Seattle

BALTIMORE — Star receiver Puka Nacua sustained an ankle sprain in the Rams’ victory over the Baltimore Ravens, and his status for Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London is uncertain, coach Sean McVay said Monday.

McVay said the Rams were encouraged by the scan results.

“Whether that means he’s able to play like the guy we’re accustomed to seeing on Sunday will be a weekly process for us,” McVay said during a videoconference with reporters, adding, “There is nothing on the scan that looks like it’s going to be long term. The uncertainty of this week is a real thing.”

After the Rams play the Jaguars, they have a week off before playing the New Orleans Saints on Nov. 2 at SoFi Stadium. But McVay said the off week “has nothing to do” with how they will handle Nacua’s situation.

“It’s going to be what’s good for Puka and for our football team,” McVay said, “and I know he’s going to do everything in his power to try to be ready to go for this week, and we have to have a plan for him and if he’s not able to go.”

The Rams are staying in Baltimore and will practice at Oriole Park at Camden Yards before they depart for London on Friday.

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua and Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey go up for a pass during the first half Sunday. Nacua sustained an ankle sprain on the play.

(Stephanie Scarbrough / Associated Press)

Nacua caught two passes for 28 yards in the Rams’ 17-3 victory over the Ravens before he was injured in the second quarter.

Nacua and Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey leaped for a pass thrown by Matthew Stafford into the end zone, and both came down hard on the turf. Nacua got up, took a few steps and then went to the ground again where was attended to by team trainers. He was assisted to the locker room, evaluated, and then he returned to the sideline. Nacua played in the second half but was not targeted.

Nacua still leads the league with 54 catches. His 616 yards receiving ranks second behind Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 696.

Nacua has caught 10 or more passes in three games this season and has amassed more than 100 yards receiving twice, including a 13-catch, 170-yard performance against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3.

Second-year pro Jordan Whittington started in place of Nacua, and he caught three passes for 23 yards.

Receiver Tutu Atwell did not play against the Ravens because of a hamstring injury but McVay said he “should be good” to play against the Jaguars.

Sinclair Broadcast Group is ending its preemption of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

The Maryland-based owner of several major ABC network affiliates said Friday the late night program will return to its airwaves immediately. The station group pulled Kimmel off the air Sept. 17 following a backlash over the host’s comments related to the killing of right-wing activist Charile Kirk.

Sinclair’s ABC stations include WJLA in Washington, D.C., and KOMO in Seattle.

Kimmel was pulled off the air by Sinclair and another station group, Nexstar, the same day Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr took aim at the host’s Sept. 15 monologue, in which Kimmel said MAGA Republicans were using Kirk’s death to “score political points” and were trying to categorize shooting suspect Tyler Robinson as “anything other than one of them.”

In a statement, Sinclair did not cite a specific reason for returning the program, which has not aired on its stations since Sept. 17. The company had initially demanded that the host make a personal apology to the family of Kirk and a significant contribution to the his organization Turning Point USA.

A person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly said no such concessions were made to get the program back on the air.

Carr, who oversees regulations for broadcast stations, called Kimmel’s remarks “the sickest conduct possible” and called for ABC to act. He threatened to go after TV stations’ licenses if it failed to do so.

ABC pulled the program from the network, but returned it to the air on Tuesday. Kimmel’s first episode back scored 6.26 million viewers — a record for its regular 11:35 p.m. time slot — while his opening monologue was watched by more than 26 million people on YouTube and social media.

This is a developing story.

Jason Myers kicked a 52-yard field goal with the final play of the game as the Seattle Seahawks sealed a dramatic 23-20 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals had rallied from 14 points down to tie the game with 28 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, with quarterback Kyler Murray throwing for two touchdowns.

Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold then put his team into field goal territory before Myers slotted the winning kick.

It marked the second time in a week that Arizona lost with the last kick of the game, after a 16-15 defeat by the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Myers, 34, kicked three field goals in the away victory at State Farm Stadium, but missed one from 53 yards just minutes before.

“I’ve seen this guy play golf – he’s a stud,” said Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald. “He’s got ice in his veins. We knew he was going to make that kick.”

Myers added: “I didn’t try to change anything – just stay true to my routine.”

Seattle move to a 3-1 win record, while Arizona are 2-2.

SEATTLE — Rookie pinch-hitter Harry Ford drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning and the Seattle Mariners beat the Angels 7-6 on Thursday night to move into a tie with Houston atop the AL West.

It was the second straight walk-off victory in extra innings for the Mariners, who extended their win streak to six games. Leo Rivas hit a two-run homer in the 13th inning Wednesday night to complete a series sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Seattle became the first team to play consecutive games that lasted at least 12 innings since Major League Baseball introduced the automatic runner for extra innings in 2020.

Mike Trout launched his 399th career home run for the Angels, tying it 4-4 in the fifth inning after they fell behind 4-0 in the second.

J.P. Crawford had three RBIs for the Mariners, including a tying single in the 11th.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mitch Farris pitched five effective innings to win his major league debut and Jo Adell hit a two-run homer that helped the Angels defeat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Tuesday night.

Adell finished with three hits and Oswald Peraza had an RBI double for the Angels, who scratched star slugger Mike Trout less than an hour before the game because of a skin infection.

Trout is considered day-to-day.

Kansas City remained 2 1/2 games behind Seattle for the last American League wild card.

Farris (1-0) walked his first batter but soon settled in. He gave up one run and three hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Royals starter Michael Lorenzen (5-9) permitted two runs and four hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out five.

Bobby Witt Jr. tripled for Kansas City in the third and scored on Vinnie Pasquantino’s sacrifice fly.

The Angels took a 2-1 lead on Adell’s two-run homer off Lorenzen in the sixth. Peraza doubled home a run in the seventh and scored on a wild pitch.

Key moment

Lorenzen took a two-hit shutout into the sixth. But after a one-out single, Adell launched a 454-foot homer to left field.

