Category: Baseball

Ben Rice has found himself in the American League MVP conversation for much of the season.

That’s even with a healthy Aaron Judge — or so we thought — hitting in the same lineup and looking for his third straight MVP.

But now Rice, like the rest of the Yankees lineup, is facing a new challenge: hitting without Judge’s bat to protect them.

For Rice, it’s especially true, as he’s hit directly in front of Judge for much of the year.

In the four games prior to Saturday’s rainout against Boston, Rice instead had Paul Goldschmidt hitting behind him.

Goldschmidt, still a dangerous hitter — particularly against lefties — doesn’t offer quite the protection Judge did.

“He’s a big presence to not have in our lineup,” Rice said after Friday’s loss in The Bronx. “It’s definitely gonna hurt us, but all we can do is keep moving forward.”

Asked if not having Judge’s bat behind him might add pressure to his at-bats, Rice said, “No. I focus on today. We’ll evaluate it at the end.”

And not having Judge — even the limited version he said he’s been since late April, when he believes he first injured the right rib that will likely sideline him for two months — will surely impact the way pitchers approach the Yankee lineup.

As to whether he thinks he’ll be pitched to differently in Judge’s absence, Rice said, “It’s not for me to say. We’ll see what happens. All I can control is the pitches I swing at and don’swing at.”

In four games without Judge, Rice is 4-for-14 with three walks and six strikeouts and had a double and a homer.

Hitting coach James Rowson recently praised Rice’s work ethic behind the scenes, especially with his willingness to study how opposing pitchers pitches to him.

“That’s part of what’s made him better,’’ Rowson said. “It’s not just talent. A lot of guys are talented. The great ones prepare differently and I see how he prepares behind the scenes.”

His process has worked well so far, as Rice entered Saturday with an OPS of 1.051 on the season, trailing only Houston’s Yordan Alvarez.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Rice’s walk rate is up from a year ago, as is his strikeout rate, but he’s about to be tested this season as he hasn’t before.

He’ll be expected to be the biggest bat in the lineup, likely until Judge returns later in the season.

While the Yankees have been careful not to apply a timeline to Judge’s injury, his injury won’t be imaged again for at least another month and he’ll need to built up before he’s back in games.

In Friday’s loss, Rice had a homer and went 2-for-3 as the No. 2 hitter, but the three batters behind him, Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm Jr. combined to go 0-for-11.

That stopped the Yankees from putting much together offensively outside of solo homers by Rice and Trent Grisham, who hit one spot ahead of Rice.

The Yankees will need more production throughout their lineup to remain near the top of the AL East with Judge out, but Rice is as important as any hitter to make sure that happens.

For the second time in four days, Giancarlo Stanton was on the field at Yankee Stadium early Saturday afternoon, taking live batting practice against Angel Chivilli.

The Yankees hope it is not too much longer before Stanton is in the batter’s box for real games, and not just simulated ones, though he still has more boxes to check in the coming week or two before that can happen.

After taking four at-bats against the rehabbing Chivilli, Stanton did some running on the field — in a straight line in the outfield and then starting halfway up the first base line and taking a turn around first base as he works back from a right calf strain.

“Hopefully sooner rather than later,” manager Aaron Boone said of Stanton’s potential return Saturday. “But he’s continuing to build up the running portion.”

Boone has already said that Stanton will not join the Yankees on their upcoming road trip that starts Monday in Cleveland and ends next Sunday in Toronto, with the veteran DH expected to stay in New York to continue his running progression.

It is possible Stanton will not need to go on a rehab assignment before rejoining the Yankees, because he is not playing the field, but he is not close enough for the team to have to make a decision on that yet.

Camilo Doval offered the Yankees a reminder of his tantalizing potential Friday night, retiring the side in the ninth inning on nine pitches (eight strikes), with two strikeouts.

That lowered Doval’s ERA to 5.79 through 27 games, though his underlying metrics have been more promising, offering some hope that he can straighten things out to strengthen the bullpen more consistently.

“That’s what’s been tough, because we’ve seen a lot of that, even in some of the outings where he’s given it up,” Boone said. “It’s just about being consistent, because there is a lot of really good happening there with Camilo — the way he’s thrown the ball, the strike throwing that’s as good as he’s maybe ever been. It is very close to being in line with what we saw [Friday] night. That’s what he’s capable of. He’s working hard at it and we’re continuing to work hard around him to try to get him to be that. Because when he’s like that, he can be an impactful back-end guy.”

After going 0-for-4 with a strikeout in his first rehab game Friday night as the DH at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Jasson Domínguez is expected to play the outfield in his second rehab game Sunday.

He will likely need a few more games next week before he returns from a mild AC joint sprain in his left shoulder.

The offense came alive tonight but the story of the game was Tanner Bibee’s phenomenal outing. He tossed 8 scoreless innings and had only 87 pitches, I really wish they would’ve game him a chance to complete the Maddux. He lowered his ERA all the way down to 4.09 from this outing. If Bibee can find this version of himself more consistently, the version we’ve seen for years, this team will be a force in the playoffs.

The offense was super fun to watch tonight, there were contributions from nearly everyone. Jose hit his team leading 10th HR of the season. Rocchio hit a bomb off the foul pole in a 2-4 effort. DeLauter and Schneemann also both had two hits. Manzardo had a double and two walks. It was super nice to see the offense have a game like this.

The Guardians will look to win the series tomorrow. It will be Joey Cantillo vs Jacob DeGrom at 2:35 pm ET.

There was a scary moment in the sixth inning where Rockies right fielder Tyler Freeman took a 98.2 mph cutter off the helmet from Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski.

The extra helmet flap helped, but it hit him directly on the ear. Luckily, Freeman turned his head so it didn’t hit under the visor.

He was immediately embraced by catcher William Contreras and met by the Rockies coaching staff. He was awake and looking around — and even seen mouthing, “I’m fine” — but Keith Duggar and Heath Townsend rightfully pulled him out of the game.

Sterlin Thompson entered the game in his place.

This is a developing story and Purple Row will provide more information as it becomes available.

The Texas Rangers scored zero runs but the Cleveland Guardians scored six runs.

The irony-pilled cynic in me saw that tonight’s Guardians starting pitcher Tanner Bibee was winless for American League Central-leading Cleveland in 14 starts this season while coming into the game sporting a mid-4s ERA and immediately thought, “Oh yeah, he’s for sure beating the Rangers tonight.”

It wasn’t even that difficult for him to achieve my doomed prophecy. There really isn’t much to say about this game. The Rangers just kind of got their asses kicked. I guess the best you can say is that there are 162 games per year and several of them ultimately end up like this one.

If you want to point to a series of moments in which it became clear that tonight wasn’t going to be the night for a victory, it was probably the juncture where, in a 1-0 game in the bottom of the fourth, with the Rangers having sent up the minimum with their lone baserunner by that point being erased on a double play, Texas got a two-on, two-out rally needing a big hit with RISP to tie the game but Wyatt Langford flew out to end the threat.

That was pretty much the only threat of the night for the lineup. Meanwhile a half inning later, Texas starter Jack Leiter allowed his second solo home run to make it 2-0 before the Guardians eventually tacked on three more in the inning, all with two outs.

In like a 20 minute span the Rangers went from a hit away from a tied game in the middle innings to Leiter exiting in a relative blowout. Leiter entered that the top of the fifth having made just one mistake pitch to Jose Ramirez for a solo home run and the game’s first run and then left without even being able to make it through the inning having allowed five runs in 4.2 frames overall.

Meanwhile, the Rangers got one more hit the rest of the way and the Guardians got another run in the eighth off the Texas bullpen. As for Bibee? He tossed eight shutout on 87 pitches for his first win of the season.

