Category: MLB

How Devers said goodbye to Red Sox after stunning Giants trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

• Editor’s Note: Watch Rafael Devers’ Giants introductory press conference from Oracle Park at 2:30 p.m. PT on NBC Sports Bay Area and streaming here.

Rafael Devers did not have much time to say goodbye to his Boston Red Sox teammates and coaches after he found out he was traded to the Giants in a stunning blockbuster move.

In fact, Devers found out as the team boarded a plane to Seattle on Sunday before the team pulled him off the flight.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora spoke to reporters on Monday and revealed what took place during Devers’ final moments with the team after he found out about the trade.

“He shook our hands and took off,” Cora said. (h/t MassLive’s Christopher Smith)

Devers spent eight-plus seasons with the Red Sox and established himself as a beloved franchise icon before the shocking trade to San Francisco. However, the 28-year-old’s relationship with the team soured this season after he was asked to transition from third base to designated hitter, and then to first base, which he reportedly refused.

“There’s some reasons that it didn’t work out, right?” Cora added. “And I don’t want to pinpoint stuff, whatever. But the last few months hasn’t been easy, right? We made decisions in the offseason. Circumstances have changed the last month. And that’s a decision we made as an organization. Now Raffy’s gonna be with the Giants. And like I said, we have to turn the page and be ready for this team.

“Obviously the guy means so much to that group. He means so much to the organization, to the city of Boston. I’m not gonna hide it. But at the same time, we gotta show up. We’re playing good baseball.”

Cora took to Instagram to share one final parting message for Devers, a player he grew close with over the years.

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Devers now will begin the next chapter of his already impressive MLB career with the Giants, and could make his San Francisco debut as soon as Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians at Oracle Park before his former team comes to town for a three-game series beginning Friday.

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Amid the Devers fallout, Red Sox keep winning and climb into playoff spot originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The most interesting storylines involving the Boston Red Sox are off the field, specifically the stunning Rafael Devers trade and what it means for the team going forward.

The Red Sox traded the face of their franchise to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday for a package of four players deemed by many experts to be a bit underwhelming. However, they did manage to offload the entirety of the $254 million remaining on Devers’ contract, which gives the Red Sox some financial flexibility to make other roster upgrades.

Despite all the drama and reports of dysfunction surrounding the Devers story, on the field the Red Sox just keep winning.

The Red Sox’s first game post-Devers trade was Monday night in Seattle, where they beat the Mariners 2-0 in an outing highlighted by top prospect Roman Anthony’s first career home run. Boston now has a season-high six-game win streak and eight wins in its last 10 games.

As a result, the Red Sox woke up Tuesday morning in a playoff spot with a 38-36 record. They currently occupy the third and final American League wild card berth, but their lead over the Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins is just a half-game.

Despite being in a playoff spot, FanGraphs’ model gives the Red Sox just a 34 percent chance of reaching the playoffs. The Red Sox’s remaining schedule is the fifth-hardest of the 15 AL teams, based on their opponents’ .506 combined win percentage, per Tankathon.

The two teams ahead of the Red Sox in the wild card race are a pair of division rivals — the Tampa Bay Rays (first wild card) and Toronto Blue Jays (second wild card). The Red Sox have seven games left against the Rays and six games left against the Blue Jays, so they’ll get plenty of chances to pick up ground on those teams.

Losing Devers’ bat is a tough setback for the Red Sox lineup. He’s a top 20 hitter and came up clutch in important moments. That said, the Red Sox should have enough offense to remain in the playoff race the rest of the season. They rank No. 2 among AL teams in runs scored and No. 5 in batting average.

Whether the Red Sox end their playoff drought likely will come down to starting pitching. Will someone join Garrett Crochet and become a consistent performer every five days. If the Red Sox are serious about playing meaningful games in October, adding another quality starter would be an impactful move.

Stott hyperextends right elbow in Phillies' win originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Bryson Stott hyperextended his right elbow on his second-to-last swing of Monday’s 5-2 Phillies win over the Marlins and it sounds like he will be out of the lineup Tuesday.

