Jose Herrera hit a two-run double in a four-run fourth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks avoided a three-game sweep with a 5-1 victory over the Angels on Sunday.
Blaze Alexander had two hits as the bottom of the Diamondbacks’ order was productive in a positive result just before the All-Star break. Alexander was batting eighth and Herrera ninth for Arizona, which won for just the fourth time in its past 12 games.
Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly (8-5) overcame early control trouble to give up one run and one hit over five innings. He had six strikeouts, with two of his four walks to the first three Angels batters of the game.
Mike Trout drove in a run for the Angels, who fell short in their bid to earn a third home series sweep since the start of June.
Angels right-hander José Soriano (6-7) gave up five runs, but just one was earned over five innings, with three walks.
The Angels led 1-0 after Trout’s RBI single in the third inning.
The Diamondbacks moved in front 4-1 in the fourth inning on a game-tying grounder from Eugenio Suarez, an RBI double from Alexander and Herrera’s two-run double. Suarez added an RBI double in the fifth.
Key moment: With runners at first and second and nobody out for the Diamondbacks in the fourth, Angels third baseman Yoan Moncada misplayed Suarez’s grounder to his left, opening the door for the four-run inning. Moncada, who has been bothered with knee soreness, was replaced on defense in the sixth inning by Kevin Newman.
Key stat: Kelly is 5-1 with a 2.67 ERA in his 11 starts that have come immediately after an Arizona loss, with opponents batting under .200 in those games.
Up next: Both teams return to action Friday after the All-Star break: Arizona is home to the St, Louis Cardinals; The Angels are at Philadelphia.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Dodgers finally looked like the Dodgers again on Friday night.
Too bad it didn’t happen until they were already down six runs.
For the first time in a week, the highest-scoring offense in baseball finally rediscovered its high-flying form, handing San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb his worst start all season while sending shivers up the spine of the orange-clad contingent at Oracle Park.
But by the time it happened, the club had already dug a hole too deep for even its star-studded lineup to climb out of, unable to completely erase an early six-run deficit in a 8-7 loss to their division rivals — sending the Dodgers to a seven-game losing streak that marks their longest skid since September 2017.
“I like the fight. I thought one through nine, there were good at-bats in there, scored some runs, had a chance to win again,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And unfortunately, on the pitching side, we just couldn’t prevent enough.”
Friday, of course, never figured to favor the Dodgers given the difference in caliber of the starting pitching matchup.
On one side stood Webb, the crafty and relentless All-Star right-hander who has largely dominated the Dodgers in his seven-year career.
On the other was Dustin May, the once-promising Dodgers right-hander who has yet to realize his tantalizing potential in what has been his first fully healthy big-league season so far.
Still, for a little while on a cold night along the San Francisco Bay, little separated the two sinker-ball specialists, the Dodgers and Giants locked in the kind of close contest that has been the hallmark of this rivalry in recent years.
In the top of the third, Shohei Ohtani even put the Dodgers in front, splashing his NL-leading 32nd home run of the season into McCovey Cove beyond right field for only the eighth splash-down home run by a Dodger player in Oracle Park history.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani tosses his bat after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Giants on Friday.
(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)
But eventually, May came unglued, giving up seven runs in less than five innings as the Giants surged to an 8-2 lead. And though the Dodgers (56-39) eventually got to within one, tagging Webb with a season-high six runs, they came up empty in their final couple trips to the plate, wasting plenty of positive subplots in another losing story.
“Today we were able to string some hits together, put some innings together,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. “But we just come up short.”
After starting his night with increased fastball velocity and ruthless assault of the strike zone, May lost his command in the fourth inning.
Dodgers pitcher Dustin May delivers against the Giants on Friday.
(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)
Rafael Devers walked on four pitches to start the inning. Matt Chapman received another free pass despite a mid-at-bat mound visit from catcher Will Smith. And with one out, Jung Hoo Lee laced a two-run triple over the outstretched glove of Teoscar Hernández, who returned to the lineup after missing the last four games with a foot contusion but still seemed hobbled while trying to track the ball down in the right-field gap.
“Just got a little bit out of sync, couldn’t time things back up,” May said of his delivery, which has teetered between flashes of dominance and stretches of frustration during his return from a second career elbow surgery.
“During my warm-up throws in the fourth, it felt a little off. Trying to get my foot down a little earlier didn’t really help. That’s been a cue. But yeah, it just went bad.”
Things got worse in the fifth, when the Giants (52-43) plated five more while sending 10 batters to the plate.
Dominic Smith led the inning off with a homer. May then gave up a single and two walks to load the bases. The Dodgers missed their chance to escape the inning, when Hyeseong Kim failed to turn a difficult but potential inning-ending double play quickly enough at second base.
May was replaced by Anthony Banda, who was greeted with another two-run triple by Willy Adames (who had already homered to open the scoring in the second inning) and a run-scoring infield single from Lee, who outraced Banda to first base to punctuate a painfully long inning.
“To win a big-league ballgame is tough, but you’ve still got to pitch well, you’ve got to catch it and you’ve got to take good at-bats,” Roberts said. “If all three of those things don’t line up in one night, it’s hard to get a win.”
Mookie Betts grimaces in pain after being hit by a pitch in the sixth inning against the Giants on Friday night.
(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)
It was at that point, coming off a six-game stretch in which they’d scored 10 total runs, that the Dodgers’ bats finally came to life.
In the top of the sixth, Hernández launched a two-run double that Lee couldn’t quite corral on the run at the warning track, before Michael Conforto followed with a two-run homer that chased Webb and cut the deficit to two.
In the seventh, the Dodgers struck again, when Betts slid into third after hitting another ball just beyond Lee’s reach in center and later scored on Smith’s RBI single.
“It’s definitely more encouraging,” said Betts, who has been among the coldest hitters in the Dodgers lineup lately. “I can’t speak for everyone. But I haven’t done anything this whole time … Just to get us going, get some hits there, that’s the positive that you can take out of it.”
That, however, was as close as the Dodgers got. Smith was left stranded to end the seventh. Kim’s two-out double in the eighth was squandered. And, in the most frustrating of endings, a two-on, one-out opportunity in the ninth went by the wayside when Smith rolled into a double play.
The division lead is down to four.
And as the Dodgers continue to stumble toward the All-Star break, moral victories remain the only wins in sight.
“I know it sucks, but you have to try to take some positive out of it,” Betts said. “At least we battled back.”
Djokovic’s fitness has been and will always be extraordinary.
He is aiming to become the oldest Grand Slam singles champion in the Open era. Ken Rosewall was 37 when he won the last of his eight major titles, while the now-retired Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were 36 when they last triumphed.
Djokovic has reached the semi-finals of all three Grand Slams this year. He has beaten players above him in the rankings, players who supposedly have the advantage of youth over him. And he looked superb at times during his Wimbledon run: the serve firing, the feet gliding into the corners.
But he has to contend with Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who will leave here having carved up the past sevenGrand Slams between them, and will inevitably recover quicker than Djokovic.
“It’s tough for me to accept because I feel like when I’m fit, I can still play really good tennis. I’ve proven that this year,” Djokovic said.
“Playing best-of-five, particularly this year, has been a real struggle for me physically. The longer the tournament goes, the worse the condition gets.
“I have to play Sinner or Alcaraz. These guys are fit, young, sharp. I feel like I’m going into the match with the tank half-empty.
“It’s just not possible to win a match like that.”
Djokovic considered withdrawing but did not – and at 3-0 up on Sinner in the third set, with a point for a double break, he would have felt vindicated.
