Dodgers sticking with Roki Sasaki’s development at big-league level

• May 11, 2025

PHOENIX — After eight largely underwhelming starts, it’s obvious that Roki Sasaki is – as the Dodgers asserted when they signed him last winter – not a finished product.

But whatever development the 23-year-old right-hander needs will have to be made at the major-league level. The Dodgers have no intention of sending him to the minors to work on the improvements they acknowledge he needs to make.

“I don’t think that a minor-league stint is in any of our minds right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But I do think that this learning up here is very, very valuable.”

Roberts equated Sasaki’s struggles to “a finishing school” and said it was something the Dodgers were “prepared for” in Sasaki’s rookie year. Through eight starts, he has a 4.72 ERA, 1.49 WHIP and, perhaps most disappointing, only 6.3 strikeouts per nine innings.

“There’s nothing more impactful than going through a particular experience. He’s going through some struggles right now,” Roberts said. “Major-league hitters tell you what adjustments you need to make. Coaches can tell you things. He can think some things. But ultimately … you can make adjustments and he will make adjustments given how the hitters respond. I think you learn that by doing that here.”

Most puzzling in Sasaki’s rookie season is the diminished velocity and lack of effectiveness of his fastball. Renowned for touching 102 mph in Japan, that high-end velocity has been seen only briefly as a Dodger (in the first inning of his MLB debut in Tokyo). He has averaged 96 mph on his four-seam fastball with fluctuations like Friday when he averaged just 94.9 mph against the Diamondbacks and did not get a single swing-and-miss with the pitch.

Sasaki has expressed his own concern about his fastball. During his recruiting visits last winter, he asked teams to explain the drop in his velocity last season. After his start Friday, he acknowledged that he and the Dodgers’ coaches are “really still in this process of finding out what the root cause (is).”

Roberts said he is less concerned about the diminished velocity and is “more concerned about the command.”

“Because if you don’t have velocity when you’re talking 98, 99 (mph), then command becomes more of a priority,” Roberts said. “When you’re throwing mid-90s, 94, then you have to really command the baseball. So that’s what we’re going to work on as a group. Roki understands that. And this is still his first season here, so there has to be some grace, as he’s kind of learning this league and kind of getting his footing.”

OHTANI WORK

Right-hander Shohei Ohtani threw his weekly bullpen session Saturday with one new addition. His 35 pitches were split up (20 and 15) over two simulated innings with a break in between.

“I thought he threw the baseball well,” said Roberts, who observed the session in the visitors’ bullpen at Chase Field. “I still don’t know what the next progression is, but as of today, today was a good day for Shohei.”

Ohtani still has not incorporated his slider into his throwing sessions and won’t face hitters until he does. But he has touched 95 mph during these bullpen sessions and Roberts acknowledged he can’t help but start imagining Ohtani on the mound in games for the Dodgers when he watches these throwing sessions.

“I’m trying to temper it, because I know that we’re being very methodical with this – clearly,” Roberts said. “But yeah, when you see the arm and see what he can do, you sort of – I put my head in the place of how he can help us right now. But (I’m) trying to be patient.”

RING CEREMONY

Retiree Daniel Hudson visited the Dodgers at Chase Field Saturday and was presented with his 2024 World Series ring and the special gold jerseys the Dodgers wore for the ring ceremony at Dodger Stadium.

“I’m not going to take it off for 24 hours, then it’s going in the safe,” said Hudson, who also won a World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019.

“We came into last year with such high expectations. Thankfully, we were able to meet those expectations. Just a very, very fun group to be a part of. I’m just very blessed to have been asked to come back and be a part of it. Going into the previous offseason, I wasn’t sure if I was going to play again. To decide that I was going to give it another shot and to go out a World Series champion is pretty special.”

COMING/GOING

Right-hander Yoendrys Gomez was claimed on waivers by the Chicago White Sox. Gomez was designated for assignment by the Dodgers after three appearances.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers signed veteran reliever Lou Trivino to a minor-league contract. Trivino, 33, was designated for assignment after posting a 5.84 ERA in 11 appearances with the San Francisco Giants this season. He cleared waivers and became a free agent.

