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ANAHEIM, Calif. — On what was in many ways a difficult afternoon, Shohei Ohtani still came strikingly close to accomplishing something unprecedented.

He missed by only a few feet.

Ohtani came to bat in Thursday’s eighth inning with a chance to become the first player in baseball history to hit for the cycle while also serving as that game’s starting pitcher. He then drove the first pitch he saw into deep center field, bringing a sparse Angel Stadium crowd to its feet — but Oakland Athletics center fielder Esteury Ruiz caught it right before crashing into the fence. It was a 389-foot out.

“It was off the end,” Ohtani said through an interpreter, “so I knew it wasn’t gone off the bat.”

But Ohtani was noticeably frustrated as he returned to the dugout in the late stages of the Los Angeles Angels‘ eventual 8-7 victory. After reaching on a broken-bat infield single in the first inning, lining an opposite-field double in the third and turning a fly ball off the right-field fence into a triple in the sixth, Ohtani faced lefty reliever Richard Lovelady in the bottom of the eighth and sought a slider. He got it on the first pitch, on the inner half of home plate, but rotated his hips a little too aggressively and didn’t catch it directly on the heart of his bat’s barrel.

“It didn’t sound perfect off the bat,” Angels catcher Chad Wallach said. “I thought it might still go.”

Ohtani, with a .278/.343/.526 slash line as a hitter this season, entered Thursday having allowed only two runs through his first 28 innings on the mound in 2023. Opponents were batting only .092 against him. He then retired the first nine hitters in order, striking out five of them. The fourth inning, however, saw Ohtani expend 36 pitches and cough up a five-run lead, a rarity for the two-way star who has developed into one of the sport’s best pitchers.

An entire ballpark was stunned.

So were his teammates.

“I had to go up and down the dugout after the next half-inning because the whole place was deflated,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “Everybody was like, ‘What happened?’ And I’m like, ‘He’s human, he’s gonna give up runs.'”

Ohtani allowed the first six batters of the fourth inning to reach — one on a walk, one on a double, two on hit by pitches and two on home runs. The seventh, Aledmys Diaz, hit a 367-foot lineout. Ohtani felt he was “a little passive, trying to protect our lead too much.” But he came back to retire eight of the next 10 batters, completing six innings to ultimately capture his fourth win.

“It just shows how good he is,” Wallach said.

“Vintage stuff,” Nevin said of how Ohtani preformed down the stretch. “You saw him get a little angry. I think you saw a couple of 100s, 101s out there. He wants to be perfect; I know that. He wants to be great, and he is. So when those innings happen, it frustrates him.”

Despite allowing five runs, Ohtani scattered only three hits. It marked the 10th consecutive time Ohtani had allowed three hits or less, tying Jacob deGrom for the longest streak by a starting pitcher since the mound moved to its current distance in 1893, according to research from the Elias Sports Bureau.

Had he managed a few more feet on his latest drive, he would have stood alone another way.

Ohtani, who hit for the cycle in June 2019, would have become the first player since Jimmy Ryan of the Chicago White Stockings in 1888 to hit for the cycle during a game in which he also pitched. Ryan, though, started that game in center field and merely came in for relief. No player had accomplished the feat while also serving as a starting pitcher, an unsurprising circumstance given that Ohtani qualifies as the first two-way player since Babe Ruth.

Instead, Ohtani became the first player to strike out eight batters and hit a single, a double and a triple in the same game since Dave Danforth of the St. Louis Browns on Aug. 25, 1923. During his last four starts, Ohtani has contributed more hits himself (seven) than he has allowed to others (six), an unprecedented feat. By the time the bottom of the third came to an end, Ohtani had already accumulated a single and a double as a hitter, while rolling through the worst team in baseball on the mound.

Nevin began to consider the possibility of a hitting cycle and a perfect game simultaneously.

Said Nevin: “You’re thinking those things whenever he’s out there.”

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LSU freshman QB hospitalized after car crash

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LSU freshman QB hospitalized after car crash

LSU freshman quarterback Colin Hurley was found unresponsive but breathing by LSU police and the Baton Rouge Fire Department just before 3 a.m. on Thursday following a car crash near the gates of the LSU campus, according to a crash report.

Hurley was taken out of his Dodge Charger by EMS and fire department personnel and transported to a Baton Rouge area hospital.

The cause of the crash has not been released. LSU school officials said they were unable to comment because Hurley, 17, is still a minor. Hurley’s parents were on their way to Baton Rouge.

