Two weeks into his major-league career, Jac Caglianone has his first home run with the Kansas City Royals. Actually, make that two home runs.

Caglianone, the Royals’ top prospect before he was called up June 3, took Texas Rangers reliever Jacob Latz deep in the second inning to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead in an eventual 4-1 win. He hit a 95.5 mph fastball high but down the middle, launching it into the home team’s bullpen in right-center field at Globe Life Field. Getting the milestone baseball back likely wasn’t a problem. 

The right fielder wore a big grin on his way around the bases and back to the dugout. As he got to the bench, his Royals teammates initially gave him the rookie treatment of freezing him out of a celebration.

Caglianone was undeterred, giving himself a high-five line with no one nearby before Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt Jr. finally acknowledged the feat, spurring the rest of the team to join in.

How high was that fastball Caglianone hit out of the park? The pitch was 4.22 feet off the ground, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs. That’s the highest pitch a player has hit for his first career home run since Statcast began measuring balls in play in 2015. 

The home run ball also came off the second-highest pitch that a player has hit over the fence this season, Langs reported. Latz’s fastball was also the highest pitch that a Royals batter hit for a home run since pitch tracking began in 2008.

In the ninth inning, Caglianone added the second home run of his MLB career, crushing the first pitch from Robert Garcia, an 86 mph slider low and inside, over the right-field bullpen into the seats. 

In his first 13 MLB games, Caglianone started slowly with a slash line of .196/.212/.235 with two doubles and two RBI in 52 plate appearances. He got his first career MLB hit in his second game, with an RBI double. With the 2-for-4 performance Thursday in the Royals’ win over the Rangers, Caglianone boosted his numbers to .218/.232/.364 on the season. 

Prior to his call-up, Caglianone batted .322/.389/.593 with 15 home runs and 56 RBI between Double-A and Triple-A this year. He was the Royals’ first-round pick (No. 6 overall) in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Also Thursday, Royals starter Michael Wacha took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Wyatt Langford broke it up with a one-out single. Wacha (4-6, 3.24 ERA) pitched six innings, allowing one run on two hits with five strikeouts and two walks. Three Kansas City relievers followed with three scoreless innings, giving up only one hit. Carlos Estévez (1.93 ERA) notched his 21st save of the season.

The Royals are 37-38 after Thursday’s victory. That has them fourth in the American League Central, 11 games behind the Detroit Tigers. Their struggles are at least partially attributable to the team’s offense, which ranks second-to-last in MLB with 52 home runs and a fourth-worst .671 OPS.

Shohei Ohtani’s next pitching start is confirmed. 

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced that Ohtani will start Sunday against the Nationals in the finale of a three-game series against Washington. The start will be Ohtani’s second as a pitcher since his return to the mound Monday following a lengthy pitching layoff.

Ohtani made his Dodgers pitching debut in Monday’s 6-3 win over the San Diego Padres. He started the game and pitched a single inning, allowing two hits and one earned run on 28 pitches. In his pitching career, the three-time All-Star has repeatedly reached the high-90s with his fastball and peaked at 100.2 mph on a wild pitch Monday.

Ohtani’s road back to the mound

The mound appearance was Ohtani’s first against live batters since Aug. 23, 2023, when he was a member of the Los Angeles Angels. One month later, he underwent surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow for the second time. He previously underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018.

Ohtani joined the Dodgers in December 2023 and earned NL MVP honors in 2024 after stealing 59 bases and leading the NL with 54 home runs, 130 RBI and 134 runs scored. He took the entire season off as a pitcher while recovering from surgery and has since worked back up to facing MLB hitters through bullpen sessions and simulated games. With his bat so valuable, the Dodgers opted to skip sending Ohtani to the minors for a rehab assignment.

Roberts: Ohtani was ‘a little fatigued’ after start

Roberts said Tuesday that Ohtani was “a little fatigued” after the start, but he teased another pitching appearance in the coming days.

“He’s feeling good,” Roberts said. “I think he’s just a little fatigued but feels good.”

Roberts then told reporters Wednesday that the plan is for Ohtani to pitch Sunday against the Nationals. The Dodgers listed Ohtani as the probable starter for Sunday’s game on Thursday.

How long will Ohtani go against the Nationals?

It’s not clear how much Ohtani will pitch, but his Sunday start will certainly be abbreviated as he continues to work back into pitching shape. The Dodgers are counting on Ohtani’s arm for the long run this season as they seek to compete for a second straight World Series championship.

