slump

Dalton Rushing snaps nine-game hitless streak

From Maddie Lee: Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing fought to end his skid.

He held up on a curveball from Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola that clipped the bottom of the strike zone. He fouled off a changeup. And he stayed disciplined as Nola tried to get him to chase a fastball up and two breaking balls in the dirt.

In a full count, Rushing fouled off another changeup. And then, finally, Nola made a mistake.

Rushing hammered the grooved fastball to left-center field, just shy of the Citizens Bank Park concourse.

“It’s pretty obvious I’ve been fighting recently,” Rushing said after the game. “The more you try in this game to fight out of a hole, the deeper you dig yourself in a hole. So I think that’s what it’s been recently. And today it was, obviously, you get a good start to the day, and it’s kind of uphill. Yeah, I wouldn’t say it was anything different. I just trusted myself today.”

It was the Dodgers’ first run during a 9-5 win and Rushing’s first hit in more than two weeks. Over the course of nine hitless games, he went 0-for-19.

Rushing has been the Dodgers’ starting catcher since early June, when Will Smith was first sidelined with a neck injury. And the Dodgers will continue to rely on him, with Smith out indefinitely.

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Dodgers box score

MLB standings

MORE DODGERS:

‘It looked good.’ Dodgers encouraged by Shohei Ohtani bullpen session after knee injury

Angels fall to Cards in series finale

Hunter Dobbins scattered six hits over six innings, JJ Wetherholt hit a home run in the sixth and the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 1-0 victory over the Angels on Wednesday at Angel Stadium.

Dobbins, recalled from triple-A Memphis for Wednesday’s start, struck out five and walked none to help St. Louis snap a four-game losing streak and end the Angels’ three-game win streak.

Luis Gastelum threw a scoreless seventh, George Soriano had a 1-2-3 eighth and closer Riley O’Brien struck out Oswald Peraza with an 80-mph sweeper and Josh Lowe with a 98-mph sinker with two on in the ninth for his 26th save.

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Angels box score

MLB standings

New baseball team courts Asian fans in Irvine

From Bill Shaikin: Would he get his own song?

Lars Nootbaar grew up in Southern California, playing for USC and attending games at Dodger Stadium. His mother is from Japan, so he played with Shohei Ohtani on Team Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

In Japan, fans come up with a song for each player and sing it happily and relentlessly. Nootbaar played in the major leagues, not in the Japanese league, so he was not sure he would get a song until he came up to bat.

“I don’t know how everybody in the stadium knew how to do it,” the St. Louis Cardinals outfielder said Wednesday at Angel Stadium. “Everybody was chanting it. It was pretty awesome.”

In Japan, baseball games are nine innings of songs and chants, drums and noise sticks. No excessively caffeinated in-game hosts. No scolding video commands to make some noise. The joyful sounds are organic, and they come from the fans.

Nootbaar attended Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s last game in Japan and absolutely raved about the energy in the stadium. Does he believe that kind of fan experience would translate to an American ballpark?

“I don’t see why not,” Nootbaar said. “It would probably have to start small, but it would be cool to integrate that.”

We’re starting small, and soon. A minor league team plans to launch in Irvine next year, and the entrepreneur behind it is pitching it as a way to provide fans with a taste of Asian baseball.

“We’re going to really lean into some of the innovation in fan experience that you’ve seen in Korea and Japan,” said Paul Freedman, co-founder of Innovation Baseball Partners.

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Sparks fall to Mercury in final game before all-star break

From Joaquin Ruiz: The Sparks and Mercury teetered and tottered, but Phoenix pulled away late to hand Los Angeles an 86-82 loss on Wednesday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena in the two teams’ final game before a much-needed All-Star break.

With the game tied at 60 entering the fourth quarter, Phoenix scored consecutive baskets and never relinquished its advantage. Forward Alyssa Thomas dominated with 19 points, 11 rebounds, 15 assists and three steals, while guard Kahleah Copper poured in 21 points on 10-for-16 shooting to lead the Mercury precisely as Sparks coach Lynne Roberts expected.