Trivino was an effective reliever for the A’s from 2018 through 2022 when they traded him to the New York Yankees at the July deadline. He had a 3.86 ERA and 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings for the A’s and Yankees. He missed all of 2023 and made just 11 minor-league appearances in 2024 after Tommy John surgery and some elbow and shoulder issues that slowed his rehab.

He signed a minor-league deal with the Giants and made their roster based on a strong spring training, but gave up 11 hits, including four home runs in 12 ⅓ innings before being cut loose.

UP NEXT

Dodgers (RHP Tony Gonsolin 1-0, 4.09 ERA) at Diamondbacks (RHP Zac Gallen, 3-4, 4.37 ERA), Sunday 1:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Family of pilot from Rancho Cucamonga killed in a wildfire helicopter crash reaches a $15 million settlement

• May 11, 2025

LOS ANGELES — The family of a helicopter pilot who died when his helicopter crashed in 2020 while fighting a wildfire in Southern California reached a $15 million settlement with the company that maintained the aircraft, their attorneys said Friday.

Michael Fournier of Rancho Cucamonga was making water drops on Aug. 19, 2020 over hilly, rugged terrain when his bright red Bell UH-1H copter suddenly plunged into a hillside as he was helping battle the Hills fire burning 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of the small Central Valley town of Coalinga.

Fournier worked for a private Southern California company that contracts with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, and other agencies to provide firefighting aircraft and other services.

“The Fournier family’s lawsuit sought answers and accountability, and this result does just that,” said Andrew Robb, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit. Robb said the family would not be making any public comments.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board’s concluded that the helicopter crashed because of “a hydraulic system failure.”

Moments before the crash Fournier radioed to air traffic control that he was having trouble with the helicopter’s hydraulics, Robb said.

Fournier was working with Guardian Helicopters, which is based in Fillmore, California and at the time had a contract with Cal Fire to provide emergency services. The settlement was paid by Rotorcraft Support, Inc., the company that maintained the helicopter. A phone message left with the helicopter maintenance company was not immediately returned Friday.

Fournier’s copter went down in a remote, hilly, smoke-filled area that took a Fresno County Sheriff’s Department search and rescue team nearly four hours to reach.

Fourteen team members in five Jeeps traveled for miles through soft dirt under smoke-filled skies, finally abandoning the vehicles to walk the last several hundred yards to the crash site. There, they carefully wrapped the body in an American flag and carried it to one of the vehicles.

​ Orange County Register 

USC women’s water polo beats UCLA to reach NCAA final

• May 11, 2025

INDIANAPOLIS — No. 3 USC overcame an early three-goal deficit with a seven-goal run and held off No. 2 UCLA for a 15-13 win in the NCAA women’s water polo semifinal Saturday at IU Natatorium.

With the win, USC (29-4) advances to face top-seeded Stanford in Sunday’s national championship game. The Trojans will seek their eighth national title.

USC trailed 7-4 in the second period but cut the deficit to one by halftime. Tilly Kearns scored twice in the final minutes of the second quarter and added two more early in the third.

Ava Stryker and Rachel Gazzaniga also contributed key goals during USC’s third-quarter rally, which gave the Trojans an 11-7 lead. USC led 13-8 entering the fourth.

USC maintained at least a two-goal lead the rest of the way. UCLA closed the gap late with goals in the final two minutes, including one during a 6-on-4 advantage.

USC’s Anna Reed made multiple saves in the fourth quarter, while Kearns recorded a field block to help preserve the win.

Sunday’s NCAA championship game between USC and Stanford is scheduled for 12 p.m. ET.

​ Orange County Register 

USC women’s water polo beats UCLA to reach NCAA final

• May 11, 2025

INDIANAPOLIS — No. 3 USC overcame an early three-goal deficit with a seven-goal run and held off No. 2 UCLA for a 15-13 win in the NCAA women’s water polo semifinal Saturday at IU Natatorium.

With the win, USC (29-4) advances to face top-seeded Stanford in Sunday’s national championship game. The Trojans will seek their eighth national title.

