Freddie Freeman's bloop single in 11th starts winning rally as Dodgers beat Giants 5-2
Spencer Bivens (2-3) intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani to start the 11th and retired Mookie Betts and Will Smith before Freeman delivered with a ball that dropped between three Giants.
Teoscar Hernández then beat out an infield single for an insurance run and Andy Pages followed with an RBI single.
Ben Casparius (7-3) got Willy Adames to ground out ending the 10th, then pitched a perfect 11th for the win.
Pinch-hitter Luis Matos hit a tying two-run homer in the ninth after Matt Chapman's one-out single started the rally against Tanner Scott, who blew his seventh save in 26 opportunities.
Miguel Rojas homered and Freeman had an early RBI double that had Los Angeles ahead until the ninth.
Dodgers starter and first-time All-Star Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out seven over seven innings and allowed three hits.
The defending World Series champion Dodgers (58-39) entered the All-Star break atop the NL West after finishing the first half with nine straight games against clubs with winning records.
Manager Dave Roberts and his staff head to manage the NL All-Stars in Atlanta, where he said Sunday he plans to pitch left-hander Clayton Kershaw early in what could be his final Midsummer Classic.
Los Angeles had done just enough against Giants lefty Robbie Ray in a game featuring just 11 total hits.
Key play
Giants left fielder Heliot Ramos made a leaping catch on the wall to rob Ohtani of an extra-base hit to start the game. Ohtani walked in the fourth, singled in the fifth and flied out in the eighth.
Key stat
San Francisco (52-45) reached the break with 52 wins for the fifth time over the last 20 seasons — also doing so when it won the NL West with a franchise-best 107 victories in 2021, 2016, '14 and '11.
Up next
Neither club had set its rotation for after the All-Star break, when the Dodgers host Milwaukee to begin a six-game homestand on Friday and the Giants visit Toronto.
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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Chargers training camp storylines, Part 2: Battle at CB, huge opportunity for Tuli Tuipulotu
Los Angeles Chargers veterans report to training camp Wednesday at The Bolt, and the first practice will be held Thursday morning. To round out our preview, we are back with Part 2 of our 10 most interesting and important camp storylines. If you missed Part 1, you can read it here. We touched on Zion Johnson's move to center, Najee Harris' status after a fireworks-related eye injury, the competition at receiver and more. Advertisement The Chargers are scheduled for 24 training camp practices through Aug. 21. Here are five more fascinating storylines we will be monitoring closely over the next five weeks. Coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz have built a deep roster as they head into their second training camp together. The depth should lead to genuine and intense competition within several position groups — and not just for 53-man roster spots. Starting jobs are up for grabs. And that is certainly the case at cornerback. Hortiz struck gold in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, selecting two corners — Tarheeb Still and Cam Hart — who were important contributors as rookies. Hart and Still return and will be firmly in the mix for starting spots. Hart is an outside corner. Still can play outside and nickel. Still led all Chargers cornerbacks in defensive snaps last season with 783. Kristian Fulton, a free-agent addition last offseason, was a close second at 760. Fulton was on a one-year deal, and he capitalized on a solid 2024 season, signing with the Kansas City Chiefs in March. The Chargers, meanwhile, signed two free-agent corners: Donte Jackson and Benjamin St-Juste. They also drafted a corner in the seventh round: Trikweze Bridges. Veterans Ja'Sir Taylor and Deane Leonard return for this season. In the Chargers' playoff loss to the Houston Texans, Hart suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery. He was not cleared to fully return to practice until minicamp in June. As such, it was tough to get a read on the depth chart through spring practices. We will probably see heavy rotations at all the corner spots in the early days of training camp as defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale attempt to settle on their best grouping. The Chargers also practiced at a less intense tempo during spring practices. Defensive backs were not really allowed to challenge throws or play the ball. As Minter said in June: 'I look at OTAs and minicamp as not really competition. It's more you're chasing execution, you're chasing learning the system, you're chasing standards of how you practice. But the real competition amps up when you can press and you can play the ball and you can be competitive.' Advertisement There will be a lot to sort out in training camp, including how often safety Derwin James Jr. plays nickel. Safety is one of the strengths of the Chargers' defensive roster, with Alohi Gilman and Elijah Molden behind James on the depth chart. The best five-DB grouping likely includes all three of these safeties on the field, with James at nickel and Molden and Gilman deep. From Week 9 on last season, James played more than 43 percent of his snaps at nickel, according to TruMedia. Aligning James closer to the line of scrimmage more regularly was a key component in his resurgent season. When James is at nickel, who are the two outside cornerbacks? When James is at safety, who plays nickel? Who are the cornerbacks in four-DB packages? Who is the odd man out if the Chargers keep six corners on the 53-man roster? These are the questions we will be attempting to answer while watching practices. The Chargers cut Joey Bosa for salary-cap reasons in March. As a result, Tuipulotu moves one spot up the depth chart. He is now in line to be an every-week starter opposite Khalil Mack, whom the Chargers re-signed to a one-year deal. Minter rotated his edge rushers last season, especially with Bosa battling sciatic nerve pain for most of the season. Tuipulotu led all Chargers edge rushers in defensive snaps in 2024 with 732. He should not see a dramatic increase in playing time. But there will be a dramatic shift in how much the Chargers are relying on Tuipulotu's pass rush productivity. Mack is 34. This is a massive opportunity for Tuipulotu to cement himself as the type of elite edge player the Chargers can build around for years to come. 'You kind of know going into the year, this is my chance,' Minter said of Tuipulotu last month. Tuipulotu set a career high with 8 1/2 sacks last season, building on his 4 1/2 sacks as a rookie. But the counting stats were a bit misleading. He did not make the type of jump from Year 1 to Year 2 that the sack total would indicate. Tuipulotu took advantage of late-down opportunities, padding his numbers with chase-down tackles to the sideline and cleanup finishes up the middle. He contributed to 10 sacks. Only two went for losses of more than 3 yards. He contributed to five sacks in 2023. All five went for a loss of more than 3 yards. Advertisement On a down-to-down basis, Tuipulotu did not affect the game with the same consistency as a pass rusher. His pressure rate — pressures per pass rush snaps — dropped from 11.9 percent to 10.8 percent, according to TruMedia. Not a monumental drop-off, by any means. But I was expecting a sizable jump from 2023 to 2024, and that did not materialize. There is plenty of room to grow. Part of the performance plateau could have been related to his huge role on special teams. Tuipulotu played the second-most special teams snaps of any Charger last season, at 339. The plan is for Tuipulotu to play far fewer special teams snaps this season. 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Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Naperville's Colin Barczi may not hit umpires with line drives at Vanderbilt. But the drives keep coming.
