Andy Pages' 3-run homer pushes Dodgers to 5-4 win over Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) slides into home plate to score as San Francisco Giants catcher Logan Porter, right, looks on during the first inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May (85) delivers to a San Francisco Giants batter during the first inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
San Francisco Giants pitcher Sean Hjelle throws to a Los Angeles Dodgers batter during the first inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Andy Pages watches his home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Andy Pages (44) celebrates with sunflower seeds after hitting a home run as designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) reacts during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Andy Pages (44) celebrates with sunflower seeds after hitting a home run as designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) reacts during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) slides into home plate to score as San Francisco Giants catcher Logan Porter, right, looks on during the first inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May (85) delivers to a San Francisco Giants batter during the first inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
San Francisco Giants pitcher Sean Hjelle throws to a Los Angeles Dodgers batter during the first inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Andy Pages watches his home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Andy Pages (44) celebrates with sunflower seeds after hitting a home run as designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) reacts during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Andy Pages hit a game-turning three-run home run in the fifth inning, Shohei Ohtani had three hits and scored two runs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 5-4 on Sunday night.
The Dodgers trailed 3-2 when Ohtani and Mookie Betts singled to open the fifth. Freddie Freeman grounded out and Teoscar Hernández struck out, before Pages drove a slider from Giants reliever Ryan Walker into the left-center field pavilion for his 13th homer and a 5-3 lead.
Advertisement
Pages also had a sacrifice fly in the first, and Tommy Edman hit a solo homer in the second to help the Dodgers push their National League West lead to two games over San Francisco.
Dodgers right-hander Dustin May (4-4) overcame control problems to complete six innings in which he gave up three runs and six hits, walked four, hit two batters and struck out three. Tanner Scott struck out the side in the ninth for his 13th save.
Giants right-hander Sean Hjelle replaced scheduled starter Kyle Harrison, who was traded to Boston in the blockbuster deal for Rafael Devers about 20 minutes before first pitch, and allowed two runs and three hits in 3 2/3 innings. Reliever Joey Lucchesi (0-1), who replaced Harrison on the roster, took the loss.
Jung Hoo Lee capped a three-run fourth inning for the Giants with a two-run triple. Daniel Johnson pinch-hit a solo homer off Dodgers reliever Kirby Yates in the eighth.
Advertisement
Key moment
The Giants had a chance to extend their 3-2 lead when they loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but May got Logan Porter to ground out to third, ending the inning.
Key stat
Pages is batting .313 (25 for 80) with four homers and 17 RBIs in 21 games since May 24.
Up next
Dodgers right-hander Ben Casparius (4-1, 2.86 ERA) will start Monday night's series opener against San Diego in Los Angeles. Giants left-hander Robbie Ray (8-1, 2.55) will start Tuesday night's series opener against Cleveland in San Francisco.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
40 minutes ago
- Forbes
Former Yankees Pitcher Sam Militello Has Had A ‘Rewarding' 25 Years With The Tampa Spartans
Sam Militello is part of an impressive 'Who's Who' of Tampa baseball that includes two of his Jefferson High School teammates, Tino Martinez and Luis Gonzalez. He and Martinez overlapped one season at the University of Tampa, where Militello returned following a pro career and has spent the last quarter century as a coach. 'Being a Tampa guy, I grew up watching Dwight Gooden, who was something special,' said the 55-year-old, in his office at UT's Bob Martinez Athletics Center four days after the Spartans took a doubleheader from Central Missouri to win yet another Division-II national title. 'I got to play against Gary Sheffield and Carl Everett. All these studs from Tampa, which has been a hotbed for a long time. All of the Tampa major leaguers know each and it is like a little club that we have.' It was quite a club the left-handed pitcher was part of in three seasons (1988-90) at UT. Militello was on the front end of a 35-year string of success that has seen the Spartans win 10 national titles. While the first of those championships was in 1992, two years after he was a sixth-round selection of the Yankees, the wheels along the Hillsborough River began turning big time in the mid-to-late 1980s. Militello had much to with that, though he needed a reassuring phone call when it came to deciding what school to attend. 