From Dylan Hernández: Slow down.
Previously limited to fastballs and splitters, Shohei Ohtani threw a handful of sliders and curveballs in his mid-week bullpen session, but that doesn’t mean he will be a two-way player again before the All-Star break.
Ohtani is lined up to potentially face hitters in a simulated game Saturday in New York, but that doesn’t mean he will pitch in the upcoming four-week stretch that could determine the course of the Dodgers’ season.
As encouraged as the team is with his progress and as desperate as the Dodgers are for one of their sidelined frontline starters to return, they will continue to slow play Ohtani’s return to the mound, according to a person familiar with the team’s thinking but not authorized to speak publicly.
The Dodgers could use Ohtani’s arm, but they absolutely need his bat, and they don’t plan on jeopardizing his offense by exposing him to any unnecessary risks on the mound.
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NBA PLAYOFFS RESULTS
All Times Pacific
Conference finals
Western Conference
No. 1 Oklahoma City vs. No. 6 Minnesota
at Oklahoma City 114, Minnesota 88 (box score)
at Oklahoma City 118, Minnesota 103 (box score)
Saturday at Minnesota, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Monday at Minnesota, 5:30 p.m., ESPN
Wednesday at Oklahoma City, 5:30 p.m., ESPN*
Friday, May 30 at Minnesota, 5:30 p.m., ESPN*
Sunday, June 1 at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m., ESPN*
Eastern Conference
No. 3 New York vs. No. 4 Indiana
Indiana 138, at New York 135 (OT) (box score)
Friday at New York, 5 p.m., TNT
Sunday at Indiana, 5 p.m., TNT
Tuesday at Indiana, 5 p.m., TNT
Thursday, May 29 at New York, 5 p.m., TNT*
Saturday, May 31 at Indiana, 5 p.m., TNT*
Monday, June 2 at New York, 5 p.m., TNT*
*if necessary
ANGELS
Taylor Ward hit a go-ahead grand slam, Logan O’Hoppe also homered in a five-run seventh inning and the Angels rallied past the skidding Athletics 10-5 on Thursday for their seventh consecutive victory.
Ward and O’Hoppe both connected off reliever Grant Holman (4-1), sending the A’s to their ninth loss in a row. O’Hoppe had four homers in the series.
It was the second go-ahead slam in 10 days for Ward, who finished with three hits and five RBIs. He has an extra-base hit in eight straight games — one shy of the club record set by Darin Erstad in 1998.
Ward has 17 RBIs in his last 10 games. He and O’Hoppe each have 14 homers this season. Zach Neto also had three of the Angels’ 13 hits.
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Angels trade first baseman Ryan Noda to Red Sox for cash
UCLA SOFTBALL
From Ben Bolch: The Bruin Bombers. The Bash Brothers. The Splash Brothers.
Jordan Woolery and Megan Grant are open to any nicknames that reflect their standing as college softball’s most formidable hitting duo.
“Whatever anyone wants to call us,” Woolery said, “we don’t even care.”
Any credible nickname must recognize their staggering power. Bonus points are available for a reference to their native Bay Area. What’s not negotiable is the conveying of their connection, both as the best of friends and their proximity in UCLA’s batting order.
Woolery hits third, followed by Grant in the cleanup spot. It has been that way in every lineup card this season except for the three games in which Grant was either limited to pinch-hitting duties or sidelined because of a minor hamstring injury.
The payoff of pairing them together has been historic, a combination as proven as peanut butter and jelly or Simon and Garfunkel.
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USC BASEBALL
From Ryan Kartje: The first thing that catches your eye as you enter new Dedeaux Field — once you’ve navigated the ground floor of the parking structure, past the temporary batting cages in the construction zone beyond center field, down the path strewn with electric scooters, around “CONSTRUCTION ACCESS GATE #3” and onto the warning track of USC’s soon-to-be baseball home — is the actual field itself.
A new playing surface wasn’t something Trojans baseball players were clamoring for. They loved old Dedeaux Field and its charms. But plans for a football practice facility necessitated speeding up the timeline for upgrades on the half-century-old venue, and USC’s baseball program, with twice as many titles as any other school in NCAA history during that time, was told to make the best of it.
