The Sports Report: Dodgers defeat Giants in extra innings

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

From Jack Harris: When the season ends, and the Dodgers reflect on their 162-game journey through the schedule, the details of Monday’s game against the San Francisco Giants aren’t likely to be remembered.

The result probably will be lumped in with dozens of others, another indistinguishable thread in the tapestry of a six-month season.

But for one crisp Bay Area night, in front of a split crowd of 35,000 at Oracle Park, both the Dodgers and the Giants — and large swaths of their rival fan bases — hung on the anticipation of every little twist.

And in the Dodgers’ 6-4 win, there were plenty of them in a game that featured an early pitchers’ duel, a late-inning bullpen battle, and a dramatic extra-inning ending, when Will Smith hammered a go-ahead two-run double in the top of the 10th and J.P. Feyereisen converted an improbable save for a shorthanded Dodgers bullpen.

“A lot of weird stuff tends to happen in this stadium, especially late in games,” said longtime Dodgers utilityman Kiké Hernández, who helped get the contest to extras with a tying home run in the seventh.

“I think there’s something to the rivalry,” manager Dave Roberts added. “Regardless of records, it seems like we always have tight ballgames.”

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Dodgers box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

NBA PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE

All times Pacific

Second round

Western Conference

No. 1 Oklahoma City vs. No. 5 Dallas
at Oklahoma City 117, Dallas 95 (box score)
Dallas 119, at Oklahoma City 110 (box score)
at Dallas 105, Oklahoma City 101 (box score)
Oklahoma City 100, at Dallas 96 (box score)
Wednesday at Oklahoma City, 6:30 p.m., TNT
Saturday at Dallas, 5:30 p.m., ESPN
*Monday at Oklahoma City, 5:30 p.m., TNT

No. 2 Denver vs. No. 3 Minnesota
Minnesota 106, at Denver 99 (box score)
Minnesota 106, at Denver 80 (box score)
Denver 117, at Minnesota 90 (box score)
Denver 115, at Minnesota 107 (box score)
Tuesday at Denver, 7:30 p.m., TNT
*Thursday at Minnesota, 5:30 p.m., ESPN
*Sunday at Denver, TBD, TNT

Eastern Conference

No. 1 Boston vs. No. 4 Cleveland
at Boston 120, Cleveland 95 (box score)
Cleveland 118, at Boston 94 (box score)
Boston 106, at Cleveland 93 (box score)
Boston 109, at Cleveland 102 (box score)
Wednesday at Boston, 4 p.m., TNT
*Friday at Cleveland, 5:30 p.m., ESPN
*Sunday at Boston, TBD, TBD

No. 2 New York vs. No. 6 Indiana
at New York 121, Indiana 117 (box score)
at New York 130, Indiana 121 (box score)
at Indiana 111, New York 106 (box score)
at Indiana 121, New York 89 (box score)
Tuesday at New York, 5 p.m., TNT
Friday at Indiana, TBD, ESPN
*Sunday at New York, 12:30 p.m., ABC

*-if necessary

ANGELS

Nolan Arenado homered and Matt Carpenter had a tying two-run single during St. Louis’ eight-run seventh inning, and the Cardinals rallied from a four-run deficit for a 10-5 victory over the Angels on Monday night.

Iván Herrera had two hits during the Cardinals’ massive rally, and he capped it with a two-run single as St. Louis sent 14 hitters to the plate against the Angels’ best relievers.

Kevin Pillar had an early two-run homer and a late RBI single for the Angels, who have lost four of five during their homestand to drop to 5-15 at the Big A this season.

Pillar extended his impressive start with his new team, putting the Angels up 4-0 with a 362-yard line drive into the short porch in left.

Pillar, the veteran slugger and L.A.-area native, has nine hits and 12 RBIs in his last five games with the struggling team that picked him up after the White Sox designated him for assignment late last month. Pillar also tied Joe Rudi‘s franchise record for the most RBIs in a player’s first eight games with the Angels.

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Angels box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

NBA DRAFT

From Dan Woike: Bronny James has been cleared by NBA doctors to participate in the league’s draft combine, sources not authorized to speak publicly about the matter confirmed to The Times.

He was on the court Monday for measurements and drills and is scheduled to participate in scrimmages later this week.

James, who played at USC last season, suffered sudden cardiac arrest before his freshman season, but his clearance by NBA doctors should again affirm his availability moving forward despite a congenital heart defect that required surgery.

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LAFC

From Kevin Baxter: Olivier Giroud, France’s all-time leading scorer, will join LAFC during the summer transfer window after announcing his departure from Italian club AC Milan.

“I will be playing my final two matches with Milan and will continue my career in the MLS,” Giroud said in a TV interview.

“I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved at Milan in the last three years. My time with Milan might be finishing this year but the club will remain in my heart.”

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OLGA CONNOLLY DIES

From Bill Dwyre: In a couple of months, we will be saturated with Olympic feel-good stories. That’s a big part of why television networks pay enormous sums for the rights to telecast the Games. They call these vignettes “up close and personal.” In many cases, “overdone and gooey” might be a better description.

Most likely, the Paris Olympics won’t create a yarn as good as the one about Olga Fikotova and Harold Connolly. There was nothing overdone and gooey about their story during the 1956 Games in Melbourne. It was the stuff of international headlines and worldwide emotion, and it is revisited here because Olga died April 12.

She was 91 and was preceded in death 14 years ago by Harold. Both spent much of their lives in and around Los Angeles.

