victory

In the first of the last-16 matches, 2005 winner Shaun Murphy moved into a dominant 6-2 lead over China’s Xiao Guodong.

Murphy scraped through 10-9 against Fan Zhengyi in the first round, calling his match-winning break of 50 in the decider the best break he had ever made at the Crucible after he had trailed 53-17.

But the 43-year-old Englishman found this session to be calmer as he made breaks of 79, 103, 63 and 64 to go 5-0 ahead.

World number nine Xiao took the next two frames, but Murphy ended the session well and took the last with a run of 61 to have a four-frame lead in the first-to-13 match.

That match resumes on Friday at 10:00 BST and Murphy could win it with a session to spare if he wins seven of the eight frames in that session. The third session, if needed, will take place from 19:00.

Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen holds a 5-3 lead against England’s Kyren Wilson, the 2024 champion.

Two-time semi-finalist Allen made breaks of 50 and 78 to race into a 5-0 lead, but Wilson won the last three frames of the session, helped by runs of 75 and 50.

The second session is on Friday from 14:30, before it is played to a finish on Saturday morning.

Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy analyses how Liverpool’s performance “got better” from a “creative” and “footballing aspect” as The Reds secured a 2-1 victory at Everton in the Merseyside Derby.

MATCH REPORT: Everton 1-2 Liverpool

Available to UK users only.

Match of the Day pundits Wayne Rooney and Danny Murphy discuss how “two top players” in Erling Haaland and Gabriel went head-to-head in Manchester City’s 2-1 victory against Arsenal, with the Norwegian striker reaching “unplayable” levels.

MATCH REPORT: Manchester City 2-1 Arsenal

Available to UK users only.

DENVER — The hottest team in baseball, the coldest game in franchise history.

And a California kid on the mound, battling the inclement elements, this time beating the 35-degree chill.

Last April, a deluge in Philadelphia derailed the Dodgers and Tyler Glasnow in a frustrating defeat against the Phillies.

On Friday, in his first game at Coors Field, the Dodgers’ towering right-hander proved his manager Dave Roberts right: “He’s grown exponentially. I don’t see that these conditions are going to affect him today.”

Dodger Max Muncy follows the flight of his solo home run off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano Friday in Denver.

(David Zalubowski/AP)

Indeed not. The former Newhall Hart High standout got the better of the weather and the Colorado Rockies. And his Dodgers teammates put runs on the board like they were logs in the fireplace, scoring at least one run every inning until the sixth inning en route to a breezy 7-1 victory.

Sparked by Max Muncy’s leadoff home runs in the second and fifth innings, the hot hitters up and down the Dodgers’ lineup sapped the suspense from the first of a four-game wraparound series.

Most of the crowd of 28,783 loved to see it. Thousands of dutifully bundled Dodgers supporters chanted and cheered as their boys in blue notched their 15th victory in 19 games, maintaining momentum in the first game of a 13-consecutive-game stretch.

Colorado right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano took the loss after leaving the game after the fourth inning with the Rockies trailing 5-0, having given up five runs on nine hits and thrown 91 pitches (just 51 of them for strikes).

As the grounds crew works to clear snow while Dodgers third baseman Santiago Espinal tosses a snowball at a coach before the team played the Rockies Friday in Denver.

(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

Conversely, Glasnow (2-0) got the win, going seven innings and yielding just one run and two hits, striking out seven and walking two on 92 pitches. The Rockies (7-13) scored only in the fourth inning, when Troy Johnston’s groundout pushed across Mickey Moniak to make it 5-1.

The Dodgers’ first run came on much more quickly, when Will Smith’s one-out sacrifice fly brought home Shohei Ohtani, who’d led off the game with a double — he went two for three off Sugano on Friday, making the Dodgers’ superstar six for seven all time against his countryman.

Smith’s first RBI was his ninth this season, in his 35th game at the famously hitter-friendly park, though he still had another in him.

Muncy’s 434-foot home run in the second made it 2-0 and his double down the line in the third drove in Smith, who’d reached on a broken-bat single that sent Roberts scurrying in the dugout. That gave the Dodgers their third run before Andy Pages’ sacrifice brought home Freddie Freeman to make it 4-0.

The Dodgers pushed it to 5-0 in the fourth inning when Smith singled to left to score Kyle Tucker, who’d doubled off the center field wall.

