Sports
Denis Bouanga nabs hat track, LAFC wrecks Orlando City SC
Apr 4, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; LAFC forward Denis Bouanga (99) scores past Orlando City goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau (71) in the first half at BMO Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images Denis Bouanga scored three times in eight minutes during Los Angeles FC’s 6-0 rout of visiting Orlando City SC on Saturday.
LAFC (5-0-1, 16 points) has outscored opponents 14-0 during their unbeaten start to the regular season. The club’s 540 minutes without a goal conceded matches the ninth-longest shutout streak in MLS history.
Hugo Lloris has been in net for all six shutouts, and the 540 goalless minutes is the 11th-longest streak for any goalkeeper in MLS history. Lloris stopped all six shots on target on Saturday, and needed to make several impressive stops in the second half as Orlando continued to press.
Bouanga’s hat trick was the fifth of his MLS career, tied for the second-most in league history. The star forward was off to a slow start by his standard, with only one goal in LAFC’s first five matches.
Son Heung-Min tallied four assists, matching the second-highest assist total for any player in an MLS game.
Sergi Palencia and Tyler Boyd each scored their first goals of the season. Orlando defender David Brekalo was responsible for Los Angeles FC’s other score, via an own goal in the seventh minute.
Orlando City (1-5-0, three points) have allowed a league-worst 23 goals over their six matches.
Brekalo’s mistake started the nightmare early for the Lions, and the Son/Bouanga connection then took control. In the 20th minute, Son’s terrific pass up the middle found a streaking Bouanga, who sent a well-placed chip shot over the diving Maxime Crepeau for the score.
Three minutes later, Bouanga’s next goal left defender Nolan Miller flat-footed in a one-on-one matchup in the box. Son set up Bouanga with another strong pass, and Bouanga evaded Miller and buried the shot.
The hat trick was completed in the 28th minute, sparked by a Lions turnover in their own end. Son took the loose ball and quickly found Bouanga again for the finish.
Palencia was in front to convert a Son pass in the 39th minute. Boyd had the second half’s only goal, heading in a Jacob Shaffelburg cross in the 70th minute.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Andy Pages remains hot in Dodgers’ win over Nationals
Apr 4, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) hits a two RBI double against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images Andy Pages slugged a three-run homer among his three hits, Freddie Freeman doubled twice and drove in four runs, and the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals 10-5 on Saturday.
Will Smith also had three hits and Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker and Alex Call each had two of the Dodgers’ 16 hits. Pages leads the majors in hits while batting .500 (15-for-30).
Los Angeles star shortstop Mookie Betts exited in the middle of the first inning of the game due to right lower back pain and was replaced by Miguel Rojas.
Tyler Glasnow (1-0) threw 101 pitches over six innings, giving up two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts and two walks.
CJ Abrams hit a two-run homer and Luis Garcia Jr. went 3-for-4 with an RBI for Washington, which lost its fourth straight and has been outscored 23-11 in the first two games of the weekend series.
The Dodgers put two runs on the board in the first inning. With two on and one out, Freeman delivered a two-run double against Jake Irvin (1-1).
Irvin ran into trouble again in the second inning, allowing three runs on three hits. Los Angeles loaded the bases with one out before Alex Freeland scored on Rojas’ sacrifice fly. Freeman followed with a two-run double to right field.
The Dodgers extended their lead to 6-0 in the third when Pages singled, stole second and scored on Call’s two-out single.
Washington pushed a run across with two outs in the third on Garcia’s RBI triple into the right-field corner.
Irvin was replaced by Brad Lord after giving up six runs on eight hits over four innings. He walked two and struck out four.
Will Smith and Max Muncy greeted Lord with back-to-back singles to begin the fifth inning, and Pages drove them home with a three-run homer. The 387-foot shot was Pages’ second in as many games and third of the season.
After Los Angeles tacked on another run in the seventh on Tucker’s two-out single, Abrams hit a two-run homer off Ben Casparius in the eighth. Washington added a run in the ninth on Jose Tena’s pinch-hit RBI single.
–Field Level Media
Sports
William Sawalich gets breakthrough victory at Rockingham
Mar 28, 2026; Martinsville, Virginia, USA; Joe Gibbs Racing driver William Sawalich (18) pit crew try to get their car back into the final laps of the race at Martinsville Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Grabbing the lead and control of the race after a restart on Lap 172, William Sawalich pulled away over the final 79 laps to win Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black’s Tire at Rockingham Speedway.
The victory was the first in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for the 19-year-old Sawalich, the youngest driver to win at the 0.94-mile track in any of NASCAR’s top three series.
Sawalich, who led 80 laps, crossed the finish line 0.863 seconds ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brandon Jones to end the five-race winning streak of JR Motorsports and preserve the series record of six straight victories for JGR.
