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Kai Trump, President Trump’s eldest granddaughter, a high school senior and University of Miami commit, has secured a sponsor invitation to play in an LPGA Tour event Nov. 13-16.

The 18-year-old will compete in the Annika at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla. She currently attends the Benjamin School in Palm Beach and is ranked No. 461 on the American Junior Golf Assn. rankings. She also competes on the Srixon Medalist Tour on the South Florida PGA. Her top finish was a tie for third in July.

“My dream has been to compete with the best in the world on the LPGA Tour,” Trump said in a statement. “This event will be an incredible experience. I look forward meeting and competing against so many of my heroes and mentors in golf as I make my LPGA Tour debut.”

Sponsor invitations have long been used to attract attention to a tournament through a golfer who is from a well-known family or, in recent years, has a strong social media presence. Kai Trump qualifies on both counts.

She is the oldest daughter of Donald Trump Jr. and his ex-wife, Vanessa, and has nearly 8 million followers combined on Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube and X. In addition to posting her own exploits on and off the course, she creates videos playing golf with her grandpa and chronicled their visit to the Ryder Cup.

She also recently launched her own sports apparel and lifestyle brand, KT.

“Kai’s broad following and reach are helping introduce golf to new audiences, especially among younger fans,” said Ricki Lasky, LPGA chief tour business and operations officer, in a statement.

The oldest of the president’s 11 grandchildren, Kai became known nationally when she made a speech in support of her grandfather’s campaign at the 2024 Republican National Convention. Her parents divorced in 2018, and her mother has been dating Tiger Woods for about a year.

Ever since resuming two-way duties earlier this year, Shohei Ohtani had been throwing the ball well.

It wasn’t until Wednesday, however, that he finally pitched like a frontline starter, too.

Coming off his second career Tommy John surgery this year, Ohtani immediately lit up the radar gun with 100-mph fastballs and amassed gaudy strikeout totals with a devastating sweeper. In his first eight pitching starts of the season, he gave up just five runs in 16 innings for a 2.37 ERA, racked up 25 punchouts against just five walks, and looked every bit of the hard-throwing ace he was before spending a year-and-a-half rehabbing his right elbow and only serving as a designated hitter.

But, during that time, Ohtani was also throwing in only short bursts, as part of a deliberate effort to slowly build him up. He tossed one inning in his first two starts. Two innings, then three, then four, in each pair of outings after that. Rarely did he face a lineup two times through. At no point did he see the same batter three times in the same game.

He was, in effect, an opener.

And in that role, raw stuff was enough.

Recently, however, Ohtani had encountered a new challenge. Since getting the green light to make more typical five-inning starts, he had failed to actually complete the fifth in his first two attempts.

The struggles weren’t surprising, with five of the nine runs Ohtani had given up in his previous two outings coming in either the fourth or fifth innings. For all of Ohtani’s talent, it was clear there was tactical rust that still needed to be cleared.

“I think we’re still in the [process of] finding out who he is, what he is, getting his bearings for him,” manager Dave Roberts acknowledged ahead of Wednesday’s game.

“But,” the skipper added, “I’m expecting him to get through five [tonight], pitch well and just continue to get better.”

In the Dodgers’ 5-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds, Ohtani was indeed better.

Both in his results, and his process for getting there.

The right-hander not only got through five full innings of one-run ball in an 87-pitch outing — but did so by adopting a new, more unpredictable plan of attack.

Instead of leaning predominantly on fastballs and sweepers as he did earlier this year, Ohtani threw the kitchen sink at the Reds; using his curveball a career-high 23 times and his splitter a season-high 11 times, and all seven of his wicked offerings on at least seven different occasions.

Along the way, Ohtani yielded only two hits (one of them a solo home run from Noelvi Marte in the third), recorded nine strikeouts (his most in a game in more than two years) and, for the first time this year, showed the kind of ability to work deep into a game that could be pivotal in determining his October pitching role.

“Getting his sea legs back and getting going, it takes a while,” Roberts said. “So I thought tonight was one of those nights where he was locked in and worked some things out and really got into a good rhythm.”

