Sports
Shohei Ohtani stays hot, crushing another homer as Dodgers split series with Angels
The Dodgers continued two important trends Saturday night.
Shohei Ohtani stayed hot, hitting another home run against his former team in the Dodgers’ 7-2 win over the Angels at Dodger Stadium.
The bottom of the Dodgers’ lineup remained productive, too, getting six hits and five runs from the last four spots to split a two-game weekend Freeway Series.
Ohtani’s home run continued his scorching week at the plate. In seven games since last Sunday — the last six of which, he has been the team’s leadoff hitter in place of the injured Mookie Betts — the slugger is batting .481 (13 for 27) with seven home runs, 12 RBIs, seven walks and only two strikeouts.
His two-run homer Saturday was a line-drive rocket that landed halfway up the right-field pavilion. Traveling an estimated 459 feet, it marked his fourth blast of at least 450 feet this week. And it gave him big flies in both of this weekend’s games against the Angels — his first against the club since signing with the Dodgers in the offseason.
“It definitely goesn’t get old,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Where he’s at right now, if the ball is in his hitting zone, it’s gonna be hit hard somewhere.”
While Ohtani might be at the wheel of the Dodgers’ offense, though, it’s a once-struggling bottom-half of the order that is helping fuel the team’s recent resurgence at the plate.
A month ago, the club’s Nos. 6-9 hitters were among the worst in the majors, compiling a .194 batting average over the season’s first 46 games that ranked better than only the Oakland Athletics.
“It’s still a really good lineup, and we know it’s gonna flip,” second baseman Gavin Lux, one of the culprits behind the group’s early-season struggles, said in late May. “But yeah, I think we all expect more out of ourselves.”
Fast forward a month, and the Dodgers (48-31) have seen their fortunes indeed change.
Entering Saturday, the team’s bottom-half hitters were batting .243 since May 17, ranking a solid 14th in MLB during that stretch.
Gavin Lux gets a face full of sunflower seeds after hitting a solo home run against the Angels in the third inning Saturday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Then, in their win over the Angels (30-46), they had one of their best collective games yet, getting two hits each from Lux, Miguel Rojas and Cavan Biggio, plus two walks from Jason Heyward.
“This is it,” Roberts said. “It just takes the pressure off the top.”
Lux, the No. 8 hitter, opened the scoring with a towering leadoff home run off a nine-pitch at-bat in the third inning, recording just his second long ball of the season and first since May 7.
Rojas, batting seventh, extended one of the season’s more intriguing statistical trends: In games he has a hit, the Dodgers are 22-0.
Biggio had his best game as a Dodger in the nine-hole, continuing to fill in for injured third baseman Max Muncy — whose return from an oblique strain remains unclear, lasting much longer than initially anticipated (Muncy said one issue is that his entire oblique was affected, not just one isolated area).
The No. 6 hitter Heyward, whose return from a back injury on May 17 has been a key factor in the recent bottom-half production, also aided the cause with his two walks, keeping his OPS this season above .800.
“A lot of this year, we’ve been very top-heavy,” Roberts said. “But when you get those guys at the bottom collectively [hitting], it just makes our offense tough to navigate.”
The lineup was so good, it allowed Roberts to begin a new trend that figures to become more common over the remainder of the season.
Staff ace Tyler Glasnow had a stellar start, giving up only two runs (one earned) on two hits in a seven-inning, 10-strikeout gem. However, with the Dodgers up 7-2 at the end of the seventh, Roberts decided to pull him after just 74 pitches.
Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow delivers during the seventh inning against the Angels on Saturday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
The reason: Glasnow is now at 100 innings this season, just 20 short of the career-high he set a season ago.
The Dodgers aren’t planning to have the right-hander skip starts or take any break before October. But they are going to be “mindful” of his workload in smaller ways, Roberts said.
Thanks to Ohtani’s blast at the top of the lineup, and the continued ample production at the bottom, Saturday provided the perfect opportunity.
“It’s just about longevity, trying to stay healthy and do this thing until playoffs,” Glasnow said. “The long game is what we’re after.”
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An internet rumor swirled last week that a longtime NFL reporter had died at the age of 40.
News of Jane Slater’s supposed death on social media, but she was quick to shut it down.
An X user posted a screenshot of a post on Facebook that showed Slater in black and white with the graphic “1980-2025” saying she had died at 40. Slater, 45, was born in 1980, but the years written in the post would mean she died at either age 44 or 45.