“We are working through proper protocols with his family before we can have any comment,” LSU senior associate athletic director and chief communications officer Zach Greenwell told ESPN via text message.

Hurley, who is from Jacksonville, Florida, signed with LSU as part of the 2024 recruiting class and did not play this season as a true freshman.

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Truex to attempt Daytona 500 with Tricon Garage

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Truex to attempt Daytona 500 with Tricon Garage

Martin Truex Jr. will pause his retirement and attempt to qualify for next month’s Daytona 500 with Tricon Garage, the team announced Thursday.

Truex, 44, retired from full-time racing after the 2024 season. The 2017 Cup Series champion collected 34 wins and 291 top-10 finishes across 21 years on NASCAR’s top circuit.

Tricon Garage confirmed that Truex will be behind the wheel of the No. 56 Toyota sponsored by Bass Pro Shops, a longtime sponsor for the New Jersey-born driver.

“Having raced against Martin for many years, I can confidently say there’s no stronger competitor I’d want behind the wheel for our first Cup Series entry at the sport’s most prestigious race,” team owner and former driver David Gilliland said. “As an open entry, we know the road ahead will be challenging, but I have no doubt that Martin will put us in the best position to succeed. I’ve had the privilege of sitting on the pole at Daytona, but my next goal is to celebrate in Victory Lane.”

Truex has never won the Daytona 500 in 20 previous attempts, finishing runner-up to Denny Hamlin in 2016 by just 0.010 seconds.

In order to make the field for the Feb. 16 running of the “Great American Race,” Truex will have to qualify through the Daytona Duels on Feb. 13.

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Beloved Brewers broadcaster Uecker dies at 90

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Beloved Brewers broadcaster Uecker dies at 90

MILWAUKEE — Bob Uecker, the voice of his hometown Milwaukee Brewers who after a short playing career earned the moniker “Mr. Baseball” and honors from the Hall of Fame, has died. He was 90.

The team announced Uecker died Thursday morning, calling it “one of the most difficult days in Milwaukee Brewers history.” In a statement released by the club, Uecker’s family said he had battled small cell lung cancer since early 2023.

“Even in the face of this challenge, his enthusiasm for life was always present, never allowing his spirit to falter,” the family said.

“Bob was the genuine item: always the funniest person in any room he was in, and always an outstanding ambassador for our National Pastime,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “We are grateful for this baseball life like no other, and we will never forget him. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest sympathy to Bob’s family, his many friends across the game, Brewers fans, and the countless baseball fans who admired him.”

Uecker was best known as a colorful comedian and broadcaster who earned his nickname during one of his numerous appearances on Johnny Carson’s late-night show.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Uecker was a beloved member of the baseball community and a pillar of the sport in Wisconsin.

When the Brewers clinched the NL Central title in 2024, manager Pat Murphy threw an arm around Uecker in the locker room, pulling him in tight as players white-knuckled their corks, ready to shower him in champagne.

“There is no one — there is no one — who epitomizes a champion the way this man does right here,” Murphy proclaimed as the players chanted “UUUUUECK.”

“What an example for us to be with every single day — Bob Uecker.”

Uecker signed his first professional contract with the Milwaukee Braves in 1956 and reached the majors in 1962. He’d last six seasons in the big leagues as a backup catcher, finishing with a .200 average and 14 homers.

He won a World Series ring with St. Louis in 1964 and also played for Atlanta and Philadelphia.

“Career highlights? I had two,” he often joked. “I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax, and I got out of a rundown against the Mets.”

Uecker also befriended former Brewers owner and MLB commissioner Bud Selig, who initially hired him as a scout. Selig liked to joke about how Uecker’s initial scouting report was stained with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Selig eventually brought Uecker to the broadcast booth. Uecker became the voice of the Brewers in 1971, in the second year after the team moved from Seattle.

Uecker remained with the club from that point on and became one of the Brewers’ most indelible figures. Brewers manager Craig Counsell grew up in the Milwaukee area and remembered spending summer days throwing a baseball against the roof and catching it while listening to Uecker’s broadcasts.

“There’s no single person in this franchise’s history who has been as iconic and as important as Bob Uecker,” said Jeff Levering, a member of the Brewers’ broadcast team since 2015.

Even as his celebrity status grew nationwide, Uecker savored the opportunity to continue calling games to fans in his hometown.