Before Wednesday, there was still an open question over how the Dodgers might use Ohtani’s arm in the postseason.

Ideally, he could help headline their star-studded rotation, joining Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and maybe Clayton Kershaw to form the kind of deep starting pitching arsenal the Dodgers have sorely lacked in recent playoff treks.

But first, he had to show he was capable of navigating an opposing order multiple times.

“I do think that the last few starts, he was pretty predictable,” Roberts said. “And so he was smart enough to kind of suss that out, and get him off the scent.”

Against the Reds (68-66), Ohtani went to his secondary stuff early and often. His 12 curveballs in the first two innings alone were more than he had thrown in his 10 previous outings this year combined. His 34% fastball usage (including sinkers and cutters) was his lowest in a game in almost three years.

“As we’re progressing through this rehab in general, aside from the innings, I just really wanted to be able to incorporate other pitches,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “So that was really the intent going in.”

Ohtani’s command was still shaky, leading to a pair of second-inning walks that he only stranded after back-to-back strikeouts. With one out in the third, he made his lone mistake, leaving a first-pitch cutter to Marte down the middle for a home run that was clobbered to the left-field pavilion.

After that, however, Ohtani found a groove. He retired the final eight batters he faced. He finished his start by getting Cincinnati leadoff man TJ Friedl to ground out in their third meeting of the evening. And he concluded his performance with 14 swings-and-misses overall, the most whiffs he had generated in a game all year.

“He picked and chose when he used his fastball, and it just felt like they couldn’t really figure it out,” Kiké Hernández said. “They looked like they were guessing out there.”

“He’s got so many pitches,” added catcher Dalton Rushing, “and when you throw everything in the zone or around the zone, it just makes you that much better.”

By getting through five innings, Ohtani also qualified for his first pitching win of the season.

The Dodgers (77-57) made sure they didn’t squander it.

After starting the game with nine straight outs against Reds starter Nick Lodolo, the club finally broke the game open with a four-run rally in the fourth, when Ohtani led off with a single and Hernández and Rushing had two-run, bases-loaded singles. Michael Conforto added a solo insurance homer in the eighth. And the bullpen tiptoed in and out of trouble over four scoreless innings of game-sealing relief.

Collectively, the Dodgers set a nine-inning franchise record by combining for 19 strikeouts.

The victory helped the Dodgers grow their National League West lead to two games over the San Diego Padres, who dropped a series rubber match to the Seattle Mariners earlier in the day. It ran the team’s recent winning streak up to four games, its longest since the start of a 21-25 run dating back to July 4.

What was most important, though, was the way Ohtani looked, showing not only the life that remains in his surgically repaired elbow, but his ability to translate it into successful, dominant full-length outings.

“When you’re trying to go through a lineup three times, you’ve got to at times be able to go to different pitches and sequences,” Roberts added. “So, yeah, to continue to build him up and give us options, if we want to get a little bit more length out of him, is certainly helpful.”

Freeman, Call out

The Dodgers were without Freddie Freeman and Alex Call on Wednesday, but are hoping both will be available for their next game on Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Freeman was absent from the lineup because of a “stinger” in his neck and right shoulder, Roberts said. Freeman has dealt with similar issues before, and Roberts said they wanted to give him the opportunity for two consecutive days off (including Thursday’s off-day) to let it calm down.

Call was also out of the lineup after being removed from Tuesday’s game with a back flare-up. He, too, has dealt with similar issues in the past. Roberts described Call as “day-to-day” and said the team would re-evaluate his status Friday.

Junior Caminero hit his 29th and 30th homers, Christopher Morel had a go-ahead shot and six Tampa Bay pitchers combined to strike out 16 in the Rays’ 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.

Caminero hit a career-long 447-foot shot with a man on in the first, and had a solo homer in the third. Morel was 0 for 6 with six strikeouts in the series before hitting his solo homer in the seventh.

It was Caminero’s third two-homer game this season and he reached 101 RBIs for his career.

Nick Fortes also homered, his first hit in five games with the Rays since being acquired from Miami.

Starter Shane Baz struck out nine in four innings to help Tampa Bay win for the fourth time in 14 games. Garrett Cleavinger (1-4) was the winner, and Pete Fairbanks got his 19th save.

