From Maddie Lee: The way Shohei Ohtani pitched Wednesday against the Giants, his team didn’t need his bat.
The Dodgers’ 4-0 win over the Giants featured an early offensive push and back-to-back home runs, as Ohtani made his impact on the mound, holding San Francisco scoreless through seven innings.
“We’ve all seen that transformation: he wants to be the best pitcher in baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “And right now, he’s doing it. And so you can tell he’s hyper-focused on the preparation part of it, and then obviously the days that he starts, the execution.”
It was the first of two consecutive days that the Dodgers planned to be without his presence at the top of the batting order, while simultaneously managing his workload and slow offensive start to the year.
“First and foremost, the fact that I’m not injured, that’s a good thing,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I do want to contribute more offensively. I haven’t done so this year. So I’m looking forward to doing that.”
On Wednesday, the Dodgers’ first big offensive contributer was third baseman Santiago Espinal, who was in the starting lineup for the first time in five days. His solo homer in the third inning was his first home run since August 2024. Then Mookie Betts, hitting leadoff in place of Ohtani, followed with a homer of his own.
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Dodgers-Giants box score
MLB scores
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Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever overwhelm Sparks
Sparks guard Ta’Niya Latson, right, chases Fever guard Caitlin Clark at Crytpo.com Arena on Wednesday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
From Marisa Ingemi: Sometimes all it takes is one bad quarter. To coach Lynne Roberts, that’s what burnt the Sparks on Wednesday.
During an 87-78 loss to Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever at home, the Sparks made a late 11-3 run but it was far too little, too late after the Fever outscored the Sparks 24-14 in the second on 60% shooting.
“We got to show up to play when it’s the first quarter,” said point guard Kelsey Plum. “If you ever notice the pattern in the [WNBA,] talent is pretty spread out across the board. The hardest team playing wins a lot of the time. You got to make shots and stuff, but it’s kind of magical when you play hard, you kind of end up making shots. So I think that we have to have the intensity that we had in that run for a sustained game.”
Plum scored 25 points and Dearica Hamby added 16 points and eight rebounds, but the Sparks (0-2) were never really in it against the high-powered Fever after the brutal second frame.
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Mother of transgender athlete AB Hernandez determined to push through protests
Jurupa Valley athlete AB Hernandez, who is transgender, poses on a track with senior day posters supporting her.
(Courtesy of Hernandez family)
From Marisa Ingemi: A flyer featuring a pink background was the top Instagram post on California state superintendent candidate Sonja Shaw’s page on Saturday morning. It read, in blue, “a male athlete” held the top spot for an upcoming high school girls’ track and field meet, listing the event start times for protesters.
It was a tactic Nereyda Hernandez previously faced when her daughter, Jurupa Valley High track and field athlete AB Hernandez, first hit the national spotlight last year.
It has been about a year since President Trump targeted AB, who is transgender. As a result, the athlete and her mother knew what to expect when the track postseason began in May. There would be cameras, protesters and vitriol directed at a high school athlete.
“In November, we took a trip,” Nereyda said. “We went to New York and Cancun, we had a blast. We knew we had to get ready, we had to have that peace, because they were going to do this again.”
CIF policies allow transgender athletes to compete alongside other cisgender girls. If the transgender athlete places high enough to advance in qualifying or to medal at a CIF event, the athlete advances or receives the medal. But so does the next athlete in line. As a result, AB shared the first-place podium alongside another athlete twice at the state track and field meet last year.
This effort to include everyone did not quell protests.
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LAFC suffers its first loss to St. Louis City in franchise history
St. Louis City’s Timo Baumgart and LAFC’s Son Heung-Min chase a loose ball on Wednesday in St. Louis.
(Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)
From the Associated Press: Tomas Totland scored four minutes into the match and fellow defender Rafael Santos added a second-half goal to help St. Louis City beat LAFC for the first time, earning a 2-1 victory on Wednesday night.
Totland used assists from Eduard Löwen and Marcel Hartel to find the net for the first time this season and the third time in 55 career appearances. It was the first assist of the campaign for Löwen and the second for Hartel.
Santos added an unassisted goal in the 64th minute. It was his first score this season and his fourth in 92 career matches. Santos entered the match in the 10th minute for an injured Jaziel Orozco.
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Dejan Joveljić scores on his former team, helps seal Sporting KC win over Galaxy
Sporting Kansas City forward Calvin Harris controls the ball under pressure from Galaxy defender Mauricio Cuevas on Wednesday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
From the Associated Press: Calvin Harris had a goal and two assists and Dejan Joveljić scored against his former team, leading Sporting Kansas City to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Galaxy on Wednesday night.