Who told Chris Young he turn the run suppression machine back on at The Shed just because the Rangers had won a few games lately?

Player of the Game: I’m thinking it’s probably Cal Quantrill for pitching multiple innings of scoreless mop up relief if that tells you anything about this game.

Up Next: The Rangers and Guardians close out this series with RHP Jacob deGrom looking to help Texas claim a series win opposite LHP Joey Cantillo for Cleveland in the finale.

The Sunday afternoon first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 1:35 pm CDT and you can view it on the Rangers Sports Network.

The Saturday quest to score runs at some point in the first eight innings. Will Smith was originally in the Dodgers lineup, but was scratched with a stiff neck.

Dodgers lineup

Ohtani DH
Pages CF
Freeman 1B
Betts SS
Muncy 3B
Ward LF
Call RF
Rushing C
Freeland 2B

Yamamoto P

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Angels
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out of market), KCOP channel 13 (Angels broadcast)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Sam Moll hasn’t really been a problem for the 2026 version of the Cincinnati Reds. He certainly hasn’t been the problem, that’s for damn sure.

On Saturday afternoon in Busch Stadium, though, it was the big hit coming off a Moll pitch that flipped the scoreboard in the Bottom of the 8th inning and, ultimately, sent the reeling Reds to a 6-5 loss that gave the series victory to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Even after the homer by lefty Lars Nootbaar off Moll, a lefty, Moll still sports a 2.96 ERA on the season. Again, he’s not the problem – but perhaps the attrition around him in the bullpen and the once again lack of a starter capable of pitching deep enough into the game to take the pressure off the beleaguered pen reared its head, and it was Moll left holding the bag.

Nick Lodolo was meh again, allowing 4 ER in 5.0 IP and needing 95 pitches just to get that far. The patchwork elbow of Tejay Antone held together things in the patchwork bullpen for a time, but then the 8th inning happened and the Reds couldn’t find a way for a miracle.

Speaking of miracles, that miracle April run to start the season? It’s officially poof. This loss sends the Reds back under the .500 mark at 31-32, and given what we’ve seen from them as their best and brightest fall by the wayside, I fear it’s simply more of the norm unless the front office can figure a way out of this jam of mediocrity.

Do you have confidence in them to get that done?

SAN DIEGO — Jorge Polanco’s imminent return to the Mets may not be so imminent.

The veteran infielder was removed from his minor league rehab assignment Saturday due to ankle soreness, according to the team, and he will return to New York for further evaluation.

Polanco previously was scheduled to play for Triple-A Syracuse.

The Mets had originally hoped he would rejoin the club on this road trip, but manager Carlos Mendoza indicated Friday that Polanco needed to build up at-bats and innings at first base for Syracuse.

Polanco, who arrived on a two-year contract worth $40 million, was placed on the injured list with a right wrist contusion April 15 but at the time was also dealing with left Achilles bursitis.

In recent weeks Mendoza said Polanco would likely have to play through some level of discomfort in the ankle this season.

Kodai Senga is built up enough to rejoin the Mets, but the team wants to see results before removing him from his minor league rehab assignment.

The right-hander struggled through his last outing, allowing six hits and two walks with three earned runs over five innings in his start for Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday. Senga owns a 5.19 ERA in three minor league starts as he rehabs from lumbar spine inflammation.

Senga’s next start is scheduled for Double-A Binghamton on Tuesday.

“Some inconsistency with strike throwing,” Mendoza said before the Mets faced the Padres on Saturday. “Physically he feels fine, which is good, but obviously we need to see some results here now.”

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Mendoza noted that Senga’s velocity was down in his last outing, but overall it hasn’t been an issue.

“He’s got to be able to compete in the strike zone,” Mendoza said. “I have been saying it about a lot of our guys, so I think it’s just attacking and dominating [minor league] lineups.”

Sean Manaea was sharp in a bulk relief role Monday and is expected to again follow an opener for his Sunday appearance against the Padres to complete this road trip.

The lefty allowed one earned run over five innings against the Mariners and has pitched to a 2.70 ERA over his past five appearances.

Francisco Alvarez was scheduled to catch back-to-back games for Syracuse on Saturday and Sunday, placing him in position for a return from the injured list during the next Mets homestand.

Alvarez is returning from surgery to repair a meniscus tear.

Mendoza recorded his 200th career victory as Mets manager Friday. Mendoza, in his third season, is No. 10 on the franchise’s all-time list for managerial victories behind Jerry Manuel (204).

Terry Collins was the last Mets manager to reach 200 victories.

A.J. Ewing stole two bases Friday for the first multi-steal game of his career.

Ewing began the day with seven stolen bases.

Mookie Wilson owns the Mets rookie record for stolen bases with 24.

Lee Mazzilli (22) and Gregg Jefferies (21) are next on the list.

Jorge Polanco was not in the lineup for Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday after experiencing ankle soreness, the team announced, and his rehab assignment has been shut down by the Mets.

Polanco will now head back to New York for further re-evaluation on his ankle after dealing with Achilles bursitis that has been nagging him all season.

Earlier in the week, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters that Polanco "could be in play" to return to the team when it began a three-game series in San Diego this weekend. However, on Friday, before the series opener, Polanco remained in Triple-A as the skipper said he needed more volume both in terms of his at-bats and defense.

In six games between Double-A and Triple-A, Polanco went 2-for-12 with a home run and five walks. 

Despite the results, it looked like Polanco was at least trending in the right direction to rejoin the Mets, but now his future is completely up in the air.

Will Smith was scratched on Saturday with a stiff neck, but manager Dave Roberts said he expected him to be back in the lineup the next day for the finale of the Dodgers’ three-game series against the Angels.

“It came out of nowhere,” Roberts said. “Could have probably pushed him to play, but he was going to play one of the next two regardless.”

Smith missed time in late April with lower back problems and played only one of the Dodgers’ three games in Milwaukee a couple of weeks ago, but Roberts said he didn’t think Smith was any more worn down than he was in previous seasons.

A three-time All-Star, Smith is batting .249 this season.

Smith was replaced on Saturday by Dalton Rushing, whom Roberts described as being much better prepared to deal with a last-minute start than he was last year.

“It’s not even close,” Roberts said. “Dalton’s in the pitchers’ meetings. He and Will have a really good relationship, which I love.

“I’ll tell you, man, Dalton, when he’s catching, I feel very good that he’s in lockstep with the starting pitcher.”

In other injury news, third baseman Max Muncy returned to the lineup after sitting out a game to recover from a violent collision at first base with Ildelmo Vargas.

Also, Tyler Glasnow was moved to the 60-day injured list to create a place on the 40-man roster for triple-A right-hander Nick Frasso. Glasnow was placed on the 15-day injured list on May 8 with lower back spasms. He currently isn’t throwing.

New York Mets (28-35) at San Diego Padres (32-30), June 6, 2026, 7:10 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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Mets lineup

Carson Benge – RF
Bo Bichette – SS
Juan Soto – LF
Jared Young – 1B
Marcus Semien – 2B
A.J. Ewing – CF
Mark Vientos – DH
Brett Baty – 3B
Luis Torrens – C

SP: Nolan McLean – RHP

Padres lineup

Fernando Tatis – RF
Jackson Merrill – CF
Ty France – 1B
Manny Machado – 3B
Gavin Sheets – LF
Xander Bogaerts – SS
Miguel Andujar – DH
Sung-Mun Song – 2B
Freddy Fermin – C

SP: Griffin Canning – RHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 10:10 PM ET
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

Ahead of the Mets’ game in San Diego against the Padres on Saturday night, manager Carlos Mendoza hit on a number of topics… 

What’s next for Kodai Senga

The starter will make his next rehab start likely on Tuesday with Double-A Binghamton, Mendoza said.