'I spoke with Tino's father when I was deciding where to go to school,' said Militello, of the late Rene Martinez. 'I asked why Tino went to UT. He could have gone anywhere in the country. After that conversation, I hung up the phone and said, 'I am going to UT.'' It was a good choice. In 1990, his junior and final year at UT, Militello went 15-2 with a 1.75 ERA to earn Division-II player of the year honors. His effort helped the Spartans make it to the national championship series and place third. That same year, Martinez made his MLB debut with the Mariners, who selected him 14th overall in 1988. '(UT's) success started with Tino, before I got here,' said Militello, who as a youth made the three-block walk to Al Lopez Field to see he his beloved Cincinnati Reds train. 'He came here and the landscape of UT baseball changed.' Militello is a big reason why the program continues to excel at an extremely high level 35 years after he last toed the rubber for the Spartans. Militello made his MLB debut with the Yankees as a 22-year-old in August 1992. It was an impressive debut, blanking the visiting Red Sox on one hit in seven innings to earn the win. He went 3-3 with a 3.60 ERA in nine starts. Shoulder injuries began to plague him the following season and he spent much of the next few years attempting to work through the ailments in the hope of returning to the big time. It was not meant to be. Militello's playing career was over at age 26. The Yankees offered Militello a scouting position, though he was far more interested in coaching. As luck would have it, the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays, as they were then known, were to begin play in 1998 and commence minor league and player development operations in 1997, a year after Militello threw his final pitch. Militello reached out to few people he knew in the Yankees' player development system, a couple of whom left the organization to join the expansion club. He confided in Mitch Lukevics, who remains with the Rays as a senior adviser for player development, and Bill Livesey, Tampa Bay's director of player development before he became an assistant to then-general manager Chuck LaMar. 'I wanted to coach because I was a student of the game and I loved it, so the teaching part came easy,' he said. 'I called Bill and Mitch, met with them and talked about creating a position as a rehab pitching coach. They thought I would be perfect for that.' Militello worked with minor leaguers and rehabbing big leaguers for two years before Tampa Bay did away with the position. He reached out to Mike Brown, his pitching coach with the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, who by that point was working in the Cleveland organization. Militello spent the next two years coaching in the Indians' system before an opportunity arose back home. Terry Rupp was a teammate of Militello's at UT in 1988 and, following stints as a minor league player and manager, returned to the university in 1996 to be Spartans' head coach. In the fall of 2000, Rupp asked Militello if he was interested in being the pitching coach. Done deal. However, Rupp left to take over at Maryland shortly after Militello was brought on board. It made sense to offer the former Spartans' pitcher the job, though something was missing. 'They wanted me to be the head coach, but I didn't have my degree because I left after my junior year,' said Militello, noting university higher ups required a degree to be a head coach. 'I told Cleveland, 'Hold on, I might be back.'' There was no going back. Not when another former UT teammate, Joe Urso, was handed the keys to the program. 'Joe surfaced late in the (hiring) process and he wanted me to stay, so I ended up staying,' said Militello, who completed his 25th season with Urso as pitching coach and, essentially, a co-head coach. 'Little did I know that 25 years later I would still be in the same spot, which I am totally fine with and have been totally fine with all along.' Opportunities to become a head coach, including at Division-I institutions, arose especially early in his UT tenure. However, Militello has been and remains literally and figuratively right at home. 'When I am asked if I want to be a head coach, my response is, 'I am,'' he said. 'Joe treats me that way. He includes me in all decisions and we are to the point we know what each other is thinking. At the time (I was hired), I thought I might move on to something else, but this is home with my family is here. It has been great.' Militello is a pillar for Urso to lean on. Someone who he not only has known and trusted since they played at UT, but has a like-minded view of how the program should be run in the larger picture as well as the day-to-day grind of a season. 