“Players like [Thomas] and [Copper] … can both take over games,” Roberts said before the game. “Last time we played them, Copper had 41 … she is an absolute talent. I think they run good stuff. I like what [Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts] does.”

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Sparks-Mercury box

WNBA standings

Son scores again in LAFC win over Real Salt Lake

Son Heung-min scored a goal for the second consecutive game, Denis Bouanga added a goal, and LAFC beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 on Wednesday night.

Hugo Lloris, who leads MLS with nine shutouts this season, had six saves for LAFC (9-5-3).

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MLS standings

Galaxy fall to sizzling St. Louis City

Lukas MacNaughton and Marcel Hartel scored four minutes apart late in the first half to break open St. Louis City’s 3-1 victory over the Galaxy on Wednesday night.

Simon Becher scored in the second half after Galaxy defender Emiro Garcés was sent off in the 49th minute with his second yellow card, and St. Louis cruised to its third straight win.

St. Louis, which is unbeaten in six straight since early May, also leapfrogged the Galaxy into the Western Conference’s playoff positions with this victory.

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This day in sports history

1907 — Australasia beats British Isles 3-2 to win the Davis Cup held at Wimbledon. Australasia wins its first David Cup and ends the four-year reign of the British Isles.

1921 — At the annual Harvard-Yale vs. Cambridge-Oxford meet at Harvard Stadium, Harvard’s Edward Gourdin becomes the first to long jump 25 feet. Harvard lists Gourdin’s jump as 25 feet, 3 inches, but the official listing in U.S. Track and Field is 25-2.

1960 — Betsy Rawls becomes the first woman to win the U.S. Women’s Open golf title four times.

1966 — John Pennel pole vaults 17 feet, 6 1/4 inches for the world record in a meet at Los Angeles. It’s the eighth of nine world records he set in the event in his career and his first since 1963.

1976 — The last NFL All-Star game is held and is shortened when thunderstorms hit Chicago. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the All-Stars 24-0.

1978 — Hollis Stacy wins the U.S. Women’s Open golf championship for the second straight year.

1989 — Mark Calcavecchia wins the British Open, edging Greg Norman and Wayne Grady in a three-man playoff. Calcavecchia, the first American to win the Open in five years, birdies three of the four holes in the playoff.

1989 — Greg Lemond wins his second Tour de France with the closest finish ever, edging Laurent Fignon by 8 seconds. Lemond starts the day 50 seconds behind Fignon and wins the final stage, a 15-mile race against the clock from Versailles to Paris, in 26:57. Fignon finishes the stage 58 seconds slower.

1995 — John Daly wins the British Open at St. Andrews by four strokes in a four-hole playoff with Italy’s Costantino Rocca. Rocca forces the playoff by sinking a 65-foot putt on the 18th hole.

1995 — Miguel Indurain of Spain wins his record fifth consecutive Tour de France. Indurain joins Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault as the other five-time winners.

2000 — Tiger Woods, at 24, becomes the youngest player to win the career Grand Slam with a record-breaking performance in the British Open on the Old Course at St. Andrews. Woods closes with a 3-under 69 for a 19-under 269 total, the lowest score in relation to par at a major championship.

2000 — 87th Tour de France: no winner (Lance Armstrong disqualified).

2006 — Tiger Woods, one month after missing the cut for the first time in a major, becomes the first player since Tom Watson in 1982-83 to win consecutive British Open titles.

2006 — Floyd Landis, pedaling with an injured hip, cruises to victory in the Tour de France, keeping cycling’s most prestigious title in American hands for the eighth straight year.

2009 — Mark Buehrle pitches the 18th perfect game in major league history, a 5-0 win over Tampa Bay.

2012 — Penn State is all but leveled by penalties handed down by the NCAA for its handling of the allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The NCAA imposes an unprecedented $60 million fine, a four-year ban from postseason play and a cut in the number of football scholarships it can award.

2017 — British cyclist Chris Froome wins his fourth Tour de France.

2019 — Nike’s Jordan Brand signs 2019 NBA #1 draft pick Zion Williamson to richest multiyear sponsorship deal for a rookie in history; estimated 7 years for $75 million.

2021 — The Opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games takes place after a one-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021 — The Cleveland Indians announce the team will be re-named the Guardians.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1925 — Lou Gehrig hit the first of his major league record 23 grand slam homers as the New York Yankees posted an 11-7 triumph over the Washington Senators.

1930 — Pie Traynor won both ends of a doubleheader for the Pittsburgh Pirates with home runs. In the first game, Traynor homered in the ninth and in the second game, he connected in the 13th.

1944 — Bill Nicholson of the Chicago Cubs hit four home runs in a doubleheader split with the New York Giants. Nicholson hit a home run in the opener, which the Cubs won 7-4. He hit three straight in the second game, but the Giants won 12-10. In that game, Nicholson was walked with the bases loaded in the seventh inning.

1955 — Bob Cerv and Elston Howard of the New York Yankess hit consecutive pinch-hit home runs to force extra innings against Kansas City. The Athletics won 8-7 in the 11th inning on Hector Lopez’s RBI-single. Trailing 7-5 entering the top of the ninth, Cerv batted for pitcher Tommy Byrne and homered of Alex Kellner. Tom Gorman replaced Kellner and Howard, hitting for Irv Noren, tied the game.

1964 — Bert Campaneris of Kansas City hit two home runs in his first major league game. He homered on the first pitch off Minnesota’s Jim Kaat, and then connected again in the seventh to lift the Athletics to a 4-3 win.

1974 — Write-in starter Steve Garvey of the Los Angeles Dodgers singled and doubled to lead the NL to a 7-2 victory over the AL in the All-Star game at Pittsburgh.

1985 — Oddibe McDowell became the first player in Texas Rangers history to hit for the cycle in an 8-4 win over the Cleveland Indians.

2000 — Ryan Klesko hit a game-tying solo homer in the ninth inning and a two-run shot in the 10th to lift San Diego over Colorado 6-4.

2009 — Mark Buehrle pitched the 18th perfect game in major league history, a 5-0 win over Tampa Bay. It was the first since Randy Johnson’s on May 18, 2004. Buehrle threw 76 of 116 pitches for strikes and fanned six in his second no-hitter — the first coming on April 18, 2007, against Texas.

2011 — The Red Sox extend Seattle’s losing streak to 14 games, tied for the longest in team history, with a 3 – 1 win at Fenway Park which is also Terry Francona’s 1000th as Sox manager. Josh Beckett is the winner.

2014 — Padres OF Cameron Maybin is handed a 25-game suspension for testing positive for amphetamines; he is the first major leaguer suspended for PED use this season.

2016 — Trevor Story hit two home runs to set an NL rookie record for shortstops and Colorado beat Atlanta 8-4. Story had four hits including his 25th and 26th homers to pass his mentor, Troy Tulowitzki, who had 24 for the Rockies in 2007. Nomar Garciaparra of the Boston Red Sox set the major league record for shortstops with 30 in 1997.

2020 — CommissionerRob Manfred springs a surprise on everyone as he announces a modified postseason format for this year only. There will be eight teams participating from each league: the two teams with the best records in each division, and the ones with the two next best records in the league. The teams will be seeded one to eight. The Wild Card Game will be replaced by a preliminary round with all teams participating, played in best-of-three format, with all games played in the better-ranked team’s ballpark.

2021 — Cleveland baseball team announced the team will be called the Guardians beginning in 2022.

2023 — In Cooperstown, NY, Fred McGriff and Scott Rolen are inducted into the Hall of Fame as the Class of 2023.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

PHILADELPHIA — Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing fought to end his skid.

He held up on a curveball from Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola that clipped the bottom of the strike zone. He fouled off a changeup. And he stayed disciplined as Nola tried to get him to chase a fastball up and two breaking balls in the dirt.

In a full count, Rushing fouled off another changeup. And then, finally, Nola made a mistake.

Rushing hammered the grooved fastball to left-center field, just shy of the Citizens Bank Park concourse.

“It’s pretty obvious I’ve been fighting recently,” Rushing said after the game. “The more you try in this game to fight out of a hole, the deeper you dig yourself in a hole. So I think that’s what it’s been recently. And today it was, obviously, you get a good start to the day, and it’s kind of uphill. Yeah, I wouldn’t say it was anything different. I just trusted myself today.”

It was the Dodgers’ first run during a 9-5 win and Rushing’s first hit in more than two weeks. Over the course of nine hitless games, he went 0-for-19.

Rushing has been the Dodgers’ starting catcher since early June, when Will Smith was first sidelined with a neck injury. And the Dodgers will continue to rely on him, with Smith out indefinitely.

“What stood out is he’s learning on the run, learning on the job, thrust into it,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But I do think that the last couple weeks, some of the struggles have helped him, and I think they’ll help him down the road, whether it’s at bat, behind the plate, and staying with game plans and things like that. So yeah, there’s a learning curve, but this is going to be good for him.”

Rushing has embraced the defensive/pitcher-management side of his job as his top priority. But at his best, Rushing (.812 OPS this season) can impact games on both sides.

His performance Wednesday was another glimpse of that upside.

“I wasn’t used to the [backup] role last year, and by no means do I want to say I wished for this opportunity,” Rushing said. “But I was making sure if it was given, that I was going to do my best to show them that I could play, show them I’m going to be in this league and play down here for as long as I possibly can.”

Rushing provided the Dodgers with their first run of the game with a homer in his first at-bat. Then, in his second, he worked a 2-2 count, before roping a curveball up the right-field line for a go-ahead two-run double.

“I just saw less effort,” Roberts said. “For him to come out after a four-strikeout game [Monday] and take a day to reset, come back and take good at-bats, I just saw the downshift. I saw a controlled at-bat.”

In addition to the pair of hits that made for a three-RBI day, Roberts complimented Rushing’s at-bat against left-handed reliever Tim Mayza — a tough matchup for the left-handed batter — that ended in a lineout to third.

Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing celebrates with teammate Shohei Ohtani after hitting a solo home run against the Phillies on Wednesday in Philadelphia.

(Caean Couto / Getty Images)

“Certainly, having Will down, we need him right now,” Roberts said. “We need him to be the player that he expects, that we expect, and that comes with a mindset. And tonight was a clinic on how a baseball player should play a baseball game.”

The Phillies tied up the game in the bottom half of that fifth inning. Dodgers starting pitcher Eric Lauer, who had already given up a two-run home run to Alec Bohm in the first inning, surrendered a solo shot to Bryan De La Cruz to lead off the fifth. Those were the only runs he allowed in 5 ⅓ innings.

In the sixth, Dodgers veteran third baseman Max Muncy delivered a go-ahead solo home run, his second home run in as many games and 20th of the year. That blast was also Muncy’s 229th as a Dodger, moving him into sole possession of No. 5 on the franchise’s all-time list.

To put the final touches on the Dodgers’ offensive effort, Kyle Tucker hit a sacrifice fly and Tommy Edman hit a bases-clearing triple for a four-run Dodgers rally in the eighth inning. That gave them enough of a cushion to weather a ninth-inning comeback attempt from the Phillies.

Orapa, Botswana – It is a year since Motshwegwa Rakhudu lost his job after 14 years working as an installer at Debswana diamond mining operations in northern Botswana. He says he had been on rolling three-year renewable contracts with Enabler Hires (Pty) Ltd, and expected the arrangement would continue through to 2027.

Instead, he was retrenched and made redundant without warning.

“The shock was too much,” Rakhudu, (not his real name), told Al Jazeera.

“In early 2025, I took a loan of 26,000 pula (about $1,900) to buy a car because I believed my job was secure. By mid-May, I was out of work.” He said the sudden retrenchment left him struggling with debt and household responsibilities, including school fees, with no compensation received.