Key stat

Farris was the fourth Angels pitcher to make his MLB debut as a starter in Kansas City, following Frank Tanana (1973), Jarrod Washburn (1998) and Seth Etherton (2000).

Up next

The Royals will send right-hander Ryan Bergert (2-1, 2.67 ERA) to the mound Wednesday night. The Angels have not announced a scheduled starter.

SEATTLE — Dearica Hamby had 27 points and 11 rebounds, Rickea Jackson added 23 points and the Sparks beat the Seattle Storm 91-85 on Monday night.

Seattle led 85-80 with 2:47 to play but Hamby scored five points and Jackson four in an 11-0 closing run to pull the Sparks within 1½ games of the Storm and Indiana for the final two playoff spots. Seattle missed its last five shots.

Kelsey Plum added 14 points for the Sparks (19-20) and Rae Burrell had 11. Hamby had 11 rebounds as the Sparks dominated the boards 37-23. The also had a 60-30 advantage on points in the paint.

Nneka Ogwumike had 21 points on five first half three-pointers and two second half three-point plays for the Storm (22-20). Skylar Diggins also had 21 points and Ezi Magbegor added 11.

Gabby Williams had two baskets and an assist to fuel a 10-0 run for the Storm, who led 25-20 after one quarter.

Ogwumike had three three-pointers in less than a minute, making her five for five, for a 36-25 lead 3½ minutes into the second quarter. The Storm had six threes in the quarter, with Erica Wheeler’s in the closing seconds making it 53-39 at the half.

Sparks guard Kelsey Plum, left, drives to the basket in front of Seattle guard Erica Wheeler during the first half Monday.

(Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

Diggins opened the second half with a three for a 17-point lead, but the Sparks hit their first five shots and were 12 for 17 in the quarter. The final shot was a buzzer-beating one-handed three-pointer by Jackson from beyond the top of the key to cut the Storm’s lead to 73-68 entering the fourth quarter.

The Sparks play at second-place Atlanta on Wednesday and Friday. The Storm are home against New York on Friday.

Seattle record an emphatic win in a match where Miami’s Luis Suarez appeared to spit on a Sounders staffer post-game.

Alex Roldan converted from the penalty spot late in the second half and had an assist during the first half as hosts Seattle Sounders defeated Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami 3-0 to win the 2025 Leagues Cup final.

The match on Sunday was marred by a melee at the final whistle involving multiple players from both teams. Miami striker Luis Suarez appeared to be one of the players at the middle of it, and video cameras appeared to capture him spitting at a member of Seattle’s staff post-game as the melee died down.

The Leagues Cup is held jointly by Major League Soccer (MLS) and Liga MX with Concacaf sanctioning, and thus has a disciplinary committee independent from both leagues or the continental federation. Presumably, it would be responsible for deciding any discipline for the incident, though potentially MLS could also get involved.

Roldan set up Osaze De Rosario’s fourth goal of the tournament for the opener for Seattle, which won its second Concacaf honour and ninth all-time major trophy since beginning MLS play in 2009.

It is the Sounders’ first since they defeated Mexico’s Pumas UNAM over two legs to win the 2022 Concacaf Champions League, ending a run of 16 consecutive Mexican champions in that event.

Paul Rothrock scored the third in the final moments of a win that guaranteed Seattle a first-round bye into the round of 16 at the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup.

Miami failed to secure their third major trophy since Messi’s arrival during the summer of the 2023 season and their second Leagues Cup title after winning the 2023 event.

The Herons are still guaranteed a Concacaf spot next year, but they will start in the first round unless they win the 2025 MLS Cup.

Seattle were dominant during the first half and went deservingly in front in the 26th minute.

Jesus Ferreira played the initial ball out wide to Roldan on the right, and Roldan curled in an outswinging cross to the far post, where De Rosario met it with a decisive header.

Miami wasted two excellent chances to level early in the second half, with Suarez providing the link-up play.

In the 50th minute, it was Messi, arriving just above the six-yard box to Suarez’s spinning, cutback pass, but the Argentinian star fired over goalkeeper Andrew Thomas.

Then in the 60th minute, Tadeo Allende was on the end of Suarez’s clever backheel, but he sent his strike wide of the right post as Thomas charged off his line.

That proved costly when Sounders substitute Georgi Minoungou got free down the left side of the field in the 82nd minute. With Yannick Bright tracking back to defend, Minoungou attempted a cutback and was caught by Bright’s sliding challenge.

Roldan coolly converted the penalty past Oscar Ustari in the 84th minute to turn tension into joy for most of a crowd of 69,314 at Lumen Field – a Leagues Cup and club single-game attendance record.

Philadelphia slugger Kyle Schwarber hit four home runs Thursday night against Atlanta to become the fourth Phillies player and 21st major leaguer to accomplish the feat.

Schwarber was four for six with a franchise record nine RBIs in the 19-4 victory. He broke a tie with Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani for the National League homer lead with 49 and moved within one of Seattle’s Cal Raleigh for the major league lead. Schwarber leads the majors with 119 RBIs.

Mike Schmidt was the last Philadelphia player to hit four homers in a game, doing so against the Chicago Cubs in April 1976. Schwarber had the third four-homer game of the season, following Eugenio Suárez and Nick Kurtz.

Kyle Schwarber high-five teammates after hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning Thursday.

(Matt Slocum / Associated Press)

The Philadelphia star started the power surge with a solo shot in the first off Cal Quantrill, sending a 2-1 curveball into the seats in right field. Scharber hit a flyout to center in the second.

After Quantrill was lifted with one out and a runner on base in the fourth, Schwarber greeted lefty Austin Cox by sending a 3-2 curveball over the wall in right for his fourth multi-homer game of the season.

With “M-V-P! M-V-P!” chants ringing down from Phillies fans in the fifth, Schwarber launched a three-run, opposite-field drive off Cox to put Philadelphia ahead 15-3. In the eighth, Schwarber hit a three-run shot to right off Wander Suero to make it 18-4.

Schwarber popped out in the eighth.

The Galaxy, stumbling through the worst season in the franchise’s long history, has looked to the Leagues Cup, a tournament with little pedigree and no real history, to salvage the year.

And for much of the monthlong competition that worked, with the Galaxy cruising into the tournament semifinals unbeaten. But reality and the Seattle Sounders caught up with them Wednesday, when goals from Pedro de la Vega and Osaze De Rosario gave Seattle a 2-0 victory and a spot in Sunday’s Leagues Cup final against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami.

The Galaxy will play host to Orlando City, a 3-1 loser in the other semifinal, in Sunday’s third-place game, where a berth in next season’s CONCACAF Champions Cup will be on the line.

Qualifying for the confederation’s top club competition would be a considerable accomplishment for the Galaxy, who are last in the MLS table nine months after winning their sixth league title. But they’ve played like another team in the Leagues Cup, emerging unbeaten from group play, where they faced three Liga MX teams, then eliminating Mexico’s Pachuca in the quarterfinals. And through the quarterfinals, they were scoring three goals a game, more than double their average in MLS.

The Sounders wasted little time taking control, going in front on De la Vega’s goal in the seventh minute and never looking back.

The score came on the last of a flurry of shots inside the Galaxy penalty area. The first, from De Rosario, was saved in the center of the goal by Novak Micovic, who dove to push the rebound out to his right. As Micovic scrambled after the loose ball, Jesús Ferreira took a shot, which Micovic, still on his stomach, also saved. But that rebound fell to De la Vega, who would not be denied, putting his right-footed shot into the back of the net.

That was the fifth consecutive goal Seattle has scored in two games at Dignity Health Sports Park since being shut out in last fall’s Western Conference final.

Both keepers made diving one-handed saves — Seattle’s Andrew Thomas on the Galaxy’s Diego Fagundez in the 28th minute and Micovic on Obed Vargas 12 minutes later — to keep the score 1-0 at the intermission.

But the physical De Rosario doubled the Sounders’ lead with a splendid goal 12 minutes into the second half, heading down a pass in the box, lifting it back over his head with his right foot, then bulling his way through Galaxy defenders John Nelson, Zanka and Maya Yoshida before beating Micovic cleanly from the edge of the six-yard box.

Micovic deserved better on a night when he was forced into a season-high six saves and got little help from his defenders. Still his performance was better than that of Mexican referee Adonai Escobedo, who struggled to control the match. Escobedo did make good use of VAR to correct a missed call in the final 10 minutes of regulation, however, expelling Seattle defender Nouhou Tolo for a rough challenge and forcing the Sounders to see out the victory with 10 men.

On the other end, Thomas made four saves to shut the Galaxy out at home for the second time in 17 days.

CHICAGO — President Trump said Chicago will probably be the next target of his efforts to crack down on crime, homelessness and illegal immigration.

Trump indicated that the Midwestern city could receive similar treatment to what he’s done in Washington, where he’s deployed 2,000 troops on the streets.

“I think Chicago will be our next,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday, later adding, “And then we’ll help with New York.”

The comments came as the Pentagon on Friday began ordering troops in Washington to carry firearms, though there have been no overt indications they have faced threats that would require them to carry weapons.

Trump has repeatedly described some of the nation’s largest cities — run by Democrats, with Black mayors and majority-minority populations — as dangerous and filthy.

He singled out Chicago on Friday, calling it a “mess” and saying residents there are “screaming for us to come” despite significant decreases in crimes of violence.

Trump’s suggestion that Chicago might be the next target for a crackdown on crime didn’t sit well with Illinois officeholders.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said his office has not received formal communication from the Trump administration about military or federal law enforcement deployments in Chicago but said that “we have grave concerns about the impact of any unlawful deployment of National Guard troops.”

Johnson called Trump’s approach “uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound,” arguing that it “has the potential to inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement.”

It is unclear how Trump would pursue an effort in Chicago that is similar to his approach to D.C., where home rule laws give the federal government greater authority.

But the president’s eldest son said it might be time to look at a whole host of cities in the Pacific Northwest. In an interview Thursday with Newsmax, Donald Trump Jr. blamed Democrats for “through-the-roof” murder rates.

“Maybe we should roll out the tour to Portland, Seattle, the other craphole cities of the country,” Trump Jr. said.

Homicide rates in Portland and Seattle, though up since before the COVID-19 surge nationwide, have declined this year.

In a post on X titled “Things People are Begging For,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, listed cheaper groceries, no cuts to Medicaid or food aid for low-income families, and the release of federally held files on Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex trafficker and former Trump friend.

What they are not begging for, Pritzker continued, is “an authoritarian power grab of major cities.”

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, called Trump’s Washington troop strategy “political theater.” He said Chicago is “a beautiful, vibrant city with people from all walks of life” and suggested pursuing “proven bipartisan solutions” toward further crime reduction.

“These unprecedented threats from President Trump are nothing more than a power grab to distract from his disastrous policies,” Durbin said in a statement.

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Army National Guard combat veteran and Illinois’ junior senator, criticized what she called Trump’s misuse of the military to “intimidate Americans in our own communities.”

Lisa Hernandez, chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois, called Trump’s comments “offensive and false” and argued that his rhetoric echoes a history of racist narratives about urban crime.

“Chicagoans are not begging for him,” she told the Associated Press.

Trump has taken aim at Chicago for more than a decade, a prominent feature of his presidential campaigns. He has repeatedly compared the city to Afghanistan and, as president in 2017, threatened to “send in the feds” due to gun violence in the city.

Violent crime in Chicago dropped significantly in the first half of 2025, representing the steepest decline in more than a decade, according to city data. Shootings and homicides were down more than 30% in the first half of the year compared with the same time last year, and total violent crime dropped by over 22%.