Stott twisted himself onto a knee swinging hard at an 85 mph, low-and-in Cade Gibson slider and needed a few minutes, walking around in circles trying to shake the discomfort out of the arm. He was visited by manager Rob Thomson and a trainer but stayed in the game, grounding out on the next pitch and playing the final half-inning in the field.

Edmundo Sosa will likely start at second base Tuesday against Marlins right-hander Cal Quantrill.

Stott dealt with a nagging nerve injury in his right elbow throughout 2024. He suffered that injury last May, also in Miami, and felt it hindered his performance the rest of the season. Manager Rob Thomson told reporters postgame he was unsure if the hyperextension was related to that issue, which hadn’t visibly affected Stott so far this season.

The 27-year-old is still playing elite defense at second base but is the Phillies’ coldest hitter. Stott is at .236/.300/.329, numbers even lower than last year’s disappointing .245/.315/.356. In 2023, his best season, he hit .280/.329/.419, and that is the range where Stott needs to be. His selectivity and ability to work a count are positives but he has a .313 career on-base percentage in 1,948 plate appearances, slightly below the league average of .315 over that four-year period.

Sosa, too, has slumped over the last month. He was hitting .386 through May 20 but is 4-for-38 (.105) without an extra-base hit since.

These are three more highly winnable games in Miami even if the Phillies have to play a man short for a couple of days. The Phils have their three lefties — Jesus Luzardo, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez — going Thursday through Sunday against a Marlins team that has homered just once every 66 plate appearances vs. southpaws.

The Phillies have won five in a row since losing 10 of 12, scoring nearly seven runs a night during the streak.

Giants made difficult decision to part with Harrison in Devers trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

LOS ANGELES — Buster Posey has made no secret of the fact that he believes there’s a way to win consistently at Oracle Park. He grew up in this game with Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, and he has talked repeatedly in recent months about the depth of young starting pitching that the Giants once again have.

On a seven-minute call with beat reporters on Sunday night, Posey brought it up again. He believes in building around pitching, and he believed in left-hander Kyle Harrison. But he also saw an opportunity that was too good to pass up. 

It was going to hurt in some way to acquire Rafael Devers, and the Giants had to part with a 23-year-old who is about 15 months removed from being widely considered the best left-handed pitching prospect in the game.

“Kyle Harrison is a guy that has tremendous upside,” Posey said. “He’s shown this year that he’s 95-98 (mph). I’ve been very outspoken about what I believe the foundation of success is for an organization: It’s pitching and defense, so to give up a guy like that is not an easy thing for us. Obviously, the Red Sox and (lead executive) Craig Breslow value that type of arm, as well.”

Harrison was pulled off the field just minutes before what would have been his fifth start in place of the injured Justin Verlander. The right-hander will be back from pec discomfort on Wednesday, but there was no guarantee that it would have been Harrison who would have returned to the bullpen. Behind closed doors, the Giants were discussing whether he should stick in the rotation and another young starter should be removed. 

The discussion now will be about how to get through the second half, when Landen Roupp likely will hit an innings limit. The Giants figure to lean on left-hander Carson Whisenhunt, and his strong year in Triple-A made it easier to pull the trigger on parting with Harrison. 

Whisenhunt is a top-100 prospect as well, but few Giants in recent memory have reached the level of hype that accompanied Harrison. He was a top-25 prospect in the minors and twice pitched in the Futures Game, and for a while, the Giants thought he would be the long-term partner for Logan Webb. 

Webb and Harrison are close, with the ace becoming a mentor for the young lefty. On Sunday, Webb said he was excited to add a top-10 hitter to the lineup, but admitted the trade was bittersweet. He spoke with Harrison in the clubhouse and later said he relayed a simple message: “Go be a star over there.”

“You guys have heard me talk about Kyle before. I’m the biggest believer in him,” Webb said. “He gets to go learn from some really good pitchers. You’ve got (Walker) Buehler over there, (Garrett) Crochet, (Brayan) Bello. You’ve got (pitching coach) Andrew Bailey over there.

“I think it’s a good landing spot for him and I think he’s going to be great. I told him I’ll be a friend for life.”

As Harrison departed, Webb asked if he would still be a neighbor in the Scottsdale area. Harrison moved there as a prospect so he could train near the team’s facility all winter, but his future now is up in the air. He told Webb he wasn’t sure what’s ahead of him, but the immediate move from the Red Sox was to option him to Triple-A, which will prevent him from facing the Giants this weekend at Oracle Park. 

At some point soon, though, the Red Sox will slide him into their rotation. Harrison was said by those close to him to be happy with the opportunity to grow with a young core of talented position players, and short-term, the trade will come with an unexpected perk. His younger brother, Bear, is a talented Texas A&M catcher who will spend the summer in the Cape Cod League, playing only about 90 minutes from Fenway Park.

It’s been a chaotic few months for Harrison, who got a late start to camp, but the Red Sox are hopeful he can build off his recent success. He had a 4.56 ERA for the Giants, but there were flashes of his past dominance in May, and his fastball was back into the mid-to-upper nineties. 

If Harrison can develop a consistent breaking ball, that part of the trade might come back to sting the Giants. They based just about their entire 2020 draft around Harrison, a De La Salle alum who was taken in the third round but signed well over slot as a way to keep him in the Bay Area and away from UCLA. 

Farhan Zaidi thought Harrison would be a star, and it was easy to see that path when he debuted as a 22-year-old in 2023 and struck out 11 Cincinnati Reds in his first start at Oracle Park. The Red Sox had been eyeing Harrison for a while, too, and while the Giants didn’t want to part with him, there was no way to acquire Devers without including a marquee young pitcher along with Jordan Hicks, prospect Jose Bello and 2024 first-rounder James Tibbs III.

The deal brings a franchise cornerstone back to San Francisco, but leaves the Giants without much hitting depth in the minors behind top prospect Bryce Eldridge. And it leaves them without Harrison, who had hoped to partner with Webb, Hayden Birdsong, Roupp, Whisenhunt and others for years to come.

“I think there was a shock factor to it,” Webb said. “He grew up in the Bay Area and it sucks when you’re with a team for your entire career, close to family, and you’re getting ready to go face the best team in baseball, the best lineup in baseball, and you get pulled off the mound right before. But he handled it well.”

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The Yankees' bats continued to come up short Monday night in a 1-0, 11-inning loss to the Los Angeles Angels, as they were shutout for the second straight game.

They've now lost four straight games after being swept by the Red Sox in Boston over the weekend and have scored just five runs over the last five games. Manager Aaron Boone was asked after Monday's loss what's preventing the team from scoring, saying there's multiple factors while acknowledging the team's struggles to come through with a big hit.

"Yeah, a little bit of everything," Boone. "I mean, right now, when you're not scoring runs, they're keeping us in the ballpark. Tonight was a little bit of both, you know, where I thought we had a number of balls on the screws, even there late. Cody [Bellinger] just misses a couple to right, Goldie [Paul Goldschmidt] stepped on that ball to left center, so we were barreling some balls up.

"But then, but that said, we're not punching any across, not hitting the home run, you know. And we had a couple situations where we could have produced a run there late and weren't able to take advantage of it."

New York has gone 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position and have left 12 men on base during this losing streak. Their last run came in the top of the ninth inning of Saturday's 4-3 loss with Anthony Volpe driving in one on a groundout.

Boone went on to credit Angels starter Jose Soriano and his "bowling ball sinker", as the right-hander allowed six hits over seven scoreless innings. Although, he knows the team needed to "take advantage of situational things that come up" when they can't rely on the home run.

The Yanks had a scoring chance in the 11th with the bases loaded, but Volpe swung on the first pitch and grounded into the force out at third base for the game's final out. Boone defended the choice to not take a pitch against the new reliever Hunter Strickland, saying the hitter needs "to be ready to go" in those types of situations.

"Not necessarily, first pitch is the best one to hit sometimes," Boone said. "I didn't see if it was off the plate, not a good pitch to go after, that might be the case, but we got to be ready to go there."

New York is now 42-29 on the season and holds only a 2.5 game lead in the AL East over the Tampa Bay Rays, who've won 19 of their last 25 games. They'll look to get back on track Tuesday when Will Warren takes the mound against the Angels.

Aaron Boone was asked if he would've preferred for Anthony Volpe to take a pitch in the 11th inning (he grounded out on one pitch with the bases loaded)

"Not necessarily. The first pitch is the best one to hit sometimes" pic.twitter.com/23K0Mx0QfR

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) June 17, 2025

Out since spring training due to tendinitis in both elbows, Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton made his season debut Monday night, going 2-for-4 with a double in the team's 1-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

The five-time All-Star told reporters after the loss that he felt good at the plate and will need to continue working on his swing timing.

"Great to be back,” Stanton said. "Obviously wanted to win. But yeah, it’s good to be back out there. Thought I saw the ball pretty well besides one at-bat. So we just working on that, making sure my timing’s geared up. Get rolling."

Stanton came up to bat for the first time with two outs and two runners on base, but hit a hard groundout to third base (101.5 mph exit velocity). He singled in the bottom of the fourth, ripping a grounder 111.1 mph past the shortstop into left field. Stanton later struck out his third time at bat on three straight knuckle curves from Jose Soriano.

He bounced back leading off the bottom of the ninth, doubling to left field on a sharply hit grounder off veteran reliever Kenley Jansen. Jasson Domínguez

came in to pinch-run for him, but the Yanks couldn't capitalize and failed to score.

“Thought he was great,” manager Aaron Boone said of Stanton. “First at-bat too, first and second there, again off Soriano, who’s tough to get the ball in the air, especially for righties. He smokes that ball to third. You watch [Luis] Rengifo play it, that thing’s gaining on him in a hurry.

"Then two more, gets the base it and smokes the double to get us going there in the ninth. Yeah, I thought he looked really good.”

Overall, Boone was pleased with what he saw from the former MVP.

“I thought he moved well on his double," Boone said. "Where I’ve seen, it seems like as he’s been getting his live ABs and then the rehab stint, I feel like his timing with the fastball has been good. Now it’s just about continuing to do it over and over and seeing how he bounces back every day. I thought he looked sharp.”

Stanton agreed that the four games with Double-A Somerset, including three straight, were "important" for his comeback and checked off some boxes. As for how he'll prepare for more games, it'll be an emphasis on seeing the ball.

“Make sure I’m ready, make sure I’m ready for 100 mph," Stanton said. "With not as many at-bats under my belt, that’s gonna be the most important, see the ball early. Normal things you would say mid-season, but emphasize it a little more now.”

Now with Stanton back, Boone will have to figure out the playing time rotation with him, Ben Rice, and Paul Goldschmidt. Stanton will DH, with the other two DH-ing and splitting time at first base. Rice has 12 homers, 11 doubles, and 26 RBI over 63 games, while Goldschmidt is hitting .309 with 31 RBI over 71 games. Stanton was asked about his role and made it clear he's willing to help the team however he can, especially while the Yankees have scored just five runs in the last 49 innings and dropped four straight games.

“Whatever’s best for us to win, that’s the most important," Stanton said. "And the guys that aren’t going to be starting are gonna be coming in in huge pinch-hit spots. In that opportunity, it’s usually a spot a chance to win the game anyway. Yeah, we’ll work with it.”

All eyes are on Shohei Ohtani, as he made his long-awaited return to the pitching mound and delivered his first pitches as a member of the Dodgers on Monday night in a 6-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Ohtani last pitched on Aug. 23, 2023, while with the Angels. He underwent his second Tommy John surgery the following month.

Ohtani is 38-19 with 3.01 earned-run average over 86 starts in his MLB career entering Monday's game and finished fourth in the AL Cy Young Award voting in 2022, when he went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA. He is expected to help bolster a depleted Dodgers starting rotation that has been missing Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, among others, for extended stretches this season.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Roughly four hours before first pitch Monday night, Shohei Ohtani sat at his locker in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse and prepared for his biggest game of the season.

First, the reigning MVP unwrapped the black compression sleeve he wears when pitching, and pulled it over his prized right arm. Then, he grabbed his bat and a pair of hitting gloves and headed toward the cages.

On this day, each piece of equipment was needed.

For the first time in almost two years, the two-way star would be playing both ways again.

In the Dodgers’ 6-3 win against the San Diego Padres on Monday, Ohtani made his long-awaited return as a pitcher from a September 2023 Tommy John operation, taking the mound in a Dodgers uniform for the first time as the club’s starter while also continuing to serve as their leadoff hitter in the lineup.

Ohtani’s pitching outing was brief, lasting just one inning and 28 pitches. He yielded one run on two hits (a pair of flare singles from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez) and a sacrifice fly from Manny Machado. And while he touched 100 mph with his fastball, his form was far from flawless.

Ohtani’s command looked rusty, the right-hander missing the zone 12 times including one wild pitch. While he got three swing-and-misses, he failed to finish any of his five two-strike counts with a strikeout (though Machado nearly went around on a two-strike sweeper, needing a generous check-swing call from an umpire before lifting his sac fly).

When Ohtani finally retired the side, it felt more like a sigh of relief, with his climbing pitch count already leading to action in the bullpen.

Yet, the occasion was momentous nonetheless; marking the first time since August 2023 that Ohtani had pitched in a major-league game, and showing that even after a second career Tommy John surgery there’s still plenty of life left in his arm.

“To take this on — the physical [toll], talent-wise, the psychology of it — this is a big undertaking,” manager Dave Roberts said. “As people say, he’s a unicorn.”

Read more:Hernández: Cowardly Dodgers remain silent as ICE raids terrorize their fans

Initially, it appeared the Dodgers would have to wait at least another month before seeing Ohtani pitch in a game. Despite some optimism before spring training that Ohtani could resume pitching in April or May, the team had been slow-playing his pitching program ever since the start of the regular season, long ago targeting some time after the All-Star break to add him into their rotation.

“This is such a unique scenario,” general manager Brandon Gomes said. “[We were] making sure we're not doing anything to put the offensive side in jeopardy.”

In the last couple weeks, however, that calculus started to change.

First, Ohtani impressed coaches and executives in three different live batting practice sessions, working his way up to three innings and 44 pitches in his most recent one in San Diego last week.

Then, in meetings with team officials, Ohtani expressed some concern with continuing to build up in more simulated pregame sessions, relaying the toll it took on his body to pitch several innings in an afternoon before ramping up to DH later the same night.

“The getting hot, throwing a live at 1:30, 2:00, cooling down, coming back, getting ready to lead off the game — I can't even imagine how taxing that is,” said Gomes, a former big league reliever. “There is no playbook for this. So it had to be an ongoing conversation, and making sure that Shohei is the one driving this conversation."

In recent days, Ohtani began to direct such conversations in a different direction; especially after the Dodgers indicated that, thanks to his status as a two-way player who wouldn’t take up a pitching roster spot, they were open to bringing him back as a pitcher even if he would initially only throw one or two innings.

“It [was] more of like, ‘Well, I don’t think there’s anything else to do. I’m ready to go. What else do I need to do to get back on a major-league mound?’” Roberts recalled of Ohtani’s message to the team. “You try to treat him like a normal pitcher and a normal ramp-up or buildup. But if [he only needs to be built up for] an inning or two, it’s, ‘Well, I’ve already done that.’”

Thus came the pivotal question.

“‘Can I pitch now?’” Roberts recalled Ohtani asking.

The answer, the Dodgers decided over the last two days, was yes, slotting Ohtani in as an opener in front of bulkman Ben Casparius for Monday’s visit from the Padres.

“It got to the point where [it was], ‘Hey, feels like we should take that next step,’” Gomes said, “and almost look to finish the rehab at the major league level, because of the taxing nature of what he was doing.”

Ohtani’s return to pitching caused a stir around Chavez Ravine. Fans flocked down the left-field line when he emerged around 6:30 p.m. to begin warming up in the outfield. As he threw his pregame bullpen session, more spectators leaned over the railing to watch him. Behind the mound, teammates Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tony Gonsolin gazed on, as well.

In pregame introductions, Ohtani was announced twice: Both as the starting pitcher and designated hitter (MLB’s rules for two-way players, which were adopted a few years ago in the wake of Ohtani’s rise to stardom, allow for such a distinction in order to let Ohtani keep hitting once he leaves the mound).

And after Ohtani completed the top of the first, he never even stepped foot in the dugout, instead receiving his batting equipment from a ball boy at the top step before going to the plate to lead off the bottom half of the frame.

As a hitter, Ohtani struck out in his first at-bat, but then tied the score with an RBI double in the third before contributing to a five-run rally against Padres starter Dylan Cease in the fourth with an RBI single.

Moving forward, Ohtani will likely continue to serve as an opener roughly once per week; building up to two innings, then three, and so on until he’s able to handle a normal starter’s workload.

The exact plan will depend on how he responds to his return to two-way duties, with the Dodgers remaining wary of pushing him too hard on the mound before the stretch run of the season.

“As we said before, this is a unique situation, and making sure that he's in a good place and we're just taking it small bites along the way as far as what comes next is incredibly important,” Gomes said. “At each step, we'll have those discussions and make sure that that is the guiding light, to make sure that he's feeling as good as possible come October."

Still, for one night, one inning of watching Ohtani pitch was more than enough.

“We saw it from the other side, from afar, when he was with the Angels,” Roberts said. “So now, I think I got the best seat in the house to watch this guy start and then take an at-bat. This is bananas. So I’m thrilled.”

Read more:Hernández: How Japan media track down Ohtani's home-run balls

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Yankees’ offensive funk continues as they are shut out for the second-straight game, wasting a brilliant start from Clarke Schmidt, falling to the Los Angeles Angels 1-0 in 11 innings on Monday night in The Bronx.

The numbers are brutal for Yankee batters: 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position (the lone knock an infield hit), left 12 men on base, and have now been kept scoreless for the last 20 innings. Over a five-game stretch, New York has scored just five runs over their last 49 innings.

With a fourth straight defeat amid a brutal stretch at the plate, the Yanks are now 42-29 and 21-13 at home. The Angels improved to 34-37 on the year.

Here are the takeaways...

- Schmidt allowed a pair of singles right up the middle, the second by Mike Trout, to give the visitors a scoring chance with one out in the first. After a 3-2 pop-out to first, Zach Neto caught the Yanks napping and swiped third with Schmidt standing on the rubber. But the righty blew a 96 mph fastball on the outside corner past Jorge Soler to end the threat.

Schmidt took advantage of the weak Angels batters and had a streak of 16-straight retired (starting with those two down in the first) before Nolan Schanuel blooped a two-out single to left in the sixth. Trout put a charge into one, but Trent Grisham ranged to the right-center gap to make the grab just before the warning track.

The righty got his fifth 1-2-3 inning to close the seventh on just 87 pitches, and he got the ball in the eighth. He needed nine offerings for the first two outs, but Aaron Judge came up empty with a dive on a sinking line drive for a two-out triple by the Angels’ Christian Moore, a Brooklyn native in his fourth big league game.

Moore’s first career hit ended Schmidt’s night after 7.2 innings, the first time he went more than six innings since he had eight scoreless frames in April 2024. Fernando Cruz hung a splitter, but Neto swung through it to end the inning.

- After Cruz out of the bullpen, Devin Williams got the top half of the ninth in a scoreless game, allowed a one-out infield single to Trout and a two-out single to Soler to make the Yankee Stadium faithful sweat before retiring Logan O'Hoppe with a nice play by Volpe up the middle.

In the 10th, Jonathan Loaisiga needed just 12 pitches for a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts, leaving the ghost runners stranded. Loaisiga needed one pitch to get Neto out on a bad bunt, but Schanuel hooked a soft liner down the third base line for an RBI double. Aaron Boone walked Trout intentionally, and Taylor Ward worked a walk on a full count. But Loaisiga knuckled down to get two soft liners to leave 'em loaded.

- Down 1-0 in the bottom of the 11th with the ghost runner at second, LA manager Ron Washington walked Judge intentionally for the second time of the game to put the winning run on first. Cody Bellinger’s flyout to the warning track in right got the tying run to third, but against the drawn-in infield, Jasson Dominguez's broken bat looper to second saw Paul Goldschmidt cut down at the plate. Down to their final out, Jazz Chisholm Jr. reached on an infield single to second to load the bases.

The Angels brought in Hunter Strickland to face Anthony Volpe, but on the first pitch, he bounced out to third, rolling over on a slider away, to end the game.

- The Yanks had a chance in the first when Ben Rice lofted a single off the end of the bat into center with one down and Judge, coming off a horrendous series in Boston, followed with a rocketed single (109.7 mph) to left. But Bellinger tapped out to second and Giancarlo Stanton, in his first at-bat of the season, hit it hard (101.5 mph), but for an easy 5-3 putout. The three first-inning groundouts were expected, as Angels starter Jose Soriano entered the night with a 67.4 ground ball rate (99th percentile in MLB). 

In seven innings against Soriano, the Yanks hit nine balls with exit velocities of 100 mph or higher, but couldn’t break through as they went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left six on base. He finished with six hits and a walk allowed and six strikeouts.

- The big coring chances after the first: Chisholm roped a line drive (110.4 mph) on the ground that got into the right-center gap for a leadoff double in the second, but advanced no further. He also bounced into a 4-6-3 double play to end the fourth after Stanton notched his first hit of the year, smoking a 3-2 pitch 111.1 mph through the left side of the infield.

Chisholm cracked a single to start the seventh, going with a Soriano pitch on the outside corner. He moved to second on a Volpe sacrifice bunt, but Austin Wells went down swinging on a high 99 mph fastball and DJ LeMahieu grounded out to second.

With two down in the fifth, LeMahieu worked a walk and Grisham singled up the middle, but Rice waved at a knuckle-curve to end the inning. Making the start at first base, Rice was 1-for-3 with two strikeouts.

- Stanton led off the home half of the ninth and rocketed a double (102.9 mph) off Kenley Jansen into the left field corner on a ball that was smashed past the third baseman. With one out and pinch-runner Jasson Dominguez running on the pitch, Volpe's grounder to third saw Luis Rengifo get the ball and tag out Dominguez in one motion. Volpe would steal second on the first pitch to Wells, but he went down swinging on an eye-level 96 mph sinker to send the game to extra innings.

- The Yanks had tough luck in the 10th, after LeMahieu struck out, Grisham drove one to center (101.7 mph) for an out and Goldschmidt (in his second at-bat after pinch-hitting for Rice) just missed ending the game with a 396-foot drive (104.3 mph). It would have been gone in four parks.

-  Judge walloped the first pitch he saw his second time up (110.7 mph, 401 feet), but LA center fielder Jo Adell ranged back and caught the ball on the warning track. The 24-degree launch angle meant the slugger had just a loud, laser beam out despite the .990 xBA. He finished the day 1-for-3 with two intentional walks.

The reigning MVP is now 3-for-20 in his last six games with two solo home runs. His average has gone from .396 to .377. His base hit did give him 100 on the season, the first player to the century mark.

- Bellinger went hitless in five at-bats, and he is now mired in a 4-for-29 funk over his last seven games.

Game MVP: Clarke Schmidt

Schmidt did enough to be a winner, delivering 7.2 scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and no walks with three strikeouts on 97 pitches (64 strikes). He has now pitched 18.1 straight innings of scoreless baseball, lowering his ERA to 3.16.

Highlights

Aaron Judge is the first player in MLB to reach 100 hits this season pic.twitter.com/XoJlDgROak

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) June 16, 2025

Giancarlo Stanton with his first hit of the season pic.twitter.com/juABbdQuZD

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) June 17, 2025

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The Yanks and Angels are right back in action on Tuesday night with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch.

Right-hander Will Warren (4.84 ERA, 1.365 WHIP in 63 innings) will make his 15th start of the season. He will look to carry over from his last outing against Kansas City, no runs on four hits over 5.2 innings.

The visitors hand the ball to veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks (5.20 ERA, 1.324 WHIP in 71 innings) for his 14th start of the season.

Shohei Ohtani makes Dodgers pitching debut. Here's how he did vs. Padres originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

When Shohei Ohtani stepped onto the mound at Dodger Stadium on Monday night, it was more than just a moment, more than just an average opener, it was history, and the return of the unicorn whose only comparison in MLB history is Babe Ruth.

The ballpark buzzed with electricity and nearly every fan was in their seat ahead of first pitch. That’s something that hadn’t been seen since Game 1 of the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees.

Cameras clicked, hearts thumped, and 56,000 sellout fans packed the Chavez Ravine stands, holding their breath as baseball’s unicorn took the mound for the first time since August 23, 2023, a span of 663 days.

Ohtani’s debut wasn’t perfect, but it also could have gone a lot worse. After not pitching in nearly two years, the Japanese right-hander clearly showed signs of rust and lack of command in his first big league action of the season. 

Ohtani threw 28 pitches in the first inning, with 16 strikes and 12 balls. 

The first batter he faced was Fernando Tatis Jr., and after working the count full, the Padres’ leadoff man hit a bloop single to centerfield on a 99 MPH fastball from Ohtani. 

One throw later, Ohtani’s pitch went to the backstop allowing Tatis Jr. to advance to second. Luis Arraez would eventually hit a single to centerfield putting runers on the corners with no outs. 

But Ohtani worked his way out of the jam. He got Machado to hit a sac fly to center that scored Tatis Jr. on a bang-bang play at the plate. 

He got a groundout from Gavin Sheets thanks to a nice diving play at second base by Tommy Edman, and then got Xander Bogaerts to ground out to third base to end the inning. 

Ohtani’s final line was one inning pitched, with two hits allowed, one earned run, no walks and no strikeouts. His fastest pitch of the night reached triple-digits, a whopping 100 MPH, a good sign that Ohtani is fully recovered from his second Tommy John surgery.

Just one inning. But this wasn’t about numbers. This was about a man doing something no one else alive can do. A two-way superstar, surgically rebuilt, returning from his second Tommy John surgery with the weight of a city—and arguably the entire baseball world—on his shoulders.

He led off the bottom of the first inning and struck out against Padres’ ace Dylan Cease, much to the chagrin of the sold out crowd, but they already witnessed what they came to see: Ohtani back on the mound, pitching for the first time in Dodger blue.

It had been less than 24 hours since the Dodgers dropped the bombshell: Ohtani would pitch Monday. In minutes, ticket prices exploded on the secondary market. A $30 bleacher seat became a $300 golden ticket. Parking lots filled early. Batting practice was a full-house affair. Even the Padres paused to watch him warm up.

The results weren’t perfect, but if there were doubts—about his health, his command, his readiness—they were silenced like a mic drop at center stage. This wasn’t just a warm-up inning. It was a statement. The Dodgers’ $700 million man showed that even after two Tommy Johns, even after nearly two years off the mound, he still has the stuff that turns All-Stars into punchlines.

Ohtani’s return marks a new chapter—not just for him, but for the Dodgers, Major League Baseball, and fans across the globe. His presence on the mound, and at the plate, brings a different gravity to the game. A sense that you’re witnessing something that shouldn’t be possible. Like watching Da Vinci paint with both hands at once.

He’s not back to full form yet. Patience will be needed as he builds back up to full strength. One inning at a time, one start at a time. But what he gave us Monday night was a glimpse of the magic. A reminder. A promise.

Shohei Ohtani is a pitcher again.

And the world just got a little more fun.