Sports
Bullpen comes to the rescue as Dodgers open trip with win over Nationals
After weeks of worrisome late-game blunders, there finally was redemption for the Dodgers bullpen Tuesday night.
On a night their starting pitcher failed to complete five innings, and their lineup managed only one run before the final couple of frames, it was five other numbers that keyed a 4-1 Dodgers win over Washington at Nationals Park.
0. 0. 0. 0. 0.
As in, the five goose eggs the Dodgers’ once-struggling bullpen put on the scoreboard.
“The bullpen,” manager Dave Roberts said, “was really good tonight.”
Entering the night, the unit had been anything but lately, emerging as one of the biggest concerns during the Dodgers’ underwhelming 13-11 start to the season.
The group was without injured right-handers Brusdar Graterol and Blake Treinen (the latter will begin a rehab assignment this week). It had compiled a 4.35 ERA through the opening month, the 10th-worst mark in the majors. And it had been a common culprit during a 3-6 homestand last week.
But Tuesday against the rebuilding Nationals, relievers Michael Grove, Alex Vesia, Daniel Hudson and Evan Phillips helped the Dodgers overcome an early offensive lull, then hang on to a narrow lead late, combining for 4-1/3 scoreless innings in a victorious start to a nine-game trip.
“We’re always gonna be ready to go down there,” Phillips said.
While starter James Paxton surrendered just one run in his fourth start, the veteran left-hander again struggled with his command. He walked three batters (he has 17 this season) and struck out just one, forcing Roberts to replace him with one out in the fifth after 89 laborious pitches.
On the other side of the plate, the Dodgers’ lineup was kept silent by the Nationals’ own left-handed veteran, Patrick Corbin.
Last year Corbin’s 5.20 ERA was third worst in the majors among qualified starters. This season his 8.06 mark entering Tuesday ranked dead last, after he gave up five runs in 6⅓ innings at Dodger Stadium last week.
In his rematch against the Dodgers, though, the 34-year-old looked like his former All-Star self. He spun 5⅓ shutout innings. He walked three batters but gave up just three hits while collecting three strikeouts.
It was only once Corbin left the game that the Dodgers finally found life. Later in the sixth, they manufactured a two-out rally that culminated with Kiké Hernández’s tying single. In the eighth, James Outman put the Dodgers in front with an RBI double and Miguel Rojas singled him home. Then, in the ninth, Shohei Ohtani supplied an exclamation point with his sixth home run, clobbering a 450-foot, second-deck blast that exploded off his bat at 118.7 mph.
“It looks like a cruise missile,” Outman said. “That was absurd.”
Underpinning the entire performance was the bullpen.
Grove stranded the two runners he inherited from Paxton in the fifth, then got two outs — with a walk in between — in the sixth.
Vesia took over from there, stranding Grove’s runner with a deep flyout before returning to the mound for a scoreless seventh.
And once the Dodgers took the lead in the eighth — a rally that started with a single and steal from Teoscar Hernández — Roberts’ late-game decisions were easy.
Hudson, the former Nationals closer who has returned from two injury-plagued seasons to become the Dodgers’ set-up man, worked around a two-out walk in the eighth to lower his ERA to 2.45.
Phillips had a more adventurous appearance in the ninth, loading the bases on three walks and a single — the Nationals ran into one out on the bases — before ultimately surviving with his sixth save and a sub-1.00 ERA.
“Fortunately,” a relieved Phillips said, “I was able to finish it out today.”
Indeed, and as he and the Dodgers celebrated in the handshake line, it was the bullpen at last that deserved the credit — and not the blame — in a close, low-scoring contest that wasn’t decided until the final innings.
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The Indiana Pacers’ risky move backfired after the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery saw them lose their top pick altogether in a disastrous turn of events on Sunday afternoon.
Heading into the lottery, the Pacers, who went 19-63 just one season after reaching the NBA Finals out of the Eastern Conference, had a 52.1% chance of having a top-four pick.
However, when they didn’t see their team chosen in the first four picks – Indiana also had a 14% chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick – it was time to panic.
Indiana Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard speaks during a press conference to announce center Miles Turner’s contract extension at Gainsbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., on Jan. 30, 2023. (Marc Lebryk/USA TODAY Sports)
The reason? The Pacers included their first-round pick in a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers for Ivica Zubac, but they only made it a top-four protected pick. That means, if the Pacers were chosen in the lottery as a top-four selection, they would be able to keep it.
