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Harper out for Phils-Braves Game 1 after HBP, but doing ‘a lot better than we expected'  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Bryce Harper was absent from the Phillies’ lineup for Game 1 of the team’s split doubleheader Thursday vs. the Braves. 

However, Rob Thomson was encouraged by Harper’s progress since he took a Spencer Strider fastball to the arm Wednesday night and exited the game with a right elbow contusion. The Phillies’ manager was unsure whether Harper would be available to play Game 2. 

“He came in yesterday for treatment,” Thomson said. “He’s in there now, I believe. Still had swelling, still was in pain, but it was a lot better than we expected.” 

Thomson moved Alec Bohm to first base for Game 1 and put him in the cleanup spot. Edmundo Sosa got the start at third base and batted seventh. 

Could Harper be a pinch-hitting option Thursday? 

“He hasn’t even swung the bat yet, so I’m not really sure,” Thomson said. “I wouldn’t put him in a game until he’s comfortable swinging.”

Thomson was asked why the Phillies didn’t retaliate following the first-inning HBP.

“Because it’s not on purpose,” he said. “Simple as that. If I think somebody’s throwing at one our hitters, I don’t know what I’d do. But if it’s a pitch that gets away from a pitcher, which I believe it was and I think everybody in our clubhouse thinks it was, that’s baseball. It happens.”

When Harper does return, Thomson certainly wouldn’t mind seeing his right elbow protected at the plate with a guard.

“I think it’s a little uncomfortable for him,” he said. “I think he feels like it restricts him a little bit, but I hope he wears it.”

Harper out for Phils-Braves doubleheader after HBP, but doing ‘a lot better than we expected'  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Bryce Harper was absent from the Phillies’ lineup for both games of the team’s split doubleheader Thursday vs. the Braves. 

However, Rob Thomson was encouraged by Harper’s progress since he took a Spencer Strider fastball to the arm Tuesday night and exited the game with a right elbow contusion.

“He came in yesterday for treatment,” the Phillies’ manager said before Game 1. “He’s in there now, I believe. Still had swelling, still was in pain, but it was a lot better than we expected.” 

After his team’s 5-4 afternoon win, Thomson reiterated that Harper was “feeling better.”

Thomson moved Alec Bohm to first base for both legs of the doubleheader. Edmundo Sosa got two starts at third base.

Could Harper be a pinch-hitting option while out of the lineup?

“He hasn’t even swung the bat yet, so I’m not really sure,” Thomson said. “I wouldn’t put him in a game until he’s comfortable swinging.”

Thomson was asked why the Phillies didn’t retaliate following the first-inning HBP.

“Because it’s not on purpose,” he said. “Simple as that. If I think somebody’s throwing at one our hitters, I don’t know what I’d do. But if it’s a pitch that gets away from a pitcher, which I believe it was and I think everybody in our clubhouse thinks it was, that’s baseball. It happens.”

When Harper does return, Thomson certainly wouldn’t mind seeing his right elbow protected at the plate with a guard.

“I think it’s a little uncomfortable for him,” he said. “I think he feels like it restricts him a little bit, but I hope he wears it.”

Harper out for Phils-Braves doubleheader after HBP, but doing ‘a lot better than we expected'  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Bryce Harper was absent from the Phillies’ lineup for both games of the team’s split doubleheader Thursday vs. the Braves. 

However, Rob Thomson was encouraged overall by Harper’s progress since he took a Spencer Strider fastball to the arm Tuesday night and exited the game with a right elbow contusion.

“He came in yesterday for treatment,” the Phillies’ manager said before Game 1. “He’s in there now, I believe. Still had swelling, still was in pain, but it was a lot better than we expected.” 

After his team’s 5-4 afternoon win, Thomson reiterated that Harper was “feeling better.” He did note following a 9-3 nightcap loss that “there’s still some swelling in there and he’s still got some pain. We want to knock that out before we run him out there because he’s going to change his swing and it could lead to a lot of problems.”

Thomson moved Alec Bohm to first base for both legs of the doubleheader. Edmundo Sosa got two starts at third base.

Thomson was asked why the Phillies didn’t retaliate following Strider’s first-inning HBP.

“Because it’s not on purpose,” he said. “Simple as that. If I think somebody’s throwing at one our hitters, I don’t know what I’d do. But if it’s a pitch that gets away from a pitcher, which I believe it was and I think everybody in our clubhouse thinks it was, that’s baseball. It happens.”

As far as when Harper might be back, Thomson didn’t have anything definitive to offer.

“He’s going to miss a few games, I would think,” he said. “Moving forward, I don’t know. We’ll check it out tomorrow. It’s not an IL or anything like that. Not at this point.”

When Harper does return, Thomson certainly wouldn’t mind seeing his right elbow protected at the plate with a guard.

“I think it’s a little uncomfortable for him,” he said. “I think he feels like it restricts him a little bit, but I hope he wears it.”

What's gone right, wrong for Giants through first third of 2025 season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — At the same time as the Giants were failing to get a runner in from third on Wednesday in Detroit, the Los Angeles Dodgers were watching their bullpen implode in Cleveland. 

It turned into a five-loss day for the National League West, which has come back to earth in May. Early on, it looked like the division could put four teams in the National League playoff field, but the Dodgers (13-12) are the only team in the West with a winning record in May.

