Angels show ‘fight’ but go down quietly against Braves

ANAHEIM, Calif. — There were five Angels on Tuesday night to record a hit, with Jo Adell the only one to get two, but some may argue that Jorge Soler had the most on the team.

After a first-pitch 97 miles per hour fastball by Reynaldo López sailed by the head of Soler in the fifth inning, Soler charged the mound and squared up with López, and the two traded off real punches, which is a rare sight in baseball fights.

Once the dust settled and both Soler and López were ejected from the game, things picked up right where they left off, and the Angels' (6-6) bats failed to scratch runs across in a 7-2 loss to the Braves (7-5).

Soler’s first big swing of the game came in the first inning, when he took López deep for a two-run home run. That homer put Soler 14-for-23 with five home runs in his career against López.

And it appears López wasn’t a fan of that.

In Soler’s next at-bat, he was hit up and in with a 96 miles per hour fastball. In the next one, that first-pitch fastball that zipped by Soler’s head started a staring match, which then led to words being exchanged, which then led to punches being exchanged.

“He didn't miss with the other hitters like that, like he missed to me, so I think it was intentional,” Soler said.

López was surprised enough at Soler charging that he didn’t even take his glove off, or even drop the baseball in his other hand, and just threw punches with what he had.

After a series of punches thrown, Soler was tackled to the ground by three Braves players, and the brawl settled down after some shoving.

"(Solers') got good numbers off López and hits a homer his first at-bat, gets drilled up high in the wrist his second at-bat and then the third one throws one head high," Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. "I don't blame (Soler) one bit. He went out there and I guess his words were exchanged. Anytime you get thrown at your head, you have a family, your career, it's dangerous. I know it's part of the game, I know it happens, but you ask any hitter, a ball gets thrown near their head, especially after hitting a homer, it's not good."

The Angels now lead all of baseball with 11 hit by pitches as an offense. Although this incident is isolated to just Soler and López, the Angels are also just tired of being hit.

“It is part of the game, but there’s gonna come a time where enough’s enough," Suzuki said. "You don't want to get hit by pitches.”

Soler’s two-run home run in the first inning were the only runs the Angels could muster while collecting six hits and striking out 14 times.

On the other side of the ball, left-hander Yusei Kikuchi struggled again with keeping a low pitch count. He tossed five innings, giving up four runs on six hits and a walk while striking out eight batters. He threw a total of 97 pitches.

"We'd like to have his pitch count down and have him go deeper in games with the stuff that he has," Suzuki said. "I know he's working on it and he'll do it but the pitch count ran up there high tonight, fast."

A 31-pitch second inning and a 28-pitch fourth inning were the killers for Kikuchi.

In the second, he may have only faced five batters, but four of them went to three-ball counts that lasted longer than six pitches apiece. Kikuchi gave up a two-strike single to Matt Olson, who then scored on a two-strike double by Eli White.

In the fourth, things unwraveled for Kikuchi.

A leadoff walk to Olson was followed by a two-strike single by Austin Riley and a double by Mauricio Dubón. White hit a sacrifice fly and Jonah Heim singled in the third and final run of the inning before Kikuchi could stop the bleeding.

The Angels have another chance to win the series in the finale at 1:07 p.m. on Wednesday.

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Australian selector Shawn Flegler concedes the decision to hand Sophie Molineux the national team captaincy would need to be reassessed if she continued to be troubled by serious injuries.

Molineux’s extensive injury history meant eyebrows were raised when Cricket Australia unveiled her as the retiring Alyssa Healy’s replacement ahead of vice-captain Tahlia McGrath and star allrounder Ash Gardner.

In Tuesday’s game against the Boston Bruins, the Carolina Hurricanes’ top-pairing defenseman, Jalen Chatfield, left the game due to a lower-body injury.

With just under five minutes played in the third period, Chatfield departed after a short, 22-second shift – a shift that ended early due to a power play drawn by Nikolaj Ehlers. Soon after, he was officially ruled out.

Throughout the game, Chatfield did not block any shots and only received one registered hit, which was dealt by Alex Steeves and occurred in the early second period. There didn’t appear to be any notable stumbles from the Hurricanes blueliner in the nearly 14 minutes he played.

After the game, Rod Brind’Amour was asked if he had an update on the status of Chatfield.

“I don’t really have anything,” he said. “That’s the problem, not the problem – everyone’s got to deal with it. But, you know, you worry this time of year going into these games, it’s tough. So, I don’t know. I won’t have an update, though.”

The absence of any player due to injury is not something any team would want, especially so close to the postseason. However, it is an even bigger blow considering the role Chatfield has played for the Hurricanes this season, becoming half of the top-pairing alongside Jaccob Slavin after Brent Burns’ departure over the summer.

Only time will tell whether he’ll be back in the lineup for any of the games down the stretch.

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Welsh middleweight Gerome Warburton says it is "madness" to think he could be on the brink of a world title shot.

Warburton stunned former British champion Nathan Heaney with an unanimous win to secure the WBA Continental Middleweight title in March.

The 30-year-old from Colwyn Bay says the victory at Manchester's Co-Op Live Arena still feels "surreal".

"When I first set out as a professional boxer, I only had my eyes on maybe a British title even when I won the Welsh," Warburton told BBC Sport Wales.

"But I'm ranked 11th now with WBA in the world, so it's madness really to think that I could be knocking on the door for a world title."

The bout against Stoke-on-Trent's Heaney had originally been scheduled for January, but was postponed because of an injury to headliner Moses Itauma before his heavweight contest against Jermaine Franklin.

Heaney was backed by more than 2,000 supporters in the 15,000 crowd in Manchester and had promised a "bear pit atmosphere".

"I knew it was going to be tough," Warburton said.

"I knew it was going to be very hostile - Heaney sold a lot of tickets and I was the away fighter as well, so nothing was on my side.

"But from the time that I was in the hotel, the weigh-in, the press conference, I was just switched on from the beginning.

"I knew that it was a fight that I couldn't lose."

Warburton dedicated the win to his son Roman, who proudly held aloft the WBA Continental belt following the fight.

"It must be amazing for him to see his dad do so well," Warburton said.

"Obviously being in front of over 15,000 people in a big massive arena, he's living a fairytale story - we see movies and stuff like that.

"I want to make him so proud as well."

Bodelwyddan-born Warburton made his professional debut in 2019 and three years later won the Welsh middleweight title with victory over Morgan Jones.

Warburton was beaten by Kieron Conway for the vacant British middleweight title in May 2025, one of two losses he has suffered n 21 professional bouts.

"I've always been a down-to-earth person and I think I'm there now to show the kids that you can do something if you put all the hard work in," Warburton added.

"I wasn't the most talented of boxers from a young age, but I put the hard work in and I think that's what it's about now.

"It's about getting more wins and leaving a belt and showing the younger generation that it can be done, not just boxing, but any sport or anything that they do.

"Hard work and dedication will get you a long way."

Warburton will wait to see what offers come his way following his win.

"I'm just going to wait and see what happens, see what opportunities I get with the management and just sit down with my management and see what we think is best," Warburton said.

"Sometimes you can jump into the wrong fight at the wrong time. You've just got to take each step as it comes and make the right decisions.

"I don't really want to be calling anyone out just yet."

And what of the nickname?

"My old boxing coach came up with The Breadmaker," Warburton smiles.

"Some people think it's a bit cocky and flashy, but that's the thing.

"I think I was destined for boxing because the surname, the nickname.

"There's very much more to come from The Breadmaker."

A Spanish journalist has been detailing the perfect example of why Chelsea’s recruitment strategy is ‘simply ridiculous.’

And to be honest, he is not wrong here either.

EXCLUSIVE! What the expect this summer as Chelsea look to sign established players – list of names in this 👀

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Pablo Espinosa San Mauroc, who contributes for Radio Marca and Diario AS in Spain, posted on his X account last night whilst watching the Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich game in the Champions League.

He was watching Michael Olise ball out for Bayern once again and of course, we as Chelsea fans know fully well that he is a player that we should have signed when we had a really good chance to. We came so close, but fumbled it.

Example of failed strategy

Michael Olise in action for Bayern Munich. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Pablo posted on his X account last night:

“Instead of Olise, Chelsea ended up signing Pedro Neto (who still seemed like a good signing to me), Joao Félix, and Sancho. The following summer, Garnacho and Jaime Gittens arrived.

“In total, they cost 220 million. Olise, 54M. No matter how high a salary the Frenchman demanded, this is the perfect example to highlight that Chelsea’s strategy, so focused on signing young players with low salaries, is sometimes simply ridiculous.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

In other news today…

Chelsea attacker Cole Palmer has been speaking about Chelsea’s test against Man City this weekend and his own level of preparation. He’s also been speaking about his own form of late.

Meanwhile, Chelsea are closing on a deal to sign Valentin Barco from Strasbourg this summer, and it is Liam Rosenior who has apparently played a key role in convincing the player to join.

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