But Sinner increased his intensity, putting more power behind his shots, and Djokovic won just one more game from then on.
Marcus Semien went four for five and Corey Seager hit a two-run single in a seven-run third inning to help the Texas Rangers rout the Angels 11-4 on Thursday night for a split of their four-game series.
Patrick Corbin (6-7) allowed two runs and seven hits with six strikeouts in five innings to win his second consecutive start. Jacob Latz allowed a run over 3 1/3 innings of relief with six strikeouts.
Semien had three hits with an RBI and two runs scored in the first three innings. Seager went two for three as seven of nine starters drove in at least one run for Texas during a 13-hit outburst.
Adolis García launched his 11th homer — a two-run shot off Carson Fulmer in the eighth for the Rangers’ final runs.
Jack Kochanowicz (3-9) lasted just 2 2/3 innings for the Angels, allowing eight runs. Fulmer gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings of relief.
Seager, Semien, García and Jonah Heim had four straight singles for a 2-0 lead in the first.
Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter had RBI singles and Jake Burger added an RBI double in Texas’ big inning.
Zach Neto doubled off Corbin and scored on Taylor Ward’s 21st homer to cut it to 9-2 after five. Lamonte Wade Jr. had an RBI single in the sixth and Neto hit his 14th homer — a solo shot off Dane Dunning in the ninth.
Key moment: Corbin gave up three first-inning singles, but the Angels failed to score when Mike Trout hit into a double play and Ward was thrown out at home by García on Jo Adell’s single to right field.
Key stat: The Rangers’ 3.30 ERA leads the majors, while the Angels’ 4.59 ERA ranks 24th among 30 teams.
Up next: The Angels host the Diamondbacks beginning Friday. Neither team had announced a scheduled starter.
MILWAUKEE — During the Dodgers’ season-long five-game losing streak this week, manager Dave Roberts cited a lack of “fight” from his lineup as the most troubling trend in the team’s recent skid.
On Wednesday in Milwaukee, more fight finally returned — only for the Brewers to still land the knockout punch.
In a 3-2 loss at American Family Field that extended the Dodgers’ losing streak to six games, the lineup once again scuffled in a five-hit performance while closer Tanner Scott blew a ninth-inning lead to waste Tyler Glasnow’s encouraging return from the injured list.
It was a grind of a game, with the Dodgers scoring their only runs on a bases-loaded walk following a hit-and-run play and a sacrifice fly that briefly gave them a 2-1 lead. Alas, Scott gave up a game-tying RBI single to Andrew Vaughn in the ninth, Jackson Chourio walked it off with another single against Kirby Yates in the bottom of the 10th, sending the scuffling Dodgers their longest losing skid since April 2019.
“Knowing the rough patch [we’re in], it’s really hard to take this one, because you just want to stop it,” veteran infielder Miguel Rojas said.
“We had them where we wanted them,” Roberts echoed. “We just couldn’t finish it.”
Indeed, even on a day the Dodgers struggled to score despite generating more baserunners and cutting down on their recent binge of strikeouts, Glasnow’s solid return from the injured list had the club in position to win for most of the day.
Making his first start since going on the injured list in April because of a shoulder injury, and just his 28th start in two years with the Dodgers since signing a $136.5-million contract two winters ago, the lanky right-hander pitched decently over his five innings, giving up two hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
Glasnow ran into trouble in the second inning, when Christian Yelich singled on a first-pitch fastball, Isaac Collins drew a full-count walk, and both executed a double-steal to move into scoring position. A 10-pitch walk to Caleb Durbin — ending on a curveball that never ducked into the strike zone — loaded the bases with one out.
However, Glasnow responded, jamming Jake Bauers with a sinker for a pop out before blowing Joey Ortiz away with an elevated 96 mph heater.
That sequence was Glasnow at his best: Going after hitters with his premium velocity, and showing no signs of the tentativeness — or, as Roberts described it in his pregame address, “search mode” — that has often derailed his Dodgers career.
“[I’m focusing on] going out and pitching, just toeing the mound and kind of getting into that rhythm and keeping the routine,” Glasnow said afterward. “Just going out, be athletic and trust the trainers, strength room, stay healthy and just keep pitching.”
As Glasnow settled into a rhythm, however, the Dodgers (56-38) continued to toil at the plate.
Having scored only one run in four of their previous five games, a shorthanded lineup, which got Tommy Edman back from injury but once again was without Teoscar Hernández in the starting lineup, struggled to get a beat on crafty veteran left-hander José Quintana.
With only a 90-mph fastball and a flurry of funky off-speed pitches, the 36-year-old navigated the first four innings without giving up a hit.
A breakthrough finally came in the fifth inning. After Rojas drew a leadoff walk (he also had two singles Wednesday), the Dodgers executed a well-timed hit-and-run play, drawing the second baseman out of position just as Esteury Ruiz lined a single through the hole he vacated. With two outs, James Outman then checked his swing just enough to draw a full-count walk, loading the bases for Shohei Ohtani to plate the game’s first run on a four-pitch free pass (benefitting from a couple of borderline ball calls).
And while that 1-0 lead didn’t last long — in the bottom of the fifth, Glasnow walked leadoff man Bauers, moved him to second with a balk, then watched helplessly as Bauers stole third and scored on a throw that bounced to the outfield — the Dodgers went back in front in the seventh when Mookie Betts lifted a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
The Dodgers, though, squandered opportunities to stretch the lead from, leaving the bases loaded to end the seventh inning before stranding more baserunners in both the eighth and ninth.
“I thought the way we competed, I liked that,” Roberts said. “Took some good at-bats. I thought we fought. But couldn’t put a crooked number up.”
That left Scott with too little margin to complete a four-out save. While the left-hander stranded a runner at second base he inherited in the eighth, three ninth-inning singles from the Brewers tied the score, culminating with a broken-bat, bloop single from Vaughn that made it 2-2.
Then, after Brewers closer Trevor Megill struck out the side in the top of the 10th, Yates surrendered the game-winning single to Churio in the bottom half of the inning, dealing the Dodgers their second-straight series sweep and an ever-mounting sense of frustration entering the final days before the All-Star break.
“We can’t really feel sorry about ourselves, because there’s a lot of season left, and we know what we’re looking for,” Rojas said. “We’re looking to win another championship, and playing this kind of baseball is not gonna get us there.”
Linfield manager David Healy felt his side “stood firm” in order to bring a single-goal deficit back to Windsor Park for next week’s second leg of their Champions League first qualifying round tie against Shelbourne.
Coming in with only the Charity Shield final against Dungannon Swifts last week as preparation, and against a side 25 games into their domestic campaign, Healy was pleased with how his side did not allow their hosts to turn plenty of possession into a glut of chances.
While Evan Caffrey twice went close, as did substitute Sean Boyd, the Blues defended resolutely for large periods.
“It was never going to be easy coming down here, they are a very, very good side with talented players,” said Healy.
“It’s disappointing, of course, but in terms of where we are, it’s our first real competitive game. Proud of the effort and the organisation of the players, we stuck together.
“An excitable crowd down here at Tolka Park can sometimes suck the ball into the net and we stood firm and we got ourselves in with a goal deficit.”
Linfield will have the suspended Chris Shields back for next week’s second leg, while Cammy Ballantyne should be available too.
Although Healy felt that Shelbourne play “some of the best football” he has seen in Europe as Linfield manager, he believes his team have “nothing to lose” back at Windsor Park on Wednesday in a game that will be shown live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.
“We’ll be better for the game next week at Windsor,” the former Northern Ireland striker added.
“We’ll empty the tank, we’ve got nothing to fear and nothing to lose.”