Ryan Zeferjahn (6-4) took the loss.

Mike Trout tied the score for Los Angeles with a three-run homer in the third. His 20th homer this season and 398th of his career was his 200th in Angels Stadium. He’s the first player in major league history with 200 homers and 100 steals (101) in one stadium.

The Angels loaded the bases with no outs against Griffin Jax in the eighth. But Jax, acquired from Minnesota for Taj Bradley on July 31, struck out the next three batters.

Rays center fielder Jonny DeLuca left in the sixth with right hamstring tightness after legging out a triple. DeLuca was reinstated from the 60-day IL (right shoulder strain) on July 25.

Up next

Both teams are off Thursday. Angels RHP Kyle Hendricks (6-8, 4.59) will pitch at Detroit against LHP Tarik Skybal (11-3, 2.18) on Friday night. Tampa Bay will start RHP Drew Rasmussen (9-5, 2.81) against RHP Luis Castillo (8-6, 3.22) at Seattle on Friday night.

It might be a cliché this time of year, how injured players who return after the trade deadline can serve as de facto deadline acquisitions themselves.

But in the case of Max Muncy and the Dodgers, the team needed it to be true. Badly.

Immediately after Muncy went down with a knee injury in early July, the club’s lineup entered a deep midseason slump. Its actual deadline acquisitions, which included only one hitter in outfielder Alex Call, had underwhelmed the fan base.

Thus, when Muncy returned to action Monday night, the Dodgers were desperately hoping the veteran slugger could provide a spark.

Twenty-four hours later, he did it with two thunderous swings.

In the Dodgers’ 12-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Muncy officially christened his comeback with a four-for-five, four-RBI performance that included a pair of no-doubt home runs off Miles Mikolas — picking up almost exactly where he left off before suffering a July 2 knee injury that he feared would end his season.

“As I was laying there on the ground that night, I thought for sure this is it,” Muncy recalled this week, after not only recovering from what proved to be just a bone bruise, but doing it two weeks faster than the initial six-week timeline the team had expected.

“It’s hard to stay positive in a moment like that,” Muncy added, while reliving Michael A. Taylor’s slide into his left knee a month earlier. “But extremely thankful and blessed to be back on a baseball field this year.”

Muncy did have some rust to knock off, going hitless in three at-bats with a walk and strikeout in his first game back Monday night against crafty Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray.

On Tuesday, however, Mikolas gave him the chance to do some long-awaited damage.

In the first inning, after Shohei Ohtani doubled and scored on a Freddie Freeman sacrifice fly, Muncy clobbered a center-cut, first-pitch sinker 416 feet into the right-field pavilion, giving the Dodgers a quick 2-0 lead.

In the third, after the Cardinals leveled the score on Nolan Gorman’s two-run homer off Emmet Sheehan an inning earlier, Muncy went deep again, whacking an elevated fastball 404 feet for a two-run blast.

The Dodgers (66-48) wouldn’t relinquish the lead again, going on to their first double-digit scoring effort since June 22 thanks to a five-run rally in the seventh, when Muncy also added an RBI single, and two more runs in the eighth, when Muncy tacked on his fourth hit.

There were other positive signs for the Dodgers’ recently scuffling lineup on Tuesday.

Mookie Betts, who was mired in a career-long five-game, 22 at-bat hitless streak, recorded three knocks: A double right before Muncy’s second homer in the third, a line-drive single in the fifth, and a seeing-eye grounder in the eighth.

Andy Pages, who was batting just .211 since the All-Star break, made hard contact on doubles in the sixth and the seventh.

And Teoscar Hernández, who was hitting just .213 since returning from a groin strain in May, came roaring to life with a two-homer game, going back-to-back with Muncy on a solo home run in the third before smashing a game-sealing three-run drive after Muncy’s RBI single in the seventh.

Leading up to the deadline, manager Dave Roberts cited that subset of slumping hitters as potential quasi-deadline additions in their own right. Part of the reason for the team’s relative inaction at the deadline was its trust that the healthy, but scuffling, members of its lineup would get back on track down the stretch.