Each team has its own issues, and it’s easy to pinpoint what has sunk the Giants. They have stopped hitting, failing to score more than four runs in each of their last 11 games, their longest streak since … 2024. This is what they have done quite often over the past four seasons, although this year they at least have some company. With the others in the West dealing with their own warts, the Giants are just three games out of first place after getting swept in Detroit. 

As they head for June, here are three things that went right for the Giants over the first third of the season, and three issues that they need to fix if they want to stay in the race:

Near the bottom

Having a rough 50-ish games would be one thing, but that’s not what’s most worrisome for Patrick Bailey and LaMonte Wade Jr. The real issue is that this is not just a 2025 development. 

Since the 2024 All-Star break, Bailey (.172) and Wade (.191) are in the bottom four in the majors in batting average (Joc Pederson and Michael Conforto are also in the bottom 15, so at least the Giants moved on before it got really ugly). Bailey is the only big leaguer hitting under .180 during that stretch, which covers more than 100 games, and has just two homers. 

The catcher’s Gold Glove defense at least allows him to contribute in some way on a nightly basis. Wade has been below league-average there, too, and it seems the Giants are preparing to move on. Marco Luciano got his first start at first base in Triple-A on Wednesday and Jerar Encarnacion should be back next week. 

There are no decisions to be made with the highest-paid player on the roster. Willy Adames is 3-for-20 on this road trip and his average for the year is down to .208, with a .621 OPS that’s the lowest of his career by about 100 points. After hitting 32 homers and driving in 112 runs last year, he’s on pace for 14 and 72. When you throw in some early defensive issues, he’s sitting at 0.1 Wins Above Replacement through his first 56 games in orange and black.

The Giants will address first base in the coming days, and if Bailey doesn’t turn it around, they can look for a better offensive option in the offseason. But Adames is just beginning a seven-year deal. There’s nothing to do there but wait and hope their shortstop finds his old form. 

Where did it go?

The Giants stole six bases on their successful season-opening road trip and then ran wild in their home opener. Adames, Jung Hoo Lee, Heliot Ramos and Tyler Fitzgerald all took off that afternoon, making the team 10-for-10 on the bases through seven games. They had at least one steal in each of the next three games, and it looked like — after years of talking about being more athletic — the Giants would finally be making an adjustment. 

Currently, they rank 28th in the majors.

The running game has been shut down, with just five stolen bases in 10 attempts in May. After stealing 13 bags in their first 10 games, the Giants have taken 13 over their last 46. They have been caught 11 times during that stretch, too. 

That percentage bothers manager Bob Melvin and has led to a change in strategy in the dugout, although when he was asked over the weekend about the lack of running, he first pointed to another area. 

“We haven’t had any baserunners and we go when we feel like there are opportunities to steal,” he told reporters in Washington D.C. “There was a period where we were too aggressive and got some guys thrown out, so we have to pick the right times.”

Given how slow it’s been offensively in general, the Giants need to be more aggressive the rest of the way. Fitzgerald, one of the fastest players in the big leagues, is six-for-eight. Lee has just one attempt since April 5

Hitting snooze

On May 18, Ramos crushed Jeffrey Springs’ first pitch of the game into the bullpen. The Giants didn’t pick up another hit until the seventh, and all too often, that’s been the norm.

They have outscored opponents by an MLB-best 34 runs from the seventh inning on, but they’re at plus-five in the first six innings of games, and in recent weeks, those early-game numbers have fallen off a cliff. Over their last 20 games, they have a .644 OPS in the first six innings and have just 45 runs in those frames, which are primarily against starting pitchers. 

The offense has been bad in general lately, but the early innings have been particularly ugly, especially against left-handed pitchers. The Giants have six walk-off wins already, but waiting for late-game heroics isn’t a sustainable approach. 

The best around

The Giants have played an MLB-high 42 games decided by three-or-fewer runs. They’re 21-21 in those games, but you can’t blame the guys pitching the late innings. 

The bullpen has a 2.48 ERA, the lowest in baseball and lowest in the NL by nearly half a run. 

It’s hard for relievers to make an All-Star team, but this group has three real candidates. Randy Rodriguez has a 0.73 ERA and is among the league leaders in both strikeout and walk rate. Hitters are batting .154 off his slider and .152 off his fastball. 

Tyler Rogers is doing Tyler Rogers things. He leads the Giants with 26 appearances and has a 1.78 ERA, but there’s a twist this year — he’s striking out nearly a batter per inning. 

Camilo Doval may now be the best bet to represent the bullpen in the All-Star Game, having been moved back to the closer role. Doval has a 1.16 ERA, has cut his walk rate in half, and hasn’t allowed a run since April 7. 

The bullpen has easily been the best unit on the team, which actually makes this first third of the year a bit disappointing. The Giants are 21-2 when they lead after six, but their lineup hasn’t been able to get many leads to this group lately. 

Double trouble

When the Giants traded for Robbie Ray, Farhan Zaidi said he viewed the lefty as an ideal long-term partner for Logan Webb. Ray needed some extra time to return to form — which partially led to the disappointing second half last year that cost Zaidi — but that trade looks like an absolute heist by the former president of baseball operations.

