Dodgers have Skubal, but are swept by Red Sox
From Maddie Lee: Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman felt good enough about his trade discussions with the Detroit Tigers for two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal that he gave manager Dave Roberts a positive update shortly before the team’s game against the Red Sox on Saturday.
“I heard that it was pretty much done,” Roberts recounted Sunday afternoon. “But there’s obviously things that have to go on with medical, so it wasn’t actually even finalized. I just heard that it was pretty much close.”
Friedman, however, wasn’t ready to exhale until he got final word from the Tigers during the game.
“I had no idea and was trying to emotionally hedge,” he said. “I wasn’t getting too high or too low on it until we actually found out.”
There was, it turned out, no need to stress. On Saturday, the Dodgers agreed to trade three prospects — outfielder Zyhir Hope (No. 25 on MLB Pipeline’s top 100), right-handed pitcher River Ryan (No. 68) and right-hander Brady Smith — to the Tigers for one of the best starters in baseball.
Shaikin: Dodgers traded just 3 minor leaguers for Tarik Skubal. Why couldn’t your team do that?
Shaikin: ‘L.A. is America’s team.’ But the Brewers should have been Tarik Skubal’s team
Plaschke: Tarik Skubal trade brings Dodgers hate, envy … and another championship
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From Joaquin Ruiz: The Dodgers were swept for just the second time this season after the red-hot Boston Red Sox hit four home runs, including three off embattled starter Emmet Sheehan, to take an 8-4 win on Sunday night at Dodger Stadium.
Boston hit three home runs in four at-bats in the third inning, with Sheehan giving up blasts to Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida as the Dodgers suffered their second three-game sweep at home in less than a month.
“It was bad execution,” Sheehan said. “I just missed my spots.”
Teammates in awe of Myles Garrett
From Gary Klein: The Rams knew the resume. Saw the highlights. Gathered all the intel required.
But they were not aware of Myles Garrett’s aura.
How could they?
It’s not tangible, nor easily defined.
It’s just there.
“You just feel him,” coach Sean McVay said Friday.
McVay felt and said that before. About Aaron Donald. About Jalen Ramsey.
But listening to Rams players talk about Garrett, this feels different.
Mystical.
“You can just feel his aura,” cornerback Trent McDuffie said.
Safety Quentin Lake explained it the same way.
“Just his presence,” Lake said, “his aura.”
Khalil Mack is a great influence on Chargers teammates
From Joaquin Ruiz: A tempting life as a full-time family man nearly pulled Khalil Mack away from football.
“I was leaning towards coming back the whole time,” Mack said of mulling retirement before signing a one-year, $18-million contract in March to remain with the Chargers. “But it’s just considering the stage of life my kids are at, that balance of being a dad and a husband but still trying to follow the dream. I feel like I’m still in a position to do both.”
The future Hall of Famer decided the show must go on.
And now, with championship aspirations entering his 13th season, and fifth in Los Angeles, Mack is basking in his role as the Chargers’ elder statesman.
“Priceless,” defensive coordinator Chris O’Leary said of the 35-year-old outside linebacker’s presence. “He’s the flag bearer of our culture on defense. He leads the way with his actions. … When it’s time for him to say something, he’s going to say something.
Angels beat the Brewers
Walbert Ureña pitched three-hit ball over six innings and Wade Meckler hit a two-run homer off Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski as the Angels beat the Brewers 3-0 on Sunday.
Ureña (7-7) struck out seven and walked three as the Angels (43-69) broke a five-game losing streak. The rookie right-hander has a 2.54 ERA and a 2.25 ERA since May 1, a stretch in which he has given up one or fewer earned runs in 12 of 16 starts.
Angels reliever Ryan Zeferjahn replaced the injured Sam Bachman with a runner on second and one out in the eighth. He struck out Brice Turang, gave up an infield single to Jackson Chourio and struck out Garrett Mitchell with runners on first and third to end the inning.
Sparks beat the Fire
Dearica Hamby scored 23 points, Nneka Ogwumike had 20 of her 22 in the second half and the Sparks — after learning star teammate Kelsey Plum was traded — ended a six-game losing streak with a 106-101 win over the Portland Fire on Sunday.
Plum, sidelined since June 21 with a leg injury, was sent to the Phoenix Mercury late Saturday night. The Sparks are now 3-9 without Plum.
Ogwumike hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:25 to play, making it 98-96. Hamby followed with a layup off an Ogwumike assist. In the last 24 seconds, Ogwumike and Erica Wheeler went six for six from the foul line.
Sparks got some strong assets for Kelsey Plum as they start another rebuild
This day in sports history
1852 — The first intercollegiate rowing race is held on Lake Winnipesaukee, N.H., where Harvard beats Yale by four lengths on the 2-mile course.
1936 — American sprinter Jesse Owens wins the 100m (10.3 seconds) in front of Adolf Hitler in a famous race at the Berlin Olympics, first of four gold medals at the Games.
1949 — The National Basketball Assn. is formed by the merger of the National Basketball League and the Basketball Assn. of America.
1955 — Scott Frost, driven by Joe O’Brien, wins the Hambletonian at Good Time Park in Goshen, N.Y. He goes on to become the first trotting Triple Crown winner.
1985 — France’s Lutin D’Isigny becomes the first trotter to sweep the International Trot and Challenge Cup in consecutive years with a 3:03.1 time in the 1½-mile test.
1990 — The PGA Tour announces it will not hold tournaments at golf clubs that have all-white memberships or show any other signs of discrimination.