Sporting KC (2-8-2) snapped an eight-match winless streak under first-year manager Raphaël Wicky and an eight-match winless skid at home dating to last year. The club’s only other victory came against the Galaxy (4-5-4) — a 2-1 road win on March 14 in which Joveljić also scored.
Sporting KC grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute on Capita Capemba’s first career goal in his sixth appearance. Harris and Lasse Berg Johnsen had assists.
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Second round
All times Pacific
Game 1: at Vegas 3, Ducks 1 (summary)
Game 2: Ducks 3, at Vegas 1 (summary)
Game 3: Vegas 6, at Ducks 2 (summary)
Game 4: at Ducks 4, Vegas 3 (summary)
Game 5: at Vegas 3, Ducks 2 OT (summary)
Game 6: Today at Ducks, 6:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, HBO MAX
Game 7*: at Vegas, TBA, ABC or ESPN
*-if necessary
Coming later today
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This day in sports history
1913 — Washington’s Walter Johnson gives up a run in the fourth inning against the St. Louis Browns to end his streak of 56 scoreless innings. The Senators win 10-5.
1919 — Four days after his Kentucky Derby victory, Sir Barton, ridden by Johnny Loftus, wins the Preakness Stakes by four lengths over Eternal.
1920 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators records his 300th victory with a 9-8 win over the Detroit Tigers.
1967 — Mickey Mantle hits his 500th home run, a shot off Stu Miller that lifts the New York Yankees to a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
1977 — The Montreal Canadiens edge the Boston Bruins 2-1 to win the Stanley Cup in four games.
1981 — The Boston Celtics win the NBA championship with a 102-91 victory over the Houston Rockets in Game 6.
1989 — James Worthy scores 12 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, and the Lakers rally from a 29-point first-half deficit to beat Seattle 97-95 and sweep the Western Conference semifinals.
1994 — FA Cup Final: Manchester United defeat Chelsea 4-0 at Wembley Stadium, London.
1995 — Kelly Robbins overcomes a three-shot deficit in the final seven holes to win the LPGA Championship by a stroke over defending champion Laura Davies.
1997 — FC Barcelona of Spain win 37th European Cup Winner’s Cup against Paris Saint-Germain of France 1-0 in Rotterdam.
1997 — Baseball’s Executive Council suspends NY Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for his suing other team owners.
1999 — Annika Sorenstam shoots an 11-under 61, the best score in LPGA history on a par-72 course, to take a two-shot lead over Michelle McGann after the opening round of the Sara Lee Classic.
2003 — Jean-Sebastien Giguere stops 35 shots for his third straight shutout, and Anaheim beats Minnesota 4-0 for a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals. He’s the first goalie in modern NHL history to record three consecutive shutouts in the next-to-last round of the playoffs.
2004 — Richard Jefferson scores 18 of his 31 points after regulation to lead New Jersey to a 127-120 triple-overtime victory over Detroit and a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The last playoff game to be decided in three overtimes was Phoenix’s 129-121 victory over Chicago in Game 3 of the 1993 NBA Finals.
2010 — The Philadelphia Flyers overcome a couple of 3-0 deficits to finish off the Boston Bruins. Simon Gagne scores on a power play with 7:08 left to cap a comeback from a three-goal deficit, and the Flyers win 4-3 for a berth in the Eastern Conference finals. The Bruins become the third team in NHL history to lose a series after winning the first three games.
2011 — English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London (88,643): Manchester City beats Stoke City, 1-0; Yaya Touré scores 74′ winner; Citizens’ 5th title.
2017 — Stephen Curry scores 40 points and hits a tying 3-pointer with 1:48 remaining, and the Golden State Warriors rally after Kawhi Leonard is lost to an ankle injury to beat the San Antonio Spurs 113-111 in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. Draymond Green gives Golden State the lead for good on a three-point play after the Warriors trail by as many as 25 points in the first half.
2017 — PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: 21 year old South Korean Kim Si-woo shoots final round 69 to win by 3 strokes ahead of Louis Oosthuizen and Ian Poulter.
2018 — The Supreme Court clears the way for states to legalize betting on sports, breaking a longtime ban and creating a potential financial boon for states and the gambling industry. Despite opposition from the major sports leagues and the Trump administration, the high court strikes down a federal law that barred betting on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states.
2018 — Arsenal finish EPL season in 6th place on 63 points; fail to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 1997.
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.
