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How Hicks is handling Giants bullpen demotion after shaky start originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — When Jordan Hicks finally hit free agency, several suitors viewed him as a starter and several as a late-innings reliever. The Giants never wavered. They told Hicks he would start in San Francisco, and he signed a four-year, $44 million deal.

“My whole life this has been the dream,” Hicks said a few weeks later. “I’m fully embracing this.”

In the second month of the second season, Hicks finds himself back in the bullpen. His ERA jumped to 6.55 last Wednesday, and on Saturday, manager Bob Melvin announced that Hayden Birdsong will take that rotation spot. Hicks said he understands, and he’s ready to transition back. 

“For me, I’m just going to live with it (and) take ownership,” he said Sunday morning. “I didn’t have the greatest start to the season as I wanted, but I’ll move on and help the team in the bullpen.”

Hicks will join what right now is the best group of relievers in baseball. Four pitchers got through the final four innings Saturday on just 34 pitches, lowering the group’s ERA to 2.59. Initially, Hicks will serve as a sort-of long man given that he is stretched out to throw 100 pitches if needed, but over time that role will change. 

Hicks said he’s ready to do “whatever the team needs” and mentioned adjustments he has been working on the last few days. While he’s among the league leaders in groundball rate, he is not getting as much swing-and-miss as you would expect from someone who sits in the upper nineties, and that would be one area to improve on as a reliever. 

Hicks is averaging 97.2 mph with his sinker, but he’s not sure if there will be the usual uptick that comes with moving to the bullpen. He spent all offseason conditioning himself to go full throttle for six or seven innings. 

“I was already up to 101 as a starter. I don’t really know, to be honest — we’ll see,” Hicks said when asked what his velocity might look like.  “I don’t think that’s something I can predict if I’m going to go out there and throw 103. It’s been two years since I did that. I have no idea. I’m just going to go out there and get the job done.” 

The job description has changed, but Hicks still has two years left on his contract, and at some point the Giants will have to make a decision on his long-term outlook. In addition to Landen Roupp and Birdsong, they have Kyle Harrison, Carson Whisenhunt and other young pitchers in the wings, and Logan Webb and Robbie Ray are signed past this season. Asked if he still wants to be a starter down the line, Hicks said right now he’s focused on helping the team. 

“I have not given up on myself,” he said. “If the opportunity presents itself I’ll happily take it, but at the same time I really don’t have much control of the situation. Yeah, I want to be a starting pitcher. That’s always what I’ve wanted to do in the big leagues. It’s just not the time right now.”

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Alvarado's suspension changes everything for Phillies, who can't let 2025 go to waste originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Phillies officials walked past a group of reporters in hushed tones in the tunnel outside the home clubhouse after Saturday night’s win.

A morning later, the secrecy made more sense.

Jose Alvarado has been suspended for 80 games without pay and will not appeal after testing positive for exogenous Testosterone. He took a supplement over the offseason to lose weight and was seemingly unaware that it contained a banned substance.

To make matters even worse, Alvarado will also be ineligible for the 2025 playoffs. He’ll be able to pitch in regular-season Games 126 through 162 and that’s it. He’s already left town.

Even with Alvarado, the Phillies already needed more relief help. It has stuck out as their top need, one that was likely to be addressed at the trade deadline.

But the trade deadline is 10 weeks away. Sunday’s news could and perhaps should expedite the Phillies’ process of finding another high-leverage reliever.

It won’t be easy. Top relievers are hardly ever traded this far out from the deadline and you’d have to overpay to complete a deal soon. 

Want Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley? Well, it’s going to cost more than a rental ordinarily would, especially now. 

Want A’s closer Mason Miller, who isn’t a free agent until after 2028? Well, it might very well cost both Aidan Miller and Justin Crawford, the Phillies’ top two position player prospects.

The reason sellers hang on to their top trade candidates until close to the July 31 deadline is because demand doesn’t decrease, it typically increases. Bidding wars ensue. Acquisition costs rise. 

“I can’t even answer that yet. That’s still a while away,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said when asked how the Alvarado news will affect the Phillies’ trade deadline.

“It would be like if we had an injury. If you had an injury and knew a guy was going to be out for a while, well how do you deal with it? You talk about a lot of different things and there’s short-term and long-term.”

The Cardinals, the A’s, the Rays with Pete Fairbanks, the Orioles with Felix Bautista and Yennier Cano, the Nationals with Kyle Finnegan, they all have little incentive to act now unless they’re bowled over.

These teams all know the Phillies are in win-now mode, lost their best reliever and won’t want to waste a year in the primes of Bryce Harper, Zack Wheeler, Kyle Schwarber and the rest. Dombrowski was asked Sunday about that lack of leverage.

“If you make somebody the right offer, I don’t think that will make a difference,” he said.

“We’ve already been talking to people so it’s not gonna force anything different. There are very few clubs in position that they want to make trades right now to get rid of players. Most clubs are in a postseason race at this time. We’ve already done a lot of work and have information that we’ve been gathering behind the scenes well before this.”

Alvarado provided so much to the Phillies’ bullpen. He was their primary closer but also the reliever they’d use if a dangerous left-handed section of a lineup was due up in the eighth inning. His mere presence is unsettling to opposing managers and hitters who have almost no time to react to his 100 mph average fastball, 99 mph sinker and 94 mph cutter.

Alvarado showed up in spring training this year already throwing triple-digits. He said several times in March and April that he’s never felt better, that there’s nothing about his routine he wanted to change. He was on track to make his first All-Star team. He had by far the lowest walk rate of his career, 1.8 per nine innings compared to 4.9 prior. Now it’s all washed away.

In the short term, Alvarado’s absence drastically increases the importance of lefty Matt Strahm and right-handers Jordan Romano and Orion Kerkering. Strahm dealt with a left shoulder impingement in spring training and pitched with lower velocity early this season but was sharp Saturday night. Manager Rob Thomson remarked after the game that it was the best Strahm’s stuff has looked in 2025. 

Romano is trending in the right direction as well. He’s made seven straight scoreless appearances, four of them 1-2-3. Romano has picked up two saves during that run and figures to be the primary closer moving forward unless Thomson uses him in the eighth inning against a right-handed pocket and saves Strahm for the ninth.

Tanner Banks goes from being the third lefty in the bullpen to the second. He’s held left-handed hitters to 5-for-28 (.179) on the season.

“We’ve had big injuries in the past — Harper, Schwarber, J.T. (Realmuto) — and guys pick it up, that’s what they do around here,” Thomson said.

“It’s a loss, no doubt. It’s really out of our control. We’ve just got to move on. We’ve got really good pieces here that can pick up the slack.”

Jose Alvarado's suspension an unexpected and devastating blow for Phillies originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Phillies were dealt an unexpected blow Sunday with the news José Alvarado has been suspended without pay for 80 games by MLB after testing positive for exogenous testosterone.

What’s more devastating is that his violation also makes him ineligible for the postseason.

The club learned about the suspension prior to the series finale against the Pirates and issued the following statement:

“The Phillies fully support Major League Baseball’s Joint Prevention and Treatment Program and are disappointed to hear today’s news of José’s violation.”

The Phillies will now be without one of their most reliable arms out of the bullpen — and one of the most dominant relievers across the sport.

“To me, I end up treating it like an injury,” said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “Because you need to replace somebody for 80 games and then hopefully into the postseason, he’s not eligible for that time period.

“It’s not something he did knowingly, I believe that, the way he talked to me. Basically the system is a very stringent system in the sense that you’re responsible for what goes into your body. That’s what it really comes down to.

“I know what he was doing, he was trying to take a weight-loss reduction, he’s always been self-conscious of his weight and working hard on it. Something he took gave a positive result, but ultimately it’s a situation where if it happens, you’re still responsible for it.”

Alvarado was not at Citizens Bank Park and unavailable to comment on the suspension. Through his 20 games in 2025, he was 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA. He would be able to return August 19 against the Mariners.

Why Flores' at-bat in Giants' walk-off win was so incredible originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — With a walk-off walk Saturday night, Wilmer Flores took over the MLB lead in RBI. He also might have had the plate appearance of the season.

Flores fouled off two-strike 103.5 and 102.9 fastballs and a slider before taking a 102.2 mph fastball from Mason Miller to end the game. Overall, he saw seven pitches from Miller that were at least 102 mph, and that put him in rare air. 

According to Sportradar, the seven pitches at 102 mph or above are tied for the most a hitter has seen in one plate appearance since detailed velocity tracking began in 2009. Seattle’s Josh Rojas saw seven pitches at 102-plus from Los Angeles Angels reliever Ben Joyce last year, but that at-bat ended in a strikeout. Flores kept battling until Miller threw a fourth ball, giving the Giants a 1-0 win. 

“It’s pretty good stuff. I was just waiting and hoping to make contact somehow,” Flores said Saturday. “As the at-bat went longer, I was seeing the fastball a little better, but it’s just a different fastball. I think I was just lucky to foul it off.”

Flores fell behind 1-2, but then fouled off a 103.5 mph fastball. After taking 103.9 — the fastest pitch by anyone in MLB this season — he fouled off a 102.9 mph fastball. Miller tried to change it up with a slider, but it was up and Flores fouled it off. Another slider down and away was close, but Flores held up.

“Two-two, I put my best swing on it and still fouled it off — I think it was up,” Flores said. “The slider I took, it was away. I think it was a ball coming out of the hand, but I was able to hold up.”

Miller tried another fastball but it was low all the way, and Flores got his walk-off. With the walk, Flores moved to 42 RBI on the year, one ahead of Aaron Judge for the MLB lead. He has had a lot of impressive moments at the plate through two months, but Saturday’s will be hard to top.

“Wilmer’s at-bat was incredible,” manager Bob Melvin said. “You’re 3-2 and you know you’re going to get a fastball and you’re going to have to start really early to get to it with a guy throwing 103, 104 mph. For him to take that pitch was kind of vintage Wilmer stuff. Even the 2-2 slider, to lay off that. It’s just an incredible at-bat. Yeah, the right guy at the plate.”

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Clayton Kershaw paused halfway up the dugout steps Saturday and bowed his head. The jog he was about to make to the mound at Dodger Stadium would be the first steps of what is likely the final chapter of his spectacular career.

A moment of silent reflection was in order.

“I don't like the word emotional, but there's definitely some thoughts. It's just special,” Kershaw said of his first outing of the season, an uneven four-inning stint in the Dodgers’ 11-9 loss to the Angels. “You get a little bit older, you just learn to appreciate that more. It was different.”

Kershaw threw his last pitch in August at Phoenix’s Chase Field; Corbin Carroll hit it over the right-field wall. Kershaw then walked off the mound and was put on the injured list with a bone spur on his left big toe.

Read more:Angels defeat Shohei Ohtani and rival Dodgers, but they aspire for much more

The first pitch of his latest comeback came at 6:10 p.m. Saturday, a high fastball that Zach Neto took for a ball. The rest of the inning went downhill from there, with Kershaw giving up three runs on three hits and two walks in the first inning.

He recovered nicely, though, allowing two runs and two hits over the next three innings while striking out two over four innings in a wild game the Angels won behind a career-high five RBIs from catcher Logan O’Hoppe.

“I love getting back out there. It's a special thing to get to go back and pitch at Dodger Stadium,” Kershaw said. “Obviously, I wanted to pitch better. I need to pitch better going forward. But I think there's some glimpses of some of my stuff being there, which is good. The problem tonight was just command.

“But, you know, first one back and just to be back out here at Dodger Stadium was special for me, regardless of the outcome.”

Kershaw’s return comes at a key time for the Dodgers (29-17), who are missing three starters — Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki — to injury.

A three-time Cy Young Award winner, Kershaw, 37, is the Dodgers’ all-time leader in strikeouts and is 30 shy of becoming the 20th pitcher in big-league history to reach 3,000. His 212 career wins is second in franchise history behind only Don Sutton’s 233 and his 2.50 ERA ranks third. He also ranks third in starts (430).

But he’s spent almost as much time on the injured list as he has in the Dodgers' rotation over the last five seasons and the list of injuries includes so many body parts, it reads like a page out of "Gray’s Anatomy". There’s the toe, which kept him off the opening day roster. Last season it was knee, toe and shoulder injuries. In 2023, it was his left shoulder. The year before that, his back and pelvis and before that it was his forearm, elbow and back again.

Last season was clearly the most painful, though. Kershaw made seven starts and pitched just 30 innings, both career lows, and missed the World Series. Days after the team’s victory parade, he underwent surgery for a torn meniscus in his left knee and another on his left foot that left him on crutches and in a walking boot for two months.

"The superstar players that I have been around, there's always something that fuels them and they need that,” Roberts said. “Him not being a part of that last year, I know that that's fueling him.”

With Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, Kershaw’s high school teammate, looking on, Kershaw struggled through a 38-pitch first inning, giving up a bases-loaded single to O’Hoppe and an RBI double to Matthew Lugo. But the Dodgers needed just four batters to match that with Andy Pages belting a three-run homer, his ninth of the season, to dead center in the bottom of the inning.

After Kershaw retired the side in order in the second, Taylor Ward put the Angels (19-25) back in front in the third, hitting his 11th home run. A walk, a double and a sacrifice fly from Neto extended the lead in the fourth before Kiké Hernández pulled a run back for the Dodgers with a lead-off homer, his seventh, in the bottom of the fourth.

Kershaw was done by then, having thrown 83 pitches, nearly half of them in the first inning.

“The stuff overall, I was impressed with,” Roberts said. “The velocity was more than it's been in quite some time. At times the slider was good. At times the curve ball was good. He mixed in a lot of change-ups, which was good.

“The command just wasn't consistent. He got to a lot of two-strike counts and couldn't put hitters away, where typically that's his hallmark.”

Read more:'A lot of gratitude and gratefulness to get back.' Clayton Kershaw reflects on 2025 return

The Dodgers went in front for the first time in the sixth, turning three walks, two hits, a stolen base, a wild pitch and a ground-ball double play into three runs and 7-5 lead that O’Hoppe erased with his 10th homer, highlighting a five-run Angel seventh inning.

Five players — O’Hoppe, Luis Rengifo, Lugo, Nolan Schanuel and Kevin Newman — had two hits each for the Angels, who will try to sweep the three-game series Sunday afternoon.

For the Dodgers, Freddie Freeman matched a season high with four hits and is batting .407 in May, raising his league-leading average to .375. Pages, Hernández and catcher Dalton Rushing each had two hits.

Notes:Shohei Ohtani, who went hitless in six at-bats for the first time since 2019, threw 50 pitches in his most extensive bullpen session since undergoing a second surgery on his right elbow in 2023. The up-and-down session, in which Ohtani simulated a break between innings, was his second in a week. ... To make room for Kershaw on the 26-man roster the Dodgers optioned right-hander Ryan Loutos to the minors. To create space on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers moved Snell to the 60-day injured list.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Yankees veteran DJ LeMahieu has returned to the fold with undefined expectations in an unspecified role, but his first start at Yankee Stadium in 2025 sparked some newfound optimism.

Batting eighth and playing second base, LeMahieu raised fans' eyebrows at the plate and in the field on Saturday afternoon against the crosstown rival Mets. He put the Yankees on the board first with a solo home run in the third inning -- snapping a nearly 10-month streak without a long ball -- and also flashed the leather with a slick back-handed diving grab up the middle that robbed Francisco Lindor of a single.

The all-around effort from LeMahieu wasn't enough, as the Mets outlasted the Yankees in a 3-2 thriller to even this weekend's Subway Series in the Bronx at a game apiece. But the 36-year-old showed the sold-out crowd that more turn-the-clock-back performances could be in store, just as long as he stays fully healthy.

"It felt good to play at Yankee Stadium again. Obviously a big series, so just excited to be out there," LeMahieu said after the game. "I don't think there was too much emotion, maybe for me. But it was good, it was fun. I feel like I'm finding my rhythm pretty quickly after coming off the IL. It's a couple of games, but I definitely feel like I'm in a pretty good spot."

LeMahieu's third-inning homer was a typical blast from the past. He drilled an 0-1 down-the-middle fastball from Mets starter Griffin Canning that flew over right fielder Juan Soto and landed just beyond the wall and into the seats. The short-porch shot traveled 333 feet.

In his second at-bat, LeMahieu ripped a 100 mph single to center, setting the Yankees up for a fifth-inning rally that was ultimately wasted. He then found himself in a position to play the role of hero in the eighth, with the bases loaded, two outs, and the score knotted at 2-2. But he wasn't rewarded for smacking a 106 mph liner to right -- the ball quickly found Soto's glove, ending the threat.

It's been quite some time since the Yankees last saw LeMahieu produce hard contact and connect with power. Hampered by foot and calf injuries, he hit a measly .204 with just seven extra-base knocks and 26 RBI across 67 games last season. The start to his 2025 campaign was delayed due to a calf injury.

LeMahieu's time away from the big league club this past March and April allowed Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Oswaldo Cabrera to fill the void at third base. Now, both of LeMahieu's replacements are on the injured list, and opportunity is conveniently knocking for a player who's been written off a few times and considered dead weight.

"Some big-time ABs today. Back-side homer, base hit up the middle, and probably his best at-bat ends up in an out with the bases loaded," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "Really encouraging to see him having those level of at-bats in his first few outings... Injuries have taken him off the field. He's never been not outstanding in the field whenever he's been out there. That's who he is. He's an elite defender."

Only time will tell what LeMahieu offers as a platoon piece -- he only logged two at-bats during spring training and has yet to reach a dozen this season -- but the early results suggest there just might be something left in the tank.

It's hard to follow up on being part of a combined perfect game, but Mets prospect Jonah Tong did his best on Saturday.

In his latest start for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, Tong was dominant again, pitching six scoreless innings while allowing two hits and two walks. He struck out eight batters in Binghamton's 12-0 win over the Hartford Yard Goats. Tong's fastball sat between 93-95 mph and showed off his array of pitches. He lowered his season ERA to 2.12 and has allowed just two earned runs over his last 25 innings pitched. In that span, he's struck out 48 batters.

Tong would not get run support from his teammates, who were shut out until they broke the game open with a huge sixth inning.

Binghamton pushed across five runs, thanks in large part to home runs from Nick Morabito and Kevin Parada. Parada had himself a career day at the plate, finishing 2-for-5 with two home runs and a career-high four RBI.

It's been a struggle for the Mets' 2022 first-round pick in his second full season with Binghamton, but perhaps this is a sign of his bat awakening. He has five hits in his last two games and three home runs on the season in 27 games, after blasting 13 across 114 games a year ago.

The Mets' Double-A affiliate would push across four in the eighth inning, thanks to Ryan Clifford. Playing first base on Saturday, Clifford cleared the bases with a double. It was Clifford's second hit of the game, and he finished 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs. Saturday's performance raised Clifford's batting average to .238, and it was his second consecutive multi-hit game.

Jett Williams, the Mets' No. 2 prospect according to SNY's prospects writer Joe DeMayo, played center field and went 1-for-6. He also extended his hitting streak to five games.

Jonah Tong's last start? Perfect. This start? More dominance.

The @Mets' No. 6 prospect K's 8 over 6 scoreless frames and has 48 strikeouts in his past 25 innings for Double-A @RumblePoniesBB. pic.twitter.com/XnIzNCq6DD

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 18, 2025

Brett Baty has wasted no time proving his ability to hit for power at the big league level since the Mets promoted him as an injury replacement nearly two weeks ago. He's hit five home runs over his last nine games in the majors, complementing the bottom half of the lineup.

But the long-awaited growth from Baty hasn't only been visible at the plate. He's also shown improvements in the field, and a few slick plays at third base on Saturday afternoon helped the Mets outlast the crosstown rival Yankees in a 3-2 thriller in the Bronx.

Baty's first web gem came in the second inning, when he barehanded a weak chopper and threw across his body to first to rob the speedy Anthony Volpe of an infield single. Two innings later, Baty fleeced Volpe again, this time flashing the leather with a scoop on another in-between grounder.

