From Benjamin Royer: Former Dodgers utilityman Chris Taylor signed a one-year, major league minimum contract with the Angels on Monday.
Taylor started in center field against the New York Yankees on Monday and went 0 for 3.
Angels prospect Kyren Paris, who was struggling at the plate in recent weeks — hitting just .190 — was optioned to triple-A Salt Lake City to make room for Taylor on the roster.
“He’s been through the wars,” Angels manager Ron Washington said of Taylor, adding that the Angels plan to use him in the outfield and the infield. “He’s a good piece for those young guys to talk to about how to handle a grind. He’s been in a grind over there with L.A., every day, winning, and we want that.”
Released by the Dodgers in the final year of his four-year, $60-million contract last week, Taylor was hitting .200 with seven hits in 35 at-bats before entering free agency. Washington is hopeful Taylor’s reputation for being a quiet clubhouse leader will help revive an Angels team two games under .500.
“I’m excited to stay home — I get to live at home,” Taylor said. “The Angels have been playing really good baseball, so I’m excited to join the team and hopefully get on the field. That was one thing with the Dodgers this year, just my role, I wasn’t getting on the field that much. So I’m really just looking forward to, like, getting consistent at-bats and playing time.”
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Jack Kochanowicz shows potential, but gets little support in Angels’ loss to Yankees
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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)
at Minnesota 143, Oklahoma City 101 (box score)
Oklahoma City 128, at Minnesota 126 (box score)
Wednesday at Oklahoma City, 5:30 p.m., ESPN
Friday at Minnesota, 5:30 p.m., ESPN*
Sunday 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)
Indiana 114, at New York 109 (box score)
New York 106, at Indiana 100 (box score)
Tuesday at Indiana, 5 p.m., TNT
Thursday at New York, 5 p.m., TNT
Saturday at Indiana, 5 p.m., TNT*
Monday at New York, 5 p.m., TNT*
*if necessary
DODGERS
From Jack Harris: It had been a while since the Dodgers’ last stress-free win.
Entering Monday, the team had not only won just three times over its previous nine games — but needed extra innings after blown ninth-inning saves in two of them, and a late-game go-ahead home run from Teoscar Hernández in the other.
Such theatrics underscored the club’s underwhelming play in recent weeks, with manager Dave Roberts bemoaning everything from poor fundamentals, to continued pitching injuries, to a lineup that had most of all gotten back out of sync.
“We’ve got to kind of lock in our hitting zone,” Roberts said Monday afternoon, “and continue to take good swings.”
In a 7-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Memorial Day, the Dodgers finally did.
While Yoshinobu Yamamoto cruised through a six-inning, two-run start, the club’s lineup awoke from a recent lull that had seen them fail to top five runs (excluding extra innings) in each of their last five games.
Shohei Ohtani provided an early spark, hitting a leadoff home run for the second straight game to take the MLB lead with 19 long balls. Andy Pages added an RBI single in the second inning, before the Dodgers mounted two extended rallies in the fifth and sixth, scoring two runs in each inning.
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The simple adjustment the Dodgers hope will get closer Tanner Scott back on track
COLLEGE BASEBALL
The UCLA baseball team is hosting the Los Angeles Regional that includes UC Irvine, while USC has ended its postseason drought with an invitation to the Corvallis Regional, the NCAA announced Monday.
The Bruins earned the No. 15 national seed in the Division I NCAA baseball tournament and the right to host a regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium. UCLA will open play against Fresno State on Friday at 1 p.m. PDT, while UC Irvine will face off with Arizona State at 6 p.m. PDT to round out the L.A. regional pool. UCLA’s game will be streamed online via ESPN+, while the Anteaters’ game will air on ESPNU.
USC’s postseason fate was in doubt during the final weeks of the season, but the Trojans made the tournament field for the first time since 2015. USC will travel to the Corvallis Regional and open play against TCU at noon PDT on Friday on ESPNU. Oregon State and Saint Mary’s round out the regional field.