USC trailed 7-4 in the second period but cut the deficit to one by halftime. Tilly Kearns scored twice in the final minutes of the second quarter and added two more early in the third.

Ava Stryker and Rachel Gazzaniga also contributed key goals during USC’s third-quarter rally, which gave the Trojans an 11-7 lead. USC led 13-8 entering the fourth.

USC maintained at least a two-goal lead the rest of the way. UCLA closed the gap late with goals in the final two minutes, including one during a 6-on-4 advantage.

USC’s Anna Reed made multiple saves in the fourth quarter, while Kearns recorded a field block to help preserve the win.

Sunday’s NCAA championship game between USC and Stanford is scheduled for 12 p.m. ET.

​ Orange County Register 

Angels’ Mike Trout sees progress with injured knee

• May 11, 2025

ANAHEIM — Even though Mike Trout isn’t going to return from the injured list as quickly as he hoped, he was nonetheless optimistic about the progress in his bruised left knee.

“It’s been great,” Trout said on Saturday. “I was worried in the beginning, but the sharpness I was feeling after that day in Seattle is gone.”

Trout felt pain in his knee on April 30 in Seattle. A couple days later, when the Angels placed him on the injured list, he said he thought it was possible that he could be back after the minimum 10 days, which would have been Sunday.

Trout, however, still has not done any running. He’s been riding a bike and he’s been hitting for three days, though.

Trout said he’s going with the team to San Diego for a three-game series starting Monday, and “there’s a good possibility” that he’ll start some running there.

“The biggest thing is just running,” Trout said. “I knew swinging wouldn’t bother me. It feels good. I don’t really feel anything. Just progressing to start running.”

Once Trout runs on the field — and not just on an anti-gravity treadmill — the countdown to his return can begin. For now, he said he doesn’t have a timeline.

“I don’t have a day,” he said. “But I feel great.”

Trout, 33, missed most of three of the previous four seasons with injuries. Each time, the injuries lingered much longer than the initial projection.

DETMERS’ DAY

One of the positives from the Angels’ 4-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night was left-hander Reid Detmers having a clean outing. Detmers faced three hitters, and he retired them all.

In his previous three outings, Detmers retired just one of the 13 batters that he faced.

When manager Ron Washington gave him the ball on Friday, he gave Detmers a quick pep talk.

“Trust your stuff and go out and have fun,” Detmers recalled on Saturday.

Detmers said that message “freed me up a little bit. The last couple outings, I’ve been pitching a little tight because I know I haven’t really felt the best. Just hearing him say that obviously means a lot. It just allows you to take a breath and go about your business.”

Detmers said the biggest difference in terms of his pitches was that he had better command of his curveball. He also had about 2 mph extra velocity on his fastball.

UNDER CONTROL

One of the key moments in Friday’s game was a missed call by plate umpire Adam Hamari on Nolan Schanuel. Schanuel should have walked on a 3-and-0 pitch, loading the bases in a 3-1 game. But it was called a strike, and Schanuel eventually hit a flyout.

Washington acknowledged — on Friday night and again on Saturday afternoon — that it was a bad call, but he stuck behind his decision to avoid an argument with the umpire. If a manager leaves the dugout to argue balls and strikes, it’s an automatic ejection.

“I didn’t come to the ballpark to get kicked out,” Washington said on Saturday. “Those umpires, they do a good job. I don’t think he did that on purpose. He had been calling a good game all night, and he made one bad call. Schanuel, I understand how Schanuel feels, but the at-bat isn’t over. That’s the mentality that mature players have, so he’s growing into that.”

Washington has not been ejected in his one-plus seasons with the Angels. He was ejected 15 times in eight seasons as the Texas Rangers manager.

“I yell at the umpire,” Washington said. “When it’s time for me to get thrown out, as I keep telling you guys, I will. But one time, I’m gonna run out there and get thrown out and I’m gonna point to y’all, since y’all seem to think I need to get thrown out.”