The ball found Baty on five more occasions, and his final contribution was snatching a weak fly from Ben Rice that sliced toward shallow left field in the ninth. Baty also collected an infield single in that inning, finishing the day 1-for-4, but it was his work at the hot corner that caught the Mets' attention.

"We've seen the athleticism from him and his ability to play up the middle. Today was a helluva game defensively for him," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the win. "The fact he's getting reps in the middle of the infield allows him to be better with his footwork. His read off the bat, the quickness of it. It's good to see Baty contribute in a lot of different ways."

When the Mets sent Baty back down to Triple-A in late April, realizing that regular playing time just wasn't in the cards for him, Mendoza reminded the 25-year-old that he's a big-league talent. The message appeared to stick, as Baty's teammates have noticed him playing with newfound confidence.

"He looks different, looks more comfortable," Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said of Baty. "He’s in a good mental space right now and truly believes he belongs here. With that said, he still works hard day in and day out to get better. He understands his role right now and he’s trying to excel at it."

Baty's role with the Mets remains fluid, considering that competition for playing time still exists between him and, youngster
Mark Vientos, and an even veteran Jeff McNeil. But, in the meantime, Baty is making the most of his latest opportunity, determined to prove that he's not a flash in the pan.

It was another electric atmosphere at Yankee Stadium. A day after the Yankees faithful rained boos and expletives at Juan Soto, the crowd was treated to a hard-fought, nail-biter on Saturday.

Despite allowing two home runs, the Mets scraped together enough offense to beat the Yankees, 3-2, and even the Subway Series. There were mesmerizing defensive plays and clutch hits, but the cherry on top was the matchup between Edwin Diaz and Aaron Judge with two outs in the ninth and the game on the line.

Diaz would come out the victor, striking out Judge on a 3-2 heater up in the zone to preserve the one-run victory.

"Big league game, big league matchup. Every pitch was intense, every play," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the win. "One-run game and then you get the matchup of Diaz-Judgey. That’s what you pay for."

While Diaz's personal victory over Judge capped the win, it was the little things that helped the Mets take the middle game of this weekend's series. Saturday's starter Griffin Canning continued his stellar pitching, allowing two runs (both solo shots) in 5.1 innings.

"It was awesome. Fun to compete in," Canning said of the atmosphere. "Awesome, awesome energy in the stadium and a fun lineup to compete against."

Canning was followed by 3.2 scoreless innings from the Mets' bullpen trio of Huascar Brazoban, Reed Garrett and Diaz. That allowed the Mets offense, which finished the game 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base, to scratch across the go-ahead run in the ninth.

That run was driven in by de facto captain Francisco Lindor. Against tough Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz, Luis Torrens drew a one-out walk and was lifted for pinch-runner Luisangel Acuña. Bertt Baty's infield single and Tyrone Taylor's hit-by-pitch gave Lindor an opportunity to give the Mets the lead. After getting ahead 3-0 in the count, Lindor didn't try to do too much, and lifted a sacrifice fly to allow the speedy Acuñato score.

"No one is trying to be the hero," Lindor said of the team's offensive mindset. "Just play the game."

Lindor said his approach in that ninth-inning at-bat was to get a good pitch to hit and not put too much pressure on himself. As the shortstop said, "If I don’t get a good pitch to hit, then it’s Soto’s turn."

Once he got to 3-1, Lindor wanted something to get in the air, and that's what he did.

FRANCISCO LINDOR BRINGS HOME LUISANGEL ACUÑA WITH A SAC FLY!

METS LEAD IN THE 9TH! pic.twitter.com/bQxdWcB697

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 17, 2025

"Today was a good team win," he said. "Good defense, good pitching. To beat a team like that, you have to do a lot of things the right way… Brazoban coming in with people on base, Garrett executing, Canning and then you have Diaz coming in looking really good. Torrens starting the game, [Francisco Alvarez] closing the game. Baty had like five great plays. And then just passing the baton in the offense. They have a really good pitching staff and have to take it one at-bat at a time."

And what about the Subway Series so far?

"The atmosphere here has been fantastic. Whether it’s their fans or our fans, they’ve brought the energy," Lindor said. "It’s been good. It’s the loudest it’s been of any of the Subway Series that I’ve played."

Pete Alonso, who tied the game with an RBI single in the fourth, said the Citi Field crowd during last year's NLDS against the Phillies -- when Lindor hit the grand slam -- was the loudest atmosphere he's been a part of. But the 2025 Subway Series ranks "top three" for him.

The Mets' slugger was asked how the team -- especially Soto -- has been able to handle the hostile environment.

"To be honest, it’s persistence and sticking to the gameplan and trust," he said. "Trust in the guy in front of you and behind you. When it’s your turn in the box or whenever the ball is hit to you, you trust your preparedness. Every single guy trusts themselves and their teammates. That’s huge, especially in the later innings. There’s no second-guessing. Everyone has that connectedness and trust within each other.

