, meanwhile, have given up 65 runs over the last six days, the most in such a span in franchise history.

But San Diego’s flaws don’t negate the Dodgers’ as they burned through six relievers in their win. So, while the Dodgers crawled out of the hole with a season-high 17 hits, the steep cost heightens the pressure on the rest of the rotation the rest of the series.

The penalty awarded against the Senegalese national team in the final moments of their match against Belgium on Wednesday caused widespread controversy after it led to their elimination from the Round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup, in a harsh turn of events that saw the “Lions of Teranga” go from leading 2-0 to losing 3-2.

Honduran referee Said Martinez awarded a penalty kick at the end of the second period of extra time, after a VAR review, following a challenge by Senegal’s Lamine Camara on Belgian captain Youri Tielemans, with the score tied 2-2 and the match heading towards a penalty shootout.

The “Archivo VAR” platform, which specialises in analysing refereeing decisions, said that VAR intervened excessively during the match, confirming that it was Tielemans who extended his foot in front of Camara, causing the contact.

The platform added, via its account on “X,” that the incident did not warrant VAR intervention, explaining that it was the Belgian player who forced the contact entirely, and that the situation did not amount to the clear and obvious error needed to justify the referee reviewing the decision.

The decision triggered a wave of controversy on social media, with one fan writing: “This is 100% robbery. Senegal have been robbed. How is this a penalty? Belgium do not deserve to go through corruption.”

Sports content creator Sneako blamed the result on match ‘”rigging”.

“Rigged! Senegal should storm the pitch right now. Leave the pitch and go home. This is rigged!”

Another sports fan wrote: “I’m sorry, but this was never a penalty. Camara went to clear the ball, but it was Tielemans who got in his way. Senegal was robbed, and it should have been Belgium going out.”

Spanish sports journalist Manolo Lama commented: “They stole the Africa Cup of Nations from them, and now they’re stealing all the solidarity with Senegal at the World Cup too.”

Egyptian journalist Mohamed Saeed linked the incident to what happened in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final against Morocco, writing: “You can feel that the penalty awarded against Senegal in the final seconds was a harsh lesson and a difficult test. After the scenes from the Africa Cup of Nations final, I think that if it weren’t for the change in the rules around the withdrawal incident, this scene could have repeated itself.”

Another sports fan, Fares Ahmed, wrote that football ”teaches lessons” and the outcome brought back the memory of Senegal at the tournament in Morocco.

“They took advantage of the tournament’s vulnerable position and the host’s need to make it a success, and used that to impose their pressure,” Ahmed wrote. “Today, the scene was almost repeated against Belgium — a penalty in the final minutes, objections, and disbelief over the decision — but this time there was no threat of withdrawal, because you can’t risk penalties like that in a tournament the size of the World Cup.”

Drawing a connection between the two events, one follower wrote on “X”: “When there was a clear penalty in the Morocco final, they rebelled against the decision and tarnished the reputation of African football, just because the tournament was in Morocco. But when an unclear penalty came along that eliminated them from the World Cup, they stayed silent, because this time it was in the West.”

After the dramatic penalty was awarded, Tielemans stepped up to take it and scored successfully, netting Belgium’s third goal and capping off an unexpected comeback that eliminated the Lions of Teranga.

But back on the pitch, Senegal had the run of play for 85 minutes. The African team held a two-goal lead, and had all but secured a spot in the round of 16 at the World Cup.

Within five minutes, it crumbled and the players were feeling it.

“We were at the heart of writing the beautiful pages of the history of our football in this world,” defender Krepin Diatta said. “And we have to accept that we failed at our mission.”

Senegal midfielder Habib Diarra said. “We had a good first half, but it wasn’t enough. A match lasts 90 minutes, and we’re devastated. It’s very tough. I don’t know what to say. When you’re on the pitch, you have to give your all, and that’s not what we did. We’ve only got ourselves to blame.”

SEATTLE — Julio Rodriguez had three hits and scored twice, Bryan Woo took a shutout into the seventh inning and the Seattle Mariners put together a five-run sixth Tuesday night to beat the Angels 8-3.

Rodriguez and Colt Emerson both had three of Seattle’s 13 hits. Randy Arozarena and Cole Young scored two runs apiece.

Woo (7-6) gave up just four hits and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings. The Angels’ first two runs in their three-run seventh were charged to him after he gave way to reliever Eduard Bazardo. That ended Woo’s streak of home shutout innings at 32 1/3, which stretched over a span of five games dating to May 6 against Atlanta.

Michael Rucker pitched a scoreless eighth for the Mariners, and Andrés Muñoz set the Angels down in order in the ninth.

The Mariners batted around in the sixth, with their first five hitters reaching base on four hits and one walk. Rodriguez and Josh Naylor singled, then Arozarena singled to score Rodriguez with the first run and chase Angels starter José Soriano (8-5).