And then Muncy led off the fifth with his second solo shot, giving him his 21st career multi-homer game, and his fourth at Coors Field. After Alex Freeland hit a sacrifice fly to left to bring home Pages, the Dodgers led 7-1.

Hyeseong Kim was one of three Dodgers who didn’t score, but the speedy South Korean reached on a single and a walk and twice stole second.

For all the contributors keeping warm up and down the Dodgers’ lineup, the members of the Rockies’ ground crew were the real heroes of Friday’s game. They plowed the outfield grass and shoveled away the couple inches of snow that piled up between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to prepare a playable field by gametime at 6:40 p.m.

Emotional night for Alex Vesia

From Maddie Lee: As left-hander Alex Vesia emerged from the Dodgers bullpen, heard the electric guitar riff of Seether’s “Gasoline,” and felt his adrenaline spike with the roar of the crowd, he knew 27 of those cheering fans had helped him and wife Kayla through a devastating loss just months prior.

He and Kayla had chosen the Dodgers’ game against the Mets on Tuesday, Healthcare appreciation night at Dodger Stadium, to celebrate the hands-on staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center who had cared for them last October, through the death of their newborn daughter Sterling Sol.

He’d spotted their suite by shirts Kayla had customized for the group, bearing the initials SV with a heart, and signed by Alex.

“Today was the first time I’ve seen pretty much all of them since everything,” Alex Vesia said after earning the save in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win Tuesday. “So it was very special, very emotional. … I couldn’t have written it any better.”

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Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Angels hit five homers to beat Yankees

Mike Trout homered for the third time in two games, combining with Jo Adell and Jorge Soler for three consecutive long balls in a five-pitch span against Ryan Weathers in the first inning, and the Angels beat the New York Yankees 7-1 on Tuesday night.

Trout hit a 2-and-1 fastball to the loading dock adjacent to Monument Park in center field and Adell hit another fastball on the next pitch into the visiting bullpen in left-center field. Three pitches later, Soler drove a 2-and-0 fastball into the left-field seats

Trout homered for the third straight at-bat after connecting in the sixth and eighth innings in Monday’s 11-10 loss.

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Angels box score

MLB standings

Kings lose to Canucks in OT

Jake DeBrusk scored his second goal of the game in overtime and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Kings 4-3 on Tuesday night.

DeBrusk collected a pass from center Elias Pettersson and tapped a shot in to seal the victory 2:58 into the extra period.

Defenseman Elias Pettersson opened the scoring for the Canucks (25-48-8), and DeBrusk and Zeev Buium added goals in the second period. Elias Pettersson had two assists. The Canucks won their third straight game for the first time since Dec. 14-20, when they took four straight road victories.

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Kings summary

NHL standings

Playoff-bound Ducks lose to Wild

Hunter Haight got his first career goal and rookie Jesper Wallstedt auditioned for action in the playoffs with 35 saves as the Minnesota Wild finished their regular season by beating the Ducks 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Danila Yurov and Robby Fabbri also scored for the playoff-bound Wild, who have won 21 of their last 22 games against the Ducks, including eight in a row.

Wallstedt, who is second in the NHL in save percentage, went 18-9-6 in his debut and has given the Wild plenty to consider for a potential postseason goalie rotation with Filip Gustavsson. Wallstedt allowed only 12 goals over his last six starts.

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Ducks summary

NHL standings

Bob Chesney pleased with UCLA’s progress

From Steve Galluzzo: Spring practice continued for the UCLA football program Tuesday morning at Spaulding Field and for the most part head coach Bob Chesney was pleased with his team’s progress.

It marked the sixth of 14 practices leading up to the annual spring game on May 2 at the Rose Bowl.

“The defense took strides today,” said Chesney, who was hired as the Bruins’ 20th head football coach on Dec. 26, replacing DeShaun Foster (fired after an 0-3 start in 2025) and interim coach Tim Skipper. “There were a couple turnovers in there. This was our second day with the officials, it was a different group and they were throwing some flags today. We just have to understand the game we’re in. As you get further along the referees step aside, but early in the season they’re excited to do their jobs and we gave them enough to throw laundry at so we’ll go back and check it all out.”

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Do World Cup tickets cost too much?