"For us, the job at hand is to win the game….This team, this core, we’ve experienced a bunch of hostile environments. Especially with the playoffs and every time we play a couple of the in-division rivals, the Dodgers, it’s those super high-energy series. We are battle-tested in these types of environments. We’re excited for another exciting game tomorrow. It’s a great matchup and that’s a great team over there. That’s the beautiful part of the Subway Series, no matter what side you’re on, it’s that electric environment. It’s really fun baseball."

The Mets will look to take the rubber game of the first Subway Series this season on Sunday. They'll look to keep that "team" mentality as they go against arguably the best pitcher in baseball right now, Max Fried.

In the end, after nine innings of high-intensity baseball, Game 2 of this Subway Series weekend gave us a classic confrontation of power vs. power, Edwin Diaz vs. Aaron Judge, with the game very much on the line.

Or as Carlos Mendoza put it, “That’s the matchup you pay to see.”

And as it turned out, it was also a matchup that confirmed an important point for the Mets: That is, at his best, Diaz is still as dominant as anybody in the game in the ninth inning, as he proved by winning a seven-pitch battle with Judge as the final hitter of the game.        

Indeed, Diaz dialed up his fastball up to 100 mph on pitch five and finally 98 at the shoulders with the count full for the swinging strikeout to finish off a 3-2 win over the Yankees in the Bronx.

“That was fun,” Diaz said with a smile in the Mets’ clubhouse. “The way I’m feeling, I can make my pitches and still have fun.”

Edwin Díaz's full at-bat against Aaron Judge in the 9th 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zkSB2Hi071

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 17, 2025

It seemed all the more significant because Diaz has had some shaky moments this season. He is 10-for-10 now in save situations, but early in the season, especially, he struggled with his fastball command and his velocity was down at times as well.

On Saturday, Diaz admitted he was concerned enough by some of his outings in April to put in some work on his mechanics with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner that he believes is paying off now.

“At the end of April, I fixed a couple of things with my mechanics,” he said. “I was missing a lot with my fastball to the arm side, and we worked on getting me to throw straight to the batter.”

Soon enough, he started seeing results with the fastball, commanding it well enough to make his slider that much more effective. Diaz said it’s made him feel completely confident again.

“Now I’m doing whatever I want on the mound,” was the way he put it. 

It looked that way, especially against Judge. Diaz got ahead 0-2 with good sliders, then tried to get Judge to bite on two more sliders off the plate, as the count went to 2-2.

At that point, he cranked up the fastball to 100 and Judge couldn’t catch up, fouling it off. When Judge wouldn’t bite on a 2-2 slider down-and-away, Diaz decided he was going to challenge him once more with the fastball.

Just not recklessly.

Judge may have been having a rare rough day, finishing 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, but he’s still the best and most dangerous hitter in baseball, and Diaz was well aware.

“I was going to go up with the fastball,” he said. “In that whole at-bat, I wasn’t going to make a mistake in the zone. If I was going to miss location, I was going to make sure I missed out of the zone.”

“Better to walk him than give up a bomb?” I asked Diaz.

“I wasn’t going to give up a bomb,” he said with a smile. “I was making my pitches. If I didn’t get swings [out of the zone], I felt good about facing [Cody] Bellinger.”

Maybe on another day, Judge would have taken that 3-2 pitch and, indeed, Diaz would have had to get Bellinger for the final out. Judge didn’t look like himself, to be sure, but give credit to the Mets for pitching him tough and aggressively, especially starter Griffin Canning, who got Judge the first three times, with a routine fly out, a strikeout, and a weak ground ball to third.

This year, teams have often paid a heavy price for being too bold with Judge, who is still hitting .402 even after his 0-for-5. But on this day, the Mets lived to tell about not backing down from him.

“We know how good Judgie is,” said Mendoza, the former bench coach of the Yankees. “But our guys did a great job of attacking him and we got results.”

In a lot of ways, it was the difference in a well-pitched game that featured important plays at the plate for both sides, in what felt like the frenzied atmosphere of a postseason game.

“That was a big league game with big league intensity,” Mendoza said.

After two straight losses and a week of mostly futility at the plate, the Mets needed the win. More than anything, they needed somebody to deliver in the clutch after all of their struggles lately with runners in scoring position.

That turned out to be Francisco Lindor in the Mets’ rally in the ninth that broke a 2-2 tie. Facing reliever Fernando Cruz, they loaded the bases with one out on a walk to Luis Torrens, a single by Brett Baty, and a hit-by-pitch to Tyrone Taylor.

Up came Lindor in an RISP spot, the kind that Mendoza said before Saturday’s game he felt his players chased way too much on Friday night against the Yankees, and in general lately.

“We’ve got to change that,” Mendoza said.

Lindor must have been listening. He was patient, taking close pitches as the count went to 3-0, and then after taking a strike, delivering with a good situational approach to get a fly ball to left-center that scored pinch-runner Luisangel Acuña with the go-ahead run.

The rest was up to Diaz. Three outs later, finishing in grand style against Judge, he gave the Mets reason to believe they still have one of the best closers in baseball.

