LOS ANGELES — Max Muncy lifted a Shelby Miller fastball into the air, then raised his left hand and pointed upward. His 10th-inning sacrifice fly had capped a three-run frame that triggered the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ fourth walk-off win this season, a 4-3 thriller over the division rival Arizona Diamondbacks.

It felt slightly bigger than that.

“It was kind of a big game for us,” Muncy said. “We were definitely in a slide.”

The Dodgers were coming off four straight losses at home, their first such losing streak in seven years. And Yoshinobu Yamamoto had responded by delivering seven masterful innings, providing the type of start an injury-riddled pitching staff was clamoring for. As Tuesday’s game played out, winning it became increasingly more crucial.

It took absorbing a game-tying homer from D-backs catcher Gabriel Moreno in the ninth, then coming back from down two runs in the bottom of the 10th — by which point Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had exhausted almost all of his options out of the bullpen.

“We needed a win bad,” said Dodgers reliever Tanner Scott, who surrendered home runs in the ninth and 10th innings. “Luckily we have a pretty good lineup, so it saved us.”

What the Dodgers needed more than anything, though, was a good start.

Yamamoto took the mound after giving up eight runs in 11 innings over his previous two outings, putting a damper on his early-season dominance. Three members of the Dodgers’ rotation — Roki Sasaki, Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell — resided on the injured list with shoulder injuries. Over the previous four games, the starters who essentially replaced them had combined for a 9.60 ERA. A bullpen that has five high-leverage relievers hurt and leads the majors in innings was ill-equipped to pick up the slack.

With the Dodgers desperately needing a deep, effective start, Yamamoto carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and shut out one of the sport’s most potent offenses through seven. He allowed just three baserunners — two on walks, one on a hit — and struck out eight.

The D-backs trailed by only a run in the seventh and threatened. Ketel Marte led off with a long single. Yamamoto followed by uncorking a wild pitch, then walked Moreno with two outs. But the Dodgers kept him in to face the right-handed-hitting Pavin Smith, and Yamamoto struck him out with his 110th pitch, the most he has thrown since coming to the United States.

“I just felt, right there in that moment, he was our best option,” Roberts said of the decision to leave Yamamoto in the game. “And it’s not about pitch count, it’s not about third time through — it’s about he’s our best option. And I felt, with where our club is at right now, we need to give him the best chance to get out of that inning. And he proved all of us right.”

Yamamoto fixed what Roberts described as a timing issue with his delivery coming off his last couple of starts. He leaned on his curveball more than he had all year but generated at least two swings and misses with four of his pitches. By the end of it, his ERA had dropped back down to 1.86 through 10 starts, trailing only countryman Kodai Senga (1.43) for the National League lead.

“I’m glad because I was able to contribute to today’s win,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter. “I’d like to continue bringing my contribution to the team.”

The Dodgers seemed poised for their fifth straight loss when Corbin Carroll deposited Scott’s 10th-inning fastball over Dodger Stadium’s left-center-field fence. But the Dodgers came all the way back in the next half inning.

Tommy Edman, who was supposed to have the day off until he was called on to pinch hit in the eighth, led off with an opposite-field double on a pitch well outside. With first base open, the D-backs intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani even though he represented the go-ahead run. After a Mookie Betts fly ball put runners on the corners, Ohtani stole second base, prompting an intentional walk of Freddie Freeman to load the bases. Will Smith was then hit by a pitch, bringing in the tying run. Then Muncy ended it with a sacrifice fly to straightaway center field, giving him five career walk-off plate appearances.

It marked the third time the Dodgers had won a game this season despite trailing by two or more runs in the ninth inning or later, tied for the major league lead.

“We put some at-bats together, man,” Roberts said. “And it was much-needed.”

Vladimir Putin has visited Kursk for the first time since his troops ejected Ukrainian forces from the Russian city.

The Russian president met with volunteer organisations and visited a nuclear power plant in the region on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.

Mr Putin said late last month that his forces had ejected Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region, which ended the largest incursion into Russian territory since the Second World War.

Ukraine launched its attack in August last year, using swarms of drones and heavy Western weaponry to smash through the Russian border, controlling nearly 540sq m (5,813sq ft) of Kursk at the height of the incursion.

More than 159 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russian territory, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday.

The majority were over Russia’s western regions, but at least six drones were shot down over the densely populated Moscow region, the ministry added.

The visit in the Kursk region comes as a Russian missile attack killed six soldiers and injured 10 more during training in the Sumy region of Ukraine, according to the country’s national guard.

The commander of the unit has been suspended and an internal investigation has been launched.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed the attack on the training camp in northeastern Ukraine killed up to 70 Ukrainian servicemen, including 20 instructors.

The attack comes after US President Donald Trump spoke to both Mr Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging them to restart ceasefire talks.

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But German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday that Mr Trump misjudged his influence on Mr Putin after the call between the American and Russian leaders yielded no progress in Ukraine peace talks.

Europe has since announced new sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. Mr Pistorius said it remained to be seen whether the US would join those measures.

Three people have died after severe thunderstorms caused flooding in the Var region of southeastern France, according to reports.

The rain has also caused widespread damage as Meteo-France, the country’s national weather agency, placed the region under an orange alert for rain, flooding and thunderstorms, French broadcaster BFM TV reported.

Two of those who died were an elderly couple who were in their car as it was swept away by floodwaters in the seaside town of Le Lavandou, France 24 reported.

Meanwhile, the gendarmerie said around 2.30pm local time (1:30pm UK time) that a person had been found drowned in their vehicle in the commune of Vidauban.

Le Lavandou and the commune of Bormes-les-Mimosas were particularly hard hit by the storms.

Gil Bernardi, mayor of Le Lavandou, said during a press conference: “The roads, the bridges, the paving stones, there is no more electricity, water, or wastewater treatment plant. The shock is significant because the phenomenon is truly violent and incomprehensible.

“As we speak, an entire part of the commune is inaccessible.”

Power and water outages were also reported in the town of Cavaliere where 250mm of rain fell in the space of one hour.

A parking lot collapsed in the town, and dozens of people were rescued, according to the authorities.

Around 200 firefighters and 35 gendarmes have reportedly been responding to the floods in Var.

Meteo-France had recorded cumulative rainfall exceeding 10cm as of 10am local time.