The sports report: Dodgers lose weakly against Padres

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By Jack Harris: There was only one way Shohei Ohtani wouldn't get a hit in the bottom of the ninth inning on Tuesday night.

Amazingly, the Dodgers stumbled straight into the most unlikely, far-fetched disaster ever.

With runners on first and second base and the MVP favorite taking his turn with no outs in a two-run game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts asked Miguel Rojas to attempt a bunt on his first pitch at the plate.

But when Rojas threw a strike and the Padres infield changed its defensive formation, Roberts changed his mind – and watched in horror at what happened next.

Rojas swung to the side and hit a ground ball to third baseman Manny Machado. He hurried to step on third base before firing a throw to second base. Then teammate Jake Cronenworth completed the relay with a quick hit to first base.

In a flash the game was over.

Padres, 4. Dodgers, 2. This is only the 28th major league game to end in a triple play.

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ANGEL

The Chicago White Sox tied the 1962 New York Mets for the modern major league record for most losses in a season with 120, but they rallied in the eighth inning and scored three runs to beat the Angels 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Andrew Benintendi hit a key two-out single to help the White Sox (37-120) avoid their shame for at least one more night.

Fans expressed their displeasure with White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf by chanting “Sell the team!” throughout the game and booing when the Angels' Eric Wagaman grounded out to end the game, clearly unhappy that they were unable to witness a historic event.

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Scissors

By Anthony De Leon: With Clippers training camp just around the corner, star Kawhi Leonard's health remains a mystery following the inflammation of his right knee that sidelined him late last season and through the first round of the playoffs.

Leonard is dealing with swelling but is on the road to full recovery, Lawrence Frank, president of basketball operations, said Tuesday.

Entering last season, Leonard was at his healthiest in years, appearing in 68 games, but it was the third consecutive season he did not finish, not counting the 2021-22 season, which he missed entirely.

Leonard has struggled with a long history of injuries during his time with the Clippers, including a partial tear of his anterior cruciate ligament that sidelined him for the 2021-22 season, a torn meniscus during the 2023 playoffs and his current case of knee inflammation.

“It's really unfortunate that he had to deal with that, but we're on the right track,” Frank said. “The goal is to get him back to 100% so he can have a great season, not just this year, but for many years to come.”

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By Ryan Kartje: The left tackle was cramping. The right guard was on the bench. The new right tackle was playing his first important snaps while the new right guard had only played a handful. All the while, 110,000 hostile fans roared with every missed block or botched play against the most feared defensive front in the country, with two top-15 NFL draft prospects at its center.

“It doesn’t get any harder than that,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said on Tuesday.

It was truly a nightmare scenario for USC's offensive line, which fell apart during a 27-24 loss to Michigan, raising serious questions about the depth and development of a group that Riley and his staff assured could handle itself without any offseason transfers.

That confidence definitely seemed misplaced on Saturday, as Michigan's pass rush easily overran the Trojans' front line, putting quarterback Miller Moss under pressure 22 times. Still, Riley didn't seem concerned about the line's long-term trajectory on Tuesday, instead reiterating his belief that USC's offensive line can be “really damn good” this season.

Riley acknowledged that part of the responsibility for that success lies with him and his team. The coach admitted that he could have better prepared the offense for Michigan's defense.

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By Ben Bolch: Earlier kick-off and more spectators.

This was to be part of the appeal when UCLA surprised the college sports world by abandoning a nearly century-old tradition and moving to the Big Ten.

It didn't take long for this story to die.

Four games into their debut season in a coast-to-coast conference, the Bruins will play their latest game on the West Coast in more than three decades.

UCLA's game against No. 8 Oregon on Saturday at the Rose Bowl is scheduled for 8 p.m. PDT. It's the Bruins' latest kickoff on the West Coast since they got off to the same poor start in a defeat to Washington State on Sept. 29, 1990, in Pullman.