From Kevin Baxter: Aaron Levinson wanted to go to a World Cup game this summer, but he didn’t want to take out a second mortgage to pay for that. So after winning a chance to spend $560 for individual tickets in a FIFA lottery last fall, Levinson backed out.

Then he backed in again this spring.

“Maybe the sticker shock kind of started wearing off,” he said Sunday. “I got caught up in the excitement.”

So Levinson decided to pluck down $850 for two Category 3 tickets — among the cheapest available — for he and his wife to go the final U.S. group-play game at SoFi Stadium in June. When his wife reminded him that his two sons would be visiting then, he bought two more tickets, bringing his investment to $1,700, more than double the price of a seven-day cruise.

And that doesn’t include the nearly $250 it will cost to park near the stadium.

“That’s really steep,” said Levinson, a Galaxy season-ticket holder for more than a decade.

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Lakers focus on rebounding

From Broderick Turner: Rebounding was not a strength of the Lakers over the course of the regular season. Rebounding was a strength of the Houston Rockets during the 2025-26 campaign.

So, on their first day of practice Tuesday for Game 1 of the first round Saturday at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers worked diligently on rebounding drills, knowing full well that will be one of the keys against the Rockets.

The Lakers were the fourth-worst rebounding team in the NBA, averaging 41.0 per game. The Rockets were the top rebounding team in the league, getting 48.1 overall and 15.0 on the offensive end.

And one of the Lakers’ better rebounders, Luka Doncic, won’t be available because he’s dealing with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that he went to Spain for treatment. Doncic is second on the Lakers in rebounding at 7.7 per game. His starting backcourt mate, Austin Reaves, also is a good rebounder but he also won’t play because of a Grade 2 left oblique strain. Reaves is averaging 4.7 rebounds per game.

“They’re out indefinitely,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said about Doncic and Reaves.

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Lakers playoff schedule

First round
All times Pacific

Saturday: Houston at Lakers, 5:30 p.m, ABC
Tuesday: Houston at Lakers, 7:30 p.m., NBC
Friday, April 24: Lakers at Houston, 5:30 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
Sunday, April 26: Lakers at Houston, 6:30 p.m., NBC
*Wed., April 29: Houston at Lakers, TBD
*Friday, May 1: Lakers at Houston, TBD
*Sunday, May 3: Houston at Lakers, TBD

*-if necessary

Clippers playoff schedule

Wednesday vs. Golden State, 7:30 p.m., Amazon Prime Video

Loser is eliminated, winner advances to second play-in game on Friday, where they will play the loser of the other play-in game. Winner of that game becomes the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

This day in sports history

1901 — Boston Marathon won for second straight year by Canadian Jim Caffrey.

1907 — Boston Marathon won by Canadian Tom Longboat.

1937 — The Detroit Red Wings beat the New York Rangers 3-0 to take the Stanley Cup in the fifth and final game.

1952 — The Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 to capture the Stanley Cup. The Red Wings holds the Canadiens to two goals in the four-game sweep.

1979 — 43rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Fuzzy Zoeller wins his only Masters with a birdie on the 2nd hole of a playoff with Ed Sneed and Tom Watson.

1984 — Ben Crenshaw wins the Masters by two strokes over Tom Watson.

1985 — Marvin Hagler retains his world middleweight title by stopping Thomas Hearns in the third round at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Both slug it out with reckless abandon for eight minutes, which many consider the most electrifying three rounds in boxing history.

1990 — PGA Seniors’ Championship Men’s Golf, PGA National GC: South African Gary Player wins his third event title by two strokes.

1991 — Magic Johnson sets an NBA record for career assists in a 112-106 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Johnson, who needed nine assists to break Oscar Robertson’s record of 9,887, gets 19.

2000 — NFL Draft: Penn State defensive end Courtney Brown first pick by Cleveland Browns.

2005 — Top-ranked Roger Federer’s 25-match winning streak ends when French teenager Richard Gasquet saves three match points before capturing a third-set tiebreaker at the Monte Carlo Masters. Federer’s 35-1 record this year is the best start on the men’s tour since John McEnroe was 39-0 in 1984.

2005 — Two-time Olympic champion Steven Lopez of the United States wins his third world taekwondo title, capturing the welterweight gold medal with a 3-2 victory over Ali Tajik of Iran.

