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DALLAS — Quinn Ewers finally got a chance to play in his first Red River Showdown, and he made the most of it, leading Texas to a historic 49-0 win over Oklahoma on Saturday.

After getting the starting nod late this week following recovery from a clavicle injury suffered in Week 2 against Alabama, Ewers threw for a career-high 289 yards, completing 21 of 31 passes for four touchdowns and one interception.

The redshirt freshman from Southlake Carroll, who played high school football about 30 miles from the Cotton Bowl, said it was a dream to play in this game.

“I know all these guys were pretty excited, but growing up a fan, I always wanted to play in this one,” Ewers said. “So it’s pretty special.”

Ewers’ demeanor in the raucous environment of the rivalry game in the middle of the State Fair of Texas impressed his teammates.

“His poise in any situation is unmatched,” said Jordan Whittington, who caught five passes for 97 yards. “He just looks calm, relaxed the whole time. If you went to war with somebody and you look at him and he’s freaking out, you’d probably freak out. You got Quinn in a war with you, you’re just chilling. So I’d be relaxed, too.”

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said he didn’t decide on who would be the starter until late in the week after both Hudson Card and Ewers, who had been struggling with injuries, looked healthier than they had been in weeks.

“I know everyone thinks this was the plan all along or something,” Sarkisian said. “I didn’t notify Quinn or Hud of what was going to happen this week, literally, until Thursday afternoon.”

But he said both quarterbacks were ready, and he was happy about how Ewers performed.

“Quinn was spot on,” Sarkisian said. “The ball was going where it was supposed to go, on time. And the playmakers made their plays. … In the end, he was ready, and that’s why we did what we did.”

The blowout made history for both teams, marking Texas’ biggest margin of victory in the 118-game series as well as the Longhorns’ first shutout win over OU since 1965. For the Sooners, it was their biggest shutout loss in history, surpassing a 47-0 defeat by Oklahoma State in 1945, and was the third-largest margin of defeat in program history. After a 55-24 loss to TCU last week, the Sooners have now lost back-to-back games by more than 30 points for the first time in school history.

It also ended a 311-game scoring streak by Oklahoma, which was the seventh longest in the FBS, and ended an FBS-best streak of 167 straight games with an offensive touchdown.

Without Dillon Gabriel, who is in concussion protocol and was ruled out this week by Oklahoma coach Brent Venables after suffering a blow to the head in last week’s loss to TCU, the Sooners tried a patchwork approach at QB, using backup Davis Beville, who went 6-of-12 for 38 yards and an interception, along with Wildcat formation plays featuring a tight end, running back and wide receiver taking direct snaps, before true freshman Nick Evers entered the game in the fourth quarter. Venables would say after the game only that Gabriel was progressing, and the Sooners will be monitoring his availability.

Oklahoma managed just 195 yards and 11 first downs. The Sooners’ leading receiver, Brayden Willis, had two catches for 25 yards.

“We were good enough on both sides of the ball to be a lot more competitive and have a chance to win the game than what we displayed,” Venables said. “The responsibility starts with me, and I obviously did a very poor job.”

For Texas, which had lost four straight to Oklahoma, it was a chance to celebrate, particularly for seniors like linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, who is finally able to bring the Golden Hat trophy back to Austin.

“Not being able to bring the hat home four years in a row, it was heartbreaking,” Overshown said. “But leaving with it this year, you’re never going to forget that. … Now when people ask us about our senior year what happened with the OU game, we can tell them with a smile on our face, ‘Yeah, go ahead and sit down.'”

Ewers didn’t downplay the significance of what it meant for him to win the game for his home state.

“We all circled this one on the calendar,” he said. “Especially to all of us because they come into our state, you know, and we own the state. For them to come in and for us to finally get the hat back, it’s a lot of fun.”

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Ohtani blasts two HRs to halt 10-game drought

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Ohtani blasts two HRs to halt 10-game drought

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani hit two homers in an 11-5 win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night, emphatically ending the three-time MVP’s longest homer drought since joining the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ohtani led off the bottom of the first with his 24th homer, hammering Landen Roupp‘s fourth pitch 419 feet deep into the right-field bleachers with an exit velocity of 110.3 mph.

The slugger had been in a 10-game homer drought since June 2, going 10-for-40 in that stretch with no RBIs, although he still had an eight-game hitting streak during his power outage.

Ohtani led off the sixth with his 25th homer, sending Tristan Beck‘s breaking ball outside the strike zone into the bleachers in right. He also moved one homer behind the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh for the overall major league lead.

Dodgers fans brought him home with a standing ovation as Ohtani produced his third multihomer game of the season and the 22nd of his career.

Ohtani reached base four times and scored three runs in his first four at-bats, drawing two walks to go with his two homers.