Giants' dominant bullpen sets stage for Flores' latest heroics originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — As he sat in the dugout on Saturday afternoon, Bob Melvin got different variations of the same question: What’s next for Jordan Hicks? 

Hicks has been moved back to the bullpen, where he spent the first five seasons of his MLB career. He throws as consistently hard as any player in MLB history, and he had 32 saves in his career before hitting free agency and deciding he wanted to become a starter. He seems an easy fit in the late innings for any team, and Melvin is excited to have him in the mix, but as he answered the questions, he trailed off while talking about the depth of the bullpen even before the move was made.

It would be tough for any reliever to crack the late innings for the Giants. 

“You look at our bullpen arms now … ” Melvin said. 

Right now, it’s as good as it gets in Major League Baseball, and it’s why the Giants are 27-19 despite flaws elsewhere on the roster. Four Giants relievers combined to throw four hitless innings Saturday on just 34 pitches, setting the stage for Wilmer Flores’ latest heroics. 

A night after hitting three homers, Flores drew the first walk-off walk in a 1-0 game in franchise history. He was eager to share the credit with a bullpen that leads the majors with a 2.59 collective ERA. 

“They kept us in the game, especially Camilo (Doval) with the guy at second and getting out of that,” Flores said. “It was great.”

Doval was the fourth Giants reliever to take the mound after Landen Roupp pitched six shutout innings in one of the best starts of his career. The first man up was Randy Rodriguez, who threw nine pitches — all strikes — to lower his ERA to 0.96. Tyler Rogers followed and was just about as efficient as it gets; he threw four pitches (all strikes) and got three groundball outs. Ryan Walker went 1-2-3 on seven pitches, six of them strikes.

From the seventh through the ninth, the bullpen needed just 20 pitches to record nine outs, and 19 of them were strikes. Doval inherited the automatic runner on second base and struck out a pair to give the Giants a chance to walk it off against Mason Miller in the bottom of the inning. 

As he recounted the sequence, catcher Patrick Bailey smiled and shook his head. “Sheesh,” he said quietly. 

“I think everyone knows our bullpen has been our biggest strength this year,” he continued. “I mean, goodness, I’d put Randy with anybody in baseball right now. His stuff is electric, the confidence is high. Rog, nothing changes with him. He goes out there and gives you clean innings and throws strikes. That’s been the biggest thing this year for the pen is filling up the zone. It was awesome to see Walker get in there and fill up the zone as well, and then Duvey looks like the guy he was in 2023, maybe even better.”

Doval had the toughest task because he was the only one of the four to inherit a runner. A groundout got the go-ahead run to third and Doval walked the third batter he faced in the top of the 10th, but he stranded a pair with a nasty slider that A’s slugger Brent Rooker waved at. When he’s right, Doval accentuates his strikeouts with a hop off the mound. The one Saturday was about as high as he has gotten in the last couple of seasons. 

“He’s been — not only on the mound, but in the clubhouse as a teammate — he’s been awesome. He’s been awesome,” Bailey said. “I think he was always there, but you struggle and it’s a humbling and frustrating game, but it’s been really cool to see him back to himself both on the mound and off the field.”

Doval is just two years removed from being an All-Star closer, and Rodriguez is pitching like someone who might have that in his future. Rogers has been so consistently good for so long now that he deserves a nod at some point, and Walker looks like he’s rounding back into form after some wobbles earlier this season. 

It’s as good a foursome as there is in baseball, and the A’s didn’t even see Erik Miller, who has a 1.88 ERA from the left side. The bullpen also includes Spencer Bivens (3.54 ERA) and Kyle Harrison, who is sitting 96-98 mph in his return to the big leagues. 

Hicks has sat at 100 mph with his sinker at times this season, and the Giants anticipate he’ll be a weapon in the bullpen right away. They believe the best bullpen in baseball got better on Saturday, and the 1-0 win was a reminder that a dominant pen can cover up for a lot of other issues this summer. 

“We’re not always going to hit every day. The pitching is always keeping us in the game,” Flores said. “It’s been the same way all year.”

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The Yankees left nine runners on base in their frustrating 3-2 loss to the rival Mets on Saturady afternoon at Yankee Stadium, and the number could've been lower with a sharper plate approach midway through the game.

With the Mets ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, the Yankees quickly developed a rally against starter Griffin Canning. It began with a leadoff walk from J.C. Escarra, and four pitches later, DJ LeMahieu singled to center to set up No. 9 hitter Jorbit Vivas with two on and no outs.

While the sold-out crowd expected Vivas to bunt and advance the runners, the Yankees stunningly allowed the rookie infielder to swing away. The plan backfired, as Canning struck out Vivas and then escaped the jam by getting Ben Rice to line out to left and Aaron Judge to ground out to third.

After the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked why he didn't call for Vivas to bunt with the top of the order waiting and hoping to inflict some damage. The skipper said he pondered the move, but the Mets' infield alignment utlimately made him reluctant.

"They're just playing it aggressively," Boone explained. "Not a lot of speed on the bases for us, and I've got top of the order coming up. But yeah, definitely some consideration there... I'm in the middle of the game too, and I know they're going to play it aggresively."