Ray is 7-0 and the Giants have won all of his starts but one. He has a 2.56 ERA and 3.19 FIP, and those numbers are 1.41 and 1.57 in May. Ray has said this is the best he has felt since 2021, when he won the Cy Young Award, and described a recent dominant start as being on autopilot. The return to Cy Young form has given the Giants perhaps the best one-two punch in baseball.

Webb has had a couple of off starts recently, but still carries a 2.82 ERA and league-leading 2.18 FIP. He is fifth in the NL in groundball rate and his strikeout rate is easily the highest of his career. Webb wants to check 200 strikeouts off his bucket list, and he’s well on his way to leading the league in innings for a third straight year. 

There has been inconsistency with the rest of the rotation, but Justin Verlander was throwing better before he got hurt and Landen Roupp had a 1.73 ERA in May. As expected, the Giants have one of the deeper rotations in baseball, with a top two that would give them a real shot in a short playoff series. 

Taking the leap

Matt Chapman and Lee lead Giants position players in WAR, and one of the cooler stories for the organization has been the full embrace of the center fielder at home games. Wilmer Flores briefly sat ahead of Aaron Judge atop the MLB RBI leaderboard, and he has seemingly won a half-dozen games with clutch hits. 

But if you’re looking for the best development with the hitters, it might be the fact that there’s been no sophomore slump with Ramos.

Alright, technically Ramos isn’t a sophomore. He has played in parts of four big league seasons, but this is his second as a full-time player, and he has taken a step forward in just about every respect. 

After slashing .269/.322/.469 last year, Ramos is at .288/.349/.486, and with 10 homers, he has a real shot at ending the 30-homer drought. He leads the Giants with a 133 wRC+ and he has slightly lowered his strikeout rate while fixing a huge hole in his game. 

There were times in the second half last year when it looked like Ramos might be headed for semi-platoon life, but his splits are just about even. He had a .673 OPS against righties last year but is at .838 this year with eight homers. 

There is still work to be done. Ramos went 25 games without a homer at one point, and the defensive metrics are disappointing. Given his background as a center fielder, he really should be a more reliable defender in left. 

But overall, Ramos has taken his game to a new level, giving the Giants a homegrown 25-year-old outfielder who is looking like a foundational piece. 

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For Dodgers fans, the must-have souvenir from last year’s World Series was not a cap or T-shirt commemorating the team’s championship. It was one of the stickers that popped up all over town, reproducing the Fox Sports score box that showed the New York Yankees leading, 5-0, with two out in the fifth inning.

For the Yankees, it was the image that encapsulated an inning of extremely unfortunate events: Aaron Judge dropped a fly ball, Anthony Volpe committed a throwing error, Gerrit Cole did not cover first base.

The Dodgers tied the score before the Yankees could secure that third out and, a couple hours later, boisterously raised the championship trophy atop a makeshift stage in the Yankee Stadium outfield.

The celebrations raged for days, including a Mookie Betts podcast on which Chris Taylor said the Yankees had "s— down their leg” and a “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast on which Joe Kelly said the Dodgers’ scouting reports had highlighted the Yankees’ deficiencies: “They can’t make a play.”

You cannot glorify bat flips, as Major League Baseball itself does these days, and you cannot encourage players to market themselves and share their personalities, as the league also does, without running the risk of what the old-fashioned among us might call poor sportsmanship. To the Yankees’ credit, they get it.

“The way I personally look at it is, when you go out and you are on the right side of the victory, you’ve got a leg to stand on,” Yankees closer Luke Weaver told me this week at Angel Stadium. “When you lose, you ain’t got much to say.

“They said what they said. That’s what they felt. I don’t take it too personally. In a perfect world, yeah, you don’t want to hear that type of stuff. We know what happened. We know we had to do a better job. We just didn’t quite do what we wanted to do. With that being said, it is what it is.”

For the first time since the World Series, the Yankees return to Dodger Stadium this weekend. The Dodgers are sold out of suites advertised this week for as much as $15,000 per game. As of Wednesday, available tickets on the team website for Friday’s series opener ranged from $103 to $567 in general, $146 to $607 with early entry included.

Read more:How one 'crazy' inning ignited Dodgers' comeback in World Series clincher

The entire series will be nationally broadcast: Friday on Apple+, Saturday on Fox, Sunday on ESPN.

“I understand that it’s going to get a lot of eyeballs,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I think that’s great for our sport.”

Said Weaver: “It’ll be a big series because, one, they’re a great team, and we feel like we’re a great team. It’s hard to say it’s not a rematch.

“To be honest, there’s probably some deeper pride that wants to go in there and play good ball and play clean ball, and make sure that we take the series and do our job.”

ESPN played up the “rematch” angle during Sunday’s Dodgers broadcast. However, of the 10 players who started that fateful Game 5 of the World Series for the Yankees, only three are active on the Yankees’ roster: Judge, Volpe and catcher Austin Wells.

Gone in free agency: outfielders Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo and infielders Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres. On the injured list: Cole, infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton. New to New York: former Dodger Cody Bellinger, former Dodger-killer Paul Goldschmidt and L.A.’s own Max Fried, who is Friday’s scheduled starting pitcher.

In spring training, Judge said there was a simple solution to whatever verbal shots the Dodgers took in the wake of the World Series: “Play better.”

At the time, Boone said he hoped the Yankees would “handle things with a little more class” if they won the World Series this year. He also noted the Dodgers’ stars did not say anything to diminish the Yankees.