Still, Muncy’s eventual return had long been seen as the Dodgers’ biggest potential boon, especially after they went from leading the majors in scoring before he got hurt to ranking last in runs over the 25 games he missed.

“We’ve certainly missed him,” Roberts said ahead of Muncy’s return Monday. “The night he came off the field, you’re starting to think of it potentially being season-ending. So to get him back in a month, we’re all excited. He’s put in a lot of work to get back with this timeline. And yeah, we’ve needed him.”

Two games in, the importance of his return is already being felt.

The Dodgers’ recently slumping offense was better Saturday night.

But for a team that has struggled to gain traction and string together wins for almost a month, even a seven-run, 10-hit performance wasn’t quite enough.

In an 8-7 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Dodgers put a badly-needed crooked number on the board early, scoring four runs in the bottom of the third to answer the Brewers four-run rally in the top half of the inning.

The Dodgers manufactured another run in the sixth, keeping the game close on a night Emmet Sheehan struggled in a season-worst start and the bullpen yielded three costly runs late. They even hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth, trimming what had grown to a three-run deficit back to one.

But every time it seemed like they were truly ready to break out, like their long-slumbering lineup was about to roar back to life, the Dodgers still came up ever-frustratingly short.

And no sequence epitomized those headaches like the end of the third.

After a Shohei Ohtani two-run homer, a Teoscar Hernández RBI double and a run-scoring wild pitch from Brewers starter Freddy Peralta, the Dodgers had the go-ahead run at third with no outs. They were 90 feet away from flipping the momentum entirely, and completing the kind of ruthless offensive onslaught that has evaded their $400-million roster for the last several weeks.

But then, in an immediate return to their uninspired form of late, the lineup went missing, squandering the opportunity with three quick outs — moments before the Brewers retook a lead their premium pitching staff wouldn’t again relinquish.

So goes life for the Dodgers these days, when even a largely productive day at the plate couldn’t prevent another series defeat to the Brewers or a ninth overall loss in their last 11 games.

Saturday could have been a more profound breakthrough. A game of not just incremental progress, but a total offensive turnaround.

Ohtani had a three-RBI day, starting with his towering 448-foot opposite-field blast. Hernández’s double was one of the best swings he has taken in the last couple months, a line drive into the right-center field gap that one-hopped off the wall. Tommy Edman broke an 0-for-29 skid with a sixth-inning single and eighth-inning home run. Miguel Rojas, one of the few who has impressed during the Dodgers’ recent struggles, followed Edman’s solo blast with one of his own in the next at-bat, completing a two-hit night that also included a walk.

But every time the Dodgers put the Brewers on the ropes, they failed to land the necessary knockout blow.

In a game they needed their lineup to pick up the slack left by a lackluster pitching performance, they repeatedly ran out of rope.

On the verge of taking the lead in the third, the Dodgers instead watched Andy Pages take a called third strike (which he reacted angrily to, despite the pitch being well in the zone), Michael Conforto ground out against a drawn-in infield and Edman hit a can of corn to left to retire the side.

The 4-4 tie was broken in the next inning, when Isaac Collins hit a leadoff home run over the short wall in right field to chase Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan from the game.

Trailing by two in the sixth, the Dodgers threatened again. Edman and Rojas both singled, setting up Ohtani for an RBI knock in left field. But then Will Smith grounded out to second to retire the side.

The final tease came in the eighth, after the Brewers opened up an 8-5 lead.

Edman lifted his home run to the left-field bullpen. Rojas went deep on a similar trajectory.

That brought up Ohtani, representing the potential tying run. But he watched a soaring fly ball die at the warning track in center.

Close, but not enough. Too little, once again coming frustratingly too late.

The bats, of course, were not the Dodgers’ primary problem Saturday.

Sheehan saw his recently promising return from Tommy John surgery derailed in a five-run, three-plus inning outing. During the Brewers’ four-run third, he missed wildly with an array of breaking pitches, and was punished for several sliders that failed to induce a whiff.

The defense wasn’t sharp either, with both Hernández and Pages failing to cut off balls in the gaps at various points.