Johnson touted the city’s approach to violent crime, asserting in a statement to the Associated Press that “our communities are safest when we fully invest in housing, community safety, and education.” While Trump turns to the military, he said, Chicago has invested in mental health services, community-based interventions, raising minimum wages and improving affordable housing.

If the president wants to make the city safer, Johnson said, Trump should restore $158 million he cut in violence-prevention programs for cities such as Chicago.

“There are many things the federal government could do to help us reduce crime and violence in Chicago, but sending in the military is not one of them,” he said.

Pastor Donovan Price, a local advocate for gun crime victims, emphasized that community-based anti-violence programs, rather than militarism, is key to reducing gun violence in Chicago.

“Stay out of our city,” he said. “This is not a federal issue. We live this every day. We know what our community needs.”

Fernando, O’Connor and Price write for the Associated Press and reported from Chicago, Springfield, Ill., and Washington, respectively.

Aug. 13 (UPI) — Authorities in Washington State were hunting Tuesday night for a prisoner who escaped custody while being transported through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The Washington State Department of Corrections has identified the escapee in a statement as 20-year-old John Nino. He is described as 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighing 154 pounds. A picture provided by the department shows Nino bears a large tattoo over his left eyebrow.

Authorities said he escaped shortly before 8 p.m. PDT Tuesday.

Little information about the escape or the prisoner was made public, but the department told ABC News that Nino was on community supervision for second-degree robbery. He was then arrested several days ago in New Mexico after a warrant had been issued in June when he failed to attend several meetings with his correctional officer.

He escaped as he was being returned to Washington State, ABC News reported.

Local KOMO News, citing the airport, reported that Nino crossed a pedestrian bridge at a light rail station heading toward International Boulevard.

Nino was wearing a red coat and grey sweatpants. He was last seen by police crossing the railroad tracks and heading toward Highway 99, the Department of Corrections said.

In May, Sedrick Stevenson also escaped police custody at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. He was recaptured by U.S. Marshals over a month later.

The pay is nonexistent, but the perk could be viewing games in the U.S., Mexico and Canada for free during the FIFA World Cup next summer.

FIFA launched the application process for the World Cup volunteers Monday. How many are needed? A staggering 65,000 across the 16 cities that will host the expanded 48-team format over 39 days beginning June 11, the largest volunteer program FIFA has ever attempted.

“Volunteers are the heart, soul and smile of FIFA tournaments,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said. “They get to show off their local pride, gain a behind-the-scenes view of the tournament and make memories and friendships that can last a lifetime, while supporting a historic event.

“We hope interested individuals will join us as we welcome the world to North America in 2026.”

In addition to stadiums, volunteers will provide support across at training sites, airports and hotels.

FIFA estimates 6.5 million fans will attend the World Cup, with 3.7 million attending games in the U.S., 1.5 million in Mexico and 1.3 million in Canada. The 2022 final with Lionel Messi leading Argentina past Kylian Mbappé and France, drew a record 1.42 billion viewers, including 26 million in the U.S.

“The Super Bowl, which is fantastic, has what, 120-130 million viewers? The World Cup has 6 billion,” Infantino told Fox Sports in April. “A World Cup is 104 Super Bowls in one month.”

Volunteers in the past ranged from students to seniors. No experience is required but applicants must be at least 18 years old. Interested individuals can apply at fifaworldcup.com/volunteers.

Those whose applications are accepted will be invited to attend the Volunteer Team Tryouts, which are expected to begin in October. Training will take place in March 2026.

‘Volunteers are the heartbeat of FIFA events and champions of their host city — sharing their pride and passion with fans from all corners of the globe, welcoming visitors to experience the unique culture of their host city and supporting the extraordinary event that is a FIFA World Cup,” FIFA said in a statement.

Los Angeles is one of 11 U.S. host cities, with eight games scheduled at SoFi Stadium, including the U.S. team’s opener June 12. After playing its second match in Seattle on June 19, the U.S. will conclude group play at SoFi on June 25.

Included in the games to be played in Inglewood are two round-of-32 games and a quarterfinal. Only one venue — AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas — was awarded more games with nine.

“We’re happy with with how it turned out,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said. “We look forward to being in L.A. [and] probably one of the best stadiums in the world and to get to play there twice in the group stage.”

Other U.S. hosts cities include Seattle, Houston, Kansas City, Atlanta, Boston, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Miami and the San Francisco Bay area. Games in Mexico and Canada will be held in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Toronto and Vancouver.

“FIFA changed my life,” longtime volunteer Craig Collins said on a video. “Why do I want to volunteer again? I can give back to an organization that has provided for me without knowing it.

Collins became the one-millionth person to join the FIFA volunteer community in April 2025.

“I’m excited to apply for the 2026 volunteer program and hope to show off my community to the world once more.”

Less than 10 days ago, the Seattle Storm and the Sparks battled deep into a second overtime — the first of the 2025 WNBA season — wringing every drop of drama out of Climate Pledge Arena. On Sunday night, the same stakes were at play as the teams tried to strengthen their playoff chances.

The intensity didn’t let up till the final horn. With 5.6 seconds left, Dearica Hamby roared into the paint and scored on a driving layup to put the Sparks ahead for good. After the Storm missed their final chance to win, pandemonium spilled onto the floor — Sparks players leaping into one another’s arms, fans hollering over the hardwood, chanting “Hamby” in celebration of the Sparks’ 94-91 victory.

In addition to Hamby’s last-minute heroics, Kelsey Plum proved vital to helping the Sparks win for the ninth time in 11 games. She finished with 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Sparks coach Lynne Roberts has painted Plum as a shape-shifter — able to twist her game into whatever the game demands.

“That’s what your best players should do — get everybody else involved and make sure we’re flowing,” Roberts said before the game, “and then when they need you, you step up. She’s done a tremendous job.”

