Category: Baseball

The Dodgers entered the weekend with the best record in the National League. The Angels are last in the American League West.

The Dodgers are the reigning World Series champions. The Angels have made the playoffs just once since 2010.

Clearly there’s more than 30 miles of freeway separating the two teams. So you’d think the Angels would look at this weekend’s Freeway Series as a chance to measure themselves against the best.

But Angels manager Ron Washington was having none of it.

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

“I don't think like that,” he said testily. “We all know to get to that level, that's when you become a championship team. So I'm not going to stick it to my players by saying that, ‘you know, we need to be at the level’.

“We don't have what they’ve got over there. It's easy for them to stay at that level. We have to compete at the level of talent that we have and grow from there.”

In that case, Washington’s team did a lot of competing and growing Friday when right-hander Jack Kochanowicz pitched the Angels to a 6-2 win over the Dodgers in the first regular-season meeting of the season between the Southern California rivals.

The night before the Dodgers (29-16) had scored 19 runs. Against the Angels they had just seven hits — while hitting into five double plays, matching a franchise record.

“That’s baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said with a shrug.

As Washington spoke from his seat in the Angels dugout before the series opener, Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts, who have four MVPs awards between them, took batting practice. Only two players in Washington’s lineup had even made an All-Star team.

So if the Angels (18-25) aren’t at that level, what level are they at?

“We should be at least fighting for a chance in the middle of the pack,” Washington said. “But the injuries and the people that we lost and the things that's been happening with our youth, just got us where we are.

“The day will come,” he added. “that we can get to that level where I feel like we can compete for a championship.”

The Dodgers are already at that level, of course. They lead the majors in hitting (.271), slugging (.479), OPS (.825) and runs (259). Ohtani hit his MLB-leading 16th home run Friday.

And the team, Roberts said, isn’t even complete yet. Clayton Kershaw returns from the injured list Saturday, but they’re still missing starters Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki, outfielder Teoscar Hernández and infielder Tommy Edman.

“There's some reinforcements coming that we intended to have,” Roberts said. “It's going to get better here in the next couple of weeks.”

That will force Roberts to make some difficult decisions. With Edman expected to rejoin the team Sunday, the Dodgers will have to decide what to do with rookie Hyeseong Kim, who had his third straight multi-hit game and is hitting .452 in Edman’s absence.

Kim said he can’t worry about that.

"I'm just going to play baseball. When I'm on the field I'm just going to play my baseball, try to get on base,” he said through an interpreter. “It's hard to speculate, hard to predict what's going to happen in the future.”

"It's been fun,” he added. “It's not an easy opportunity to have, so I'm really having fun right now."

Kershaw’s return will bolster a rotation missing three starters to injury, especially with Dustin May struggling. The right-hander, winless in his last five outings, gave up six hits and four runs over five innings.

“I definitely wish I could contribute a little bit better than I'm contributing right now,” said May, who had a season-high eight strikeouts. “Hopefully it turns around. I’m definitely not doing what I expected.”

The Angels rotation, meanwhile, is giving Washington more than he might have expected. Kochanowicz (3-5), who allowed just one run on five hits over season-long 6 2/3 innings, has won his last two games. Angels starters have held opponents to three or fewer runs in 16 of the last 17 games.

“We're not going to stop competing,” Washington said. “I don't think they take one day into the next. I haven't seen them take one day into the next.”

Yoán Moncada's first-inning homer, his third of the season, gave the Angels the early lead and they never looked back, despite striking out 15 times.

Read more:Hernández: Hyeseong Kim has arrived, and the Dodgers need to make sure he's here to stay

The Dodgers threatened to make it interesting in the eighth when Ohtani belted a long homer — his fourth in three games — into the batter’s eye beyond the center-field wall off reliever Ryan Zeferjahn. But the Angels answered with a two-run single by Nolan Schanuel in the ninth.

Notes: The Dodgers summoned right-hander Ryan Loutos from triple-A Oklahoma City to give them a fresh arm after left-hander Justin Wrobleski threw four scoreless innings to earn the win in Thursday’s rout of the A’s. Loutos made his Dodger debut in the ninth inning, giving up two runs. ... Hernández, out since May 6 with a groin strain, is expected to make a rehab assignment with single-A Rancho Cucamonga on Saturday and could be reactivated Monday.

Angels outfielder Mike Trout, who went on the injured list May 2 with a left knee injury, did some throwing Friday and is continuing to progress in his rehab, but Washington said the team has no date for his return.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

There was a crossroads moment for Yankees starter Carlos Rodón on Friday night when he buckled slightly in the fourth inning with a comfortable lead against the crosstown rival Mets in the opener of a super-charged Subway Series at Yankee Stadium.

Rodón opened the frame by walking Juan Soto and, judging by the southpaw's body language, he appeared to disagree with some of the ball-strike calls in that particular at-bat.

He then managed to strikeout Pete Alonso, but gave up consecutive singles that yielded one run. One out later, the veteran left-hander walked Francisco Alvarez on a full count to load the bases.

At times during his tenure in pinstripes, Rodón has come undone in moments like these, as one foul inning has grown into a game-ruining blotch. This time, however, he threw a 95 mph fastball to get Luisangel Acuña to fly out to right field, ending the inning. Crisis averted and the Yankees went on to beat the Mets, 6-2, in large part because of Rodón’s performance.