And generally, the Dodgers have reverted to the overall shoddy play that led to a seven-game losing streak shortly before the All-Star break (three of which came in Milwaukee to the Brewers, who can complete a six-game season sweep of the Dodgers on Sunday).

But the lack of consistently timely offense remains the most confounding issue for the Dodgers.

That was the case even before the game, when manager Dave Roberts gave Mookie Betts — the most glaring underperformer among Dodgers hitters this season — a day off just two games into the second half in hopes it would allow him to clear his mind and work on his swing.

It felt just as prescient in the aftermath of yet another defeat, with the team still searching for a winning formula amid its most disappointing stretch of the year.

ATLANTA — Jo Adell’s run-scoring double in the eighth inning ended a scoreless tie and the Angels beat the Atlanta Braves 4-0 on Tuesday night.

The Angels (42-42) reached .500 for the ninth time this season, while the Braves (38-46) have lost five of six.

Adell’s double down the left-field line off Dylan Lee (1-3) drove in Mike Trout, who doubled. Jorge Soler, who came off the injured list after missing 11 games with lower back inflammation, added a two-run double off Enyel De Los Santos in the four-run inning.

Angels shortstop Zach Neto returned as the leadoff hitter after missing four starts with a jammed right shoulder.

“Having the two guys back makes a huge difference,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said before the game.

The refurbished lineup struggled against Atlanta right-hander Grant Holmes, who gave up only three hits and recorded 10 strikeouts in six innings. Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson also threw six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.

Rookie right-hander José Fermin (1-0) earned his first win with a scoreless seventh.

Key moment

Michael Harris II ended an 0-for-22 drought with a triple to open the fifth. The Braves couldn’t drive in Harris thanks in part to Ronald Acuña Jr.’s third of four strikeouts in the game.

Key stat

A first-inning single extended Matt Olson’s career-best, on-base streak to 31 games. The longest active streak in the majors of games safely reaching base began May 29.

Up next

Braves rookie right-hander Didier Fuentes, 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA after two starts, was moved back one day to start Wednesday. Outfielder Jurickson Profar is expected to make his return from an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use. Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (3-6, 2.79) is the Angels’ starter.

Jo Adell homered twice, Chris Taylor also went deep and the Angels rallied from four runs down and beat the Seattle Mariners 8-6 on Saturday night.

Cal Raleigh homered twice — giving him a major league-leading 26 — and drove in four runs for the Mariners, who have lost five straight and 12 of their last 17 games.

Angels closer Kenley Jansen, who gave up Raleigh’s solo homer in the ninth, finished up for his 14th save.

Angels teammates Zach Neto, left, and Jo Adell celebrate after an 8-6 win over the Mariners on Saturday.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

Taylor replaced injured right fielder Jorge Soler (groin tightness) to start the second and led off with a homer off Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo (4-4). Two outs later, Adell hit a 431-foot solo shot to left-center to trim Seattle’s lead to 4-2.

The Angels took advantage of two Mariners errors to score twice in the third to tie the score 4-4, and Adell’s 445-foot homer to center put them ahead 5-4 in the fourth.

Doubles by Nolan Schanuel and Taylor Ward pushed the lead to 6-4 in the fifth, and Zach Neto’s RBI single made it 7-5 in the sixth. Adell added an RBI single in the seventh for a three-run lead as the Angels scored in six consecutive innings for the first time since 2011.

Adell is 13 for 32 (.406) with five homers, two doubles and nine RBIs in his last 10 games, raising his season average from .184 to .224.

Seattle center fielder Julio Rodríguez, who singled in his first two at-bats, was knocked out of the game in the third after Randy Arozarena’s hard grounder hit him above the right ankle while Rodríguez was trying to steal third base.

Cole Young doubled and scored in the second and hit an RBI single in the sixth for the Mariners.

Connor Brogdon (1-0) replaced Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz with runners on first and third and one out in the fourth. He struck out J.P. Crawford, walked Jorge Polanco and got Leody Taveras to fly out with the bases loaded to preserve a 4-4 tie.

Stephenson out indefinitely

A pair of MRI tests revealed no structural damage to Robert Stephenson’s surgically repaired right elbow, but the Angels reliever was diagnosed with a stretched biceps nerve that will sideline him indefinitely.