NOTES

Designated hitter Jorge Soler was not in the lineup for a second straight day because of groin tightness. Soler was still able to pinch-hit on Friday night, and he said he was available to hit on Saturday. Soler said he was feeling better on Saturday, and he hoped to be back in the lineup on Sunday. …

Right-hander Sam Bachman (thoracic outlet syndrome) had his schedule changed, and he was set for his second rehab outing on Saturday night with Class-A Inland Empire. …

Left-hander José Quijada was assigned to Double-A. The Angels designated Quijada for assignment after he performed poorly in the spring. He went unclaimed, and the Angels then kept him in Arizona until they felt he was improved sufficiently to return to competition.

UP NEXT

Orioles (TBD) at Angels (LHP Tyler Anderson, 2-0, 2.68), Sunday, 1:10 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network West, 830 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Body found in Oregon nearly 45 years ago linked to notorious serial killer arrested in OC

• May 11, 2025

A man who was found dead along Interstate 5 in Oregon has been identified after nearly 45 years and police say a notorious California serial killer is the sole person of interest in the case.

Marion County Cold Case: Larry Eugene Parks Identified as 1980 Murder Victim #ORNews #ColdCase https://t.co/sdw0m4jELn

— RN Oregon (@RightNowOregon) May 9, 2025

The 30-year-old was identified Friday as Larry Eugene Parks. Oregon State Police spokesperson Kyle Kennedy said Randy Kraft, who has been dubbed the “Scorecard Killer,” is the only person under investigation for the 1980 killing.

“There’s some evidence that we’re processing to determine that link,” Kennedy said. “We are very confident that we have the correct person of interest.”

Kraft, now 80, was convicted in 1989 of brutalizing and killing 16 men over a decade in California and sentenced to death. He remains incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison and has denied killing anyone.

On July 18, 1980, police responded to a report of a body now identified as Parks along I-5 south of Portland near Woodburn. Police opened a homicide investigation at the time and unsuccessfully tried to identify the victim.

Parks, a Vietnam veteran whose family had lost contact with him in 1979, had last been seen in Pensacola, Florida, police said.

Kraft was pulled over in his vehicle in Mission Viejo in 1983 after California Highway Patrol officers spotted him driving erratically on the 5 Freeway. In the passenger seat of the vehicle was a strangled U.S. Marine. In the trunk of Kraft’s vehicle was a coded list believed to tally 67 victims in California, Oregon and Michigan, according to police.

Prosecutors described Kraft, a former computer programmer, as a fetishist who kept some of the dismembered parts of his victims in his freezer.

In 2024, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigator reached out to the Oregon State Police Cold Case Unit and offered to help identify the remains using forensic investigative genetic genealogy. A genetic profile was developed from a blood sample and Parks’ identity was confirmed after possible family members submitted DNA profiles for comparison, according to police.

Until his identification last month, the circumstances of his disappearance were unknown to the his family, police said.

In 2023, the remains of an Iowa teenager believed to have been killed by Kraft in California were also identified using investigative genetic genealogy. Michael Ray Schlicht was found dead in 1974 in what is now Aliso Viejo.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers shut out by Corbin Burnes and Diamondbacks

• May 11, 2025

PHOENIX — When the Arizona Diamondbacks signed Corbin Burnes to a franchise-record six-year, $210 million contract last winter, just a little more than they gave Zack Greinke in 2015, this is what they hoped they were buying.

Burnes didn’t quite pitch up to his Cy Young pedigree in April and received a cortisone injection for shoulder inflammation, skipping a start and taking a 10-day break before facing the Dodgers on Saturday.

The shot worked. Burnes handcuffed the Dodgers for seven scoreless innings and reliever Ryne Nelson finished off a combined five-hit shutout of the Dodgers as the Diamondbacks won 3-0.

“I think that he was going to bring his best tonight. We figured that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Velocity was up. He was just mixing. It’s a cutter. It’s a changeup in there. He was throwing his four-seam (fastball) and we really didn’t get a whole lot of good swings against him.”

Burnes let just six balls escape the infield in his seven innings, five of them singles that proved harmless. He struck out five and got 15 outs on the infield.

“(He was just) being Corbin Burnes. He’s one of the best pitchers in the game for a reason,” said Freddie Freeman who went 0 for 4 to end his hitting streak at 14. “Cutter was 95-97 (mph), got good depth. Threw the curveball off of it. Changeup was working too. Just had everything going today.