“Some guys are more inclined to spout off and be a little more colorful than others, and that's their right. They won,” he said then. “And again, hopefully we're in that position and do things a little better."

Have the Yankees used that fifth inning for motivation or just flushed it?

“I’ve used the phrase ‘another log on the fire,’” Boone said this week. “We’ve had some really tough ends to the season, and probably in some way, shape or form serve as some motivation.

“But I’d like to think that, had we won the World Series last year, we’d be hell-bent on getting back again. You put this uniform on, and this hat, and what it represents, and our goal is to get back and do that again.”

Read more:Shaikin: Apple's documentary on Dodgers provides 'all-access' look at World Series run

The Detroit Tigers, not the Yankees, have the best record in the American League. The Philadelphia Phillies, not the Dodgers, have the best record in the National League.

Yet the projections at Baseball Prospectus and Fangraphs say the most likely World Series matchup is a Dodgers-Yankees rematch. That would be great for L.A. and New York, and for Fox, but that also would make a lockout after the 2026 season even more likely than it already is.

You can hear the owners now: If the price of admission to the World Series again is a team in one of the two largest markets in baseball, how can a team in any other market hope to compete? And, if the Dodgers spend $1 billion on free agents, win, spend another half-billion on free agents, and return to the World Series, are the Dodgers ruining baseball?

“It’s difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kinds of things that they’re doing,” an owner said last January.

Read more:'You want your chance to win one.' New Dodgers feel World Series hunger during celebrations

Oh, wait: That was Hal Steinbrenner, owner of the Yankees, the one team that CNBC estimated generated more revenue than the Dodgers last year.

This, we hope, is Steinbrenner being a team player. One high-ranking sports industry executive told me he never has seen baseball owners so united on pursuing major changes to the sport’s economic structure, salary cap or otherwise. Either the large-market owners and small-market owners truly are on the same page, or at least they need the players’ union to believe they are.

It is difficult to imagine Steinbrenner willfully offering to surrender some of the Yankees’ competitive advantage so the Pittsburgh Pirates can squander a few more bucks. What Steinbrenner said is reasonable at a time cable television revenue has dried up for many teams, even as the Dodgers and Yankees continue to cash in, but the “us” makes the comment look silly.

If a couple players on the Dodgers can make a silly comment, so can the owner of the Yankees. Bring on the World Series rematch.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Entering Wednesday's series finale against the Angels, Yankees manager Aaron Boone wouldn't admit if Luke Weaver and Devin Williams, his top two relievers, were available if the team needed them, but it was fairly obvious that they weren't.

Weaver had pitched two of the last three games and the same was the case for Williams, the latter throwing 19 pitches in a shaky save situation on Tuesday night.

So, how did Boone and the Yankees finish off a 1-0 win for the three-game sweep? By utilizing their bullpen depth, including Mark Leiter Jr.

But the Yankees skipper admitted after the win that he was also trying to stay away from Leiter, but the situation of the game called for it.

"I was going to use Mark tonight, but I actually wanted to get him a little bit of rest, too," Boone said. " So, it was only going to be a save only. Obviously, Clarke [Schmidt] put us in a really good position there, giving us six really stellar Innings. And then, it is really encouraging to see [Ian Hamilton] come in and get five big outs for us, and then [Tim] Hill, coming in and getting a lefty on the ground with one pitch. Great job by the whole pitching staff and the defense tonight and making one run stand up."

"You gotta just stay in the moment, stay with the same thing that got you in that spot," Leiter said. "With a couple of guys down, you know it’s your turn and go and get the job done."

As Boone laid out, Schmidt pitched six scoreless while the combination of Hamilton and HIll got the next six outs. But with just a one-run lead, Leiter was the name called to get the final three outs.

When asked why he chose Leiter to close out the game -- having just eight career saves entering Wednesday -- Boone pointed to his reliever's demeanor and improved arsenal.

"He's super competitive. The bigger the spot, the more he thrives," he said. "Whether you get a result or not, he's fearless out there, and stuff's been good all year with the better velocity with the sinker. He's using the curveball really effectively, and then obviously the splitter. Just a really good job there by him after [Jo] Adell smokes that first pitch of the inning off him. We get a big out there, and then he goes to work."

Adell smashed a first-pitch sinker from Leiter right at third baseman Jorbit Vivas for the first out of the ninth. The ball went 12.7 mph off the bat and could have easily rattled the right-hander. But Leiter settled down to get Taylor Ward striking out on three pitches for the second out. Jorge Soler worked a walk after being behind in the count 1-2 but Leiter didn't falter.

That set up the dangerous Logan O'Hoppe as the winning run. Leiter got ahead 0-2 and after some splitters out of the zone, he got O'Hoppe looking on a curveball off the plate -- helped by J.C. Escarra's framing -- to end the game.

"Soler had some good takes for it. Good at-bat by him," Leiter said. "[As for O'Hoppe] Just getting ahead and giving us a chance of having a couple of shots to put him away. Any time you can win a game, especially when it’s a 1-0 game. It’s tight, everyone pitched well. One more guy’s got to do their job. That’s where we’re at." 

Wednesday's save was the culmination of how far the trust in Leiter has come for Boone and the Yankees after they acquired him from the Cubs at last year's trade deadline. He pitched to a 4.98 ERA in 21 appearances with the Yankees last season and was left off the postseason roster to start. But after some bullpen injuries, Leiter was added and stepped up.

