Natasha Cloud scored a career-high 31 points as the Phoenix Mercury overcame the absence of Diana Taurasi to defeat the Sparks 84-78 after a tense fourth-quarter duel Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.

Despite a career-high 22 points from Sparks rookie Rickea Jackson, Phoenix broke a 78-78 tie when Cloud scored with 35 seconds left in the game.

Dearica Hamby led the Sparks with 25 points and nine rebounds and Jackson had six rebounds and three assists. Cloud had nine rebounds and five assists and Mercury teammate Kahleah Copper had 25 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 11 for 13 from the free-throw line.

The Sparks continued to struggle from three-point range, shooting five for 24 while scoring 29 of 75 from the field. Phoenix shot 27 for 59 from the field and 23 for 28 from the free-throw line.

Though the Sparks kept pace early on, they struggled to contain Cloud, who hit a trio of three-pointers and scored 13 points to help Phoenix take a 25-15 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Azurá Stevens, making her Sparks season debut after undergoing surgery on her left arm in March, scored her first points on a steal early in the second quarter. She finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. Guard Crystal Dangerfield also made her Sparks debut after signing a seven-day hardship contract Thursday.

After being named to the Australian national team Thursday, Stephanie Talbot, who has been playing significant minutes with an injured right foot, left the game in the first quarter and did not return.

The Sparks clawed back late in the second quarter, going on a 7-0 run to trail 42-39 at halftime. Jackson scored seven points in the second quarter and Hamby had 12 points and seven rebounds at the break.

While Hamby helped the Sparks make it a one-point game early in the third quarter, foul trouble hampered the Sparks’ efforts. However, the Sparks tied the game 56-56 on a pair of Rae Burrell free throws with 2:13 left in the third. Jackson finished with 10 points in the quarter and made it a two-point game after scoring with 1.1 seconds left.

Midway into the fourth quarter, Hamby made a three-pointer to give the Sparks a 70-67 lead — their first lead since the first quarter. Both teams traded points down the stretch before the Mercury pulled ahead in the final minute.

The Sparks complete their homestand Tuesday against the Minnesota Lynx at Crypto.com Arena.

Jessica Springsteen, the equestrian daughter of legendary rock star Bruce Springsteen, is not going to be representing the United States again in this year’s Olympics despite doing so in Tokyo in 2021. 

USA Equestrian revealed its jumping team for the Paris Olympics on Saturday afternoon, and Springsteen wasn’t on it. 

Instead, veteran riders Kent Farrington, Laura Kraut and McLain Ward were in the three spots, with Karl Cook named as the team’s alternate. 

Springsteen, 32, was with Kraut and Ward at the Toyko Olympics, helping them collect a silver medal to mark the fourth medal in the past five Olympics for the Americans in the event. Springsteen was riding her 12-year-old stallion named Don Juan van de Donkhoeve. 

She was tracking to make the team this year, being named one of 10 on the U.S. Jumping Team’s short list for the Olympics in April. U.S. Equestrian said in a press release at the time that those 10 athletes would be “chosen for continued observation.”

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However, Springsteen’s status in rankings didn’t match up with where she was three years ago. 

According to the International Federation of Equestrian Sports’ official website, Springsteen is ranked 127th in the world after being 14th in 2021. 

Jessica Springsteen rides in the Douglas Elliman Grand Prix Qualifier at the Hampton Classic Horse Show on Sept. 1, 2023, in Bridgehampton, New York. (Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images)

Farrington (6th), Ward, (15th), Kraut (35th) and Cook (23rd) are all much higher in the rankings than Springsteen. 

Springsteen expressed the desire to keep competing with hopes of reaching the Olympics during an interview in May with Harper’s Bazaar.

“Tokyo 2020 was such an incredible experience, but because of that year and all the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, you know, you couldn’t have your family and your friends there,” Springsteen explained. “So I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I would love to go to another Olympics and be able to share that with my family, who’ve been so supportive of my career for so many years.’”

Jessica Springsteen rides Naomi van het Keizershof during the CSI5* – International Competition N5 presented by Crivelli – Verona Jumping at 125th Fieracavalli on Nov. 11, 2023, Verona, Italy. (Roberto Tommasini/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Her father actually had a two-week block in his touring schedule set aside during the Olympics. And though that’s not officially the reason behind the tour break, one would think it worked perfectly for Springsteen to see his daughter if she made the team. 

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The eighth-inning home runs that propelled the Dodgers to a 5-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in front of a crowd of 50,086 in Chavez Ravine on Saturday were as different as the men who hit them.

The first, by Miguel Vargas, a 24-year-old reserve outfielder from Cuba who is making the major league-minimum $740,000, was a towering 368-foot drive that landed on top of the left-field wall, just out of the reach of Milwaukee outfielder Christian Yelich. The pinch-hit shot to lead off the bottom of the eighth snapped a 3-3 tie.

“He put a good swing on a [fastball] that was really inside and kept it fair,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But I didn’t know if it had enough steam to get out.”

The second, by Shohei Ohtani, a 30-year-old slugger from Japan who signed a 10-year, $700-million deal in December, had the steam of a geyser, the one-out laser leaving Ohtani’s bat at 110 mph and traveling 430 feet to right-center to give the Dodgers a 5-3 lead and Ohtani a National League-leading 28 homers.

