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BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU coach Brian Kelly made the decision to go for two against Alabama sound simple.

“If you asked me, ‘Hey, I’m going to give you one play and if you’re successful on that one play, you beat Alabama,’ I would’ve taken that 100 times out of 100,” he said.

Kelly was able to smile about his gambit on Saturday night because it worked. After answering the Crimson Tide’s touchdown in the first overtime with a touchdown of their own, Kelly and the Tigers passed on kicking the extra point to play a second overtime and instead opted to go for two and the victory.

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels went to his right and completed a pass to tight end Mason Taylor for the walk-off win.

Alabama’s playoff hopes were diminished. LSU’s chances of reaching the SEC Championship were suddenly alive.

Thousands of fans stormed the field, giving Kelly the signature win of his first season in Baton Rouge.

“That was truly a home-field advantage for us,” Kelly said, alluding to the sell-out crowd. “And then I thought tactically we played smart. We were able to pin Alabama in poor field position — mostly the first half — and made it difficult for them. And I thought we just played smart. We didn’t turn the football over. We had the one play where we came out of coverage late. Other than that, I think our guys played really smart football.

“So the basic tenets of winning games like this is one play at a time, play tactically smart, take care of the football. I thought we did all those things and really grew up today.”

Daniels, who was maligned at points during the season for not throwing the ball effectively, was a playmaker with his arm and his legs against Alabama. He threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran for 95 yards and a score.

Kelly said the win was emotional for him.

“Because that was such a great game,” he said. “And I had never beaten Alabama.”

A guest of Kelly’s sounded her approval from the back of the news conference.

“She hasn’t beaten out Alabama either and she’s been with me,” Kelly said, smiling. “But so those things are kind of like you want to check the box and move on. And so yeah, you get a little emotional about those.

“And I was emotional, not for myself, but I was emotional for our team because I know what we look like in January and to see where we are today, that’s pretty emotional.”

LSU, which lost the season-opener to Florida State and was trounced by Tennessee at home, now controls its destiny as the first-place team in the SEC West.

The Tigers play at Arkansas next Saturday, followed by games at home against UAB and on the road at Arkansas.

As it stands, LSU would play Georgia in the conference championship game in Atlanta.

“This is really about building a program and doing it week in and week out,” Kelly said. “We’re here to graduate champions and we want to win a championship. Now, we’ve put ourselves in a position where in November, we’re contenders for the SEC championship. But we’ve got Arkansas next. We’re going to enjoy this win over the next 24 hours and then we’re going to get ready for Arkansas. “

Alabama, handed its second loss of the season, is left to pick up the pieces.

Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said everyone needed to “check their hole card” and focus on improving — whether that’s players improving their personal stock or the team goal of winning 10 games.

“I like this team,” Saban said. “I think this team is very capable. I think we could play with more consistency and sometimes we beat ourselves too much and it’s kind of hard to overcome. So it’s a tough loss. But there’s nobody that feels worse about it than the players; they work their tail off, they compete their tail off and we just came up a little bit short.”

Alabama plays at No. 11 Ole Miss next Saturday before ending the season with games at home against Austin Peay and Auburn.

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Ohtani takes Miz deep but phenom fans 12 in win

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Ohtani takes Miz deep but phenom fans 12 in win

MILWAUKEE — Shohei Ohtani greeted Jacob Misiorowski with a leadoff homer, but the Milwaukee Brewers‘ rookie phenom got the last word.

After giving up Ohtani’s 431-foot blast, Misiorowski responded with another dominant outing. He struck out a career-high 12 batters — including two-way superstar Ohtani in the third inning — to lead the Brewers to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.

“It’s Shohei Ohtani,” Misiorowski said. “You kind of expect [that]. It’s cool to see him do it in action, but it fires me up even more coming back the next at-bat and striking him out. I’m right there. I think it was a moment of like, ‘OK, now we go.'”

Misiorowski, whose fastball routinely tops 100 mph, threw an 88.2 mph curveball on an 0-2 count to Ohtani, who crushed it for his 31st homer. That’s the most by a Dodgers player before the All-Star break.

It was the 21st career leadoff homer for the three-time MVP, who struck out swinging on a curveball in the third and walked to start the sixth. That was the only walk given up by Misiorowski, who scattered four hits.

“Really good stuff, aggressive in the zone,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “But what really stood out to me was his command and control.”

Misiorowski outdueled three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, who surpassed 3,000 career strikeouts in his previous outing. Asked Monday about his matchup with Misiorowski, Kershaw said he only knew that the 6-foot-7 right-hander threw hard.

“I know him now, huh?” Kershaw said Tuesday. “That was super impressive. That was unbelievable. It was really special. Everything. Obviously the velo, but he’s got four pitches, commands the ball. I don’t know how you hit that, honestly. That’s just really tough.”