Instead, it devolved into a sudden, unstoppable nightmare.
In the shortest start of his MLB career, and in an outing that somehow rivaled his disastrous debut in the majors last March in South Korea, Yamamoto missed one chance after the next to escape the bottom of the first against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field — an inning which poor defense, questionable pitch calling and bad batted ball luck all also contributed to his 41-pitch collapse.
By the time it was all over, the Brewers were leading by five runs, manager Dave Roberts was summoning a reliever just two outs into the game, and the Dodgers were well on their way to a fourth consecutive defeat, never coming close to a comeback in a 9-1 loss to open a six-game road trip.
“This is a time,” Roberts said afterward, as the Dodgers matched their longest losing streak of the season, “for us to kind of look at ourselves and be better.”
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DODGER STADIUM
Janet Marie Smith, the Dodgers’ executive vice president of planning and development, was part of a team that conceived and executed the redesign of the hallway leading to the Dodgers clubhouse. It’s an ode to the iconic LAX mosaic murals installed in 1961.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
From Bill Shaikin: What would a baseball team in Los Angeles want from a retired artist and designer in New York?
Janet Bennett wasn’t sure.
Generations of Angelenos are familiar with her signature project. You probably have walked right past it. Those colorful tile mosaics that decorate the long corridors toward baggage claim in five terminals at Los Angeles International Airport? She designed them.
You might have memorized the trivia: When you passed the red tiles, you were halfway down the corridor. “Red means halfway” was shorthand for locals in the know, just like “E Ticket” or “the #19 sandwich.”
“It just says L.A. in so many ways,” said Janet Marie Smith, the Dodgers’ executive vice president of planning and development.
The Dodgers wanted to get in touch with Bennett because they were about to install a similar tile wall at Dodger Stadium. Smith could not find Bennett, but she reached out to someone who had liked an article about Bennett that had been posted on LinkedIn. Same last name, same spelling. Smith crossed her fingers.
The Angels’ Nolan Schanuel celebrates with teammates after a walk-off walk during the ninth inning against the Texas Rangers on Monday in Anaheim.
(Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)
From Benjamin Royer: Travis d’Arnaud knows Jacob deGrom better than any other catcher in baseball. He caught the hard-throwing right-hander 60 times when they played together with the New York Mets, the most frequent backstop the former Cy Young Award winner has thrown to in his career.
That familiarity did d’Arnaud and the Angels well en route to their 6-5 victory over the Rangers (44-47) on Monday night, in which Nolan Schanuel walked off their American League West foes in the ninth inning by drawing a bases-loaded, RBI walk.
The veteran catcher ambushed deGrom in the second inning for a two-run home run, just hitting the ball hard enough — 97.4 mph — over the left-field wall.
D’Arnaud’s home run broke deGrom’s Rangers franchise-record streak of 14 consecutive starts with two or fewer runs given up — and provided the Angels (44-46) with an early 3-2 lead.
“Getting lucky to hit a homer against any Cy Young winner is really special,” said d’Arnaud, who went 2-for-4 with three RBI.
Clippers guard Norman Powell averaged a career-high 21.8 points per game last season, second-best on the team.
(David Dermer / Associated Press)
From Broderick Turner: The Clippers got size and youth when they acquired John Collins from the Utah Jazz on Monday, but the team lost quality shooting and veteran leadership when it sent Norman Powell to the Miami Heat as part of a three-team, four-player trade.
The Clippers also will send a 2027 second-round pick to the Jazz and the Heat will send Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love to the Jazz as part of the deal for L.A. to get Collins.
“Sad to trade Norm and extremely excited to add John,” Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said during a videoconference with reporters. “Norm has been a huge part of our basketball team for the past three-and-a-half years. … But this was an opportunity for us to address a different position, different skill set where we felt we needed reinforcement. John is someone we targeted the past couple of years and we feel really, really fortunate that we were able to obtain him at this time.”
1889 — John L. Sullivan defeats Jake Kilrain in the 75th round in Richburg, Miss., for the U.S. heavyweight championship. It’s the last bare-knuckle boxing match before the Marquis of Queensbury rules are introduced.
1922 — Suzanne Lenglen beats Molla Bjurstedt Mallory, 6-2, 6-0 for her fourth straight singles title at Wimbledon.
1939 — Bobby Riggs beats Elwood Cooke in five sets to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon.
1941 — Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox hits a three-run, two-out homer in the ninth inning to give the American League a dramatic 7-5 victory in the All-Star game at Detroit’s Briggs Stadium.
1955 — Peter Thomson wins his second consecutive British Open finishing two strokes ahead of John Fallon. Thomson shoots a 7-under 281 at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland.
1967 — Billie Jean King sweeps three titles at Wimbledon. King beats Ann Hayden Jones 6-3, 6-4, for the singles title; teams with Rosie Casals for the women’s doubles title, and pairs with Owen Davidson for the mixed doubles title.
1978 — Bjorn Borg beats Jimmy Connors, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 to win his third straight men’s title at Wimbledon.
1984 — John McEnroe whips Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 in 100-degree temperatures to take the men’s singles title at Wimbledon.
1990 — West Germany wins the World Cup as Andreas Brehme scores with 6 minutes to go for a 1-0 victory over defending champion Argentina in a foul-marred final.
1991 — Michael Stich upsets three-time champion Boris Becker to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
1994 — Preliminary trial rules there is enough evidence to try O.J. Simpson.
1995 — NHL Draft: Detroit Jr. Red Wings (OHL) defenceman Bryan Berard first pick by Ottawa Senators.
1996 — Switzerland’s Martina Hingis becomes the youngest champion in Wimbledon history at 15 years, 282 days, teaming with Helena Sukova to beat Meredith McGrath and Larisa Neiland 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 in women’s doubles.
2000 — Venus Williams beats Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 7-6 (3) for her first Grand Slam title. Williams is the first black women’s champion at Wimbledon since Althea Gibson in 1957-58.
2007 — Roger Federer wins his fifth straight Wimbledon championship, beating Rafael Nadal 7-6 (7), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-2. I’s also Federer’s 11th Grand Slam title overall.
2010 — Paul Goydos becomes the fourth golfer in PGA Tour history to shoot a 59. Goydos puts together his 12-under, bogey-free round on the opening day of the John Deere Classic. Goydos makes the turn at 4-under, then birdies all but one hole on the back nine at the 7,257-yard TPC Deere Run course.
2012 — Roger Federer equals Pete Sampras’ record of seven men’s singles titles at the All England Club, and wins his 17th Grand Slam title overall, by beating Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
2014 — Germany hands Brazil its heaviest World Cup loss ever with an astounding 7-1 rout in the semifinals that stuns the host nation. Miroslav Klose scores a record-setting 16th career World Cup goal in a five-goal spurt in the first half and Germany goes on to score the most goals in a World Cup semifinal.
2016 — Roger Federer loses in the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time in his career, falling to Milos Raonic 6-3, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Centre Court. The 34-year-old Federer had been 10-0 in Wimbledon semifinals, winning seven of his finals.
2018 — South Korean golfer Sei Young Ki breaks the LPGA 72-hole scoring record with a 31-under par 257 in winning the Thornberry Creek Classic.
2021 — San Diego Padres relief pitcher Daniel Camarena records his first MLB hit, a Grand Slam, in his second at bat against the Washington Nationals’ Max Sherzer.
2022 — Gymnast Simone Biles aged 25, becomes the youngest person to receive the US Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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Which, surprisingly, was partly the way coach Mauricio Pochettino wanted it. Because the monthlong tournament was never really about results for the U.S. It was about finding heart, grit, determination and dedication. It was about taking the pulse of his player pool a year before soccer’s biggest event returns to North America.
