Aaron Judge rounds the bases after hitting his two-run home run against Hunter Dobbins. Photograph: Noah K Murray/AP
Aaron Judge crushed a 436ft home run off Boston Red Sox rookie Hunter Dobbins after the pitcher aimed a jab at the Yankees in the run-up to Sunday’s game.
Dobbins, a lifelong Red Sox fan, was asked about his team’s bitter rivals in the run-up to his start for Sunday’s game. “If the Yankees were the last team to give me a contract, I’d retire,” he told the Boston Herald. He added that his feelings towards the Yankees were not just down to playing for the Red Sox though. “I think whoever I was playing with or whoever I would have been drafted by, I’d still hate the Yankees,” he added.
Judge was told about Dobbins’s comments before the game, and duly cracked the first pitch he faced off the pitcher for a two-run homer. Judge was asked if he had thought about Dobbins’s comments when he took the at bat. “Well, once somebody tells you, yeah,” Judge said.
Dobbins had arguably the better night though. He gave up three runs in five innings, but came away with the win as the Red Sox completed an 11-7 victory, taking the series 2-1.
Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr, said he didn’t have an issue with the comments but thought Dobbins may have taken things a little too far.
“I love competitiveness,” Chisholm said. “But to say that, being a rookie, is kind of crazy to me, to say that you’re going to rule out one out of 30 teams to be a professional athlete.”
Judge hit a second home run in the ninth inning, for his fourth multi-homer game of 2025 and the 43rd of his career. He leads MLB in batting average, hits and OPS this season and is tied for second with Shohei Ohtani for home runs (23).
Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages bats against the Angels on May 18. Pages has come a long way since playing baseball in Cuba as a child. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Growing up on the western tip of Cuba, Andy Pages excelled at every sport he played.
He was good at soccer and volleyball, arguably better at basketball. But he loved baseball for reasons that weren’t necessarily limited to the game.
Pages’ father, Liban, a carpenter who had a job repairing wooden boats, helped make his son’s first bats by hand, using leftover lumber given to him by friends. Soon baseball became the boy’s favorite pastime.
“When I was starting to play baseball in Cuba, when things were really bad, there were no bats. There weren't things like that,” Pages said in Spanish. “So he always tried to make me a bat so I could play.
“I became more motivated, and from that point on, we've been playing baseball."
The sport eventually proved to be a way off the island for Pages, who has emerged as one of the Dodgers’ brightest stars in just his second season with the team.
He entered the start of a three-game series Monday in San Diego hitting .288 with 12 home runs and 39 RBIs, trailing only Shohei Ohtani in homers and matching Ohtani for third on the team in RBIs. He’s also tied for second in stolen bases with six and has yet to be thrown out.
If he can stay consistent, he has a chance to become the first Dodger center fielder to hit better than .250 with 25 homers since Matt Kemp in 2011.
Although Pages never played in Cuba’s elite Serie Nacional, the proving ground for stars such as Yuli Gurriel, Yunel Escobar and Orlando "El Duque" Hernández, he became one of the country’s top prospects after hitting .364/.484/.581 in a under-15 league.
Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages rifles the ball to second base to prevent Arizona's Ketel Marte from advancing on a single at Dodger Stadium on May 20. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
That convinced Pages (pronounced PAH-hays) he had a chance to be a big leaguer some day. So at 16, the Athletic reported, he arranged to be spirited off the island alongside Jairo Pomares, another young Cuban star, traveling through Guyana, Curacao and Haiti before crossing in the Dominican Republic. He then waited eight months before the Dodgers signed him as an international free agent in March 2018, giving him a $300,000 bonus, more than 1,500 times the average annual wage in Cuba, according to CiberCuba.
Pomares signed with the San Francisco Giants at about the same time, but while he remains in the minors, Pages’ climb to the majors was steady. He reached triple A by the start the 2024 season. He didn’t stay at Oklahoma City long, however, hitting .371/.452/.694 with 15 RBIs in 15 games to earn a call-up to the Dodgers.
Before his rookie season was over, Pages was a World Series champion. He paid a heavy price for that though, going seven years without seeing his family in person.
“It was emotional since I hadn't seen them for a long time,” said Pages, 24, who returned to Cuba for the first time the winter before his big-league debut.
His sister, Elaine, a child when he left “was already a full-grown woman.”
“So those memories came back to me, and they were quite — how should I say it? — quite strong for me,” said Pages, who brought his father a few of the machine-made bats he used in the minor leagues.
But if his father provided the spark that made his son a baseball player, teammate Teoscar Hernández provided the help, guidance and mentoring that made Pages an everyday major leaguer.
“He's played in the major leagues for a long time now,” Pages said of Hernández, a 10-year veteran who signed with the Dodgers months before Pages made his big-league debut. “He's been through a lot of bad times. I went through that at the beginning of the season, for example, and last year too. And he's given me advice that's helped me a lot to get through that time.”
With Pages’ family still in Cuba, Hernández has become a big brother as well as a teammate, taking him out for dinner on off days or just getting together to play video games.
Andy Pages runs the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Athletics at Dodger Stadium on May 14. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“Getting through bad times is sometimes a little difficult when you're alone, when you don't have anyone to help you, to give you good advice, and to make you understand that sometimes things don't happen when you want them to,” Pages said.
And that’s worked out well for Pages. Three games after Hernández returned from a rehab assignment last month, Pages started a streak that would see him hit in 13 of his next 14 starts, including 11 in a row, raising his average 24 points to .293. He’s batting .379 with a team-high 11 hits in seven games this month.
“We try to go out to my house. We go out to a restaurant with my wife, his wife. Just so we can get together, have time to enjoy and not think about baseball,” Hernández said.
Pages isn’t the first player to benefit from Hernández’s mentorship. During his six seasons in Toronto, Hernández took another talented rookie, fellow Dominican Vladimir Guerrero Jr., under his wing. Guerrero is now a four-time All-Star.
Hernández is still so respected in Toronto when the Dodgers played there last season, some Blue Jays players wore his old uniform number during batting practice. Earlier this year Guerrero offered to buy him a $300,000 Richard Mille watch; Hernández joked he’d rather have money instead.
As the quiet Pages has grown more confident and comfortable with the Dodgers, his play has improved. A speedy outfielder with a plus arm, he also can play all three positions.
And while he left Cuba, he never fully left it behind, having expressed interest in representing the country in next year’s World Baseball Classic. The decision to go to the Dominican Republic as a teenager, after all, was a business one, not a personal one.
Pages would also like to bring his family to U.S. some day, though that dream was dealt a setback last week when President Trump signed an executive order restricting access to Cubans hoping to come to the U.S.
“Hope is always there,” said Pages, who has beaten impossibly long odds once. “But you have to follow the rules, get the papers, do whatever it takes to make sure everything's OK. And then get here and stay here.
And Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow, in talking to KNBR’s “Murph and Markus” on Monday, pinpointed exactly what’s behind the team’s five-game win streak.
“This team has the bullpen to win all those games,” Krukow told Brian Murphy and Markus Boucher. “When you get into a one-run ballgame, whether it’s on the road or whether it’s at home, it really makes no difference because you have to be really good to win those games.”
As it stands, the Giants are sitting at a season-high 10 games above .500 after improving to 38-28, with both San Francisco and the San Diego Padres sitting one game behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in a tight National League West race.
And even though the Giants recently adopted a torturous– yet historic –path to victory, Krukow acknowledges the key differences powering San Francisco’s much-needed second wind.
“You have to be a good defensive team,” Krukow added. “You have to have a good bullpen that could throw strikes. You have to have a bullpen that has balls to challenge and get ahead in the count.
“And you have to have the belief on your bench that you’ll find a way to score, finding ways to win. From wild pitches to just heads-up plays on defense to sac flies. Your little things they’re doing right now. That’s how you have to win those games.”
With a 5-0 record since Wednesday’s flurry of roster moves and a roaring Oracle Park behind them, Krukow knows a mindset change also is behind the Giants’ newfound momentum.
“So, when you have that type of confidence, when you’re in the last three innings of the game and you have to play your best baseball, there’s pressure on the other team to match you,” Krukow concluded.
“Right now, they’re not feeling that pressure. They’re loose. They’re free. They’re confident. That’s the difference.”
You never know what you’re going to see at the ballpark on any given day — both good and bad.
In the top of the fourth inning of Friday’s Giants vs. Atlanta Braves game at Oracle Park, a fan from one of the top levels of the stadium seemingly threw a baseball onto the field near home plate as a play at the plate unfolded, causing confusion by both teams and broadcasters Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, who expressed their bewilderment on the call below.
Krukow joined KNBR 680’s “Murph & Markus” on Monday morning, where he was asked about the odd incident and if he’s ever seen anything like it in his 48 combined years as an MLB player and broadcaster.
“No, I’ve never seen that before in San Francisco,” Krukow said. “I’ve seen balls come out of the upper deck on the road. I’ve seen bottles come out of the upper deck on the road.
“I was appalled by it and it almost hit Andy Fletcher the home plate umpire in the head, it was about three feet from him. I don’t know if it was a rubber ball or a hard ball, I don’t know, but you’re just not used to it in our ballpark. Northern California fans get it.
“And as upsetting as it was, you come to the ballpark, and I don’t ever expect to see it again. I don’t think we’re getting into a scenario where you’re going to see it on a regular basis. It shocked everybody and everybody was upset by it. I just don’t think it’s something we have to worry about. Hopefully that’s the case. But wherever that clown is today, shame on you.”
Fortunately, the ball did not hit anyone on the field of play, but as Krukow pointed out, it did almost hit home plate umpire Andy Fletcher.
Giants manager Bob Melvin told reporters before Saturday’s game that the Giants had yet to identify the fan who threw the baseball.
“I heard they didn’t get it, that it came out of the upper deck and the cameras weren’t shooting that high,” Melvin said. “Hope it doesn’t happen again.”
The Giants have not provided any update as of Monday morning.
Angels star Mike Trout makes contact during a win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday. If Trout can stay healthy, will he turn around the struggling Angels offense? (Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
Ron Washington took a page out of the characterized version of himself from the 2011 film “Moneyball” when asked about how difficult it would be to revive the Angels’ sputtering offense.
“It’s hard,” the Angels manager said Friday. “It’s very hard.”
His response probably sounds familiar to "Moneyball" fans. In the film, the version of Washington, played by actor Brett Jennings, visits Scott Hatteberg — portrayed by Chris Pratt — at his home. Billy Beane — played by Brad Pitt — and Washington try to sell Hatteberg, a free-agent catcher with the yips, on playing first base.
“You don’t know how to play first base,” Beane says.
“That’s right,” Hatteberg replies.
“It’s not that hard, Scott. Tell em, Wash,” Beane quips.
Finding ways to improve the Angels' productivity at the plate could prove even more daunting. They have the second-most strikeouts (622) and second-fewest walks (163) in MLB. Washington understands it's a problem, but acknowledges the solution isn't easily attainable.
“Adjustments is something in the game of baseball that's never ending, so we just got to keep making adjustments,” Washington said. “That's it. If I knew, if anybody knew the adjustment to make to get an offense going, you would never see offense putter. That's baseball. You just got to keep adjusting, readjusting, adjusting, readjusting, adjusting, readjusting, adjusting, readjusting.”
The Angels held the third-worst batting average (.229) and fourth-worst on-base percentage (.301) in MLB a year ago. Three months into the 2025 season, they’ve regressed. The team’s batting average stands at .225 heading into Monday and the team’s on-base percentage is considerably lower over last year at .287.
During the Angels’ eight-game winning streak in May, it seemed as if hitting coach Johnny Washington — in his second year with the team — discovered something to help the offense click. They tallied a .291 batting average and averaged almost eight runs a game.
The Angels then lost five consecutive games and entered Monday having lost nine of their last 14.
“I think it's come down to guys just continuing the process with trying to simplify guys' approaches, keeping it with their strengths, giving these guys the best chance to succeed versus a given pitcher, and continue the game plan,” Johnny Washington said. “Been doing it all year. There are some youth, but there's a ton of growth taking place. I know it hasn't been pretty at certain times, but it's a great group.”
Angels manager Ron Washington talks to Chris Taylor during a win over the Mariners on Friday. (Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
In their last two series against Boston and Seattle, there were encouraging signs on offense. The Angels scored five or more runs in four of the six games, and cut down on their strikeout totals, with seven or fewer strikeouts coming in four games.
Chris Taylor, who struggled at the plate since signing with the team on May 26, began making hard contact — going two for three in two of three games against the Mariners, homering for the first time this season on Saturday.
Sunday, however, proved to be much different. In the Angels’ 3-2 loss to the Mariners, the lineup struck out a season-high 18 times.
“I think it's kind of just like snapping out of it,” said first baseman Nolan Schanuel on Friday, a day after the Angels returned from a six-game trip in which they averaged more than five runs a game. “We had a good stretch, got cold for a little bit, and snapped out of it and started to hit again.”
Infielder Kevin Newman, who has a team-low .200 on-base percentage and a .186 batting average (minimum 50 at-bats) added: “We're pretty streaky, probably more streaky than we'd like to be. We'd like to definitely find some consistency, especially here at home.”
It's no coincidence that the Angels are finding a little more success at the plate with Mike Trout back in the lineup.
Activated off the injured list on May 30, Trout has played as if he wasn’t out for a month with a bone bruise in his knee. He hit .476 across six games against Cleveland and Boston and has gotten on base in nearly half of his at-bats this month (.429 on-base percentage). On June 2 against Boston, the 33-year-old carried the Angels to victory with a three-hit, three-RBI game — hitting his second home run since returning from injury.
“It's good to be able to at least hit and contribute,” Trout said, adding that his time on the injured list over the last two seasons had been frustrating.
Trout's impact isn’t lost on teammate Taylor Ward.
“Having Mike back is — I mean, unbelievable, right,” Ward said. “A guy that can carry the offense.”
Taylor Ward, right, is congratulated by Mike Trout, left, after hitting a two-run home run against the Mariners on Sunday. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
Schanuel said he has watched Trout’s daily regimen closely since joining Angels two seasons ago. Ron Washington, who became the Angels' manager last year, said he has marveled at how the three-time MVP prepares and trains. But even he was surprised at how quickly Trout began to contribute coming off injury.
“He still does things that other people on the baseball field can't do,” Ron Washington said. “No doubt about it. You can get a 70% Mike Trout and it'd be 100% of a lot of players in this league. So hey, I was surprised, but then again, I'm not — because we are talking about Mike Trout.”
Even with Trout back, the Angels still have room for improvement. Although he's hitting .241 with 14 home runs and 31 RBIs entering Monday, Logan O’Hoppe has walked just eight times, leading to a .273 on-base percentage. Luis Rengifo holds the second-lowest on-base percentage in the league at .242.
Will Trout's return continue to rejuvenate the Angels' offense and help them close the 5½-game gap to the first-place Houston Astros in the AL West? Time will tell.
“One of the greatest players of our generation,” Johnny Washington said about Trout. “He's been a huge help to our offensive group, to us as coaches and as well to the players"
The iconic Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees rivalry has been largely dormant over the past half-decade. But Hunter Dobbins did his best to revive it over the weekend.
In an interview with the Boston Herald before his start in New York on Sunday night, the rookie right-hander declared he’d rather retire than put on pinstripes.
“My dad was a diehard Red Sox fan,” Dobbins told the Herald’s Gabrielle Starr. “And I’ve said it before, that if the Yankees were the last team to give me a contract, I’d retire.”
Dobbins’ comments raised more than a few eyebrows in New York’s clubhouse.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge said he was “a little surprised” by Dobbins’ remarks and admitted they were on his mind during his first at-bat against the 25-year-old right-hander Sunday night. New York infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. was a bit more direct.
“I love competitiveness, but to say that, being a rookie, is kind of crazy to me, to say that you’re going to rule out one out of 30 teams to be a professional athlete,” Chisholm told ESPN’s broadcast during a mid-game interview.
When Judge took Dobbins deep for a two-run homer in the second inning, it appeared the rookie’s comments may have caught up with him. But Dobbins settled in nicely, allowing just one more run on four total hits before exiting after five innings. Boston’s bats did the rest, exploding for 11 runs on 12 hits to secure an 11-7 victory and a 2-1 series win over its AL East rival in the Bronx.
Dobbins heard plenty of jeers from the Yankee Stadium faithful after his comments but appeared to embrace the atmosphere.
“I mean, you can’t really say something like that and not expect a passionate fan base like the Yankees to say something,” Dobbins told reporters, via MLB.com. “If anything, it made the rivalry atmosphere feel a lot more fun. I enjoyed it a lot.”
The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry still isn’t what it used to be — not with Boston mired in a three-year postseason drought and sputtering along with a 32-35 record this season (8.5 games behind the AL East-leading Yankees).
But there was a bit of a buzz in the Bronx this weekend, thanks to three back-and-forth, high-scoring games and Dobbins’ pot-stirring comments.
“It adds a lot of spiciness,” Chisholm said after the game. “You enjoy it. You are more locked in as a fan because you know what’s going on. I think it’s fun, at least.”
The Red Sox could use some of that “spiciness” going forward as they aim to climb back into the playoff race — and they’ll have another golden opportunity next weekend when the Yankees come to Fenway Park for a three-game series.
After Saturday's 10-7 loss, New York (39-25) dropped the season's first series against the sub-.500 rival Red Sox (32-35) and stumbles into Tuesday's three-game set at the Kansas City Royals.
"These are always kind of heavy series and fun to be a part of and go through, but they had their hitting shoes on the last couple nights and really even the first night with them coming back on us and pressuring us a little bit," Aaron Boone said. "So they beat us here this weekend. So it's part of it. We'll kind of regroup into the off day here, obviously, and off to Kansas City and then back to Boston and get ourselves right back on track."
The Yankees swept the Royals (34-32) April 14-16 and catch Kansas City after it lost two of the past three games to the 22-44 Chicago White Sox.
"Message is just keep going," said Aaron Judge. "We lost a couple series already this year. This is just another series. We've got a big one coming up with Kansas City. We played in the postseason. Guys are having great at-bats, making great plays. Every time we play the Red Sox, it's going to be a series like this, kind of back and forth -- they have a big inning, we have one back. That's baseball. So just go back to work and nothing different."
New York gets another crack at the Red Sox with a three-game series in Boston starting Friday.
"There's three really hard-fought games that maybe any of 'em could've gone either way but they made a couple more pitches or couple more swings than us," said Paul Goldschmidt. "So hopefully the next series will go our way and we'll win those pitches and win those at-bats."
The Yankees wasted a chance to take their first series of the 2025 season against the Boston Red Sox when they blew a sixth-inning lead and ultimately lost Sunday's 11-7 finale.
Takeaways
Carlos Rodón has been nails for this year's Gerrit Cole-less Yankees (39-25) and continued to be a rock through four scoreless frames, but the fifth and sixth innings saw Rodón unravel. After a two-out Ceddanne Rafaela walk in the fifth, Kristian Campbell's two-run home run turned New York's 3-0 lead into a 3-2 edge. Aaron Boone let Rodón have the sixth, even after Rafael Devers' leadoff hit-by-pitch and Rob Refsnyder's subsequent walk, and Carlos Narváez's three-run home run in the ensuing at-bat put the Yankees into a 5-3 deficit that they could not dig their way out of.
Whether or not Boone should have pulled Rodón (8-4, 2.87 ERA), who allowed five runs on three hits while striking out five and walking three through five-plus innings, he got outpitched in a rubber game against his team's arch rival. To rub salt in the wound, Boston rookie Hunter Dobbins got the job done on the other side of the pitching matchup. Dobbins, who said that he would rather retire than play for the Yankees, backed up his trash talk with a better outing than the veteran Rodón. Overall, Dobbins (3-1, 4.20 ERA) allowed three runs on four hits in five innings.
Before Rodón's collapse, Aaron Judge's two-run home run in the first inning was a tone-setting blast and made some history. He put the Yankees on the board and gave Rodón an early lead to work with en route to a 3-for-5 evening that included a sixth-inning walk, seventh-inning single and ninth-inning two-run home run -- his 23rd of 2025. Judge's earlier 22nd home run of the season was also 30th against the Red Sox and, at 107 games, makes him the second-fastest Yankee to 30 homers against Boston behind only Babe Ruth's 95. Judge is also batting an MLB-best .396 while posting a .493 OBP, slugging .771 and driving in 55 runs.
For a moment,DJ LeMahieu's two-out solo shot in the fifth inning was the go-ahead home run. If not for Rodón's sixth inning, LeMahieu's long ball would have changed the tune of the Dobbins discourse. Looking at the bigger picture, LeMahieu has a hit in three straight games and is slashing .258/.333/.371 with two home runs and nine RBI through 20 games. He turns 37 on July 13 and is not his prime self, but LeMahieu has proven serviceable and shown signs of still being able to play a key role for the Yankees this season.
Who's the MVP?
The Red Sox (32-35) hit five home runs, and Judge had two for the Yankees, but none was bigger than Narváez's game-breaking blast in the fifth. The Yankees added two runs in the sixth, but not before Narváez's three-run homer and Jarren Duran's subsequent two-run single during the bottom half's five-run breakthrough. Narváez knocked Rodón out and sparked the Red Sox, who left no doubt late in the game.
The Yankees have Monday off and start a six-game road trip the next day, beginning with a three-game set at the Kansas City Royals (34-32). Left-handers Max Fried (8-1, 1.78 ERA) and Noah Cameron (2-1, 0.85 ERA) are set to start Tuesday's 7:40 p.m. opener.
Pete Alonsocontinues to rise up the Mets’ all-time home run list.
On Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, Alonso belted a two-run home run to left-center that put the Mets ahead 4-0 on the Rockies in the top of the third inning. The blast from Alonso was No. 242, which tied David Wright for second place on the franchise’s all-time list.
Then, in the eighth inning, the Mets' slugger took sole possesion of second, crushing a two-run shot down the left field line for No. 243 that bumped the lead to 12-3. The pair of two-run dingers also increased Alonso's season RBI to a league-leading 61.
The only player now standing in Alonso's way for the home run crown is legend Darryl Strawberry, who logged 252 long balls in a Mets uniform. It's entirely possible he breaks the record this month, as he's slashing a red-hot .344/.412/.803 over his last 15 games.
"It's really cool [to surpass Wright], and for me, I just want to help the team win every single chance I get," Alonso said after the Mets' win. "My game is just driving the ball, doing what I can to score guys... Very blessed to do, but I really don't think that's going to settle in... We're still in the middle of a season. Right now, it's just focused on winning. But I don't think [the record is] going to settle in until later on."
The pair of homers were certainly absorbed by Wright. He offered his congratulations to Alonso with a video message on X/Twitter.
"Just a huge congratulations," Wright said. "You're one of the premier power hitters in the game. You easily passed me. Set Straw in your sights and go get him. Congratulations, my man."
While Wright wasn’t the same pure power hitter as Alonso, it’s worth nothing that Wright hit his 242nd home run in his 1,583rd career game, while Alonso accomplished the same number in just 912 career games.
Here’s a look at how the Polar Bear took another step closer to making Mets history:
The season-long Statcast hitting percentiles for Juan Soto have patently shown an atypical stretch of bad luck at the plate, and the Mets' new superstar made this point even more clear to his doubters on Sunday afternoon by achieving a feat he'd never reached before.
While the Mets relied on home runs -- six in total and two from Pete Alonso, who made some more franchise history -- to complete a convincing sweep of the lowly Rockies at Coors Field, there wasn't anyone in the lineup who came close to matching Soto's day in the batter's box. The lefty slugger reached base a career-high six times, logging three singles and three walks to raise his on-base percentage to .384. He also scored three runs.
Soto drove an 0-1 fastball to left in the first inning, a 3-2 fastball to right in the third, and a 1-2 fastball to center in the fourth. Those knocks bumped his season average to .244. He worked the count full during the sixth, eighth, and ninth innings, and wound up strolling to first base on balls each time.
The Mets aren't paying Soto record-breaking money to deliver record-breaking power. He's a generational talent because of his on-base skills and keen eye -- home runs should be viewed as a welcome bonus.
After the win, Soto was asked if he's felt differently at the plate in recent games. He said no. He's stayed true to the approach that's long made him successful.