“The good news is there’s no major injury or anything. It’s just a matter of how long it’s going to take,” Stephenson said Saturday night before a game against the Seattle Mariners. “It could be something that disappears overnight. It could be something that takes a couple weeks or longer. They’re kind of tricky.”

The 32-year-old Stephenson was expected to be one of the team’s top relievers after signing a three-year, $33-million deal in January 2024, but he missed all of last season after undergoing an ulnar collateral ligament repair with an internal brace in May 2024.

Granada Hills has earned the top seed in the City Section Open Division softball playoffs three years in a row, but in that time it has yet to be No. 1 at the end of the season.

The Highlanders will get another chance to do just that — and get a little redemption in the process — when they face their nemesis Carson in the championship game Saturday at 3 p.m. at Cal State Northridge.

“You’re peaking at the right time,” head coach Ivan Garcia told his team after Wednesday’s five-inning 19-0 semifinal shutout of visiting Venice. “This was the best game we’ve played so far from start to finish, but we have one more. Let’s put a punctuation mark on the season!”

Pitcher Addison Moorman struck out nine of the 16 batters she faced and got plenty of support from the offense as the Highlanders (27-3) batted around in the first inning and scored six runs. They added four runs in the second on RBI singles by Samantha Esparza, Annabella Ramirez and Jasmine Soriano and an RBI triple by Zoe Justman.

In the third, the home side kept pouring it on as Lainey Brown hit a two-run single and Elysse Diaz added a two-run triple. Granada Hills finished with 15 hits — three each by Esparza and Diaz and two each by Soriano, Justman and Brown. The Highlanders’ defense was also on display as center fielder Jocelyn Jimenez made a running over-the-shoulder grab to rob Gondoliers hitter Sandy Carrera of extra bases in the fourth.

Granada Hills senior Addison Moorman tossed a one-hitter with nine strikeouts in five innings in a 19-0 shutout of Venice.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Granada Hills has outscored its first two playoff opponents 32-0 and only a bloop single in the second inning kept Moorman from back-to-back no-hitters.

“We’ve bonded more since last year and I’ve worked on my changeup,” said Moorman, who signed with Lehigh University in Pennsylvania in November. “We’re playing as a team right now and we know what it’s like to be on the big stage.”

The Highlanders have posted an 80-12 record the last three seasons, their only two defeats in City competition coming in extra innings to Carson in the finals. They get another crack at the third-seeded Colts (22-3-1), who routed San Pedro 11-1 in Wednesday’s other semifinal, and hope the third time’s the charm. Granada Hills will not participate in the SoCal Regionals like it did one year ago.

“Losing in the finals the last two years has helped us with our mindset and will help to eliminate the nerves because we know what to expect,” said Brown, a Manhattan University commit who graduates alongside Moorman on Thursday night. “Our coaches have preached all season ‘next man up’ and go base to base. We’ve all put in a ton of work and we’re extra motivated because of who we’re playing [in the finals].”

Brown is happy the game will be at CSUN instead of in the South Bay, where the previous two finals were played (at Cal State Dominguez Hills in 2023 and at Long Beach State last spring when Carson prevailed 1-0 in 14 innings despite Moorman’s 19 strikeouts).

Samantha Esparza slides home in the third inning of Granada Hills’ 19-0 victory over Venice.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“I’ve done camps there [at Northridge] and the last two years it’s been long bus rides,” Brown added. “Last year we got there late and couldn’t warm up efficiently, so I’m glad this time it’s right down the street.”

Carson also appears to be rounding into postseason form. The Colts mercied Birmingham 16-5 in the quarterfinals of the eight-team Open bracket and avenged two Marine League losses to second-seeded San Pedro (17-4) on Wednesday for their sixth win in a row.

Carson has won five City crowns, all in the upper division, since 2011. Granada Hills is seeking its first title in 44 years, having won the 4A Division in 1975, 1980 and 1981.

“I’m graduating tomorrow night, yet it’s been hard to focus on school,” Moorman admitted. “It slips my mind. It’s all about Saturday right now.”