“We were ready for him, and he was just really good today.”

The Dodgers had five hits and two walks off of Burnes and put runners in scoring position in the third, fourth and fifth innings. But they went 0 for 5 in those situations.

Hyeseong Kim was stranded at second in the third and then at third base in the fifth after a leadoff single. Kim’s speed bothered Burnes enough in the third that he balked him to second by making a third pickoff throw to first base – a disengagement violation that advanced Kim.

In the fifth, Kim led off with a single and got to third with two outs, but was stranded there.

The Dodgers got a one-out single from Andy Pages and a walk of Max Muncy to put two runners on with one out in the fourth. Burnes struck out Kike’ Hernandez and Michael Conforto to thwart that rally and retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced.

“Today he came out with his A stuff and I think you just got give credit to him tonight,” Roberts said.

Dodgers starter Dustin May gets credit for doing his part to make it a pitcher’s duel, pitching into the seventh inning for the first time since May 2023 (before his second elbow surgery and a life-threatening esophageal incident).

But he gave up two runs along the way. Speedy Corbin Carroll led off the third inning with a drive to deep center field that eluded Kim and went for a triple. Carroll scored on a ground out.

In the sixth, May left a first-pitch sinker over the inner half of the plate to Eugenio Suarez and he crushed it, launching it 455 feet into the second-level overlook in center field for a solo home run.

“I feel like I was working the sinker to both sides of the plate, and I had just two poorly executed sinkers, and they took advantage of it,” May said. “It’s the big leagues, and that’s what they do.”

After giving up 14 runs in 16 innings over his previous three starts, that represented a significant step forward for May.

“I thought Dustin was really good,” Roberts said. “I thought he was in a good rhythm, he was getting ahead in counts. He put guys away when he needed to. The sweeper was working. He worked to both sides of the plate.

“I think that after the big double play (in the sixth), he left a fastball out over to Suárez for the homer. But really outside of that, I thought he pitched really well.”

The Diamondbacks added an insurance run in the eighth inning on back-to-back doubles by Ketel Marte and Pavin Smith against Kirby Yates.

A night after scoring 14 runs, including six in the ninth inning, the Dodgers’ final six batters were retired in order by Diamondbacks reliever Ryne Nelson.

“Obviously they were looking for a guy, a workhorse, a staff ace, a guy that gets lefties out, gets righties out, can go deep into games,” Roberts said of the Diamondbacks’ signing of Burnes last winter. “That’s what they’re investing in and counting on. He did all of that tonight and we’re going to see him down the road, I’m sure, a lot.”

​ Orange County Register 

Galaxy suffer blowout loss to Red Bulls

• May 11, 2025

HARRISON, N.J. — Emil Forsberg had two goals and two assists, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting also scored two goals and the New York Red Bulls beat the LA Galaxy 7-0 on Saturday night and the extend the defending MLS Cup champions’ winless skid.

The Galaxy (0-9-3) have gone an MLS-record 12 consecutive games without a win to start the season. Their last win was a 2-1 victory over the Red Bulls on Dec. 7 to claim the 2024 MLS Cup title.

New York tied the club mark for goals in a game, set in 2016 against New York City FC.

Forsberg joined Antony De Avila (July 13, 1997) as the only players in Red Bulls history with multiple goals and assists in an MLS game.

Choupo-Moting opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a rolling shot from the right-center of the area that slipped inside the back post into the side-net. The 36-year-old in his first MLS season put away a feed from Forsberg to make it 3-0 in the 31st minute, his first multi-goal game for New York (5-4-3).

Omar Valencia played a ball ahead to Forsberg, who slipped behind the defense and beat goalkeeper John McCarthy one on one to give New York a 2-0 lead in the 16th. His free kick from 30 yards out slipped under the crossbar to make it 4-0 in the 50th minute.

Cameron Harper came on in the 67th and scored his first goal of the season in the 68th, Dennis Gjengaar made it 6-0 in the 88th minute and an own goal on LA’s Miki Yamane capped the scoring in the third minute of stoppage time.

​ Orange County Register