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NHL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE, RESULTS
All times Pacific
Conference finals
Western Conference
Central 2 Dallas vs. Pacific 3 Edmonton
at Dallas 6, Edmonton 3 (summary)
Edmonton 3, at Dallas 0 (summary)
at Edmonton 6, Dallas 1 (summary)
Tuesday at Edmonton, 5 p.m., ESPN
Thursday at Dallas, 5 p.m., ESPN
Saturday at Edmonton, 5 p.m., ABC*
Monday 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)
at Florida 6, Carolina 2 (summary)
Carolina 3, at Florida 0 (summary)
Wednesday at Carolina, 5 p.m., TNT
Friday at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT*
Sunday at Carolina, 5 p.m., TNT*
* If necessary
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1823 — A $20,000 match race between American Eclipse (representing The North) and Henry (representing The South) is held at Union Course, Long Island, N.Y. American Eclipse wins in two-of-three heats, after his original jockey, William Crafts, is replaced by Samuel Purdy before the second heat. The race, witnessed by 60,000 spectators, is the first to have been timed by split-second chronometers, which were imported for the event.
1873 — Survivor is the winner of the first Preakness Stakes.
1882 — Trainer Robert Walden wins his fifth consecutive Preakness Stakes, with Vanguard. Walden would win a total of seven Preaknesses, a record for a trainer.
1961 — Fiorentina of Italy win 1st European Cup Winner’s Cup against Glasgow Rangers 4-2 in Florence (2nd leg).
1964 — European Cup Final, Praterstadion, Vienna: Internazionale beats Real Madrid, 3-1 for their first title.
1965 — 10th European Cup Final, San Siro, Milan: Jair da Costa scores winner as defending champions Internazionale beat Benfica, 1-0.
1968 — “Papa Bear” George Halas retires as head coach of the Chicago Bears.
1972 — Mark Donohue wins the Indianapolis 500 over two-time defending champion Al Unser with a record average speed of 162.962 mph.
1975 — The Philadelphia Flyers win their second straight Stanley Cup with a 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in Game 6.
1981 — Willie Shoemaker wins his 8,000th race and then three more. Shoemaker gets the milestone on top of War Allied in the first race at Hollywood Park.
1981 — Julius Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers is named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, making him the only player to win MVP honors in the NBA and ABA.
1981 — 25th European Cup: Liverpool beats Real Madrid 1-0 at Paris.
1982 — The Lakers, despite an 11-day layoff, beat Philadelphia 124-117 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals for their ninth consecutive victory. The nine straight wins sets the NBA record for consecutive wins during one postseason.
1984 — Rick Mears wins the Indianapolis 500 by the largest margin in 17 years with a record-setting 163.612 mph. Mears beats Roberto Guerrero and Al Unser by two laps. Fifteen of the 33 drivers are eliminated during two crashes.
1985 — Scott Wedman sinks four three-point field goals without a miss and shot 11-for-11 overall from the field, both NBA Finals records, as Boston routs the Lakers 148-114 in Game 1. Boston’s 148 points and 62 field goals are NBA Finals records.
1987 — 31st European Cup: Porto beats Bayern Munich 2-1 at Vienna.
1990 — Arie Luyendyk wins the fastest Indianapolis 500 by overpowering former winner Bobby Rahal over the final 33 laps, for his first Indy car victory in 76 races. His average speed of 185.984 mph breaks Rahal’s record of 170.722 in 1986. Luyendyk becomes the first to finish the race in under three hours.
1998 — In one of the biggest upsets in Grand Slam history, Pete Sampras is ousted at the French Open by 21-year-old Ramon Delgado of Paraguay, ranked 97th in the world, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-4.
2001 — Hicham El Guerrouj runs the fastest outdoor mile ever in the United States, and high school sensation Alan Webb breaks four minutes outdoors. El Guerrouj wins in a sizzling 3 minutes, 49.92 seconds, shattering the U.S. all-comers’ record of 3:50.86. Webb, the 18-year-old from Reston, Va., puts on a brilliant last-lap burst and finishes fifth at 3:53.43, smashing the high school record of 3:55.3 set by Jim Ryun in 1965.
2001 — Senior PGA Championship, Ridgewood CC, NJ: 5-time British Open champion Tom Watson wins first of 6 Champions Tour major titles with a 1 stroke win over Jim Thorpe.
2004 — Brad Richards’ goal in Tampa Bay’s 4-1 victory over Calgary is the game-winner — his record-tying sixth of the postseason.
2007 — Dario Franchitti gambles on the rain and wins the Indy 500. Franchitti inherits the lead by staying on the track when the leaders pit for fuel and then drives slowly to the checkered flag in a downpour when the race is stopped 10 laps later after 415 of the scheduled 500 miles.
2007 — Senior PGA Championship, Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Ocean Course: Denis Watson of Zimbabwe wins his lone major title by a 2 stroke margin from Eduardo Romero of Argentina.
2009 — UEFA Champions League Final, Rome: Barcelona beats Manchester United, 2-0; first Spanish treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League.
2011 — Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki loses to Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 6-3 in the third round of the French Open. It marks the first time in the Open era that the top two seeded women fail to make the round of 16 at a Grand Slam tournament. Kim Clijsters, the No. 2 seed, lost on May 26.
2012 — Dario Franchitti wins the Indianapolis for the third time, taking advantage when Takuma Sato crashes on the final lap.
2012 — Manu Ginobili scores 26 points and San Antonio wins its 19th in a row to tie the NBA record for longest winning streak kept alive in the playoffs. The Spurs beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 101-98 to open the Western Conference finals.
2014 — The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater becomes the only school in NCAA history to win championships in football, men’s basketball and baseball in the same school year.
2017 — English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London: Arsenal beats Chelsea, 2-1; Aaron Ramsey scores 79′ winner as Arsène Wenger becomes most successful manager in FA Cup history, winning his 7th title.
2018 — Chris Frome wins the Giro d’Italia to join cycling greats Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault with his third consecutive Grand Tour victory.
2018 — Senior PGA Championship, GC at Harbor Shores: Englishman Paul Broadhurst wins by 4 strokes from American Tim Petrovic.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1904 — Dennis McGann of the New York Giants stole five bases in one game to set a major league record.
1937 — Carl Hubbell, working in relief for the New York Giants, won his 24th straight game over two seasons. Hubbell pitched two innings and Mel Ott hit a ninth-inning home run to beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2. Hubbell’s string started July 17, 1936.
1955 — Norm Zauchin of the Boston Red Sox knocked in 10 runs with three home runs and a double in the first five innings of a 16-0 victory over the Washington Senators.
1960 — Baltimore catcher Clint Courtney used the “big mitt” for the first time to catch knuckleball pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm. The mitt, designed by Paul Richards, was 50% larger than the standard. Nothing got by Courtney as the Orioles beat the New York Yankees 3-2.
1968 — Montreal and San Diego were awarded National League franchises as the league expanded for the first time in seven years.
1974 — Pittsburgh’s Ken Brett beat the San Diego Padres 6-0 with a two-hitter and in the second game of the doubleheader, hit a pinch-hit triple to give the Pirates an 8-7 victory.
1981 — Seattle’s Lenny Randle dropped to his hands and knees in an attempt to “encourage” Amos Otis’ slow roller to go foul. Umpire Larry McCoy accused the Mariner third baseman of blowing the ball foul and gave the Kansas City outfielder the single. Randle explained he was merely yelling at the ball not to stay fair. The Royals won 8-5.
1986 — At Cleveland, the Boston Red Sox were leading the Indians, 2-0, in the sixth inning when the game was delayed then called on account of fog.
1995 — Oakland’s Steve Ontiveros pitched 3-0 one-hitter against the New York Yankees. Luis Polonia got the only hit for New York.
1997 — Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. broke his own major league record for home runs hit through May by connecting for his 23rd of the season in an 11-10 loss to Minnesota. Griffey’s homer broke the mark he set in 1994.
2004 — Carlos Pena was 6-for-6 with two home runs, five RBIs and four runs in Detroit’s 17-7 victory over Kansas City.
2009 — Daisuke Matsuzaka and the rest of Boston’s pitchers tied a modern-day record with six wild pitches. Matsuzaka tied a franchise record set 80 years ago with four, while relievers Manny Delcarmen and Justin Masterson also sent catcher George Kottaras scrambling. It was just the fifth time since 1900 that a team threw six wild pitches in a game.
2010 — Florida International’s Garrett Wittels extended his hitting streak to 50 games, after a third-inning single against Western Kentucky. Wittels moved within eight games of matching the NCAA Division I record of 58, set by Oklahoma State’s Robin Ventura in 1987.
2012 — Taylor Sewitt threw 11 shutout innings of relief, entering the game with no outs in the first, to help Manhattan College beat Canisius 3-2, for the school’s second straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title.
2012 — Paul Konerko hit a tiebreaking three-run homer — his 400th with the White Sox — and Chicago routed the Cleveland Indians 12-6. The offensive outburst gave Chicago nine or more runs in four consecutive games. The White Sox last accomplished that feat June 27-30, 1938.
2015 — Cubs pitcher Jon Lester sets a new record for most hitless at bats to begin a career with 58 at bats without a hit.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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