Category: Baseball

Ichiro Suzuki adds humorous touches to Hall of Fame induction ceremonies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

If you want someone for your next celebrity roast, Ichiro Suzuki could be your guy.

Mixing sneaky humor with heartfelt messages, the first Japanese-born player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame stole the show Sunday in Cooperstown.

Morning showers and gloomy skies delayed the ceremonies by an hour, but the moisture gave way to bright skies and warm temperatures. The sun seemed its brightest during Suzuki’s acceptance speech.

The outfielder was joined by pitcher CC Sabathia, also elected in his first year of eligibility, and closer Billy Wagner, who made it in his final try on the writers’ ballot. Suzuki fell one vote shy of being a unanimous selection and he took a jab at the unidentified sports writer who didn’t vote for him.

“Three thousand hits or 262 hits in one season are two achievements recognized by the writers. Well, all but one,” Suzuki said to roaring laughter.

“By the way, the offer for the writer to have dinner at my home has now expired,” he added, with emphasis on “expired” for good measure.

A pair of Era Committee selections rounded out the Class of 2025: Dave Parker, who earned the nickname Cobra during 20 big league seasons, and slugger Dick Allen. Parker died June 28, just a month before he was to be inducted.

An estimated 30,000 fans crowded onto the field adjacent to the Clark Sports Center, sun umbrellas and Japanese flags sprinkled around. Suzuki’s No. 51 was seemingly everywhere as fans, thousands of them Seattle Mariners boosters who made the trek from the Pacific Northwest, chanted “Ichiro” several times throughout the day. A sign that read “Thank You Ichiro! Forever a Legend” in English and Japanese summed up the admiration for Suzuki on his special day.

With 52 returning Hall of Famers on hand, Suzuki paid homage to his new baseball home in Cooperstown and his adoring fans by delivering his 18-minute speech in English. His humor, a surprise to many, delighted the crowd.

He threw shade at the Miami Marlins, the last stop of his professional career.

“Honestly, when you guys offered me a contract in 2015, I had never heard of your team,” Suzuki joked.

He kidded that he showed up at spring training every year with his arm “already in shape” just to hear Mariners broadcaster Rick Rizzs scream, “`Holy smokes! Another laser-beam throw from Ichiro!’”

He even took a moment for some tongue-in-cheek modesty.

“People often measure me by my records. Three thousand hits. Ten Gold Gloves. Ten seasons of 200 hits.

“Not bad, huh?” Suzuki said to more laughs.

He thanked his late agent Tony Anastasio for “getting me to America and for teaching me to love wine.”

But he also took time to get to the root of what made him extraordinary.

“Baseball is much more than just hitting, throwing and running. Baseball taught me to make valued decisions about what is important. It helped shape my view of life and the world. … The older I got, I realized the only way I could get to play the game I loved to the age of 45 at the highest level was to dedicate myself to it completely,” he said. “When fans use their precious time to see you play, you have a responsibility to perform for them whether you are winning by 10 or losing by 10.

“Baseball taught me what it means to be a professional and I believe that is the main reason I am here today. I could not have achieved the numbers without paying attention to the small details every single day consistently for all 19 seasons.”

Now he’s reached the pinnacle, overcoming doubters, one of whom said to him: “`Don’t embarrass the nation.’” He’s made his homeland proud.

“Going into America’s Baseball Hall of Fame was never my goal. I didn’t even know there was one. I visited Cooperstown for the first time in 2001, but being here today sure feels like a fantastic dream.”

Sabathia thanked “the great players sitting behind me, even Ichiro, who stole my Rookie of the Year award (in 2001).” He paid homage to Parker and spoke about Black culture in today’s game.

“It’s an extra honor to be a part of Dave’s Hall of Fame class. He was a father figure for a generation of Black stars. In the ’80s and early ‘90s when I first started watching baseball and Dave Parker was crushing homers, the number of Black players in the major leagues was at its highest, about 18%. Me and my friends played the game because we saw those guys on TV and there was always somebody who looked like me in a baseball uniform.

“Baseball has always been a great game for Black athletes, but baseball culture has not always been great to Black people. I hope we’re starting to turn that around. I don’t want to be the final member of the Black aces, a Black pitcher to win 20 games. And I don’t want to be the final Black pitcher giving a Hall of Fame speech.”

Wagner urged young players to treat obstacles not as “roadblocks, but steppingstones.”

“I wasn’t the biggest player. I wasn’t supposed to be here. There were only seven full-time relievers in the Hall of Fame. Now, there are eight because I refused to give up or give in,” he said.

Suzuki received 393 of 394 votes (99.7%) from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Sabathia was picked on 342 ballots (86.8%) and Wagner on 325 (82.5%), which was 29 votes more than the 296 needed for the required 75%.

After arriving in the majors in 2001, Suzuki joined Fred Lynn (1975) as the only players to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season.

Suzuki was a two-time AL batting champion and 10-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner, hitting .311 with 117 homers, 780 RBIs and 509 stolen bases with Seattle, the New York Yankees and Miami.

He is perhaps the best contact hitter ever, with 1,278 hits in Nippon Professional Baseball and 3,089 in MLB, including a season-record 262 in 2004. His combined total of 4,367 exceeds Pete Rose’s major league record of 4,256.

Sabathia, second to Suzuki in 2001 AL Rookie of the Year voting, was a six-time All-Star who won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award and a World Series title in 2009. He went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts, third among left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, during 19 seasons with Cleveland, Milwaukee and the New York Yankees.

A seven-time All-Star, Wagner was 47-40 with a 2.31 ERA and 422 saves for Houston, Philadelphia, the New York Mets, Boston and Atlanta.

Tom Hamilton and Tom Boswell were also honored during Hall of Fame weekend. Hamilton has been the primary radio broadcaster for the Cleveland Guardians franchise for 35 seasons and received the Ford C. Frick Award. Boswell, a retired sports columnist who spent his entire career with The Washington Post, was honored with the BBWAA Career Excellence Award.

Phillies had ingredients for a win but couldn't sweep Yankees in finale originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

NEW YORK — All the ingredients were there for the Phillies to complete a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon.

•The Phillies had won the previous two games averaging 10.5 runs on a combined 27 hits.

•Two players who collected a couple of injuries during the weekend were deemed good to go.

•The opposition’s best player, maybe the best in the league in Aaron Judge, was put on the Injured List due to a right flexor strain in his elbow.

•And the ace of the National League was on the mound in Zack Wheeler.

If not for one uncharacteristically bad inning for Wheeler, perhaps that sweep could have been attained. But the Phillies couldn’t overcome a four-run second inning by the Yankees that featured two hit batsmen by Wheeler in what turned into a 4-3 loss at Yankee Stadium.

With the loss, the Phillies are now 60-45 and a game behind the New York Mets in the East. The Mets face the San Francisco Giants Sunday evening. 

The Yankees profitable inning began with a single by Giancarlo Stanton, before Wheeler plunked both Jazz Chisholm, Jr. and Jason Dominguez. Newly acquired third baseman Ryan McMahon then rolled a double down the third base line to score two. A sacrifice fly and a single plated two more runs for the Yankees. But that was it for them for the day.

All this came after the Phillies had scored two in the top half with home runs by Nick Castellanos and Otto Kemp. Yet another ingredient for a win by the Phillies in staking Wheeler to a two-run lead. But it wasn’t to be on a steamy day in the Bronx. The Phillies begin a three-game series Monday in Chicago against the White Sox.

“I just wasn’t sharp, same thing as last game,” said Wheeler, who fell to 9-4 and now has a 2.56 ERA after going 5.2 innings with four earned runs and eight strikeouts. “First two games off the (All-Star) break haven’t been as sharp. Hitting three guys today and two walks. Just have to clean it up a little bit and keep it going.”

