Sports
Shohei Ohtani rallies Dodgers past Tigers to snap four-game losing streak
It wasn’t exactly the blueprint the Dodgers had in mind.
An early deficit. A rookie reliever pitching late in a tied game. A couple end-of-bench bats taking key plate appearances in the ninth.
But when it mattered most Friday night, in the Dodgers’ bid to end a four-game losing streak and build some momentum going into next week’s All-Star break, they had exactly who they wanted at the plate.
In a 4-3 win over the Detroit Tigers, Shohei Ohtani delivered the decisive hit.
When Ohtani came to the plate in the ninth inning Friday, he was scuffling like much of the rest of the Dodgers’ banged-up lineup.
He was hitless on the night and just seven for 32 over his last nine games. During that time, the Dodgers offense had started to slump, managing only seven total runs during their four-game losing streak — including five in a three-game sweep to the Philadelphia Phillies this week.
However, with a thunderous swing and deep fly ball to center, Ohtani sent the Dodgers to a much-needed victory at Comerica Park, breaking the 3-3 with a go-ahead ground-rule double.
“It was just really important to win the first game of the series and finish strong as we’re wrapping up the first half and heading into the All-Star break,” Ohtani said through his interpreter afterward. “It was an important game.”
Indeed, the significance of Friday’s result was evident in the way Dave Roberts managed leading up to Ohtani’s go-ahead hit.
Early on, the Dodgers got a poor performance from starting pitcher James Paxton, who gave up three runs in fewer than four innings while walking four batters and striking out just one.
They also managed little against Tigers ace and American League Cy Young front-runner Tarik Skubal, scoring just two runs in his six-inning start to find themselves trailing 3-2 late.
Despite that, Roberts made his first unorthodox move in the bottom of the sixth, summoning closer Evan Phillips well before the ninth inning.
Roberts had his reasoning: Phillips hadn’t pitched in six days, and the manager wanted to ensure he faced a leverage situation as he knocked off some rust.
However, when Roberts turned to typical set-up man Blake Treinen in the seventh — with his team still down a run — it reflected the overall urgency with which he was treating the game.
“I was trying to shorten the game,” Roberts said, explaining that he turned to his highest-leverage relievers early in hopes it would keep his offense within striking distance for a late comeback.
“[I was] not wanting to, essentially, wave the white flag too soon,” Roberts added.
And, right on cue, his slumping offense responded.
In the eighth inning, Will Smith, Freddie Freeman (who had a home run earlier in the night off Skubal) and Teoscar Hernández strung together consecutive two-out singles to tie the score — with Hernández, in his latest clutch moment of the season, staving off an 0-and-2 count to bounce the game-tying hit the other way through the infield.
Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson delivers during the ninth inning Friday.
(Duane Burleson / Associated Press)
“We played little ball today, besides Freddie’s homer,” said Hernández, whose 61 RBIs this season trail only Ohtani for the team lead. “Fight every at-bat, every pitch, trying to get the job done.”
The game took another unexpected turn in the bottom of the eighth. With Phillips and Treinen already burned, and the team’s only other available leverage arm, Daniel Hudson, being saved for the ninth, Roberts turned the tie score over to Michael Petersen, a 30-year-old rookie making just his eighth career appearance.
The inning didn’t start well, with Petersen walking the leadoff batter and then committing a balk.
But, against the bottom half of Detroit’s order, the right-hander settled down. He struck out Jake Rogers. He got Javier Báez to fly out. Then he induced a grounder from Gio Urshela, stranding the runner at second to set up the Dodgers’ heroics in the ninth.
“I give the bullpen a ton of credit for picking up five-plus innings or whatever it was,” said Roberts, who also got four big outs from Yohan Ramírez earlier in the night. “They did a tremendous job.”
Two more unsung heroes emerged before the night was through.
With one out in the ninth, Roberts left Chris Taylor in the game for a right-on-right pitching match-up against Tigers reliever Jason Foley. The result: a ground-ball single that got the rally going.
In the next at-bat, Roberts pinch-hit James Outman for Miguel Vargas — only to change course again when the Tigers summoned a lefty, Tyler Holton, from the bullpen.
By that point, the Dodgers’ last remaining right-handed batter was backup catcher Austin Barnes, who doesn’t typically pinch-hit in case he’s later needed behind the plate.