If this is the kind of grit Rodón can show all year, the Yankees may have another ace-level lefty they need for a deep postseason run. The stuff is clearly there -- he's exceptionally hard to hit. 

After giving up one run and two hits in five innings against the Mets, Rodón (5-3) has allowed four hits or fewer in nine of his 10 starts this season. That’s the most such starts in MLB. In six of those starts, he’s allowed three hits or fewer. Opposing hitters are batting just .167 against him, the best mark in the majors.

“Good stuff again,” is how Yankees manager Aaron Boone described Rodon’s outing. “They made him work for it, really drove [his pitch count] up there. … All in all, five strong innings of one-run on a night when they pressured him, made him work, and he made some really big pitches when he needed to.” 

Rodón induced 15 swings and misses on the night -- the Mets swung at 11 sliders and missed seven times. He also got some help when first baseman Paul Goldschmidt sprinted in the outfield to snare a pop fly hit by Tyrone Taylor to open the fifth inning. It was a sparkling play that helped Rodón get through his final inning, which he finished with a second strikeout of Alonso.

“That was a lot of range for, I think, a 37, 38-year-old,” a smiling Rodón said of Goldschmidt, who is in fact 37. “That's a heck of a play.”

In six starts since April 18, Rodón is 4-0 with a 1.72 ERA. During this span, he’s allowed just 21 hits and 12 walks while striking out 44. 

“I thought Carlos was really good,” said teammate Cody Bellinger, who went 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. “He’s mixing it really well and lately he’s been pounding the zone. He’s got a bunch of really good pitches, so it’s just kind of difficult to hit him if he’s on.”

Rodón likely would’ve pitched deeper into the game, but his pitch count soared as the Mets took careful at-bats. He came out after the fifth having thrown 102 pitches (60 for strikes). Rodón also walked his former teammate Soto three times.

“I was trying to get him to swing and miss every time,” Rodón said. “And he was, as he always is, real patient. He knows his zone. I wanted to get him.” 

Of the Mets overall, he said, “They drove up the pitch count and had some good at-bats, but we got out of there with a win.” 

And with a prime example of Rodón squashing that one moment of trouble that once might have bedeviled him, that’s huge for a Yankees squad with lofty goals.

There's just something about the return of warmer weather that seems to always give Tylor Megill the chills.

The month of May simply hasn't been too kind to the right-hander throughout his career, and his late spring woes continued in the Mets' 6-2 loss to the crosstown rival Yankees on Friday night in the Bronx. Megill lasted only 2.2 innings, allowing four runs on four hits with a season-worst five walks.

While the 2025 season is still relatively young, Megill has already seen the peaks and valleys. After producing a laudable 1.09 ERA across his first five starts, he's allowed 15 runs over his last four outings (18.2 innings), bumping his ERA to 3.74.

But back to the warmer weather conundrum -- Megill now owns a career 6.41 ERA between the May and June stretch. This mark is in stark contrast with his career ERA between the March and April window, which sits at 2.45.

"Four walks in an inning, that ain't gonna cut it. I mean, that's bascially what happened tonight," Megill said after the loss. "I got into a tough situation, tried to make some pitches for chase, keep the score close. Ended up walking quite a few that inning. I feel like I made some good quality off-speed pitches, trying to implement some chase. But the fastball was kind of all over today."

Megill's mess was created in the third inning, as the Yankees brought 10 batters to the plate and produced four runs with help from some weak contact and defensive blunders.

The most frustrating moment came on a grounder up the middle from Paul Goldschmidt with the bases loaded and one out. Francisco Lindor snagged the hard chopper, but short-hopped the throw to Pete Alonso that bounced high off his glove at first and landed near the lip of the grass in right field. The infield single broke the scoreless tie and the throwing error allowed a second run to reach home.

But four of Megill's five free passes came in the same frame, and that traffic on the bases forced Mets manager Carlos Mendoza to pull the plug much earlier than expected. Of the 72 pitches thrown by Megill, only 37 were for strikes. That's an inadequate ratio.

"He lost the strike zone. He didn't throw enough strikes," Mendoza said of Megill. "When you're doing that against an offense like these guys, they're going to make you pay. It just comes down to executing. He kept going to that slider in that inning and couldn't throw it for a strike. It's as easy as filling the zone with quality pitches, and we didn't do that today. ... He'll get through it. The stuff is there."

Megill will look to rebound next Wednesday in a tricky road matchup against the Red Sox.

Big night for Yankees fans at the first Subway Series game of the 2025 season – they got to “welcome” Mets star Juan Soto back to the Bronx and celebrate a victory.

The Yankees beat the Mets, 6-2, on Friday night in front of 47,700 fans, the biggest crowd of the season so far at Yankee Stadium. The win upped the Yanks’ record to 26-18 and dropped the Mets to 28-17.

Carlos Rodón threw five good innings and the Yankees took advantage of Tylor Megill’s wildness to beat the Mets for the first time since the 2023 season. The Mets swept four games from their crosstown rival last year. 

