Sports
Yoshinobu Yamamoto shines and Dodgers' offense shows some life in win over Rockies
A steady stream of hits and walks and quality at-bats did not translate into a massive amount of runs for the Dodgers on Saturday night, but when combined with a strong Yoshinobu Yamamoto start and some stout relief, it was enough for a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies in front of 50,182 at Dodger Stadium.
A struggling Dodgers offense racked up 11 hits, including three by Andy Pages and two each by Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández, and four walks but was unable to build more than a three-run cushion.
Thanks to Yamamoto and relievers Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen and Evan Phillips, the Dodgers didn’t have to. Yamamoto navigated through heavy traffic to complete six innings, giving up one run and seven hits, striking out seven and walking one to improve to 6-2 with a 3.32 ERA in 12 starts.
“The starting pitchers are dealing right now, keeping us in the game, giving us the opportunity to score runs so we can get back in the game and win,” Hernández said. “We’re not going to put 10 runs on the board every day, but we try to maximize every single thing to make our lead bigger.”
Yamamoto gave up his only run after a minor wardrobe malfunction — a broken shoelace that he returned to the dugout to replace — caused a delay before the start of the second inning. Brendan Rodgers led off with a double, took third on Elehuris Montero’s groundout to second and scored on Brenton Doyle’s sacrifice fly to right field.
Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto yells out as he throws a pitch in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
But that was all the Rockies would muster against Yamamoto, who stranded two runners in each of the first, third and sixth innings and, with his season-high 101st pitch of the night, got Montero to ground out to shortstop with runners on second and third to end the sixth, preserving a 4-1 lead.
Hudson retired the side in order in the seventh, Treinen gave up two hits in a scoreless eighth and Phillips, making his first appearance since May 3 after missing four weeks because of a right-hamstring strain, retired the side in order in the ninth for the save.
The Dodgers scored twice in the second for a 2-1 lead, the first run coming when the Rockies committed two errors on the same play and the second on Pages two-out single and Jason Heyward’s RBI double to right-center.
Pages singled with two outs in the fourth, Heyward walked, and Kiké Hernández hit an RBI single to left-center for a 3-1 lead. Freeman tripled into the left-field corner and scored on Will Smith’s RBI double to left for a 4-1 lead in the fifth.
“Up and down the lineup, we saw good productive at-bats,” Roberts said. “It seemed like we took better at-bats with two strikes, used the big part of the field, had [Rockies starter Cal] Quantrill on the ropes and got into their bullpen, which was good to see.”
The Dodgers were an offensive force for seven weeks, batting .263 with a .792 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and averaging 5.4 runs through May 14, a stretch in which they went 29-15. But in their next 15 games through Friday night, they hit .230 with a .672 OPS and averaged 3.5 runs, going 7-8 in that span.
Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freeman and Smith have manned the first four spots in the lineup all season, but with the team in an extended funk, manager Dave Roberts said he was considering tinkering with the alignment.
“I’ve thought about potentially splitting up the two lefties,” Roberts said before the game, alluding to Ohtani and Freeman. “Not against right-handed [starters], but maybe against lefties.”
If Roberts flip-flopped Freeman and Smith, the Dodgers would go right-left-right-left-right in the first five spots, with Teoscar Hernández batting fifth. That would give them a more balanced lineup in general and leave the top of the order less vulnerable to shut-down left-handed relievers in the later innings.
Colorado Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar tags out Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani during the third inning Saturday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Roberts said he won’t make that switch against Austin Gomber on Sunday because the Rockies left-hander is “a neutral guy,” meaning he is equally effective against right-handed and left-handed hitters.
“But against a lefty who has more [extreme] splits, I might think about it,” Roberts said. “If I do, I would certainly have Freddie be part of that conversation.”
If Ohtani was crushing the ball the way he did for the first six weeks, Roberts might not even be considering that conversation, but the slugger is batting .204 (11 for 54) with a .627 OPS, two homers and eight RBIs in his last 14 games.
Ohtani went one for three with a single, a walk, a strikeout and a stolen base Saturday night, but he cost the Dodgers a run when he was picked off second base before Freeman’s single in the third inning.
Ohtani was hitting .364 with a 1.108 OPS on May 15. He is now batting .326 with a .999 OPS. Not coincidentally, Ohtani suffered a right-hamstring bruise when he was hit by a pickoff throw from Reds left-hander Brent Suter on May 16.
“His words, he doesn’t feel it when he’s swinging the bat,” Roberts said. “But he’s a finely tuned machine, and sometimes, in the context of a sports car, when it’s not firing on all cylinders, it just doesn’t run right.
“When his back was bothering him a little bit [in early May] you saw some funkier swings, a little bit more chase. His hamstring is bothering him a little bit, you see a little bit of the same thing. But I think that he’s getting close to where he needs to be physically. I think that staying to the big part of the field is a remedy.”
Rehab report
Clayton Kershaw’s fastball touched 88 mph during a 20-pitch simulated inning in which he faced three batters Saturday, a workout the veteran left-hander, who is recovering from shoulder surgery, likened to “basically the first step of spring training.”
Kershaw will throw a two-inning simulated game with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga later this week while the Dodgers are on the road. If he follows a normal six-week spring training progression without setback, he could return in mid-July.
“Right now, we’re way ahead of schedule, which is really encouraging,” Roberts said. “He came out of it feeling good, feeling strong. There was no tentativeness. I didn’t see him guarding anything. He felt free and easy.”
Bobby Miller, out since April 13 because of shoulder inflammation, gave up four earned runs and five hits in 3 ⅓ innings with no strikeouts and one walk in his second rehabilitation start for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga at Lake Elsinore on Saturday.
The right-hander threw 65 pitches, 38 for strikes. He will make at least one more rehab start for triple-A Oklahoma City before being considered for the Dodgers’ rotation.
“Early on, I heard that the velocity was down,” Roberts said, “a couple miles per hour lower than what is typical for Bobby.”
Was the dip caused by a physical setback?
“No, because I would have heard that,” Roberts said. “So it’s nothing too concerning.”
Miller was scheduled to make at least one more rehab start for triple-A Oklahoma City before being considered for the Dodgers rotation, but Roberts said his rehab stint could be extended.
The Cleveland Browns, rumored to be willing to trade down from their No. 6 overall selection in the 2026 NFL draft, did just that Thursday evening when the traded the pick to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Cleveland traded the sixth overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft to the Chiefs, in exchange for the ninth overall pick, as well as pick No. 74 in the third round and No. 148 in the fifth round.
The Browns now hold the No. 9 and No. 24 picks in the first round of the draft. They have a total of 11 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Quarterbacks Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns watch from the sidelines during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio, on Sept. 7, 2025. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
So the Chiefs gave up three picks in making the first trade of the first round.
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And we know what the fan bases of both clubs were thinking prior to the selection:
Chiefs fans were thinking we know something they don’t. And then the Chiefs selected cornerback Mansoor Delane from LSU — a move no doubt forced by the club’s trade of Pro Bowl cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams earlier in the offseason.
So, the Chiefs fill a major need, assuming Delane is indeed the quality corner they believe.
LSU Tigers CB Mansoor Delane celebrates a defensive stop against the Clemson Tigers at Memorial Stadium in South Carolina. (Ken Ruinard/USA TODAY Network)
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ESPN’s Mel Kiper didn’t like the pick, by the way. He had Delane as the 14th best player in the draft.
“It was a necessity,” ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, a former NFL defensive back, responded.
Browns fans weren’t thinking that way.
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They were probably thinking something akin to “We screwed up.”
This is understandable because they’re Browns fans and this could have been the Browns Browning.
Well, the Browns, moving down three slots, gave up a shot to draft linebacker Sonny Styles of Ohio State to the Washington Commanders, receiver Jordyn Tyson to the New Orleans Saints and then the Browns got their chance with the newly acquired No. 9 pick:
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Offensive tackle Spencer Fano of Utah.
Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Ind., on Feb. 24, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
Fano is good. And he makes the Browns offensive line instantly better because he’s going to likely start at left tackle for them.
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So what will Browns fans think of this pick?
They’ll probably wonder why the Browns didn’t pick Miami’s Francis Mauigoa, who went with the No. 10 pick to the New York Giants and promised “to die for” Jaxson Dart if necessary. They’ll wonder this because Browns fans expect the worst.
UCLA women’s basketball team has added some star power as its revamped roster begins to take shape.
