The Sports Report: Shohei Ohtani makes All-Star team as a pitcher and hitter

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

Jack Harris on the Angels: After blowing an early four-run lead and trailing by one going into the bottom of the ninth on Sunday, the Angels rallied for a 6-5 win over the Baltimore Orioles, getting a walk-off two-run double from Juan Lagares to complete a three-game weekend sweep and extend their winning streak to four games.

It was the third time in the last week the Angels (42-41) scored the winning run in the ninth of a game, and lifted them back over .500 for the first time since June 13.

“It’s becoming a common theme,” manager Joe Maddon said. “There’s no quit in this group.”

After the Angels scored seven runs in the ninth inning on Wednesday to beat the Yankees, then rallied from a four-run hole en route to a walk-off win over the Orioles on Friday, they once again waited until the end of Sunday’s game to strike the winning blow.

The Angels had led 4-0 earlier in the day, scoring two runs in the first on an RBI double from Jared Walsh and RBI single from Phil Gosselin, then two more in the third on solo home runs from Shohei Ohtani (his MLB-leading 31st of the season, tying Hideki Matsui’s record for most in a single season by a Japanese-born player) and Anthony Rendon.

“I’m really excited to be at the same level with somebody I looked up to since I was young,” Ohtani said through an interpreter of matching Matsui’s mark. “However, it’s still the first half, so like I’ve said before, I want to continue to build up one hit at a time.”

The league announced Sunday that Ohtani had earned All-Star honors as a pitcher. Ohtani, who will also participate in the Home Run Derby the day before the All-Star Game, had already been voted into the game by fans last week as the American League’s starting designated hitter, becoming the first player in MLB history to earn All-Star honors as both a pitcher and position player.

Jared Walsh was also named to the team. In what has been his first season playing in an everyday role, Walsh has flourished over the first half of the year. Entering Sunday, he had a .284 batting average, .909 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 20 home runs and 60 RBIs.

With Walsh, Ohtani and Mike Trout — who also was voted into the game by fans but won’t be able to participate because of his calf injury — the Angels have three All-Stars in the same season for the first time since 2015.

TERRY DONAHUE

Ben Bolch on Terry Donahue: Terry Donahue won more football games at UCLA than any other coach, establishing a blue-and-gold standard for sustained success over his 20 seasons at the school.

None of it would have been possible without what might have been his two greatest triumphs: getting to play for and coach the Bruins.

As an undersized defensive tackle initially passed over by the school, prompting stops at San Jose State and L.A. Valley College, he went from designated practice tackling dummy to two-year starter and member of the school’s first Rose Bowl championship team.

As a coach, he rose from an untested 31-year-old to universally esteemed veteran, his 151 victories more than doubling the total of anyone else in school history. His 98 Pacific 10 victories still stand as the most in conference history.

Donahue, the perpetually tanned, self-effacing and seemingly ageless coach who guided the Bruins to their longest run of football glory under a single coach, died Sunday evening at his home in Newport Beach surrounded by family after a two-year battle with cancer, the school announced. He was 77.

UCLA had announced in May 2019 that Donahue underwent surgery for an undisclosed form of cancer and was beginning chemotherapy. Donahue is survived by his wife Andrea and three daughters, Nicole, Michele and Jennifer, in addition to three sons-in-law and 10 grandchildren.

Under Donahue, UCLA won four Pac-10 championships and tied for another. Donahue became the first coach to win a bowl game in seven straight seasons, and his teams finished ranked in the top 10 nationally five times.

DODGERS

Jorge Castillo on the Dodgers: On a day Major League Baseball announced the reserves for the All-Star game, it was Albert Pujols — a 41-year-old future Hall of Famer signed two months ago as a platoon player six years removed from his 10th and likely final All-Star appearance — delivering the hit the Dodgers needed the most in their 5-1 matinee win Sunday over the Washington Nationals.

