Sports
Yoshinobu Yamamoto outduels Jacob deGrom, makes statement in Dodgers' win over Rangers
ARLINGTON, Texas — One of the starting pitchers Friday night has won two Cy Young Awards.
The other is making an early case to win one of his own.
For years, Jacob deGrom has (when healthy) been the gold standard of major league pitching. He has a career ERA of 2.54. He is a four-time All-Star and two-time strikeout king. In 2018 and 2019, he won back-to-back Cy Young honors.
However, in the Dodgers’ 3-0 win over deGrom’s Texas Rangers, it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto who was the best pitcher.
Although deGrom gave up just one run over seven strong innings, Yamamoto spun seven scoreless innings at Globe Life Field. Where deGrom struck out seven and walked one, Yamamoto had 10 strikeouts and no free passes.
It helped the Dodgers (15-6) win the series-opening matchup between the last two World Series champions; a victory also aided by two late insurance runs and two web gems from Max Muncy to escape a ninth-inning jam.
It also further cemented one of the most promising early storylines for this year’s team — affirming Yamamoto, in just his second MLB season, as a legitimate frontline talent seemingly poised for a Cy Young chase.
“He elevated his game to another level,” manager Dave Roberts said. “You could see that he was going against one of the game’s best in deGrom, and he obviously matched him pitch for pitch.”
Friday presented a new challenge for Yamamoto, who entered with a 1.23 ERA in his first four starts. His fastball didn’t have its typical life, sitting a tick lower than normal at 95 mph. His splitter, while still wicked, was a little wilder than usual early on.
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So, the 26-year-old Japanese star dug deeper into his bag of tricks. What he came up with, the Rangers (12-8) were helpless to attack.
“He used his entire repertoire tonight,” Roberts said. “He’s just got so much conviction with every pitch.”
That included his curveball, one of the few areas of weakness in Yamamoto’s otherwise sterling start to the season. Last year, Roberts called the pitch one of the best he’s ever seen from a right-hander. But this season, opponents entered the night batting .429 against it. Yamamoto hadn’t registered a strikeout with it once.
Friday was a different story. Yamamoto snapped off a flurry of big-bending curves, generating four whiffs on 11 swings. It accounted for two of his strikeouts, including one to Joc Pederson that stranded runners at second and third in the third. And of the seven that Texas put in play, only two fell for hits.
“If you look at it in totality, his stuff tonight,” Roberts said, “I thought this was his best outing.”
It was the same story with Yamamoto’s rarely used slider, which he gradually mixed in the second and third time through the lineup to give Rangers hitters a different, more unpredictable look.
He fanned Jake Burger with one to end the fourth, stranding yet another runner at second. He used it again on his 102nd and final pitch, recording a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double-play to complete seven innings for only the third time in his MLB career.
“He just has so many ways to get ahead of hitters,” teammate Tommy Edman said. “He can dump in a curveball. He can dot a fastball away. He just has so many ways to get back into the count. Then once he’s up in the count, he’s got a lot of pitches to put them away. He has something for every situation. And he’s been executing all of them.”
Yamamoto’s splitter was also still effective. He threw it 31 times (more than any other offering) while generating seven whiffs on 17 swings (four of them for strikeouts).
More importantly, Yamamoto felt he got ahead in the count more often than he had in his previous outings, mixing in a dose of sinkers and cutters to keep the Rangers constantly off-balance.
“I feel like my pitch mix is working better and better,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “Pitch sequence-wise, I’m pretty much leaving it up to our pitching coaches and catchers. But this year, I’ve been able to control every single one of my pitches.”
It all served as a reminder that Yamamoto — whose 0.93 ERA is the best in the National League — is continuing to evolve into a fully finished product. That, after brief flashes of brilliance last season, he is starting to put all the pieces together for a breakout sophomore big-league campaign.
“I do think that right now, he’s the best pitcher in the National League,” Roberts said, offering only Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes as a potential exception.
“He’s been a man on a mission. He’s been unstoppable,” Edman echoed. “I can’t really imagine anyone being any better than him right now.”
The 36-year-old deGrom, who also remains in that conversation even on the backside of his career, was almost as good in Friday’s pitcher’s duel. He yielded just three hits, touched 99 mph with his premier fastball, and retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.
But in the first inning, he threw an elevated heater to Edman (who was filling in as the leadoff hitter in Ohtani’s absence) that the utilityman whacked for his NL-leading seventh home run.
It proved to be deGrom’s only real mistake.
The way Yamamoto was dominating, it was one too many.
“I think there’s a sense of pride,” Roberts said when asked what it meant for Yamamoto to outduel deGrom, one of the big-league stars Yamamoto most looked up to early in his career in Japan.
“You look at who you’re opposing,” Roberts added. “He’s one of the game’s best. I know Yoshi’s followed him for years, Cy Young winner. You want to kind of go toe to toe with him on the road. And he did that.”
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Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Dominiq Ponder died this weekend, the team’s head coach Deion Sanders confirmed on Sunday with a social media post.
“God please comfort the Ponder family, friends and loved ones,” Sanders wrote on social media. “Dom was one of my favorites! He was Loved, Respected & a Born Leader. Let’s pray for all that knew him & had the opportunity to be in his presence. Lord you’re receiving a good 1. Comfort us Lord Comfort us.”
Ponder was 23 years old.
Details of Ponder’s death are not yet known.
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his team warm up before an NCAA college football game against TCU Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo)
Ponder, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound signal caller, joined the Buffaloes and “Coach Prime’s” program in 2024 after spending time at Bethune-Cookman before making his way to Boulder.
Last season, Ponder played just two games for the Buffaloes while serving in his backup role. He recorded two rush attempts and one pass attempt.
The Opa Locka, Fla., native also received tribute from a fellow quarterback with the Buffaloes, Colton Allen.
Bethune-Cookman QB Dominiq Ponder takes a snap during the Wildcats’ spring game Saturday, April 22, 2023, at Daytona Stadium. (IMAGN)
“Dom, you were a blessing to so many people,” Allen wrote on Instagram. “You had a presence about you that just made everything better. You brought so much joy to me and everyone around you. I’m grateful for every lift, every practice, every rep, every conversation we got to share. I’ll carry those with me for the rest of my life.”
Ponder was going to be a part of Colorado’s spring practices, which are set to begin on Monday. It’s unknown if Sanders will postpone the start due to Ponder’s passing.
Ponder also received a tribute from the University of Central Florida.
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his players warm up before an NCAA college football game against Utah, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (Tyler Tate/AP Photo)
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“Our prayers are with Dominiq and the Ponder family along with all in the Colorado football program,” the university’s football account on X wrote.
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Sunday was “Senior Night” for the USC women’s basketball team at Galen Center, but it was the other team’s seniors who stole the show.
Gabriela Jaquez scored 14 points, Kiki Rice had 11 points and four assists and Lauren Betts had 15 rebounds and five assists as UCLA wrapped up the regular season with a 73-50 victory over its rival and finished undefeated in conference play for the first time since going 18-0 in the Pac-10 in 1998-99 under Kathy Olivier.
Having already clinched the regular-season title, UCLA became the first team to navigate the Big Ten schedule without a loss since Maryland in 2014-15.
“These are two elite programs, we knew it would be different tonight, we knew they’d come with fire,” said UCLA coach Cori Close, who improved to 9-4 against the Trojans since counterpart Lindsay Gottlieb started at USC in 2021. “We knew we’d have to do it with our defense, our rebounding and by taking care of the ball.”
It was the Bruins’ 22nd consecutive win, one shy of the record they set last season. Since their lone loss to then-No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, they have won by 20 or more points 17 times.
Ranked second in the nation in both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls behind defending national champion Connecticut (30-0), the Bruins earned the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament in Indianapolis and got a bye into Friday’s quarterfinals.
Charlisse Leger-Walker, nicknamed “X-ray vision” by teammates, equaled her season high with 20 points for the Bruins (28-1, 18-0) while Gianna Kneepkens added 14 points and five assists.
“Anytime we play together we know we can win,” Leger-Walker said. “We did a good job looking into the scout. Every game we just think about going 1-0. People scouting us know that all five players on the court can score the ball.”
UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, controls the ball in front of USC forward Vivian Iwuchukwu during the first half Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
UCLA held USC to 27% shooting in the teams’ first meeting — a 34-point Bruins victory at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 3 behind Betts’ 18 points. It was USC’s most lopsided loss under coach Lindsay Gottlieb. On Sunday, USC shot 39% and was only three for 19 from three-point range.
“Going undefeated [in conference] is a great step in the right direction towards what we want to accomplish,” said Jaquez, who appreciated the flowers she received before the game from USC. “I love this rivalry. It’s super fun to play against them and it was nice that they honored us too.”
UCLA jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes and carried a 19-11 advantage into the second quarter. The Bruins widened the gap to 18 points by halftime, holding the Trojans scoreless for the last 3:08.
USC (17-12, 9-9) opened the second half on an 11-2 run but gave up 14 second-chance points and allowed 22 offensive rebounds.
UCLA guard Kiki Rice, front, and forward Angela Dugalic celebrate as USC guard Kennedy Smith walks away during the first half Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
“If we get more possessions than our opponent we’re most likely going to win,” Close said. “We didn’t allow one basket on an out-of-bounds play and they lead the conference in that.”
Freshman guard Jazzy Davidson, USC’s leading scorer, got into early foul trouble but still finished with 12 points. She was held to 10 points on four-for-15 shooting in the first meeting.
“It was a great crowd, we were in the fight but we didn’t rebound or shoot well enough,” Gottlieb said. “We wanted to keep them out of our paint. We swarmed Betts, double-teamed her and got it out of her hands but other people scored.”
Londynn Jones, who spent three seasons in Westwood (playing in 108 straight games) before transferring to USC for her senior year, was held to six points in the team’s first meeting and nine points (on four-of-10 shooting) in the rematch. The Trojans’ other senior, Kara Dunn, was held scoreless in the first half and finished with eight points.
“I love Londynn,” Close said. “We think she looks better in blue, but we love her and I told her that. I appreciate all she gave to our programs.”
Asked if this is the best team she has ever coached, Close had a one-word answer.
“Yes.”
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Israel’s national gymnastics team has suspended all training and team activities amid the recent Iranian counter-attack on the country following the U.S.-assisted strikes on Iran.
The Israel Gymnastics Federation (IGF) provided a statement to Fox News Digital announcing the violence has caused “unavoidable disruptions.”
“The current security situation in our region has resulted in unavoidable disruptions to our regular training schedule and has created significant uncertainty regarding the national teams’ professional plans, particularly as we are at the outset of the international season,” the statement read.
“At this time, all training activities have been temporarily suspended, pending approval from the relevant authorities to safely resume operations. Naturally, the suspension of training and the closure of airspace are causing considerable stress and concern. However, the safety and well-being of our gymnasts and professional staff remain our highest priority. We sincerely hope for safer and calmer days ahead, when we can focus solely on sport.”
A source within the team told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the gymnasts have been moving between bomb shelters since Iran’s counterstrikes began.
Israel’s gymnastics team is considered one of nation’s strongest Olympic programs alongside its Judo and sailing teams. The team is only a week removed from a successful trip at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Germany, where the country’s star Artem Dolgopyat won the gold medal in floor gymnastics.
Now, the team will have to seek safety until the attacks are over.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has directed all U.S. government employees and their family members to continue to shelter in place either in or near their residences as Iran continues to fire missiles at Israel.
Additionally, the embassy announced that due to the security situation, it would be closed on March 2, and did not give an estimate on when it would be reopening. The closure includes consular sections in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The embassy also said it is “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.” It noted that Ben Gurion Airport remains closed and there there are neither commercial nor charter flights operating from the airport.
On Friday, ahead of the launch of Operation Epic Fury, the embassy gave all non-essential workers permission to leave Israel, with reports that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged those looking to leave to do so as soon as possible.
Iranian airstrikes killed at least eight Israelis on Sunday as Tehran’s latest missile barrage landed just miles from Jerusalem.
The strikes landed in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. Initial reports said four people were killed when missiles landed in a residential area on Sunday, but that death toll rose to eight, according to Israel’s national emergency service.
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Iran’s military has carried out counterattacks against Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East after a joint U.S.-Israeli strike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
The strikes also killed several other top Iranian leaders, including the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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