"It's always a good feeling to get on base, try to help the team in any way," Soto said. "Even if I take a walk or hit the ball hard, I just try to help the team... It's just the same thing [at the plate]. I'm just finding more gaps, more holes. Finally landing some pitches and making some good swings and decisions. Just finding some holes."
Soto has resembled his old, dominant self over the last week-plus, and looked far more comfortable playing in a Mets uniform. Since the start of June, he's slashing .346/.564/.615 with two homers, a double, and 12 walks across 39 plate appearances. In the last 15 games, his on-base mark is .435 -- much closer to his career average of .418.
If the skeptics still aren't convinced of a Soto breakout, they should trust the Statcast metrics. His expected batting average (xBA) is currently .298, which ranks in the 91st percentile among MLB hitters. His walk (18.1) and chase (14.8) rates are elite, in the 100th percentile. His hard-hit percentage (54.0) ranks third-best in his career, and he's well on pace to become the second Met ever to register 100-plus walks in a single season.
"That's who he is, another great hitter we've got in our lineup," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Soto. "Three singles and three walks, not easy to do at the big league level. Good to see him do that, and again, finally getting some results. But I feel like the at-bat quality has been there throughout."
Juan Soto reached base six times today (three singles, three walks).
It's the first time he's reached base six times in a game in his MLB career 💪 pic.twitter.com/b8n8MLId9X
Shesterkin and Fox are under contract for multiple more seasons while Panarin is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2026.
Staple also reports that the Rangers are one of the teams, including the Buffalo Sabres, Utah Mammoth, and Seattle Kraken, looking to shake up their roster soon.
Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury sent out a league-wide memo early on in the 2024-25 season that he’s interested in making moves to shake up the roster.
After missing the playoffs, Drury appears to be in a similar mindset, with major changes on the horizon.
The Rangers already made a coaching change and multiple players have been the subject of trade rumors including Chris Kreider and K’Andre Miller.
Now, we’ll have to see if all of these rumors lead to action from Drury.
The Mets enjoyed a bright and warm Sunday afternoon at Coors Field in style, with a cool and refreshing six-pack. No, not that type of six-pack.
There was no shortage of power from the Mets' bats in their series finale with the lowly Rockies, as they smacked six homers in a game for the first time since 2021 en route to a 13-5 win and convincing road sweep. New York is now a season-high 18 games over the .500 mark, with a 4.5-game lead in the NL East.
From top to bottom, the Mets' lineup produced some pop. The homer barrage began in the second inning, when Jeff McNeil won a 10-pitch at-bat against Rockies starter Chase Dollander by smacking a fastball to the right-field bullpen for a solo shot. Then, in the third, Pete Alonso flaunted his muscle with a two-run blast that tied him with David Wright for second place on the franchise's all-time homers list (242).
McNeil and Alonso were thirsty for another round. The veteran utilityman crushed his second homer in the fourth -- a towering three-run shot to the right-field seats -- that pushed the Mets' lead to a comfortable 8-0. Alonso then matched that dinger in the eighth with a two-run tank to left -- his 17th of the season -- that made the score 12-3 and gave him sole possesion of second place on the Mets' list.
The other two homers -- delivered by Bretty Baty in the seventh and Francisco Alvarez in the ninth -- capped off a stellar weekend of offense for the Mets. They tallied 17 hits on Sunday, 39 across the three-game set, and reaffirmed their league status among the haves and the Rockies' among the have-nots.
"He's just swinging the bat well. He's connecting on quality pitches in the zone and that allows him to hit the ball pull-side in the air," Alonso said of McNeil's power surge after the win. "It's really cool [to surpass Wright], and for me, I just want to help the team win every single chance I get.
"My game is just driving the ball, doing what I can to score guys... Very blessed to do, but I really don't think that's going to settle in... We're still in the middle of a season. Right now, it's just focused on winning. But I don't think [the record is] going to settle in until later on."
McNeil, who collected three extra-base hits and logged the third multi-homer game of his career, also had some kind words for Alonso. And he couldn't help but amusingly ask reporters how far away he is from catching up to Alonso in the race for the Mets' power crown.
The exact number is 169. So, not close. But if McNeil is only concerned with the 2025 tally, he's trailing Alonso by a more-reachable 11.
"He's been pretty incredible this year. Locked-in every single at-bat," McNeil said of Alonso. "Just seems like in big situations, he's going to do some damage. ... He's been here his entire career. He set the rookie home run record, he's closing in on the Mets' all-time record. ... Can't wait to see him on top. ... How many am I away? Well, maybe one day. It's fun to watch. I feel like he's putting on a show every time he's at the ballpark."
Surprisingly, the Mets' offensive explosion didn't include contributions from everyone. Francisco Lindor was the only one to go hitless (0-for-5), and right underneath him, Brandon Nimmo finished 1-for-6. Juan Soto didn't follow their lead, however -- he actually reached base a career-high six times with three singles and walks apiece.
The Mets wrapped up their week-long road trip on a high note, sweeping the lowly Colorado Rockies with a power-packed 13-5 win on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field.
Here are the takeaways...
-- New York drew first blood just five batters in, as Jeff McNeil won a 10-pitch at-bat against Rockies starter Chase Dollander by crushing a fastball into the right-field bullpen for a solo home run in the second inning. The 411-foot blast was McNeil's fifth long ball this season, and he entered Sunday seeing an average 3.65 pitches per plate appearance, a career-high mark. After a single from Ronny Mauricio and a walk from Tyrone Taylor, the Mets bumped their lead to 2-0 with a one-out RBI single from Francisco Alvarez. Dollander simply labored, needing 38 pitches to complete the inning.
-- The Mets inflicted further damage on Dollander with a three-run third. After a leadoff single from Juan Soto, who proceeded to reach second on a wild pick-off throw, Pete Alonso once again flaunted his power with a two-run homer to left-center. The 416-foot shot bumped Alonso's season RBI total to an MLB-best 59, and he's now tied with David Wright for second on the franchise's all-time homers list (242). Moments later, Mauricio singled, stole second, and then scored on a double to left from Taylor.
-- The Rockies didn't allow Dollander to come back out for the fourth, but the pitching change didn't upset the Mets. They tacked on another three runs against reliever Juan Mejia when McNeil launched his second homer of the game -- a towering shot to right -- to make it 8-0. The rally was sparked by Soto's third hit of the day and Alonso's second. Through four innings, the Mets registered 11 hits.
-- While the Mets' offense stole the spotlight early on, Tylor Megill was equally as dominant. The right-hander attacked the Rockies with relative ease, striking out the side in the first inning and retiring 12 of the first 14 batters faced without allowing a hit. But his no-hit bid ended in the fifth on a leadoff double from Sam Hilliard, and he ultimately allowed two runs on three knocks and one walk in the frame that required 29 pitches. The Mets decided five innings were enough for Megill, who struck out five across 82 pitches (51 strikes) and lowered his ERA to 3.76.
-- A six-run cushion wasn't satisfying to the Mets. They pushed the lead back to eight in the seventh, when a leadoff double from McNeil -- his third extra-base hit of the day -- was followed by a two-run homer to right from Brett Baty, who stepped up to the plate with a measly .103 average across his previous 29 at-bats.
-- In the eighth, Alonso claimed sole possesion of second place on the Mets' homers list with a 372-foot two-run shot to left that increased the lead to 12-3. The dinger also pushed him ahead of Daryl Strawberry -- who remains the franchise's home run king -- for the most multi-homer games in Mets history. Then, in the ninth, Alvarez gave the Mets their sixth homer of the day, a mammoth 450-foot shot to dead center, that made the score 13-3.
-- Paul Blackburn took over for Megill in the sixth, making his fifth-career relief appearance, and he accomplished an unusual feat. He technically recorded a four-inning save by completing the game, despite allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk. It was the Mets' first save of the kind since 2008.
-- Soto's afternoon at the plate was subtly terrific. He reached base a career-high six times with three singles and three walks, boosting his season on-base percentage to .384. Oddly enough, the 1-2 punch of Francisco Lindor (0-for-5)and Brandon Nimmo (1-for-6) atop the order produced only one of the team's 17 total hits. Lindor was the only starter who didn't join the hit parade.
Game MVPs: Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil
Alonso made some more franchise history, surpassing Wright for second on the Mets' all-time homers list, while McNeil showed off some muscle with the third multi-homer game of his career.
The Mets (42-24) will take Monday off and begin a six-game homestand on Tuesday night, with the first of three against the division-rival Washington Nationals. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. on SNY.
Griffin Canning (6-2, 2.90 ERA) is slated to take the mound, opposite lefty MacKenzie Gore (3-5, 2.87 ERA), who currently leads the NL in strikeouts.
Jun 8, 2025; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen (57) throws a pitch against the Miami Marlins during the first inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Kim Klement Neitzel/Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Yandy Díaz hit a tying two-run homer in the fifth inning and his double in the eighth led to the eventual winning run as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Miami Marlins 3-2 on Sunday.
Díaz homered off Miami reliever Valente Bellozo in the fifth, tying the game at 2. He doubled off Bellozo (1-3) with one out in the eighth and was replaced by pinch runner José Caballero, who stole third and scored on a Brandon Lowe’s sacrifice fly off Calvin Faucher to make it 3-2.
Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen had his MLB-leading streak of 23 scoreless innings halted in the first. Xavier Edwards had a leadoff single and advanced two bases on a groundout by Jesús Sánchez when the Rays failed to cover third base. Otto Lopez had a streak-ending RBI single for a 1-0 lead.
Ronny Henriquez and Cade Gibson pitched a scoreless inningss following two shutout innings by Miami opener Anthony Veneziano. Bellozo walked Taylor Walls in the fifth before giving up Díaz’s ninth home run that tied it at 2.
Marlins rookie Heriberto Hernandez got the start at DH a day after he drove in the winning run with a pinch hit in the 10th inning of Miami’s 11-10 victory. He singled the first three times up. He led off the fifth with a hit off Rasmussen, took second on a two-out wild pitch and scored on a base hit by Sánchez for a 2-0 lead.
Rasmussen allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. He had won four straight starts and hadn’t surrendered a run since losing to the Brewers on May 11. Edwin Uceta (5-1) struck out three in two perfect innings for the win.
The Rays and the Marlins (24-39) split six games this season after Tampa Bay (35-30) had won the season series six straight years.
Key moment
Caballero’s steal of third base in the eighth was his 21st of the season — tying him for the lead in the American League.
Key stat
The Rays lead the majors with 90 steals, while the Marlins have allowed the most with 96.
Up next
The Rays will start RHP Shane Baz (5-3, 4.96) Monday in the first of three games in Boston. The Red Sox will start RHP Brayan Bello (2-1, 3.91).
The Marlins and Pirates have not announced starters for the first of three games in Pittsburgh beginning Monday.
Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers during the first inning Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals. (Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)
The Dodgers have sent Clayton Kershaw to the mound to give a slumping team a lift countless times during his 18-year career. And they’ve rarely been disappointed.
They did it again on a sultry Sunday afternoon in St. Louis and once again Kershaw delivered, earning his first win of the season in a 7-3 victory over the Cardinals that broke a two-game losing streak and ended a slide that had seen the Dodgers lose five of their last seven.
“He's been a stopper for many years. He's been a staff ace for many years. He's going to the Hall of Fame,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “So he understands. And he's going to be prepared.”
Especially after the Cardinals picked at an old wound just before the first pitch, using the massive scoreboard facing the Dodgers' dugout to replay video of an angry Kershaw, hands on knees and staring at the ground after giving up a series-winning home run to Matt Adams in Game 4 of the 2014 National League Division Series.
“It's a little bush league, but I don't expect anything less from these guys,” Kershaw said. “So it's no worries. No problem.”
Maybe. But Kershaw pitched like he had something to prove, giving up just a run on six hits over five innings. He struck out seven, the most he’s had in a game in exactly two years, leaving him just 17 strikeouts shy of 3,000 for his career. And more importantly, he did not issue a walk for the first time in five starts.
It was his best performance of his injury-delayed season.
“The results haven't always been there, but I feel like there's been a little bit of progress in each [start],” he said. “Probably the biggest thing, I had a little bit better command.
“I felt like I had an idea where the ball was going. When it was going bad, I didn't really know how to correct it. [Today] when I threw a bad one, I had some ideas on how to fix it with the next pitch. Pitching is just making the adjustment as quick as you can. It wasn't perfect, but it’s getting better.”
An effective Kershaw could help stabilize a Dodger rotation that has once again been scrambled ahead of the team’s three-game series with the Padres, which begins Monday. Right-hander Tony Gonsolin returned to the injured list Saturday with discomfort in his surgically repaired elbow, leaving the Dodgers with 14 pitchers on the IL and without a starter for Tuesday’s game in San Diego.
A scan of Gonsolin’s elbow on Saturday showed no structural damage, which was good news, as was Michael Kopech’s scoreless inning of relief in his first appearance of the season. Kopech was activated from the injured list when Gonsolin went down.
“He was fantastic. Clearly his best outing yet,” Roberts said of Kershaw. “I really didn't feel like he was laboring trying to find something. He’s kind of back to who he is. It’s much needed.”
The left-hander hit 91.5 mph with his fastball Sunday and averaged 89.6 mph. He also had a good curve and a decent slider.
Mookie Betts runs the bases after hitting a solo home run for the Dodgers in the seventh inning Sunday. (Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)
“I felt like every once in a while I would reach back and had a little bit extra,” Kershaw said of his velocity. “It's not going to be amazing or anything, but I think at times it's getting a little bit of life on it, making making guys foul some pitches get jammed a little bit.”
Kershaw also became the first Dodger pitcher in the series to get some help from his offense, which scored four times in the first four innings and seven times in the game, the most runs the team has scored in a game this month.
The Dodgers, who stranded 21 baserunners while going one for 25 with runners in scoring position in the first two games in St. Louis, took their first lead of the series in the second inning when Max Muncy, Will Smith and former Cardinal Tommy Edman all singled to center ahead of Hyeseong Kim’s two-run triple to right.
They never looked back after that, with a leadoff triple by Smith and a one-out double from Edman making it 4-0 in the fourth. Mookie Betts lined a two-out drive just over the wall in left in the seventh for his first homer since May 19 before the Dodgers closed out the scoring with two runs in a sloppy eighth inning that featured a single, two walks, two batters hit by pitches, a passed ball and a sacrifice fly from Edman, who was playing his first series in St. Louis since being traded to Los Angeles in July.
Now the Dodgers move on to San Diego and their first series of the year with the Padres, who are just a game back in the NL West.
“We're excited to play them,” said Edman, who had his first multi-hit game in June, driving in three runs. “It's kind of weird that we've gotten to this point without playing them or the Giants. We've got a lot of lot of games against those guys coming up. So we’re excited to get at it.”