And those are things not easily measured by results alone.
So while Mexico deservedly won Sunday’s battle 2-1, the larger war, Pochettino believes, rages on.
U.S. defender Chris Richards celebrates with Alex Freeman, Patrick Agyemang, Malik Tillman and Diego Luna after Richards scored against Mexico in the Gold Cup final Sunday.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
“That,” he said after Sunday’s final, “is the way we want to build our journey into the World Cup.”
When Pochettino gathered his team for the tournament in early June, it was missing as many as six first-choice starters for a variety of reasons. Some had club duties, some were injured. Others preferred rest over the honor of playing for their country.
So Pochettino called up a roster that averaged just 25 years of age and 14 players with fewer than five international caps and challenged them to prove they belonged. That was the team that rolled into Sunday’s final unbeaten (barely) in five Gold Cup games. That was the team that entered the final 15 minutes against a veteran Mexico squad even on the scoreboard.
If this was Pochettino’s “C” team, nobody bothered to tell the players.
“It’s an honor,” midfielder Diego Luna, who had played for the U.S. just four times before the Gold Cup, told reporters about wearing the crest. “I think every single one of these players thinks about it the same way I do. It’s the No. 1 dream that we’ve had as kids and we’re going to fight for this to have as many chances to wear it was we can.”
Credit Pochettino for taking the lemons he was handed and turning them into lemonade. After the USMNT’s listless and uninspired performance in last March’s Nations League final four, where it scored just once in back-to-back losses to Panama and Canada, the coach learned the majority of his first-choice lineup planned to pass up the Gold Cup, the team’s final competition matches before the World Cup.
If the U.S. had lost its identity, had lost its way, by the end of the Nations League, the absences of veterans Yunus Musah, Gio Reyna, Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie this summer gave Pochettino an unexpected opportunity to redefine what it meant to be a national team player. He pushed his young, inexperienced roster of fringe national team players to show how much they cared, to show they really wanted to be part of the program.
And it worked.
United States players pose for a team photo before the team’s CONCACAF Gold Cup final soccer match against Mexico in Houston on Sunday.
(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)
Luna thrust himself into contention for a World Cup roster spot through grit and hunger alone. Others such as goalkeeper Matt Freese, midfielders Sebastian Berhalter and Malik Tillman and forward Patrick Agyemang also shone brightly enough that the coach said his roster for his team’s September friendlies with South Korea and Japan, much less the World Cup, is wide open.
“All the American players have the possibility for September to be on the roster,” he said Sunday. “It’s still one year from the World Cup. But now we need to build a roster for September. We need to analyze every single player, see the circumstances, the situations, performance, fitness level.
“Don’t worry. We are people that are very open, and not closed. And who deserves to be [there] will be [there.]”
Pochettino’s message is that desire and national pride are as much a requirement to play for the national team as talent. It’s partly a bluff, of course. He won’t go far in the World Cup with Luna and Berhalter playing in place of Pulisic and McKennie because all the star-spangled celebrations in the world can’t hide the fact the team Pochettino fielded this summer was deeply flawed.
It prepared for the Gold Cup by getting outscored 6-1 in losses to Turkey and Switzerland, running the team’s losing streak to four games, its longest since 2007. The U.S. rebounded with narrow wins over Saudi Arabia and Haiti to advance out of the tournament’s group stage and in the knockout stage it beat Costa Rica on penalty kicks, then had to hold off Guatemala for a one-goal win to reach the final.
Of those six opponents, only Switzerland ranks in the world’s top 20, according to FIFA. Guatemala isn’t even in the top 100. And the loss to Mexico was the fifth in as many games against top 30 teams since Pochettino took over nine months ago.
That won’t get it done in the World Cup.
If heart, effort and belief really do matter, so does talent. That makes Pochettino’s task during the next year a simple one: he must find a way mesh the intangibles developed this summer with the talent he’ll need to win next summer.
As the players shuffled out of Houston’s NRG Stadium after Sunday’s loss, that fusion was already taking place.
“There’s a few non-negotiables now,” defender Chris Richards told reporters. “This was kind of a game-changer. … When the guys come back, these are some things that we have to hold each other accountable for. And hopefully moving forward we can add a little bit more quality to it, as well, and we’re going to be a really tough team to beat.”
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MILWAUKEE — Yoshinobu Yamamoto was one pitch away from a clean first inning Monday night.
Instead, it devolved into a sudden, unstoppable nightmare.
In the shortest start of his MLB career, and in an outing that somehow rivaled his disastrous debut in the majors last March in South Korea, Yamamoto missed one chance after the next to escape the bottom of the first against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Poor defense and bad batted-ball luck didn’t help in what became a 41-pitch collapse.
By the time it was all over, the Brewers were leading by five runs, manager Dave Roberts was summoning a reliever just two outs into the game, and the Dodgers were well on their way to a fourth consecutive defeat, never coming close to a comeback in a 9-1 loss to open a six-game road trip.
The trouble started quickly beneath an open retractable roof on a mild summer night in Wisconsin.
Sal Frelick hammered a hanging curveball for a leadoff double. Willson Contreras drew a walk when Yamamoto couldn’t locate his splitter near the zone. And the two outs that followed — a fly ball from Jackson Chourio and grounder from Christian Yelich — proved to be only a temporary reprieve.
In the next at-bat, newly acquired Brewers slugger Andrew Vaughn came to the plate in his first game with the team. He got three straight sliders from Yamamoto to start, fanning on the first before laying off two that missed the zone next. Then, after a called strike on a fastball at the knees evened the count 2-and-2, catcher Will Smith dialed up another curveball from Yamamoto again.
It was supposed to be down and on the outside corner. Instead, it fluttered up and above the zone. Vaughn connected with a mighty upper-cut swing. The ball soared beyond the left-field wall, making it 3-0 Brewers just like that.
Somehow, the inning would only get worse from there.
Despite entering the night coming off a first-career All-Star selection, and leading the majors in road ERA at 1.57, Yamamoto failed to settle down.
In a 1-and-2 count against Isaac Collins, he left a fastball down the middle that was hammered for a single. After falling behind 3-and-0 to Brice Turang, Yamamoto worked the count full only to miss badly with a fastball and issue an inning-extending walk.
With his pitch count climbing at that point, Roberts began to stir the bullpen.
Yamamoto appeared to finally find an escape route against Caleb Durbin, inducing a grounder with a splitter that was hit straight to shortstop Mookie Betts. But, in a rare defensive lapse at his new position, Betts spiked a throw to first that Freddie Freeman couldn’t corral. Collins came racing around from second to score. The inning stayed alive when it once again should’ve ended.
Yamamoto’s leash finally ran out on pitch 41, when Andruw Monasterio lobbed a bloop RBI single down the right-field line in the next at-bat. As another run scored, Roberts came walking out of the bullpen to give the team’s season-long ace an unimaginably early hook.
The two teams played the final eight innings. But the result already seemed well in hand.
The Dodgers’ lineup was shorthanded, missing Teoscar Hernández with a bruised foot and Tommy Edman with a pinky toe fracture (both are expected back in the lineup by Wednesday). Before the game, Kiké Hernández was also put on the injured list with an elbow injury that had been bothering him since he made an awkward slide in Cleveland in late May, and flared up to the point of requiring a cortisone shot this past weekend. Not to be forgotten, Max Muncy also remains sidelined by his bum knee.
In their places, the Dodgers started James Outman in center field (who was called up from triple A pregame), Miguel Rojas at third base and Hyeseong Kim at second against Brewers All-Star right-hander Freddy Peralta.