This time, though, Roberts rolled the dice. He knew the team’s bullpen would be thin in extra innings. He sensed an opportunity to strike in the ninth.
“Essentially,” Roberts said, “you’re trying to find a way to win the game right there.”
It worked, with Barnes flaring a single to center two batters before Ohtani’s decisive drive.
Usually, Roberts steers away from managing so aggressively; an organizational concession that, for a first-place team with a large division lead, not every game needs to be treated like a must-win.
Friday’s “math,” though, was different, Roberts said.
Because they were swept by the Phillies this week. Because of the wave of recent injuries that have wreaked havoc on their roster. And because of their desire to rebound before next week’s All-Star break.
A win Friday, he said with a smile before first pitch, “would be a great remedy” to the team’s recent woes.
Once it was secured, in a more dramatic fashion than even he could’ve imagined, Roberts sat in his office postgame, smiling again.
“Across the board, we got the hits that we were hoping for,” he said with a sigh of relief. “It just comes with the fight I know we have.”
Sports
UCLA softball pummels South Carolina to advance to NCAA super regional
No. 8 UCLA stuck with right-hander Taylor Tinsley throughout the Los Angeles Regional and that faith in the senior paid off.
During the Bruins’ NCAA tournament opener at Easton Stadium, Tinsley gave up 10 runs before her teammates rallied for a walk-off win. She returned less than 24 hours to pitch against South Carolina, giving up two earned runs in a victory. Tinsley was back in the circle Sunday afternoon, yielding one run in UCLA’s 15-1 victory over the Gamecocks to advance to the super regionals.
“I am proud of Taylor’s resiliency, the ability to do whatever she can to help this team,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “She got stronger through the weekend. I am proud of that.”
Tinsley and her teammates will host Central Florida in a super regional that begins Friday.
“I feel good,” Tinsley said after pitching three key games in three days. “I could have gone more innings if needed.”
South Carolina right-hander Jori Heard gave up only one hit through two innings, keeping UCLA’s potent bats relatively quiet. The Gamecocks had runners on first and second with two outs in the second, but Tinsley escaped the inning with a pop-up to left field.
The Bruins got on the board first with a two-run home run from left fielder Rylee Slimp in the third inning. The Bruins followed it up by loading the bases with no outs in the fifth for right fielder Megan Grant.
Grant cooked up a grand slam to make it 6-0. She has 40 home runs, extending her hold on the NCAA single-season home run record. Oklahoma freshman Kendall Wells trails Grant with 37 homers.
“Its just incredible because I am blessed to be able to say the number 40,” Grant said.
South Carolina broke through on an RBI single from left fielder Quincee Lilio to cut UCLA’s lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning after being held to just one hit since the first inning. The Gamecocks couldn’t cash in the rest of the way.
The Bruins resumed scoring in the sixth inning, with the bases loaded and Grant at bat again. Fans at Easton Stadium anticipated another grand slam, holding up their cellphones hoping to catch some magic. Grant served up a two-run RBI single to expand the lead 8-1.
Jordan Woolery added to the scoring with a two-run RBI double down the left-field line, and Kaniya Bragg hit a home run to left-center field. Soo-jin Berry put a bow on the win with one more home run.
Sports
Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America
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Cristiano Argento has been tearing up opponents in the ring for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as he worked his way up the ladder to get a few shots at some gold.
But the path to get to one of the most prestigious pro wrestling companies in the U.S. was long and a path that not many wrestlers have taken.
Argento was born and raised in Osimo, Italy – a town of about 35,000 people located on the east side of the country closer to the Adriatic Sea. He told Fox News Digital he started training in a ring at a boxing gym before he got started on the independent scene in Italy. He wrestled in Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark before he came to the realization that, to become a professional wrestler, he needed to make his way to the United States.
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Cristiano Argento performs in the National Wrestling Alliance (Instagram)
He first worked his way to Canada to get trained by pro wrestling legend Lance Storm. He moved to Canada, leaving most of his friends and family behind and without a firm grasp on the English language.
