Dave Roberts didn’t mention Gavin Lux by name when discussing the Dodgers’ infield plans a few weeks ago.

Given the makeup of their roster, he didn’t need to.

When asked on July 3 about the potential of playing Mookie Betts at second base once Betts returns from a broken hand, Roberts was careful to make no guarantees.

“I’m gonna use as much time as possible [before making a decision],” Roberts said. “Because you have to appreciate the people that it could affect.”

No one, of course, stood to be affected as much as Lux. He had gotten all of his playing time this season at second base. And, in the event Betts returned as the everyday second baseman, he seemed most poised to be squeezed out of playing time, given his disappointing play this season in his return from knee surgery.

“There’s no sense in me talking about,” Roberts said, “to potentially get into the psyche of another player.”

Roberts might not have addressed it publicly. But in the last couple of days, Lux has looked like a player motivated to change the narrative, following up a big performance Saturday with another highlight showing Sunday that keyed the Dodgers’ 9-6 win over the Boston Red Sox.

In the first inning Sunday, Lux helped the Dodgers erase an early two-run deficit by lining an RBI double down the left-field line, collecting his third-straight extra-base hit after hitting a home run and a double in a Saturday night win.

Three innings later, Lux struck again, lifting an opposite-field home run to left that gave the Dodgers a 4-2 lead en route to their sweep-clinching victory at Dodger Stadium.

Lux finished the day three for four overall (he also stole a base) to raise his batting average to .225 (tying his high mark on the year) and OPS to .609 (the highest it has been at any point this season).

On the whole, Lux’s numbers are still underwhelming. Two years removed from his breakout 2022 campaign — when he batted .276, had an above-league-average OPS+ and led the NL with seven triples — the 26-year-old has yet to consistently become a bottom-of-the-order sparkplug again, thanks in no small part to the torn ACL he suffered last spring.

However, there have been signs his swing is trending upward.

Since crossing the 150 at-bat threshold on May 31 — the marker Roberts wanted Lux to reach before making sweeping evaluations of his game — the infielder is batting .250 with six doubles, four homers, 15 RBIs and a .700 OPS in 31 games.

His defense at second base, the position he moved back to this spring after defensive struggles at shortstop, has been superb.

And, even with Betts now just weeks away from a return, Lux’s role on the roster remains important — especially after starting shortstop Miguel Rojas exited Sunday’s game early because of forearm tightness in his right throwing arm.

Lux wasn’t alone in leading the Dodgers to a series sweep of the Red Sox.

The Dodgers hit a season-high six home runs, with Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández, Austin Barnes, Jason Heyward and Shohei Ohtani also going deep on a warm afternoon at Chavez Ravine. Ohtani’s 473-foot blast in the fifth nearly cleared the roof above the right-field pavilion, marking his National League-leading 30th homer of the year.

On the mound, James Paxton bounced back from a two-run first-inning homer by Jarren Duran to pitch into the sixth, giving up just one more run in his longest start in more than a month. Daniel Hudson, meanwhile, got the save after closer Evan Phillips gave up three runs in the ninth (he’s given up nine earned runs in his last eight outings).

And, after dropping six of seven games entering this week’s All-Star break, the Dodgers emerged from it with their first three-game winning streak since late June, pushing their lead in the NL West to eight games.

Still, Lux’s sudden offensive explosion could have the biggest ramifications on the Dodgers’ long-term outlook.

If he stays hot, he could warrant continued at-bats against right-handed pitching, with Betts perhaps playing shortstop on those days (Betts was the Dodgers’ everyday shortstop before his hand fracture).

If Rojas is forced to miss any extended time, Lux might become an everyday player himself, a distinction he hasn’t enjoyed for any prolonged stretch yet this season.

There are trade ramifications, too, with the deadline looming next Tuesday.

A struggling Lux might have prompted the Dodgers to look for more infield help. Given his diminished playing time, it’s possible Lux could have been a trade chip himself.

But the Dodgers had not yet lost faith in their former first-round draft pick. They’d been holding out hope that, at some point, he’d overcome his slow start and be an important piece in their plans to contend for a World Series.

This weekend, Lux flashed long-awaited signs that level of play is still possible.

For the first time in a long time, he looked like someone who could still be a key cog in their lineup.

Tennis star Nick Kyrgios fired shots at Hailey Welch – better known as the “Hawk Tuah” girl – on Saturday as she entered the Amalie Arena to watch the Jake Paul-Mike Perry fight.

Welch was among those in attendance as her fame skyrocketed in recent weeks thanks to a sexual reference she made in an interview. As a video showed her going to take her seat for the fight, the Australian tennis player weighed in on her fame.

“No correlation between fame and actually being decent at something anymore,” Kyrgios wrote on X.

Kyrgios has been dealing with injuries over the course of the year and may have a shot at returning to singles competition at the U.S. Open if all heals properly.