Misiorowski was glad to get Kershaw’s attention.

“I saw something online that he didn’t now who I was, so I hope he knows me now,” Misiorowski said. “It’s kind of cool.”

In five starts since the Brewers called him up from the minors, Misiorowski has already beaten Kershaw and 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes. In another outing, Misiorowski carried a perfect game into the seventh inning.

“He’s just broken the shell,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s just out of the egg, all arms and legs. He’s still got gooey stuff coming off, you can see it, all arms and legs, but there’s something special about him.”

The numbers would indicate as much. Misiorowski is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA and has given up only 12 hits in 25⅔ innings.

He topped out at 101.6 mph and threw 20 pitches of at least 100 on Tuesday. He also threw 19 curveballs after using curves only 10% of the time before Tuesday.

He was coming off his only shaky performance, giving up five runs — including a grand slam by Brandon Nimmo — and three walks over 3⅔ innings Wednesday in a 7-3 loss to the New York Mets.

It looked as if it might be more of the same after Ohtani went deep. Misiorowski responded by striking out 12 of the next 16 batters.

“I think that’s my job, is to figure it out on the fly,” he said. “I feel like I did it tonight.”

He got out of a jam in the sixth. The Dodgers trailed 2-1 and had runners on second and third with one out, but third baseman Andruw Monasterio fielded a grounder and threw out Ohtani at the plate, and Misiorowski retired Michael Conforto on a grounder.

Misiorowski pumped his fist as he headed toward the dugout, then watched the Brewers’ bullpen nail down the win.

“It’s so satisfying,” Misiorowski said. “It’s just a dream come true, to do what I did.”

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Giants walk off on Bailey’s inside-the-park homer

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Giants walk off on Bailey's inside-the-park homer

SAN FRANCISCO — Patrick Bailey hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run with one out in the ninth inning, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night.

Bailey became just the third catcher in MLB history to hit a walk-off, inside-the-park home run, joining the Chicago Cubs’ Pat Moran in 1907 and the Washington Nationals’ Bennie Tate in 1926.

Bailey’s homer would have been an outside-the-park home run in 29 of 30 ballparks, with Oracle Park being the exception.

Mike Yastrzemski reached base twice and scored to help the Giants to their sixth win in seven games.

Casey Schmitt began the rally with a leadoff double. After Jung Hoo Lee popped out, Wilmer Flores lined a single to center.

Bailey, who grounded into a double play and struck out in two of his previous at-bats, then smashed a 1-0 fastball from Jordan Romano (1-4) into right-center field that ricocheted off the brick part of the wall.

Ryan Walker (2-3) retired one batter, with two on in the top of the ninth, to earn the win.

Phillies All-Star Kyle Schwarber had two hits, including his team-leading 28th home run.

Schwarber flew out, struck out and was hit by a pitch before homering off Giants reliever Spencer Bivens into McCovey Cove. Brandon Marsh, who singled as a pinch hitter leading off the inning, scored on the play.

Two days after being named an All-Star for the second time in his career, Robbie Ray gave up four hits and one run in 5⅔ innings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Mets’ Mendoza: Snubbed Soto ‘an All-Star for us’

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Mets' Mendoza: Snubbed Soto 'an All-Star for us'

BALTIMORE — The New York Mets consider Juan Soto to be a bona fide All-Star, despite the snub he received from those who selected the National League squad for the Midsummer Classic on July 15.

Soto, in his first year with the Mets, has performed well enough to earn the respect of his manager and teammates. In their opinion, he’s deserving of a place in the All-Star Game next week in Atlanta.

“He’s an All-Star for us,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday night after the Mets beat Baltimore 7-6. “It’s frustrating, but I’m hoping in the next couple of days we hear something and he makes it.”

Soto drove in the winning run with a sharp single on the first pitch of the 10th inning. That capped a night in which he went 3 for 5 to raise his batting average to .269 with 21 homers and 52 RBIs.

Soto has walked 72 times, by far the most in the majors, but he can also lash out at a pitcher when necessary.

“He’s got a pretty good understanding of what the pitchers are trying to do to him,” Mendoza said. “There is his awareness of the game, he’s going to see pitchers. There are times when he’s going to be aggressive. Tonight was one of those nights. First pitch in the 10th, he’s attacking.”

Soto made the All-Star team as a member of the Nationals, Padres and Yankees each year since 2021. The streak appears to be over. But his teammates believe he deserves to go.

“What he done all year is just incredible, and the results are good enough,” Mets starting pitcher Clay Holmes said. “The consistency he’s showed up with, at the at-bats he’s taken, is more than an All-Star. He’s one of the best in the game and a big part of our lineup.”

Soto seems rather philosophical about the snub.

“Sometimes, you’re going to make it and sometimes you don’t,” he told reporters after Sunday’s loss to the Yankees. “It’s just part of baseball.”

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