'Every decision we make, we make together,' said Urso, who played at rival Plant High and played all or part of six seasons in the Angels' system before managing a rookie-level club within the organization. 'Nothing is done without both of us putting our stamp on it. We have had two head coaches here for a long time and that is the strength of this program. It's the consistency at the top and I am lucky to have Sam.' The Spartans have won seven national titles under Urso/Militello. The last five have been with another former Spartan and Angels' minor leaguer, Jose Jimenez, serving as an assistant coach and recruiting director. Yet another former UT player and Angels farmhand, Christopher Rosenbaum, has assisted the past three seasons following more than a decade as a scout with the Nationals, Mariners and Astros. Not surprisingly, there is continuity at the JV level with Mark Johnson, a UT teammate of Urso's and Militello's, running the show. He was assisted for a couple of years by former Royals minor leaguer, Daniel Mercado, who now helps the varsity. 'Joe and I have been here 25 years and people know what to expect,' said Militello, who received his degree in exercise science in 2005. 'Our players know what to expect from us every day because we have been doing it here for so long.' Not that maintaining UT's family-like culture has gotten easier, especially when the transfer portal is seemingly humming 24/7. The Spartans have had their share of transfers, which makes the fall critical when it comes to bonding. 'That's when it starts,' said Militello. 'We do golf outings, we do play shooting, we go bowling. Sometimes it is easier than others, but you keep trying and ultimately (the family atmosphere) happens.' Between transfers and first-year players, the Spartans had 19 new faces join the program this past season. One of them was C.J. Williams, who under Militello's tutelage was the Sunshine State Conference pitcher of the year. The righthander thrived in a culture that was unlike anything he had experienced. 'When they say they have built a family culture, they mean it,' said the Deerfield Beach, Fla. native, who spent two seasons at a JUCO and two seasons at FAU prior to his graduate year at UT. 'I had never seen a team, a coaching staff, the fans and (baseball) alumni all having bought in on the family aspect. That was eye-opening to me.' Now an alum, Williams is sure to continue to build and maintain a relationship with the program and university. 'It's the relationships that we have created for each of our players that I am most proud of,' said Militello. 'You bring in (new players) and they don't know each other. By the time they leave here, they are best friends, they are in each other's weddings, their kids are hanging out together. There is nothing more rewarding for Joe and I.'
Fox News
42 minutes ago
- Fox News
Malik Tillman finally has his moment with the U.S. men's team: 'He's a baller'
Print Close Published June 16, 2025 SAN JOSE, Calif. — The surprise on Chris Richards' face said it all. Told following the U.S. men's national team's resounding 5-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday that three-year veteran Malik Tillman had scored his first two goals for the USMNT, Richards couldn't believe it. "I had no idea," said the U.S. center back. "Malik, to be fair, he doesn't speak that much, so I wouldn't have known that. But that's crazy." Tillman earned the first of his 20 International caps in 2022. One of the final cuts from the USMNT's 2022 World Cup roster, the German-born Bayern Munich product is coming off a career season with PSV Eindhoven, which he helped win the last two Dutch titles and advance to the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League in consecutive seasons. Despite missing a chunk of the 2024-25 campaign because of injury, he still managed to score 16 goals in 34 appearances for PSV last term. Still, he'd never found the net at international level until Sunday. With most of the Americans' top stars — Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Antonee "Jedi" Robinson and Tim Weah among them — missing for various reasons this summer, this Gold Cup and the two tuneups before it represent an opportunity for others to make their mark. Tillman, who manned an attacking midfield role for coach Mauricio Pochettino against the Soca Warriors, has made the most of his opportunity so far. He was the best U.S. player in last weekend's 2-1 loss to Türkiye. On Sunday, he was even better — with the goals to show for it. The 23-year-old opened the scoring for the hosts 16 minutes in, then doubled his team's lead before halftime. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time," Tillman, his voice barely above a whisper as always, said after earning Man of the Match honors. "A lot of people have been waiting as well." Given his pedigree, Tillman's quality has never been in doubt. But until Sunday, he had struggled to duplicate his form for PSV with the national team — in part because his path to logging regular minutes was blocked. Now, with fellow attackers like Pulisic, Weah and Gio Reyna absent, he has his first real chance to occupy a significant role at the international level. The payoff has been a long time coming, both for Tillman and the USMNT "I understand him better now," said Pochettino, who replaced former coach Gregg Berhalter last September. "October, November, when we met for the first time, I think it was difficult to create this relationship that the player needs, and the coach needs, to trust each other," Pochettino said. "That is about time. Now, after a few weeks together, I really start to understand him, and he starts to understand us. "He's a fantastic kid," the former Chelsea, Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain manager continued. "He's a talented player, one of the most talented players I think that we have in the USA." Tillman wasn't the only player to stand out against T&T. Diego Luna assisted on Tillman's second goal, then set up the Americans' third when his low shot hit striker Patrick Agyemang and then the back of the net. Luca de la Torre, who made the U.S. roster for the last World Cup but didn't play in Qatar, bossed the midfield alongside newcomer Sebastian Berhalter. With two late helpers, fullback Max Arfsten rebounded from a poor performance in last week's 4-0 loss to Switzerland. Haji Wright, another 2022 vet, scored the Americans' fifth on Sunday in clinical fashion. The victory simultaneously snapped a four-match losing skid and set the U.S. up well for its final two group games, against guest team Saudi Arabia and Haiti. (The Saudis beat the Haitians 1-0 in Sunday's nightcap. "That is only one victory," Pochettino said. "Now we need to see the next one." With the 2026 World Cup on home soil now less than a year away, the opportunity ins't lost on his players. "It's the last tournament that we have before the World Cup," Tillman said. "So it's very important for us to show ourselves, to show that we are still there, that we're still a good team, even though some players are not here." Nobody boosted their stock on Sunday as much as Tillman, who is finally beginning to show U.S. fans and players alike his personality, both on and off the field. "From the outside, he's very quiet. But then once you get to know him he's a teddy bear," said Richards of Tillman, who he's known since both were playing in Bayern's reserve squad six years ago. "When I first met him he didn't speak any English, and now he's playing for the national team," Richards added. "It's really amazing to not just see him develop as a player, but as a person. And he fully deserved two goals today. "He's a baller." Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men's and women's national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ ByDougMcIntyre . Print Close URL
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Shohei Ohtani to make his long-awaited return to the mound in an abbreviated start for the Dodgers
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani is making his Los Angeles Dodgers pitching debut, 643 days after the two-way superstar had elbow surgery. Ohtani will start and pitch an inning or two against the San Diego Padres on Monday night in the series opener. 'He's ready to make his debut on the mound,' Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday night after the NL West leaders beat San Francisco. The Japanese right-hander has been throwing simulated games recently in preparation for his return while still wielding his powerful bat in the lineup. Typically, pitchers returning from injuries go on minor-league rehab assignments, but Ohtani is an exception. The three-time MVP is batting .290 with 25 homers, which leads the National League, 41 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in the leadoff spot. While Ohtani won't be throwing deep into the game, just his presence on the mound figures to bolster a staff that has been decimated by injuries. The Dodgers have eight starters, including Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, and six relievers on the injured list. Since Ohtani is already on the roster as the designated hitter, the Dodgers are essentially adding an extra pitcher without having to make a corresponding roster move. Ohtani helped the Dodgers win their eighth World Series title — and his first — last season, the first of a $700 million, 10-year contract. He hasn't pitched since 2023, when he was with the Los Angeles Angels. He had a record of 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts. His last mound appearance was on Aug. 23, 2023, when he got hurt during a start against Cincinnati. He had Tommy John surgery on Oct. 1, 2018, and is recovering from right elbow surgery on Sept. 19, 2023. 'There's been a lot of anticipation,' Roberts said. 'It's good for our team. Our guys are excited about this potential. And obviously, most important, I'm excited for Shohei.' As a pitcher, Ohtani has a 3.01 ERA and 608 strikeouts in 481 2/3 innings in his major league career. ___ AP MLB:
