TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Yandy Diaz hit two home runs off Blake Snell, Drew Rasmussen threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0 on Saturday.
In front of a sold-out crowd of 10,046, Diaz opened the scoring in the first with a 326-foot shot off his former teammate Snell, who was making his first major league start since April 2.
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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers to the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen delivers to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Drew Rasmussen pitches to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Díaz drops his bat as he watches his solo home run off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Díaz watches his solo home run off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Diaz hit a two-run homer in the third inning for his 20th of the season. He also singled off Snell in the fifth with a line drive to center.
Rasmussen (9–5) struck out six and scattering four hits, all singles. The Dodgers never got a runner to second base against him. They threatened with the bases loaded against Garrett Cleavinger in the sixth, but he got an inning-ending double play to hold the lead.
Snell (1–1) was charged with three runs on five hits. He was activated off the injured list Saturday morning and struck out eight in just his third start for the Dodgers since signing a $182 million deal this winter.
Junior Caminero added insurance in the sixth with his 27th home run of the season, a solo shot off Jack Dreyer.
With one out and a runner on in the top of the sixth, Cleavinger gave up back-to-back singles to Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani, before he got Teoscar Hernandez to bounce into the inning-ending double play.
Diaz’s leadoff home run in the first inning marked the 900th hit of his career.
The Dodgers will send right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (9–7, 2.63 ERA) to the mound for the series finale Sunday. Joe Boyle (1–1, 2.82) starts for the Rays in their final home game before a 14-day road trip.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers to the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen delivers to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Drew Rasmussen pitches to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Díaz drops his bat as he watches his solo home run off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Díaz watches his solo home run off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
AL HENAKIYAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Ricky Brabec deliberately gave up his motorbike lead over Luciano Benavides in the Dakar Rally while Nasser Al-Attiyah was happy to cruise through another day closer to his sixth car title on Thursday.
Al-Attiyah started 346-kilometer stage 11 between Bisha north to Al Henakiyah with a 12-minute overall lead and let it drop to less than nine minutes over new second-placed driver Nani Roma in a Ford.
Al-Attiyah was content to let Dacia teammate Sébastien Loeb catch up and pass him to have a teammate nearby for any help and to minimize errors on the mazy, dirt track. Al-Attiyah was 17th, nearly 13 minutes behind stage winner Mattias Ekström, and said he needed to execute the same plan on Friday's last effective racing stage before the end on Saturday.
“If we lose two, three, four minutes no problem,” Al-Attiyah said. “We just need to finish this Dakar in first place.”
Honda cooked up a strategy in the Saudi desert for Adrien van Beveren to open the way and let Brabec catch up after the 190-kilometer pit stop and pick up time bonuses.
Brabec boosted his overall lead from 56 seconds to nearly four minutes just 25 kilometers from the finish. He was also within a minute of the stage lead but he slowed down so KTM rival Benavides was the new overall leader, but only by 23 seconds.
Brabec got his his wish to start Friday's stage 12 six minutes behind Benavides, so he can eye him. They head west to the rally starting point of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast on 311 kilometers of gravel, some river beds with a finish in the dunes.
“A little bit of strategy today and hopefully it pays off tomorrow,” Brabec said. "I feel like its going to be a good day. We’re going back into the rocks so it will be a little bit better for us.”
Brabec is counting on his experience of winning the Dakar in 2020 and 2024 to trump Benavides, who has a best placing of fourth last year.
“I've been in this situation before,” Brabec said. “For the whole two weeks I've been just trying to stay relax, stay comfortable and just be confident, so two days more. I'm gonna do the same thing tomorrow that I've been doing every day; ride dirt bikes and have fun.”
Van Beveren helped Brabec with navigation while fighting with another teammate, Skyler Howes, the entire day for the stage win.
Howes prevailed by 21 seconds for his first career major stage in his eighth Dakar. He was third in 2023 and sixth last year. He's running fifth, 34 minutes off the pace.
Benavides was fourth in the stage and believed the race will be decided on the final 105-kilometer sprint on Saturday.
“I played no strategy like Ricky. I don't care,” Benavides said. “I'm doing what I can to control what I can control.”
Ekström won his third car stage of this Dakar, a special so fast that 12 other drivers were within 10 minutes.
Ford achieved another 1-2-3 stage. Romain Dumas, a three-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, was a career-best second just over a minute back and Carlos Sainz was third.
Only Toyota's Henk Lategan beat Ekström to a checkpoint but Lategan's podium hopes were wrecked after 140 kilometers when a bearing broke on his rear left wheel. Lategan took four hours to get home. He was second last year and second overall overnight but plunged to 23rd.
Loeb moved up to third overall, 10 minutes behind Roma and three minutes ahead of Ekström.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Rider Daniel Sanders competes during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Fabian Lurquin compete during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Rider Skyler Howes competes during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Henk Lategan, left, and co-driver Brett Cummings repair their car during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Nani Roma and co-driver Alex Haro compete during the eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Jan.15, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