Former Iowa State forward Addy Brown announced Thursday she is committing to UCLA, giving the Bruins one of the top players in the portal.
Brown averaged 11.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 43.1% from the floor and 33.8% from three-point distance with the Cyclones last season. She played just 21 games due to injury, but she is one of the better two-way players in the nation on the transfer market.
The 6-foot-2 forward co-starred with Audi Crooks for Iowa State the past few seasons and was a part of the mass exodus from the Cyclones’ program.
The Bruins reeled in former North Carolina junior guard Elina Aarnisalo and former Texas Christian senior guard Donovyn Hunter a few weeks ago, adding two more experienced players to the depleted starting lineup after a record six UCLA players were selected in the WNBA draft.
UCLA also signed Arkansas sophomore guard Bonnie Deas earlier this month. She is likely to start at point guard for the Bruins and is one of the best rebounding guards in the nation.
Along with returner Timea Gardiner, the Bruins are starting to form somewhat of a core to defend their national championship. Gardiner was a starter during UCLA’s 2024-25 Final Four run, but missed all of this past season with injury and has one season of eligibility left.
A lineup with Deas and Aarnisalo in the backcourt, Hunter at the three and Gardiner or Brown at the four and adding another big or Sienna Betts at the five would be a competitive lineup in the Big Ten.
Before going to TCU, Hunter played two seasons at Oregon State where she earned All-Pac-12 Defensive Team honorable mention and All-Pac-12 Freshman team honors. This past season with a Horned Frogs team that went to the Sweet 16, she was third in scoring with 10.2 points per game and averaged 3.2 rebounds per contest. She also shot 45.7% from the field and was 33.7% from beyond the arc.
Aarnisalo played her freshman year in Westwood after she originally committed to UCLA in 2025. Due to injuries from point guard Kiki Rice at the start of the 2024-25 season, she was forced into action early her freshman season and finished the year averaging 5.1 points per game.
The Helsinki, Finland, native averaged 10.2 points per game for the Tar Heels as a sophomore last season while shooting 47.3% from the field and 40.3% from the arc. The Bruins will desperately need to replace the three-point production lost with the departure of Rice, Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker.
UCLA coach Cori Close said she wanted to sign five players from the portal. She probably needs one more guard and a little more forward depth coming off the bench following the departures of Gabriela Jaquez and Angela Dugalic.
Lena Bilic and Amanda Muse are returners coming off the bench who got a little bit of playing time in the tournament and should have much larger roles, but they are still relatively unproven in late-game situations. They will get a chance to develop as backups with some more Power Four experienced starters now in the fold.
Trump says there’s ‘no time frame’ to secure Iran deal
Republican Minnesota Senate candidate Tom Weiler joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s blockade in the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S.-Iranian conflict continues and react to Gov. Tim Walz’s, D-Minn., criticism of the president.
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Saudi Arabia was among the countries seeing missiles fly into their airspace as a conflict broke out in the Middle East between the U.S. and Iran.
The prospect of Iran targeting its Middle Eastern neighbors like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates put some sporting events on hold and questioned others. Formula 1 races in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain were canceled and rumors swirled around whether future WWE events could be held in the kingdom.
Roman Reigns celebrates his win during WWE’s Royal Rumble at Riyadh Season Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Jan. 31, 2026. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
As the Trump administration brokered a ceasefire with Iran, WWE announced on Thursday that its Night of Champions premium live event will be held in Riyadh on June 27.
“We are proud to welcome Night of Champions back to Riyadh and look forward to delivering another unforgettable night of WWE action for fans in the Kingdom and around the world,” General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Al-Sheikh said in a news release.
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Sami Zayn makes his entrance during Night of Champions at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 28, 2025. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
The release touted that WrestleMania 43 will still be held in Riyadh in 2027. It will be the first time that WrestleMania is held outside the U.S.
WWE president Nick Khan was adamant before WrestleMania 42 that the event will still take place in Saudi Arabia despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“We’re doing WrestleMania next year in Saudi,” he said at a Sports Business Journal event, via The Sporting Tribune. “First time ever, WrestleMania will be outside the United States or Canada. And we’ve had a big, fruitful partnership with them.”
John Cena wrestles CM Punk during Night of Champions at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 28, 2025. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
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He added that those complaining about WrestleMania being held in Saudi Arabia were a “vocal minority.”
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