Soto was booed loudly each time he came to the plate. In the first inning, he doffed his batting helmet to fans and nodded while looking at different parts of the ballpark he called home in 2024. Over the winter, Soto split for a $765 million free-agent contract with the Mets, leaving Yankees fans unhappy.

Here are the main takeaways...

-- Megill had his worst start of the season so far, allowing four earned runs in only 2.2 innings. The Mets' righty was wild, walking a season-worst five batters, including four in the Yankees’ four-run third inning. One of the batters he walked in the inning scored and he walked Oswald Peraza, the No. 8 hitter, with the bases loaded to force in another run.

With all that traffic, the Yankees put some soft contact to use and took advantage of Francisco Lindor’s seventh error of the season. Megill’s numbers have sagged after a wonderful start to his season. He had a 1.09 ERA in his first five starts, but has allowed 15 earned runs across his last four outings (18.2 innings), a 7.23 ERA. 

-- Rodón, meanwhile, fared much better. But his pitch count soared, robbing him of a chance to work deeper into the game. The veteran lefty threw 102 pitches over five innings, allowing only one run and two hits. He struck out five and walked four and induced 15 swings and misses.

He was on the verge of a major wobble in the fourth -- one run was in already and the bases were loaded with two out for Luisangel Acuña. But Rodón retired the rookie on a fly to right to end the threat. Rodón, who's battled inconsistency during stretches of his Yankee tenure, is in a nice groove now. After starting the season with a 5.48 ERA, he's only allowed seven earned runs in 36.2 innings across his last six starts, a 1.15 ERA.

-- Subway shade? The extremely loud speakers at Yankee Stadium blasted “Layla” by Derek and the Dominos after Pete Alonso struck out swinging in the fifth. Met fans might recognize that tune as Alonso’s walk-up song at Citi Field.

-- Yankees reliever Jonathan Loáisiga, who was activated from the injured list before the game, made his season debut in relief of Rodón. The veteran righty could be a huge weapon in their bullpen, as he threw a scoreless sixth inning, pitching around a one-out double by Brandon Nimmo.

-- There was an interesting pitcher-hitter matchup in the Mets’ eighth inning. Alonso led off against the Yankees’ Devin Williams. Alonso hit a crucial home run off Williams in the Mets’ playoff series victory over the Brewers last October. This time, Williams, who struggled as the Yankees' closer earlier this season and was shifted to a setup role, caught Alonso looking at a called strike three.

-- Cody Bellinger went 3-for-5 for the Yankees, producing a double and two runs scored. He extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Aaron Judge went 2-for-4 -- lifting his average two points to .414 -- and also scored twice, while Paul Goldschmidt finished 2-for-4 with two RBI.

-- The Mets were just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base. They entered the game ranked 25th in MLB with a .224 average with runners in scoring position, although they were ranked slightly higher in OPS with RISP (.715) at 17th.

-- Lindor doubled in a run in the ninth off Yerry de los Santos to cut the Mets' deficit to four. The hit also forced the Yankees to turn to their closer, Luke Weaver, for the final out. Weaver got Soto to fly out to end the game.

Game MVP: Carlos Rodón

We’re tempted to say Soto, who looked like he was channeling some of his old swagger. He was 0-for-2 but walked three times and scored once. But the accolade belongs to Rodón, who improved to 5-3 and lowered his ERA to 3.17.

Highlights

The reception for Juan Soto as he comes to the plate for his first at-bat at Yankee Stadium pic.twitter.com/xcFK5lp33Z

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 16, 2025

Juan Soto has a stolen base! pic.twitter.com/6d4uodtZCY

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 16, 2025

Juan Soto goes out to right field for the first time tonight.

Some of the bleacher creatures turned their backs to him as he took the field. pic.twitter.com/1NxxofO1na

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 16, 2025

Tylor Megill freezes Jasson Domínguez to get out of trouble in the first! pic.twitter.com/tbTskdblYU

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 16, 2025

Brandon Nimmo brings home Juan Soto to get the Mets on the board! pic.twitter.com/KB1vSsqPrs

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 17, 2025

Francisco Lindor brings home Francisco Alvarez with an RBI double! pic.twitter.com/Yvj5ar3S5z

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 17, 2025

What's next

The Mets will play the middle game of their Subway Series against the Yankees on Saturday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05.

Griffin Canning (5-1, 2.36 ERA) is slated to take the mound, opposite Clarke Schmidt (1-1, 4.73 ERA).

‘Just Wilmer things': Flores' huge game further cements Giants legacy originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Wilmer Flores added another head-turning chapter to his already deep book of MLB lore.

The veteran utility man, already a Giants fan-favorite, did something in San Francisco’s 9-1 win over the Athletics on Friday at Oracle Park that the 41,112 fans in attendance, regardless of which team they support, will remember forever.

Flores hit not one, not two, but three home runs and drove in eight runs in the game, giving him 10 homers and 41 RBI — tied with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge for the MLB lead — on the season.

“‘Just Wilmer things,’ that’s what we always say,” Giants pitcher Logan Webb said postgame.

Flores, who historically has slow starts to seasons, is off to the best start of his 13-year career, and after an injury plagued 2024 season, not only has returned to peak form, but is on pace to blow past the 23-home run, 60-RBI career-best campaign he had in 2023.

His 2024 season was cut short due to a right knee injury that required surgery, and Flores admitted there were times last year when he doubted whether he ever would return to that level of play, but coming into spring training this year, he knew he still had that in him.

“Because I’ve done it before,” Flores said when asked why he was confident he could return to form. “If I’m at the plate [and] I’m competing, that’s all I need.”

As he rehabbed throughout the offseason, many outside the organization doubted whether Flores would be back with the Giants in 2025 under new leadership, led by president of baseball operations and former Flores teammate, Buster Posey, who took over in the fall.

The veteran infielder exercised his $3.5 million player option in November, and despite being under contract, it still wasn’t clear if there would be much of a role for him this season. It turns out, he might just be the best bargain in all of baseball.

“I don’t know that anybody would have predicted this,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said postgame. “But when he came back in spring training, you saw that it was pretty normal to what we’ve seen before. We felt good about him, but I don’t think anybody could have predicted this.”

“I’m just so happy for him,” Webb added. “Dealing with injuries last year and coming back this year, he’s a huge part of our team and we missed him last year. Seeing him healthy this year and back to doing what Wilmer does is really cool.”

Flores, whether he’s hitting three home runs or going 0-for-4 at the plate, is as consistent and dialed in with his approach as anyone in the Giants’ clubhouse, and his teammates have the upmost respect for him because of it.

“There’s a lot of things,” Webb said when asked what he loves about Flores. “One thing, my favorite thing, is he is the exact same guy every single day. He works his butt off, he always seems like he’s locked in, he’s ready to go.

“He just does everything, and he’s a true professional. If I were to tell someone how to act or how to be a professional baseball player, I’d point right at Wilmer Flores and say, ‘Hey, this is how you do it.”

Webb also mentioned that Flores is his favorite player, and it’s a safe bet that he’s not the only player in the Orange and Black — or around the league — who shares that sentiment.

“Everybody loves Wilmer here,” Melvin said. “Everybody around the league loves Wilmer. He’s about as respected of a guy as you’re going to come across, so it’s great to have someone have a game like that, it’s double good that it’s Wilmer. And I think everybody really embraces him here. He’s a leader.”

Flores has had plenty of big moments throughout his five-plus seasons with the Giants and throughout his MLB career, but his monster game on Friday ranks at the very top of his list.

“This has to be my favorite,” Flores shared. “I’ve had some good ones, but we lost the games, so this is a better one [because] we won.”

The three hits are nice. So are the three homers. Not to mention the eight RBI. But the win always will be the most important thing.

Just Wilmer things.

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Harper and Phillies grind out 7 late runs to come back to beat Pirates originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Bryce Harper chased a slider well off the plate for strike one and quickly found himself in an 0-2 hole in the seventh inning Friday night. The Phillies trailed by two runs with two aboard, hadn’t been able to muster much offense, and it looked from Harper’s first swing like he might be in over-aggressive mode.

One of Harper’s best qualities, though, is his ability to slow the game down. He can do it in a way that many hitters cannot, that many pitchers cannot.

Pirates lefty reliever Ryan Borucki missed with ball one, a low-and-away sweeper. Then ball two, another low-and-away sweeper. Then balls three and four, two more low-and-away sliders. Harper appeared to learn his lesson from the first pitch and apply it to the rest of the plate appearance.

“That’s who he is,” manager Rob Thomson said. “When he’s going good, he’s gonna fight, he’s gonna be a tough out.”

It loaded the bases for Kyle Schwarber, who is every bit as selective as Harper, a primary reason why the Harper-Schwarber back-to-back is so troublesome for opposing arms. A visibly flustered Borucki missed with four non-competitive pitches to walk in a run, shaking his head receiving return throws from catcher Joey Hart. Even then, the Pirates still led.

Borucki worked ahead 0-2 on Nick Castellanos just as he did Harper before hitting him with the next pitch, tying the game and prolonging an inning in which the Phillies scored four times with just one hit. A two-run deficit turned into a two-run lead and the Phillies tacked on three more in the eighth to win, 8-4.

The seventh-inning rally was based almost entirely around patience with the Phillies working walks against three different Pirates relievers in the span of six hitters. This is a lineup that prides itself on making pitchers grind.

The first baserunner in both late rallies was Johan Rojas, who drew walks out of the nine-hole and scored both times.

“I thought Rojas had an incredible at-bat getting things going late in the game and scoring the runs that we needed to,” Harper said. “You never know what’s gonna happen in the ninth inning. We fought back, did a great job of having good at-bats all night.”

The Phils have a chance over their next two series to surge in the standings against two of baseball’s worst teams. Friday began a run of seven straight games against the Pirates and Rockies, the two weakest offenses in baseball at 3.1 and 3.2 runs per game. Those two teams are a combined 22-66. The Phillies are 26-18.

Ranger Suarez allowed a three-run homer in the top of the sixth inning but was otherwise efficient, as he has been through the majority of his first three starts. He went seven innings, just as he did last Saturday in Cleveland. Suarez has pitched 17⅔ innings this season and faced the minimum three batters in 10 of them. It’s just that the three innings he’s allowed a run, he’s allowed at least three.

It was a very productive game for Harper, who went 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBI, numbers 1,000 and 1,001 of his career. He received a nice standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 44,039 after reaching the four-digit milestone in the bottom of the sixth.

“You always want more,” Harper said. “There’s a lot of baseball ahead of me and this team as well. Having moments like that are really cool on a personal level and really cool to be a part of that company, that history.”

Zack Wheeler toes the rubber for the Phillies on Saturday, giving them a great chance to earn a series win after dropping two of three to the Cardinals earlier in the week.

The highly anticipated matchup between the Mets and Yankees this weekend had a major storyline in place: how Juan Soto will be welcomed at Yankee Stadium.

After helping the Yankees make it to their first World Series since 2009, Soto spurned the team from the Bronx to sign with the Mets in the offseason. Now, in his first game back at Yankee Stadium since Game 5 of last year's World Series, the Yankee faithful gave him a reaction, rather befitting of the circumstances.

Batting second with one out in the top of the first, Soto came up to the plate with boos raining down on him.

Soto tipped his helmet to the crowd and mouthed "thank you."

"I was ready for it," Soto said after the Mets' 6-2 loss. "They are really passionate fans and they were hurt. They are going to do the best for their team and they just feel that way."

Soto was asked about his cap tip and whether it was planned.

"Was just joking in the dugout and that I should do it," he said. "And I just did it. The guys just loved it."

"I thought they were very respectful and that's what you want," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of the Yankee Stadium crowd. "You can boo all you want and all that, as long as they're not crossing the line. It was loud."

Yankees manager Aaron Boone chuckled when asked about the crowd but kept his description of the environment more generalistic.

"It was a pretty great environment," he said. "Comfortable weather-wise. Certainly one of those nights where you can feel the energy in the building."

Soto took a five-pitch walk and never swung the bat once. The Mets fans in attendance cheered as Soto took his base. It was a common theme for Soto on Friday night. The left-handed slugger finished 0-for-2 with three walks, a stolen base and a run scored.

The reception for Juan Soto as he comes to the plate for his first at-bat at Yankee Stadium pic.twitter.com/xcFK5lp33Z

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 16, 2025

If you listen closely to the broadcast, "F--- you Soto" chants could be heard from the Yankees faithful. And when he took the field for the first time, he received Bronx jeers from the crowd in the right field bleachers, and many turned their backs to him.

Soto said he didn't notice what the fans were doing and avoided eye contact while just listening to the boos.

"You gotta embrace it. At the end of the day, whatever they give you, it is what it is," Soto said. "You gotta be a professional and take it as a man. I was just enjoying the moment."

As Yankee fans see when the Astros and Jose Altuve come to town, the boos can sometimes motivate players. Soto says cheers can get a player going, but the boos don't affect him or his approach to the game.

"It’s just another game. Unfortunate we didn’t get the win," Soto said. "I don’t focus on the fans, we focus on the game and be a professional and try to win the game. It just sucks that we lost the game but we have two more to win the series."

He was asked if that's the loudest boos he's every heard, and he said "I think so. They were really loud."

And they didn't die down. Every time Soto came to the plate, the Yankee Stadium crowd kept dishing their vitriol at a once-beloved player. And they were ecstatic when Soto flew out to end the game.

But like Soto said, it's on to Saturday where the Mets will try and get their offense rolling after scrapping together just five hits against Yankees pitching.

Juan Soto goes out to right field for the first time tonight.

Some of the bleacher creatures turned their backs to him as he took the field. pic.twitter.com/1NxxofO1na

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 16, 2025

What we learned as Flores' monster game fuels Giants' win vs. Athletics originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

• BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO — Goodbye Bay Bridge Series, hello … Highway 80 Series?

Friday marked the beginning of a new era for the Giants and their former intra-market rivals, the artists previously known as the Oakland Athletics.

The Green and Gold paid their first visit to Oracle Park since their move to West Sacramento, and while the rivalry doesn’t have nearly the same significance it once did, even as recently as last year, the atmosphere still resembled that neighborly rivalry.

It started with the two aces on the mound, as Logan Webb squared off against Athletics (22-23) lefty JP Sears (L, 4 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K’s), who Wilmer Flores made pay for one mistake early in the game.

Here are three takeaways from the Giants’ 9-1 win that improved their record to 26-19:

If Nobody’s Got Me …

Bases loaded. No outs. Flores at the plate. Based on how his 2025 MLB season has gone, you can probably guess what happened next.

The Giants’ RBI leader, who now is tied with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge for the MLB lead (41), drove in San Francisco’s first eight runs of the game. Yes, you read that correctly.

First, with a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning.

10 PITCHES, ONE WILMER GRAND SLAM 💥 pic.twitter.com/qat9KKzxmz

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 17, 2025

Oh, but he was just getting started.

Already with four RBI on the night, Flores came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth, with one out and runners on first and second, and lined his second homer of the game, and ninth this season, just over the left field wall for RBI five, six and seven on the night.

Wilmer does it AGAIN 🤯 pic.twitter.com/qqnbtUsplQ

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 17, 2025

Just when you thought he was finished …

With the Giants leading 7-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Flores launched a solo shot to left for his third homer and eighth RBI of the game.