The outcome was predictable: Six innings of shutout ball in which the Dodgers managed only five hits, one walk and struck out seven times.
TORONTO — Bo Bichette homered and scored the deciding run to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to their season-high eighth straight victory, 3-2 over the Angels on Sunday.
The American League East-leading Blue Jays improved to 52-38, sweeping a homestand of seven of more games for the first time since 1994 and second in franchise history.
Toronto drew even on with Bichette’s leadoff homer in the fourth inning. His 12th homer came after his error in the top of the inning loaded the bases for the Angels. Davis Schneider drove in Bichette in the sixth inning with a single down the left-field line.
Mike Trout homered for the Angels with two out in the first.
After Bichette’s homer, Toronto went ahead in the fourth on a two-out single from Joey Loperfido, who made his season debut. The Angels tied it in the fifth when Taylor Ward singled over Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman struck out nine in 5 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and three walks. Tyler Anderson (2-6) yielded three runs on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts in five-plus innings.
Reliever Ryan Burr (1-0) got the victory in his first outing of the season after dealing with a right-shoulder injury. Jeff Hoffman picked up his 22nd save.
Key moment
With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning, Gausman coaxed Gustavo Campero into a 1-3 double play.
Key stat
The Blue Jays have 52 wins with six games remaining before the All-Star break. The club record for victories before the break is 53, set in 1985 and matched in 1992.
Up next
Yusei Kikuchi, who was named to the AL All-Star team on Sunday, was scheduled to start for the Angels at home Monday night against Texas. Jose Berrios (4-3) was set to start for Toronto on Monday night in Chicago against the White Sox’s Sean Burke (4-7).
When the Dodgers left Los Angeles for their final road trip before the All-Star break last summer, they had a 55-36 record and a 7 1/2-game lead in the National League West.
When this year’s Dodgers land in Milwaukee on Sunday night to begin the last road trip before the All-Star break, their record will be a game better and their division lead about the same, pending the results of San Diego’s game Sunday night.
But if you take a good look under the hood, there are obvious — and worrying — differences between this year and last year.
Dodgers second baseman Hyeseong Kim strikes out in the seventh inning against the Houston Astros at Dodger Stadium Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
In 2024, the Dodgers had one of the best records in baseball against teams with a winning record. After Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Houston Astros, this year’s team is just a game over .500 — 20-19 — against teams over .500. Those are the only kind of teams the Dodgers will face in the playoffs.
And it’s not just that they lose, it’s how they lose that’s troubling.
In losing three in a row for the first time since mid-May, the Dodgers were outscored 29-6 by the Astros. The sweep was Houston’s first in a three-game series at Dodger Stadium since 2008, when the team played in the National League.
Manager Dave Roberts, however, pronounced himself unconcerned.
“I know we’re a good team,” he said. “The point is to win as many games in the regular season as possible. I really don’t care who we beat, I just want to win more games than anyone.
“So right now, or even going forward, I don’t pay too much attention to that.”
Look a little deeper, though, and there are other concerns. The Dodgers’ injured list, already as crowded as a Beyoncé concert — it swelled to 12 players with Max Muncy’s addition Thursday — could get even larger this week depending on the health of outfielder Teoscar Hernández and utility player Tommy Edman.
Teoscar Hernández, who fouled a ball off his left foot Saturday, spent 13 days on the IL with a groin problem in May and has been troubled by that injury and a nagging hip-flexor issue that could be behind a slump that has seen him hit .188/.240/.321 over his last 30 games. Edman didn’t play Sunday after a ball off the small toe on his right foot over the weekend. Both players had MRI scans Sunday with Edman’s showing a fracture of the toe.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is called out by umpire Paul Clemons during the eighth inning of a loss to the Astros at Dodger Stadium Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Kiké Hernández has been battling a sore left elbow that affects his swing for about a month. He may have to be shut down to let it heal.
“There is talk about one of those guys potentially going on the IL,” Roberts said. “I don’t see it being Tommy but we’re still kind of trying to figure that out. And then who would we bring [up]?”
With those three unavailable, the only player Roberts had on the bench Sunday was catcher Will Smith. And with the rotation still missing four starters to injury, he gave the ball to right-hander Emmet Sheehan, who had thrown just four big-innings all season.
That left manager Dave Roberts with a short bench. And with the rotation still missing four starters to injury, he gave the ball to right-hander Emmet Sheehan, who had thrown just four big-league innings all season.
Sheehan went one better Sunday, yielding just a run on five hits over five innings. But his teammates did little against Houston starter Ryan Gusto (6-3), who gave up four hits — including a run-scoring double to Dalton Rushing — over a season-high six innings.
Will Klein came on in favor of Sheehan to start the sixth and after two quick outs, the Astros loaded the bases on a double, a hit batter and an infield single. Klein (1-1) then walked Zack Short on a 3-2 pitch to force in the go-ahead run.
The Astros padded their lead with back-to-back homers from Christian Walker and Yainer Díaz to start the seventh off reliever Tanner Scott.
Jose Altuve closed the scoring with another solo homer off Anthony Banda in the ninth.
But, in a reminder of the still-tenuous pitching depth the Dodgers have relied on for much of this first half, long man Justin Wrobleski came back down to earth in a five-run, 4 ⅔-inning outing thereafter, sending the team to a defeat that clinched a series loss to the Astros.
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts is tagged out by Houston Astros third base Isaac Paredes while trying to stretch a double into a triple at Dodger Stadium on Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
In the big picture, this weekend has offered hope for the Dodgers’ long-term pitching plans.
On Friday, manager Dave Roberts said injured $136.5-million right-hander Tyler Glasnow is on track to return from his shoulder problem during next week’s road trip.
Before Saturday’s game, injured $182-million left-hander Blake Snell threw his second live batting practice of the week, striking out four of the eight hitters he faced in what is expected to be his final simulated session before going on a minor-league rehab assignment. Both he and injured reliever Blake Treinen, who also threw an inning of live batting practice Saturday, are lined up to be activated from the IL “at some point in time shortly after the All-Star break,” per Roberts.
Then there was Ohtani, who despite once again being limited to a short workload in his fourth pitching start of the season, was also once again dominant in a 31-pitch display.
After Isaac Paredes singled to lead off the game, Ohtani broke Cam Smith’s bat on a 96-mph fastball for a double-play grounder to second. In the second inning, Ohtani fanned Christian Walker with a slider, then Victor Caratini and Yainer Díaz on a pair of big-breaking sweepers — all while also touching 101 mph on the radar gun.
In his six total innings this year, Ohtani has given up just one run, one walk and four hits while striking out six batters on what was his 31st birthday.
And though it remains unclear exactly when he’ll be fully stretched out — or exactly how built up he will eventually get this year, coming off a second career Tommy John surgery — the Dodgers are inching steadily closer to having the rotation they envisioned this year: One with Ohtani, Snell and Glasnow joining likely All-Star Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a star-studded quartet the club has spent lavishly the last two offseasons to build.
“We can see a little squint of light,” Roberts said. “It’s taken a little longer than we’ve all expected or hoped for, as far as getting our guys together. So we haven’t gotten there yet. But we’re hopeful and excited.”
In the short term, however, the Astros have put a dent in the optimism the club had clung to among its stable of young pitching depth.
After Ben Casparius was knocked around in a historic blowout on Friday night, Wrobleski suffered a similar fate against Houston’s surging lineup. Upon entering the game at the start of the third, he quickly blew an early 2-0 Dodgers lead, giving up a leadoff single to Cooper Hummel and back-to-back two-strike doubles to Mauricio Dubón (who fouled off fastball after fastball before whacking a full-count heater the other way) and Zack Short (who got three-straight off-speed pitches, pulling the last one down the third-base line to score two runs).