The score was tied when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts summoned Pujols, usually limited to at-bats opposite left-handers, to pinch-hit against right-hander Joe Ross. To that point, Ross was dealing, having just recorded his 11th strikeout. But Gavin Lux was at second base after a leadoff double and Pujols smelled the RBI.

He generated it by lining a sinker down the left-field line for a single to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Roberts had Tony Gonsolin, a pitcher, pinch-run for the slow-footed first baseman and the move proved prescient when Gonsolin scored from first base on Max Muncy’s double to the right-center field gap. Muncy added a two-run double in the ninth inning.

Muncy, Chris Taylor and Mookie Betts were named National League All-Stars on Sunday, Major League Baseball announced, leaving Kenley Jansen, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Julio Urías and Justin Turner among the snubs for the Dodgers.

GALAXY

Kevin Baxter on the Galaxy: For Galaxy coach Greg Vanney, the combination of a crowded schedule and the loss of several players to international duty promised to make July a test of the team’s depth.

That test got quite a bit harder Sunday when the team scratched captain Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, the league’s leading scorer, minutes before kickoff, then lost center back Sega Coulibaly to with a right abductor injury just before halftime.

However the biggest lose came on the scoreboard, with Johnny Russell scoring on the rebound of his own shot to spark Sporting Kansas City to a 2-0 win in a game the Galaxy dominated.

With the Galaxy pressed for an equalizer deep in stoppage time, Khiry Shelton added an insurance goal on a breakaway with the final touch of the game.

Russell’s first goal of the season game in the 81st minute after Galaxy keeper Jonathan Bond batted away his first try, only to see the rebound go straight to the Kansas City captain, who headed it in from about eight yards to hand the Galaxy their second consecutive loss at home and move second-place Kansas City (8-3-2) ahead of the third-place Galaxy (7-4-0) in the Western Conference standings.

OLYMPICS

Helene Elliott on the Olympics: Shae Anderson knew something was terribly wrong with her father the moment she saw his whole body begin to tremble and his face turn pale.

Mark Anderson, a two-time all-America decathlete at UCLA who won the 1980 NCAA championship and still holds the school record in the event, had coached Shae through a busy track season. She was part of a 1,600-meter relay team that finished third at the NCAA championships in a school-record time of 3 minutes, 25.01 seconds and, after a quick turnaround, she reached the final of the women’s 400-meter race at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Ore., last month.

The 2017 California state champion in the 300-meter hurdles and the 400-meter run at Norco High, Shae began her college career in Oregon but transferred to UCLA in part to work with her dad. He paused his career as a personal growth coach and motivational speaker to become a volunteer coach at UCLA and guide his daughter toward an Olympic dream he didn’t get the chance to live.

Shae’s Olympic aspirations crystallized on June 20, after she finished eighth in a stacked 400-meter final in a personal-best time of 50.84 seconds. Quanera Hayes won in 49.78 seconds, followed by nine-time Olympic medalist Allyson Felix of Los Angeles (50.02) and Wadeline Jonathas (50.03). That trio was nominated to the Olympic team. “It was a very crazy race,” Shae said.

Soon afterward Anderson was told she would go to the Tokyo Olympics as a member of the relay pool.

Two days later, as Mark developed severe and inexplicable stomach pain while in his hotel room in Oregon, their plans and their world changed.

————

‘Embrace the freak-out:’ Athletes cope with wrecked schedules ahead of Tokyo Olympics

Sha’Carri Richardson Olympic ban: Why is marijuana still prohibited?

SPARKS

Thuc Nhi Nguyen on the Sparks: The Sparks lost their fourth straight game Sunday, falling 84-74 to the Seattle Storm at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Brittney Sykes had 19 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high five assists, but the Sparks (6-11) were overpowered by 21 points from former MVP Breanna Stewart and 20 points and nine rebounds from center Ezi Magbegor.

The Sparks went winless in their three-game homestand and now travel to Seattle for a rematch Wednesday before returning home to play the Minnesota Lynx next Sunday in the final game before the month-long Olympic break. For an injury-riddled Sparks team, the break can’t come soon enough.