The Dodgers enter Thursday’s series finale against the Padres on a five-game winning streak that includes three wins against the Padres and two wins against the San Francisco Giants, both of whom are chasing the Dodgers at the top of the NL West.

The winning streak puts the Dodgers at 46-29, 4.5 games ahead of the Giants and six ahead of the Padres in the division.

Jalen Williams has upped his scoring total in each of the first five games of this year’s NBA Finals. 

The 24-year-old Oklahoma City Thunder wing starred Monday with 40 points in a triumphant, series-tilting Game 5 win over the Indiana Pacers.

Williams doesn’t always take center stage, though. In fact, the first-time NBA All-Star is often second in command, behind league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 

Together, they’ve combined for a whopping 291 points in the Finals. 

Here are the only tandems to score more more points through five Finals games, according to ESPN Research: the Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in 1993, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in 2017, and the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant in 2017. 

That’s legendary company, and Williams is drawing comparisons to one member of that decorated group in particular.

Pippen, Jordan’s Hall of Fame sidekick during a six-championship run in the ’90s, told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon he sees a lot of himself in Williams.

“I don’t even want to put a cap on him to say that he’s going to be me,” Pippen said, via ESPN. “I see him being greater, if I can say that. Just because of where the game is today. They have offensive freedom. We didn’t have that. We mostly ran out of a system. These guys have the freedom to shoot 3-balls and things of that nature. Players that are playing in today’s game have a chance to be better than players in the past because of the ability to shoot the ball.”

Pippen added, via ESPN: “If this kid continues to shoot the 3-ball the way that he shoots it, I’m not going to sit here and argue with nobody and say that you can compare us. Because you can’t. He wins.”

Williams is a 38.2% career 3-point shooter, and he’s coming off a prolific Game 5 performance, in which he went 3 for 5 from deep. Pippen, meanwhile, shot just 32.6% from long range during his 17-season career and didn’t have a season with 100-plus 3s until he was 29 — Williams already has two of those in his first three years in the league.

But the parallels between the versatile playmakers are mostly uncanny, as depicted by MacMahon in his feature.

Both unheralded high school prospects who blossomed at mid-majors — physically with growth spurts and on the court in production — Pippen and Williams seemingly came out of nowhere and then broke out in the NBA.

Pippen played at Central Arkansas. Williams played at Santa Clara. They each maintained their guard skills while adding more height and ultimately landing in the first round of their respective drafts, separated by 35 years.

“He is pretty special,” Pippen said of Williams, via ESPN. “I see a guy rising to be one of the top players in this league. He’s definitely a player that is capable of being able to lead that franchise to multiple championships — him and Shai, of course.”

The Thunder, led by their MVP and Pippen-like-sidekick, could clinch the first of those championships Thursday night against the Indiana Pacers. 

Jalen Williams has upped his scoring total in each of the first five games of this year’s NBA Finals. 

The 24-year-old Oklahoma City Thunder wing starred Monday with 40 points in a triumphant, series-tilting Game 5 win over the Indiana Pacers.

Williams doesn’t always take center stage, though. In fact, the first-time NBA All-Star is often second in command, behind league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 

Together, they’ve combined for a whopping 291 points in the Finals. 

Here are the only tandems to score more more points through five Finals games, according to ESPN Research: the Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in 1993, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in 2017, and the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant in 2017. 

That’s legendary company, and Williams is drawing comparisons to one member of that decorated group in particular.

Pippen, Jordan’s Hall of Fame sidekick during a six-championship run in the ’90s, told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon he sees a lot of himself in Williams.

“I don’t even want to put a cap on him to say that he’s going to be me,” Pippen said, via ESPN. “I see him being greater, if I can say that. Just because of where the game is today. They have offensive freedom. We didn’t have that. We mostly ran out of a system. These guys have the freedom to shoot 3-balls and things of that nature. Players that are playing in today’s game have a chance to be better than players in the past because of the ability to shoot the ball.”

Pippen added, via ESPN: “If this kid continues to shoot the 3-ball the way that he shoots it, I’m not going to sit here and argue with nobody and say that you can compare us. Because you can’t. He wins.”

Williams is a 38.2% career 3-point shooter, and he’s coming off a prolific Game 5 performance, in which he went 3 for 5 from deep. Pippen, meanwhile, shot just 32.6% from long range during his 17-season career and didn’t have a season with 100-plus 3s until he was 29 — Williams already has two of those in his first three years in the league.