Miguel Rojas, tapped to play third base Saturday in place of the recently injured Max Muncy, made matters worse by misfiring on a tough throw to first on a soft ground ball from Smith with one out, allowing a run to score. Then Walker, an unlikely Dodgers killer over his career, lined a two-out single to right to make it a four-run inning and a 4-2 Astros lead.
Wrobleski did eventually settle down, but not before Díaz homered at the start of the third to put the Astros up there.
That deficit proved insurmountable for the Dodgers. They made it 5-4 when Rojas homered in the fourth (he also had an RBI single in the second inning, and drew a walk in the fifth) but stranded a string of opportunities down the stretch, finishing the day one-for-five with runners in scoring position and with nine men left on base.
TORONTO — Myles Straw scored the winning run on a throwing error by pitcher Sam Bachman in the 10th inning, and the Toronto Blue Jays extended their winning streak to six games by beating the Angels 4-3 on Friday night.
Straw, the automatic runner, scored from second when Bachman fielded Ernie Clement’s sacrifice bunt and overthrew first base.
Bachman (1-2) entered in the 10th and walked leadoff hitter Nathan Lukes, putting runners on first and second with nobody out for Clement.
Chad Green (3-2) worked a scoreless inning for the win.
Jo Adell tied it for the Angels with a three-run homer in the seventh.
Andrés Giménez drove in the first run with a single for Toronto in the sixth. Giménez advanced to third on George Springer’s single before leaving with an ankle injury.
Giménez tweaked his left ankle covering second base on a steal Wednesday and did not play Thursday. He was scheduled for an MRI.
Blue Jays left-hander Eric Lauer set down his first 12 batters before Adell doubled to begin the fifth. Adell was initially called out trying to advance but the Angels challenged and the call was overturned following a replay review.
Giménez hit Adell in the face trying to tag him out at second. Adell was treated on the field and remained in the game.
Toronto’s Will Wagner doubled to open the sixth and advanced on a sacrifice before scoring on Giménez’s hit.
José Fermin replaced Angels starter Kyle Hendricks after Springer’s single. Bo Bichette hit an RBI single and another run scored when shortstop Zach Neto bobbled Addison Barger’s grounder for an error.
Mike Trout and Taylor Ward chased Lauer with back-to-back singles to begin the seventh, and the Angels tied it when Adell greeted reliever Nick Sandlin with his 19th homer.
Key moment
Bachman’s high throw sparked a celebration at home plate as Toronto improved to 30-16 at home.
Key stat
The Angels faced the Blue Jays on Independence Day for the eighth time, going 4-4 in those meetings.
Up next
Blue Jays RHP Max Scherzer (0-0, 4.85 ERA) is scheduled to start Saturday against Angels RHP Jack Kochanowicz (3-8, 5.44).
Anyone using weight loss injections, either through the NHS or privately, has been issued a major warning when it comes to travelling abroad – failing to comply could lead to expensive medical bills
Anyone using weight loss injections has been issued a warning when travelling abroad (Image: Getty Images)
A stark warning has been issued to those taking weight loss injections who are planning to travel abroad.
Failing to follow one vital rule could potentialy put travellers in serious danger and force them to pay a huge amount in medical bills.
There has been a surge in the demand for weight loss injections, which were once aimed at people with diabetes. People across the UK have been going private to purchasing the weekly injections, which slow digestion by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), in turn regulating hunger and feelings of fullness.
Some popular GLP-1 drugs are branded as Wegovy or Ozempic – they use the same drug, Semaglutide, but are sold at different doses. After Semaglutide came Mounjaro, which, in addition to mimicking GLP-1, also targeted a hormone called GIP to boost this effect on appetite suppression.
There has been a surge in the use of weight loss drugs (Image: PA)
Last week, it was announced that GPs in England will be allowed to prescribe Mounjaro to severely obese people for the first time. Mounjaro is the brand name for the drug Tirzepatide, which is known as the ‘King Kong’ of weight loss jabs.
With a spike in people using these injections, anyone using the drug while travelling abroad must declare it, according to travel insurance experts. This goes to anyone who uses them, including those who buy them privately and those who may receive them on the NHS.
Failing to declare the use of the drug could see them breach their travel insurance agreement, which could lead to the policy being completely cancelled and being left to pay out for expensive medical bills if anything were to happen while on holiday.
In an important warning, Niraj Mamtora, director at Forum Insurance, told MailOnline: “If you’re using these drugs, you must declare both the medication and the condition it’s prescribed for. Failure to do so is not a minor oversight, it’s a serious breach of your travel insurance contract.
“If you need medical help overseas and haven’t fully declared the medication you’re taking, your claim can be refused and your policy cancelled. The financial consequences can be severe.”
Mamtora added that many holidaymakers don’t realise they’re not covered on their insurance until they need to make a claim, but by then, it’s too late.
The use of the weight loss drugs should be declared before travelling abroad (Image: Getty Images)
Retail expert at Which? Reena Sewraz advised to always read the policy thoroughly when getting travel insurance to check what is covered, and if unsure, speak to them directly. Sewraz also pointed out that it’s good to shop around to get the best policy.
Some users of the weight loss drugs have also taken to online forums to warn people of the added cost when declaring. One user wrote on Reddit: “This morning, I spent several hours looking at annual WW travel insurance quotes to include the US. I spoke to several companies to ask if I need to declare Mounjaro now that I have a healthy BMI and no longer obese and the answer is yes.
“Select weight management and answer the questions that drop down. It added £80 to the policy! Insurance companies are not skipping a beat and it could be due to the increase number of people presenting at A&E with complications or side effects from weight loss medications, even though I haven’t had any side effects in 13 months and could even be off the meds by the time we travel in May but they want to know the last 2 years medical history otherwise it would invalidate the policy.
“NOT ONE said I didn’t need to add it. lol, I have never added obesity to my policy even though I have been obese for the last 30 years until now and I’m the healthiest I’ve been in years!”
Another commented on the thread: “I took out my annual travel insurance with Admiral. Rang and asked about Mounjaro as I was on it. Had to declare I was obese, even though I’m not. This added an extra 70p.
Some people have already seen how their travel insurance is impacted by the weight loss drug (Image: GETTY)
“No judgement from the customer service rep, she was really intrigued in it for herself. She did say they had a memo down about the medication that week and it must be declared now.”
Another noted their own experience: “I spoke to my travel insurers today and explained (you have to tell them every time you go to see your GP!) that my wife was taking Mounjaro and she had gone to the GPs because she had chronic constipation.
“The GP confirmed it was a common side effect of the injection so the insurers said because it was not prescribed to her that if she became ill while on holiday due to any side effects from Mounjaro she would not be covered. As my wife willingly takes it that’s fair enough.”
They are two longtime Dodger villains, hated for two vastly different reasons.
As the last remaining position player from the Houston Astros’ trash-can-banging, and (in the eyes of most Dodgers fans) World Series-stealing 2017 championship team, Jose Altuve always receives a rude welcome from the fans at Chavez Ravine.
As one of the most productive visiting players in Dodger Stadium history, Christian Walker often shuts them up.
In the Houston Astros’ 18-1 Independence Day rout on Friday, both added another tortured chapter to the Dodgers’ history against the team. Altuve went three for three with a double, two home runs, two walks and five RBIs. Walker went four for five with one long ball and four RBIs.
The Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve celebrates with Christian Walker after hitting a two-run homer against Dodgers in the third inning at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
(Kevork Djansezian/Los Angeles Times)
On a day starting pitcher Ben Casparius once again struggled (giving up six runs in three innings), reliever Noah Davis gave up 10 runs in the sixth inning alone (the most the Dodgers had surrendered in one inning since 1999), and most of a sold-out crowd stuck around for every painful minute (waiting in somber silence for a postgame fireworks show), that was plenty to lift the surging Astros to most lopsided defeat the Dodgers have ever suffered at Dodger Stadium.
Six weeks ago, the retooled Astros were one game above .500 and 3 ½ games out of first place in the American League West; seemingly missing the other 2017 stars who have departed the franchise since their sign-stealing scandal came to light five years ago.
But now, they have won 27 of their last 37, own the second-best record in the AL, and are suddenly looking like unlikely title contenders; even after turning over almost the entirety of the roster from that infamous 2017 season.
“Certainly, there’s been some history with our organizations,” manager Dave Roberts said pregame when asked if any lingering feelings remained from the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. “But if you look at it in reality, most of those guys are gone. So it certainly doesn’t have any bearing on this series this weekend.”
Instead, in their most lopsided loss of the season, the Dodgers had bigger concerns to worry about Friday, with Altuve and Walker at the top of the list.
Altuve received his typical reception from the Dodgers faithful, serenaded with booming boos and loud chants of “cheater” during each of his at-bats. However, he followed Isaac Paredes’ leadoff homer in the first with a double off the wall. He took Casparius deep for a two-run home run on a curveball in the third. He added an exclamation point with a three-run homer in the Astros’ 10-run sixth — the most runs the Dodgers (56-33) had allowed in one inning since Fernando Tatis’ historic two-grand-slam inning in April 1999 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Walker was every bit as dangerous.
A 34-year-old slugger who dominated the Dodgers (and, most confoundingly, Clayton Kershaw in particular) during an eight-year career with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Walker was already emerging from an early-season slump in his first year with the Astros (53-35) entering this weekend’s series.
Then, back in the friendly confines of Dodger Stadium, he orchestrated a monster performance of his own from the five-spot of the Houston order.
In his first at-bat, Walker plated Altuve with a single the other way. Then, two batters after Altuve’s big fly in the third, Casparius left a fastball down the middle that Walker whacked for his 28th career home run against the Dodgers — and 20th at Dodger Stadium.
Only nine other players have hit that many home runs as visitors at the ballpark during their careers, a list that includes Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Mike Schmidt and Willie Stargell, as well as Barry Bonds.
Walker also made a contribution in the sixth-inning onslaught.
After Davis gave up one run on two singles and two walks, the recently called-up right-hander plunked Walker with the bases loaded to force in another score, losing his grip on an 0-and-2 sweeper that left him visibly rattled on the mound.
Sensing Davis’ frustration, Roberts came to the bump for a motivational pep talk; eliciting memories of the mid-game hug he delivered to journeyman reliever Yohan Ramirez last season in Cincinnati.
This time, however, the mound visit had little effect. In the next at-bat, Davis threw a hanging sweeper that Victor Caratini belted for a grand slam. What was already a laugher became a full-fledged Fourth of July disaster.
LONDON — Before Wimbledon began, Coco Gauff reflected on the significance of her breakthrough performance at the place six years ago — a run to the fourth round at age 15 — and what aspirations she harbored as she prepared to return.
“Even when I see videos of me during that time, it just doesn’t feel like it’s me. It felt like a dream. I’ll always have special memories from that run and, I guess, it definitely fueled the belief that I can be on tour and live out my dream,” she told The Associated Press.
“It’s something that always holds a special place in my heart. Obviously, I would love to win this tournament just for it to be like a full-circle moment,” she continued. “I feel like it would be like the start of the dream, and — I don’t want to say ‘the finish,’ because I obviously have a lot of career left, but — a full-circle type of situation.”
A week after that conversation, the No. 2-ranked Gauff was out of the bracket at the All England Club in the first round with a 7-6 (3), 6-1 loss to unseeded Dayana Yastremska at No. 1 Court on Tuesday night. Gauff was undone by serving troubles, including nine double-faults, and more than two dozen unforced errors in all, not to mention Yastremska’s hard, flat groundstrokes.
It was an abrupt, and mistake-filled, exit for Gauff, who so recently earned her second Grand Slam title — at the French Open via a three-set victory over No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
After Tuesday’s defeat, Gauff said, “I definitely was struggling in the locker room. I don’t like losing. The main thing I’m sure my team and everyone is going to tell me (is): ‘You did well at Roland-Garros. Don’t be so upset.’ Things like that.”
But as much as she’ll want to move on and focus on what’s to come, the 21-year-old American acknowledged as she dabbed away the tears welling in her eyes during her news conference that she felt “a little bit disappointed in how I showed up today.”
It’s instructive to remember — setting aside that captivating 2019 debut, which featured a victory over Venus Williams — that Wimbledon’s grass courts actually have produced Gauff’s least successful Grand Slam results.
Yastremska’s take? She said she considers Gauff “much better on clay court and hard court than on grass.”
This was the second time in the past three years that she was sent home in the opening round. She’s never been past the fourth round at the All England Club, whereas at every other major tournament, including the hard-court Australian Open, she’s at least reached the semifinals.
Her first Slam trophy arrived on the hard courts of the U.S. Open in 2023 when she was 19. She already was the 2022 runner-up on the red clay at the French Open before going one step better this time.
Sabalenka’s self-described “unprofessional” comments after last month’s title match in Paris became a real topic of conversation and, perhaps, a distraction. Gauff and Sabalenka sought to put it behind them — and tell fans they should, too — by filming TikTok videos together once they got to Wimbledon.
“I was a little bit overwhelmed with everything that came afterwards,” Gauff said, “so I didn’t feel like I had enough time to celebrate and also get back into it.”
It’s not easy to manage the tricky transition from the Roland-Garros clay to the Wimbledon grass. There’s a reason it’s been a decade since a woman won both in the same season — and a reason that woman was Serena Williams.
By the end of the night, Gauff was eager to look ahead to the upcoming North American hard-court circuit, culminating with a trip to New York in late August.
“I mean, obviously I’m not going to dwell on this too long, because I want to do well at the U.S. Open. Maybe losing here (in the) first round isn’t the worst thing in the world,” she said, “because I have time to reset.”
Game 81. The halfway point of the season arrived at Angel Stadium — and the Angels, albeit squarely in contention at .500, were dealing with a bit of organizational uncertainty.
Bench coach Ray Montgomery took over on June 20 as the acting — now interim — manager as the Angels entered Friday winners in seven of their last 10 games.
The Angels are in a much better spot than 2024. This time last season, after game 81, they were 11 games under .500 — squarely out of the postseason hunt.
Friday, however, even after losing 15-9 in a three-hour, 11-minute slog of a series opener against the Washington Nationals (34-48), the Angels (40-41) still are just two games out of the third American League wild-card spot.
In a game where the Angels and Nationals combined for 24 runs and 30 hits — with the 19 hits and 15 runs given up by the Angels’ pitching staff representing season-worst marks — what ultimately separated the teams was the Angels’ inability to come through with runners on base.
In the sixth and seventh innings — down one and two runs, respectively — the Angels had opportunities to take the lead or tie the score with runners in scoring position, but failed to capitalize. From there, the Nationals’ lead grew, with Hunter Strickland giving up four runs in the ninth as part of a 10-run barrage against the bullpen.
