Worldwide Sports News

Austin Wells is not exactly sure when it all began, or that there was any one incident that caused it.

But by late Friday night, the Yankees catcher decided it was finally time to let the training staff know about the pressure in the top of his head and headaches he had been dealing with “for a bit,” which ultimately led to him landing on the 10-day injured list Saturday.

“I think it just needs a couple days, let the brain catch up a little bit and get back to work,” Wells said Sunday after the Yankees’ 6-1 win over the Red Sox in The Bronx.

Wells is set to undergo an MRI on Monday to try to rule out anything more serious going on — particularly in his neck — though he tested negative for a concussion Saturday.

“In my mind, it’s just the cumulative buildup over the last couple weeks, month, whatever it is,” he said. “When you’re in it every day, you don’t really realize, but being out of it today, I felt better today already.”

Wells, who has struggled badly at the plate for most of the season, said getting beat up behind the plate is “part of the position, honestly.”

But he decided to use a hockey mask for Friday’s game — on the advice of another catcher he spoke to who had also gotten banged up — which he said felt sturdier.

He plans to keep using it once he returns.

“Whatever was going on this year wasn’t really working, so try everything,” Wells said.

In the meantime, Ali Sánchez made his Yankees debut behind the plate Sunday, going 0-for-2 before being pinch hit for by Spencer Jones in the seventh inning.

Aaron Boone said that J.C. Escarra is likely to start two of the next three games against the Guardians, but the manager is treating the position day to day.

Boone said it is “possible” that Jasson Domínguez (AC joint sprain) could rejoin the Yankees on their upcoming road trip, as the outfielder played a second rehab game Sunday and is expected to need at least a few more early this week.

Domínguez started in left field Sunday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, though the Yankees’ need is in right field with Aaron Judge expected to miss two-plus months with a stress fracture in his right first rib.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

The Yankees may just move Cody Bellinger to right once Domínguez returns, though Bellinger has been the best defensive left fielder in the majors this season, which is part of the reason why they have at least kicked around the idea of Domínguez playing right field (which he has for one game in his entire pro career).

“We’ll see how that unfolds,” Boone said. “It would be kind of tough, just because we’ve poured so much into Jasson and committing to left field. Little bit of a challenge. But it is something we’ve talked about.”

Boone was noncommittal on whether Domínguez would get any right field action during his rehab assignment.

Max Fried is set to undergo his next round of imaging later this week to determine whether he can advance to throwing from the mound.

For now, the left-hander has been playing catch on flat ground, expected to get out to 120 feet this week as he tries to work back from a bone bruise in his left elbow.

“He’s responded pretty well to everything,” Boone said.

Anthony Seigler, the Yankees’ first-round pick in 2018, started at second base Sunday for the Red Sox.

Their 27th-round pick that year, Mickey Gasper, was starting at catcher for the Red Sox.

The only Yankees pick from that draft who is currently in the organization is Wells, their 35th-round pick who did not sign out of high school.

They drafted him again two years later in the first round.

CHICAGO — The Giants did what they couldn’t a day earlier: They plated the automatic runner placed at second base to begin extras and prevented the Cubs from doing the same in their turn to bat.

And, in doing so, so did Keaton Winn.

Winn, who allowed the walkoff blast to Pete Crow-Armstrong the previous afternoon, got the Cubs star to ground out with the winning run on third base to end the ninth and keep the score tied at 1.

Jonah Cox, in as a pinch-runner, raced home on an opposite-field single from Matt Chapman to begin the 10th for only the Giants’ second run of the game that proved to be the difference in a 2-1 win Sunday night.

“I’ll be danged if it doesn’t come up where the game’s on the line and those two go at it,” manager Tony Vitello said of the rematch between Winn and PCA. “That’s what you tune in for is moments like that, and he did a tremendous job.”

Chapman’s RBI single was only the Giants’ fourth hit of the night and their first since the fourth inning, completely stymied by Javiar Assad, who only entered the game after Jameson Taillon strained his hamstring one batter into the second inning.