Cal Raleigh walked to load the bases, and Young singled to right, scoring Naylor. Arozarena scored on a wild pitch. Raleigh and Young came home on Weston Wilson’s single to right.

The Angels rallied with three in the seventh, the last two of those scoring on Zach Neto’s single to right.

Seattle answered with three in the bottom of the seventh. Emerson’s single that floated just above the outstretched glove of Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel drove in the first two.

Wade Meckler had two of the Angels’ six hits.

SACRAMENTO — Teoscar Hernández was back from a hamstring injury, and a little bit humble. He was about to play his first game in a month for the Dodgers.

“I don’t think they really need me in the lineup,” he said, with a hint of a smile.

Hernández hit 58 home runs over his first two seasons with the Dodgers, each of which ended in a World Series championship, so of course they need him. But, in his absence, the Dodgers had more than doubled their National League West lead.

Hernández is back, but Will Smith and Kiké Hernández still are out. So are Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Edwin Díaz.

No matter: The Dodgers boosted their division lead to 11 games Monday, with a 9-4 victory over the Athletics. Shohei Ohtani, Max Muncy and Andy Pages homered to highlight a 17-hit attack.

The Dodgers are on pace to win the NL West by 21 games. They boast the best record in the major leagues at 55-30, and Ohtani and the Traveling All-Stars remain baseball’s best road show.

Before the game, a guy setting up one of the merchandise stands here pointed to all the Dodgers gear for sale. He wore a Dodgers cap. He said he wished he had more Dodgers stuff to sell, because the crowd would be overwhelmingly in favor of the Dodgers.

And so it was, one day after San Diego fans complained of all the Dodgers partisans at Petco Park. In Sacramento, where the wandering home team wears a Sacramento patch on one jersey sleeve and a Las Vegas patch on the other sleeve, there were loud cheers for Ohtani and Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, and loud chants of “Let’s go, Dodgers!”

Every Dodger in the starting lineup had two hits except for Betts, who had one.

Eric Lauer, imported to fortify a starting rotation without Glasnow and Snell, worked six innings to record the victory. He gave up three runs and four hits in the second inning, no runs and four hits over the other five.

Dodgers starting pitcher Eric Lauer worked six innings to record the victory. He gave up three runs and four hits in the second inning, no runs and four hits over the other five.

(Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)

He is 3-0 with 2.88 earned-run average in six starts for the Dodgers, the last three of them classified as quality starts.

Glasnow and Snell are weeks away from returning, and maybe more, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said they would not lose their job because of injury.

“Eric coming over here knew that this was the deal, right?” said Roberts, who posted his 999th career win. “Until they get back. We just don’t know when. He’s just got to stay focused on doing his job. Then when that time comes we’ll see what happens.”

In the top of the second, the Dodgers bunched four hits, all singles — the first by Hernández, beating out an infield single in his first at-bat since the hamstring injury — to take a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the A’s also bunched four hits, including a Colby Thomas home run, to take a 3-2 lead.

The rest of the Dodgers’ scoring: a solo homer by Muncy and a two-run homer by Pages in the fourth, a three-run homer by Ohtani in the sixth, and an RBI single by Freeman in the eighth. The A’s scored the final run on a wild pitch in the ninth.

Miguel Rojas said the Dodgers have flourished in the wake of significant injuries because the organization places a priority on developing players and giving them a fair shot at playing time, citing Pages, infielder Alex Freeland and pitchers Justin Wrobleski and Emmet Sheehan, as well as wise trades for supplementary players, including infielder-outfielder Tommy Edman and outfielder Alex Call.

Shohei Ohtani tosses his bat after hitting a three-run home run for the Dodgers in the sixth inning against the Athletics on Monday night.

(Sara Nevis / Associated Press)

“It’s not living with the narrative of ‘We’re buying championships and spending money,’” Rojas said. “Yeah, we’re spending money to get good players. But we’re not really basing our success just on that.

“The front office does quality work on getting the right players and putting the puzzle together. I feel that’s the reason why we can afford losing a couple guys in the middle of the year, because we have a full team that is ready to step up.”

Still, Rojas conceded none of that would matter without Ohtani, Freeman, Betts and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And, yes, Rojas said, the Dodgers do have an irreplaceable player.

“It’s going to be really hard if we lose Shohei,” Rojas said. “It’s going to be a little bit different than losing another player. Having Shohei at the top of the lineup every single day and doing both sides of the ball has been really helpful.”

Ohtani gave the Sacramento crowd what it wanted to see: a majestic 432-foot home run, with a supercharged, 112-mph exit velocity. On Wednesday, the last day of the Dodgers’ only scheduled visit here before the A’s move to Las Vegas in 2028, he’ll take the mound to give the people more of what they want to see.

