Category: Baseball

Red Sox legend Martínez criticizes Ortiz over Devers relationship originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Bay Area has been able to capitalize on two star athletes’ souring relationships with their respective former teams.

A disgruntled Jimmy Butler got his wish granted and was moved to the Warriors at the NBA’s February 6 trade deadline after tensions increased between him and Miami Heat president Pat Riley. Meanwhile, the Giants were able to do the same with left-handed star slugger Rafael Devers, who had a fallout with the Red Sox over his role with the team.

But there also was speculation that Devers was a bad teammate and a bad influence in the Red Sox clubhouse, which quickly was shut down by Baseball Hall of Famer and former Red Sox star Pedro Martínez.

“I was shocked, just like everybody else,” Martínez said in a recent interview (h/t BR Walk-Off). “I was shocked, because if you try to sell to me, knowing Rafael Devers, that Rafi is a bad teammate, or he’s not a team player, you’re lying.

“You’re going to tell me he’s a bad influence in the clubhouse? He’s not. Does he want to play every single day? Yes, that’s probably why he was mad.”

Devers played third base for the first eight years of his MLB career before Boston moved him to DH this season to make way for Alex Bregman, whom the Red Sox signed to a three-year, $120 million free-agent contract this past offseason. But after Triston Casas sustained a ruptured left patellar tendon in early May, Devers was asked to play first base, which he declined.

Martínez also called out Red Sox icon David Ortiz for his recent remarks about Devers, in which “Big Papi” pointed to Devers’ ego as what led to the relationship with Boston tarnishing and judged Devers for his communication, or lack thereof, with him.

“The organization is always going to be there,” Ortiz reiterated in an interview with The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal published on Monday. “Players come and go. As a player, sometimes you’ve got to put your ego aside and understand that once you get paid, you’ve got to find a way to do what you’re told. 

“That’s a message for all young players who think they turn out to be bigger than the game. I’m not saying that Devers was like that. He’s humble. He’s a good kid. But sometimes when you’re young and immature, you (don’t realize that).”

Ortiz also told MLB insider Hector Gomez that Devers has “communication problems” and “almost never returned my messages.”

Martínez believes Big Papi should’ve kept those comments to himself and addressed Devers privately.

“Big Papi also made a mistake in spring training by speaking in front of the cameras about some of the things that he needed to tell Devers,” said Martinez. “And just like I said before, that should’ve been handled in-house. Big Papi should’ve gone out with Devers to talk about those things, not really openly speaking in the field, because the cameras are able to pick up everything that we say.”

“That was the first mistake from Big Papi. The other thing is I don’t like to hear those comments after things happen like that,” Martinez continued. “I would’ve loved for Big Papi to come over, grab Devers, go to a restaurant, go to his house, throw a barbecue, and talk to Devers in his house.”

Martínez was also critical of the way things played out publicly between Devers and the Red Sox.

“The thing got mishandled from the get-go,” Martínez said. “This should’ve been handled by baseball people, not front office people, not leaking it to the media, not having a back-and-forth between the media, and [manager] Alex [Cora], [president] Sam Kennedy and [chief baseball officer Craig] Breslow.”

The Giants officially introduced Devers on Tuesday, just a few hours before his San Francisco debut against the Cleveland Guardians. The blockbuster move included the Giants parting ways with left-handed starter Kyle Harrison, righty Jordan Hicks, outfield prospect James Tibbs III and low-level minor-league pitcher Jose Bello.

While the vibes were high in San Francisco, Martínez didn’t appreciate how the Red Sox handled their presser discussing the trade.

“The press conference that they held the other day didn’t help it at all because you hear the front office, Sam Kennedy, Breslow, and all those guys, talking about the situation,” Martínez said. “They talked about championships and stuff like that, but it’s not just the championships. It’s not what we have done, it’s understanding the human inside the uniform. That’s what nobody probably understands about Devers. How was he feeling when you were telling him dump your glove? Was he offended? Was he feeling funny about not being treated like somebody that could be worth a position in the infield?

“I think there was a lot of miscommunication, but it should’ve been handled by baseball people. People that have been there, that understand what it’s like to wear the uniform and at the same time be a human. I don’t think they did the best job at doing that.”

In a separate interview with “Talkin’ Baseball,” Martínez backed his feelings toward the trade and was saddened to think about how it potentially could impact Boston’s future.

A player’s reputation is everything, but the same applies to an organization and those running it.

“Everybody is looking around to see what’s going on with Boston, and we went from probably being the most I would say lovable team in the last 20 years to probably one of the teams that everybody’s going to be looking at in the future and saying, ‘If they treated Devers [or] Chris Sale that way, if they disrespected Jon Lester that way, free agents are going to be looking at Boston in a different way,’ ” Martínez said.

“That’s what I’m concerned [about], that the culture that we left — [Dustin] Pedroia, [David Ortiz], Manny [Ramirez], Jason [Varitek], all of those great players that went through the organization, is going to disappear. And people are going to start looking at Boston as a bad organization. An organization that doesn’t respect the players. And that I would hate to see, because we went from being one of the most popular teams in the last 25 years to probably being one of the most hated teams in all of baseball, and I don’t want to see that.”

When Martínez was asked about Breslow’s comments, in which he stated that he believes the Red Sox will have “won more than we would’ve otherwise” after trading Devers, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“No, I don’t [agree],” he said. “In baseball, there’s always one thing that’s going to keep you humble. If you don’t show me the numbers that say the team is going to be better without Devers and the new guys that [the Red Sox] are getting in the trade, then I don’t have a reason to believe that.”

Well, it’s clear which side Martínez stands on. And while he’ll forever be rooting for the Red Sox, he’s clearly upset with how they handled the stunning trade and the direction they’re going.

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Harrison reacts to Giants' Devers trade that sent him to Red Sox originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

It’s been a whirlwind 72 hours for Kyle Harrison, to say the least.

The young left-handed pitcher, originally scheduled to start for the Giants against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday at Dodger Stadium, was scratched from his outing shortly before first pitch after San Francisco agreed to send him to the Boston Red Sox in a blockbuster trade for superstar slugger Rafael Devers.

Once the deal was finalized, Harrison, before he could join his new team, was demoted to Triple-A Worcester, where he will begin his Red Sox career before potentially joining Boston’s starting rotation later this season.

The 23-year-old spoke to reporters for the first time since the trade after the WooSox game against the Buffalo Bisons on Tuesday, and he shared how he found out he had been traded.

“I was out on the field, getting ready for ‘Sunday Night Baseball.’ Just crazy,” Harrison said. “They were like ‘You need to go talk to the manager real quick.’ I was like ‘Alright.’ Next thing you know, I’m here …

“The first moment I was like, ‘Man, why are they bugging me 20 minutes before? Maybe they got a little insight or trick where they want me to attack [the Dodgers].’ No, it was the complete opposite, and I was getting shipped off. It was a cool experience to go through and say goodbye to all the teammates.”

Harrison characterized the days since the trade as “crazy,” and although he has not fully processed the career-altering move yet, believes his inclusion in the blockbuster Devers trade speaks volumes to how highly the Red Sox thought of him.

“Probably still haven’t processed it yet, to be honest,” Harrison shared. “Like I said, I’m looking at it [and] taking it day by day. Happy I’m here and looking to get settled in here and see where it takes me.

“Obviously a player of that magnitude I’ve watched growing up, so it’s kind of cool to see. It just speaks to how much they believe in the package in return. Just excited to go out there and show these people what I can do.”

Harrison’s new pitching coach at the major-league level, Andrew Bailey, who previously served as Giants pitching coach from 2020-2023 before leaving to join the Red Sox, is excited to reunite with Harrison in Boston.

“Love Harry, he’s awesome,” Bailey told NESN’s Jahmai Webster prior to Boston’s game against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday. “Great person, first and foremost. For a young guy, being drafted at an early age like that, total pro, surrounds himself with the right people. Goes about work the right way, fire competitor, wants the ball every fifth day. Red Sox Nation will grow to love him and I’m excited to have the opportunity to watch him compete, to work with him and watch him continue to grow into a superstar in this league.

“He’s got an elite four-seam, the vertical approach angle on it is off the charts. Excited to get him back up here and get to work and watch him continue to shove.”

It remains to be seen how long Harrison will remain in Triple-A before returning to the big leagues with the Red Sox, but when that time comes, he will be excited to continue his MLB career with his new team.

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The Mets suffered a preventable loss to the Braves on Tuesday night in Atlanta, letting a 4-1 lead slip away in the eighth inning before failing to come through in extras.

And while there was plenty of blame to go around for the defeat, it can be argued that it would've been a relatively uneventful and smooth win if the bottom of the eighth inning had been handled just a bit differently.

With David Peterson in the midst of another strong performance -- on the heels of a shutout his last time out -- he was left in to start the eighth against Atlanta's No. 9 hitter Nick Allen, which was sensible.

"Especially with the way he was throwing the ball, you got a three-run lead there, he’s at 82 pitches with the nine-hole [hitter]," Carlos Mendozasaid after the game. "He walked him there, you still like your chances with getting a ground ball, he was getting a lot of ground balls."

Once Peterson lost Allen -- who came into the at-bat with a .553 OPS -- to the walk, though, his night should've been over.

Instead, Peterson was left in to face the dangerous Ronald Acuña Jr., who ripped a single to put runners on first and second with none out.

At that point,Mendoza came out of the dugout to remove Peterson while bringing Reed Garrett in.

The problem, beyond the fact that Peterson was kept in a batter too long, was that Garrett was seemingly rushed in.

When the inning started, Garrett was not even beginning to warm up. That didn't happen until right after Allen walked, when Garrett hurriedly began to toss. He had just over two minutes to get ready in the bullpen before being summoned.

Garrett allowed a single to the first batter he faced before getting the next two outs. With Marcell Ozuna up and the count 2-2, Garrett was one pitch away from escaping the jam. But Ozuna stroked a bases-clearing double down the left field line on a splitter that wasn't down enough.

It's impossible to know what would've happened if Garrett was brought in right after the walk. But it's more than fair to question the process, which resulted in Peterson staying in one batter too long and Garrett perhaps not being as ready to go as he would've been if he had started throwing in the bullpen sooner.

Another questionable move by Mendoza was sticking with designated hitter Jared Young in the 10th inning.

With the game tied, 4-4, and the free runner on second base to start the frame, Young -- who had four hits in 26 at-bats when his time at the plate started -- led off.

Young had looked overmatched all game, striking out twice. And he struck out for a third time leading off the 10th.

The obvious choice would've been to pinch-hit for Young with Starling Marte, who has been hot -- reaching base 13 times in his last 29 plate appearances. And who has a career full of experience in big spots.

Again, it's impossible to know if the Mets would have won if Peterson was pulled earlier and/or Garrett had more time to warm up. And it's impossible to know if they would've won if Marte hit for Young. But it's also impossible to argue that they wouldn't have been in a better position to do so.

If you’re a major league team trying to move a $250-million contract, what other team would you likely call first?

The Dodgers, of course.

On Sunday, the Boston Red Sox traded Rafael Devers, a three-time All-Star two years shy of 30. Andrew Friedman said he never heard from them.

That made sense. The Red Sox were no longer using Devers as a third baseman, a decision backed by publicly available defensive metrics and the presence of Alex Bregman. The San Francisco Giants, the team that acquired Devers, say they’ll use him as a first baseman and designated hitter, and the Dodgers are more than covered there by Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani.

But, in the wake of the biggest trade so far this season, I thought back to the mission statement the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations put upon himself last winter. Here we are two weeks from July, and here was that Friedman statement from December: “I do not want to buy in July.”

What Friedman does not want might not matter a month from now. He could see a pretty picture, or he could need a pretty pitcher.

Read more:Andy Pages shines and Dave Roberts is ejected in Dodgers' wild win over Padres

For all the scrutiny of their shortcomings, the first-place Dodgers are in a pretty good spot. They lead the majors in runs, home runs and OPS.

They have won six of their past eight games, all against the teams immediately below them in the National League West standings: the Giants and the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers lead the toughest division in the majors by a season-high 3½ games over San Francisco, 5 games over San Diego.

After the Padres leave town Thursday, the Dodgers play 12 consecutive games against teams with losing records, including the team with the worst record in the NL and the worst record in the American League — the Colorado Rockies and the Chicago White Sox, respectively.

Friedman would rather not trade in July because the cost in prospects tends to be high. However, for the Dodgers, the annual expectation of winning the World Series trumps that.

“It’s been our goal the last three or four years not to buy in July,” Friedman said Tuesday. “It hasn’t necessarily played out according to plan.”

On offense, the lone hole is glaring. The only starting position player not performing above league average on offense is left fielder Michael Conforto, who is batting .168 with a .277 slugging percentage and a negative WAR. The Dodgers do have Hyeseong Kim as a wild card on the bench, and on a roster loaded with positional flexibility.

“To date, obviously, Michael hasn’t performed up to what he expected or we expected,” Friedman said. “But, watching the way he is working, watching the progress being made, I would bet that his next two months are way better than his last two months.

“Obviously, like we will with all of our players, we will continue to assess where they are. The important thing is, if we have an injury or (poor) performance, do we feel like we have different ways to maneuver? We do.”

Is there a possibility of trading for a left fielder?

“Never say never,” Friedman said, “but I think we would hold a very high bar and find it very unlikely.”

By the middle of July, the Dodgers would like their starting rotation to include Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the recently returned duo of Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw, and the rehabilitating duo of Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell.

Read more:Shaikin: The new marquee battle in the NL West: Andrew Friedman vs. Buster Posey

On paper, that would be a pretty sweet rotation.

On the field, Yamamoto has a 5.65 earned-run average this month. It is unlikely the perennially cautious Dodgers would let Ohtani and Kershaw make every start from now through the end of the season, even if the two stayed healthy. And it is uncertain whether Glasnow and Snell can return healthy and effective by the time Friedman would have to decide whether to trade prospects for a starting pitcher.

No buy in July?

“I’m still optimistic,” Friedman said. “It requires guys coming back on or close to the timelines that we have penciled out.

“We have shown that, if we’re not in position to do that, we’ll be aggressive to add. But our strong desire is not to.”

It is not that the Dodgers consider a bullpen game some sort of failure, or last resort. The Dodgers ran a bullpen game in an elimination game last October. They won that game, and another bullpen game in which they clinched the NL championship.

Read more:Dodgers say Nezza is not banned from stadium for singing national anthem in Spanish

They have run bullpen games in each of their past four games against San Diego, and they have won three. They’ll essentially run another one Wednesday, since Emmet Sheehan will be activated after four triple-A starts, none of which lasted more than 3⅓ innings.

So far, so good. But the Dodgers are about October, and getting there may not be painless with Jack Dreyer making one fewer start than Glasnow, and twice as many as Snell.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Joon Lee: Red Sox used AI bot to conduct baseball ops interview originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Many of the moves the Boston Red Sox have made on and off the field in recent years are not what you’d expect from a winning organization.

The latest example came Sunday when they traded the face of their franchise, Rafael Devers, to the San Francisco Giants for an underwhelming package of four players.

The Devers trade comes five years after the Red Sox traded another star in his prime — Mookie Betts — in a deal that looks worse by the day.

But trading away great players isn’t the only issue with the Red Sox right now.

Yahoo! Sports reporter Joon Lee joined NBC Sports Boston’s Arbella Early Edition on Tuesday and reported that the Red Sox used an AI bot to conduct interviews with a baseball operations job candidate.

“What’s happening with the Red Sox, with Sam Kennedy, with Craig Breslow, with Alex Cora, is a state of organizational dysfunction,” Lee said, as seen in the video player above. “I heard last night about an interview with — the Red Sox were trying to recruit a new person for their baseball operations department, and during this interview process, the entire interview was conducted with an AI bot, where you would record the answers to the questions and then the Red Sox would then evaluate them.

“And this wasn’t just one round. It wasn’t just two rounds. It was five rounds of interviews where this person did not talk to another person in the Red Sox organization.

“This source told me that he had also interviewed with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers have kind of been the organization that the Red Sox have been trying to emulate for the last five years (in terms of) sustainability, a big market team that knows how to spend money at times, but also is able to develop young prospects, which they’ve done successfully over the course of the last decade.

“What he told me was that the gap between the field, the people skills of (Dodgers president of baseball ops) Andrew Friedman — who, obviously relies a lot on numbers dating back to his time in Tampa Bay — and what he dealt with with Craig Breslow was so far apart that it seemed like utterly delusional that the idea that this is what the Red Sox think the Dodgers are doing is just absolutely crazy.

“The gap between the two organizations and how they’re trying to function is just miles and worlds apart.”

Analytics and AI can be very helpful tools in building a winning organization, both on and off the field. It can help the franchise run more smoothly and efficiently. Some of the most successful teams in sports right now, including the Dodgers and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, use analytics a lot.

But there also has to be a human element to the operation. Not everything is quantifiable through numbers. You have to learn about people on a human level and build a real working relationship with them.

You can’t do that through an AI bot.

So while the Red Sox are smart to use analytics, it can’t be too much of the equation. And, based on Lee’s reporting, the processes the Red Sox are using clearly need to undergo some dramatic changes.

If that doesn’t happen, it’s hard to imagine a world where the Red Sox are anywhere near as successful as the Dodgers moving forward.

Where fans rank Giants' Devers trade among recent Bay Area moves originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Giants pulled off the most shocking trade in recent Bay Area sports history by acquiring superstar slugger Rafael Devers in a blockbuster deal with the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.

At least, according to local fans.

NBC Sports Bay Area asked fans on X which of the Giants’ trade for Devers, the Warriors’ trade for forward Jimmy Butler midway through the 2024-25 NBA season and the 49ers’ trade for running back Christian McCaffrey during the 2023 NFL season, was the most shocking.

Here is how the 1,635 participants voted:

Maybe there’s a recency bias, but it’s clear Bay Area sports fans, as of right now, were more shocked by San Francisco’s trade for Devers than the other two blockbuster deals.

The Devers trade, much like the 49ers’ deal for McCaffrey, was completely out of nowhere and sent shockwaves throughout the two teams’ respective leagues.

Of course, the Warriors’ deal for Butler was seismic in its own right, but the expectation for months leading up to Golden State and the Miami Heat’s trade on Feb. 5 was that the star forward would be traded. It came as no surprise that he was dealt.

While Butler and McCaffrey had immense impacts on their respective teams immediately upon their arrivals and throughout those seasons, it’s too soon to tell how the move for Devers will fare for the Giants.

He went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and an RBI during his debut in the Giants’ 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday at Oracle Park, though, wasting no time ingratiating himself with his new fan base.

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Where fans rank Giants' Devers trade among recent Bay Area moves originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Giants pulled off the most shocking trade in recent Bay Area sports history by acquiring superstar slugger Rafael Devers in a blockbuster deal with the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.

At least, according to local fans.

NBC Sports Bay Area asked fans on X which of the Giants’ trade for Devers, the Warriors’ trade for forward Jimmy Butler midway through the 2024-25 NBA season and the 49ers’ trade for running back Christian McCaffrey during the 2023 NFL season was the most shocking.

Here is how the 1,635 participants voted:

Maybe there’s a recency bias, but it’s clear Bay Area sports fans, as of right now, were more shocked by San Francisco’s trade for Devers than the other two blockbuster deals.

The Devers trade, much like the 49ers’ deal for McCaffrey, was completely out of nowhere and sent shockwaves throughout the two teams’ respective leagues.

Of course, the Warriors’ deal for Butler was seismic in its own right, but the expectation for months leading up to Golden State and the Miami Heat’s trade on Feb. 5 was that the star forward would be traded. It came as no surprise that he was dealt.

While Butler and McCaffrey had immense impacts on their respective teams immediately upon their arrivals and throughout those seasons, it’s too soon to tell how the move for Devers will fare for the Giants.

He went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and an RBI during his debut in the Giants’ 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday at Oracle Park, though, wasting no time ingratiating himself with his new fan base.

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Dave Roberts made it only three steps out of the dugout when he got ejected Tuesday night.

Before he went back, the Dodgers manager made sure to get his money’s worth.

On a contentious night that saw two superstars get hit by pitches, both dugouts receive umpire warnings, and the Dodgers eventually beat the San Diego Padres 8-6 at Dodger Stadium, tensions reached their boiling point in the bottom of the third inning.

And it was the usually even-keeled Roberts whose emotions burned hottest.

After Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch in the top of the third by Dodgers reliever Lou Trivino (the second time in two weeks that has happened), reigning National League MVP Shohei Ohtani was hit in the leg with one out in the bottom half of the inning.

Read more:Dodgers say Nezza is not banned from stadium for singing national anthem in Spanish

Unlike Tatis’ hit by pitch, which came with a runner in scoring position in an inning that saw the Padres score two runs, Ohtani’s plunking occurred amid more suspicious circumstances.

With one out and nobody on base, Padres starter Randy Vásquez threw an inside, knee-high heater for ball one, brushing Ohtani back off the plate. With his next pitch, Vásquez fired it even more inside, pelting Ohtani’s right thigh with a 94 mph fastball.

Afterward, both Vásquez and Padres manager Mike Shildt insisted the throw wasn’t intentional. “Just trying to make quality pitches and fight for the inner part of the plate, and a ball got away,” Shildt said.

Ohtani was not made available to reporters to discuss the situation. 

But in Roberts’ postgame address, he declared he “absolutely” thought it was intentional.

“Vásquez took one shot at him, and then hit him again. It's very hard to miss that bad with a right-handed pitcher,” Roberts said. “For me, if they feel that's warranted on their side, that’s part of baseball. That's what they feel. And I give him credit because they hit him in the leg. Own it, and we move on. But it's not a misfire. I do feel it was intentional.”

What really set Roberts off, however, was what happened after the umpires gathered for a meeting.

Crew chief Marvin Hudson emerged from the huddle and issued warnings to both dugouts. Roberts immediately asked for an explanation, raising his arms in confusion as he started onto the field.

Hudson motioned to Roberts to stay put. But when he didn’t, third base umpire Tripp Gibson did the honors of ejecting him from the game.

“He can’t argue the warnings, so we had to get rid of him,” Hudson later told a pool reporter. “He had to be ejected.”

Initially, Roberts said he wasn’t aware he had been ejected. But once Hudson informed him that Gibson had already tossed him, Roberts unleashed the type of tirade that’s been rare during his 10-year managerial career.

He angrily pointed at Gibson multiple times while pleading his case. He was physically shielded by Hudson from confronting Gibson face-to-face. And only after stomping around for almost two full minutes did Roberts finally retreat, trudging back to the clubhouse with a scowl on his face.

“I didn't feel a warning on both sides was warranted, number one,” Roberts said. “I wanted an explanation on their thought process. I didn't come in hot. I just wanted to know why, why they issued [the warnings].”

Roberts also expressed frustration with the fact that, after he was ejected, Shildt was allowed to walk onto the field to discuss the warnings with the umpire crew.

“I think what anyone wants is consistency, right?” Roberts said. “For me, I wanted an explanation of what's going on for their decision-making. And I got run. ... And then, I see the opposing manager get the same courtesy of an explanation and he stays in the game. So there's just no consistency with that.”

Hudson’s explanation for why Shildt was granted a discussion: “He just asked about the warnings. He asked about pitching inside. I said, ‘We’re not taking that away.’ And he left.”

In what has quickly become a heated rivalry series, there were more fireworks to follow.

In Monday’s series-opener, tempers flared when Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages was hit by a Dylan Cease pitch and immediately stared at the Padres pitcher. In the heat of that moment, cameras caught Shildt yelling from the dugout, “Who the [expletive] do you think you are?”

A night later, Pages provided a resounding answer with a four-for-four performance at the plate. The second-year slugger belted a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the second inning. He launched a tying shot in the fourth. Then, after Will Smith put the Dodgers (45-29) in front with a two-run homer at the end of a 12-pitch at-bat in the sixth, Pages added an RBI single in what became a five-run rally, helping catapult the team to an 8-3 lead.

“I have a lot of confidence in the work I’m putting in,” said Pages, who raised his batting average to .293 and continued to build his case to be an All-Star selection. “I have a lot of confidence in my plan, what I’m doing at the plate to prepare for the games, and finding pitches in my zone and hitting them as well as I can.”

As for Shildt’s dugout comments the night before, Pages offered a diplomatic answer.

“Yeah, I actually saw it this morning,” he said. "Obviously, didn’t pay much attention to it. I left yesterday’s game behind, and I focused on today.”

Teammate Max Muncy, on the other hand, offered a more pointed response.

“I think Andy spoke for himself today,” Muncy said. “I think Andy told him who he was today.”

Read more:Hernández: 'More animated' Shohei Ohtani shows Dodgers a different side of himself

More controversy around the umpires arose in the seventh, as the Padres (39-33) threatened to erase the Dodgers’ lead.

First, Dodgers reliever Matt Sauer hit Padres shortstop Jose Iglesias with a pitch, but was not ejected — despite Manny Machado taking a couple steps out of the dugout to yell at the umpires, given their earlier warnings.

It ended up not mattering, with Trenton Brooks coming off the bench for a pinch-hit home run in the next at-bat.

Then, the Padres caught a break when Tatis was initially called out on a fielder’s choice play at second base, only for home plate umpire Ryan Blakney to intervene.

Tatis had initially slid in safely when shortstop Mookie Betts dropped a flip throw from second baseman Tommy Edman, who made an impressive diving stop in the hole. As Betts retrieved the loose ball, however, Tatis stepped off the bag, apparently thinking time had been called. Betts quickly tagged him, and Hudson, the second base umpire, called him out. But moments before the tag, Blakney had called time from behind home plate, to the chagrin of Smith.

“Why you call time [right there]? I don't know,” Smith said. “But he did. So we had to deal with it.”

Deal with it, the Dodgers just barely did.

Read more:After pregame trade disrupts Giants, Dodgers power their way to series victory

Tatis was allowed to stay on second, and eventually came around to score when Michael Kopech entered the game and stumbled on a throw with the bases loaded, resulting in a run-scoring balk.

Kopech, however, got Xander Bogaerts to ground out and retire the side. From there, the Dodgers held on, with Anthony Banda stranding the bases loaded in the eighth and Tanner Scott (pitching a third-straight day for the first time this season) collecting his 14th save.

“We all understand how important this is,” Banda said. “The emotions are high. They're always going to be high in this type of playoff atmosphere. The fans were into it. Everybody was loud. It was fun to be a part of.”

Echoed Roberts: “It was a fun game, unfortunately, to watch from my office. But our guys really played well. … Huge win."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

David Peterson delivered a quality start in his third straight outing, allowing just three runs over seven innings on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves. But in the results business of professional baseball, another solid start from the Mets' left-hander is marred by the bitter taste of defeat.

There are positives to take from the performance – allowing just three runs on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts on just 93 pitches – but there are no moral victories after the Mets fell 5-4 in 10 innings, losing their fourth-straight game.

“It’s baseball,” Peterson said. “You could be perfect and then still end up losing the game.” 

“He was really good today,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of his starter. “Got ground balls when needed, attacked, the pace, I thought him and [catcher Francisco Alvarez] were on the same page.

“And for him to get through seven against that lineup pitch efficient, with the way he was at, I thought he was really good. I thought he was solid.”

Peterson said the focus is “attacking guys from the first pitch, trying to get first pitch strikes.” He did just that on Tuesday night, racking up 17 of them to 28 batters. “Fill up the zone a lot and put the pressure on them,” the lefty continued. 

Alvarez said the key was to just keep attacking, which Peterson did, getting the Braves to pound a dozen balls into the ground over the course of the game while managing just seven whiffs and 14 called strikes.

“I felt like we were able to get some early contact, defense did a great job of making the plays,” Peterson said. “I think when we’re in a spot where I can get the punch out, go for that. Other than that, just attacking early, staying on them and putting them in a position where they either gotta try and put the ball in play or at least swing the bat.”

With Peterson coming off a complete game his last time out, Mendoza didn’t hesitate to send out the left-hander for the bottom of the eighth on Tuesday night after efficiently recording the first 21 outs. Unfortunately, Peterson didn’t record another out after that.

“Especially with the way he was throwing the ball, you got a three-run lead there, he’s at 82 pitches with the nine-hole [hitter],” Mendoza said of his thought process. “He walked him there, you still like your chances with getting a ground ball, he was getting a lot of ground balls.”

Peterson said after the game that he felt good coming off the complete game last week and Mendoza added later: “Look, when you got the guy that wants the ball at 82 pitches and you got a three-run lead,” he said, before pausing to shrug his shoulders, “that’s an easy decision, there.”

Peterson said it was “good to be efficient, good to get quick outs, good to keep them off the board for the most part, but I didn’t put us in a good spot at the start of the eighth.”

And in baseball, sometimes things just don’t pan out as Reed Garrett entered and allowed a single to put the tying run on base before conceding a two-strike, two-out bases-clearing double to level the score.

“It just didn’t happen today, we were one pitch, one strike away from getting out of it,” Mendoza said of the home half of the eighth. “Just couldn’t get the job done.”

Fine margins are often the difference between flushing a sweep over the weekend with a solid series-opening win over a division rival and a four-game losing streak. For the Mets, the little mistakes in Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves in 10 innings ended up costing them a game they will come away thinking they should have won.

“It’s a tough one there, it’s a tough loss,” manager Carlos Mendoza said.

The Mets were in position to win because they put up four runs against a pitcher who entered the game having their number in Spencer Schwellenbach – with home runs from Juan Soto and Tyrone Taylor – and after getting seven innings of one-run ball from David Peterson, came one strike away from getting out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth inning. 

But in that eighth, which began with Peterson putting the first two runners on base, the one strike ended up being a bases-clearing double that tied the game as Marcell Ozuna got a thigh-high splitter on the inside corner and just kept it fair down the left field line. The pitch proved to be the costliest of a series of mistakes that proved too costly to overcome.

Catcher Francisco Alvarez said reliever Reed Garrett called for a fastball, but he changed the third 2-2 offering to the splitter. “I think he was right,” the catcher said after the game. “I maybe made a mistake in that situation, so I feel very bad for that. I gotta stay with him, with the fastball.”

Alvarez said he changed the pitch because on the previous pitch, Ozuana just managed to foul away a splitter below the knees with an emergency hack. “He do a horrible swing,” Alvarez said with a smile. “I was thinking we have [a spot] to throw another splitter.”

Garrett said it is “easy to look back and think we threw the wrong pitch, but Alvy called my swing and miss pitch. I could have executed a little bit better, we could have got a little bit more lucky.”

“I thought after the emergency swing [by Ozuna] that he wouldn’t have been on time for the fastball,” the reliever said, explaining why he called for the heater. “Alvy changed it, and I thought that maybe he saw something that I didn’t see. 

“I don’t think it’s the wrong pitch. I don’t think it's the wrong pitch; we have plenty of other options. I just think that if it was executed down a little bit more, it could have been a ground ball.”

Baserunning blunders

On the bases, the Mets had a couple of mistakes that ended up coming back to bite them, two of which were plays where hard-hit balls ended up with runners being doubled up off first base.

The first came in the sixth with the Mets up by three. Pete Alonso was at first base after cracking his second single of the game, and Jeff McNeil hit a sharp liner right at shortstop Nick Allen, who caught the ball and tossed it to first to get Alonso to end the inning. 

“We gotta do a better job there reading the line drive in the infield,” Mendoza said, calling it a baserunning mistake by Alonso for not freezing or retreating toward first a bit.

With the score tied in the ninth, Soto (who was picked off first earlier in the game when he broke for second with the pitcher still on the rubber) was caught off first. Alonso crushed a ball to deep right, but Ronald Acuña Jr. ranged back and made a leaping grab just before the wall. Soto, being aggressive and looking to get to third or better, was near second base when Acuña caught the ball. 

Only Soto didn’t react to the catch and waited for first base umpire Edwin Jimenez to signal out. The problem by the time Jimenez raised his right arm and Soto realized he had to retreat, Acuña had the ball out of his glove and was throwing to first.

“We rely on the umpires, we wait for them to make the call,” Soto said. “...the goal is to look for the umpire and make sure he makes the right call, and I felt like he took way too long to make a decision and he just put me in a tough spot.”

He added of the Jimenez’s call: “He just took forever to do it.”

The skipper called it “not an easy decision” for the base runner. “Kinda in no man’s land, too and Acuña makes a helluva play,” Mendoza said, adding that in his mind the umpire “took a while” to make an out call.

“Juan is kinda waiting and that was my argument there,” he said. “But for the umpire, he’s gotta wait for Acuña to show him the ball before he makes any call, so, in the heat of the moment, it happens fast and you go and argue, but a tough play for Juan, great play for Acuña.” 

Soto called it “part of the game” and something they “gotta learn from.”

“It puts you in a tough spot right there,” he said of the call. “Tie game, I’m trying to at least get to third or score, and then something like that happens. It’s just tough.”

Alvarez throws to second

In the bottom of the 10th after the Mets failed to score in the top half, Mendoza walked Acuña Jr. intentionally to put runners on first and second. Huascar Brazobán got the first out and the Mets had a big chance to steal a second out.

On a ball in the dirt that Alvarez couldn’t backhand cleanly and lost behind him, the runner at second, Luke Williams, broke but then stopped halfway to third. If Alvarez ran at Williams or threw to third, it would have been a rundown and likely the second out. 

Instead, Alvarez quickly tossed to second, and the winning run was at third.

Mendoza called it a “good play by the runner,” realizing quickly that Alvarez was going to second and to break from “no man’s land” to the safety of third base. “Gotta give him credit on that one,” he said.

“That’s your reaction there, you pick up the baseball, you get a runner that is hanging there between second and third and he makes an attempt to go back,” Mendoza said. “As a player, your reaction is you gonna try and get him. [The runner] did a good job and took advantage of it.”

Alvarez regretted his throw, calling it a reaction play to snap throw to second.

With runners at the corners, a walk loaded the bases, and a sacrifice fly to the warning track in deep right-center ended the game.

If the cure for the common slump is a matchup with a vulnerable pitcher, the Yankees couldn't have asked for a better chance to finally bust loose. After putting together a 20-inning scoreless streak in two hitter-friendly ballparks entering Tuesday's meeting with the Angels, their opposition was Kyle Hendricks, owning the second-worst ERA among all qualified MLB starters.

How lucky can one team be?

But it didn't take long for disgruntled fans to realize the team's latest slump can't be labeled as common. Despite the more-than-favorable bout with Hendricks, the Yankees once again struggled to pack a punch, as they fell to the Angels, 4-0, in the Bronx for a third straight shutout loss. Their scoreless streak has reached a confounding 29 innings. Their losing skid has dipped to a season-worst five games.

The lack of rhythm and timing at the plate also wasted a stellar performance from rookie starter Will Warren, who learned the hard way that allowing three runs across six innings with a career-high 11 strikeouts isn't always good enough. He's not alone, though -- Yankees starters have given up just nine earned runs during this five-game slide.

Befitting of a team mired in some deep funk, the Yankees essentially turned Cy Yuck into Cy Young. In six innings against Hendricks, they struck out nine times -- a season-high mark for the veteran right-hander -- and mustered only four hits. Overall, they left six runners on base and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.

"Baseball. We're one of the best offenses in the league, and had a tough few days. I thought maybe today, pressing a little bit," manager Aaron Boone said after the loss. "We've got to go up and focus on having quality at-bats, and that will happen. We'll get there.... These guys are excellent at turning the page... We'll come in with the right process and really focus on grinding out quality at-bats. And when we start to stack those, we'll take off."

Of course, this dry spell doesn't represent the Yankees as a whole. Their season batting average (.253) still ranks seventh-highest in the majors. Their OPS of .784 is best for second -- the same can be said for their home run total (109). They also scored six runs against the league's ERA leader just last week.

Ain't that a kick in the head?

But they've clearly fallen into a valley, and the mess looks even worse with Aaron Judge enduring his own week of hiccups. Over his last seven games, the Yankees' captain is hitting a measly .125 (3-for-24) with 15 strikeouts. There's no player more entitled to a cold stretch than Judge, but his recent woes can't be shrouded either.

"There's always a certain point where it's not necessarily going your way and you feel it," said Cody Bellinger, who registered the Yankees' lone extra-base hit on Tuesday. "You feel this extra pressure to get the job done. At the end of the day, it's the same game... It's been a wild three games. It's been very frustrating... Obviously, we're not getting the job done. We're going to fight like hell to get the job done tomorrow."

Considering how the Yankees fared against Hendricks, there's no telling how or when they'll break out and resemble their old, dangerous self. But if the cure for this type of slump is a second straight matchup with someone sporting a league-low ERA, they're in luck. Jack Kochanowicz, slated to start for the Angels on Wednesday, is 3-8 with a 5.53 ERA this season.

The Mets let a three-run lead slip in the eighth before falling in 10 innings to the Braves, 5-4, on Tuesday night in Atlanta. New York has now lost four straight.

David Peterson cruised through seven innings, but allowed the first two men to reach in the eighth before he was lifted, and the bullpen allowed three runs to score to doom the lefty to a no-decision.

And in the bottom of the 10th after the Mets failed to score, Carlos Mendoza walked Ronald Acuña Jr. intentionally to put runners on first and second in a tie game. Huascar Brazobán got Alex Verdugo on an infield fly before more sloppy baseball hurt the Mets.

