Dodgers fall to the Brewers
From Maddie Lee: The second pitch Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz threw on Thursday night sailed above the strike zone, at about eye-height on Brewers hitter William Contreras. It was an early sign that Díaz was in for a brutal ninth inning.
By the end of his third blown save in four appearances, even Díaz wasn’t sure what his role would be going forward.
“Now I’ve just got to see what they want to do,” he said after the Dodgers’ 5-4 loss to the Brewers on Thursday. “I want to do the best thing for the team. At the end of the day, if they give me the ball in the ninth I will try to do my job. If they give me the ball in another inning, I will try to do my job. Got to get better, be consistent.”
Manager Dave Roberts, however, as he looked at the state of his bullpen as a whole, wasn’t ready to take the closer title from Díaz.
“Give me another option,” Roberts said. “…To be quite honest, none of those guys really are throwing the baseball great. So that’s just kind of the way it is.”
The series opener Thursday between the Dodgers and Brewers, two of the top teams in the National League, saw Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki battle command issues to salvage a two-run, six-inning start. It included a record-setting go-ahead home run from Max Muncy, No. 131 at Dodger Stadium, breaking a tie with Eric Karros for the most all-time.
Then Díaz, who has been working through an evolving set of issues since returning from the IL (arthroscopic elbow surgery) a couple weeks ago, took over with a two-run lead. And the game went sideways.
The Dodgers (73-49) fell to two games back of the Brewers (75-47) and half a game behind the Braves (73-48).
“A loss is a loss, but there’s certain losses that are more costly,” Roberts said. “And when you use five relievers and you lose a game, that’s costly.”
Angels defeat the Rangers
Walbert Ureña gave up two hits in six innings, Mike Trout and Denzer Guzman led a 15-hit outburst with three singles and an RBI apiece, and the Angels beat the Texas Rangers 7-0 on Thursday night.
Josh Lowe added two hits and two RBIs, and Adam Frazier had two hits and an RBI for the Angels, who extended their win streak to three and had at least 10 hits in a game for the first time since July 8.
Ureña (8-8) struck out five and walked two while lowering his ERA to 2.67. The rookie right-hander has a 2.43 ERA in 18 games since May 1 and has given up no more than one run in 13 of those starts. José Fermin, Tayler Saucedo and Sammy Peralta each threw a scoreless inning to complete the five-hitter.
Q&A about Mark Walter selling Lakers
From Bill Shaikin: The Steinbrenner family has owned the New York Yankees for 53 years. Jerry Jones has owned the Dallas Cowboys for 37 years. The Buss family owned the Lakers for 46 years.
These trophy assets are few and far between. Walter had agreed to sell the Lakers after less than one year of ownership — and not through a comprehensive bidding process, but to an inquiring caller during the weekend?
“This has more red flags than a May Day parade,” an industry insider said, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize his professional relationships.
The deal, which valued the Lakers at $12.5 billion, was motivated by the spiraling price for an NBA expansion team in Las Vegas, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. After all, if Iger and Kushner might have to pay $10 billion for a startup team, why not call and see if Walter might accept a bit more for one of the marquee franchises in American sports?
Lakers again have most nationally televised games on their schedule
Chargers preseason Game 1 takeaways
From Sam Farmer: Chargers running back Amar Johnson doesn’t have a ton of NFL experience, but he knows to make every moment count.
“You don’t get the most opportunities at practice, so you’ve got to maximize the opportunities that you do get,” said Johnson, who had two touchdowns and a successful conversion run Thursday in a 27-7 victory over the Houston Texans in a preseason opener.
“Every game you kind of hit the reset button like, yeah, I did something this week, but the next game is a new week.”
Jim Harbaugh said the urgency is palpable, especially for players looking to secure one of the last few roster spots.
“That’s why you play like your football life is at stake,” the Chargers coach said. “Because it kind of is.”
Johnson had a seven-yard touchdown run in the first half, then turned a short reception into a 55-yard gain in the second. He was tackled a yard short of the end zone. He smiled when asked about that, knowing he likely was going to take a ribbing from teammates.
“I had to punch it in one more time,” he said. And he did punch it in, scoring from the one on the following play.
Cameron Brink injured in Sparks’ loss
Sabrina Ionescu scored 20 points and the New York Liberty avoided one of the biggest collapses in WNBA history, holding off the Sparks 85-81 on Thursday night.
New York (21-14) led 69-41 early in the fourth quarter and looked poised to cruise to an easy victory when the Sparks scored 21 straight points to get within striking distance.
The Sparks (12-21) only trailed 82-79 with 26.6 seconds left and were in position to match the Chicago Sky for the biggest comeback in league history. The Sky rallied from 28-down to beat Las Vegas in 2022. Rae Burrell got the Sparks within one on a reverse layup with 22 seconds left. Ionescu hit two free throws with 14.8 remaining to restore the three-point advantage.
The Sparks also lost Cameron Brink earlier in the fourth quarter. She helped key the game-changing run, drawing an offensive foul on Breanna Stewart. Brink was down on the floor for a few minutes before being helped to the locker room with a towel over her head. She took a shot to the stomach area from Stewart to get the offensive foul called. A few minutes earlier Brink and Burrell banged heads.
