The Sports Report: Fight interrupts Angels’ 2-1 win over Mariners

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Sarah Valenzuela: It took less than two innings for the Angels’ 2-1 Sunday matinee win over the Seattle Mariners to boil over into a fight worthy of the Octagon.

Angels opener Andrew Wantz hit Jesse Winker with a pitch in the second inning, prompting Mariners manager Scott Servais to motion for Wantz to be ejected. Wantz and both teams were given warnings in the first inning after the pitcher threw inside to Julio Rodriguez.

But Winker was already exchanging words with the Angels’ dugout, and before plate umpire John Bacon and third base umpire Adrian Johnson could try to defuse the situation, Winker started pushing toward the Angels’ dugout, and the benches and bullpens cleared. Anthony Rendon, recovering from season-ending wrist surgery, charged out with the rest of his team, shoving his left hand into Winker’s face.

The brawl, pushed into the back netting between the dugout and home plate, involved the Mariners’ J.P. Crawford jumping over his teammates to punch one of the Angels.

Winker ended up near the bottom of a pile of players, as he appeared to scuffle with Angels reliever Ryan Tepera. Recent Angels call-up Monte Harrison and left fielder Brandon Marsh were among the dozens trying to separate teammates and coaches.

After the commotion on the field started to die down, Angel Stadium fans starting chanting “Let’s go Angels!” before another fight broke out. Angels starter Noah Syndergaard and Rodriguez were among those who needed to be held back from a big group of players.

Winker, as he went back to the dugout, flipped off the crowd. A short time later, he came out of the dugout and raised his middle fingers to the crowd.

Angels closer Raisel Iglesias, a teammate of Winker’s on the Cincinnati Reds from 2017-2020, then grabbed the box of sunflower seed packs from the dugout and launched them onto the field, scattering them onto the third-base line.

DODGERS

From Jack Harris: There was the former Dodgers closer, blowing a save against his old team.

There was the Braves one-time closer, also faltering against his former team in a game at Truist Park on Sunday that dragged deep into the night.

And, of course, there was the long-time Braves hero, burning his old club at the end of an emotional reunion weekend back in Atlanta.

In the end, neither Kenley Jansen, nor Craig Kimbrel, nor even Freddie Freeman were part of the sequence that ultimately decided the Dodgers’ 5-3 extra-inning win, with Chris Taylor and Trea Turner instead providing the go-ahead RBIs to help the Dodgers take two out of three games against their National League nemesis this weekend.

But in a series that was all about Freeman’s return to Atlanta, and very well might have served as a preview of a third-straight postseason meeting between the teams this fall, it was too fitting that all three familiar faces featured prominently in getting the game to 11 innings.

“We all know that these are two great teams,” Freeman said, “that have a real good chance of meeting again.”

LAFC

Cristian Arango and Diego Palacios scored three minutes apart in the second half as LAFC pulled away for a 2-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Sunday.

MLS-leading LAFC improved to 10-3-3 with its fourth shutout of the season and capped a momentous weekend of activity. Co-president and general manager John Thorrington confirmed after Sunday’s match that the club has signed Welsh forward Gareth Bale along with reaching an extension with Carlos Vela.

The 32-year-old Bale is expected to move stateside in the next two weeks after spending most of the past nine years with Real Madrid.

WNBA

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17.

Her arrest, incarceration and the fight to bring her home has triggered extensive questions The Times asked an array of experts to help answer.

Click here for the Q&A.

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NHL PLAYOFFS

From Helene Elliott: When Andrew Cogliano speaks, his teammates listen. After 15 seasons in the NHL as an honest, hard-working winger he had the credibility to speak up when the Colorado Avalanche held a team meeting Saturday night on the eve of their second chance to clinch the Stanley Cup.

They had let one opportunity slip away when they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday in Denver. Cogliano was determined they wouldn’t waste a second chance, on Sunday at Amalie Arena.

“I said that at the end of the day, in this situation, you’ve got to play with no regrets,” the former Duck said. “We felt that in game 5—I spoke for myself--mentally you were there but you weren’t there, and we’ve come too far to do that and we wanted to be in the moment. And what I was feeling I knew other guys were feeling the same way. We got it out in the open and came here and were led by our leaders and we got the job done.”