Trailing the Storm (16-16) by 17 in the first quarter, Plum, who still hadn’t scored yet, tore into a one-on-five fast break, freezing the defense with a hesitation at the arc and a glide into the basket for an and-1.

Seconds later, Plum created another opportunity off an extended right elbow, drilling a three-pointer in Erica Wheeler’s face.

Sparks guard Kelsey Plum, right, drives against Seattle guard Brittney Sykes in the fourth quarter Sunday.

(Luke Hales / Getty Images)

It was the spurt of momentum the Sparks (15-16) needed to overcome a sputtering start.

Playing the entire first half, Plum went from the table-setter to shot-maker in the second quarter — springing Rae Burrell for a corner three before splashing a triple to tie the score 29-29 early in the second quarter.

Azurá Stevens and Cameron Brink were strong in the key early, but the Sparks clanked jumpers, dribbled into traffic and watched offensive possessions die on the rim in addition to committing eight first-quarter turnovers. So Roberts rolled the dice on a smaller look — swapping her paint patrol of Stevens and Brink for guards Julie Vanloo and Burrell.

Plum and Julie Allemand kept the smaller unit in constant motion, whipping passes from wing to wing and slicing open lanes for Burrell and Rickea Jackson, while Vanloo, Allemand and Plum cashed in from beyond the arc. Roberts rode that group into the second quarter, and they eventually whittled the deficit.

When the final buzzer faded, players were still grinning through hugs, and the crowd’s enthusiasm continued — excitement for a Sparks team that had yanked itself out of the fire.

SEATTLE — Dearica Hamby‘s layup with 4.3 seconds left gave the Sparks a 108-106 win over the Seattle Storm on Friday night in the first double-overtime game in the WNBA this season.

Hamby put up a contested shot but Skylar Diggins’ similar shot on the other end fell off the rim as time expired.

Rickea Jackson had 27 points to lead the Sparks (12-15), who have won six of seven. Kelsey Plum added 22 points and seven assists, while Hamby and Azurá Stevens both had 21. Hamby also had 13 rebounds.

Sparks center Azurá Stevens reacts after scoring against Seattle in overtime Friday.

(Soobum Im / Getty Images)

Cameron Brink had seven points, four rebounds, three blocks, two steals and five fouls in 12 minutes in her second game back after ACL surgery last season.

Nneka Ogwumike scored 37 points, one shy of her career high when she played with the Sparks nine years ago, and grabbed 12 rebounds for Seattle (16-12). She became the sixth player to reach 7,000 points for her career. Diggins had 18 points, Erica Wheeler 15 and Gabby Williams 14 points and eight assists. Ezi Magbegor had nine points, 11 rebounds and five blocks.

There were 14 ties and 12 lead changes. Plum’s three-point play following her three-pointer gave the Sparks a 69-68 lead, their first since ending the first quarter up 18-16.

Williams hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 106 with 16.4 seconds to play in the second overtime.

Diggins tied the game at 99 with 18 seconds left in the first extra session before Plum missed at the buzzer.

Jackson tied the game at 86 with 4.3 seconds left in regulation and Wheeler missed a contest 3 at the buzzer.

Mike Trout hit a two-run homer in a four-run fifth inning to reach 1,000 career RBIs, and the Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 4-1 on Sunday.

Kyle Hendricks (6-7) gave up one run on two hits over six-plus innings and Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his 18th save as the Angels earned a split of the four-game series.

Cal Raleigh hit his major league-leading 41st home run for the Mariners.

The Angels broke a scoreless tie when Kevin Newman’s grounder brought home Travis d’Arnaud in the fifth. Luis Rengifo then scored on Logan Gilbert’s wild pitch.

Trout crushed a 443-foot drive to center field off Gilbert to give him 1,001 RBIs. It was his 397th career homer and 19th this season.

Raleigh connected against Hendricks in the seventh, his second home run in two nights and fourth this year against Los Angeles.

Hendricks, who had one walk and three strikeouts, won for the first time since June 17.

Gilbert (3-4) gave up four runs and three hits over five innings with seven strikeouts.

Key moment: Angels center fielder Jo Adell kept Seattle off the scoreboard in the sixth when he reached above the wall to take away a home run from J.P. Crawford.

Key stat: Trout became the third player to get his first 1,000 RBIs entirely in an Angels uniform, following Garret Anderson and Tim Salmon.

Up next: Angels right-hander Jack Kochanowicz (3-9, 6.03) is expected to start Monday against Texas.

ATLANTA — Seattle’s Cal Raleigh won his first Home Run Derby after leading the big leagues in long balls going into the break, defeating Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in the final round Monday night.

The Mariners’ breakout slugger nicknamed “Big Dumper” advanced from the first round on a tiebreaker by less than an inch over the Athletics’ Brent Rooker, then won his semifinal 19-13 over Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz, whose 513-foot first-round drive over Truist Park’s right-center field seats was the longest of the night.

Hitting second in the final round, the 22-year-old Caminero closed within three dingers, took three pitches and hit a liner to left field.

Becoming the first switch-hitter and first catcher to win the title, Raleigh had reached the All-Star break with a major league-leading 38 home runs. He became the second Mariners player to take the title after three-time winner Ken Griffey Jr.

“Usually the guy that’s leading the league in homers doesn’t win the whole thing,” Raleigh said. “That’s as surprising to me as anybody else.”

Raleigh was pitched to by his father, Todd, former coach of Tennessee and Western Carolina. His younger brother, Todd Raleigh Jr., did the catching.

“Just to do it with my family was awesome,” Raleigh said.

Just the second Derby switch-hitter after Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman in 2023, Raleigh hit his first eight left-handed, took a timeout, then hit seven right-handed. Going back to lefty, he then hit two more in the bonus round and stayed lefty for the semifinals and the final.

Caminero beat Minnesota’s Byron Buxton 8-7 in the other semifinal.

Atlanta’s Matt Olson, Washington’s James Wood, the New York Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Rooker were eliminated in the first round of the annual power show.