In six postseason appearances, he pitched to a 1.69 ERA, including getting six outs during the World Series without allowing a run.

"He ended up being really good for us and in the biggest of moments," Boone said of Leiter. " Last year was a little bit up and down in those final couple months, but he had some good moments in there and then finished really strong in the postseason for us when he got on the roster. I think we noticed this year that the stuff was crisper. More life to the sinker; he's up, probably two, three miles an hour with that pitch, which is allowing his breaking ball and splitter to play even a little bit better."

According to Statcast, Leiter ranks in the 94 percentile in exit velocity (85.5 mph), whiff percentage (34.5), strikeout percentage (35.9) and hard-hit percentage (28.8) after Wednesday's performance.

Leiter's second save this season also proved that the Yankees bullpen isn't just about Weaver and Williams, and Leiter can be a big piece to the Yankees' pursuit of a World Series this year.

The hope was that the Angels could use Tuesday’s ninth-inning rally to muster up something worth talking about at the plate.

On Tuesday, Yoán Moncada homered. Taylor Ward singled. Luis Rengifo brought home a run with a line drive up the middle. Despite falling a run short, stringing a few hits together showed that the Angels could build off each other to produce runs.

However, instead of breaking through as an offense, the Angels were shut out by the Yankees 1-0 on Wednesday night, securing a sweep and turning the Angels’ eight-game win streak of weeks past into more of a blip on the radar than a sign of life.

Entering the game, the Angels (25-30) walked the least and struck out the second-most in MLB. Wednesday was mostly more of the same. The Angels drew two walks, one of them with two out in the ninth, but were able to snap their three-game streak of double-digit strikeouts — punching out just seven times.

Angels manager Ron Washington managed the game as if his team needed the victory. He tried anything to salvage a homestand in which the Halos ultimately dropped five of six and scored just three runs. When Aaron Judge walked to the plate in the first and second innings, Washington greeted the Yankees slugger — owner of the top batting average (.391) in MLB — with a free base.

The strategy that made Judge the first Yankees player to intentionally walk twice in the first two innings of a game since Gene Woodling on Aug. 30, 1953, worked once, but led to the only run of the game in its other appearance.

After Judge was walked with a man on in the first, Cody Bellinger walked — one of Angels starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi’s five walks — to load the bases. The next batter, Anthony Volpe, hit a sacrifice fly to center field and brought home a run.

Read more:Shaikin: Why Wayne Randazzo and Mark Gubicza might be best Angels broadcast duo in 50 years

Kikuchi (93 pitches, 51 for strikes) struggled with command once again, with his league-high walk rate rearing its ugly head. The Japanese southpaw loaded the bases in each of the first two innings, but settled down to make it through five innings, giving up five hits and striking out four. Despite Kikuchi battling through the fifth — and the Angels bullpen tossing four scoreless innings — with how the Angels have been at the plate over their last five games, one run was all the Yankees needed Wednesday.

In perhaps the biggest cheer of the night at the Big A, right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn struck Judge out looking with a 99.1-mph fastball in the seventh inning.

Now, the offense will look to recover away from Anaheim and see if it can rediscover what made it click against the Dodgers and Athletics.

Cleveland and Boston await the Angels next as they’ll first face the Guardians at Progressive Field on Friday to begin their six-game trip.

Angels reshuffle roster

The Angels made a flurry of roster moves before Wednesday’s game, designating veteran infielder Tim Anderson and catcher Chuckie Robinson for assignment, while optioning left-hander Jake Eder to triple-A Salt Lake City.

In corresponding moves, right-handed relief pitcher Robert Stephenson — who’d been out after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2024 — was activated off the 60-day injured list, and infielder Scott Kingery was recalled from triple-A Salt Lake City.

Washington said his hope for Stephenson, who signed a three-year, $33-million deal with the Angels before the 2024 season, is to be eased back into a high-leverage role. Stephenson said he is looking forward to the role he can play on the major league roster.

“To me, it's like, probably just like, up there with making my debut,” said Stephenson, who made his season and Angels debut Wednesday, tossing a scoreless sixth inning. “I feel like it's gonna be pretty special for me."

Kingery, on the other hand, hasn’t appeared in the major leagues since 2022. Bursting on the scene as a top prospect with the Philadelphia Phillies, he featured heavily in the 2018 and 2019 campaigns after signing a six-year, $24-million contract extension before making his MLB debut.

The 31-year-old, who Washington said will play center field, second base and third base, put up 2.7 wins-above-replacement in 2019 before struggling to find any resemblance to his previous success — playing in just 16 combined games in 2021 and 2022 — and was eventually traded to the Angels in November 2024 after spending most of the last four seasons in the minor leagues.

“It's hard, it's a hard game,” Kingery said. “Stuff happens throughout your career, and you got to find ways to battle that and just keep on going. Just keep the foot on the pedal and find ways to make things work."

Trout nears return

Mike Trout (left knee) continues to check the boxes as he nears a return from the injured list. The longest-tenured Angel and three-time MVP faced live pitching from a minor league pitcher on Wednesday, and performed baserunning drills with more intensity than earlier this week, Washington said.

Washington added that Trout began to cut and stop while running, but he still wasn’t going at 100%.

“Came out of it very well,” Washington said. “He looks good.”

