The Sports Report: Dodgers win their ninth in a row

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

From Jack Harris: Fifty-eight days ago, the Dodgers were in third place in their division. They were in the midst of a month-long skid. And they were only a game clear of the playoff cut line, clinging to the National League’s final wild-card position.

So no, manager Dave Roberts acknowledged Tuesday, not even he could have imagined his team surging so quickly, so dominantly and (to many external on-lookers, at least) so unexpectedly to their current place in the standings.

With a 6-2 defeat of the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers continued to cement their place atop the National League West — and in the middle of the World Series picture — by winning their ninth-straight game and 13th of 14 so far in August.

They got a strong start from rookie Bobby Miller, who gave up a run in the first inning but finished his night with 18 straight outs.

They got a big inning from their lineup, which busted open a 1-1 tie with five runs in the bottom of the sixth.

And they continued to cruise past the rest of the division, staying nine games clear of the second-place San Francisco Giants with only 44 games left on the schedule.

“If you look back four or five weeks ago, could we have envisioned this situation?” Roberts asked rhetorically. “I think we could have saw ourselves playing like this. But to be in this position, it takes other teams not playing well, so it is what it is. I’m not gonna apologize for it.”

Instead, Roberts spent Tuesday afternoon warning against complacency, confident his veteran club could handle their sudden first-place cushion.

“I just want to try to stress continuing to win baseball games,” Roberts said. “We’ll see where we’re at once we get to the postseason.”

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Dodgers box score

All MLB box scores

NL WEST STANDINGS

Dodgers, 72-46
San Francisco, 64-56, 9 GB
Arizona, 60-60, 13 GB
San Diego, 57-63, 16 GB
Colorado, 46-74, 27 GB

WILD-CARD STANDINGS
top three teams qualify

Philadelphia, 65-55
San Francisco, 64-56
Miami, 63-58

Chicago, 61-58, 1 GB
Cincinnati, 62-59, 1 GB
Arizona, 60-60, 2.5 GB
San Diego, 57-63, 5.5 GB

For full standings, go here

ANGELS

Corey Seager hit two homers and drove in five runs and the AL West-leading Texas Rangers beat the slumping Angels 7-3 on Tuesday night.

Seager had a two-run homer that just cleared the left-center wall and later pulled a no-doubt shot into the right-field seats for his 12th career multihomer game. The All-Star shortstop cand former Dodger rapped his three-hit night with a two-run single in the eighth inning.

Jordan Montgomery (8-10) struck out nine without a walk over six innings in his third start for the Rangers since they got him in a trade deadline deal from last-place St. Louis. The left-hander is 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA for Texas.

Angels starter Lucas Giolito (7-9), one of their deadline acquisitions, allowed four runs while throwing a season-high 110 pitches over six innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked two.

The Angels (59-62) kept two-way star Shohei Ohtani, who can become a free agent this offseason, and made moves hoping for a playoff push. The Angels are instead 3-11 in August and now three games under .500 for the first time this season. They are eight games behind the American League’s final wild-card spot, with three teams between them and that.

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Angels box score

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AL WEST STANDINGS
Texas, 72-48
Houston, 69-52, 3.5 GB
Seattle, 64-55, 7.5 GB
Angels, 59-62, 13.5 GB
Oakland, 33-87, 39 GB

WILD-CARD STANDINGS
top three teams qualify

Tampa Bay, 72-50
Houston, 69-52
Toronto, 67-54

Seattle, 64-55, 2 GB
Boston, 64-56, 3 GB
New York, 60-60, 6.5 GB
Angels, 59-62, 8 GB
Cleveland, 58-62, 8.5 GB

For full standings, go here

LAKERS-CLIPPERS

From Andrew Greif: The NBA’s first in-season tournament, the long-developing and significant shake-up to the league’s schedule, announced key dates this week, giving an early window into where the Lakers and Clippers will be playing this season.

The tournament — whose games, with the exception of the championship, will count toward the regular-season standings — begins in November with group-play games. The 30 teams are divided into six, five-team groups. Each team will play the others in its group once.

For the Lakers, that leads to a group-play schedule of Nov. 10 at Phoenix, Nov. 14 at home against Memphis, Nov. 17 at Portland and at home Nov. 21 against Utah.

The Clippers will open Nov. 10 at Dallas and play Nov. 14 at Denver, then finish with home games Nov. 17 against Houston and Nov. 24 vs. New Orleans.

The NBA is expected to release its full season schedule on Thursday.

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CHARGERS

From Jeff Miller: J.C. Jackson said he expects to participate Thursday when the Chargers conduct a joint practice with the New Orleans Saints in Costa Mesa.

The session would mark his most significant step yet in his return from the ruptured patellar tendon that ended his 2022 season in Week 7.

“I can’t wait to see where I’m at,” Jackson said. “I get to compete against another team. It’s going to be fun. … I can’t wait till they get here.”