Cruz and Caminero each hit 21 long balls and Buxton had 20 in the opening round. Raleigh and Rooker had 17 apiece, but Raleigh advanced on the tiebreaker of their longest homer, 470.61 feet to 470.53.

“One little tweak in the system and I’m not even in the next round, so that’s crazy,” Raleigh said.

Cruz’s long drive was the hardest-hit at 118 mph.

The longest derby homer since Statcast started tracking in 2016 was 520 feet by Juan Soto in the mile-high air of Denver’s Coors Field in 2021. Last year, the longest drive at Arlington, Texas, was 473 feet by Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna.

Wood hit 16 homers, including a 486-foot shot and one that landed on the roof of the Chop House behind the right-field wall. Olson, disappointing his hometown fans, did not go deep on his first nine swings and finished with 15, He also was eliminated in the first round in 2021.

Chisholm hit just three homers, the fewest since the timer format started in 2015.

Blum writes for the Associated Press.

NEW YORK — The monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride reached its crescendo as New York and other major cities in the U.S. and around the world hosted parades and marches Sunday.

Pride celebrations are typically a daylong mix of jubilant street parties and political protest, but this year’s iterations took a more defiant stance as Republicans, led by President Trump, have sought to roll back LGBTQ+ rights.

The theme of the festivities in Manhattan was “Rise Up: Pride in Protest.” San Francisco’s Pride theme was “Queer Joy Is Resistance,” while Seattle’s was simply “Louder.”

Lance Brammer, a 56-year-old teacher from Ohio attending his first Pride parade in New York, said he felt “validated” as he marveled at the size of the city’s celebration, the nation’s oldest and largest.

“With the climate that we have politically, it just seems like they’re trying to do away with the whole LGBTQ community, especially the trans community,” he said, wearing a vivid, multicolored shirt. “And it just shows that they’ve got a fight ahead of them if they think that they’re going to do that with all of these people here and all of the support.”

Doriana Feliciano, who described herself as an LGBTQ+ ally, held up a sign saying, “Please don’t lose hope,” in support of friends she said couldn’t attend Sunday.

“We’re in a very progressive time, but there’s still hate out there, and I feel like this is a great way to raise awareness,” she said.

Manhattan’s parade wound its way down Fifth Avenue with more than 700 participating groups greeted by huge crowds. The rolling celebration will pass the Stonewall Inn, the famed Greenwich Village gay bar where a 1969 police raid triggered protests and energized the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

The site is now a national monument. The first Pride march was held in New York City in 1970 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.

Later Sunday, marchers in San Francisco, host to another of the world’s largest Pride events, planned to head down Market Street to concert stages set up at the Civic Center Plaza. San Francisco’s mammoth City Hall is among the venues hosting a post-march party.

Denver, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and Toronto were among the other major North American cities hosting Pride parades on Sunday.

Several global cities including Tokyo, Paris and São Paulo held their events earlier this month, and others come later in the year, including London in July and Rio de Janeiro in November.

Since taking office in January, Trump has issued orders and implemented policies targeting transgender people, removing them from the military, preventing federal insurance programs from paying for gender-affirmation surgeries for young people and attempting to keep transgender athletes out of girls’ and women’s sports.

Peter McLaughlin said he’s lived in New York for years but had never attended the Pride parade. The 34-year-old Brooklyn resident said he felt compelled this year as a transgender man.

“A lot of people just don’t understand that letting people live doesn’t take away from their own experience, and right now it’s just important to show that we’re just people,” McLaughlin said.

Gabrielle Meighan, 23, of New Jersey, said she felt it was important to come out to this year’s celebrations because they come days after the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark June 26, 2015, ruling in Obergefell vs. Hodges that recognized same-sex marriage nationwide.

“It’s really important to vocalize our rights and state why it’s important for us to be included,” she said.

Manhattan on Sunday also hosted the Queer Liberation March, an activism-centered event launched in recent years amid criticism that the more mainstream parade had become too corporate.

Marchers holding signs that included “Gender affirming care saves lives” and “No Pride in apartheid” headed north from the city’s AIDS Memorial to Columbus Circle near Central Park.

Among the other headwinds faced by gay rights groups this year is the loss of corporate sponsorship. American companies have pulled back support of Pride events, reflecting a broader walking back of diversity and inclusion efforts amid shifting public sentiment.

NYC Pride said this month that about 20% of its corporate sponsors dropped or reduced support, including PepsiCo and Nissan. Organizers of San Francisco Pride said they lost the support of five major corporate donors, including Comcast and Anheuser-Busch.

Marcelo and Shaffrey write for the Associated Press.

If one word sums up the Sparks’ season so far, it’s hardship. Injuries continue to mount, and Kelsey Plum, their primary scorer and star, has joined the growing list of sidelined players.

Plum’s absence was sorely felt as what began as a valiant effort by the Sparks — keeping pace with the visiting Storm through the first half — quickly unraveled into a 98-67 blowout loss Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena.

Already down two key starters — Plum and Odyssey Sims — the Sparks were forced to piece together a new starting lineup on short notice. Dearica Hamby, Rickea Jackson, Azurá Stevens, Sarah Ashlee Barker and newly acquired Shey Peddy marked the Sparks’ fifth different starting five this season.

“We obviously missed [Plum],” coach Lynne Roberts said. “We missed Odyssey. We missed Julie [Allemand]. Those are our three lead guards, and none of them are here.”

Plum was out with a leg injury, Sims for personal reasons and Allemand is with the Belgium national team for the European basketball championship. Plum’s absence was the most felt — she is averaging career highs in points (20.9), assists (5.6), rebounds (2.9) and steals (1.7) so far this season.

Peddy, signed to a hardship contract, joined the team just before Saturday’s loss to the Minnesota Lynx. Since then, she has had just one practice under her belt before stepping in to replace Plum at point guard.