2018 — Victor Oladipo scores 32 points and the Indiana Pacers hold off Cleveland’s second-half rally for a stunning 98-80 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference series, handing LeBron James and the Cavaliers’ their first loss in the opening round in eight years.

2019 — The Clippers overcome an NBA record 31-point deficit to score an improbable 135-131 Game 2 playoff victory over the Golden State Warriors.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1909 — Leon Ames of the New York Giants pitched a no-hitter for 9 1-3 innings on opening day, but lost 3-0 to Brooklyn in 13 innings.

1915 — Rube Marquard of the New York Giants no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers, winning 2-0.

1947 — Jackie Robinson played his first major league game for the Dodgers. He went 0-for-3, but scored the deciding run in a 5-3 victory over the Boston Braves in Brooklyn. He was the first Black man to appear in the majors since 1884.

1957 — President Eisenhower officially opened the 1956 season by tossing out the first ball at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. The ball was the 10 millionth Spalding baseball to be used in major league play.

1958 — Major league baseball came to California as the transplanted Giants and Dodgers played the first game on the Pacific Coast. Playing in Seals Stadium in San Francisco, Ruben Gomez blanked Los Angeles 8-0.

1968 — Houston and the New York Mets played 24 innings in a night game in the Astrodome before the Astros won 1-0. The game lasted more than six hours.

1976 — New York opened the refurbished Yankee Stadium with an 11-4 rout of the Minnesota Twins.

1977 — Hank Aaron becomes the first player to have his uniform number retired by two teams. The Atlanta Braves retire his No. 44 during a pre-game ceremony. The Milwaukee Brewers had previously retired Aaron’s number.

1987 — Juan Nieves threw the first no-hitter in Brewers history as Milwaukee beat Baltimore 7-0.

1993 — Sparky Anderson earned his 2,000th victory as a manager as the Detroit Tigers rallied to beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2.

1993 — Andre Dawson became the 25th player to hit 400 home runs as the Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 4-3.

1997 — The 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s breaking the color barrier in major league baseball is celebrated before 54,047 at Shea Stadium during a game between the Mets and the Dodgers. MLB retires Robinson’s No. 42 for all of major league baseball.

1998 — The first-ever AL-NL doubleheader is held in New York’s Shea Stadium as the New York Yankees beat the Angels 6-3 and the New York Mets edge the Chicago Cubs 2-1. The Yankees draw a crowd of 40,743, a dramatic contrast to the gathering of 16,012 who show up for the Mets game at night.

2000 — Cal Ripken became the 24th player to reach 3,000 hits when he lined a clean single to center off Twins reliever Hector Carrasco. He reached the milestone with his third hit in a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins and became the seventh player in major league history to get 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.

2004 — Fifty-seven years after the historic event, major league baseball begins the tradition of Jackie Robinson Day, an annual celebration marking the day the color line was broken.

2006 — Eric Chavez, Frank Thomas, and Milton Bradley all homered on consecutive pitches in Oakland’s 5-4 victory over Texas.

2008 — Jose Lopez became the 12th player in major league history to hit three sacrifice flies in a game, and the Seattle Mariners tied the team record for five sac flies in an 11-6 victory over Kansas City.

2009 — Every player in Major League Baseball wears number 42 today on Jackie Robinson Day, in honor of the anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color line.

2009 — Ian Kinsler of Texas became the fourth player in team history to hit for the cycle, and was 6-for-6 in Texas’ 19-6 win over Baltimore.

2010 — Florida’s Jorge Cantu extended his major league season-opening record to 10 games with a hit in a 10-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

2011 — Texas tied an AL record by turning six double plays and the Rangers picked up where they left off last October, beating the New York Yankees 5-3. This was the 15th time an AL team made six DPs in a game. The major league mark for double plays in a game is seven by San Francisco in 1969.

2011 — Brennan Boesch hit a go-ahead two-run double with the bases loaded in the 10th inning and Detroit rallied to beat Oakland 8-4 for manager Jim Leyland’s 1,500th win. Leyland became the 19th major league manager to reach 1,500 wins.

2012 — Vin Scully is back in the broadcast booth for a record 63rd season after missing a week with a bad cold.

2022 — Jackie Robinson Day is celebrated across North America on the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color line in Major League Baseball.

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 me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.