Trout was hitting .179 with nine home runs and 18 RBIs before suffering a bone bruise in his left knee on April 30.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Clarke Schmidt had his best start this season and the shorthanded Yankees bullpen did its job as New York completed their three-game sweep of the Angels after a 1-0 win on Wednesday night.

Here are the takeaways...

-The Angels' game plan for Wednesday was to not let Aaron Judge beat them. With a runner on second and one out in the first, the Angels intentionally walked Judge. It was the first time a Yankee was intentionally walked in the first inning since Robinson Cano on June 17, 2012 against the Nationals. The Yankees made them pay after Cody Bellinger walked to load the bases and Anthony Volpe pushed across the game's first run with a sac fly. DJ LeMahieu flew out with the bases loaded and two outs.

Judge was intentionally walked again in the second inning after a Paul Goldschmidt single and Trent Grisham double with two outs. With the open base, the Angels put Judge on and had Bellinger hit. Unfortunately, Bellinger popped out to end the threat. Judge led off the fifth inning for his third at-bat and was pitched to, but the captain flew out. He would strike out in his final at-bat in the seventh to finish 0-for-2 with his two walks. His batting average has dropped to .391 on the year.

-The Yankees offense had a tough evening. While they picked up seven hits and drew five walks, they just couldn't get the clutch knock to drive in runs. They were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base.

-Schmidt came into Wednesday's start having allowed at least two runs in his previous four starts -- 10 runs across 22.2 IP -- including a loss to the lowly Rockies in his last start, and was in danger of continuing that trend early. He allowed the first two runners to reach in the second inning, but struck out the next two batters and got the final out on a flyout to get out of a jam.

Schmidt would get through six innings without any more jams as he finished his best start of 2025. Schmidt allowed just four hits and one walk over six scoreless innings (99 pitches, 69 strikes) while striking out four.

Yankees starters in this series (Schmidt, Carlos Rodón and Ryan Yarbrough) combined to allow just one run over 19 innings, giving up 11 hits, two walks and striking out 21.

-With Luke Weaver and Devin Williams unavailable, the Yankees bullpen had to piece together the final three innings. Ian Hamilton struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh but got into some trouble in the eighth. Nursing a 1-0 lead, Chris Taylor led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Hamilton would get Zach Neto to fly out before manager Aaron Boone brought in Tim Hill to face the lefty Nolan Schanuel. Hill would get Schanuel to ground out on the first pitch to end the threat.

Mark Leiter Jr. was called on for the save in the ninth. He got Jo Adell to line out on the first pitch, struck out Taylor Ward on three pitches and then had to face the dangerous Jorge Soler, who had two of the Angels' five hits. Soler worked a walk after falling behind in the count, 1-2. Leiter bounced back to strike out Logan O'Hoppe on five pitches to lock down his second save this season.

Game MVP: Anthony Volpe

The entire Yankees pen and Schmidt did a number on the Angels hitters, but without Volpe's sac fly, this game would be going into extras.

Highlights

Anthony Volpe with a first inning sac fly to put the Yankees on the board first pic.twitter.com/a7XpHBdd20

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 29, 2025

What's next

After an off day on Thursday, the Yankees visit the Dodgers for a World Series rematch starting Friday at 10:10 p.m.

Max Fried (7-0, 1.29 ERA) will take on Tony Gonsolin (2-1, 4.68 ERA).

Making his fourth start since getting promoted to Triple-A this season, Mets prospect Nolan McLean had another good outing, logging 5.1 innings while giving up two earned runs.

The right-hander got the win as Syracuse beat the Iowa Cubs, 4-2, in Game 2 of Wednesday's doubleheader. McLean (5-3) struck out five, walked two and threw 76 pitches (50 strikes). His ERA in Triple-A rose slightly to 2.31 while his overall ERA is 1.81 through nine starts and 49.2 innings.

The 23-year-old began his day in immediate danger after Christian Franklin hit a ground-rule double on the first pitch of the inning. McLean got out of trouble with a strikeout, groundout and flyout.

Things got messy for the righty again in the third after a single and back-to-back walks loaded the bases with one out. McLean was able to retire the next hitter on a popup to give him a chance to escape the inning unscathed, but a single by Ben Cowles on the first pitch brought home two to give Iowa a 2-0 lead. A groundout ended the inning.

It didn't take long for Syracuse to respond, though, as it tied the game in the top of the fourth. Joey Meneses had a run-scoring double before Luis De Los Santos' RBI groundout made it 2-2.

From there, McLean set down the last seven hitters he faced before getting pulled with one out in the sixth. He left with a lead thanks to Donovan Walton's two-run homer in the top half of the frame.

RHPs Chris Devenski and Tyler Zuber and LHP Felipe De La Cruz pitched the final 1.2 innings of relief and didn't allow a run. Both games of the doubleheader were seven innings as the minor leagues continue to use the system briefly used in MLB.

Syracuse swept the doubleheader, winning Game 1 by a score of 3-2.

From the start, the Mets' series finale against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday afternoon didn't look promising.

Even before Griffin Canning allowed two runs in the top of the first, the game's start time was bumped up from 7:10 p.m. to 1:10 p.m. due to inclement weather expected at night, and when the game got underway the weather still wasn't great.

