Category: Baseball

The Mets are going to look to their farm system to find an arm to replace Griffin Canning.

According to The Athletic's Will Sammon, the Mets are expected to call up Blade Tidwell on Friday. Sammon notes that Tidwell was slated to start Thursday's game for Triple-A Syracuse but the game was postponed due to rain. Tidwell will meet the team in Pittsburgh as the Mets get set for a three-game series against the Pirates. There could be other moves coming as well.

Canning left Thursday's win against the Braves with what the Mets call an ankle injury, but it's suspected the right-hander suffered an Achilles injury and they are just waiting for the results of an MRI to confirm.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game that he's confident the other pitchers in the rotation and in the minors will "step up" in Canning's absence.

“Guys will step up,” he said. “Our mentality is what do we need to do today. I’m confident in the guys we have in that room. I’m confident that the guys who will come up are going to give us opportunities to win baseball games, and we’ll continue to do so.”

Tidwell has just two big league starts with the Mets this season. He allowed six runs in 3.2 innings against the Cardinals back on May 4 and then allowed two runs in 3.2 innings in Philadelphia last weekend.

In 13 games (11 starts) with Syracuse, Tiwell has pitched to a 4-4 record and a 4.76 ERA but has 73 strikeouts over 62.1 innings pitched.

The baseball season is long and the Mets know how to navigate the ups and downs all too well.

After losing 2-of-3 to the Phillies over the weekend, and then the first two of their four-game set with the Braves earlier this week, it felt like the sky was falling for the Mets. They were losing pitchers to injury, the once-daunted bullpen has shown kinks in its armor and the offense remained inconsistent. But how easy a couple of wins can turn things around.

The team entered play on Thursday, capping off a 10-game stretch against the Braves and Phillies, with a 2-7 record and losing their months-long grasp of the NL East in the process. Manager Carlos Mendoza and the rest of the team continued to preach patience, and it appears to be paying off.

With their back-to-back wins to split the series with the Braves -- including an impressive 4-0 win on Thursday night -- the Mets have hopped over the Phillies to recapture first place in the division.

While the Astros, who swept the Phillies this week, had their part to play, the Mets continued not to let the rough patch get to them because they knew it would turn around.

“We’re a resilient bunch and we stick together," Pete Alonso said after the game. "Losing is never great, losing stinks…how this group has handled adversity has always been great. A lot of these guys came from the same group that came from 11 games under last year and found a way to win games when they mattered most. There’s a lot of belief in this group, there’s a lot of talent in this room.

"Sometimes you get got, it’s the big leagues, you can lose on any given night because the talent is great, especially against two quality, in-division rivals. Happens….collectively it’s a learning experience and we’ll get better from it."

Alonso's three hits helped propel a Mets offense that has often squandered chances to put up runs. But they didn't on Thursday, even if they were on the cusp of doing so. In the fourth inning, Alonso's single put runners on first and third with no outs. Jeff McNeil flew out, unable to score Juan Soto from third and Tyrone Taylor was down in the count 0-2, but the outfielder lofted a long fly ball to give the Mets the lead. A lead they would not relinquish.

"Continue to stay in the fight. The one thing I keep saying is as long as we keep creating traffic, we’re going to come through," Mendoza said. "A lot of good at-bats, especially with two outs -- overall, as long as we’re creating traffic, we have a lot of good hitters. They’ll come through for us."

While the win was great, the Mets lost another starting pitcher due to injury on Thursday. Griffin Canning seemingly suffered an Achilles injury on a non-contact play, making him the third starter to be lost to injury this month (Kodai Senga, Tylor Megill).

Despite the string of bad injury luck, Mendoza remains confident in his group because he saw their resilience last year and it remains the same this season.

"Goes to show you that those guys are up for the challenge, whatever comes at you," Mendoza said. "It happens every year, how you’re going to handle it and how you’ll respond. With Senga and Megill ... guys will step up. Guys will come from the minor leagues. We just got to stick together and take it one day at a time….today is the most important day.

"Same thing we saw last year, the same we saw in spring training when guys went down this month, this past 10-12 days with injuries, not getting results. And how steady, how consistently they stay throughout. There’s no panic, but at the same time, there’s a sense of urgency to get better, how to get out of this stretch. Little by little, we continue to do the things we need to do, and obviously we have to be healthy. As far as the group goes, they’re consistent, they’re resilient, they have grit, they compete and they have fun."

The Mets will look to continue their winning ways when they head to Pittsburgh for three games this weekend against the 32-50 Pirates. If they take care of business, their stay atop of the NL East will be longer.

The Mets’ starting rotation suffered another big blow on Thursday night. 

New York is already down regulars as Kodai Senga remains sidelined with a hamstring issue, Tylor Megill is dealing with an elbow injury, and Sean Manaea continues working his way through a rehab assignment. 

Now it appears they could be without Griffin Canning for the remainder of the season.

The team is still awaiting MRI results to confirm, but Carlos Mendoza says the right-hander is believed to have suffered an Achilles injury during the third inning of Thursday night’s outing against the Braves. 

Canning went down in a heap of pain as he seemingly pushed off the mound wrong on a Nick Allen grounder to Francisco Lindor -- he remained there for some time before being helped off by trainers.

He was undergoing testing during Thursday’s contest.  

“It sucks, you hate to see it,” Mendoza said. “Especially the way he went down right away, and once you get there and you're asking what's going on and just how everything developed after that, I feel sorry for the guy, especially how big he's been for us this year.”

Canning certainly has been huge during his first year in the organization. 

The 29-year-old former first-round pick has been putting together arguably the best stretch of his career -- as he’s pitched to a strong 3.77 ERA and the Mets have gone home victorious in all but four of his 17 outings. 

But now they’ll have to look elsewhere to make up for that production. 

They could look to swing a trade for a starter ahead of the deadline, but it may be some time before any sort of deal comes about, so in the meantime, they have some young talent in-house.

Blade Tidwell will get the first shot as he's set to rejoin the team in Pittsburgh this weekend, but Nolan McLean continues mowing his way through Triple-A, Jonah Tong has been stellar in Binghamton, and even the struggling Brandon Sproat could find himself jumping into the mix. 

That's just a few of the young arms dealing down on the farm, no matter who they end up giving the call, Mendoza is confident this team will continue to find a way.

“Guys will step up,” the skipper said. “Our mentality is what do we need to do today. I’m confident in the guys we have in that room. I’m confident that the guys who will come up are going to give us opportunities to win baseball games, and we’ll continue to do so.”

The Mets’ bullpen was really put to the test on Thursday night. 

Griffin Canning cruised his way through the first two innings against the Braves, but he was forced to leave the game in the third after suffering what appears to be an Achilles injury coming off the mound awkwardly. 

Austin Warren, who was recalled prior to the game, then entered and picked up right where Canning left off.

After putting the finishing touches on the third, the right-hander put together 2.1 scoreless innings of work, allowing just one baserunner and striking out two in his second big league appearance of the season. 

“The adrenaline kicked in right away and took over,” Warren said postgame. “Mendy told me every time I came in just to keep filling it up, I knew they needed a couple of innings out of me and pitch count is a big thing -- defense made some plays behind me, I had some punchouts and it all just worked out.”

Dedniel Núñez followed that up with arguably his best outing of the season -- retiring all six batters he faced over two scoreless innings of his own, and striking out the side in the top of the seventh. 

Núñez looked back to his dominant form from last year and he’s now gone seven consecutive appearances without allowing a run. 

“First of all, I’m just grateful to God for my health,” Núñez said through an interpreter. “But today I felt really good, I was able to attack the hitters like I did last year and I was really just able to focus in on executing my pitches, and I was able to help the team in any way I could.”

Ryne Stanek then delivered his third consecutive scoreless appearance before Edwin Diaz came on and put the finishing touches on the victory in the top of the ninth. 

Overall, the bullpen combined to allow just two hits over 6.1 scoreless innings as they locked up the series split. 

“Unbelievable job,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Once Griff goes down, you hate to see it and in the back of my mind, it’s like how are we going to get through nine innings -- for Warren to finish that inning, then go out for the fourth and fifth, just throwing strikes and giving us a chance. 

“Then Núñez probably the best we’ve seen out of him, more like the Núñez we saw last year consistently -- the velo, the slider, throwing strikes. I wanted to stay away from Stanek, but him coming in there with just seven pitches and then Sugar finishing it off, just a hell of a job from the bullpen.”

After dropping the first two games, the Mets battled back to secure the series split with a 4-0 win over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night at Citi Field.