“To be able to do a game each and every day throughout the summer and talk to people every day at 6:30 for a night game, you become part of people’s families,” Uecker once said. “I know that because I get mail from people that tell me that. That’s part of the reward for being here, just to be recognized by the way you talk, the way you describe a game, whatever.”

Uecker was honored by the Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award in 2003 and spent nearly 20 minutes keeping the Cooperstown, New York, crowd of about 18,000 in stitches.

“I still — and this is not sour grapes by any means — still think I should have gone in as a player,” he quipped.

“Ueck” got his big break off the field after opening for Don Rickles at Al Hirt’s nightclub in Atlanta in 1969. That performance caught Hirt’s attention, and the musician set him up to appear on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. He became one of Carson’s favorite guests, making more than 100 appearances.

Carson was the one who dubbed Uecker “Mr. Baseball.” And the name stuck.

But Uecker’s comedy was just a part of his abilities. His warm storytelling and delivery made him a natural to become one of the first color commentators on network TV broadcasts in the 1970s with ABC. In the ’90s, he teamed up with Bob Costas and Joe Morgan for the World Series.

From there, Uecker reached most households as one of the Miller Lite All-Stars in popular commercials for the beer brand based out of Milwaukee and he later launched his TV acting career in 1985 on the ABC sitcom, “Mr. Belvedere.”

Uecker played George Owens during the successful 122-episode run of the series that lasted six years, as the head of the family and sportswriter in a home that brings in a butler who struggles to adapt to an American household.

In a bit of casting that kept things pretty close to home, Uecker also played a prominent role in the movies “Major League” (1989) and “Major League II” (1994) as crass announcer Harry Doyle for a down-and-out Cleveland franchise that finds a way to become playoff contenders.

“I’m part of American folklore, I guess,” Uecker told The Associated Press in 2003. “But I’m not a Hollywood guy. Baseball and broadcasting are in my blood.”

His wry description of a badly wayward pitch — “Juuuust a bit outside!” — in the movie is still often-repeated by announcers and fans at ballparks all over.

Uecker’s acting left some to believe he was more about being funny than a serious baseball announcer, but his tenure and observations with the Brewers were spot on, especially when games were tight. Equally enjoyable were games that weren’t, when Uecker would tell stories about other major leaguers, his own career and his hobbies as an avid fisherman and golfer.

“I don’t think anyone wants to hear somebody screwing around when you got a good game going,” Uecker said. “I think people see ‘Major League’ and they think Harry Doyle and figure that’s what Bob Uecker does. I do that sometimes, I do. But when we’ve got a good game going, I don’t mess around.”

In his later years, he took a serious approach to his health, swimming daily leading up to heart surgery in April 2010. Very soon after the procedures, doctors said Uecker returned to walking several miles and was ahead in recovery.

Uecker pushed to return to the booth and began calling games again in July, saying he bribed the doctors by allowing them to throw out the first pitch.

“You talk about all the things Bob has done, he never wanted to leave Milwaukee,” Selig said. “Above all, he made himself into a great play-by-play announcer. That’s what he did. He’s everything to this franchise and loves every minute of it.”

Uecker’s own career provided him most of his material. His former teammates said Uecker would do impressions of other broadcasters on the bus, but Uecker turned the spotlight on himself after his playing career was over.

“I signed with the Milwaukee Braves for $3,000. That bothered my dad at the time because he didn’t have that kind of dough,” he said. “But he eventually scraped it up.”

Another classic: “When I came up to bat with three men on and two outs in the ninth, I looked in the other team’s dugout and they were already in street clothes.”

Uecker also presided over the stirring ceremony that closed Milwaukee County Stadium in 2000. When the Brewers’ new stadium opened as Miller Park in 2001, the team began selling “Uecker Seats” high in the upper deck and obstructed for a $1.

The stadium, now known as American Family Field, has two statues in Uecker’s honor. There’s a statue outside the stadium and another one in the back of Section 422, a nod to the Miller Lite commercial in which he famously said, “I must be in the front row!” while getting taken to one of the worst seats in the ballpark.

After the Brewers were eliminated from the playoffs in 2024, Uecker’s last season, he made sure to visit the locker room and offer support to players in a way only he could.

“That was kind of tough. All the other stuff, it is what it is. … Talking to Ukie, one on one, was tough,” outfielder Christian Yelich said at the time. “He means a lot. He means a lot. I’ve gotten to know him pretty good over the last seven years. … He’s right over there. Just a great guy, a great guy.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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