“I was certain of that one, yeah,” Roberts said. “That was a no-doubter for me.”

A long ball by Vargas and an even longer ball by Ohtani took Roberts off the hook for a strategic decision that backfired in the top of the eighth.

The Dodgers held a 3-2 lead after right-handers Daniel Hudson (sixth) and Blake Treinen (seventh) threw scoreless innings in relief of starter James Paxton, and Roberts turned to closer Evan Phillips to face the heart of the Brewers order — William Contreras, Yelich and Willy Adames — in the eighth.

Roberts had used the strategy successfully this season, most recently in a June 24 game at Chicago, when Phillips threw a scoreless eighth inning against the White Sox to protect a 2-0 lead and left-hander Alex Vesia closed the ninth inning of a 3-0 win.

Phillips struck out Contreras to open the eighth on Saturday, but he hung a 2-and-2 sweeper to the left-handed-hitting Yelich, who lined a 429-foot homer to center field to tie the score 3-3. Vesia threw a one-two-three ninth for his fifth save.

“It was a right-left thing,” Roberts said. “I feel confident with Alex against either, but I liked getting the right-hander on Contreras and Adames. [Phillips] left a sweeper middle-middle. If I had to do it over again, I’d do the same thing.”

The score was not knotted for long thanks to Vargas, who is making a push for more playing time with his productive bat, and Ohtani, who broke out of a seven-game slump with two walks, a triple and a home run.

Vargas has started only 12 games since he was recalled from triple-A in mid-May but is batting .349 (15 for 43) with a 1.059 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, three homers, four doubles and nine RBIs in 18 games.

“I’ve been patient, working on myself, trying to get this type of opportunity, and I’m grateful to have it and be successful,” Vargas said. “A hundred percent, it’s a hard job to do, but this is a team sport … I have to be ready when the moments come.”

Jason Heyward’s knee injury will open more playing time in left field for Vargas, who also began taking ground balls at third base, a position the Dodgers have struggled to fill since Max Muncy went down with an oblique strain on May 15.

Vargas struggled defensively at second base and hit .195 with a .672 OPS, seven homers and 32 RBIs in 81 games last season before being sent down at the All-Star break.

“He’s gaining more confidence each day and earning more opportunities,” Roberts said. “He had success at triple-A, and I think this second time around, he’s slowed down. There’s more clarity. Everyone wants to be out there, but only nine guys can play. He’s continuing to do his work and is focusing on performing when he gets the opportunity.”

Ohtani was stuck in a seven-game skid in which he hit .207 (six for 29) with a .751 OPS, two homers, three RBIs and 15 strikeouts entering Saturday. This was on the heels of a torrid 10-game stretch in which Ohtani hit .444 (16 for 36) with a 1.757 OPS, eight homers and 17 RBIs in 10 games.

“He’s chasing down — it’s that simple,” Roberts said before the game. “He’s had stretches of two, three, four games where he does that, and then he resets and gets back in his zone.”

Ohtani walked and scored in the first inning, was hit by a pitch in the second, walked in the fourth, tripled to right-center in the sixth and homered off left-hander Bryan Hudson in the eighth.

“Hitting is very difficult, and guys are going to bring their best when they face Shohei,” Roberts said. “But I think for him, simplifying where he’s good in the strike zone, then the natural ability takes over. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Paxton was hardly dominant, giving up two runs and four hits in five innings, striking out three and walking two, relying primarily on a four-seam fastball that averaged just 92.8 mph, down from his season average of 93.3 mph.

But Paxton, who is 7-2 with a 4.24 ERA in 16 starts, did stem the bleeding of a rotation that was rocked for 30 runs in 30 innings of the previous seven games.

“I used to get up to 98 mph, but I don’t really have that in the tank right now,” said Paxton, who had Tommy John surgery in 2021. “The cutter, which was a big strikeout pitch for me, hasn’t been there.

“I came into the season thinking the velocity would come, but it hasn’t come as much as I thought it would. So I think I’m evolving as a pitcher. My stuff isn’t what it used to be, but I’m pitching differently, pitching to weak contact, trying to give us a chance to win.”

Dodgers starting pitcher James Paxton delivers during a 5-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium on Saturday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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The Brewers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Contreras walked, took second on a Yelich groundout and scored on Adames’ two-out RBI single to left field.

The Dodgers countered with three in the bottom of the first off Milwaukee ace Freddy Peralta, Ohtani leading off with a walk and Will Smith hitting his fourth homer in six plate appearances, a two-run shot that traveled 369 feet to right field.

Smith, who hit three homers and walked twice Friday night, became the first Dodger to homer in four consecutive at-bats since Adrian Gonzalez on April 7-8, 2015, and the first major leaguer to do so since Houston’s Jose Altuve on Sept. 3-5, 2023.

Freddie Freeman singled to left, took third on Teoscar Hernández’s single to center and scored on Andy Pages’ fielder’s-choice grounder for a 3-1 lead. The Brewers pulled to within 3-2 in the fourth on Rhys Hoskins solo homer to left off Paxton.

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