The Sports Report: Dodgers are swept by Padres

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

From Jack Harris: The Dodgers have yet to receive the boosts of their five trade deadline player acquisitions.

Over the final two months of the season, they’ll need the reinforcements more urgently than they could have imagined.

After an 8-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night — in which Michael Kopech became the first, and to this point only, new Dodger to make his team debut — the Dodgers suddenly find themselves in a compelling division race.

Up by as many as nine games in the National League West as recently as last month, the Dodgers’ two-game sweep at the hands of the red-hot Padres this week leaves them just 4 ½ games up in the standings entering August — the narrowest the Dodgers’ division lead has been since May 4.

Getting here required a calamity of errors, misfortunes and overall mediocrity from the Dodgers throughout a porous July — posting a losing record in a full month (11-13) for the first time since April 2018.

During July, the team ranked just 19th in the majors in total runs (averaging 4.3 per game) and a lowly 27th in staff ERA (5.36).

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Dodgers box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

ANGELS

Brenton Doyle capped an impressive July with a towering home run in the eighth inning, Ezequiel Tovar extended his hitting streak to 17 games and the Colorado Rockies beat the Angels 2-1 Wednesday night to snap a five-game losing streak.

Logan O’Hoppe hit a solo shot in the fifth inning for the Angels, who are 2-4 on their current homestand.

Angels starter Davis Daniel was solid. In his first big-league start since July 8, the right-hander gave up one run and five hits in five innings with one walk and five strikeouts. Daniel was sent down to triple-A Salt Lake when he gave up 12 runs (11 earned) in two starts after throwing eight shutout innings in his first MLB start on June 27 against Detroit.

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Angels box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

RAMS

From Gary Klein: During four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, tight end Colby Parkinson watched the Rams offense from afar.

He saw coach Sean McVay’s innovative schemes. He observed tight end Tyler Higbee, who he had trained with during a few offseasons, thrive.

So when Parkinson became a free agent, the Rams were a natural landing spot for the Simi Valley native and former Westlake Village Oaks Christian High standout.

“It’s really cool to see from the inside-out now what I’ve admired for a long time now from the outside looking in,” Parkinson said Wednesday after a jog-through at Loyola Marymount. “Seeing the work ethic, seeing how Sean runs things — it’s amazing and it’s a blessing to be here.”

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CHARGERS

From Marissa Kraus: The Chargers didn’t practice in full pads Wednesday but made the most of a more than two-hour practice at The Bolt in front of a packed crowd — especially Kristian Fulton.

Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter thought his units looked their most comfortable so far, but their new defensive back was the one who had coaches talking.

Despite having just signed with the Chargers in March after a previous stint with the Tennessee Titans, Fulton’s versatility and ability to handle different coverages has impressed Minter.

Some other observations from Wednesday:

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UCLA FOOTBALL

From Ben Bolch: The rookie coach who fumbled his first Big Ten speaking gig devised a novel way to poke fun at himself.

DeShaun Foster stepped in front of reporters Wednesday morning wearing a custom black T-shirt bearing a blue outline of California with a UCLA football helmet positioned over the school’s spot on the map alongside the words, “We’re in L.A.”

That was the phrase that had made Foster a media-day meme in Indianapolis last week when he stumbled over his opening monologue. A week later, as his team opened training camp ahead of his debut season, Foster made sure he was in on the joke.

“I’m gonna embrace it,” Foster told an unusually large gathering of reporters and UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond, the latter eager to learn what the biggest hire of his four years on the job had to say. “It was funny to me … all the interviews after that, I killed it. You guys know me, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

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HORSE RACING

From John Cherwa: Craig Fravel, who was brought in to head The Stronach Group’s racing division during the 2019 fatality crisis, is leaving the company on Aug. 9 to take a job at Brown Advisory.

He will be a senior adviser and partner in the company helping to expand its presence in Southern California. He will be located in San Diego.

“My new role will enable me to continue serving the racing industry in various volunteer capacities while I undertake an exciting journey in the investment management and strategic advisory business,” Fravel said in an internal memo to staff.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1936 — The Berlin Olympics begin.

1945 — New York’s Mel Ott hits his 500th home run in a 9-2 victory over the Boston Braves at the Polo Grounds. At the time, only Babe Ruth with 714 and Jimmie Foxx with 527 have more.

1963 — Arthur Ashe becomes first Black tennis player to be named in the US Davis Cup team.

1972 — Nate Colbert of the San Diego Padres drives in 13 runs in a doubleheader sweep of the Atlanta Braves, 9-0 and 11-7.

1982 — American Greg Louganis becomes 1st diver to score 700 (752.67) in 11 dives in winning 3m springboard gold, World Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

1987 — Mike Tyson wins the undisputed heavyweight championship with a 12-round unanimous decision over IBF champion Tony Tucker in Las Vegas.

1992 — Eric Griffin, a two-time world champion at 106 pounds, loses to Rafael Lozano of Spain under the new electronic scoring system at the Olympics. All five judges credit him with more blows than his opponent as did five jury members used as a backup in case the computer failed.

1994 — Baltimore’s Cal Ripken becomes the second major leaguer to play 2,000 straight games when the Orioles beat Minnesota 1-0.

1996 — Michael Johnson wins Olympic gold in the 200 meters in a record 19.32 seconds, becoming the first male Olympian to win the 200 and 400 in a single games. Dan O’Brien wins gold in the decathlon, four years after failing to make the U.S. Olympic team.

2010 — Stuart Appleby hits golf’s magic number, shooting a 59 to win the Greenbrier Classic. He is the fifth PGA Tour player to reach the milestone.

2010 — Bob and Mike Bryan win their record 62nd career doubles title on the ATP Tour. The twins were tied with Hall of Famers Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia.

2012 — Four teams are kicked out of the women’s badminton doubles at the London Games for trying to lose on purpose. The eight players from China, South Korea and Indonesia are cited for conduct “clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport.”

2021 — Marcel Jacobs becomes the first Italian athlete to win the 100m dash in 9.80 at the Tokyo Olympics.

Compiled by the Associated Press