Dylan Smith, one of the only arms left in the Giants’ bullpen, struck out Michael Conforto to begin the bottom of the 10th and worked around a stolen base that put the tying run on third and forced the infield in with one out to earn his first career save.

The Giants’ bullpen, which had a 9.35 ERA in nine previous games on the road trip, threw five shutout innings behind Trevor McDonald, who left the game after five innings with the score tied at 1.

“You can’t say enough about the way Schmitty came in at the end and threw,” Vitello said. “We haven’t really had defined roles. It’s kind of been organized chaos. Tonight was a good example of all guys did was take the ball in whatever situation and do what they needed to do.”

Offensively, the Giants were in action early against Taillon, who walked Rafael Devers and allowed him to come around to score on an opposite-field single from Jung Hoo Lee to open a 1-0 lead.

But as soon as Assad entered, the Giants went silent.

“I don’t know that Assad even had his jersey on and all of a sudden he’s got to go,” Vitello said. “I’ve seen it so many times where that guy has a phenomenal outing because you don’t overthink it.”

Assad allowed only three Giants to reach base while tossing 6 ⅓ shutout innings of surprise relief, putting the Cubs in position to break the 1-1 tie in the eighth.

A walk and an error by Erik Miller had put runners at the corners with nobody out, but pinch-runner Kevin Alcantara was doubled up at third on a broken-bat line drive that went straight to Devers, who fired across the diamond to Chapman at third.

“Rafi, he might not talk a lot, but he’s a smart baseball player,” Chapman said. “He knows the game and he pays attention, so I’m not surprised he knew what to do with the baseball there.”

They survived the eighth and got around a walk from Winn in the ninth that put the potential winning run in scoring position and brought Crow-Armstrong to the plate.

Winn learned from his previous losing battle and didn’t offer Crow-Armstrong a splitter in the strike zone.

“It felt like yesterday, he was obviously sitting on it,” Winn said. “Today, I just tried to attack him with heaters early and let the split play below the zone.”

The Cubs led the majors in walkoff wins, and the Giants had been walked off more than all but one other team, but their fortunes flipped in a late-night finale to their 10-game, three-city trip.

What it means

The Giants, one of the majors’ worst teams away from home with a 14-23 road record entering the game, finished off their first non-losing road trip since their first of the season.

“It’s not always about what the numbers say on the scoreboard,” Chapman said. “If we help each other out and finish strong down the stretch and figure out a way to turn this thing around, nobody’s going to remember the beginning part of the season.”

Who’s hot

Despite their struggles against Assad, the Giants should return home feeling good about the biggest bats in their order, which isn’t something that could be said for much of the season.

Before Taillon exited, Lee extended his hitting streak to 15 games — the longest active streak in the majors — and finished the trip batting .561 (23-for-41).

Bryce Eldridge also extended his on-base streak to 14 games and went 15-for-35 on the trip.

The much-maligned middle of the order has also come alive with Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman combining to drive in 32 runs on eight home runs and 10 other extra-base hits while batting a respectable .271.

“I knew I wasn’t going to be down forever,” said Chapman, who was responsible for 17 of the runs driven in. “It feels good to feel like I can contribute. As a team, we really need it right now. Our backs are against the wall a little bit. We need wins.”

Who’s not

The last time McDonald took the mound, he became the first Giants starter since his last turn in the rotation to complete five innings. This time around, another solid start from the rookie capped a suboptimal road trip from the rest of the pitching staff.

Despite their bats breaking out in a big way since they left home, the Giants still barely broke even over the 10 game, three-city trip.

“We left some stuff on the table,” Chapman said. “And we know that.”

Dating back to the start of the trip, the 6.49 ERA from Giants pitchers is the second-worst in the majors, ahead of only the Rockies, and it’s no secret what has been the biggest culprit.

The 55 walks issued over the course of the trip, including five more Sunday, were the most by any Giants team over a 10-game stretch since 2010, averaging out to almost two every three innings.

Up next

The Giants face an ultra-quick turnaround before hosting the Nationals on Monday to begin a six-game homestand. Logan Webb, who flew ahead of the team, gets the ball against Miles Mikolas and will be tasked with trying to hold in check the majors’ top run-scoring operation.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. found a way to keep Aaron Judge’s bat in the Yankees’ lineup. 

After being held hitless by the Red Sox in each of his first three plate appearances on Sunday, the slugging infielder decided to make a change when he stepped to the bat rack. 

Chisholm grabbed Judge’s 35-inch, 33-ounce bat instead of his own and ended up clubbing the first pitch he saw to deep right-center for a three-run homer.

It was his eighth blast of the season, and put the 6-1 victory out of reach. 

“I was swinging and missing when I thought I was hitting the ball,” Chisholm said. “Sometimes you just need a little more weight and a little less on your swing.”

This isn’t the first time the lefty slugger has borrowed Judge’s bat.

Chisholm used one to homer off a position player in his second game as a Yankee, but also tore his right oblique after swinging too hard with the heavier lumber last April. 

This time around, he knew he needed to just keep things simple. 

“When I pick up his bat I know I can’t swing as hard as I can, or else I’ll tear an oblique like last year,” Chisholm said. “It helps to be able to just control the barrel, and just try to touch the ball instead of trying to hit it so hard.”

Chisholm’s dipped into most of his other teammates bats too, aside from Paul Goldschmidt and Giancarlo Stanton.  

While Stanton’s bat is too difficult for him to swing, he of course, wore the injured slugger’s pants in an effort to break his slump at the plate late last month. 

With Sunday's homer, Chisholm is hitting .306 with 11 RBI and a .918 OPS over his last 19 games. 

SAN DIEGO — Sean Manaea has looked better during his recent resurgence, but he was afforded a cushion Sunday and utilized it.

The left-hander, in a bulk relief role, allowed two earned runs on four hits over four innings in the Mets’ 7-3 victory over the Padres.

It was Manaea’s sixth straight respectable outing since May 6, when he was removed from a game in Colorado after only one-third of an inning because of struggles.

Manaea, who worked behind opener Huascar Brazobán, was afforded a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning.

Freddy Fermin hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the frame and Manaea was removed for the sixth.

“The first-pitch fastball to Fermin, I wish I got that back,” Manaea said. “But, yeah, [the outing] was OK.”

Manager Carlos Mendoza could appreciate that Manaea went after hitters.

“He had to pitch today, which was good to see with so many righties, a heavy righty lineup,” Mendoza said. “For him to use the cutter, for him to use the changeup, got swings and misses with the fastball. Not an easy lineup to navigate and I thought he did a really good job.”

Carson Benge became the fourth Mets rookie to record a five-hit game that included a home run.

The others were Pete Alonso (Aug. 15, 2019), Alex Ochoa (July 3, 1996) and John Milner (Sept. 8, 1972).

Mark Vientos was absent from the starting lineup for the third time in four games as Mendoza went with Jared Young at first base and MJ Melendez in left field, allowing DH duty for Juan Soto.

The struggling Vientos has seen his OPS drop from .703 to .617 over the past three weeks,

“It’s been hard for [Vientos], it’s been a rough stretch,” Mendoza said. “He’s just got to continue to fight. He’s got to continue to come in every day with the mindset that there’s adjustments. He’s got to continue to work, and he’s been doing that, so off the field that is kind of some of the things we’re looking for.”

Well, we had some good times in 2025. Lefty masher Jahmai Jones seized that role from Andy Ibáñez, hero of the 2024 AL Wild Card series win over the Houston Astros, last year and he ran with it. This year it just isn’t happening, and while it’s easy to give up on a bench bat too quickly when the sample size of plate appearances is still too small, we’re now into June, the Tigers are a desperate team, and Jones shows zero signs of getting hot. Game after game, Jones is entering to pinch-hit for Colt Keith, or Kerry Carpenter, or Zach McKinstry, failing to get it done, and then costing them another bench move as Jones can’t really be trusted to play much in the outfield. There has to be a better way.