NBA PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE/RESULTS

All times Pacific

NBA FINALS

Phoenix vs. Milwaukee
Tuesday: at Phoenix, 6 p.m., ABC
Thursday: at Phoenix, 6 p.m., ABC
Sunday: at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., ABC
Wednesday, July 14: at Milwaukee, 6 p.m., ABC
*Saturday, July 17: at Phoenix, 6 p.m., ABC
*Tuesday, July 20: at Milwaukee, 6 p.m., ABC
*Thursday, July 22: at Phoenix, 6 p.m., ABC

*-if necessary

NHL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE/RESULTS

STANLEY CUP FINALS
All times Pacific

No. 2 Tampa Bay vs. No. 4 Montreal

Tampa Bay 5, Montreal 1
Tampa Bay 3, Montreal 1
Tampa Bay 6, Montreal 3
Today: at Montreal, 5 p.m., NBC
*Wednesday: at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m., NBC
*Friday, July 9: at Montreal, 5 p.m., NBC
*Sunday, July 11: at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m., NBC

*-if necessary

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1919 — Suzanne Lenglen beats reigning champion Dorothea Lambert Chambers 10-8, 4-6, 9-7, in the challenge round to win her first women’s singles title at Wimbledon.

1930 — Bill Tilden beats Wilmer Allison 6-3, 9-7, 6-4, to capture his third men’s singles title at Wimbledon.

1947 — Larry Doby becomes the first Black man to play in the American League. He strikes out as a pinch-hitter for the Cleveland Indians in a 6-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

1952 — Maureen Connolly wins her first of three straight women’s singles title at Wimbledon, defeating Louise Brough 6-4, 6-3.

1968 — The Philadelphia 76ers trade Wilt Chamberlain, basketball’s greatest offensive player, to the Lakers after they are unable to sign him to a contract.

1968 — Australia’s Rod Laver wins the first open Wimbledon tennis championship, defeating countryman Tony Roche 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Laver becomes the first player since Fred Perry (1934-36) to win the men’s title three straight times.

1975 — Arthur Ashe beats Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon. It’s the first all-American final since 1947. Connors, the defending champion, had not dropped a set in the previous six matches.

1980 — Bjorn Borg of Sweden wins his fifth men’s title at Wimbledon, defeating John McEnroe 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 8-6.

1992 — Andre Agassi beats Goran Ivanisevic 6-7 (8-10), 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in the Wimbledon men’s final to win his first Grand Slam title.

1996 — Frankie Fredericks edges Michael Johnson to win the men’s 200 meters at the Bislett Games in Norway, snapping the American world champion’s winning streak of 21 races.

1997 — Martina Hingis, 16, becomes the youngest player to win Wimbledon since 1887. Hingis comes back for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Jana Novotna.

2003 — Serena Williams beats sister Venus 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 for her second straight Wimbledon title. It’s her fifth championship in the last six Grand Slams, each capped by a victory over Venus.

2008 — Venus Williams wins her fifth Wimbledon singles title, beating younger sister Serena Williams 7-5, 6-4 in the final. Defending champion Venus is 5-2 in Wimbledon finals, losing only to Serena in 2002 and ’03.

2009 — Roger Federer wins his record 15th Grand Slam title when he outlasts Andy Roddick for his sixth Wimbledon championship in a marathon match that went to 16-14 in the fifth set.

2012 — Harness racing driver Dave Palone breaks Herve Filion’s North American record for career victories when he pilots Herculotte Hanover to victory in the eighth race at The Meadows in Washington, Pa. The win is the 15,181st of Palone’s 30-year career.

2014 — Petra Kvitova overwhelms Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0 in less than an hour to win Wimbledon for the second time.

2015 — The United States wins its third Women’s World Cup title and first since 1999 with a 5-2 victory over Japan behind a first-half hat trick by Carli Lloyd

And finally

The U.S. wins the women’s World Cup. Watch it here.