Welch has been a social media sensation since the interview. She broke her silence about her fame on Barstool Sports’ podcast “Plan Bri Uncut” with Briana LaPaglia. She dispelled some of the rumors about her, including that she was a teacher and that she was fired over her viral remarks.

RAFAEL NADAL REACHES FIRST TOURNAMENT FINAL SINCE 2022 FRENCH OPEN

In a separate video posted to her personal social media account, Welch said there would be no OnlyFans in her future.

Nick Kyrgios speaks during a press conference ahead of the Wimbledon Championships in London on July 2, 2023. (Florian Eisele/Pool/AELTC/AFP via Getty Images)

“Stop asking me about the link in bio for my OnlyFans,” she said on Instagram. “I don’t have an OnlyFans and there’ll never be an OnlyFans. I just make funny jokes, that’s all I do.”

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal reportedly gave Welch some career advice when the two met late last month.

The four-time NBA champion told Welch to keep a “smart team” around her to combat those trying to take advantage of her sudden rise to fame and ignore the hateful comments she’s received on her videos, sources told TMZ Sports.

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Xander Schauffele, who faced questions at the start of the season whether he could win a major, now has two of them with the brand of golf that hasn’t been seen in 90 years.

He won the PGA Championship at Valhalla by making a six-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 65. In a final round at Royal Troon set up for big drama — six players one shot behind, nine players separated by three shots — Schauffele made a tense Sunday look like a nice walk along the Irish Sea.

“I think winning the first one helped me a lot today on the back nine. I had some feeling of calmness come through. It was very helpful on what has been one of the hardest back nines I’ve ever played in a tournament,” Schauffele said.

“It’s a dream come true to win two majors in one year,” he said. “It took me forever just to win one, and to have two now is something else.”

He is the first player to win two majors with closing rounds of 65 in the same year. Jack Nicklaus is the only other player to do it in his career.

And he never looked more calm, oozing that California chill vibe even as the wind presented so much trouble at Royal Troon. Schauffele said he told caddie and longtime friend Austin Kaiser on the 18th tee that he felt calm.

“He said he was about to puke on the 18th tee,” said Schauffele, who starred at Long Beach State in his freshman year.

There was no need to panic, even when it took Schauffele six holes to make a birdie when everyone around him started strong. He played bogey-free in a chilly wind and pulled away with three birdies in a four-hole stretch early on the back nine to go from two shots behind to leading by as many as three.

He won by two shots over American Billy Horschel and Justin Rose, the 43-year-old from England who had to go through 36-hole qualifying just to get into the field. They were among four players who had at least a share of the lead at one point Sunday.

They just couldn’t keep up with Schauffele. No one could.

Even with so many players in contention early, the engraver was able to get to work early on those 16 letters across the base of the silver claret jug.

Given the wind, heavy air off the Firth of Clyde and punishing nature of the Ayrshire links, Schauffele’s 65 ranks among the great closing rounds in British Open history. Playing in the third-to-last group, he matched the best round of the championship with a score that was just over eight shots better than the field average.

The 30-year-old from San Diego became the first player since Jordan Spieth in 2015 to win his first two majors in the same season. And he extended American dominance on this Scottish links as the seventh Open champion in the last eight visits to Royal Troon.

Rose closed with a 67 and it was only good for second place. Horschel, who started the final round with a one-shot lead in his bid to win his first major, dropped back around the turn and birdied his last three holes for a 68 for his best finish in a major.

“He has a lot of horsepower,” Rose said of Schauffele. “He’s good with a wedge, he’s great with a putter, he hits the ball a long way, obviously his iron play is strong. So he’s got a lot of weapons out there. I think probably one of his most unappreciated ones is his mentality. He’s such a calm guy out there.

“I don’t know what he’s feeling, but he certainly makes it look very easy.”

The player Schauffele had to track down was Thriston Lawrence of South Africa, who birdied three of four holes to end the front nine with a 32.

Schauffele was two shots behind when it all changed so suddenly. Schauffele hit a wedge out of the left rough on the difficult 11th and judged it perfectly to leave it within three feet for a birdie putt. He hit another wedge to within 15 feet for birdie on the 13th, and capped his pivotal run with a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-three 14th.

Lawrence finally dropped a shot on the 12th and didn’t pick up any shots the rest of the day. He closed with a 68 and earned a small consolation — a trip to the Masters next April, his first time to Augusta National.

Scottie Scheffler, who got within one shot of the lead briefly on the front nine, lost his way with a three-putt from six feet for a double bogey on the ninth hole. Scheffler finished his round by topping a tee shot on the 18th and making another double bogey. The world’s No. 1 player closed with a 72 and tied for seventh.

He stuck around to share a hug with Schauffele, the two top players in golf. Schauffele was the only player this year to finish in the top 10 in all four majors.

Schauffele went from the heaviest major trophy at the PGA Championship to the smallest and oldest, the famed claret jug that he will keep for a year.

He finished at nine-under 275 and earned $3.1 million, pushing him over $15 million for the season.

Ferguson is a reporter for the Associated Press.