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SPARK

Curt Miller resigns as coach of the Sparks after the WNBA franchise missed the playoffs for the fourth year in a row and the second time under his leadership.

The team announced Miller's dismissal on Tuesday, saying the parties had “mutually agreed to part ways.”

The Sparks will begin searching for a new coach immediately.

In Miller's two seasons at the helm, the team went 25-55. As a WNBA head coach, including as coach of the Connecticut Sun, he has a 165-141 record. He was the 2017 WNBA Coach of the Year and the league's first executive this year to also serve as general manager of the Sun.

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WNBA PLAYOFFS

First round
All times Pacific

No. 1 New York (32-8) vs. No. 8 Atlanta (15-25)
in New York 83, Atlanta 69
in New York 91, Atlanta 82

No. 2 Minnesota (30-10) vs. No. 7 Phoenix (19-21)
at Minnesota 102, Phoenix 95
Wednesday in Minnesota, 6:30 p.m., ESPN
*Friday in Phoenix, TBD, ESPN2

No. 3 Connecticut (28-12) vs. No. 6 Indiana (20-20)
in Connecticut 93, Indiana 69
Wednesday in Connecticut, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
*Friday in Indiana, TBD, ESPN2

No. 4 Las Vegas (27-13) vs. No. 5 Seattle (25-15)
in Las Vegas 78, Seattle 67
in Las Vegas 83, Seattle 76

*-if required

THIS DATE IN SPORT

1926 – Walter Hagen wins his third consecutive PGA Championship and fourth overall. Hagen defeats Leo Diegel 4 and 3 in championship match at Salisbury Golf Links in Westbury, NY.

1949 – Louise Suggs wins the US Women's Open by 14 strokes over Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

1962 – Sonny Liston knocks out Floyd Patterson in the first round at 2:06 of stoppage time at Comiskey Park in Chicago to win the world heavyweight title.

1982 – Ricky Edwards runs for 177 yards and four touchdowns to help Northwestern beat Northern Illinois 31-6 and end its 34-game losing streak.

1988 – The Americans sweep the long jump medals at the Seoul Olympics; Carl Lewis wins his second gold medal of the Games with a jump of 8.72 m, ahead of teammates Mike Powell and Larry Myricks.

1988 – Swimmer Matt Biondi wins his fifth gold medal at the Seoul Olympics as the anchor leg of the victorious American 4 x 100 m medley relay team.

1994 – Oliver McCall causes a major upset by stopping Lennox Lewis 31 seconds into the second round to win the WBC heavyweight title in London.

1995 – Jerry Rice has 181 yards receiving in San Francisco's 27-24 loss to Detroit, his 51st 100-yard game, breaking Don Maynard's NFL record.

1997 – The WNBA announces it will add the Detroit and Washington, DC franchises.

2000 – American basketball player Vince Carter leapfrogs 7-foot-2 Frédéric Weis at the 2000 Summer Olympics in what is known in France as “le dunk de la mort” (the dunk of death).

2004 – Hofstra's Bobby Seck throws eight touchdown passes to match the Atlantic 10 mark and set a school record in the Prides' 62-43 victory over Rhode Island.

2005 – Fernando Alonso becomes Formula One's youngest champion with third place at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Winning six times in his third full season in Formula One, 24-year-old Alonso ends Michael Schumacher's five-year title defence.

2010 – Collingwood and St Kilda reach a 68-68 draw, the first in an Australian Rules Football final since 1977, setting up a rematch for the league title.

2013 – Skipper Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA win the America's Cup with one of the greatest comebacks in sports history, keeping the oldest trophy in international sport in the United States. Spithill steers Oracle's futuristic 72-foot catamaran to its eighth consecutive victory, racing past Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand in the all-important Race 19 on San Francisco Bay. Almost beaten a week ago, the 34-year-old Australian and his international team twice come back from a seven-point deficit to win 9-8.

Compiled by Associated Press