In Wheeler’s last outing against Boston he gave up just two earned runs in six innings and struck out 10. That’s how high the expectations are for himself and, quite frankly, from others because he has been so dominant.

“Just a little bit off, he was yanking a lot of pitches, three hit batsman, less than 60 percent of strike percentage,” said manager Rob Thomson. “So that’s a little bit off. But, hey, he grinded through it. He had that one tough inning, threw a bunch of pitches, but he got through it and we had a chance to win.”

A good amount of chances, due to some spectacular defense and balls that were hit well but just couldn’t find their ways out of the confines of Yankee Stadium.

Down 4-2 in the third inning, Wheeler gave up a leadoff triple to Cody Bellinger that bounced under the glove of a charging Castellanos in right field. After a strikeout of Giancarlo Stanton, Jazz Chisholm, Jr. hit a line to left-center that Johan Rojas made a catch while running at top speed towards the infield. Bellinger tagged and Rojas fired a bullet to home that catcher J.T. Realmuto leaped high for and somehow caught and made a sweep-tag on Bellinger for the final out of the inning.

“That was two athletes right there, making a really good play,” said Thomson.

Kemp got the Phillies to within one with his second home run of the day. That was all the scoring anyone could put together, though Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto and Bryson Stott all hit long fly balls that seemed to have a chance when they left the bat. Kemp also had a terrific diving catch to his left from his third base spot in the seventh inning off the bat of Bellinger. All-in-all, a pretty good day for the rookie.

“It’s one of these parks that’s pretty iconic,” said Kemp. “To get a couple starts here and hit two out today is pretty sweet, it’s a dream. This is what you play for, to compete in places like this. It’s all new so there’s that but at the same time it’s just another day in the life. It’s the same game I’ve been playing my whole life. The scenery is a little different and a little bit more people watching but it doesn’t change too much.”

The ingredients were there for the Phillies on Sunday. They all just didn’t mesh together.

Bohm sighting

Third baseman Alec Bohm, who continues to recover from a fractured rib, joined the team in New York Sunday and will travel with them to Chicago. He did some throwing but no swinging before Sunday’s game. There is no timetable for his return as of yet.

Scary moment

Later in the game a foul ball went off the head of a lady sitting down the third base line. It turns out the ball hit Nick Castellanos’ mom. Castellanos said after the game that his mom was good, “has a hard head,” and was being treated for a minor concussion.

Judge sidelined

Yankees superstar Aaron Judge was sidelined after the first game of the series with what turned out to be right flexor strain. He was placed on the 10-day Injured List and will be used as a designated hitter upon his return, according to manager Aaron Boone. Judge is hitting .342 with 37 home runs and 85 RBI.

Chapman leaves with injury, teammates step up as Red Sox take series from Dodgers originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Aroldis Chapman, the Boston Red Sox’ All-Star closer, left Sunday’s game with an injury, but his teammates stepped up to help close out the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 to take the weekend series from the reigning World Series champions.

The Sox won the series 2-1, with Jordan Hicks closing out the game after Chapman was forced to leave. Hicks got a huge assist from second baseman Ceddanne Rafaela, who had an unassisted double play to end the 8th inning.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after the game that Chapman had a tight back but should be OK and shouldn’t require a stay on the injured list. His velocity was down Sunday and he walked two of the three batters he faced before he was pulled.

Aroldis Chapman has a tight back, but the Red Sox are hopeful he won’t need an IL stint, Alex Cora just told the media.

His velocity was down 5+ MPH today and he walked two of the three batters he faced. pic.twitter.com/ToSdHCQYDh

— Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) July 27, 2025

“We saw it right away, and the stuff was way down,” Cora said.

“Just a little spasm that I felt yesterday,” Chapman said through a translator after the game. “Just felt a little uncomfortable today, but nothing big. I just hope that in the next couple days I’ll be able to get back out there.”

Hicks is expected to fill in as the closer if Chapman needs to miss any time.

Cora said Chapman wanted to face Teoscar Hernandez before he was pulled, but the team didn’t want to risk further injury.

The Sox manager also praised Rafaela’s defense, and in particular that huge 8th inning double play.

“His instincts are off the chart,” he said. “It’s a joy watching him play defense. At center, second, at short, it doesn’t matter, he is that good.”

Star rookie Roman Anthony was also injured Sunday when he was hit by a pitch on the foot, but he stayed in the game and later legged out a triple and ultimately scored on Alex Bregman’s 2- run homer.

“It was getting tighter, but he grinded through it,” Cora said. “That’s what big leaguers do.”

The Red Sox are now 57-50 on the season and 9-1 in their last 10 games at home. They will not travel to Minnesota for a three game series against the Twins.

They are the "Lose Busters" or "Gloom Dodgers."  Take your pick.

Call them what you will because there are plenty of optimistic loyalists out there who refuse to believe that the Blueshirts past of 2024-25 will be the Rangers future of 2025-26.

They refute super-realist-publisher of Blue Collar Blue Shirt, Sean McCaffrey, who claims that the "Isles and Devils will finish ahead of the Rangers."

Al Greenberg and George Grimm disagree. These optimists have been around since the Original Six era. They study the Rangers like Mr. Hagen Daz studies ice cream.

"In hockey," says two-book-author Greenberg, "things can change on a dime. Yesterday's hero is today's fall guy; and the other way around."

Exhibit A could – I said COULD – be Mika Zibanejad, last season's fall guy. He could be next season's hero.

"Chris Drury made some bold moves," Greenberg goes on, "and for that, I give him credit. Ditto for firing Lavvy and bringing in Sullivan. The Rangers desperately needed a new voice and a restoration of confidence.

"Let's hope Sullivan uses his personnel better than Laviolette. Will Cuylle is a budding star. Slava Gavrikov is a significant upgrade over K'Andre Miller. Scott Morrow has great potential based on his college career."

Promise For The Rangers Or Failure? Who Do You Want To Believe?Let's not kid ourselves, at this point of midsummer it's impossible how the Rangers will fare in the fall, winter or spring next season.

On a casual look, the Rangers appear – I said APPEAR – to have the necessary depth to compete.

Greenberg: "The keys might be how well Sullivan uses youngsters like Adam Edström, Matt Rempe, Gabe Perreault and Brennan Othmann. Granted that Jonny Brodzinski is

not a youngster but he has earned a regular spot."

The Maven and Big Al agree that Sully's real challenges will be restoring "The Core" to Presidents' Trophy form. Mighty Mika and Moneybags Lafreniere must be better. I don't worry about Breadman.

As for the onetime Vezina Trophy-winning Igor (I'm Getting More Dough Than Any Other Stopper) Shesterkin, he's on his own. (Make that Iggy and his goalie coach.) J.T. Miller and Vinny Trocheck are in the "Not To Worry" hustlers class.

"I believe that last season was an aberration," Greenberg concludes. "The team will be

much improved because the talent is there!"

George Grimm, who authored "We Did Everything But Win," also takes a hopeful tack and speaks for loyalists who date back to the 1950's.

"We've all gone through countless disappointing seasons and yet we're still here," Grimm proudly proclaims. "We still watch, cheer, groan and care. We're all still hoping for another 1994 Miracle.

"As down on the team as we all were last spring, there's a new season coming with a new coach and new hope. Hang in there, better days are coming!"

I believe George and Big Al. Sean McCaffrey certainly does not.

"Kenny Albert " says McCaffrey, "and Dave Maloney (the new MSG Networks broadcasters) will make a bad season bearable!"

S.O.S. "Gloom Dodgers." Hang in there!

Friday night ended with real fear in Yankeeland that Aaron Judge was lost for the season. If that had happened, the team could have seriously considered pivoting to selling at the trade deadline, league sources say.

Devin Williams and Cody Bellinger would be highly appealing to other clubs (attn: New York Mets), and the Yanks could have made like 2016 and taken a small step back to reload.

As it turned out, Judge did not need Tommy John surgery. He has a flexor strain and is expected to return in approximately ten days, sources say. He will DH at first but could play right field after a few games.

But even with Judge, it’s fair to wonder if it makes sense for Brian Cashman and his front office to sell future assets to boost a 2025 team that does not seem championship-caliber.

It’s also fair to wonder -- though we still have to classify this as an extreme longshot -- if another few days of sloppy baseball would make selling the rational choice. Rival executives have heard that the Yanks might become willing to talk about relievers on expiring contracts.

On the one hand, Fangraphs’ playoff odds on Sunday morning put the Yankees at 84.6 percent. Teams with odds like that don’t sell, especially in an era when anyone with a .500 record is a potential champion.

But if you watch the Yankees you know that the best argument for them seems to be that the rest of the American League is weak. The path to the World Series is not exactly cluttered with stiff competition.

It probably makes the most sense for Cashman to act as a soft buyer this week -- to make modest improvements to the current roster without giving up much.

That’s what he has done so far. Third baseman Ryan McMahon is under contract for two more years and infielder Amed Rosario is a bench piece. Neither of those trades tells the story of a front office that is aggressively all-in on the current season.

Perhaps more telling is the organization’s evolving stance on prospect Spencer Jones. Last week, the Yankees seemed relieved that Jones was hot in Triple-A, in part because it elevated his status from near-bust to appealing trade bait.

This weekend, they seem far less likely to trade Jones. Sure, Jones is playing his way back toward untouchable status. But one also wonders if another part of the calculation is the organization's awareness that this year’s Yankees aren't good enough to sacrifice a top prospect in a trade.

Aaron Boone simply does not have the bullpen pieces to contend for a championship. But if Cashman can get him two quality arms in addition to the returning Fernando Cruz, maybe the picture will brighten.

It’s always important to remember how dramatically a team’s outlook can change from one week or month to the next. A refurbished bullpen could put the Yankees right back in the division race.

But it’s also worth remembering that Cashman and his front office have seen many teams and seasons. They can sense when it’s worth pushing their chips to the middle of the table, and when a roster isn’t deserving of that approach.

Are these Yankees worth upgrading?

Watch the next few games carefully. Those could tell the story.

With the Baltimore Orioles out of contention in a crowded AL East, the expectation has been that the club would sell some of their veteran pieces ahead of the July 31 deadline, and that sell-off started this weekend with leftyGregory Soto going to theMets.

Soto, 30, is a two-time All-Star and was having a solid season for the O’s, pitching to a 3.96 ERA in 45 appearances. Perhaps most importantly to the Mets, though, is the fact that Soto has held opposing lefties to just a .138 batting average.

While Soto wasn’t active for Saturday night’s win over the Giants, he did speak to reporters in the visitor’s clubhouse, expressing his excitement to land with a contending club.

“I was excited. I wasn’t necessarily expecting it to happen,” Soto said, via a translator. “But when I was still with the Orioles when we faced [the Mets] over there, I was a little more motivated to kind of show them what I was capable of doing just so they could see what I was able to do so that they could trade for me.

“We all read the news and we knew the Mets were looking for a left-handed reliever, when we heard that news I was a little bit more motivated to show what I was capable of doing.”

In addition to his success against lefties, Soto also has experience when it comes to pitching in the postseason, as he pitched in the playoffs in each of the past two seasons (Philadelphia in 2023, Baltimore in 2024).

The hard-throwing lefty said that he admires what the Mets have been building, and he’s looking forward  to another chance at pitching in October.

“The way that they play the game, the culture that they have here, they have a lot of Latinos here as well,” said Soto. “This is a team that wants to win, and I want to win a championship, so that’s why I want to be here.”

Thomson tinkers Phillies' lineup for series finale vs. Yankees originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

NEW YORK — A little bit of a funky lineup thrown out by manager Rob Thomson for the series finale against the Yankees on Sunday. Funky not because of injuries, though that could have been in play. More like it just being a game number 105 lineup.

Trea Turner will be the designated hitter, while still leading off. Kyle Schwarber is going to be playing left field. Both Nick Castellanos and Edmundo Sosa are back after getting dinged through the weekend. Castellanos is back in right field after missing Saturday’s game due to a jammed knee that he tweaked on the last play Friday night. Sosa is at shortstop a day after leaving the game with a back contusion following a collision with Brandon Marsh. Otto Kemp is at third and Weston Wilson at second as the Phillies look for the sweep in Yankee Stadium.

“Give him a half day off,” Thomson said of Turner. “He’s been running around a lot, he’s been on base, doing all that stuff.”

In the first two games of the series, Turner went 6-for-11 with two doubles, a triple and five runs scored.

On Saturday, Thomson labeled Castellanos as day-to-day and some sprinting before the game determined he was ready to go. Though he left the game in the seventh inning in obvious pain on Saturday, Sosa said after the game that he was going to be ready to play, and he was. 

With Zack Wheeler on the mound Sunday, is it easier for the manager to tinker with the lineup a little bit?

“I guess it could be but I don’t think of it that way,” Thomson said. “I just try to give guys rest when we can, like in Turner’s case today give him a half day, but it’s also about the matchup with the opposing pitcher.

“We have a lot of versatility with a club with Sosa and Kemp and Wilson. It’s good to have.”

Hall of Fame Day

The baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown Sunday welcome a class that includes Dick Allen, Daver Parker, CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner.  During his time with the Yankees as a coach, Thomson remembers going against former Phillie Wagner and having Sabathia and Suzuki as players in New York:

“It’s a big day, you know. It’s quite an accomplishment. At the time we had him, CC was one of the best pitchers in baseball.  He’s like Wheeler, you hand him the ball and figure you’re getting seven (innings). You’re a little bit surprised when you don’t. When we got Ichiro we had talked to him before the trade and said ‘We’re probably going to platoon you and play against right-handed pitching and probably hit down in the order.’ Within a week he was playing every day and hitting at the top of the order. He’s just a great player and a great guy, too. And very funny.”

Sabathia spent 11 of his 19 years with the Yankees and won 134 games with them while compiling a 3.81 ERA. Ichiro joined the Yankees at 38 years old and played three seasons. He hit .322 his first season with them.

No waggle here

Sometimes just the slightest of adjustments in sports can make a world of difference. For Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott, less waggle seems to mean better contact.

The Phillies coaching staff noticed that Stott was moving his hands and bat, waggling, if you will, before the pitcher was throwing the ball and it wasn’t allowing his bat to square up to the ball most times. So hitting coach Kevin Long and others made the suggestion that Stott rest the bat on his shoulder until the pitcher is ready to throw. Then it’s time for lock and load.

“I think he’s had good at-bats,” Thomson said. “Like I’ve been saying, it feels like he knows where the barrel is now. He’s using the field and he’s also getting the head out when he needs to, so it’s good. I think he’s had it (the waggle) for a while but now it was sort of getting in the way of the process so we just tried to calm it down a little bit. So far so good.” 

Why rival exec states Giants should be ‘aggressive buyers' at MLB trade deadline originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

With the 2025 MLB trade deadline right around the corner, the Giants have some decisions to make as they chase a playoff berth.

San Francisco sits seven games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West but just two games out of a wild-card spot — the latter of which could inspire president of baseball operations Buster Posey to make some big moves in the lead-up to July 31.

One rival executive recently shared their outlook on the Giants’ situation with The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, who relayed the message in a piece published Saturday.

“And finally, one rival executive proclaimed the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants should be aggressive buyers, saying it’s ‘open season’ on the third NL wild card because of the San Diego Padres’ uncertain hold on the position,” Rosenthal wrote.

The Reds are a half-game up on the Giants in the race for the third and final NL wild-card spot, which the Padres currently cling to amid a four-game skid. The exec told Rosenthal that San Diego isn’t poised to make much noise at the deadline, either, as Padres GM A.J. Preller “doesn’t really have the money or the farm system for big additions.”

The Giants have a prime opportunity to sneak into the postseason but certainly could use rotation help, especially after optioning Hayden Birdsong to Triple-A Sacramento and placing Landen Roupp on the IL with an elbow injury. While Rosenthal noted the Giants “plan to buy” and are seeking a starting pitcher, the MLB insider also stated the team hopes to trade for a second baseman.

There are only a few days until the deadline, so Giants fans don’t have long to wait for Posey and Co. to make a move. But it’s clear those around MLB don’t anticipate a fire sale in San Francisco any time soon.

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

The Mets (61-44) look to complete a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants (54-51) on Sunday at 7:10 p.m. on ESPN.

Here's what to know about the game and how to watch...

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Mets Notes

• In two starts since returning from the IL, Senga has allowed four earned runs over 7.0 innings of work, with all four of those runs coming in his last start against the Angels
• Mark Vientos is currently on a six-game hitting streak, which includes two doubles and three runs batted in
• While his defense was stellar in Saturday's win, Pete Alonso has been scuffling at the plate of late, slashing just .135/.230/.269 with 16 strikeouts over his last 15 games

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Here's what happened in Mets Land on Saturday, in case you missed it...

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• Despite early-inning struggles with runners on, the Mets received an outstanding pitching effort from David Peterson and the bullpen in a 2-1 win over the Giants, the team's sixth straight victory
• Pete Alonso flashed some serious leather in the win, while Mark Vientos came up with a timely hit when it mattered most
• Tylor Megill is set to throw another bullpen session on Sunday
• Manager Carlos Mendoza discussed Vientos' resurgence, as the third baseman is now on a six-game hitting streak

Yankees captain Aaron Judge placed on injured list with flexor strain originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Yankees captain Aaron Judge, his teammates and New York’s fan base exhaled Saturday when the two-time AL MVP learned he has a flexor strain in his right elbow but no acute damage to his ulnar collateral ligament that might cause a long-term layoff.

Judge was sent for an MRI on Saturday and missed just his second game this season, a 9-4 loss to Philadelphia. He had a platelet-rich plasma injection and will go on the injured list but hopes to return to action in 10 days to two weeks, initially as a designated hitter.

“You never want to go in the tube. It’s never fun. You don’t know what’s going to show up,” Judge said. “That’s why I kind of pushed off a lot of that imaging and stuff like that because if I don’t know what’s going on, it can’t hurt you, I guess.”

Judge leads the major leagues with a .342 batting average and 1.160 OPS. He has 37 home runs and 85 RBIs for a New York team that opened a seven-game AL East lead by late May but dropped a season-high 6 1/2 games back of first-place Toronto on Saturday.

“All in all, we got good news today,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I think all of us kind of feared the worst.”

Knowing how tough Judge is, Boone had been worried. Judge told Boone of throwing difficulty during Friday’s 12-5 loss to Philadelphia.

“I couldn’t throw past 60 feet,” Judge said. “We’re going up against a Phillies team, they can hit the ball over the park. I just didn’t want to put our pitchers in jeopardy, just not be able to come up and make a play for them.”

Boone received results of the scan just before the start of Saturday’s game, when team officials were getting some more evaluation. Because pain impacted his throwing but not hitting, Judge fought going on the IL.

“With that strain, then if you go out there and play with it you put the UCL in jeopardy, so we got to get that healed up,” Boone said.

Boone said it was too soon to determine whether highly regarded prospect Spencer Jones will be brought up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Judge likely won’t throw for 10 to 14 days, then will need a few days throwing to build back arm strength before returning to the outfield.

“I really was reluctant about going on any IL or anything like that,” Judge said. “I was like, ‘If I can hit, let me hit.’” he said. “I’ll start DHing, I think, once this 10th day is up.”

Giancarlo Stanton, the team’s primary DH, will start to work out in the outfield next week in order to help fill in for Judge.

“It’s never a relief knowing he’s going to be out at all, but for what it is, I guess you could say best case,” Stanton said.

Judge said he first felt the pain in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s game at Toronto, when George Springer singled to right in the sixth inning off Jonathan Loáisiga. Judge made a strong throw home in an attempt to prevent the tying run, but Davis Schneider just beat catcher Austin Wells’ tag.

An inning later, Judge winced after catching Alejandro Kirk’s seventh-inning fly in the right-field corner and throwing to second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. as Bo Bichette tagged up and went from second to third. Judge was caught by a YES Network camera clenching his right hand in a fist.

“He’s about as tough as they come and for him to even show any vulnerability or pain or whatever,” Boone said. “I knew we had an issue probably. And so any time you can fear the worst with that, but that’s why you wait to react, though. … We got the MRI and got a clear diagnosis with it.”

Yankees captain Aaron Judge placed on injured list with flexor strain originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Yankees captain Aaron Judge, his teammates and New York’s fan base exhaled Saturday when the two-time AL MVP learned he has a flexor strain in his right elbow but no acute damage to his ulnar collateral ligament that might cause a long-term layoff.

Judge was sent for an MRI on Saturday and missed just his second game this season, a 9-4 loss to Philadelphia. He had a platelet-rich plasma injection and will go on the injured list but hopes to return to action in 10 days to two weeks, initially as a designated hitter.

“You never want to go in the tube. It’s never fun. You don’t know what’s going to show up,” Judge said. “That’s why I kind of pushed off a lot of that imaging and stuff like that because if I don’t know what’s going on, it can’t hurt you, I guess.”

Judge leads the major leagues with a .342 batting average and 1.160 OPS. He has 37 home runs and 85 RBIs for a New York team that opened a seven-game AL East lead by late May but dropped a season-high 6 1/2 games back of first-place Toronto on Saturday.

“All in all, we got good news today,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I think all of us kind of feared the worst.”

Knowing how tough Judge is, Boone had been worried. Judge told Boone of throwing difficulty during Friday’s 12-5 loss to Philadelphia.

“I couldn’t throw past 60 feet,” Judge said. “We’re going up against a Phillies team, they can hit the ball over the park. I just didn’t want to put our pitchers in jeopardy, just not be able to come up and make a play for them.”

Boone received results of the scan just before the start of Saturday’s game, when team officials were getting some more evaluation. Because pain impacted his throwing but not hitting, Judge fought going on the IL.

“With that strain, then if you go out there and play with it you put the UCL in jeopardy, so we got to get that healed up,” Boone said.

Boone said it was too soon to determine whether highly regarded prospect Spencer Jones will be brought up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Judge likely won’t throw for 10 to 14 days, then will need a few days throwing to build back arm strength before returning to the outfield.

“I really was reluctant about going on any IL or anything like that,” Judge said. “I was like, ‘If I can hit, let me hit.’” he said. “I’ll start DHing, I think, once this 10th day is up.”

Giancarlo Stanton, the team’s primary DH, will start to work out in the outfield next week in order to help fill in for Judge.

“It’s never a relief knowing he’s going to be out at all, but for what it is, I guess you could say best case,” Stanton said.

Judge said he first felt the pain in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s game at Toronto, when George Springer singled to right in the sixth inning off Jonathan Loáisiga. Judge made a strong throw home in an attempt to prevent the tying run, but Davis Schneider just beat catcher Austin Wells’ tag.

An inning later, Judge winced after catching Alejandro Kirk’s seventh-inning fly in the right-field corner and throwing to second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. as Bo Bichette tagged up and went from second to third. Judge was caught by a YES Network camera clenching his right hand in a fist.

“He’s about as tough as they come and for him to even show any vulnerability or pain or whatever,” Boone said. “I knew we had an issue probably. And so any time you can fear the worst with that, but that’s why you wait to react, though. … We got the MRI and got a clear diagnosis with it.”