One game during Colin Barczi's senior season at Naperville Central still exemplifies his approach to hitting more than two years later. Twice during that game, Barczi hit an umpire with a line drive up the middle. 'He just hit the ball so hard, and the umpires could not get out of the way,' Naperville Central coach Mike Stock recalled. As Barczi came to the plate for his third at-bat, the umpires repositioned themselves. 'The one guy went behind the infield, which wasn't the proper position,' Stock said. 'But he had already been tagged by Colin, and he wasn't going to let that happen again.' Barcz hasn't changed. As a sophomore at Vanderbilt (43-18) this season, his first as the starting catcher, he hit .253 with 11 doubles, eight home runs, 39 RBIs and 30 runs scored. 'Going up the middle has always been like my approach, so I guess they kind of figured that out,' he said. 'My mindset has always been to do damage. I've always been a power hitter first, so I'm always trying to hit home runs and doubles in the gaps. That's just my identity.' His family is part of that identity too. Barczi's father, Scott, played four years in the Pittsburgh Pirates' system after graduating from Northwestern. 'My maturity comes from good preparation, which comes from just great coaching all my life,' Barczi said. 'My dad, who has been around the game for a very long time, knows his stuff. He was my coach every year growing up. So just having that pitch preparation and support that he brought really helped me with my confidence.' That coaching worked similar wonders for Barczi's older brother, Christian, who played at Valparaiso for four seasons. '(Christian) was the hardest worker I've ever seen,' Barczi said. 'There wasn't an ounce of quit in him throughout his college career. He taught me to always work your butt off and never feel sorry for yourself.' With that background, Barczi turned into a force at the plate. He was the DuPage Valley Conference's first three-time player of the year, hitting over .415 each season. 'He's the best hitter I've coached,' Stock said. 'He was at a different level than anyone I had coached before.' That meant a lot of interest from college coaches. But from early childhood, Barczi's favorite college team was Vanderbilt, which won the Men's College World Series in 2014 and 2019 and was the runner-up in 2015 and 2021. 'They were always on TV growing up,' Barczi said. 'I was like 10 years old in 2014 when they won the World Series. I remember walking around as a kid with my Vanderbilt shirt on. 'I was like, 'This is like my dream to play here.'' But eight years after that title, during the summer between Barczi's sophomore and junior years at Naperville Central, all was quiet on the Vanderbilt front as other Division I offers arrived. 'I didn't want to give up on the dream that I'd had ever since I was a kid,' he said. So before committing to play elsewhere, Barczi texted his travel coach, Tyler Thompson, pleading with him to reach out to Vanderbilt. 'It was a little last shot in the dark,' Barczi said. He nervously waited for a response. Only a few minutes later, Thompson texted back, saying Vanderbilt was actually keeping tabs on Barczi. In fact, the coaches wanted to see him play, and they did. But Barczi kept waiting. Later that summer, Barczi was walking on a beach in Alabama between games in a travel tournament when his phone rang. Vanderbilt assistant Mike Baxter was on the line. Barczi picked up instantly. 'We'd love to have you here,' Barczi recalled Baxter saying. Barczi accepted on the spot. At last, he was Vanderbilt-bound. 'It was a little surreal,' he said. As a freshman for the Commodores, Barczi backed up Alan Espinal, one of the nation's top catchers at the time. Then the Colorado Rockies selected Espinal in the 11th round of the 2024 MLB draft, and Barczi became the starting catcher. 'Barz has a very even disposition for the game and is a very respected teammate,' Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said. 'He possesses all the physical tools that you would look for in a catcher. 'Colin became a very important piece of our lineup toward the end of last year.' But the Commodores' season ended in the regionals of the NCAA Tournament with losses to Louisville and Wright State. It's not enough for Barczi to play at his dream college. He wants to win there. 'We have to make it to Omaha now,' he said. 'We've got to bring home a national championship.'
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
The crucial contributors who need to shake off quiet first halves if the Mets and Yankees are to reach their goals
The Mets and Yankees enter the All-Star break with all of their goals intact. The two teams are close to first place in their respective divisions — the Mets trail the Phillies by a half game and the Yankees are two back of the Blue Jays — despite dreadful June stretches. Obviously, the two rosters will look different after the July 31 trade deadline. But to get to where they want to go, both the Mets and the Yankees will need better performances from some key players. Below are four guys to watch:
