I Dig Sports
Sussex rue absent cutting edge as Glamorgan go large in rearguard of overkill proportions
Glamorgan 123 and 737 (Carlson 192, Labuschagne 138, Neser 123) drew with Sussex 481 (Coles 138, Smith 89, Haines 58) and 1 for 0
Sussex, who recorded their fifth consecutive draw to remain second in Division Two, were left more than a little battered by the effort. Robinson had been off the field since before lunch on day three due to an ankle injury that could affect his England availability and the captain, Cheteshwar Pujara, was absent on Sunday with a stiff neck (although India shouldn't need to worry about his readiness for the World Test Championship final). Three bowlers - Ari Karvelas, Jack Carson and James Coles - bowled more than 30 overs, with Carson sending down 54 for figures of 2 for 216.
Smith, bowling offbreaks, picked up a maiden Sussex wicket - exuberantly celebrated after a fine one-handed catch on the boundary rope by sub fielder Sean Hunt - and eventually yorked Neser to bring the innings to a close. Cricket being cricket, the timing of the dismissal meant that Sussex still had to come out and bat for an over before hands could be shaken on a draw, with Labuschagne bounding eagerly through six deliveries of medium-pace before signing off from county duties.
As epic rearguards go, you could scarcely ask for more - and after Carlson went early, adding just five runs to his overnight 187, it was no surprise that Glamorgan were uninterested in making a sporting declaration. All that work to go home with 2 points? No thanks. "We were never safe until quite late in the day," Maynard said. In the end, their second-innings effort outstripped their first by more than 600 runs, which in the language of the Tour de France, that great sporting endurance test, was rather like crashing your bike down at sea level in Bayonne only to then beast your way to the front of the peloton in time to summit the Col du Tourmalet.
All results remained theoretically possible at the start of the day, with Glamorgan 141 in front and Sussex hoping to burgle five wickets and set up a chase. They managed two in the morning session, and two more during the afternoon, but the game was already drifting towards somnolence. Smith was called on to bowl - perhaps imitating Labuschagne's recent tinkering by eschewing his usual legbreaks - and then it was on to the collector's items: Tom Alsop's left-arm tweak and the optimistic lob-ups of Ali Orr, for the first time in senior cricket.
Sussex were left to rue having dropped Carlson on 3 midway through the second morning - although given even the Glamorgan No. 11 Jamie McIlroy made a career-best (11 not out), perhaps the combination of surface and opposition would have proved unyielding either way. Five Glamorgan batters faced more than 100 balls, while each of the bottom three batted for more than an hour in support of Neser.
Paul Farbrace, who described Robinson's moon boot as "precautionary", said that Sussex's bowling in the second innings had not been consistent enough, and confirmed the club are set to bring in a second overseas bowler for the next block of Championship games, with Pujara and Smith both departing for international duty.
"We are getting our bonus points for bowling a team out once, but we're not capable of doing it twice, and that's an area we've got to improve on," Farbrace said. "Instead of finishing this little period of Championship games with one win in six, I think we should be finishing it with at least three wins. But we've not been good enough to do that."
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
Essex seize initiative if not points, as Westley declaration spooks Notts
Nottinghamshire 442 (Montgomery 177, Slater 57, Clarke 57, Critchley 3-33) and 97 for 4 drew with Essex 298 (A Cook 72, Westley 68, Hutton 4-69, Paterson 3-48, Broad 3-53) and 362 for 8 dec (A Cook 99, Westley 95, Lawrence 52, Harrison 3-52, James 3-67)
If all this tested the faculties of spectators who were sound of mind and bowel, imagine the confusion it caused among those who had spent the previous evening watching association football some 500 yards away. For this had been the morning after the Forest fiesta on the Meadows and Clifton estates; the morning after their team stayed up and so did everyone else, giving it very large indeed to celebrate the fact with a no-holds-barred knees-up. Johnny Cash outlined the consequences of such indulgence pretty clearly in "Sunday Morning Coming Down."
Well, I woke up Sunday mornin'
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt…
But just after tea, no one was sure where this match was going. In the fifth over of the innings, Haseeb Hameed was caught behind off a fine ball from Sam Cook, but Hameed's show-reel contains few mad-dog run chases in any case. Ten minutes later, the same bowler crashed one back into Ben Slater's off pole and the thought grew that Essex could actually bowl Nottinghamshire out. The introduction of the offspinner Harmer, who shambles up to the wicket like an insurance salesman offering a dodgy policy, did nothing to quell such notions. Joe Clarke hit the finest slow bowler in England for three classical boundaries but Harmer was getting bags of rip from the Radcliffe Road End and that proved too much for Matt Montgomery, who was leg before for 22 when deep in his crease.
With 17 overs left to be bowled, Nottinghamshire needed 156 runs, an asking rate of 9.1 runs per over, but now Westley had posted six close fielders for Harmer and it was clear which team was in the ten-bob seats. Lyndon James went back to the offspinner when he should have gone forward and had his off stump nudged. Notts were now 70 for 4 with 14 overs left, seven of them Harmer's.
It turned out we had seen our last entertainment of the day. Clarke batted beautifully against type for an unbeaten 42 and Mullaney pulled his guts out as he normally does, his every defensive push breathing green-and-gold defiance. The draw was agreed with five overs left to be bowled but it was beguiling if useless to ponder what might have happened had either Clarke or Mullaney, their side's last specialist batsmen, been dismissed 20 minutes earlier.
Beguiling, as well, to reflect that Essex's brief victory tilt was created not simply by Westley's enterprise and Harmer's skill but by the patience of the Essex skipper during his 157-run stand with Alastair Cook. The pity of that was that neither batter made the century he deserved. Cook had been dismissed for 99 just before midday, playing one of those awkward close-to-the-body steers to third man that look dreadful until you think he'll have long worked out the risk v reward ratio. Then it still looks dreadful but one concludes that if a chap's made over 26,000 first-class runs, he might actually know his business. This morning, though, he tried it to a ball from James that jagged back and took the edge en route to Clarke, who took a tumbling catch.
Four overs later, the new ball gave Nottinghamshire their best chance of doing serious damage but they claimed only one wicket, that of Westley, who having toughed it out for over four hours and 95 runs was beaten by a good delivery from Stuart Broad that seamed away. By lunch the lead was 114 but there were only a dozen overs on the ball and time enough for Nottinghamshire to win if they could go bang-bang-bang - or any other Eurovision entry - quite early in the afternoon session.
They achieved quick breakthroughs but only an hour later, by which time Essex's lead was becoming so large that Westley fancied a cheeky dart at 16 points rather than settling for five. Having put on 56 with Lawrence, Matt Critchley played on to James for 20 and six runless balls later Adam Rossington chipped a return catch to Calvin Harrison. Restlessly imaginative, Mullaney brought his own medium pace on from the Pavilion End and his seventh ball had Lawrence playing lazily across the line. Tom Lungley didn't waste time over the decision and Essex were 319 for 6, 175 ahead with 49 overs left in the game.
Enter Shane Snater, a cricketer untroubled by regrets and generally unhampered by a defensive technique. In other words, a bloody dangerous one. The No. 8 dispatched his first two balls from Harrison over the deep square-leg boundary. The first of them took a diving Slater with it, the second would have done so only if Slater had come from Brobdingnag rather than Chesterfield. Harmer took his cue from Snater and 24 runs came in just over two overs. "Could Essex be thinking of declaring?" suggested someone. "Rubbish," came the response. Then Snater was bowled for 18 having another colossal smear at Harrison. The players went in for tea and Westley declared.
Paul Edwards is a freelance cricket writer. He has written for the Times, ESPNcricinfo, Wisden, Southport Visiter and other publications
Gill's second straight century trumps Kohli's to knock RCB out of playoffs race
Gujarat Titans 198 for 4 (Gill 104*, Shankar 53, Siraj 2-23) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 197 for 5 (Kohli 101*, Noor 2-39) by six wickets
It was hard not to see this as a symbolic passing of the baton in the larger context of the Indian batting kingdom. Gill took eight balls fewer than Kohli to get to the hundred, hit seven more sixes, but Kohli's circumstance was different. He had wickets falling around him whereas Vijay Shankar - Gill's partner for the second-wicket stand of 123 - enjoyed much more luck than RCB batters did. In fact, Titans scored 45 runs in false responses, more than any innings in this IPL.
Ink boys get going
Titans own middle overs
There was some luck involved in the first wicket. It was a skilful wrong'un from Noor Ahmad that dipped on du Plessis, but the thick outside edge was never going to be caught except in freakish circumstances. It happened as the ball hit Wriddhiman Saha's pad and lobbed for an easy catch at slip. At least Titans had the slip in place despite that start.
Poignantly for the RCB fans, the partnership ended at a season aggregate of 939, the same that Kohli and AB de Villiers scored together in 2016.
Kohli manages both
Kohli has batted with much less price on his wicket this IPL, and his natural game has backed his intent. He did more of the same but it still has suffered in the absence of the lower-order hitting. Here he went from 36 off 22 in the first six to 16 off 14 in the next six, but he is a different proposition when he gets into the death overs. Because of the loss of five wickets, he was probably forced to play Rashid out in the 17th but he lived up to his reputation of being one of the best at the death, scoring his second 50 in just 25 balls. He did so with just one six, only the fourth time a hundred with just one six has been scored in the IPL.
The Gill riposte
Kohli has scored two of those hundreds, Shikhar Dhawan one, and Gill one, in his last innings. Here, though, he was in no mood to miss out on the small boundaries off Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The new ball held in the surface, which showed in the struggles of Saha and Shankar, but Gill looked like he was batting in a parallel universe. Short-arm jabs flew for sixes, the cover gap looked bigger than it was, and the slow start of 25 for 1 in three overs soon began to look up.
The only time Gill looked like slogging was when Shankar was 21 off 20. He ran at the legspinner Himanshu Sharma, was beaten in the flight, but got an outside edge for four. He followed it up with a clean six, and never looked back.
Shankar enjoyed much more luck than Gill, and survived long enough for some hits to come off. In what is cruel but true nature of T20, Shankar got to his fifty quicker than Kohli did even though Kohli hardly mis-hit a ball.
The moment the asking rate went past 11, RCB gave the two right-hand batters the offspin of Bracewell, whom Gill deposited for two sixes. When Shankar fell, Titans kept promoting batters other than Hardik Pandya. They struggled, two of them got out, but Gill was unstoppable at the other end even though he got to face only 12 balls in the last six overs. He scored 33 in those to take Titans home with five balls to spare.
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
HOUSTON -- Former Texans defensive end Jadeveon Clowney is open to returning to where his career started.
Clowney, 30, is a free agent after spending the past two seasons with the Cleveland Browns, where he finished with 11 sacks and 15 tackles for loss during his tenure.
He told KRIV-TV in Houston that his representatives had a conversation with the Texans during this offseason and that he is interested in returning.
"It would be nice," Clowney said in the interview with KRIV-TV. "All my family is here. Friends here. The guys I work out with can help me take care of my body a lot better being right up under them. ... You never know. You never know what will happen. You never know what's in front of you. I see what they've got here. They're putting the pieces together. I'm a big fan of their new head coach [DeMeco Ryans]."
The Texans selected Clowney with the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NFL draft, and he played five seasons with the franchise. During those five years, Clowney had 29 sacks and 64 tackles for loss, made three Pro Bowls (2014-2016), and earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2016.
The Texans traded Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks in 2019 for defensive end Jacob Martin, outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo and a 2020 third-round pick. Clowney played one season in Seattle before joining the Tennessee Titans in 2020.
If the Texans and Clowney reunited, he would join a defensive line room that added a few new pieces throughout the offseason. The Texans signed defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins and drafted defensive end Will Anderson at No. 3 to improve a unit that ranked 30th in total defense and allowed the sixth-most rushing yards in a season in NFL history (2,894).
Stewart drops 45 in 3 quarters in NY home debut
NEW YORK -- Breanna Stewart scored a franchise record 45 points to go along with 12 rebounds as New York beat Indiana 90-73 on Sunday in the Liberty's home debut.
Stewart finished the game going 15-of-21 from the field, including hitting six 3-pointers. She joined Liz Cambage as the only WNBA players to score 40 points on at least 70% shooting from the field. It was also just the fifth 45-point double-double in league history.
Stewart, who also set a career high for points, welcomed the home-opening crowd before the tipoff, saying it was great to be home.
"Feels like I made the right decision," said Stewart, who signed with the Liberty this offseason as a free agent, when asked what it felt like to take the court in her home state of New York in front of family and friends.
New York rebuilt its team over the winter, adding Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot to a strong young core led by Sabrina Ionescu and Betnijah Laney. There are high expectations surrounding the Liberty this season, although it will take some time for the team to build chemistry.
The new trio got New York going early by scoring the first four baskets. Jones hit a layup, Stewart two 3-pointers and Vandersloot a reverse layup as the Liberty were quick out of the gate.
By the time the first quarter ended, Stewart had 19 points -- five more than Indiana -- and New York led 36-14. She made six of her seven shots in the period, including four 3-pointers.
Stewart finished the half with 29 points, short of the league record of 35 held by Riquna Williams.
New York led 62-35 at the break and never looked back.
"It was really important to play like this in my debut," Stewart said. "Because I want people to be here and I want them to come back, and I want more. I want more of everything. And yeah it sounds selfish, but as a women's basketball player, as a female athlete, we need to continue to get recognized for more in media coverage and fans and eyes and viewership.
"Hopefully I made a few [good] first impressions on some people, and I hope they come back and they come back with more."
The only real suspense in the second half was whether Stewart could break the single-game franchise scoring mark of 40 held by Cappie Pondexter and set in 2010, also against Indiana.
Stewart broke that record on a three-point play with 2:13 left in the third quarter to put New York up 82-52. Her 45 points through three quarters was the most in WNBA history.
"We have Breanna Stewart and they don't, I suppose," head coach Sandy Brondello said in reference to the star's transcendent performance. "That's how it comes down to."
The 20th straight loss for the Fever equaled the Tulsa Shock, who lost 20 in a row in 2011. Indiana lost 18 consecutive games to close out last season before falling to the Connecticut Sun on Friday in their opener. Indiana next plays at Atlanta on May 28.
Despite the lopsided loss, there is optimism around the Fever with the addition of No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston, who scored 15 points.
"I'd say there is nothing but positivity around here right now," said second-year Fever forward NaLyssa Smith, who had 16 points and 12 rebounds. "Everyone is excited for our future."
The Associated Press and ESPN's Alexa Philippou contributed to this story.
Phil: Will continue to hold PGA Tour 'accountable'
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Phil Mickelson had a quiet week at the 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club this week, but the six-time major champion doesn't sound like he's ready to stop poking at the professional men's golf's establishment on social media.
After Mickelson closed the PGA Championship with an even-par round that left him at 10 over after 72 holes, he was asked why he continues to criticize the PGA Tour, the United States Golf Association and other governing bodies on social media.
"I guess it's because I know some things that others don't," Mickelson said. "I just want to make sure everybody's held accountable."
Mickelson, 52, confirmed a New York Times report earlier this week that he had recently met with investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice. Last year, the federal government opened an inquiry into the PGA Tour's alleged antitrust behavior. The Times reported that DOJ investigators also met with LIV Golf League players Bryson DeChambeau and Sergio Garcia and the PGA Tour's lawyers last week.
Among other issues, according to the Times, the federal government is exploring the PGA Tour's relationships with the Official World Golf Ranking, the Masters, the PGA of America, the R&A and the USGA.
Mickelson declined to divulge what he discussed with DOJ investigators.
"I know a lot of stuff that will come out later," Mickelson said.
Mickelson said he believed LIV Golf players such as Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka should be allowed to play in the Ryder Cup, which is scheduled for Sept. 29-Oct. 1 outside Rome, if they're worthy of being selected. Both are eligible to play in the Ryder Cup because they have been granted PGA of America membership through 2024, which is required to be on the U.S. team.
Koepka, who tied for second with Mickelson behind Jon Rahm at the Masters in April, opened the final round of the PGA Championship with a 1-stroke lead over Norway's Viktor Hovland and Canada's Corey Conners. If Koepka were to win the PGA Championship for the third time, he would rise to second in the U.S. Ryder Cup team points standings. The top six in the standings after the BMW Championship on Aug. 20 will automatically qualify for the team.
U.S. team captain Zach Johnson hasn't said whether he'll consider LIV Golf League players for one of his six captain's picks.
"I don't see the benefit of the Ryder Cup to change from what it has historically been, which is the U.S. -- well, it used to be Great Britain and Ireland -- versus Europe," Mickelson said. "I don't see the benefit of changing that. I don't see how it's any concern of the PGA of America what tour we play. That's just my opinion."
Club pro Block nets 1st ace of PGA Championship
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- PGA club pro Michael Block's dream week at the 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club got even better Sunday.
Block, who started the final round tied for eighth, aced the par-3, 151-yard 15th hole. His ball barely touched the green -- and somehow never hit the flag -- before slamming into the hole and sending fans into a frenzy.
"That went into the hole," said Rory McIlroy, who is playing with Block.
"No," Block said. "No way. No way. Rory, did it go in?"
When Block finally became convinced that it had, he raised his black cap and waved it at the fans. He high-fived McIlroy. Block walked onto the 15th green and grabbed his ball out of the cup, which had been damaged by his slam dunk.
It was the first hole-in-one of the week, and the first at the PGA Championship since Byeong Hun An's ace on the 11th hole in the final round in 2020 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Block, from Mission Viejo, California, got off to a tough start on Sunday, posting bogeys on No. 1 and No. 7. He made the turn at 2-over 37. The ace got him back to even par for the tournament and into a tie for 13th place with three holes to play. After three straight 70s to open his run, Block shot a 71, finishing +1 for the tournament, tied for 15th.
A top-10 finish would have earned Block a spot in next month's RBC Canadian Open, but a top-15 gets him back to the next year's PGA Championship.
The best finish by a PGA club pro in the PGA Championship who advanced through the PGA Professional Championship was a tie for 11th by Lonnie Nielsen in 1986 and Tommy Aycock in 1974.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- In the final round of the 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on Sunday, Brooks Koepka seemed determined to step on the gas early.
He had three straight birdies in the first four holes to open up a 4-shot lead over Norway's Viktor Hovland and Canada's Corey Conners. Then he held on when Hovland and Scottie Scheffler, two of the best players in the world, made their moves on the back nine.
Koepka carded a 3-under 67 in the final round Sunday and was 9 under over 72 holes to win the Wanamaker Trophy for the third time, beating Scheffler and Hovland by 2 strokes.
Koepka had warned us: Whatever was going on between his ears heading into Sunday at the Masters in April would never be muttered in his mind again. Koepka had a 2-shot lead heading into the final round at Augusta National Golf Club. He shot 3-over 75 in the final 18 holes and lost to Spain's Jon Rahm by 4 strokes.
Even Koepka, one of the most confident golfers in the world, acknowledged this week that he choked while trying to win his first green jacket.
"I promise I won't show up like [the Masters] tomorrow," Koepka said Saturday. "I won't have that thought process. It'll be completely different and we'll see where it puts me."
Hovland had stayed within striking distance of Koepka until the par-4 16th hole, where he hit his drive into a fairway bunker. His second shot became embedded into the bunker's face, leading to a double-bogey and ending his chances. Koepka had a birdie on the hole to take a 4-shot lead.
It is a historic victory for Koepka and the LIV Golf League, the Saudi Arabian-financed circuit that reportedly paid him $100 million in guaranteed earnings to lure him away from the PGA Tour in June. Koepka is the first LIV Golf League player to win a major championship.
"He's been knocking on the door a lot and he's been playing some really good golf," said Phil Mickelson, another LIV Golf League captain. "And I think we're all kind of expecting that to happen. ... He's been working really hard and it's good to see him playing well."
Over four days at one of the most difficult golf courses in the world, Koepka reaffirmed his position as perhaps the best major championship player of his era. He claimed his third PGA Championship title -- he also won at Bellerive Country Club outside St. Louis in 2018 and Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York, the next year. He becomes only the third player to win the PGA Championship at least three times after it became a stroke-play event in 1958; Jack Nicklaus (five) and Tiger Woods (four) were the others.
Koepka, 33, also won the U.S. Open in back-to-back years, at Erin Hills in Wisconsin in 2017 and at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in New York in 2018. According to Justin Ray of the Twenty First Group, he becomes only the seventh player since 1950 to win five majors before age 34: Woods, Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Seve Ballesteros, Gary Player and Tom Watson also did it.
From 2015 through 2018, Koepka had a final-round scoring average of 68.9 in the majors. Nobody was better on golf's biggest stages.
Koepka hasn't said it, but we can assume that he believed he played too conservatively in the final round of the Masters. He came out firing at Oak Hill Country Club's pins Sunday after rain from the day before softened the greens.
Koepka made par on the first hole and then carded three straight birdies to grab a 4-shot lead. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Koepka was the first 54-hole leader at a major in the past 20 years to start 3 under or better in his first four holes of the final round.
With the pin only 3 feet off the front and right on the par-4 second, Koepka hit his approach shot to 4½ feet. On the par-3 third, his tee shot stopped four feet from the hole, despite a stiff crosswind. He sank a 9-footer for birdie on the fourth. Koepka was cruising.
"When he gets in contention, he's like a shark when there's blood in the water," Rahm said during CBS Sports' broadcast Sunday.
Then, just like that, Koepka lost all of his momentum. After Hovland posted consecutive birdies on Nos. 4 and 5 and cut his deficit to 2 strokes, Koepka made his first big mistake. On the par-4, 481-yard sixth hole, he sliced his drive far to the right. His ball crossed over a native area and ended up in the deep rough left of the seventh fairway. Koepka was forced to take a drop and knocked his third shot onto the green. Hovland had a nice up-and-down out of a greenside bunker to save par on No. 6 and cut Koepka's lead to 1 shot.
Koepka extended his lead to 2 strokes with another birdie on the par-4 10th. Kopeka and Hovland traded blows on the back nine. Koepka added birdies on Nos. 12 and 14. Hovland had back-to-back birdies on Nos. 13 and 14. Then Hovland made the big mistake on No. 16.
It was redemption for Koepka, who acknowledged at the Masters that he might not have jumped to LIV Golf if his body had been in better shape a year ago. At the time, he was still recovering from a dislocated right knee. Koepka said he fell at home and tried to pop his kneecap back into place. In the process, he shattered his kneecap and ruptured his medial patellofemoral ligament.
"You know, my leg was sideways and out," Koepka said at the Masters two months ago. "My foot was turned out, and when I snapped it back in because the kneecap had already shattered, it went in pretty good. It went in a lot easier."
During the Netflix series "Full Swing," Koepka seemed bruised and battered, wondering aloud if he could compete with the likes of Scheffler and other young stars any longer.
"I'll be honest with you, I can't compete with these guys, week in, week out" Koepka said during a dinner at the 2022 Masters, where he missed the cut. "A guy like Scottie, he can shoot 63 every day. I don't know."
After posting a second consecutive 4-under 66 on Saturday, Koepka acknowledged that he "came back too soon and played for too long" and developed bad habits.
Koepka is healthy now and he's performing like one of the best golfers in the world again. On Sunday, he might have earned the biggest victory in LIV Golf's brief history.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Angels have revamped their bullpen in pursuit of more success in the middle innings.
The Angels activated left-hander Aaron Loup from the injured list and called up right-handers Reyes Moronta and Jacob Webb before Sunday's game against the Minnesota Twins.
To make room for the three pitchers, right-handers Jimmy Herget, Andrew Wantz and Zack Weiss were sent down to Triple-A Salt Lake.
The Angels have the majors' eighth-highest bullpen ERA in May (4.39) and have allowed 16 of 27 inherited runners to score this month. Los Angeles is the only team that has allowed over half of inherited runners to score this season (37 of 73).
"We've had a lot of issues the last couple days in an area we know we need to get better," manager Phil Nevin said.
The back half of the Halos' pen is strong. Carlos Estévez came into Sunday tied for second in the majors with 11 saves, and Matt Moore has allowed only one earned run in his past 17 games and 20⅔ innings.
Getting to the late innings and preserving a lead has been the problem.
Loup missed 15 games with a right hamstring strain, but had struggled in his recent appearances before going on the IL. He is 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA in 11 appearances this season.
Nevin said during recent bullpen sessions he has noticed Loup has had better command of his fastball and more consistency in his delivery.
Moronta spent spring training with the Texas Rangers, but he was released when he didn't make the roster. The right-hander signed a minor league deal with the Angels on May 11. He made three appearances for Salt Lake and did not allow a run in four innings.
Webb is back in the majors for the first time since 2021 with Atlanta.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to call up two of their top prospects from Triple-A Oklahoma City to help fill the injury-related void in the pitching rotation.
Manager Dave Roberts said Sunday that right-hander Gavin Stone will make his second career start Monday night in Atlanta against the Braves. Multiple outlets said right-hander Bobby Miller will be called on to start on Tuesday in his major league debut, though Roberts did not confirm that.
Stone is the Dodgers' No. 4 prospect. Miller is the top pitching prospect and No. 2 overall prospect.
"It's a great opportunity for these young pitchers," Roberts said, despite not officially announcing bringing Miller from Oklahoma City. "They're both talented. It's not what we expected. But that doesn't really matter. The only way to look at it is, you've got to embrace this opportunity for these guys."
The Dodgers, who are leading the National League West, put right-hander Dustin May (right forearm strain) on the 15-day injured list on Thursday. Left-hander Julio Urias (hamstring) joined him on the list Saturday.
In his MLB debut on May 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies, Stone threw four innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits with two walks and a strikeout.
At Oklahoma City, the 24-year-old Stone is 2-2 with a 4.04 ERA, walking 19 and striking out 41 in 35 2/3 innings over eight starts. He was a fifth-round draft pick in 2020.
The Dodgers took Miller in the first round of the 2020 draft. Also 24, Miller has started four games and is 1-1 with a 5.65 ERA. He has six walks and 12 strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings.
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