NFL Network sideline reporter Jane Slater stands on the sidelines prior to an NFL football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Chicago Bears, at Soldier Field on Dec. 26, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images)
“A veteran reporter who covered the Dallas Cowboys—having followed the team for over a decade—has passed away at the age of 40 after a tragic domestic violence incident, leaving behind a 5-year-old child. Her years of dedicated work, along with the heartbreaking circumstances surrounding her death, have left loyal fans stunned, devastated, and praying for her and her family,” the post read.
The user asked Slater, “did you pass away??”
Jane Slater speaks with T.Y. Hilton of the Dallas Cowboys after the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at AT&T Stadium on Dec. 24, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
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“I don’t think so? But does this mean there is (a) glitch in the matrix? I’m gonna wrap myself in bubble wrap until NYE,” Slater joked.
If there is one thing the Facebook post got correct, it’s that Slater does mainly cover the Cowboys for the NFL Network.
NFL Network reporter Jane Slater on the sideline prior to an NFC Wild Card Playoff game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys at Raymond James Stadium on Jan. 16, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. (Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
Prior to joining in 2016, Slater worked for ESPN and the Longhorn Network, having attended the University of Texas. She also hosted a radio show in Dallas.
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Tennis legend Venus Williams wed Danish model and actor Andrea Preti over the weekend in Florida, the new bride announced in a shared post.
An Instagram post from Vogue Magazine’s Weddings section announced the nuptials, with the message garnering more than 30,000 likes as of Tuesday afternoon.
“We all love each other so much,” Williams, 45, said in the Vogue post. “It was just the happiest, most beautiful, sweetest day.”
The post was scant on details other than the event took place over five days in and around the couple’s home in Palm Beach Gardens.
An email for comment to representatives for Williams and Preti, 37, was not immediately returned.
The couple met at 2024 Milan Fashion Week and began texting shortly after, according to Vogue.
The couple eventually became engaged on Jan. 31 in Tuscany, according to Vogue. That detail was confirmed in July during what was a historic month for Williams.
The Compton native defeated 23-year-old Peyton Sterns 6-3, 6-4 in the first round action of the D.C. Open after a 16-month hiatus from singles matches.
In victory, Williams became the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match, trailing only fellow legend Martina Navratilova, who was 47 when she won in 2004.
“Yes, my fiance is here, and he really encouraged me to keep playing,” Williams told the Tennis Channel’s Rennae Stubbs in a post-match interview. “There were so many times where I just wanted to coast and kind of chill. … He encouraged me to get through this, and it’s wonderful [for him] to be here. He’s never seen me play.”
Preti has written, acted and directed in a handful of films, primarily in Italy.
The wedding was the second for the couple, who also held a ceremony in Italy in September.
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As Philip Rivers has shown he could still tear up the NFL at age 44, American Olympic legend Lindsey Vonn has also proven that age is just a number.
Vonn, 41, qualified for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, Team USA announced on Tuesday. It will be the fifth Winter Olympics that she competes in.
United States’ Lindsey Vonn reacts at the finish area of an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill, in Val D’Isere, France, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
Vonn had an impressive run at the World Cup in France over the weekend. She was third in super-G, hitting a high speed of 71 mph. It was her second consecutive podium finish after she was third in downhill. It was the 142nd podium finish in her World Cup career.
“I am honored to be able to represent my country one more time, in my 5th and final Olympics!” she wrote in a post on Instagram. “When I made the decision to return to ski racing, I always had one eye on Cortina because it’s a place that is very, very special to me. Although I can’t guarantee any outcomes, I can guarantee that I will give my absolute best every time l kick out of the starting gate. No matter how these games end up, I feel like I’ve already won.
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United States’ Lindsey Vonn celebrates on the podium after taking third place in an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill, in Val D’Isere, France, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
“I am grateful for how the season has gone so far, but I am just getting started. See you in Cortina!”
Vonn has already put together an enviable career in skiing.
She won a gold medal in the 2010 Vancouver Games and two bronze medals in Pyeongchang in 2018. She’s also taken home two gold, three silver and two bronze medals in the World Championships.
The Minnesota native also has 83 World Cup wins and several International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) Crystal Globes.
Notably, she’s back competing for gold after being away from the sport for five years.
Austria’s Cornelia Huetter, left, winner of an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill, celebrates on the podium with second-placed Germany’s Kira Weidle Winkelmann, left, and third-placed United States’ Lindsey Vonn, in Val D’Isere, France, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
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The Winter Olympics will begin on Feb. 6 and run through Feb. 22.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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