Entering his second year with the team, Jackson’s availability is a vital component for a defense looking to improve. If he can play, the Chargers’ secondary becomes notably deeper and more versatile.

Jackson would man the outside cornerback spot opposite Michael Davis, giving head coach Brandon Staley the option of moving Asante Samuel Jr. inside and presenting the Chargers with their most dynamic group of playmakers.

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USC FOOTBALL

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: He cheered on his teammates last year. Now, Zion Branch’s teammates are eager to return the favor.

“Yeah, Z!” safety Calen Bullock and rush end Romello Height hollered after a recent USC practice as Branch attracted a small group of reporters.

Branch could garner many more cheers this fall as the 6-foot-2 safety is preparing for his long-awaited USC debut. After he suffered a season-ending knee injury during fall camp last season, Branch is fully healthy and vying for playing time in a USC secondary that hopes to bounce back from last year’s disappointment.

The redshirt freshman toiled in the training room to be physically ready for spring practices and pored over hours of film to be mentally sharper than ever. It was the longest time Branch had ever spent away from football.

With splashy plays like a pick-six during USC’s first fall scrimmage, Branch is proving to be worth the wait.

“I feel like really I got a chance to hone in on my skills technically,” said Branch, the older brother of USC’s highly touted freshman receiver Zachariah Branch. “[I] got to hone in on my strength in the weight room and definitely in the film room, having a whole year just learning mentally and getting to watch these great safeties and great DBs we have around us.”

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LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES

From Eric Sondheimer: El Segundo is gearing up to make its debut in the Little League World Series on Thursday against a team from Ohio in Williamsport, Pa., at 4 p.m. on ESPN.

The team had to rise at 4 a.m. on Saturday for a bus ride to Ontario International Airport, then a flight back East. Several players got a stomach virus in Williamsport, but coach Danny Boehle said they’re doing better now. It was raining Tuesday, so he was waiting to watch practice to determine which one of his five pitchers might get the call to start.

El Segundo is considered one of the favorites among the 10 teams from the United States. There are also 10 international teams.

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WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

Schedule, results
All times Pacific

SEMIFINALS

Tuesday
Spain 2, Sweden 1

Wednesday
Australia vs. England, 3 a.m., Fox

THIRD-PLACE GAME

Saturday
Sweden vs. Australia or England, 1 a.m., Fox

FINAL

Sunday
Spain vs. Australia or England, 3 a.m., Fox

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1920 — Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman is hit in the head with a pitch by New York’s Carl Mays. Chapman suffers a fractured skull and dies the next day. It’s the only field fatality in major league history.

1924 — Helen Wills Moody beats Molla Bjurstedt Mallory again, 6-1, 6-3, to win her second straight singles title at the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn. championships.

1970 — Dave Stockton wins the PGA Championship by two strokes over Arnold Palmer and Bob Murphy at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.

1976 — Dave Stockton edges Raymond Floyd and Don January by one stroke to win his second PGA Championship. Stockton hits a par-saving 15-foot putt on the 72nd hole to finish with a 1-over 281 at Congressional Country Club (Blue Course) in Bethesda, Md.

1989 — Tom Drees pitches his third no-hitter of the season for Class AAA Vancouver, leading the Canadians over Las Vegas 5-0 in a seven-inning, first game of a doubleheader in the Pacific Coast League. Drees became the first pitcher in the PCL or the major leagues with three no-hitters in a year.

1992 — Nick Price holds off a comeback bid by Nick Faldo with a 1-under 70 in the final round and captures his first major title with a three-stroke victory in the PGA national championship.

2008 — In Beijing, Michael Phelps touches the wall a hundredth of a second ahead of Serbia’s Milorad Cavic to win the 100-meter butterfly. The win gives Phelps his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Games, tying Mark Spitz’s performance in the 1972 Munich Games. Usain Bolt of Jamaica runs the 100-meter dash in a stunning world-record time of 9.69 seconds for a blowout win that he starts celebrating a good 10 strides before the finish line.

2009 — Usain Bolt shatters the 100-meter world record at the World Championships in Berlin. Bolt finishes with a stunning time of 9.58 seconds, bettering his own record of 9.69 seconds set in last year’s Beijing Olympics.

2009 — Y.E. Yang of South Korea becomes the first Asian player to win one of golf’s majors with a three-stroke win over Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship.

2015 — Jason Day leads wire-to-wire in the final round at Whistling Straits to close out a record-setting PGA Championship and capture his first major title. The 27-year-old Australian finishes at 20-under 268 to beat Jordan Spieth by three shots. Day becomes the first player to finish at 20 under in a major.

2015 — Brooke Henderson wins the Cambia Portland Classic by eight strokes to become the third-youngest champion in LPGA Tour history at 17 years, 11 months, 6 days.

—Compiled by the Associated Press