“At the time, my English was horrible. I didn’t speak any English at all,” he said. “But I was with my friend, Stefano, he came with me and he translated everything for me. I probably missed 50% of the knowledge that Lance Storm was giving to us because I was unable to understand. I was only given a recap and everything I was able to see. I’m sure if I was doing it now with a proper knowledge of English, it would have been a different scenario.
“Eventually, I moved back to Italy after the training and I said, OK, now, I want to go to the U.S. So, I studied English more properly, and eventually I got my first work visa that was in Texas. I was in Houston for a short period of time. I trained with Booker T at Reality of Wrestling. I got on his show, which was my debut in the U.S. That was awesome. I eventually got a new work visa in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I currently live since 2017. Since then, my wrestling career, thankfully, kept growing, growing, growing and growing until now wrestling for the NWA. One of the bigger promotions in the U.S.”
Argento said that his family thought he was “nuts” for chasing his pro wrestling dream.
He said they were more concerned about his well-being given that he was half-way around the world without anyone he knew by his side in case something went sideways.
“My family, friends, everybody was like why do you want to move to the opposite side of the world not knowing the language, not knowing anybody, by yourself, to try to become a professional wrestler? And I was like, well, we have one life, I love, and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he told Fox News Digital. “Eventually, my family was really supportive. But when I first said, ‘Hey, mom and dad, I want to do that.’ They looked at me like, ‘Are you nuts? Are you drunk or something? What are you talking about?’ And I said, no that’s what I want to do. And they knew I loved this sport because in Italy I was traveling around Europe, spending time in Canada training, so they started to understand slowly that’s what I want to do with my life. They were proud of me.
Cristiano Argento works out in the gym. (Instagram)
“They’re still proud of me. I think more like the fact that you’re gonna try that, that it’s hard than more like you’re gonna leave us. The fact like, oh, my son is gonna go on the opposite side of the world for a six-hour time difference and we’re gonna see him maybe, when, like, I don’t know. Not often. I think it was more that. And for me too, it was really hard. It was heartbreaking not being able to see my family every day or every month. Like once a year if I’m lucky. I think that was the biggest part for them because of concern or that I was here by myself and if I have any issue or any problem, I didn’t have nobody. So they were scared. Like, you get sick, if you have a problem, anything, and they’re not being able to be here next to me. But they were really supportive since day one.”
Argento is living out his dream in the U.S. He suggested that the moniker of the U.S. being the “land of opportunity” wasn’t far from what is preached in movies and literature – it was the real thing.
“I was inspired by people who came to the U.S. and made it big,” Argento told Fox News Digital. “The U.S. was always like the land of opportunity. That’s how they sell it to us and this is what it is. I feel like, in myself, that was true because anything I tried to do so far I was able to reach a lot more than if I wasn’t here. I’m not yet where I’d like to be but I see like there’s so many opportunities in this country. Not just in wrestling but like in any business to reach the goal. I’m really happy of the choices I did here.
National Wrestling Alliance star Cristiano Argento poses in Times Square in New York. (Instagram)
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“But my big inspirations were big-time actors who moved to the country, who didn’t know English, with no money, no support system. I had one dream, I have to go right there to make it happen and I’m gonna go and do it and I’m gonna make it happen. So those people were always the biggest inspiration even if it wasn’t in wrestling, just how they handled their passion, how they pursued their dream without being scared of anything, how far you are, how alone by yourself … You don’t know the language, you’re like, let’s go, let’s do it.”
Outside of the NWA, Argento has performed for the International Wrestling Cartel, Enjoy Wrestling and Exodus Pro Wrestling this year.
Sports
Loyola wins Southern Section Division 1 lacrosse championship
There’s no denying that Loyola’s lacrosse program is best in Southern California and could be that way for years to come with the number of elite young players participating.
On Saturday night, the Cubs (16-3) won their latest Southern Section Division 1 championship with a 14-6 win over Santa Margarita. The Cubs have won three title since the sport was adopted as a championship event in the Southern Section. Defense has been Loyola’s strength all season.
Senior defenders Chase Hellie and Everett Rolph and junior goalkeeper William Russo led one of the best defenses in program history under coach Jimmy Borell.
Senior Cash Ginsberg finished with five goals and junior North Carolina commit Tripp King finished with two goals.
In girls Division 1, Mira Costa upset top-seeded Santa Margarita 12-6.
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