On a ball in the dirt that Francisco Alvarez couldn’t backhand cleanly, the runner at second, Luke Williams, was stopped halfway to third. If the catcher ran at him or threw to third, it would have been the second out. Instead, Alvarez quickly tossed to second and the winning run was at third. A walk loaded the bases, and on the first pitch to Austin Riley, he drove a sacrifice fly to the warning track in deep right-center to end the game.

Here are the takeaways...

- Pitching with a lead right away, Peterson walked the leadoff hitter, but got some help from his defense as Pete Alonso made a fine play on a sharp grounder, starting a 3-6 double play when Acuña gave up on the rundown, not wanting to risk cutting back and forth on his knees this close to coming back from a second ACL tear. 

Peterson put himself in a tough spot with two down in the third after issuing a walk and an opposite-field single. And after falling behind 3-1 to Matt Olson, the lefty made a good pitch, but it was muscled into center to score the Braves' first run. The lefty limited the damage, but saw his scoreless inning streak snapped at 15.2. 

Through five innings, the lefty was giving his infielders a workout, as he got 12 of 15 outs on 10 ground balls. The other outs: Michael Harris II swinging twice on down-and-away sliders and Acuña flying out to center.

The defense, which had been faultless, bit Peterson to start the seventh, as Ronny Mauricio’s low throw to first went for a two-base error. It was an unforced mistake, as Marcell Ozuna was loafing to first. But Peterson got the next three batters with a pair of lineouts around a pop-up to first.

- Peterson came back out for the eighth, but his command didn’t, as he allowed a leadoff walk and a single. Mendoza brought in Reed Garrett (on a week of rest), and the pinch-hitter Verdugo got a single to right to load the bases and put the tying run on first with nobody out.

Garrett rebounded to get Olson looking at a 1-2 splitter that just caught the outside corner, and Riley to flyout to shallow right. But he threw a hanging 2-2 splitter to Ozuna, and he cleared the bases with a double into the left field corner.

Peterson's final line: 7.0 innings, three runs, five hits, three walks, three strikeouts in 93 pitches (55 strikes).

Francisco Lindor may have had a slight chance to get Verdugo at the plate to keep the Mets ahead, but dropped the ball as he went for the transfer on the relay and the game was tied heading to the ninth.

- Edwin Diaz needed 17 pitches for a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout to send the game to extra innings. But in the top of the 10th with Luisangel Acuña on second as the ghost runner, Jarred Young went down swinging, Alvarez popped out to shallow right, and Mauricio popped out to the shortstop in shallow left against Atlanta righty Raisel Iglesias, who entered the game with a 6.23 ERA in 26 innings.

- Braves starter Spencer Schwellenbach had the Mets’ number in his previous three games, allowing just nine hits in 73 at-bats (.123) and a .341 OPS with 20 strikeouts and one walk. But the visitors flipped the switch on the right-hander earlier.

With two down in the first, Juan Soto drove a slider that floated over the middle of the plate for a 412-foot opposite-field home run. The signature Soto blast (108.4 mph off the bat) was good for his 14th dinger and 37th RBI of the year.

In the second, Jeff McNeil extended his on-base streak to 19 games by smacking a curveball over the plate for a single to right to start the inning. The big at-bat came when Alvarez worked a one-out walk, after falling behind 0-2 on two whiffs. With two down, Tyrone Taylor lofted a 2-0 fastball into shallow right, but Acuña -- and his bad knees -- couldn’t reach it with a head-first dive and two runs scored on the double.

In the fifth, Taylor, after falling behind in the count 0-2, got a splitter up and clobbered it 407 feet to right for a solo shot, giving him two on the year and 15 RBI.

Schwellenbach managed to work around the four runs to go seven innings, allowing six hits and two walks while getting eight strikeouts.

- The Mets ran themselves out of the third as Soto walked with one out, only to get picked off first (1-3-4) when he started for second and Schwellenbach managed to step off the mound in time. Three pitches later, Alonso lined a slider (105.9 mph) toward the left-field corner and dug for second but was cut down easily as Eli White got to the ball in a flash and made a decent throw to end the inning.

Bad luck got them in the sixth, as Soto lined one sharply to left (100.6 mph), but it was the first out. After Alonso cracked his second single of the game, McNeil roped one (97.9 mph) right at the shortstop, who was able to double Alonso off first with a good throw to end the inning. The two hits that made three outs carried an xBA of .450 and .600.

The combo of bad luck and bad baserunning stung in the top half of the ninth. Soto smashed a single (110.5 mph) into right to start the inning, and Alonso drove one deep to right and Acuña -- bad knees and all -- ranged back to the wall and for a leaping catch. Unfortunately, Soto didn't get a read on the ball or the catch, and was easily doubled off first as he was a dozen feet from second as Acuña started tossing the ball in.

Highlights

JUAN SOTO GOES YARD! pic.twitter.com/mxCx08L0zv

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 18, 2025

David Peterson induces the early double play! pic.twitter.com/1yzNnj52nx

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 18, 2025

A 2-run double for Tyrone Taylor! pic.twitter.com/EiopWOWdsp

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 18, 2025

Tyrone Taylor drills one to left! pic.twitter.com/HLBZRq267Q

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 18, 2025

What's next

The Mets and Braves are right back at it on Wednesday night in Atlanta for a 7:15 p.m. first pitch.

Right-hander Paul Blackburn gets the ball for New York with left-hander Chris Sale starting for the home team.