They skated off the ice Sunday with the smiles of champions after a 2-1 victory that ended the Cup Final in six games and ended the Lightning’s remarkable two-season reign. “I wasn’t sure this would ever happen for me,” said Cogliano, who was traded to Colorado by San Jose before this season’s trade deadline and helped make it happen with his grit and smarts.

The Avalanche’s victory was a victory for those who like high-tempo hockey, for finding and developing mobile defensemen like Cale Makar—who won the Conn Smythe trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs—and Bowen Byram, who was born four days after the Avalanche’s previous Cup triumph in 2001.

It happened because Colorado was the better team in the Final, the fresher team. After 71 playoff games over three seasons the Lightning had the bruises and sprains and strains of a team that had played a lot of hockey and was fueled the last few games by sheer pride and heart. “We’re not done,” said coach Jon Cooper, who embraced his Tampa Bay counterpart, Jared Bednar, at center ice.

STANLEY CUP FINALS
All times Pacific
All games on ABC

Colorado vs. Tampa Bay
Colorado 4, Tampa Bay 3 (OT)
Colorado 7, Tampa Bay 0
Tampa Bay 6, Colorado 2
Colorado 3, Tampa Bay 2 (OT)
Tampa Bay 3, Colorado 2
Colorado 2, Tampa Bay 1

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1903 — Willie Anderson win the U.S. Open by two strokes over David Brown in a playoff.

1914 — Jack Johnson wins a 20-round referee’s decision over Frank Moran at the Velodrome d’Hiver in Paris.

1924 — Walter Hagen wins his second British Open. Hagen finishes with a 301 to edge Ernest Whitcombe by one stroke at Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake, England. Hagen, who won in 1922, was the Open’s first winner born in the United States.

1936 — Alf Padgham beats Jimmy Adams by one stroke to win the British Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England.

1950 — Chandler Harper wins the PGA championship by beating Henry Williams Jr., 4 and 3 in the final round.

1959 — Mickey Wright beats Louise Suggs by two strokes for her second straight U.S. Women’s Open title.

1971 — JoAnne Carner wins the U.S. Women’s Open with a seven-stroke victory over Kathy Whitworth.

1992 — Top-seeded Jim Courier, the Australian and French Open champion, loses 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to qualifier Andrei Olhovskiy of Russia at Wimbledon. It’s the first time in Wimbledon history that a qualifier beat the top seed.

1999 — Juli Inkster shoots a 6-under 65 to win the LPGA Championship, becoming the second woman to win the modern career Grand Slam. Pat Bradley won her Grand Slam 13 years earlier.

2006 — Roger Federer wins his record 42nd straight grass-court match, beating Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to open his bid for a fourth consecutive Wimbledon championship. Federer breaks the record he shared with Bjorn Borg, the five-time Wimbledon champion who won 41 straight matches on grass from 1976-1981.

2008 — Zheng Jie completes the biggest victory of her career at Wimbledon, beating new No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-4 in the third round. The 133rd-ranked Zheng’s victory, her first against a top-10 player, is the earliest exit by a top-ranked woman at Wimbledon since Martina Hingis lost in the first round in 2001.

2010 — Cristie Kerr cruises to a 12-stroke victory in the LPGA Championship in one of the most lopsided wins at a major. Kerr leads wire-to-wire, closing with a 6-under 66 for a 19-under 269 total. Kerr breaks the tournament record for victory margin of 11 set by Betsy King in 1992 and matches the second-biggest victory in a major.

2017 — Florida scores four runs in the eighth inning to pull away from LSU, and the Gators beat their Southeastern Conference rival 6-1 to complete a two-game sweep in the College World Series finals for their first national title in baseball. LSU loses for the first time in seven appearances in a championship game.

2021 — Nelly Korda beats Lizette Salas by 3 strokes to win the Women’s PGA Championship. The win is Korda’s first major title.

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

The final inning of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game as called by Vin Scully. Watch and listen here.