Perhaps that can help explain why Canning didn't look sharp for the second straight start (his last outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers was cut short because of a lengthy rain delay), although he didn't use that as an excuse after the game.

"Just not very good, not very competitive out there," he said. "Kinda just let the team down (with) how I set the tone."

While Canning's three innings of five-run ball (three earned) with four walks was not what New York was hoping for as it failed to get the sweep of the White Sox following a 9-4 loss, the bigger concern remains the team's inability to hit with runners in scoring position.

Even with Mark Vientos launching a two-out, opposite-field three-run homer with runners on first and third to get the Mets closer and make it a 5-3 ballgame in the third inning, the offense went just 2-for-12 with RISP.

Entering Wednesday, New York was hitting .212 with RISP -- the fourth-worst mark in the majors and the worst in the NL. That number only got worse after the series finale.

"We gotta get better with runners in scoring position. We are all aware," manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. "Yes, the underlying numbers (are encouraging), but at the end of the day we gotta get the job done, right? I thought yesterday we took some better at-bats, today not so much."

Indeed, the Mets only managed five hits on the day but walked eight times, including five times in the first 3.2 innings against Chicago starter Shane Smith, which is why they had so many scoring opportunities. But once again, the offense couldn't break through.

To make matters worse, former Mets top pitching prospect Mike Vasil pitched three scoreless innings against his old club, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out five to lower his season ERA to 2.10 in his first big league season.

"That’s just baseball," Vientos said. "Baseball is a game that’s six months, seven months of the year and you’re hot, you’re cold and then you’re in the middle. That’s just the name of the game."

While the skipper understands his team's offensive struggles at the moment, he shares his third baseman's confidence that things will turn around.

"We got a lot of good hitters there, I’m pretty confident that at the end of the year the numbers are gonna be where they need to be, especially with runners in scoring position," Mendoza said. "But right now we gotta continue to find a way. We gotta find a way to get the job done and we will."

What's helped New York get past the woes offensively are wins.

Despite the laboring offense, the Mets are 34-22 -- good for second in the NL East. It's part of the reason some players inside the clubhouse aren't worried about the offense.

"The way I look at it is if this is us struggling and we’re winning games, imagine when we’re not," Vientos said. "I don’t think the whole season is gonna be like this. I hope to believe that it’s not gonna be like this, that’s just baseball -- you’re always waiting for that hot streak and I know it’s coming for us."

In theory, Vientos is right. Once the Mets start hitting like the team is capable of then they should presumably take off.

However, the problem with that thinking is it assumes that every other aspect of the team remains the same. Yes, right now New York is getting carried by its pitching, both starting and relief. But what happens if/when both of those areas falter like they likely will at some point in a long season?

The answer: Games like Wednesday's.

"We gotta be better," Mendoza said.

The Mets couldn't complete the series sweep, falling to the Chicago White Sox by a score of 9-4 on Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field.

Here are the key takeaways...

-Griffin Canning had an outing to forget. The right-hander struggled with his command, walking four hitters while throwing just 44 of his 80 pitches for strikes, and the White Sox capitalized when they had traffic on the bases, with Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman each driving in a pair of runs in the first two innings to give Chicago a 4-0 lead.

Canning lasted just 3.0 innings, and while the defense behind him wasn’t always strong (Brett Baty and Jeff McNeil committed back-to-back errors in the second inning), the right-hander allowed three earned runs, and five runs overall, striking out three to go along with those four walks.

-Offensively, the Mets had a couple of base-runners on in the first and second, but failed to take advantage against Chicago righty Shane Smith. In the third, however, after back-to-back walks from Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto, Mark Vientos came through with two outs, slamming a three-run home run to right to bring the Mets back within two at 5-3.

Vientos' sixth homer of the season was the big blow against Smith, who lasted 3.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on two hits while walking five and striking out five.

-Brandon Waddell gave the Mets some needed outs after Canning's shortened start, but he seemed to be running out of gas in the sixth, which was his third inning of work. Another Benintendi RBI hit and a Lenyn Sosa RBI knock put the Sox up 7-3. Waddell then came back out for a fourth inning, allowing another run before his afternoon came to a close.

Waddell ended up saving the bullpen by going 5.0 innings, throwing 94 pitches while allowing four earned runs on seven hits.

-Mike Vasil, who was at one point the Mets’ top pitching prospect, pitched the sixth inning for Chicago. An eighth-round pick in 2021, Vasil was a Rule 5 pick by the Phillies after the Mets didn’t protect him on the roster. He eventually ended up with Chicago this offseason, and pitching against his former organization on Wednesday he struck out five over 3.0 scoreless innings.

-Nimmo had two of the Mets' five hits, and he reached base four times. Nimmo scored the Mets' fourth run of the day in the ninth inning on a Pete Alonso RBI double.

Who was the game MVP?

Benintendi, who homered off Waddell in the eighth and had four RBI on the day.

Highlights

Mark Vientos gets the Mets right back in the game with a three-run shot! pic.twitter.com/eTh2a9a6aH

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 28, 2025

"BATY! BEAUTY!"

What a play for the final out of the inning by Brett Baty 🔥 pic.twitter.com/IoICzEtZiU

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 28, 2025

Pete Alonso with an RBI double

He has tied Howard Johnson for fourth place on the Mets' all-time RBI list pic.twitter.com/IOzSvF8s5c

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 28, 2025

Upcoming Schedule

The Mets are off on Thursday before welcoming the Colorado Rockies to Citi Field for a three-game weekend set, starting on Friday night at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.