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said Brink was being evaluated by doctors after a “brutal hit to the ribs”, but didn’t have an update other than that.
This day in sports history
1903 — Jim Jeffries knocks out Jim Corbett in the 10th round to retain his world heavyweight title in San Francisco.
1936 — In Berlin, the U.S. wins the first Olympic basketball gold medal with a 19-8 win over Canada. The game is played outdoors on a dirt court in a driving rain. Joe Fortenberry leads the U.S. with seven points. James Naismith, the inventor of the game, presents the medals.
1959 — The formation of the American Football League is announced in Chicago. Play will begin in 1960 with franchises in six cities with the probability of adding two more teams.
1977 — Lanny Wadkins beats Gene Littler on the third hole of sudden death to take the PGA Championship.
1977 — The Cosmos, led by Pele, play before a Meadowlands crowd of 77,961 in East Rutherford, N.J., the most to see a soccer game in the U.S. The Cosmos beat the Fort Lauderdale Strikers 8-3 in an NASL quarterfinal playoff game.
1994 — Nick Price wins the PGA Championship, finishing at 11-under 269 for 72 holes, six strokes ahead of Corey Pavin. It is the lowest stroke total in an American major championship.
2005 — The U.S. 4×400 relay team, anchored by Jeremy Wariner, races to a record 14th gold medal for the United States at the field world championships.
2011 — Keegan Bradley wins the PGA Championship after trailing by five shots with three holes and then defeating Jason Dufner in a three-hole playoff. Bradley becomes the third player in at least 100 years to win a major championship in his first try.
2016 — South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk breaks Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old world record in the 400-meter final in Rio de Janeiro. Usain Bolt becomes the first to capture three straight 100-meter titles at the Olympics. He finishes in 9.81 — 0.08 seconds ahead of Justin Gatlin.
2019 — French woman Stephanie Frappart is the first woman to referee a major match in a European men’s tournament. UEFA Super Cup, Chelsea vs. Liverpool in Istanbul.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1919 — Chicago’s Happy Felsch tied the major-league record with four outfield assists in a game. The White Sox still lost to the Boston Red Sox 15-6.
1932 — Brooklyn’s John Quinn, 49, became the oldest pitcher to win a major league game. Quinn pitched the last two innings of a 2-1, 10-inning win over the New York Giants.
1933 — Jimmie Foxx of the Philadelphia Athletics hit for the cycle and drove in nine runs in an 11-5 win over the Cleveland Indians. The nine RBIs set an American League record for one game, breaking the 22-year-old mark set by Topsy Hartzell of the New York Highlanders.
1958 — Vic Power of the Cleveland Indians stole home twice, in the eighth and 10th innings, in a 10-9 win over Detroit. He had only three steals all year.
1960 — Bill White of the St. Louis Cardinals hit for the cycle in a 9-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opening game of a doubleheader.
1971 — Bob Gibson of St. Louis pitched a no-hitter, blanking the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-0.
1987 — Oakland’s Mark McGwire set a major league rookie record with his 39th homer of the season to help the A’s to a 7-6, 12-inning victory over the Angels.
1998 — Baltimore’s Chris Hoiles became the ninth major leaguer and first catcher to hit two grand slams in one game.
2002 — Trevor Hoffman became the first reliever in major league history to have 30 or more saves in eight straight seasons in San Diego’s 6-2 win over the New York Mets.
2007 — Atlanta manager Bobby Cox was ejected after the fifth inning for arguing a called third strike in the Braves’ 5-4 victory over San Francisco. It was his 132nd ejection, breaking the mark set by Hall of Famer John McGraw.
2009 — Felix Pie became the fourth player in Orioles history to hit for the cycle, and Baltimore tied club records for extra-base hits and doubles in a 16-6 rout of the Angels.
2011 — Albert Pujols hit the longest home run at 6-year-old Busch Stadium in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 6-2 win over Colorado. Pujols’ two-run drive in the first inning was estimated at 465 feet.
2013 — Alfonso Soriano homered twice for the second straight night and drove in a career-high seven runs, giving him 13 RBIs in two games while powering the New York Yankees to an 11-3 victory over the Angels.
2015 — Matt Kemp hit a triple in the ninth for the first cycle in the history of the San Diego Padres, who beat the Colorado Rockies 9-5.
2018 — Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr., 20, became the youngest major leaguer to homer in five straight games.
2021 — Arizona Diamondbacks Tyler Gilbert became the fourth pitcher and first in 68 years to throw a no-hitter in his initial big league start, leading Arizona over the San Diego Padres 7-0 with the record-tying eighth no-hitter of the season.
2024 — With a long ball off Chad Kuhl in the 8th inning, Aaron Judge reaches 300 home runs, doing so in fewer games (955) and at-bats (3,431) than anyone before him. The homer follows a rare intentional walk issued to Juan Soto and is part of an emphatic 10-2 win by the Yankees over the White Sox.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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