The Sports Report: Shohei Ohtani slugs Dodgers to victory

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

From Mike DiGiovanna: There figured to be at least one benefit to Shohei Ohtani being reduced to a one-way star while he recovers from Tommy John surgery this season, one that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hinted at in spring training.

With Ohtani, who spent four of his six seasons in Anaheim as a starting pitcher and designated hitter, focused almost exclusively on offense, could he be an even more lethal slugger than he was in 2021 and 2023, when he won American League most valuable player awards with the Angels?

The numbers say yes.

Ohtani led off Tuesday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox with a home run, he walked and scored on Freddie Freeman’s third-inning homer, and he drove in the eventual winning run with a two-out single in the fourth to help push the Dodgers to a 4-3 victory in Guaranteed Rate Field.

Bobby Miller was roughed up for three runs and four hits in two innings, but six relievers—Michael Peterson, Yohan Ramirez, Anthony Banda, Blake Treinen, Daniel Hudson and Evan Phillips—combined for seven scoreless innings, as the Dodgers reached the half-way point of the season with a 50-31 record.

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ANGELS

Mickey Moniak hit his first career grand slam, and Taylor Ward also homered in the Angels’ 7-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.

Jo Adell had an RBI double and Logan O’Hoppe added an RBI single for the Angels, who have won three of four after taking two straight from Oakland.

Moniak cleared the bases with his fourth homer of the season to cap a five-run rally in the third. The former No. 1 overall pick has struggled despite getting regular playing time during his first full season with the Angels, but Moniak has improved sharply in recent weeks with improved plate discipline.

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LAKERS

From Dan Woike: Stan Van Gundy, JJ Redick’s former coach, said there’s a long list of things Redick is going to have to deal with in his transition from player-turned-broadcaster to broadcaster-turned-Lakers coach. And while he believes in his former player’s ability to figure it out and succeed, there are just some things you have to experience first.

“He’s a guy who took losing very hard as a player,” Van Gundy said of Redick during a phone interview with The Times on Monday. “And It’s nothing compared to the way that will hit him as a coach, that first game that he loses at the buzzer or down close by two, you know, at the end. And that stuff tears you up.

“It tears you up.”

Van Gundy said Redick will have to adjust to the vast responsibilities and pressure an NBA coach faces on game day.

“I remember Chuck Daly saying a long time ago that, um, you know, a pro coach, an NBA coach makes more decisions in the last two minutes of a game than a college coach makes in an entire season,” Van Gundy said. “So, you know, so there’s just a lot going on.”

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SOCCER

From Kevin Baxter: Omar Duran had never been to SoFi Stadium until Monday. So consider his visit for the Copa América group-stage game between Brazil and Costa Rica something of a trial run for the 2026 World Cup, now less than two years away.

“It’s beautiful,” Duran said, gripping a beer in his left hand as he made his away along the stadium’s spacious concourse. “It’s amazing what they have done.”

The game, which ended in a scoreless draw, was something of a practice run for the stadium too. The first in a series of test runs, actually, since SoFi will play host to another Copa América game Wednesday, when Mexico faces Venezuela. Then in late July, English Premier League giants Arsenal and Manchester United will meet there in a friendly.

And for Otto Benedict, the stadium’s senior vice president for facility and campus operations, nothing will be too small to overlook given the task ahead. In 2026, SoFi will stage eight World Cup matches, including the U.S. team’s opener, the first men’s World Cup match to be played on American soil in 32 years. Only AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with nine games, will play host to more.

“The things that people probably don’t think about,” Benedict said when asked what he was focused Monday. “It’s a weekday. Our next game is a Wednesday. When we have World Cup games, we’re going to have weekday games.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1959 — Ingemar Johansson knocks out Floyd Patterson in the third round at Yankee Stadium to win the world heavyweight title.

1976 — Japanese pro wrestler Antonio Inoki fights American boxer Muhammad Ali, at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.

1990 — Jennifer Capriati, 14, defeats Helen Kelesi 6-3, 6-1 in the first round to become the youngest winner of a match in Wimbledon history.

1991 — NBA Draft: UNLV power forward Larry Johnson first pick by Charlotte Hornets.

1993 — NHL Draft: Victoriaville Tigres (QMJHL) center Alexandre Daigle first pick by Ottawa Senators.

1995 — The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a random drug-testing program in Vernonia, Ore. The 6-to-3 decision allows public high school officials to require student-athletes to submit to random urinalysis as a condition of being allowed to play interscholastic sports.

1996 — NBA Draft: Georgetown guard Allen Iverson first pick by Philadelphia 76ers.

1999 — NHL Draft: Long Beach Ice Dogs (IHL) center Patrik Stefan first pick by Atlanta Thrashers.

1998 — Jamaica becomes the first Caribbean nation to win a World Cup soccer match since Cuba beat Romania in 1938. Theodore Whitmore scores in the 40th and 54th minutes as the Jamaicans beat Japan 2-1.

2002 — In one of the most extraordinary days at the All England Club, seven-time champion Pete Sampras, 1992 winner Andre Agassi and No. 2-seeded Marat Safin all lose — throwing the Wimbledon tournament wide open. For the first time in the Open era, five of the top-eight seeded men’s players are eliminated before the third round.

2002 — NBA Draft: Shanghai Sharks (China) center Yao Ming first pick by Houston Rockets.

2003 — NBA Draft: St. Vincent–St. Mary HS (Akron, Ohio) small forward LeBron James first pick by Cleveland Cavaliers.

2005 — Justin Gatlin cements his status as America’s fastest human by winning the 200 meters, becoming the first man in 20 years to sweep the sprints at the U.S. track and field championships. A day after winning the 100, Gatlin wins the 200 in 20.04 seconds. The last man to win both races at the U.S. meet was Kirk Baptiste in 1985.

2008 — NBA Draft: Memphis point guard Derrick Rose first pick by Chicago Bulls.

2011 — Top-ranked Yani Tseng wins the LPGA Championship by 10 strokes and, at 22, becomes the youngest player to win four LPGA Tour majors.

2012 — Major college football finally gets a playoff. A committee of university presidents approve the BCS commissioners’ plan for a four-team playoff to start in the 2014 season.

2014 — The United States reaches the knockout stage of consecutive World Cups for the first time. Germany beat the U.S. 1-0 to win Group G, but the Americans held onto second place when Portugal defeats Ghana 2-1 in a game played simultaneously.

2014 — NBA Draft: Kansas small forward Andrew Wiggins first pick by Cleveland Cavaliers.

2015 — NHL Draft: Erie Otters (OHL) center Connor McDavid #1 pick by the Edmonton Oilers.

Compiled by the Associated Press