David Peterson starts for the Mets, while the Rockies have not yet announced a starter.

Given the shorthanded state of the Dodgers’ current pitching staff, losses like Wednesday are the ones that hurt the most.

Seeking to end their East Coast trip with a three-game sweep against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field, the Dodgers got a productive five-inning, one-run start out of Clayton Kershaw in his third outing back from offseason foot and knee surgeries.

They had a late-game lead on a day an ominous rainy forecast never came to fruition.

Most of all, they had most of their top current relievers available, able to call upon names they trusted over the final few innings.

Such a perfect alignment has been rare for the Dodgers lately. Which means, when it does come around, “we've got to win these games,” manager Dave Roberts said.

Instead, the Dodgers lost 7-4 to the Guardians on Wednesday, wasting Kershaw’s five-inning outing with a five-run meltdown in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Struggling closer Tanner Scott gave up the inning’s first two runs on three ground ball singles and a walk, squandering a 4-2 lead for his fifth blown save of the season. Left-hander Alex Vesia then yielded the deciding blow, serving up a three-run blast to Angel Martínez to drop the Dodgers to a 3-3 record on this New York-Cleveland swing.

“It's sour in the sense of, you win the first two [games of this series] and you catch a lead going into the eighth inning,” Roberts said. “You feel good about the game. I thought we did enough to win. But unfortunately that eighth inning got away from us."

And quickly, at that.

Leading 4-2 entering the frame, Scott took the mound for his second inning of work, Roberts seeking an up-down outing from his recently up-and-down closer.

Scott’s appearance had started well, with the left-hander striking out Gabriel Arias to escape a jam he inherited in the seventh inning.

But, in what became his third rough outing out of the last five, he failed to limit damage as a threat began to brew.

Jhonkensy Noel led off the frame with a ground ball up the middle, after second baseman Kiké Hernández got to it in the hole but had no chance to make a throw. Will Wilson followed that with a spinning three-hopper up the third base line, its awkward bounce off the edge of the infield grass tripping up Max Muncy for another infield single.

Read more:Max Muncy, Michael Conforto come alive on offense as Dodgers defeat Guardians

Scott hurt his own cause from there, walking Daniel Schneemann in a left-on-left matchup to load the bases.

And though he fanned Austin Hedges for the first out of the inning, Nolan Jones hit a one-out roller that found a hole through the left side of a shifted infield. Two runs came around to score. A lead the Dodgers had held since the fourth inning had suddenly evaporated.

“I think at the crux is, when you get count leverage, we're just not able to put guys away with the strikeout,” Roberts said of Scott, who had Jones to two strikes before throwing a slider that caught the outer edge of the plate. 

“Leaving middle spin sliders in the zone for them to put the ball in play, I think that when you do that, sometimes the ball finds holes or some outfield grass,” Roberts added. “It's something that we've seen all year. There's great strike-throwing, getting count leverage. But just that last pitch to put guys away … That's what we've got to kind of unlock and be consistent with.”

The final blow came in the next at-bat, when Vesia entered the game and quickly fell behind 2-and-0 to Martínez. Vesia tried to get back in the count with a fastball up in the zone. Martínez instead delivered a knockout blow, belting a three-run homer to left to complete the Guardians’ five-run rally.

“Tried to throw him two changeups and they were not very good, [and] the fastball was right down the middle,” Vesia said. “Just gotta be better in those situations.”

Two of the runs were credited to Scott, whose ERA ballooned to 4.62 just months removed from his $72-million signing with the team.

For Vesia, meanwhile, it marked the seventh home run he has surrendered this season, matching his full-season totals from each of the last two years.

“Just my misses have been bad,” Vesia said. “That’s pretty much it. Just gotta keep going and execute pitches a little bit better.”

The ending left Kershaw with a no-decision; despite him getting through five innings on a day he navigated traffic, limited damage and overcame what he called “some bad habits” in his delivery.

“I'm fighting some stuff mechanically,” said Kershaw, who gave up six hits and two walks while striking out only three. “I was able to make a few pitches here and there to get through five. But obviously wasn't pitching good enough to be able to stay in the game, which makes the bullpen have to throw more innings, and sometimes stuff like this happens.”

It also didn’t help that Kershaw’s last start on Friday in New York was shortened by a rain delay to just two innings, prompting an early hook from Roberts after just 74 pitches.

“I thought the last couple innings got a little bit better,” Roberts said, adding: “I felt at that point in time he did enough to help us win a game.”

That much, he did, the Dodgers leading 2-1 when Kershaw exited at the start of the sixth (in the fourth inning, Will Smith had an RBI double and Andy Pages an RBI single) and 4-1 by the seventh-inning stretch (Freddie Freeman had an RBI single in the sixth, before Hernández doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the seventh).

Alas, right-handed Lou Trivino gave up one run in the bottom of the seventh before being relieved by Scott. And in the eighth, everything fell apart on a day the Dodgers — despite all their injury absences at the moment — seemed to be building momentum. “It's still a .500 road trip, which I think going into it we would have banked,” Roberts said. “But losing this one kind of how we did … we're not used to giving up games late as far as the bullpen. There's things that we've just got to keep kind of trying to figure out and get better."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.