“Being caught unprepared has been very difficult. Jobs are scarce, and even when work is available outside mining, the pay is much lower. I am still looking for work,” he said.

Rakhudu said he has considered farming or starting a small business, but lacks the capital. Selling his car, he added, would only cover the outstanding loan.

“I would want to go into farming, but if I sell the car, the money will only clear the loan,” he said.

Al Jazeera contacted Gaotlhobogwe Radikwata, a senior management official at Enabler Hires (Pty) Ltd, for comment on the retrenchments.

“I am not going to answer your questions even if you convince me you are from Al Jazeera. Who gave you my number? I never shared my contacts with journalists. I am not at liberty to share information,” she said.

Jobs vanish as diamond production slows

The retrenchments come as Botswana’s diamond sector, the backbone of its economy, slows sharply.

Debswana Diamond Company, a joint venture between the government and De Beers, cut production by about 27% in 2024 to 17.9 million carats amid weak global demand, and plans further reductions to around 15 million carats in 2025. The company accounts for roughly 90% of Botswana’s diamond sales.

That slowdown has rippled through the wider economy. Botswana’s output contracted by about 5.3% in the second quarter of 2025, the sharpest fall since the pandemic, driven largely by declining diamond production, according to Reuters.

Diamonds account for around 70% of export earnings and roughly a third of government revenue, according to Reuters and S&P Global Ratings, which in 2025 downgraded Botswana’s sovereign credit rating to BBB-, citing sustained pressure from the global diamond downturn and weakening fiscal revenues.

Household pressure builds across mining communities

For workers, the impact is no longer abstract.

“The diamond downturn is no longer just a business issue. It is a human issue affecting workers, families, contractors and entire mining communities,” said Mbiganyi Gaekgotswe, General Secretary of the Botswana Mineworkers Union.

He said uncertainty now defines everyday life.

“The first question on everyone’s mind is whether they will still have a job next year,” he said. “Will contracts be renewed? Will overtime be reduced? These are not abstract concerns. They affect school fees, loans, medical bills and family responsibilities.”

Even where jobs remain, pressure is rising as wages stagnate while food and transport costs increase.

Beyond diamonds: searching for new growth

Restructuring has already filtered through contractors and service providers, with more workers shifted onto short-term agreements, said Dominic Obusitse Mapoka, Chairperson of the Botswana Diamond Workers Union.

“Workers who remain employed are increasingly on short-term or temporary contracts,” he told Al Jazeera. “This makes it difficult for families to plan because they do not know whether contracts will be renewed.”

He said many earn between $190-250 a month, while the cost of living continues to increase, with knock-on effects for small businesses tied to mining activity.

Since independence in 1966, Botswana’s diamond wealth has transformed what was once among the world’s poorest countries into a middle-income economy, financing infrastructure, public services and sustained growth.

But that success has also left it heavily exposed to global shocks. The sector is now under pressure from weak demand, competition from lab-grown diamonds and reduced luxury spending in key markets, according to S&P Global Ratings.

The downturn exposes the risks of economic concentration, said Levy Ndou, a political scientist at Tshwane University of Technology.

“When citizens depend heavily on one sector, a fall in global demand becomes very damaging.”

He called for faster diversification into agriculture and beef production, alongside stronger regional trade links.

Botswana’s Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Pius Mokgware, said the government is responding by trying to absorb job losses, including expanding copper mining and opening new projects. He added that diversification efforts are also targeting agriculture, tourism and Information and Communication Technology.

Minister of Minerals and Energy, Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Tshepo Modibedi, President of the Small Scale Miners Association of Botswana, said smaller operators remain largely excluded from the diamond value chain, which is dominated by large firms.

While not directly involved in diamonds, the downturn still spreads through households nationwide, he said.

“Lab-grown diamonds and strict regulations are challenges,” he told Al Jazeera. “But they could also be opportunities, if policy becomes more inclusive.”

For Rakhudu, however, structural shifts in the global diamond market remain distant from daily survival.

“I am still looking,” he said. “I just want another chance to work.”