Also signed under a hardship exception, Grace Berger flew in late Monday and joined the team just hours before the game. Berger went scoreless in16 minutes.

“I thought Shey and Grace did a good job,” Roberts said. “They did what they could, but it’s hard to execute stuff that they’ve had little time to digest. It’s not anyone’s fault. That’s just the reality.”

Running the offense through their anchor, Hamby, the Sparks (4-9) held their own through the first 20 minutes, refusing to waver. They trailed 47-37 by halftime.

Hamby finished with a season-low eight points and grabbed seven rebounds.

But the resilience was short-lived. As the game wore on, cracks in the offense widened. Careless passes led to a flurry of turnovers.

Seattle’s Gabby Williams set the tone early with six steals in the first half. She finished with eight, along with 11 points and seven assists. The Storm scored 31 points off 24 Sparks turnovers, with 24 of those points coming on fast breaks.

A 14–5 run — led by former Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike — gave Seattle (7-5) a 62–42 lead with 5:37 left in the third. Ogwumike scored 10 of her 26 points in the quarter.

“In the second half, we couldn’t get a stop,” Roberts said. “We’ve got to be able to defend. We can’t give up 98 points and expect to beat anybody.”

Stevens echoed her coach’s sentiment: “Obviously, we have key people out, but we have enough to still execute and get things done. And it starts defensively.”

Several Sparks starters — including Hamby, Jackson and Stevens — remained in the game late into the fourth, but the deficit had long grown insurmountable, with the team trailing by as many as 30 points. Jackson led the Sparks with 17 points, while Stevens finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The news of Plum’s absence came as a surprise just after practice on Monday, with the Sparks ruling her out because of a lower leg injury.

Dominique Malonga, the 2025 first-round draft pick subsequently chosen as part of the three-team trade for Plum, finished with seven points in 12 minutes for Seattle.

It’s still unclear when Plum sustained the injury, though it presumably happened during Saturday’s loss to the Lynx. She underwent imaging the next day, but the team says the results offered little clarity.

Even more uncertain is her return timeline. It’s unclear if she will play Saturday against Minnesota. Roberts said Plum is “tuned in to her body — she’ll know when she’s ready to go.”

Through the first 12 games of the season, only Atlanta Dream star Rhyne Howard is averaging more minutes per game than Plum’s 36.

“I still believe strongly in this group, and we’re not even close to full strength,” Roberts said. “We have Kelsey Plum, Odyssey Sims, Julie Allemand, Rae Burrell and Cameron Brink all out. And when we’re going into the season, we’re thinking, Plum, Sims, Allemand, Burrell and Brink are all going to be huge parts. So we cannot lose perspective.”

But a prolonged absence for Plum could spell serious trouble for a team already reeling.

As you climb the staircase to Debbie Lin and Na-Moya Lawrence’s second-story Hollywood apartment, a smell begins to materialize. It’s earthy and calming — grounding, even — and by the time you open their door, the scent envelops you. That’s because Lin and Lawrence have set up their artisan perfume company, Samar, in a corner of their home studio space. Sitting on a small foldaway table is a precision scale where the duo weighs out mixtures. Shelves along the wall are lined with hundreds of little bottles of essential oils and aroma chemicals.

“Have you smelled this?” Lin says, holding a bottle of green tea essential oil under my nose.

In this series, we highlight independent makers and artists, from glassblowers to fiber artists, who are creating original products in Los Angeles.

These headquarters may seem surprising for a duo that creates award-winning perfumes and has built a following of loyal fans. Their small-batch production, inspired by highly personal memories, challenges the norms of the industry. Rather than obsessing over fast growth, they embrace an ethos of exploration and creativity — along with a bit of humor.

Much of the messaging in the perfume landscape has been aspirational, Lawrence explains. “‘I’m in Paris and I’m a sexy lady,’” she says, mimicking the traditional advertising. “That’s all great, but now you can smell like a dirty pond goblin if you want. And that’s cool.”

Lin and Lawrence launched Samar in Seattle in 2022, succeeding at something many failed at: keeping a pandemic hobby alive. “We were talking about the places we want to travel when we’re able to, the things that we miss doing,” Lin says.

With names like Grove is in the Heart, Golden Hour and Holy Ghost, Samar’s unisex perfumes are made in small batches.

They tried various projects — at first, making pastries and later starting a skincare line — but realized that their real calling lay not in baking (“We’re not morning people,” says Lawrence with a laugh) and the beauty endeavor was proving to be too ambitious.

Lawrence had a passion for unusual scents ever since college, when a roommate introduced her to the indie fragrance brand Amorphous Perfume. The duo soon started thinking about entering perfumery. There was just one problem: Lin didn’t like perfume all that much. Lin told Lawrence that she had never encountered one she enjoyed.

For Lawrence? Mission accepted. She recalls thinking, “There’s no way there isn’t something we could find for [Lin] to enjoy. And so as we were talking as very audacious queers, ‘What if we just made it? But where the hell do we start?’”

Down the rabbit hole they went, scouring message boards and subreddits, where they found lots of bad advice — some of it dangerous even. Finally, they stumbled upon Perfumer’s Apprentice, Hermitage Oils and Pell Wall — material suppliers where you can order the fragrant oils and molecules that make up perfumes. “We were like, ‘Oh, this is the s—. This is the stuff we’re supposed to be using,’” Lawrence says.

To develop their full scent profiles, perfumes must macerate, or sit for several weeks to let the chemical processes take place, top. Lin demonstrates the dilution of fragrance material, above.

The two started making scents that were “grounded in specific memories and emotions that we wanted to relive for ourselves and share with other people,” Lin says. Soon, Samar was born. The name has a dual meaning in Arabic for both “fruits of paradise” and “evening conversations with friends,” which nicely sums up the feeling of their perfumes. Their first fragrances were Garden Heaux (a green, vegetal perfume) and Happy Trails (a campfire and woodsy scent inspired by Lin’s love of camping with friends in the wilderness near Seattle).

Now their home studio — the duo moved from Seattle to L.A. last April — is starting to take over parts of their apartment: A storage closet is full of bottles of finished perfume that’s macerating, a term for when perfume sits for several weeks to let the chemical processes take place.

For each fragrance, one of them takes “point” — for instance, on Garden Heaux, Lawrence acted as the perfumer and Lin as the fragrance evaluator, deciding whether the scent needed tweaking. It’s an intimate working environment for the partners in both work and life. “To be able to work closely together is really lovely,” says Lin. Because they have different palates, they’re each able to pick up on certain notes much more strongly. “So between the two of us, once we’re both happy, then we know we have something that’s really nice and balanced,” Lin adds.

Lawrence, right, smells a sample fragrance. Lawrence and Lin are partners in both work and life.

Of course, there’s not always an instant consensus. They found this out with Grove is in the Heart, the winner of an Art and Olfaction Award, presented in Lisbon in 2024. “[Lawrence] was like, ‘No, it’s not quite right. It should be sweeter, but not too sweet,’” says Lin. They rejiggered some materials but it was still missing something.

Lin says, “And I’m just like, ‘OK, what is it?’ She’s like, ‘I don’t know. You know the Trader Joe’s candied orange slices? Like that.’ So I taste it, and I’m like, ‘Well, what about this? Because it already is zesty, and it already has a little sweetness and the rindiness,’ and she’s like, ‘Juicy. It needs to be more juicy.’”

Lawrence laughs at this story, mentioning that sometimes they can go 13 or 14 trials before they succeed in satisfying both perfumers. “I wanted it juicier, but there I was standing with a dried orange slice in my hand,” she says.

“I would have never gotten there,” banters Lin.

Where they do align easily is in their commitment to making fragrance available and emotionally resonant. As a small business, Samar doesn’t benefit from the discounts enjoyed by major brands — big companies buy literally tons of essential oil at a discounted rate. So the brand reflects that smaller scale by offering smaller sizes at more approachable price points (bottles cost between $10 and $55). Each perfume comes in 2.25mL, 5mL or 10mL sizes, smaller than the industry standard of 30mL or 50mL. “A lot of people are samplers,” Lawrence says. “We’re samplers.”

Samar’s inclusiveness goes beyond their pricing. In L.A., they are surrounded by friends in the fragrance community, notably Orange County-based perfumers James Miju Nguyen and Kael Jeong, who run artisan perfume brands d.grayi and KST Scent, respectively. They’ve formed something of a queer indie perfumer club. For these makers, gender isn’t on the radar — a perfume can be enjoyed by all. In an Instagram post, Samar explained that at in-person shows, the company asks customers to suspend their beliefs about masculinity and femininity, and found that most men gravitate toward its more floral-forward and sweet perfumes like Beach Berry and Great Lei.

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1. Shelves lined with bottles of essential oils and aromachemicals. 2. Samar packaging. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

One of Samar’s most distinct creations, Speakeasy, was inspired by 1920s underground queer bars and the illicit moonshine that fueled the Prohibition era. “It’s one of our most polarizing scents, actually, but it’s also one of my favorite ones that Debbie has made,” Lawrence says. They didn’t shy away from the scent’s complexity, leaning into the more unusual notes like gin, elderflower and leather. “I really love the darkness to it,” Lawrence adds.

Their exploration of scent is boundary-pushing. On a recent trip to Thailand, they found themselves at a chocolate cafe called Chocolate Culture Club, where they struck up a conversation with the owner, a chocolatier named MK. MK suggested they create perfumes from fermented chocolate husks, and before they left Bangkok, he gave them several bags of cacao husks.

Lawrence bounds over to a shelf with several jars of a brown tinctured slurry, the results of which they’ll use to create a cacao perfume. They’ll send half of each batch to Thailand for Chocolate Culture Club to sell. The chocolate-vinegar scent isn’t what one might think about when thinking of perfume, but that’s part of the fun of trying to find that perfect blend.

Lawrence says she’s intrigued by the potential for “slightly off scents.”

The final result will be “maybe beautiful, maybe just kind of weird,” she says. “But weird is beautiful.”

George Kirby struck out a career-high 14 during seven innings of two-hit ball, and the Seattle Mariners snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Angels on Sunday.

Kirby (1-3) issued no walks while retiring both his first 11 and his final 10 batters. His strikeouts were the most by a Mariners pitcher since James Paxton had 16 in May 2018, and he matched Miami’s Max Meyer for the most strikeouts in a major league game this season.

Donovan Solano drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth, and Randy Arozarena had an early RBI double among his three hits as the Mariners avoided a series sweep with their fourth win in 14 games.

Taylor Ward hit a two-run homer in the fourth for the Halos, who struck out 18 times overall while losing for only the second time in six games.

Andrés Muñoz earned his 18th save, returning from a week off and rebounding from back-to-back blown save opportunities in which he allowed his first earned runs of the entire season.

Muñoz walked Jorge Soler leading off the ninth, but struck out Mike Trout to end it.

Tyler Anderson (2-3) yielded eight hits with six strikeouts while pitching into the fifth inning of his ninth consecutive winless appearance.

Arozarena hit a 345-foot single in the fifth when he failed to hustle out of the box, but he stole second and scored on Jorge Polanco’s two-out single. Solano added another RBI single to chase Anderson.

Key moment: Trout was the Angels’ first baserunner with a two-out single, and Ward immediately followed with his 18th homer. Kirby regrouped and struck out Chris Taylor with a perfect slider on the corner.

Key stat: Trout tied Rafael Palmeiro’s major league record of 435 total bases against Seattle before scoring his 145th run against the Mariners to tie Rickey Henderson for that career record.

Up next: Yusei Kikuchi (1-5, 3.23 ERA) takes the Big A mound Monday night against the Athletics. Emerson Hancock (2-2, 5.19) pitches for the Mariners at Arizona.