The Yankees managed to knot the score at 2-2 in the sixth on a leadoff homer from Cody Bellinger, and after back-to-back one-out singles from Jasson Dominguez and Anthony Volpe, the stage was set for Escarra to drive in the go-ahead run against Mets reliever Huascar Brazoban.

Escarra couldn't take advantage with the go-ahead run at third. He chopped a grounder to first baseman Pete Alonso, who then threw the ball home to catcher Luis Torrens to get Dominguez trying to score.

That wasn't the end of the Yankees' bad luck in the inning. After the fielder's choice out, LeMahieu nearly had two in scoring position on a double steal from Volpe and Escarra. But both players were sent back to their original bases due to interference by the home plate umpire, who made contact with Torrens behind the dish.

"I don't know if [the interference] was consequential or not. We had two outs and still didn't drive him in there," Boone said. "Obviously don't want that to happen. I feel like we had the bases stolen regardless... It doesn't happen very often. I can remember it being called before. So I have seen it, but it's pretty rare."

The Yankees had one more shot with the bases loaded in the eighth, but LeMahieu lined out sharply to right, keeping the score tied. The missed chance came back to haunt them, as the Mets produced a rally of their own in the ninth and scored the game-winning run. The Yankees finished 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

What we learned as Roupp impresses in Giants' win over Athletics originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Wilmer Flores had the best night of his career on Friday night. The Athletics apparently forgot it happened. 

With two on and two outs in the 10th inning Saturday, the A’s intentionally walked Mike Yastrzemski to face Flores, who hit three homers and drove in eight runs just a few hours earlier. The Giants’ best clutch hitter fouled off a couple of 103 mph fastballs from A’s closer Mason Miller before drawing a walk that pushed across the only run in a fabulously pitched game on both sides. 

WALK-OFF WILMER 🔥 pic.twitter.com/7X8BGQYHDQ

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 18, 2025

With the walk, Flores moved one ahead of Aaron Judge for the MLB lead in RBI. With the 1-0 win, the Giants got back to eight games above .500 and clinched the series on a night when their bullpen was about as efficient as it gets. 

Landen Roupp took the shutout through six and Randy Rodriguez, Tyler Rogers and Ryan Walker cruised through the next three innings. The three relievers needed just 20 pitches to get their nine consecutive outs, and 19 of them were strikes. 

On the other side, right-hander Luis Severino matched Roupp, but the Giants looked like they might get something going against reliever Justin Sterner in the bottom of the eighth. 

Speedy No. 9 hitter Tyler Fitzgerald reached with a leadoff single and took off on a 3-2 pitch to Mike Yastrzemski. It was strike three, and A’s catcher Shea Langeliers made a perfect throw down to second to nail Fitzgerald. 

Camilo Doval came on for the top of the 10th and stranded the automatic runner. When he struck out Brent Rooker, he took a huge hop off the mound before strutting back to the dugout with his 17th consecutive scoreless appearance. 

More Like R00PP

For the first time in his career, Roupp went at least six innings without allowing a run. In fact, this was just the third scoreless start out of his 13 in the big leagues, and his first this season. 

Roupp dealt with plenty of traffic, allowing five hits and walking two, but he always had an answer with his back against the wall. With two on and no outs in the second, he got a liner to center, strikeout and grounder to second. With a runner on in the first, he struck out a pair to end the threat. A pop-up and strikeout stranded runners in the fourth, and he struck out Luis Urias to end the sixth — and his night — with a runner on first.

Roupp entered the night with a 1.53 difference between his ERA and xERA. Like Jordan Hicks, who was removed from the rotation, he has pitched a bit better than the raw numbers, and on Saturday the results were there, too. 

Typical Randy

Speaking of xERA, Rodriguez is ninth in the majors, sandwiched between dominant American League closers Jhoan Duran and Andres Muñoz. His actual ERA after a 1-2-3 seventh inning is down to 0.96, and nothing about it feels flukey. 

Rodriguez breezed through the seventh, putting up a scoreless outing for the 17th time in 18 appearances. When he was coming through the minors, Rodriguez’s issue was command, but at some point last April that locked into place and he became a trusted reliever.

On Saturday he threw nine pitches and all were strikes, including six sliders. His fastball sat at 98 mph. The Giants bullpen has been excellent all year long, and the middle-inning guys are a big part of the reason. 

More Relief

Rodriguez can’t crack the eighth because Tyler Rogers is having his best season as a big leaguer, and Saturday’s eighth was his easiest yet. 

Rogers needed just four pitches to get through the inning, inducing three groundball outs. The submariner has his highest strikeout rate since 2020, but when he’s out there he’s looking for groundballs, and this was as good as it gets given that he faced the heart of the A’s lineup.  Rooker bounced the first pitch of the inning back to the mound and Rogers got an easy first out.

Tyler Soderstrom also bounced a sinker back to the mound but it was just over Rogers’ glove; Willy Adames was right there for the second out. After taking a pitch, Shea Langeliers hit a hard shot to first that LaMonte Wade Jr. stopped with a dive. With that, Rogers lowered his ERA to 1.27. 

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