This would be Senga's fourth minor league rehab outing since he began ramping up in the minors in late May. The outings haven't been going so well, in two starts with Triple-A Syracuse, the right-hander allowed six runs (five earned) on 10 hits and four walks with 10 strikeouts in 8.2 innings.

The skipper classified the reports on Senga as being “on and off.”

“I watched the last couple of outings, some inconsistency with strike throwing,” Mendoza said. “Physically, he feels fine, which is good, but obviously, we need to see some results here now.”

Mendoza said the issue that has been keeping Senga from finding consistent good form has been throwing strikes.

“He’s gotta be able to compete in the strike zone,” he said. “I’ve been saying it with a lot of our guys. I think it’s just him attacking and dominating Triple-A lineups.”

Mendoza noted that Senga’s velocity was “a little down” In his last outing with Syracuse, but “for the most part, it has been mid-90s.”

“The first two outings of the year were pretty nasty," Mendoza said of Senga’s first starts with the Mets. "The velo was up, he was competing in the strike zone. But then he kinda got away from it. It is kinda what we’re looking at. Hopefully, we get that version back.”

Mark Vientos’ role moving forward

In 2024, Vientos looked to have put it all together at the plate, smacking 27 home runs with 71 RBI in 111 games with a .837 OPS (134 OPS+). Over the 175 games since, Vientos has posted 24 home runs and 87 RBI with a .680 OPS (90 OPS+), which includes the first 54 games of this season that have seen him post a .218 average with a .630 OPS (77 OPS+).

"He's got to compete for at-bats,” Mendoza said when asked to assess Vientos’ role moving forward. 

The 26-year-old has seen his playing time decrease recently, and he entered Saturday's game 6-for-42 (.143) in his last 13 games with 12 strikeouts and no walks.

“We've got a healthy competition here,” he said. “Jared Young is playing well, [MJ] Melendez, [too]. We're going to need him. Obviously, it's been hard for him the past few weeks, but this is a guy that can carry a team.

“We’re gonna need him, he’s got another opportunity [Saturday], and we’ll continue to assess day by day.”

Carson Benge's big-league personality

“Impressive,” Mendoza said of the rookie’s play over his first 60 games since his big league debut on Opening Day.

“The biggest thing for me,” the manager continued, “he’s not gonna show you emotions. This is a guy that is just new to the league and you can’t really tell if he’s 0-for-12 or if he’s seven for his last 10 at-bats.

“His ability to play defense, his ability to run the bases, continues to put together really good at-bats, left-on-left. He’s been impressive and it’s just good to see.”

One thing that has helped Benge is knowing he will be in the lineup each day which is something that can be a boost for players making the transition to the big league level, but it doesn’t come without costs, too. 

“That always helps. Knowing that you’re gonna be in the lineup,” Mendoza said, adding that Benge has “a good group of veterans there that are continuing to help him get through some of the struggles at the beginning.”

“It’s a grind. It’s every day. In the minor leagues, you get that one day off every five, six days,” the manager continued. “That doesn’t happen here at this level. But he’s super consistent with his personality, with the way he goes about his business. It’s just good to see it.”

The Dodgers finish off their shortest homestand of the year with their third and final game of the weekend against the Angels at Dodger Stadium.

Emmet Sheehan closes out his two-start week by starting in the series finale, after lasting at least six innings in three of his last four starts. José Soriano starts for the Angels, bringing a 2.72 ERA and 4.09 xERA into the series finale. Soriano also leads the majors with 38 walks in his 76 innings, including six free passes in a blowout loss to the Dodgers on May 16 in Anaheim.

Something to watch will be whether catcher Will Smith will be back in the lineup after getting scratched on Saturday with a stiff neck.

Sunday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Angels
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 1:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA, KCOP channel 13 (Angels broadcast)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)