She was 23 when she made the five-day, multi-airplane trip to Australia. She was 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, not the usual girth for an Olympian, male or female, in a throwing event. She was not among the favorites in the discus and had been a better athlete in basketball than track and field. A track coach had seen her athleticism and felt it would be best served as a discus thrower, despite her small build, and trained her as a rhythm thrower, not a muscle performer. For years, he had her toss the discus in practice to the background music of the Blue Danube Waltz. Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm.

In 1956, the Olympics were, among other things, an East-versus-West faceoff. Sadly, it was more than sports competition. Communist athletes and Western athletes were encouraged to stay separate and compete extra hard against one another. The famous “blood-on-the-water” water polo game between Hungary and the USSR capsulized the intensity of political and nationalistic emotion, even though both teams were part of the Soviet Bloc — Hungary not so willingly. Shortly before the match, the Soviet military had violently shut down the Hungarian Revolution. Emotions and anger poured over into the water polo game and when a Hungarian player left the pool with blood streaming down his face. The headline for the game was easy: Blood on the Water. Hungary won the game 4-0.

Olga’s Czechoslovakia was part of the Soviet bloc, but she was the only member of her team who had refused to sign on with the Communist party. In retrospect, that was classic Olga.

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PREAKNESS

From John Cherwa: Now that it’s confirmed that Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan is going to run in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, the talk of a possible Triple Crown can start. Actually, it’s more of a whisper than talk.

Mystik Dan barely held on by a nose while winning the Kentucky Derby. And, he had the perfect trip. Now he’ll be facing the horse that beat him in the Arkansas Derby. And, he’s running on only two weeks rest.

Even with all those negatives, there is still a case to be made that a Triple Crown is within reach of Mystik Dan. First, the Preakness Stakes race is a sixteenth-of-a-mile shorter than the Kentucky Derby. As for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes, it’s neither 1 ½ miles or at Belmont. Because of the construction at Belmont, the signature race is being moved to Saratoga, N.Y., and will be run at 1 ¼ miles. Race officials didn’t want to start the race on a turn so they shortened it. We know Mystik Dan can handle 1 ¼ miles, even if barely.

A look at five of the other story lines that are likely to dominate Preakness week.

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WNBA

From Dan Loumena: There are plenty of story lines for the 2024 WNBA season, from the arrival of Caitlin Clark to the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces’ bid for a three-peat.

Here are five things to follow when regular-season play opens Tuesday.

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NHL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE

All times Pacific

Second round

Western Conference

C1 Dallas vs. C3 Colorado
Colorado 4, at Dallas 3 (OT) (box score)
at Dallas 5, Colorado 3 (box score)
Dallas 4, at Colorado 1 (box score)
Dallas 5, at Colorado 1 (box score)
Wednesday at Dallas, 5 p.m., ESPN
*Friday at Colorado, TBD
*Sunday at Dallas, TBD

P1 Vancouver vs. P2 Edmonton
at Vancouver 5, Edmonton 4 (box score)
Edmonton 4, at Vancouver 3 (OT) (box score)
Vancouver 4, at Edmonton 3 (box score)
Tuesday at Edmonton, 6:30 p.m., ESPN
Thursday at Vancouver, 7 p.m., TNT
*Saturday at Edmonton, TBD
*Monday at Vancouver, TBD

Eastern Conference

M1 New York Rangers vs. M2 Carolina
at New York 4, Carolina 3 (box score)
at New York 4, Carolina 3 (2 OT) (box score)
New York 3, at Carolina 2 (OT) (box score)
at Carolina 4, New York 3 (box score)
Carolina 4, at New York 1 (box score)
Thursday at Carolina, 4 p.m., TNT
*Saturday at New York, TBD

A1 Florida vs. A2 Boston
Boston 5, at Florida 1 (box score)
at Florida 6, Boston 1 (box score)
Florida 6, at Boston 2 (box score)
Florida 3, at Boston 2 (box score)
Tuesday at Florida, 4 p.m., ESPN
*Friday at Boston, TBD
*Sunday at Florida, TBD

*-if necessary

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1913 — Washington’s Walter Johnson gives up a run in the fourth inning against the St. Louis Browns to end his streak of 56 scoreless innings. The Senators win 10-5.

1919 — Four days after his Kentucky Derby victory, Sir Barton, ridden by Johnny Loftus, wins the Preakness Stakes by four lengths over Eternal.

1920 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators records his 300th victory with a 9-8 win over the Detroit Tigers.

1967 — Mickey Mantle hits his 500th home run, a shot off Stu Miller that lifts the New York Yankees to a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

1981 — The Boston Celtics win the NBA championship with a 102-91 victory over the Houston Rockets in Game 6.

1989 — James Worthy scores 12 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, and the Lakers rally from a 29-point first-half deficit to beat Seattle 97-95 and sweep the Western Conference semifinals.

1995 — Kelly Robbins overcomes a three-shot deficit in the final seven holes to win the LPGA Championship by a stroke over defending champion Laura Davies.

1999 — Annika Sorenstam shoots an 11-under 61, the best score in LPGA history on a par-72 course, to take a two-shot lead over Michelle McGann after the opening round of the Sara Lee Classic.

2003 — Jean-Sebastien Giguere stops 35 shots for his third straight shutout, and the Ducks beat Minnesota 4-0 for a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals. He’s the first goalie in modern NHL history to record three consecutive shutouts in the next-to-last round of the playoffs.

2004 — Richard Jefferson scores 18 of his 31 points after regulation to lead New Jersey to a 127-120 triple-overtime victory over Detroit and a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The last playoff game to be decided in three overtimes was Phoenix’s 129-121 victory over Chicago in Game 3 of the 1993 NBA Finals.

Compiled by the Associated Press