Here are some takeaways...

- Griffin Canning retired the first six batters he faced before allowing a leadoff single in the third -- a few batters later, the righty was forced to leave with a non-contact ankle injury. Canning went down in immense pain after seemingly coming off the mound awkwardly. He stayed down for several moments before being helped off, unable to put any pressure on his leg.

Canning's been putting together a career-best season, pitching to a 3.77 ERA across 16 outings.

- Right-hander Austin Warren came on in emergency relief and he picked up right where Canning left off -- allowing just one baserunner and striking out two over 2.2 terrific innings of work in his second big-league appearance of the season.

Warren's been putting together a strong year in Triple-A, posting a 3.94 ERA over 19 appearances.

- The Mets were held in check over the first three innings by Braves starter Grant Holmes, but they were able to get on the board in each of the next two frames as Tyrone Taylor lifted a sacrifice fly to right in the fourth and Pete Alonso lined up a clutch two out RBI single in the fifth.

Alonso has hit a bit of a tough stretch, but he had three knocks after being named an All-Star finalist.

- New York would tack on a few innings later against left-hander Dylan Dood thanks to three straight two-out knocks, the last of which was a Jeff McNeil two-run single to shallow center to make it a 4-0 ballgame -- McNeil delivered four hits during the four-game series.

- The rest of the Mets' bullpen was spectacular behind Warren. Dedniel Núñez put together his best outing of the season, retiring all six batters he faced and striking out the side in the seventh. Ryne Stanek then delivered his third straight scoreless appearance, and Edwin Diaz closed the door in the ninth.

Overall, the bullpen allowed just two baserunners over 6.1 innings after Canning left with the injury.

- With Mark Vientos officially set to return on Friday, the Mets' infield depth continues to produce. Brett Baty reached base two more times on the night and Ronny Mauricio picked up another knock, giving him five over the last three games. Carlos Mendoza said pregame that it's possible the Mets keep Mauricio even with Baty and Vientos on the roster.

- With the Mets' second straight win and the Phillies losing to the Astros for the third straight game earlier this afternoon, New York has officially jumped back into first place in the NL East.

Game MVP(s): The bullpen

What more can be said about New York's pitching -- they were absolutely spectacular on a night they desperately needed them to be.

Highlights

Griffin Canning starts the night with back-to-back strikeouts! pic.twitter.com/0lDEMKjj3o

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 26, 2025

Griffin Canning is leaving the game with an apparent leg injury pic.twitter.com/FAKwmx66un

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 26, 2025

Tyrone Taylor's sac fly brings in Juan Soto for the first run of the game pic.twitter.com/65OV5hKwbn

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 27, 2025

Pete Alonso lines one up the middle for an RBI single! pic.twitter.com/OHIefFMUt7

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 27, 2025

Dedniel Núñez strikes out the side in the 7th! pic.twitter.com/mZ7iyaCSkZ

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 27, 2025

Jeff McNeil drives in two more and it's 4-0 Mets! 👏 pic.twitter.com/2dhgVD4Q1A

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 27, 2025

What's next

The Mets head to Pittsburgh to start a three-game weekend set with the Pirates.

David Peterson (5-2, 2.98 ERA) starts the opener against Mitch Keller (1-10, 4.02 ERA) at 6:40 p.m. on SNY.

Here are five things to watch and predictions as the Yankees and Athletics play a three-game series at Yankee Stadium starting on Friday night...

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Preview

AL East race heating up

Don't look now, but the AL East race is getting tight.

After the Yankees had a sizeable lead in the division, the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays pulled within 0.5 games behind New York for first place. While the two teams won't face each other this weekend, the Yankees could potentially put some space between them with a series win over the lowly A's.

Tampa will head to Baltimore to take on the downtrodden Orioles, so the Yankees will want to take care of business if they expect to still be in first place by the end of the weekend.

Clarke Schmidt encore

Last time Schmidt pitched, he threw seven no-hit innings in what was arguably the best start of his career. Schmidt will take the mound on Saturday after the Yankees decided to flip him and Will Warren to give Schmidt an extra day of rest but what will he do for an encore?

Schmidt has had more success at home (1-1, 2.30 ERA in seven starts) this season, so with the extra rest and pitching at home, expectations are that Schmidt will have another quality start.

Bullpen reset

Thursday's off day came at a great time for the Yankees. Their last off day was back on June 9 (16 straight games) so the bullpen has been taxed. Although Luke Weaver returned from the IL, manager Aaron Boone has had to use his relievers much more than usual, but Thursday gives the team a chance to reset -- and Jonathan Loaisiga (illness) a chance to rest. The Yankees do need Warren, Schmidt and Sunday's starter (TBA) to go long to give the bullpen a bit more time off. The Yankees' offense can also help by building huge leads and allowing the low-leverage relievers to stay in longer.

Can the offense turn it on?

The Yankees offense has been up-and-down during this recent cold stretch, but they'll need to be up this weekend and that starts with Aaron Judge. Over his last seven games, Judge is hitting .308 with two home runs, but he has begun to expand his strike zone a bit too much and he's striking out more as a result. In that span, he's struck out eight times. Now, there's no need to panic, Judge is still hitting a league-best .361, but he's starting to swing and miss at the same clip when he was struggling. (Remember the sweep in Boston?)

As the captain goes, so does the rest of the Yankees' lineup.

The return of Luis Severino

This is Severino's second season in the majors since leaving the Yanks in free agency, but this Sunday will be the first time he pitches in Yankee Stadium since 2023. It'll be an emotional day for Severino and for the fans who appreciated the right-hander.

For Severino, his 2025 hasn't been as good as his 2024 when he was with the Mets, but he's been a great road pitcher this year. In seven road starts, Severino is 201 with a 2.27 ERA as opposed to his 0-7 record and 6.79 ERA when playing at home this season.

In May, Severino pitched against his former team in Sacramento. He lasted just four innings and allowed eight runs on nine hits.

Which version of Severino will the Yankees see? And will this year's Yankees squad show Severino they are more than just two hitters?

Predictions

Who will the MVP of the series be?

Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Since Chisholm returned from the IL, he's been on a heater. In 20 June games, Chisholm is batting .329 with four home runs and 13 RBI. With the Yanks taking on two right-handers, Jazz could keep his hot streak rolling.

Which Yankees pitcher will have the best start?

Will Warren.

Warren has continued to be a solid starter, giving the Yankees two straight starts where he pitched at least six innings.

Which Athletics player will be a thorn in Yankees' side?

Jacob Wilson.

The front-runner for AL Rookie of the Year, Wilson continues to hit at an insane clip. He'll enter the weekend series hitting .345 with nine home runs and 40 RBI.

Griffin Canning had to leave his start against the Braves on Thursday with what the team says is a left ankle injury.

The Mets say Canning will undergo imaging.

With one out in the top of the third, the Mets starter got Nick Allen to hit a grounder to Francisco Lindor for the second out, but Canning collapsed near the mound as he seemed to have pushed off wrong.

Canning stayed down on his back with his leg raised as he was eventually helped off the field by trainers.

The 29-year-old is having a solid season in his first year with the Mets. In 16 starts -- including Thursday -- Canning had pitched to a 7-3 record with a 3.77 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. He was arguably the Mets' best pitcher in March/April, as he pitched to a 4-1 record with a 2.61 ERA to start the season.

Canning's apparent injury comes at an inopportune time for the Mets. Kodai Senga was placed on the IL back on June 13 after he suffered a hamstring injury during a game and has yet to return to the mound. Sean Manaea, who hasn't played in a game this season after suffering an oblique injury this spring, had his rehab setback a few days after a loose body was found in his left elbow earlier this week.

This story is still developing....

Griffin Canning is leaving the game with an apparent leg injury pic.twitter.com/FAKwmx66un

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 26, 2025

Three Mets are moving on to Round 2 of All-Star Game voting.

Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Pete Alonso were officially named finalists on Thursday night.

Lindor was the top vote-getter among shortstops in the National League during Phase 1 of voting, but he'll now have to beat out Dodgers star Mookie Betts as he looks to land his first All-Star appearance as a Met.

The 31-year-old has slowed down a bit after his scorching start to the season, but he's still produced 16 homers and 43 RBI while swiping 13 bags through 79 games.

Alonso finished second among first basemen behind only Freddie Freeman.

The big man has also cooled off following his spectacular first few months, but he's still launched 18 homers and remains fourth in the National League with 64 RBI.

Soto joins former Mets prospect Pete-Crow Armstrong, Teoscar Hernandez, Kyle Tucker, Andy Pages, and Ronald Acuña Jr. as the six outfield finalists for the National League.

His slow start to the season appears to officially be behind him, as he's put together a historic month of June with an incredible 11 homers and 20 RBI over his last 25 games.

Jeff McNeil (fourth), Francisco Alvarez (fifth), Starling Marte (fifth), Mark Vientos (eighth), Brandon Nimmo (11th), and Tyrone Taylor (15th) all fell shy of cracking the second round of voting.

Phase 2 starts on Monday and lasts until Wednesday.

Here are the rest of the finalists:

It all comes down to this! 👀

Here are the 2025 All-Star Game Ballot Finalists 🗳️ pic.twitter.com/qAwBnMVOFY

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) June 26, 2025

Aaron Judge is the American League's first named All-Star.

The Yankees slugger earned an automatic All-Star bid after being the American League's leading vote-getter, MLB announced Thursday. Judge led all players, including the National League, with 4,012,983 votes.

Shohei Ohtani earned his automatic big by leading the National League in votes.

The selection doesn't come as a surprise as Judge is having another MVP-caliber season. Entering play Thursday, Judge is slashing .361/.461/.719 with an OPS of 1.180. He leads the major leagues with his .361 batting average, is second in the majors with 28 homers and is tied for fifth in the league with 63 RBI.

This is Judge's seventh time being named an All-Star and the fifth consecutive year he'll be playing in the Midsummer Classic.

In addition, Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and DH Ben Rice have advanced as finalists.

Goldschmidt is having a resurgent year in his first season in the Bronx. The right-hander is slashing .288/.346/.432 with a .778 OPS.

The Yankees' first baseman will be going up against Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to be named a starter for the American League. If Goldschmidt wins, it'll be his eighth selection and his first since 2022.

As for Rice, the left-handed slugger has had a solid second year with the Yankees. He's slashing .238/.324/.489 with an OPS of .814 to go with his 14 home runs and 29 RBI. Opposing Rice is Baltimore's Ryan O'Hearn. With the trade of Rafael Devers, the field is open for Rice to earn his first career All-Star selection.

The Mets will receive a big boost heading into this weekend’s series against the Pirates, as Mark Vientos is officially set to make his return from the IL. 

Vientos has been sidelined since the beginning of the month with a hamstring strain. 

The youngster had gotten off to a bit of a slow start at the plate this season, but there’s no denying that adding him back into the middle of this struggling lineup could provide a huge boost. 

"Mark is a big part of our team," Carlos Mendoza said. "We saw it in the playoffs last year, he drives the ball to all fields, gives you good at-bats, and the power is real -- if we get him going, we’re talking about a deep lineup 1 through 9. He’s a guy who can hit anywhere in the lineup, so it just adds to the quality of our roster."

Vientos’ return also puts the Mets in a bit of a conundrum, as their infield depth suddenly gets a whole lot more crowded and they’ll have to open up another roster spot prior to the 25-year-old’s activation. 

While it’s a tough decision to make, Mendoza says it’s not necessarily a bad thing. 

"This continues to be a puzzle," he explained. "There are going to be a few spots that are going to be rotating and I think that’s a good problem to have -- I’ve been saying since day one, talking about the depth, how good our team is because of the quality and quantity we have. 

"So there will be at-bats for everyone in there who is on the active roster, and we’ll make sure that we are communicating with them on a daily basis and they understand that we’re here to win baseball games."

Ronny Mauricio has been viewed as one of the candidates to go back down -- though the skipper did say there's a possibility we could see him stick around even with Vientos and Brett Baty on the roster. 

Mauricio was brought back up to the big leagues earlier than the team had hoped following Vientos’ injury, and while he’s looked a bit overmatched at times, he’s coming off one of his best showings to this point. 

The youngster picked up three hits, including a solo homer on Wednesday night.

"I’ve been impressed with how he’s handled the adversity," Mendoza said. "I haven’t been around him much because he spent all of last year rehabbing and this year, in spring training he wasn’t really around much just being in the training room and the backfields. 

"Watching him after missing so much time and struggling, he’s being the same guy, continues to work and asks for feedback for help -- it was finally good to see a really good game from him last night, we hope to see that same version moving forward."

Clayton Kershaw got to the precipice of history on Thursday afternoon. And now, when he inevitably crosses the 3,000 career strikeout milepost, it will almost certainly happen on his home mound.

In the Dodgers’ 3-1 win against the Colorado Rockies, Kershaw struck out five batters over a six-inning, one-run start to move to 2,997 punchouts for his career.

For a moment, it seemed as if Kershaw might be able to eclipse the threshold on Thursday. At the end of the sixth inning, he had thrown only 69 pitches while mowing through a free-swinging Rockies lineup.

Alas, manager Dave Roberts gave his 37-year-old left-hander an early hook, turning a narrow late-game lead over to his bullpen — and preserving the opportunity for Kershaw’s milestone moment to happen back at Dodger Stadium during next week’s homestand.

Read more:Max Muncy gets help from the rain, then hits a grand slam to lead Dodgers past hapless Rockies

“I would argue there might be a temptation to take him out [today] and let him go for it in front of the home fans,” Roberts said pregame, when asked if he would consider extending Kershaw’s leash to let him chase his 3,000th strikeout on Thursday. “I’m not going to force anything.”

Ever since Kershaw returned from offseason foot and knee surgeries in May, and showed an ability to produce even with a diminished fastball and increasing mileage on his arm, his pursuit of 3,000 strikeouts has felt less like an “if” than a “when.”

Entering Thursday, his career total was up to 2,992, leaving him just eight shy of becoming the 20th pitcher in MLB history, and only the fourth left-hander, to join the prestigious 3K club.

“I guess ultimately the last box he needs to check for his future Hall of Fame career is that 3,000-strikeout threshold,” Roberts said. “We’re all waiting in anticipation.”

More impressively, though, Kershaw has been winning games and limiting runs for the Dodgers (51-31), improving to 4-0 with a 3.03 earned-run average through eight starts this season.

“I think there’s good days and bad days, good pitches and bad pitches,” Kershaw said. “Not as consistent, not as perfect as I would want. But the results have been OK. And at the end of the day, we’re winning games that I’ve been on the mound. So I’m thankful for that. Just a product of being on a great team.”

Kershaw wasn’t exactly expecting to reach the 3,000 mark Thursday, acknowledging that “eight in Colorado is never going to be easy to do.”

Over his first two innings, however, he quickly inched closer. Thairo Estrada whiffed on a curveball in the first inning. And though Brenton Doyle hit a solo homer in the second, Kershaw set Michael Toglia and Orlando Arcia both down swinging with a slider and curveball, respectively.

“I just love that edge that he gives each start day,” Roberts said. “We certainly feed off that.”

Kershaw didn’t get another strikeout until the end of the fifth, retiring the side with a slider that froze Braxton Fulford for a called third strike. An inning before that, he was bailed out by his defense after his lone walk, when Miguel Rojas turned a spinning double-play up the line at third base to erase the free pass.

"It could’ve been one run in, runner on second, nobody out," Kershaw said. "So to turn that double-play there was kind of a game-changer. ... Biggest play of the day."

Still, in the sixth, all eyes returned to Kershaw’s strikeout total after Tyler Freeman was rung up on a generous outside strike call to finish off an eight-pitch at-bat.

Though it would have required striking out the side, Kershaw was as little as one inning away from No. 3,000.

Instead, Roberts decided to end his day, ensuring that the next time Kershaw takes the mound — likely to be next Wednesday at home against the Chicago White Sox — he will need only three more strikeouts to do something only two pitchers before have ever done: Have a 3,000-strikeout career while playing for only one team.

“It would be very special,” Kershaw said of potentially reaching the milestone at Dodger Stadium. “It would be.”

Read more:Michael Conforto shows signs of life in Dodgers' win over Rockies

Ohtani to pitch Saturday

While Kershaw mowed through the Rockies (18-63), Shohei Ohtani delivered the biggest swing of the day for the Dodgers, padding what was only a 2-1 lead in the seventh with a solo home run to right, his NL-leading 28th of the year.

The blast came hours after the other big news of the day, with Roberts confirming pregame that the two-way star will make his next start as a pitcher on Saturday against the Kansas City Royals.

That game will mark Ohtani’s third pitching outing of the season and could be his first in which he goes beyond the first inning. Last week, Roberts hinted at the possibility of Ohtani — who is still building up in his return from Tommy John surgery — pitching into the second inning, but he has continued to leave any final decisions open-ended.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.