WILMER HAS HIS THIRD HOMER OF THE GAME 😲 pic.twitter.com/ikxlZ9E6YZ

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 17, 2025

Through the Giants’ first 45 games this season, Flores is on a 147-RBI pace, which, simply put, is nowhere near realistic for what the veteran utility man ultimately will finish with.

However, if you were to tell the Giants before the season started that Flores would bat .266 with 10 home runs and 41 RBI, for the entire year, they would be thrilled. Let alone in less than two months.

Wilmer Flores is the first Giants player with 40+ RBI in the team’s first 45 games since Barry Bonds in 2001 (45) https://t.co/Ic00UQJmhe

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 17, 2025

All that production for $3.5 million this season.

The Usual Home Cookin’

Webb (W, 8 IP, 5 H, ER, 2 BB, 4 K’s) is off to the best start of his MLB career and has continued to dominate at home. In four starts at Oracle Park this season, Webb has surrendered two earned runs in 28 1/3 innings pitched.

If the season ended today, Webb’s Strikeouts Per Nine Innings (10.6) this season, prior to Friday’s start, would be the highest of his seven-year career.

He was nothing short of excellent on Friday night, which, impressively, is par for the course for him when pitching at the friendly confines.

He would have been the biggest storyline of the night, if not for Flores.

Odes To The East Bay

The Giants are embracing the East Bay baseball fans whose team up-rooted from Oakland this offseason.

Oracle Park’s lively “415” section in right-center field now has a banner that includes the iconic San Francisco area code plus “510,” an East Bay Area code, which, not-so-coincidentally, is home to the Oakland Coliseum.

The Giants put this sign up with the quasi-homeless A’s (and their fans) in town. pic.twitter.com/6KM1VMF5da

— Shayna Rubin (@ShaynaRubin) May 17, 2025

The East Bay acknowledgement didn’t stop there, either. In between inning early in the game, members of the Pioneer League’s Oakland Ballers organization were shown on the video board with public address announcer Carolyn McArdle saying: “Thank you for keeping baseball in Oakland alive.”

It’s fair to assume some A’s fans might harbor some resentment toward the Giants for certain off-the-field ballpark-related factors, but if there are fans of the Green and Gold looking to call Oracle Park their baseball home in the near future, it’s clear the Giants will embrace them.

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The most anticipated Subway Series in recent memory has less to do with a pair of first-place crosstown rivals and more to do with Juan Soto's return to the Bronx. For the first time as a member of the Mets, the superstar slugger will face his former club on Friday night at Yankee Stadium, in a matchup that should deliver ample drama to both fan bases.

While there's no reason to doubt Soto's ability to ignore the outside noise and also produce with heightened expectations this weekend, only time will tell how he'll be received by the sold-out crowds. When he steps into the batter's box and travels out to right field, there'll be far more jeers than cheers. It's the new reality.

The Mets already have a win over the Yankees in 2025, if counting the historic free-agent sweepstakes for Soto. But regardless of what unfolds in the three-game set, Yankees manager Aaron Boone only hopes the attention directed toward his former slugger doesn't cross any lines.

"It'll be interesting. I'm sure there'll be some creativity in there," Boone said on Friday afternoon. "The biggest thing is, I just want everyone to come have a good time and be safe and not take things too far... This year is unique, obviously because of all the news and storylines around Juan the last couple years. So you understand that ratchets up the intensity of it. Both teams playing well, in first place. Mendy is over there now... It always feels like a big deal. There's been some really good series with them..."

This iteration of the Subway Series doesn't lack storylines. Aaron Judge and Pete Alonso currently rank atop the AL and NL leaderboards in RBI. Francisco Lindor recently became the first shortstop to cross the 50-WAR threshold since Derek Jeter. Max Fried and Kodai Senga have resembled staff aces with league-leading ERAs nearing 1.00. The Big Apple stars are shining.

But the main attraction is undoubtedly Soto, who's poised to have a breakout series against old teammates and justify his status as baseball's highest-paid player. After a stellar 2024 season in pinstripes, he's now a lifetime .283 hitter at Yankee Stadium who's also posted 24 home runs and 18 doubles (83 games).

The missing piece to a bullpen puzzle?

The Yankees finally welcomed back a valuable reliever to their bullpen on Friday, as right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga was taken off the injured list after a lengthy recovery from season-ending elbow surgery last spring.

Loaisiga, who re-signed with New York this past offseason on a one-year deal that includes a 2026 club option, has the potential to be a high-leverage option for a bullpen that began the 2025 campaign with some trust issues. The 30-year-old made six rehab appearances across two minor league levels, allowing just one run across 7.1 innings.

"I'm excited to get him back. He's looked really, really good -- really from February, when he was throwing bullpens and lives," Boone said. "The ramp-up has been really good. Very in line with what a full spring would've looked like. I feel like he's throwing the ball really well. We'll be careful with him here, the first couple of weeks. Making sure we build him successfully. But really excited the way he's throwing the ball and what he can mean to our pen."

The hope is that Loaisiga rediscovers the dominance he flashed back in 2021, when he posted a 2.17 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 57 appearances (70.2 innings). Any success he achieves will be contingent upon his health; however, he was limited to just four innings in 2024 and 17 games in 2023 due to elbow and shoulder ailments.

Latest injury updates on Chisholm and Cabrera

Jazz Chisholm Jr. doesn't believe he'll spend much more time on the shelf with his high-grade oblique injury. The veteran infielder was seen fielding grounders on Friday afternoon and later told Greg Joyce of the New York Post that he could possibly return in 10 days.

When asked about Chisholm's recovery timeline, Boone didn't express the same level of optimism. But the team is pleased with his progress and considers his ramp-up efforts "encouraging." Chisholm, who's hitting a lowly .181 this season, last played on April 29.

As for utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera, who fractured his ankle on a slide at home plate against the Mariners earlier this week, he isn't expected to make a late-season comeback, according to Boone. But an official ruling won't be made until doctors further evaluate him in the coming days.

An end-of-week trade

The Yankees parted ways with a left-handed reliever on Friday, as they traded veteran Rob Zastryzny to the Brewers in exchange for cash considerations. The 33-year-old appeared in nine games for Milwaukee last season, posting a sharp 1.11 ERA across 7.1 innings of work, but didn't make a single appearance for New York. He's spent all of 2025 in the minors.

Prior to Friday’s Subway Series opener in the Bronx, Carlos Mendoza provided updates on two of the Mets’ injured starters...

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Frankie Montas 

Montas was scheduled to throw a live bullpen session this afternoon in Brooklyn -- but the skipper had no update on how that went. 

If everything goes well, the right-hander is expected to throw another bullpen session on Tuesday with the Cyclones. The team will go from there and see if he is ready to begin a minor league rehab assignment. 

Montas landed on the shelf with a lat injury he suffered during his first bullpen session in spring training. 

The 32-year-old pitched to a 4.84 ERA last season with the Reds and Brewers, but it’ll be interesting to see if he can regain the dominance he showed early in his career with the Athletics after working with the Mets’ pitching lab. 

Sean Manaea

Manaea is a bit behind Montas, but he continues to progress

After making it through Thursday afternoon’s bullpen session okay, the southpaw is expected to throw another one later this weekend in the Bronx, and then the team will mix in some up-downs before he faces live hitters.  

Manaea was initially expected to be back from his right oblique strain before Montas, but he experienced some discomfort while ramping up, which caused him to be shut down for two more weeks. 

While he still has a ways to go, it’s encouraging to see him trending in the right direction. 

The 33-year-old made some midseason tweaks to his mechanics and provided the Mets the top of the rotation arm they badly needed last season, pitching to a 3.47 ERA and 1.08 WHIP while losing a career-high 181 innings.

Last year could have been a storybook ending.

Had Clayton Kershaw been healthy, he likely would have been part of the Dodgers’ postseason rotation. He would have given them badly needed innings during their run to a World Series championship. And, in Year 17 of his future Hall of Fame career, he could have ridden off into the sunset, having little else to prove after playing an integral role on two championship teams.

“Yeah, if I was able to be a part of last year’s run and win a World Series and get to go out like that, that would have been really cool,” Kershaw said recently, contemplating what might have been if only he was available to pitch last October. “But I wasn’t. And it was still really fun to be part of. But it made it easier to want to come back, for sure.”

Back again, Kershaw is set to make his season debut for the Dodgers on Saturday after spending the first two months of the campaign recovering from offseason surgeries to address toe and knee injuries that sidelined him for the team’s title-winning trek through the playoffs last year.

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Unlike previous offseasons, when the now 37-year-old Kershaw seemed to give retirement more serious thought, the three-time Cy Young Award winner made his mind up quickly last fall. Even before the Dodgers won their second championship in the last five years, he knew he wanted to pitch in 2025. After making just seven starts in 2024 with a 4.50 ERA, and missing the stretch run of the season when his long bothersome toe injury finally became too much, he didn’t want his career to end with him as a spectator, able only to cheer from the dugout as the Dodgers went on to win the World Series without him.

“For me, just getting back out on the mound is a big first step,” Kershaw said, ahead of what will be his first big-league outing since Aug. 30 of last year. “And then it's the rest of the season, obviously. But just making it through Saturday and getting back out there is what I've thought about so far."

To get to this point, the 18-year veteran had to endure a grueling offseason.

Days after the Dodgers’ World Series parade, Kershaw had two surgical operations: One on his left knee, where he had suffered a torn meniscus; and another on his left foot to address arthritis, a bone spur on his big toe and, most seriously, a ruptured plantar plate.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani homers twice, Dalton Rushing has strong debut as Dodgers rout Athletics

“If someone asked me, ‘What all did they do to your foot?’ I don’t know if I can answer all the way, but I know it’s not been fun,” Kershaw said, underscoring the complicated nature of a foot surgery, in particular, that he noted “only one or two baseball players” have had before.

“This one was painful,” he added, contrasting it to the relatively straightforward shoulder procedure he had the previous offseason. “It was like, ‘Oh, this is what people talk about when they talk about bad surgeries.’”

The worst part was the recovery, with Kershaw spending the better part of the next two months on crutches or in a walking boot.

