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TEMPE, Ariz. — With his parents at the top of Mullett Arena in a suite, Josh Doan scored two goals, including the go-ahead tally, in his first NHL game, and the Arizona Coyotes defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-2 on Tuesday night.

Doan, son of the Coyotes’ longtime captain and all-time goal leader Shane Doan, scored an unassisted goal in the second period to put Arizona ahead 2-1, backhanding the puck past Columbus netminder Elvis Merzlikins at close range. He scored the winner in the third period, deflecting the puck past Merzlikins right in front of the crease at the 8:29 mark.

“I almost missed it,” Shane Doan, speaking on the Coyotes’ postgame telecast on Scripps Sports, said of his son’s first goal. “It’s so cool.”

Josh Doan, from nearby Scottsdale, is the first Arizona native to play for the franchise. The 22-year-old played collegiately at Arizona State. He was called up Monday from Tucson of the AHL after leading the Roadrunners with 26 goals and 20 assists in 62 games.

“I was a little bit nervous,” Doan said on the Coyotes’ postgame show. “But my mom [Andrea] was up there, wearing the emotions a little bit harder.”

The rookie admitted being taken aback by the fans after his first goal.

“The reaction was definitely something special,” he said, “and hearing how loud the building got for that was cool.”

All along, from the bench, he was keeping an eye on the Doan suite, though.

“I noticed that my younger brother [Carson] was about to come out of the suite at some point. That was one thing that I definitely noticed,” Doan said. “But he’s been the best supporter since day one, so I don’t expect anything less from him.”

Nick Bjugstad, Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther and Matias Maccelli — also among Doan’s biggest supporters on his grand night — scored, as well, as Arizona pulled away with four goals in the third period. The goals from Schmaltz and Guenther were short-handed. Schmaltz’s was his 20th of the season.

“It was awesome all night, on the ice and on the bench,” Doan said of his teammates. “They were very supportive and talking me through it. It was a real team effort, with everyone making sure we stuck to the game plan.”

Karel Vejmelka, who allowed the first goal of the game, stopped 24 shots for the Coyotes in the win.

Boone Jenner and Zach Werenski scored for Columbus, which has lost five straight. Merzlikins had 29 saves for the Blue Jackets, who haven’t won since March 16.

A minute after Doan’s first goal, Arizona’s Michael Kesselring was penalized for tripping, and with 38.8 seconds left in the period, Werenski scored on the power play for Columbus to tie it. Werenski assisted on Jenner’s goal, and Johnny Gaudreau assisted on both.

The Coyotes were officially eliminated from postseason play on Tuesday when the eighth-place Vegas Golden Knights picked up a point in a 5-4 overtime loss at the Nashville Predators. The Blue Jackets were ousted from the playoff race on Sunday.

Arizona right winger Clayton Keller‘s five-game goal streak come to an end. It is the franchise’s longest streak since Daniel Briere had six in January 2001. Keller did have an assist on Maccelli’s goal.

The Blue Jackets had a goal taken off the board in the final minute of the first period when Alexandre Texier was penalized for high sticking before scoring in front of the net.

There were fights in each period. Two minutes in, Mathieu Olivier and Liam O’Brien squared off near center ice. Each got five minutes for fighting. Erik Gudbranson and Josh Brown fought in the second period. And with 1:21 to go, Michael Carcone and the James Malatesta — making his NHL debut for the Blue Jackets — exchanged punches.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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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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