SAN DIEGO — The Dodgers claimed a series win against the San Diego Padres with a 4-2 victory Sunday, widening the gap between division rivals to 10 games.

The Dodgers (54-30), who have the best record in the majors, have won five of the first six games of a three-city trip that ends in Sacramento.

A bounce-back start from right-hander Emmet Sheehan made the Dodgers’ win Sunday possible. He held the Padres to one run, on Manny Machado’s fourth-inning homer, through five innings.

“Maybe being a little more comfortable in my mechanics,” Sheehan said after limiting the Padres to two hits. “But also just the focus in between starts of trying to get a little more execution instead of delivery thoughts. I had seven days, so I got to throw two bullpens this week, which is nice.”

It was the first time Sheehan held an opponent to a single run since May 8, when he threw 4⅔ innings against the Atlanta Braves.

“He just beared down and made pitches when he needed to,” manager Dave Roberts said, “versus feeling it with the mechanics or being uncertain.”

Mookie Betts stayed hot with his bases-loaded, two-run single off Padres starter Michael King to spearhead a three-run rally in the fifth. Betts also singled in the seventh.

Freddie Freeman had an RBI on a nine-pitch walk in the fifth, and Shohei Ohtani drove in the Dodgers’ first run with a single in the third.

“The last six weeks, Shohei’s been out of this world,” Roberts said. “Freddie’s been very consistent all year, and then now we got Mookie this last week on track. So it has been the better part of the season that we haven’t had all three of those guys. You can see it — when those three guys are threats, it just kind of takes a lot of pressure off everybody else.”

Over the three-game series, the Dodgers outscored the Padres 20-12. Here are offensive takeaways from the series:

Tucker ‘grinding’ through

Kyle Tucker hits a two-run home run against the San Diego Padres on Saturday in the Dodgers’ 15-3 win.

(Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)

Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker never had been through a stretch like this. He entered Sunday with a .719 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, the lowest he’s had 77 games into a season in his career.

“I feel fine coming to the field and everything, it’s just not being as productive as I normally am, or as I want to be, kind of sucks,” Tucker said in a conversation with The Times a couple of weeks ago. “But I’ve just got to come back for the next at-bat, or the next day, and whatever, and just move on.”

Has battling this uncharacteristic slump taught him anything?

“I’d rather not suck,” he said. “But just try and grab through and just whenever anything works or clicks or whatever, just don’t let it go.”

Tucker has had moments this season when it looked like he was heading toward an offensive turnaround.

In mid-April, he homered twice in three games, including a three-hit performance. In early May, he went on a six-game hitting streak. He hit .303 over a nine-game stretch in mid-June. But none led to sustained success.

So, when Tucker logged three hits, including a home run, on Saturday as the Dodgers routed the Padres 15-3, he was cautious in his optimism. Tucker even nitpicked the nine-pitch at-bat that ended in the pull-side homer.

“There were some pitches I swung at earlier in the at-bat that I thought should’ve gotten the job done earlier, just didn’t put a great swing on it,” he said after the game.

Manager Dave Roberts was more enthusiastic about that at-bat.

“He’s handled it well,” Roberts said. “He’s frustrated, certainly. But he hasn’t run from the work. Even [Friday] night after the game, he was hitting in the cage. … You hear the word ‘grind’ a lot, but he’s grinding. It’s good to see him have some success. I just liked that one at-bat tonight where it was just compete. It wasn’t about mechanics. It was about competing and getting the job done.”

On Sunday, Tucker singled in four at-bats.

Edman’s consistency

Tommy Edman hits against the San Diego Padres on Friday.

(Derrick Tuskan / Associated Press)

There were times last year when utility player Tommy Edman could look at video of his swing and think, “OK, that doesn’t look like how I want it to look.” But there was only so much he could do in the middle of the season, while playing through nagging ankle issues.

“Part of it is kind of just breaking habits that I built last year,” said Edman, who underwent surgery on his right ankle in the offseason. “Was just getting into some bad movements with the lower body, probably just compensating for the ankle, and hips get out of whack, and that kind of stuff. So I’m hopeful that I’ll just be able to keep this up the rest of the year and just be consistent with it.”

Since returning from the injured list on June 16 to make his season debut, Edman is hitting .333 (11 for 33) with a .405 .on-base percentage. He hit his first triple and second double of the season in the Dodgers’ blowout win Saturday.

“I feel like this is kind of one of the rare times where both swings feel good, both from the right and left,” switch-hitting Edman said after that game. “It’s really tough to maintain both swings over the course of the season, so just happy that I feel that way.”

Betts is back

When Betts went three for four, a triple short of the cycle, in the Dodgers’ series finale in Minnesota last week, he couldn’t put his finger on a cue that had snapped his swing into shape over the last couple of weeks.