“Trying to be on crutches and have four kids, it’s not easy,” he said. “Your offseason is supposed to be like, where you’re around and get to help more. And those first six weeks, I wasn’t much help. So it’s kind of a helpless feeling. And I don’t sit still well in general. So it was a hard process.”

Still, Kershaw’s commitment to come back never wavered. He was into a throwing program by the start of spring training. He began a minor-league rehab stint in the middle of April. And he posted a 2.57 ERA in five rehab starts, feeling he’d “turned the corner” with his foot over the last couple outings.

“Those last few rehab starts, I was more concerned about throwing well and getting guys out than I was [about] how my foot felt or anything like that,” he said. “So I think that was a good sign for me physically. And now, it's just a process of figuring out how to get guys out consistently again and perform. That's a much better place to be than seeing if you're hurt."

Exactly how Kershaw will fare back in the big leagues is an unknown. During his rehab stint, his fastball sat in the upper-80 mph range, a few ticks down from the already diminished velocity he’d had in recent seasons. He struck out only 16 batters in 21 innings, relying more on command and an ability to induce soft contact to navigate his way through starts.

On the other hand, Kershaw’s arm is as healthy as it’s been in years, now 17 months removed from his 2023 shoulder surgery. Even without eye-popping stuff last year, he proved to be competitive, owning a 3.72 ERA before leaving his Aug. 30 start early when his toe flared up. And simply having him back in the rotation will come as a boon for the Dodgers, who have been shorthanded recently with fellow starters Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki all nursing shoulder injuries.

“It's a big shot in the arm,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Clayton has worked really hard to get healthy, and the bar is high for him, you know. He doesn't want to just come back to be active. He wants to come back and help us win baseball games and be good. And so I know he's excited to contribute.”

In a break from his typically stoic facade, that excitement was evident from Kershaw all week. Except when reflecting upon the departure of teammate and close friend Austin Barnes, Kershaw was smiling almost everywhere he went around the ballpark in recent days. “Is that unusual?” he deadpanned when a reporter noted the observation Thursday. He also downplayed his pursuit of 3,000 career strikeouts — he is just 32 Ks away from becoming the 20th member of the illustrious statistical club — in favor of amplifying the gratitude he felt about simply pitching in the majors once again.

“I think when you haven't done something for a long time, and you realize that you miss it — you miss competing, you miss being a part of the team and contributing — there's a lot of gratitude and gratefulness to get back to that point,” Kershaw said. “I definitely feel that. Now, if I go out there and don't pitch good, it's gonna go away real fast. So there's a performance aspect of it, too. But I think for now, sitting on the other side of it, just super excited and grateful to get to go back out there again."

When asked if he ever planned on hanging it up, Kershaw then laughed.

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"Somebody will tell me to retire at some point, I'm sure,” he said.

But, after finishing last season injured and grinding through a long rehab this winter, that point is not now, not yet.

Eighteen years later, Kershaw still feels he has more to give.

“At the end of the day, you just want to be a contributing factor to the Dodgers,” he said. “You don't want to just be on the sidelines. So I'm excited to get back to that."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Former Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal was arrested this week after he allegedly threw rocks at and injured another man last month in a Publix parking lot in Sunrise, Fla.

Charges were filed Monday against Furcal for the second-degree felonies of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and throwing a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle. On Wednesday, Furcal turned himself in at the Broward County jail and was released on bail the same day.

The Sunrise Police Department's investigation into the incident remains active.

According to the arrest affidavit, which was viewed by The Times, the incident took place in the afternoon of April 28 after Furcal and his accuser — a man whose name was redacted from the affidavit — nearly collided while driving their pickup trucks outside the grocery store.

Furcal allegedly got out of his truck and threw rocks and a plastic water bottle at the accuser's vehicle while the man was still inside it, but "didn't cause any substantial damage," the affidavit said.

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After the accuser got out of his truck to confront him, the affidavit said, Furcal threw a rock "the size of a small palm" at the other man, who used his left hand to block it. The accuser then chased Furcal and "hit him a couple of times with his fists," the affidavit said, before the former MLB player "ran back to his truck and fled the scene."

Furcal told Z101 Digital on Thursday that he threw the rock at his accuser after the man had attacked him with a knife. The affidavit does not mention the alleged knife attack. The former Dodgers player also said he turned himself in after visiting with his son at college and was back home with his family.

Days later, the accuser told Det. Jason Jolicoeur that his hand needed five stitches where it was allegedly hit by the rock and that he also had "extensive bruising on the right side of his body and his left arm." He added that Furcal pointed out that the accuser was bleeding before leaving the scene.

A witness provided Furcal's license plate number, Jolicoeur wrote. After Jolicoeur identified Furcal through law enforcement databases, the detective wrote, the accuser positively identified Furcal as the suspect in a photo lineup.

Jolicoeur also noted that Furcal "made no attempt during or after the incident to contact Law Enforcement to report what occurred."

A three-time All Star, Furcal played six seasons with the Atlanta Braves before signing with the Dodgers as a free agent before the 2006 season. He remained in Los Angeles until being traded to St. Louis in July 2011, then won the World Series with the Cardinals that October.

He played his final MLB season, with the Miami Marlins, in 2014.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.