Of course, no one within the program was complaining about the prospect of a shiny new ballpark — least of all Andy Stankiewicz, the Trojans’ coach. But with a blank canvas on which to build a new version of Dedeaux Field, there was some upside. One is that every square inch of the park, down to the dirt, could now be given careful, meticulous consideration — with no expense spared.
“Every detail, every material was hand-picked,” says Scott Lupold, USC’s director of turf. He believes there will be no equal in the ranks of college baseball fields when his work is finished. The grade of the infield, he says, is perfectly flat. The gleaming green grass — Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass — is the finest on the market, the same you find in Dodger Stadium. And the dirt? You might catch yourself wondering if it’s dirt at all. “We were literally able to design every aspect of the surface how we wanted it,” Lupold says. As sports turf goes, this is his Sistine Chapel.
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The College Football Playoff will go to a more straightforward way of filling the bracket next season, placing teams strictly on where they are ranked instead of moving pieces around to reward conference champions.
Ten conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director came to the unanimous agreement they needed Thursday to shift the model that drew complaints last season.
The new format was widely expected after last season’s jumbled bracket gave byes to Big 12 champion Arizona State and Mountain West champion Boise State, even though those teams were ranked ninth and 12th by the playoff selection committee.
NHL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE, RESULTS
All times Pacific
Conference finals
Western Conference
Central 2 Dallas vs. Pacific 3 Edmonton
at Dallas 6, Edmonton 3 (summary)
Friday at Dallas, 5 p.m., ESPN
Sunday at Edmonton, noon, ABC
Tuesday at Edmonton, 5 p.m., ESPN
Thursday, May 29 at Dallas, 5 p.m., ESPN*
Saturday, May 31 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., ABC*
Monday, June 2 at Dallas, 5 p.m., ESPN*
Eastern Conference
Metro 2 Carolina vs. Atlantic 3 Florida
Florida 5, at Carolina 2 (summary)
Florida 5, at Carolina 0 (summary)
Saturday at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT
Monday at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT
Wednesday at Carolina, 5 p.m., TNT*
Friday, May 30 at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT*
Sunday, June 1 at Carolina, 5 p.m., TNT*
* If necessary
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1884 — Knight of Ellersie, ridden by S. Fischer, wins the two-horse Preakness Stakes by two lengths over Welcher.
1922 — Future world heavyweight boxing champion Gene Tunney suffers his only professional defeat in 15-round unanimous points decision against Harry Greb at Madison Square Garden, N.Y.
1936 — Rushaway, ridden by John Longden, wins his second derby in as many days, taking the 1 1/4-mile Latonia Derby at Latonia in Covington, Ky. Rushaway had won the 1 1/8-mile Illinois Derby, run at Aurora, Ill., the previous day.
1941 — In his 20th world heavyweight boxing title defense Joe Louis knocks out Buddy Baer in round 1 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
1953 — Native Dancer, ridden by Eric Guerin, avenges the loss in the Kentucky Derby by edging Jamie K. by a neck to win the Preakness Stakes.
1964 — Dale Greig runs female marathon world record (3:27:45).
1968 — AC Milan of Italy win 8th European Cup Winner’s Cup against Hamburger SV of West Germany 2-0 in Rotterdam.
1976 — Boston center Dave Cowens dominates the opener of the NBA Finals against Phoenix with a 25-point, 21-rebound performance and the Celtics defeat the Suns, 98-87.
1981 — Puerto Rican boxer Wilfred Benítez (22) becomes the youngest 3-division world champion in history by knocking out WBC World Super Welterweight champion Maurice Hope in 12 rounds in Las Vegas.
1991 — Paul Dougherty scores two goals and adds two assists to help the San Diego Sockers win their fourth consecutive Major Indoor Soccer League championship with an 8-6 victory over the Cleveland Crunch.
1997 — In the first all-freshman singles final in NCAA history, Stanford’s Lilia Osterloh beats Florida’s M.C. White 6-1, 6-1 to win the women’s singles tennis championship.