“It means everything,” said Sawalich, who gained three positions to 11th in the series standings. “Honestly, it was a tough year last year and a tough start to the year this year. Gosh, it feels good to get it done here at Rockingham in front of an awesome crowd.
“Our Supra was on rails today, obviously. Good in Stage 1 (fifth), Stage 2 (second) and obviously amazing in clean air. Lapped traffic took me out last year (in a 25th-place finish), so that was running through my head a little bit, but, man, I just studied the race last year, calmed down–and everything’s fine.”
With the win, Sawalich earned eligibility for the first Dash 4 Cash race next Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. The top four finishers at Rockingham–Sawalich, Jones and third- and fourth-place finishers Justin Allgaier and Rajah Caruth–will compete for a $100,000 bonus in that event, with the top finisher among them claiming the prize.
Caruth, in fact, made a spectacular three-wide pass of both Sheldon Creed and Carson Kvapil with nine laps left to grab the last Dash 4 Cash position. Kvapil finished fifth and Creed sixth, followed by Taylor Gray, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg and pole winner Corey Day.
For the first half of the race, Day appeared to have the dominant car. The 20-year-old led a race-high 118 of the 250 laps and swept the first two stages–the first stage wins of his career.
But Day lost five positions on a slow pit stop during the second stage break and never recovered. On Lap 174, he pitted out of sequence for a loose lug nut and charged from 24th over the final 70 laps to post his seventh straight top 10.
“We had a couple of bad pit stops,” Day said. “We got behind there, and it was hard to dig ourselves out of the hole.”
Jones was pleased with the progress his runner-up finish represents.
“I left Martinsville a little frustrated at myself last week (after finishing 18th),” Jones said. “We weren’t quite aggressive enough at times, so today, I was super adamant on being super aggressive. I am going to take all of the runs I can get. I’m going to put people in bad situations, if I can, and just move forward.
“I think we did a really good job of it. We kept fighting both sides of it with balance today. Sam (McAuley, crew chief) did a great job taking all of my feedback and making a car, I think, capable of winning. It was just a matter of trying to get some track position, and he (Sawalich) got such a big restart on that last restart (after the seventh caution on Lap 206) that it was hard to catch him.”
Allgaier had the consolation of leaving Rockingham with a lead of 126 points over second-place Jesse Love in the O’Reilly Auto Parts standings. Love hit the outside wall after a shove from Caruth, lost track position on a subsequent unscheduled pit stop on Lap 153 and finished 27th, two laps down.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ramon Laureano leads Padres over Red Sox with 9th inning single
Apr 4, 2026; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) scores a run against Boston Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez (75) during the ninth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images Ramon Laureano’s two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth inning propelled the visiting San Diego Padres to a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox in the second of a three-game series on Saturday.
The Padres found two-out magic against Boston closer Aroldis Chapman (0-1) to take the lead for good, as Fernando Tatis Jr. ripped a double over Ceddanne Rafaela’s head in center field to set the stage for Laureano’s heroic knock into left.
Miguel Andujar also had a big day for San Diego, going 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
San Diego had recorded just two hits between the fourth and seventh innings, allowing the Boston offense to scratch a tying run. Adrian Morejon (1-0) earned the win despite blowing a potential save, which Mason Miller wound up earning after striking out the side in the ninth.
Rafaela and Roman Anthony each had two hits for the Red Sox; Anthony hit a triple in the fifth.
In the eighth, Rafaela and Anthony started the Red Sox with back-to-back singles before pinch hitter Andruw Monasterio put together a nine-pitch at-bat and earned an RBI fielder’s choice. The Padres looked to turn an inning-ending 1-4-3 double play, but Jake Cronenworth fumbled Morejon’s throw to second.
After Boston starter Connelly Early worked out of a two-on, two-out jam to start the game, San Diego took a 1-0 lead on Bryce Johnson’s RBI grounder in the second. Freddy Fermin scored after drawing a leadoff walk and moved first-to-third on Ty France’s wall-ball single.
The bottom of the inning saw the hosts respond with a game-tying run, as Willson Contreras knocked a leadoff single to left and scored on Marcelo Mayer’s sacrifice fly.
A pair of doubles in the third helped the Padres take a 2-1 lead. Andujar knocked one into the left-field corner with one out to spark the inning, and Manny Machado kept the line moving with a walk. Two batters later, Fermin flipped the score again with a two-out liner past the dive of Boston third baseman Caleb Durbin.
Both teams’ bats were quieted for several innings thereafter, though the Red Sox had opportunities to re-tie the game with four hits across the fourth and fifth.
San Diego starter Randy Vasquez worked around three singles in the first of those frames, striking out Mayer with two on to end the threat. An inning later, Anthony’s two-out triple to deep right went by the board.
Vasquez completed six innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts.
Early threw 88 pitches in just four innings, allowing two runs on three hits and four walks while fanning four.
–Field Level Media