But the Pacers were chosen as the No. 5 pick, and the Clippers now own the selection in next month’s draft.
NBA LOTTERY CHAOS: WASHINGTON WIZARDS STRIKE GOLD, PACERS PAY FOR TANKING GAMBLE NIGHTMARE
As a result, Pacers team president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard took full responsibility for the move, apologizing on social media.
“I’m really sorry to all our fans,” he wrote on X. “I own taking this risk. Surprised it came up 5th after this year. I thought we were due some luck. But please remember – this team deserved a starting center to compete with the best teams next year. We have always been resilient.”
Signage is displayed during the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois, on May 10, 2026. (Melissa Tamez/NBAE/Getty Images)
The Pacers were viewed as a team that were actively tanking despite the NBA’s attempt to crack down on such a season, with the lottery being one way of that. And it clearly worked this time around.
Pritchard was trying to be transparent and honest with the Pacers fan base, but people were quick to jump in the comments to make their thoughts, and gripes, known.
“You lose Myles Turner and add Zubac,” one X user began. “You lose [Benedict] Mathurin and the number 5 pick with absolutely nothing in return. This is why fans are upset, for a center who not even a top 5 center in the NBA. Who trades their future away for Ivan [sic] Zubac???”
Another X user called this a “generational draft,” and couldn’t fathom the Pacers won’t be picking from a deep class.
“If I were a Pacers fan and my team traded away a top 5 pick for Ivica Zubac in the middle of a tanking season I would be beyond devastated,” a fellow X user wrote.
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton shoots around on the court before an NBA game against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Indianapolis on April 7, 2026. (Doug McSchooler/AP)
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The Pacers were without their All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton all season long after he suffered an Achilles injury during the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But Indiana still has key members of that team returning next season, including Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, and Aaron Nesmith.
However, this 2026 draft class is quite the spectacle, with many believing it to be deep considering the talent of BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, UNC’s Caleb Wilson, and Duke’s Cam Boozer, among others.
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Before the Sparks opening day loss to the Las Vegas Aces, coach Lynne Roberts said that this year “felt different.”
After one game, though, it feels a lot like the same.
During their season opener, the Sparks couldn’t get momentum against the defending champion Aces and fell 105-78 behind a remarkably efficient shooting day from the visitors at Crypto.com Arena.
After posting the worst defense in the WNBA last season (88.2 points per game), the Sparks made a flurry of offseason moves prioritizing stopping opponents. It’s why they brought in Nneka Ogwumike, Ariel Atkins and Erica Wheeler.
But the Aces shot 63% from the floor and the Sparks had few answers.
“Today was on us,” Ogwumike said. “Defense is not something that gels. You either want to do it or you don’t.”
Reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson led the Aces with 19 points, Jackie Young had 20 points and nine assists and Chennedy Carter added 22 points in her first WNBA game since 2024.
The Aces, who were coming off a 33-point blowout opening day loss to Phoenix on Saturday, scored 33 of their points in the third quarter and that’s when the wheels fell off for the Sparks. Las Vegas shot 73.7% during the quarter.
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts reacts during a 105-78 loss to the Las Vegas Aces at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.
(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)
“I think that was probably one of my worst one-on-one defending nights,” Ogwumike said. “But defense is definitely not something that you guys should be sitting here watching and hoping we get it down by the end of the month. You should see it on Wednesday.”
Kelsey Plum scored 11 of her 27 points in the fourth quarter, but by then the Aces had opened a 20-plus point lead.
The Sparks narrowed the deficit to one by halftime following an Ogwumike (19 points, 10 rebounds) three-pointer and backhand layup late in the second. But mostly, the Sparks’ defense activated, forcing 10 Las Vegas turnovers, led by two steals apiece from Atkins and Wheeler to fuel the comeback.
That energy was gone by the third quarter after the Aces started doubling Ogwumike, and aside from Plum, the Sparks’ offense had no answers.
“They punched us in the face,” Plum said. “We didn’t respond. And obviously, they’re a great team, right? When someone is shooting 63% it’s going to be hard to win that game. … I’m disappointed in our effort.”
Of the Sparks’ 19 turnovers, 10 came in the second half. The Aces scored 26 points off those giveaways, which made things even more difficult on the defense.
“Turnovers are, you’re just leading the other team to a fast break,” Roberts said. “And so we were giving them the turnovers, then there are two individual players who are expected to get a defensive stop after the turnover.”
They also need more from reserve center Cameron Brink (0 points, 0-for-0 shooting, three rebounds, three fouls in eight minutes) and Wheeler (two points, 1-for-11 in 20 minutes) going forward. Once Brink got in foul trouble, the Aces could continue blitzing Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby (12 points, five rebounds) without worry.
“We need Cam to produce,” Roberts said. “We need Cam to bring that defensive energy. We have so much confidence and belief in her. She’s got to get out on the floor with some confidence and do what she’s capable of doing, but we’re going to need her.”
If the Sparks have turned a corner from last season, they will need to find consistency on the defensive end of the floor. It won’t get easier with Caitlin Clark and Indiana (0-1) coming to town on Wednesday.
But the reason the Sparks built the roster that they did was to stop opponents after falling short of the postseason with the league’s third-best scoring team in the league.
“The good thing about this league is that we play in a day or two,” Plum said. “So, we’ll fix things.”
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Last August, when the NASCAR Cup Series went to the road course at Watkins Glen, Shane van Gisbergen captured the checkered flag.
Now SVG finds himself at the top of the oddsboard to win again when the series goes Bowling at The Glen on Sunday, May 10 (3 p.m. ET, FS1).
Let’s take a look at where the rest of the field sits as of May 10 at DraftKings Sportsbook.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at the Glen 2026
Shane van Gisbergen: -135 (bet $10 to win $17.41 total)
Connor Zilisch: +360 (bet $10 to win $46 total)
Christopher Bell: +900 (bet $10 to win $100 total)
Tyler Reddick: +1200 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
Ty Gibbs: +1400 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Chris Buescher: +1800 (bet $10 to win $190 total)
Michael McDowell: +2000 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Austin Cindric: +2200 (bet $10 to win $230 total)
Ross Chastain: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total)
Chase Elliott: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total)
Carson Hocevar: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Ryan Blaney: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Chase Briscoe: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)
William Byron: +4000 (bet $10 to win $410 total)
Kyle Larson: +4500 (bet $10 to win $460 total)
AJ Allmendinger: +5000 (bet $10 to win $510 total)
Joey Logano: +5500 (bet $10 to win $560 total)
Kyle Busch: +7500 (bet $10 to win $760 total)
Denny Hamlin: +8000 (bet $10 to win $810 total)
Alex Bowman: +9000 (bet $10 to win $910 total)
Daniel Suarez: +9000 (bet $10 to win $910 total)
Brad Keselowski: +10000 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Bubba Wallace: +13000 (bet $10 to win $1,310 total)
Ryan Preece: +30000 (bet $10 to win $3,010 total)
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: +35000 (bet $10 to win $3,510 total)
Riley Herbst: +40000 (bet $10 to win $4,010 total)
Austin Dillon: +60000 (bet $10 to win $6,010 total)
Zane Smith: +60000 (bet $10 to win $6,010 total)
John Hunter Nemechek: +60000 (bet $10 to win $6,010 total)
Erik Jones: +60000 (bet $10 to win $6,010 total)
Todd Gilliland: +70000 (bet $10 to win $7,010 total)
Josh Berry: +70000 (bet $10 to win $7,010 total)
Noah Gragson: +80000 (bet $10 to win $8,010 total)
Cole Custer: +80000 (bet $10 to win $8,010 total)
Ty Dillon: +90000 (bet $10 to win $9,010 total)
Katherine Legge: +100000 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Josh Bilicki: +100000 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Cody Ware: +100000 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
The Favorite: Last year at Watkins Glen, Shane van Gisbergen finished eighth in Stage 1, 22nd in Stage 2 and led 38 laps on the day before getting into Victory Lane. And as it stands currently, SVG could use a win; the driver of the No. 97 car hasn’t won yet in 2026. He’s also 19th in the standings. However, he has two top 10s this year and one top-five finish. Bettors also might want to note that van Gisbergen won five of the six NASCAR road courses in 2025 and finished second at COTA earlier this year.
One to Watch: Another driver fans might want to keep their eyes on is Ryan Blaney. At The Glen in 2025, Blaney won the pole, finished seventh in Stage 1, won Stage 2 and finished the race sixth overall after leading 35 laps. On No. 12’s resume so far this year are seven top 10s, three top-five finishes and one win. He’s currently fourth in the standings.
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