One of the failures of Scott Harris’attempts to build a complete roster is the presence of limited players that continue to undercut their supposed philosophy of having a very flexible, versatile bench. They already rely on too many jack of all trades, master of none, types in the first place. Not only is Jones not getting it done against left-handed pitching this year, he can’t really do anything else other than pinch-run effectively. Having a player in such an extremely limited and specific role isn’t ideal even when he’s hitting well, but you can deal with it. When he isn’t hitting, the Tigers are playing with a 12-man position player roster.

In 2025, Jones hit seven homers and posted a 159 wRC+ in 150 plate appearances, mostly against left-handed hitters. This year he has two homers and a grisly 35 wRC+ in 86 plate appearances and it has to stop now.

Obviously 86 plate appearances is a small enough sample that it’s hard to make too much of it under normal circumstances. With the Tigers desperate for help, there just isn’t time to wait around for Jones to figure it out. They’ve been very patient with him already, but with a stacked injury list it didn’t really matter because they already had no way to replace all their vacant roster spots. Now that they’re getting healthy, that last roster spot becomes the real point of dispute.

For my money, the smart move here is to call up Trei Cruz. A switch-hitter with typically balanced splits, who is arguably the their best center fielder right now, Cruz would open up a lot more options on the Tigers roster. He’s also a decent shortstop who could make Zack Short a moot point as well. Cruz is unlikely to hit any more than Zach McKinstry does and he generally does his best work hitting left-handed against right-handed pitchers, so don’t expect too much from his bat. However, his defensive versatility, pesky, disciplined at-bats, and speed on the bases would be an asset and actually give the Tigers more of the flexible bench they want, while opening up other options on the roster at the same time.

Adding Cruz, who is already on the 40-man roster to the mix, would allow them to sit Wenceel Pérez and Matt Vierling more against right-handed starters, with Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter in the corners. Pérez is a significantly better hitter against left-handed pitching, and he could then fill Jones’ role, with the added benefit of being marginally more functional defensively. Cruz’s presence would also give AJ Hinch a second option at the shortstop position, allowing them to DFA Zack Short and bring up one of Hao-Yu Lee or Max Anderson to play some third base, while otherwise riding the bench waiting for lefty relievers to pinch-hit against.

The biggest flaw in the plan is that Cruz has only been back with the Toledo Mud Hens for seven games. He’s not exactly tearing it up even by Triple-A standards, but while you’d like to catch him on a hot stretch, this isn’t really about his bat so much as how he frees up the rest of the roster and injects some flexibility back into the mix. Letting them use Pérez, Vierling, and perhaps one of their young, right-handed hitting infielders to hit left-handers, is only one of the benefits.

The Tigers could also choose to replace Jones by adding right-handed hitting Triple-A outfielders like Ben Malgeri or Corey Julks to the 40-man roster in Jones’ place. Julks has major league experience as a replacement level corner outfielder, and he’s hit 11 homers and stolen 8 bases for the Hens across 211 plate appearances this season. Julks doesn hold a 1.076 OPS against left-handed pitching this year, though we’re only talking about 52 appearances. He didn’t hit at all in the major leagues against either left or right-handed pitching, however. He’s also 30 years old and it’s highly unlikely that he’s figured it out at this point.

Malgeri is a little more interesting as the 26-year-old homegrown outfielder is a good enough outfielder to play center field in a pinch. He has six homers and seven steals for the Mud Hens this year, with an OPS against left-handed pitching of 1.148 in 67 plate appearances. I wouldn’t get too excited, however, as Malgeri didn’t hit lefties at the Double-A level last year, and overall has the track record of a career minor leaguer.

If the Tigers can’t quite quit on Jones just yet, and want to give Cruz some time to get his bat going, another option is to simply DFA Zack Short and use Zach McKinstry to spell McGonigle at shortstop as needed. That would at least open up the option of calling Lee back up, or adding Max Anderson to the 40-man roster and bringing him up instead. Anderson’s lack of plate discipline is going to remain his undoing, as he swings at everything, but he does have the hands to make a good amount of contact anyway, and plenty of power against left-handed pitching.

Lee is the better prospect of the two in my book, as he’s a little more disciplined and a better defender due to an edge in his range over Anderson. On the other hand, Anderson is pretty steady, and doesn’t make as many mistakes. Pick your poison.