“Today, I was able to just find something,” he said then. “I don’t even know really what I found. After the home run the first at bat, I wasn’t sure what I did, but I just kind of stayed there. And I think that was the beauty of it. And not really fully knowing and just kind of going to play kind of let me know my training is paying off.”

It continued playing off. That performance kicked off a three-game homer streak. And by the end of his two-week heater, Betts had raised his OPS from .591 to .737.

By Saturday night, Roberts was ready to declare that Betts was back.

“I say ‘back’ because I just think there’s more intent with him in the batter’s box and a lot less indecisiveness,” Roberts said. “So for me, if he can have that kind of proactive approach, aggressive approach, then everything else is going to take care of itself.”

Betts credited his resurgence to a shift in how he prepares for games. Instead of taking 100 swings in the cage with a specific cue, he’s building up from a blank slate every day.

“I used to have things I would think about that would produce a swing, and now I’m actually just training my body every day,” he said. “So kind of one in the same, but they’re just two completely different ways of going about it. And still trying to get fully used to it, but it’s working, so I’m not changing it.”

SAN DIEGO — One after another, Kyle Tucker and Dalton Rushing broke up their offensive slumps with home runs.

The Dodgers’ sixth-inning rally, en route to a 15-3 victory against the Padres at Petco Park Saturday, featured blasts from the two hitters who needed individual victories at the plate.

Tucker, who entered Saturday with just a .700 OPS, had gone four straight games without a hit. Rushing went hitless in the previous five, in a rough seven-week stretch.

“It’s tough,” Tucker said of his uncharacteristically slow offensive start. “You just have to try and stay positive as much as you can. … We’re going to enjoy the win, but you’ve got another game tomorrow, and you’ve gotta move on to that. Anything that happened yesterday, you’ve got to move on, do your best at that, move on to the next game, and try to improve and try to help your team win.”

Tucker and Rushing’s home runs started the sunflower seed showers in a nine-run inning, which included a home run by Mookie Betts. Four of the runs scored in the sixth were unearned.

The Dodgers’ Dalton Rushing celebrates with Alex Freeland after hitting a home run against the Padres Saturday in San Diego.

(Tony Ding / Ap Photo/tony Ding)

The Dodgers took full advantage of the Padres’ defensive mistakes to jump-start their offense.

In the second inning, Max Muncy hit a line drive into the corner, and Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. dove after it. But he missed the catch, and the ball bounced behind him. Muncy legged out a triple. And that put him in position to score easily on Tommy Edman’s double to the center-field warning track for the first run of the game.

The Padres evened the score with a Gavin Sheets’ solo home run off Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who’d go on to limit the Padres to two runs through six innings.

Shaky defense, however, came back to haunt the Padres the next inning.

With Freddie Freeman standing on second base, after a leadoff double against Padres right-hander Randy Vásquez, Muncy hit a sharp grounder to second baseman Will Wagner, who muffed the play. Freeman raced around the bases, scoring on a close play at the plate.

Then Edman, who’s been swinging a hot bat since making his season debut last week, tripled to drive in Muncy.

That’s when Tucker, who went three for five with four RBIs Saturday, stepped up to the plate. He won a nine-pitch battle, sending a cutter over the right-field fence.

“Kind of been looking for it all year,” Tucker said. “I just kind of caught the ball at the right point of contact. I didn’t really stay through it great, but I put a decent enough swing on it, got it to work out.”

Rushing was next, and also went long in a two-strike count.

The Dodgers kept extending the inning, with two walks and three more hits, including Betts’ three-run homer off Padres reliever Ron Marinaccio. It was Betts’ third home run in as many games.

The Padres chipped away at the lead with an RBI single from Sheets off Yamamoto in the sixth and another run against Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt, who gave up two hits and issued two walks in one-third of an inning.

But the lead the Dodgers compiled in the sixth inning, plus the four runs they tacked on in the eighth with Muncy’s infield single, Edman’s bases-loaded groundout, and Tucker’s opposite-field single, was too steep to overcome.

By the ninth inning, both teams had position players pitching.

Injury update

The Dodgers hope to activate Teoscar Hernández (strained left hamstring) from the 10-day injured list on Monday, manager Dave Roberts said before Saturday’s game.

Hernández homered in all three of his triple-A rehab games, entering Saturday.

“Triple-A pitching is not comparative to big league pitching, I think we all know that,” Roberts said. “But if he’s healthy, he’s an easy guy to bet on.”

Catcher Will Smith, on the other hand, has not returned to baseball activities since receiving an injection to address his neck injury.

“I think we’re all surprised how long it’s taken,” Roberts said. “I hope he’s back before the All-Star break. But the more time he’s off, he’s going to have to play some [rehab] games. So that kind of cuts into the time of return to us. So I don’t really know. I don’t want to add any pressure to him. I want him to be healthy and then once he’s healthy we can have that conversation.”