Ohtani hadn’t played in 10 straight games without hitting a homer since 2023 in the final 10 games of his six-year tenure with the Los Angeles Angels.

Ohtani had slowed down a bit over the past two weeks after he was named the NL Player of the Month for May with a formidable performance, racking up 15 homers and 28 RBIs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Dobbins’ second win over Yanks caps ‘fun’ week

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Dobbins' second win over Yanks caps 'fun' week

BOSTON — Hunter Dobbins had quite the week.

First, he said last weekend that he would rather retire than pitch for the Yankees because his father was drafted by New York twice before being traded.

Then, he went out and beat the Yankees.

A few days after his comments about never wanting to pitch for New York, he had to defend his dad’s story about being drafted by the Yankees in response to a New York Post article that cited multiple official databases and the Yankees’ own records that couldn’t confirm Lance Dobbins ever played with the organization.

On Saturday night, Dobbins (4-1) followed up by going six shutout innings in Boston’s 4-3 victory over New York, his second win over the Yankees in less than a week.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I’m more worried about just the win column, whether it’s against them or anybody. My job is to try and help this team win as many ballgames as we can, and pitch in meaningful playoff baseball games. That’s what I’m more focused on.”

But he realizes what it means to the fan base in this longtime rivalry, with the Red Sox fans heard chanting about the Yankees outside the park before he spoke in an interview room.

“Yeah, I love being able to perform and get those wins for the fans here,” he said. “They deserve it. It’s a great city, passionate fan base, so being able to get those wins — especially twice in one week — means a lot and looking forward to trying to build on that going forward.”

In his victory over New York last Sunday, Dobbins held the Yankees to three runs over five innings, two on a first-inning homer by Aaron Judge.

On Saturday night, Judge went 0-for-3 against him, striking out twice on curveballs.

“It was just kind of scouting,” Dobbins said of his game plan against New York’s slugger after Garrett Crochet struck him out three times in the series opener Friday.

“Crochet has an electric fastball. I can throw it hard, but the shape isn’t quite as elite,” he said. “So we knew we had better weapons to go at him with, so I felt like we did a good job of kind of keeping a balanced attack throughout the order.”

Dobbins struck out five and gave up only two singles Saturday.

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Rockies have worst 70-game mark since 1899

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Rockies have worst 70-game mark since 1899

ATLANTA — Kyle Farmer just shrugged when asked about being part of a Colorado Rockies team that has the fewest wins through 70 games since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.

“We don’t care,” Farmer said after Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves left Colorado with a 13-57 record.

The Rockies have the fourth-fewest wins by any team through their first 70 decisions in a season in MLB history, and the fewest since the 1899 Spiders won 12 of their first 70 decisions. Colorado (.186 win percentage) is currently on pace to go 30-132 this season.

“I mean, there’s nothing we can do about it,” Farmer said. “It is what it is. We’ve just got to show up tomorrow and play. There’s nothing you can really say about it except that if it happens, it happens.”

The Rockies made more inglorious history by setting a franchise nine-inning record with 19 strikeouts. That’s a lot of futility for one team to absorb in one day.

The 19 strikeouts by Braves pitchers also set an Atlanta record for a nine-inning game. Spencer Strider recorded 13 strikeouts in six innings, followed by relievers Rafael Montero and Dylan Lee, who combined for six more whiffs.

The only bright spot for the Rockies was the encouraging start by rookie right-hander Chase Dollander, a native of Evans, Georgia, who allowed four runs, three earned, in six innings.

The Rockies have 10 fewer wins than the Chicago White Sox, who have the second-worst record in the majors at 23-48.

Dollander said “just having a neutral mindset” is the key to remaining positive through a season already filled with low points for the team.

“Don’t ride the roller coaster,” Dollander said. “You know, there’s going to be lots of ups and downs in this game. This game is really hard. So it’s just, you know, staying neutral and we just keep going.”

Dollander was the No. 9 overall pick in the 2023 summer draft. Among other top young players on the team are catcher Hunter Goodman, who might return to Atlanta for the All-Star Game on July 15, and outfielders Jordan Beck and Brenton Doyle.

“You know we’re going to have our time,” Dollander said. “I mean, it’s just one of those things that you kind of learn as you go. I’ve been very fortunate to be here for a little bit now, and I can help us going forward.”

The 34-year-old Farmer said one of his jobs is to help the younger players endure the losses.

“For sure, keeping guys accountable and teaching them the right way to do stuff,” said Farmer, the first baseman whose double off Strider was one of only four hits for the Rockies.

“Keeping their heads up and they’ve got to show up each day and play, no matter our record. It’s your job and you worked your whole life to get here. Enjoy it. This is a great opportunity for a young guy to show what they can do.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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