But the parallels between the versatile playmakers are mostly uncanny, as depicted by MacMahon in his feature.

Both unheralded high school prospects who blossomed at mid-majors — physically with growth spurts and on the court in production — Pippen and Williams seemingly came out of nowhere and then broke out in the NBA.

Pippen played at Central Arkansas. Williams played at Santa Clara. They each maintained their guard skills while adding more height and ultimately landing in the first round of their respective drafts, separated by 35 years.

“He is pretty special,” Pippen said of Williams, via ESPN. “I see a guy rising to be one of the top players in this league. He’s definitely a player that is capable of being able to lead that franchise to multiple championships — him and Shai, of course.”

The Thunder, led by their MVP and Pippen-like-sidekick, could clinch the first of those championships Thursday night against the Indiana Pacers. 

Pete Crow-Armstrong became the latest addition to the 20/20 Club by hitting his 20th home run of the season on Thursday. He also has 23 stolen bases.

Crow-Armstrong opened the Chicago Cubs’ afternoon game against the Milwaukee Brewers by adding his name to an elite group. The 23-year-old blasted the ball to right field to tie the score 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning at Wrigley Field. The Cubs ultimately lost to the Brewers 8-7.

PCA sits fourth on the list of fastest players to reach 20 homers and 20 stolen bases in a single season, having achieved the feat in 73 games. That ties him with Kenneth Williams, who reached 20/20 for the St. Louis Browns in 1922.

Eric Davis achieved the 20/20 feat in 46 games in 1987, Jose Canseco needed 68 games in 1998, and most recently, Fernando Tatis Jr. did it in 71 games in 2021. 

In addition to the home runs and steals, Crow-Armstrong has 77 hits and 60 RBI while batting .270. The Cubs are sitting atop the NL Central with a 45-29 record, and PCA is emerging as an NL MVP candidate. 

Federal agents were turned away from Dodger Stadium grounds on Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

The Dodgers released a statement Thursday saying that ICE agents requested permission to access the stadium’s parking lots and were denied entry to the grounds by the organization. Thursday’s game against the San Diego Padres will go on as scheduled.

Less than an hour later, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s X account responded to the Dodgers’ post by claiming that Customs and Border Protection vehicles were in the stadium parking lot “very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement.”

An ICE spokesperson also told the Huffington Post that none of its agents were at Dodger Stadium and that they never tried to gain access, contrary to the Dodgers’ claims.

The incident comes less than 24 hours after a Dodgers spokesperson said the team would announce plans to assist local immigrant communities in Los Angeles. The team was expected to make that announcement Thursday, but team president Stan Kasten told Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times it was delayed due to the morning’s events:

“Because of the events earlier today, we continue to work with groups that were involved with our programs. But we are going to have to delay today’s announcement while we firm up some more details. We’ll get back to you soon with the timing.”

Images circulated on social media of Department of Homeland Security vehicles around the stadium Thursday morning. It was unclear what — if any — operation masked agents were carrying out in the area. Agents did not reveal why they were near the stadium when asked by the L.A. Times.

Sources told the Los Angeles Times that the agents attempted to enter the team parking lot but were denied entry by the team. The parking lot is not technically owned by the team — former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt still owns the team parking lot — but is considered team property. McCourt sold the franchise to Guggenheim Baseball Management in 2012.

Protestors gathered near Dodger Stadium on Thursday after seeing images of Department of Homeland Security vehicles near the park. Los Angeles police were reportedly called in by the team to tell protestors to leave. A video that circulated on Bluesky featured a Los Angeles police officer who told protestors, “[DHS officers] can’t be here. They are leaving, too. [The Dodgers] are kicking [DHS agents] out, they are kicking you out.”

The Dodgers have faced pressure from fans to issue a statement since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) engaged in raids around the city. Numerous protests have been held in Los Angeles and across the country in opposition to ICE’s activities.

While the Dodgers resisted making any statement initially, the team found itself in an awkward spot after video emerged of a team employee telling national anthem performer Nezza that the team wanted her to perform the anthem in English. Undeterred, Nezza sang the song in Spanish in protest of the ICE raids in the city. 

At least two members of the Dodgers have issued statements about the raids. Utility man Enrique Hernandez and broadcaster and former player Adrián González both spoke out against ICE’s presence in Los Angeles, with González calling the raids “illegal” and “unconstitutional.”