2001 — 9th UEFA Champions League Final: Bayern Munich beats Valencia (1-1, 5-4 on penalties) at Milan.
2005 — Anastasia Myskina is the first defending champion at the French Open to be eliminated in the opening round, losing to Spain’s Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
2007 — UEFA Champions League Final, Athens: Filippo Inzaghi scores twice as AC Milan beats Liverpool, 2-1 for 7th title.
2009 — Alabama sophomore Kelsi Dunne becomes the first player to throw back-to-back no-hitters in NCAA postseason play. Dunne holds Jacksonville State hitless for the second straight day in a 9-0 softball victory. The two no-hitters tie the NCAA postseason record. It’s Dunne’s fourth of the season and a school-record six for her career.
2013 — Patrick Roy is named head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, his former team where he won two Stanley Cups.
2018 — NFL owners approve new NFL national anthem policy whereby players required to stand if they choose to be on the field for pre-game presentations.
2021 — Phil Mickelson wins the 2021 PGA Championship by two strokes to become the oldest major winner (50) in PGA history.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1901 — The Cleveland Blues, later known as the Indians, scored nine runs with two outs in the ninth inning to beat the Washington Senators 14-13.
1910 — In the top of the ninth inning in a game against Boston, Cincinnati’s Dode Paskert stole second base, third base and home plate. The theft gave the Reds a 6-5 win.
1924 — Washington’s Walter Johnson struck out 14 in a 4-0 one-hitter over the Chicago White Sox for his 103rd shutout.
1925 — Cincinnati pitcher Pete Donohue had five hits — four singles and a homer — in beating the Philadelphia Phillies 11-2.
1935 — The first major league night game, scheduled for Cincinnati, was postponed because of rain.
1948 — Joe DiMaggio hit three consecutive home runs, the first two off Bob Feller, to lead the New York Yankees to 6-5 win over Cleveland.
1962 — New York’s Joe Pepitone hit two homers in the nine-run eighth inning of the Yankees’ 13-7 triumph over Kansas City.
1970 — The San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants battled for 15 innings, with the Padres winning 17-16. Nate Colbert led San Diego with five hits and four RBIs.
1984 — The Detroit Tigers won their 16th consecutive road game, 4-2 at California, tying an AL record.
1991 — Tommy Greene, making the 15th start of his major league career, pitched a no-hitter and the Philadelphia Phillies beat Montreal 2-0.
2000 — The Orioles defeat the Mariners‚ 4-2. Seattle’s Rickey Henderson draws his 2‚000th career walk in the 9th inning‚ making him the third player to reach that level‚ after Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.
2002 — Dodgers slugger Shawn Green became the 14th man in major league history to homer four times in a game and set a big league record with 19 total bases. He went 6-for-6, scoring six times with seven RBIs in a 16-3 win at Milwaukee.
2003 — Jeremi Gonzalez earned his first major league victory in nearly five years as Tampa Bay beat the Angels 3-1. Gonzalez won for the first time since June 28, 1998, while with the Chicago Cubs. He had elbow surgery in 1998 and ’99 before the Cubs released him in 2001.
2005 — Left-hander Mark Mulder of the St. Louis Cardinals becomes just the 12th National League pitcher since 1976 to throw a complete game shutout of 10 innings or more when he blanks the Houston Astros, 1-0, in 10 innings. Greg Maddux posted the last extra-inning shutout in the National League in 1988.
2009 — Jason Giambi hit his 400th homer in the Oakland Athletics’ 8-7 loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks, becoming the 44th player to reach the milestone.
2011 — Corey Hart hit his first three home runs this season and drove in seven to tie both club records, lifting Milwaukee to an 11-3 win over Washington.
2018 — The Seattle Mariners sign a new 25-year lease to continue playing at Safeco Field. The lease will take effect at the expiration of the current 20-year lease at the end of the season, a lease which was signed when the ballpark opened in 1999.
2023 — Gerrit Cole records the 2,000th strikeout of his career when he fans Jorge Mateo of the Orioles in the 2nd inning, becoming the third-fastest pitcher to the mark in terms of both games pitched (278) and innings pitched (1,714 2/3).
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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