1996 — Andre Agassi, the Dream Team and the U.S. women’s 400-meter relay team win Olympic gold medals, while the American men’s 400 relay settles for silver. With Carl Lewis idled by a coach’s decision and Leroy Burrell injured, the men’s 400 team is shocked by Canada — the first time the U.S. lost the event at the Olympics.
2003 — Annika Sorenstam completes a career Grand Slam at the Women’s British Open, beating Se Ri Pak by a stroke in a thrilling head-to-head showdown.
2006 — Champ Car driver Cristiano da Matta needs surgery to remove a ruptured blood vessel in his head after his race car collides with a deer that wandered onto the track during a test session at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.
2012 — Michael Phelps rallies to win the 100-meter butterfly for his third gold of the London Games and No. 17 of his career. It’s Phelps’ third consecutive win in the event at the Olympics, and his 21st career medal. Missy Franklin sets a world record in the 200 backstroke for the 17-year-old’s third gold in London.
2013 — Sixteen-year-old Katie Ledecky wraps up a brilliant performance at the world swimming championships with her fourth gold medal and second world record. The youngster turns it on over the final four laps of the 800 freestyle to win in 8 minutes, 13.86 seconds and take down the mark of 8:14.10 set by Britain’s Rebecca Adlington at the 2008 Olympics.
2016 — The International Olympic Committee approves baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding to be included in the 2020 Tokyo Games.
2016 — Elaine Thompson Herah of Jamaica wins the 200m gold in Tokyo to become the first female to win the 100/200 double in consecutive games.
2017 — Brazilian soccer forward Neymar transfers from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record transfer fee of $222M on a 5-year deal.
2023 — Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi becomes first WNBA player to reach 10,000 points as she drops 42 points in a 91-71 win over the Atlanta Dream.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1901 — Cleveland pitcher Ed Scott pitched a complete game and hit a solo home run off Bill Reidy in the top of the 10th for an 8-7 win against Milwaukee. It was the last game of Scott’s major league career.
1906 — Washington pitcher Tom Hughes hit a solo home run off Fred Glade in the tenth inning for 1-0 win over the St. Louis Browns. He became the first pitcher to win a 1-0 extra-inning game with his own home run.
1914 — New York Yankee catcher Les Nunamaker threw out three Detroit Tigers trying to steal second base on one inning. It will be the only time a backstop has accomplished this feat this century.
1923 — Major League Baseball canceled all games after the death of U.S. President Warren G. Harding in San Francisco on Aug. 2.
1933 — Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia A’s became the first pitcher since Aug. 2, 1931 — a span of 308 games — to shut out the New York Yankees, winning 7-0.
1944 — Tommy Brown, 16 years and 8 months old, played shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers in both games of a doubleheader loss, 6-2 and 7-1, to the Chicago Cubs. He had a double and scored a run.
1948 — Cleveland’s Satchel Paige made his first major league start and went seven innings to lead the Indians to a 5-3 victory over the Washington Senators.
1959 — The second game of All-Star play this year was won by the AL 5-3 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Nellie Fox of the Chicago White Sox singled in the deciding run in the seventh inning.
1961 — The Pittsburgh Pirates scored a 19-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals for the largest shutout score in an NL night game.
1969 — The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 19-17 in a wild game at Connie Mack Stadium. Trailing 9-6, the Reds scored 10 runs in the fifth inning to take a seven-run lead. The Reds tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning for an 18-9 lead. The Phillies responded with seven runs on the home half of the sixth and another run in the seventh to get within one run. Cincinnati’s Tony Perez homered in the eighth to make it 19-17. The Phillies two-out rally in the ninth ended with Ron Stone lining out to right with runners on first and second.
1969 — Pinch-hitter Rich Reese hit a grand slam to power the Minnesota Twins to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles and end Dave McNally’s 15-game winning streak. His two victories at the end of 1968 had given him 17 straight wins.
1982 — Frank White of the Kansas City Royals hit for the cycle in a 6-5 win over the Detroit Tigers. It was the second cycle of his career.
1987 — Minnesota’s Joe Niekro was caught with a file on the mound and was ejected during the fourth inning of the Twins’ 11-3 win over the Angels. Niekro would be suspended for 10 games by American League president Bobby Brown, who didn’t believe Niekro’s story that he had been filing his nails on the bench and stuck the file in his back pocket when the inning started.
2004 — Tony Batista hit a grand slam in the 12th inning after tying the game with a two-run homer in the ninth, leading Montreal over St. Louis 10-6.
2006 — Chase Utley singled in the first inning of Philadelphia’s 8-1 win at St. Louis to extend his hitting streak to 35 games.
2006 — Matt Murton tied a major league record with four doubles and drove in five runs to help the Chicago Cubs salvage a split of a doubleheader with Arizona 7-3.
2015 — Adrian Beltre became the first major leaguer since the 1930s to hit for his third career cycle and the Texas Rangers held on for a wild 12-9 victory over Houston. Beltre hit a solo homer in the fifth inning for the Texas Rangers, completing the cycle in his first four at-bats.
2024 — By stealing three bases in a 10-0 Dodgers win over the Athletics, Shohei Ohtani becomes the first member of the 30-30 club this season (he has already hit 33 homers). In reaching the two marks in 108 games, he is the third fastest to do so in history, beaten only by Eric Davis (90 games in 1987) and Alex Rodriguez (107 games in 1998).
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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