The final option is for Scott Harris to go trade for a part-time, right-handed hitting outfielder who is more versatile than Jones. At this point, any player like that who can at least hit for some average and be more useful defensively would be an upgrade. That’s probably not in the cards this time of the year, especially with Harris running the show.

Jahmai Jones was a force off the bench in 2025, but it just isn’t happening this year. The lack of production isn’t just hurting the Tigers in his plate appearances, it’s costing them at-bats from good left-handed hitters late in games as well, with no gains to offset that issue. As long as he’s on the bench, manager AJ Hinch has to try and get him going somehow, but they can’t keep doing this any longer without a big sign from Jones that he’s about to turn things around. Even if the Tigers do DFA Jones, there won’t be that much interest in a lefty mashing DH who isn’t hitting at all. He may end up accepting an assignment to Triple-A Toledo to try and get back on track.

I feel like a broken record, but the Tigers can’t keep holding non-prospect level players they aren’t even willing to use in a limited role on their 40-man roster. If Jace Jung can’t help you right now, and he cannot, when is that supposed to happen exactly? The same is true with Trei Cruz and first baseman Eduardo Valencia. The latter is unfortunately a pretty balanced splits type overall, and so not really a good fit to replace Jones, and he’s even less valuable defensively and on the basepaths. Cruz is the one who checks the boxes as a near average center fielder who can also play shortstop, switch-hit, steal bases, and generally be a pest to opposing pitchers. If the Tigers don’t trust him to handle center field and shortstop to an acceptable degree, there’s no reason he should have been on the 40-man roster to begin with.

The Tigers might prefer to give Cruz some more games to get back to full speed against Triple-A pitching before joining his father and grandfather as major league players, but it’s hard to think of a move that could open up more options for them and create the flexible, versatile sort of bench that Harris always says that he wants. The Tigers have been very patient with Jahmai Jones, but they really need to try to freshen up their bench. Trei Cruz won’t provide a lot of offense, but his defensive ability would at least give them options to get more out of their bench spots.

The Mets dropped a tough one on Saturday night, falling to the Padres on a Freddy Fermin homer in the late innings, despite receiving an encouraging outing from Nolan McLean. 

Austin Warren allowed a go-ahead blast in a rare hiccup thus far this season, then Mark Vientos' struggles continued as he went down easily on three pitches to end the game with the tying-run on-base. 

Instead of sitting and sulking in the finale on Sunday, though, the Mets were able to come back and put together a complete effort from top-to-bottom to secure the series victory.

“It was a really good team win,” Carlos Mendoza said. 

The offense was terrific after being held in check on Saturday, putting men on-base in all nine innings as they broke through for seven runs on 13 hits and four walks. 

Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette stayed hot, but it was Carson Benge who led the way with a solo homer and RBI triple as part of his first-career 5-for-5 day. 

“It was really cool to see,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Rockets pretty much everywhere, using the middle of the field, staying short and on top of the ball -- he set the tone for us.”

Benge is the third youngest player Met to go 5-for-5, and their first rookie since Pete Alonso (2019).

And he wasn’t the only youngster to shine, as A.J. Ewing showcased his outstanding range once again with a running grab in left-center to rob the Padres of extra-bases in the bottom of the eighth. 

Ewing also drove in a run, and extended his hitting streak to five games with a ninth-inning single. 

“I’m loving him out there,” Benge said. 

“I feel like something cool or special is going to happen every day,” Sean Manaea added.  

Manaea was terrific as well serving as the bulk reliever, holding the struggling Padres offense to just two runs across four innings of work to lower his ERA to 3.28 over his last four appearances.  

Brooks Raley, A.J. Minter, Luke Weaver, and Devin Williams put the finishing touches on the victory. 

After starting the road trip with a pair of tough losses in Seattle, the Mets were able to rebound nicely to finish it off 3-3, and winners in seven of their last 10. 

They now head home for a big six-game stretch with the Cardinals and Braves.

“We just have to continue to win series,” Mendoza said. “Bouncing back after a tough one last night, they showed up today and set the tone early -- that’s what you want to see -- now enjoy the day and be ready for our homestand.”