“It kind of just felt like an off-night tonight all the way up and down,” Montgomery said. “Those guys have been asked to do a lot over the last few weeks, and they’ve responded. So tonight wasn’t the night.”
Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery, second from left, waits on the mound with catcher Logan O’Hoppe during a pitching change in the fifth inning Friday.
(Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)
In the early innings, the Angels had plenty of opportunities against Nationals starting pitcher Jake Irvin, who struggled against the heart of the lineup.
Jo Adell struck a 92-mph fastball high and away to right field for a solo home run — his 18th overall and 11th in June — in the second. An inning later, Nolan Schanuel and Taylor Ward received hanging breaking balls — a high curveball and slider, respectively — and pulled the ball for short-porch home runs.
“The idea is that if we’re hunting the pitches that we want to do damage with pitcher to pitcher, we’ll avoid the chase and kind of be able to get better pitches to hit,” Adell said, who has helped the Angels post four or more walks in the last four games. “You know, our thing is, you’re only as good of a hitter as the pitches that you get.”
Three home runs in three innings helped the Angels build a three-run lead. Across 4 ⅓ innings of work against Irvin, the Angels’ lineup continued to click. They tallied nine runs (eight earned to Irvin) on nine hits — just enough for an early lead as José Soriano trudged through his worst outing of the season.
Soriano couldn’t get out of the fifth against the Nationals. The shutdown pitching he had featured in his last three starts — giving up just two runs across 20 ⅔ innings — looked like a distant memory. The right-hander struck out four and walked two, while giving up eight earned runs and nine hits.
“I mean, that’s not what we would have expected, given what he did in his last three outings and what we talked about a little bit yesterday,” Montgomery said. “Just wasn’t sharp, didn’t feel crisp from the get go.”
Added Soriano in Spanish through team interpreter Manny Del Campo: “I feel a little bit upset because of my performance tonight. … I feel upset because I wasn’t able to help win tonight.”
Angels shortstop Zach Neto (shoulder) returned to action, striking out in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter.
Before the game, Neto said that he’d likely be able to hit before throwing — something he’s yet to do — after jamming his shoulder on a stolen base attempt Tuesday.
“He proved to me, proved to the medical staff, proved to everybody else he was capable of coming in,” Montgomery said. “We thought it was a good time to give it a shot right there.”
The Angels will try to even the series Saturday with right-hander Kyle Hendricks (5-6, 4.83 earned-run average) on the mound.
Lorraine Stanley, known for playing Karen Taylor on EastEnders, was met with reaction after sharing a video of the BBC soap star dancing with her daughter Nancy
17:12, 26 Jun 2025Updated 17:12, 26 Jun 2025
Former EastEnders cast member Lorraine Stanley has addressed the suggestion that she’s a grandparent. It comes after she was met with reaction from fans on TikTok after posting a video of herself dancing alongside her daughter.
Lorraine, 48, who played Karen Taylor on the BBC soap, and her fiancé Mark Perez are parents to Nancy, nine, together. She occassionally features in videos shared by the actor on the platform, with the mother and daughter often taking on dance trends at home together.
The latest, uploaded last week, saw Lorraine and Nancy perform a choreographed routine to Maroon 5 and SZA‘s song What Lovers Do. Lorraine wrote in the caption: “It’s been a while!” She included hashtags like #motherdaughter.
It’s attracted more than 40,000 likes and fans reacted to the video in the comments section. The reaction included the suggestion that Nancy was Lorraine’s granddaughter, which led the former soap star to assert that wasn’t the case.
Lorraine Stanley (left) was met with reaction over a video of her dancing with her daughter Nancy in a video on TikTok recently(Image: Tiktok/Lorraine Stanley)
One asked: “Is that your granddaughter?” Alongside an emoji depicting a face with rolling eyes, Lorraine replied to them: “Daughter.” In another reply, beside a laughing emoj, she wrote: “Daughter #motherdaughter is a bit of a clue.”
Someone else wrote in the comments section just days ago: “Nothing better than seeing a grandparent have that kind of fun with their grandchild.” Seemingly amused by it, Lorraine replied by sharing a trio of laughing emojis.
Lorraine – whose five stone weight loss in recent years has continued to attract attention – was also met with praise over her apppearance. It included her receiving compliments from a former colleague from EastEnders.
The actor, pictured in 2017, is best known for her role as Karen Taylor on EastEnders(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes)
Shona McGarty, 33, who played Whitney Dean on the soap opera, wrote in the comments section: “Lou! Love this.” She added: “You look great!” Lorraine shared her appreciation by replying to Shona: “Thank you mate!!!! Lots of love.”
One fan wrote: “You look incredible!! Look how happy your daughter is to be doing the dances with you too. So lovely.” Another said: “You look fantastic you were always my favourite on eastenders you were so funny.”
Another said: “Oh how cute is this! & the smiles from both of you say it all. looking wonderful lady…hope you have an amazing summer.” Someone wrote: “You look great! Glad you’re happy and enjoying dancing with your family.”
The video is the latest update from Lorraine, who has previously posted about her weight loss journey on the platform(Image: Instagram/Lorraine Stanley)
Several fans asked Lorraine about her weight loss. It comes after she revealed in a post on TikTok back in April that she had gastric sleeve surgery. Lorraine suggested at the time that it took place towards the start of 2023.
Alongside photos of her from different stages of the experience, she told her followers: “It’s been over two years since I started my journey. Lots of you are asking how I did it.I hope you enjoy my little weight loss journey video.”
Lorraine gave further details in the comments section at the time. She told one fan: “I was slightly embarrassed to tell the world I’d had surgery.” She also said: “I wish I could say it was [through diet], but I did have to change my diet & still have to work hard to eat the right stuff to maintain it.”
Cardi B, entering the newest phase of her rap career, has just one question in mind: “Am I the Drama?”
That’s the title for the Grammy winner’s long-anticipated sophomore album, which she unveiled Monday on social media. The “Bodak Yellow” artist, 32, announced “Am I the Drama?” will drop Sept. 19, seven years after she made her splashy debut with 2018’s “Invasion of Privacy.”
The aptly dramatic “Am I the Drama?” cover art features Cardi B in an abstract red body suit and matching fishnet tights grabbing the heel of one of her sky-high platform pumps. The image also features a raven resting on her shoe and even more of them swarming around her.
Cardi B hinted at her album and its raven motif Sunday in a theatrical teaser as she reflected on “seven years of love, life and loss” and trading in grace for hell.
“I learned power’s not given. It’s taken,” the Bronx native says. “I’m shedding feathers and no more tears. I’m not back. I’m beyond.”
Cardi B broke out with “Bodak Yellow” almost a year before she released “Invasion of Privacy” in April 2018. Times critic Mikael Wood in his review commended the rapper for her relatability — “through her words and delivery … the songs make you feel like she’s speaking directly to you.”
At the 2019 Grammy Awards, Cardi B won a top honor and made history while doing so: She became the first woman to win the rap album category as a solo artist.
Cardi B continued to gain popularity over the following years for hits including “I Like It” with J Balvin and Bad Bunny, and “WAP” with Megan Thee Stallion. The latter, and Cardi B’s recent singles “Up” and “Outside,” will be among the 23 songs on the new album, according to the tracklist preview on Spotify.
“Am I the Drama?” will arrive as Cardi B also marks new milestones in her personal life.
Earlier this year, the “Hustlers” actor made her romance with NFL star Stefon Diggs official after parting ways with Migos rapper Offset. She also became a mother for a third time in September when she welcomed her daughter Blossom Belles, with Offset. They also share 6-year-old daughter Kulture and 3-year-old son Wave.
