MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Yesterday afternoon, the Yankees received a massive boost in their chances at winning the American League East, as superstar right fielder Aaron Judge took live batting practice on the field for the first time since suffering a stress fracture in his rib that has left him on the shelf since May 31st. Speaking to reporters, manager Aaron Boone refused to say exactly which day No. 99 will return to the lineup, saying only that Judge’s rehab is in the “endgame.” As it turned out, though, the Yankees saw enough, and late last night, announced that the Captain will in fact return to the lineup tonight, activating him from the 60-day injured list. And while it’s unlikely that we’ll see Judge fully built up, with some reports that the team may start him playing only six to seven innings in the field before pulling him, his return represents the biggest wrench thrown into the American League East race in the month of September, and looks to give the team an edge as they try to chase down the division-leading Rays.

NJ.com | Adam Zagoria: Speaking of large, right-handed power hitters currently on the shelf: when Giancarlo Stanton suffered a third calf sprain back on August 22nd, everybody in baseball basically said, “Well, that’s it for Stanton’s season, and probably his Yankees career, too.” Not so fast, apparently. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Aaron Boone revealed that Stanton has been hitting in the cage, saying that “we’ll see” if he can return to the lineup this season. Of course, it still seems like a reach, especially since there really isn’t a role for him as Ben Rice, Luis García Jr., and Paul Goldschmidt have first base/designated hitter locked up, but we all know what a healthy Stanton can do, especially against lefties.

NBC Sports: In a small bit of housekeeping, the Yankees optioned Elmer Rodríguez to Triple-A Scranton following Sunday night’s loss, officially ending their brief stretch as a de facto six-man rotation. The corresponding move, it turned out, would be Judge’s return.

Newsweek | Jon Paul Hoornstra: Former Yankees right-handed pitcher and two-time World Series champion Rollie Sheldon passed away on August 31st at the age of 89. He spent five seasons in the Majors, pitching for the Kansas City Athletics and his childhood team, the Boston Red Sox, after his stint in the Bronx. We offer condolences to his family.

A bunt and an infield single boosted the San Francisco Giants’ win probability to 100% Monday night in a 5-4, 11-inning win over the St. Louis Cardinals that turned Oracle Paek into Shay Stadium.

Shay Whitcomb hit a chopper to shortstop against a drawn-in infield to score ghost runner Nate Furman as the Giants worked late on Labor Day. Sure. it was not the most impressive walk-off hit we’ve ever seen, but after the Cardinals scored the tying run on two infield singles in the 9th and a go-ahead run on a shallow pop fly with the Giants’ infield in in the 10th, the boys in black and orange will take it.

Logan Webb will be complaining to his shop steward about unfair working conditions after striking out eight and giving up just three hits in 6 innings, but leaving with another no-decision. He threw only one truly bad pitch, a hanging slider that Alec Burleson crushed into McCovey Cove, a no-doubt, 431-shoot blast where kayakers instinctively knew to avoid the white-hot baseball until it cooled down.

Webb left the game with a 3-1 lead, thanks to a nice defensive play at first from Bryce Eldridge.

He could credit his two-run cushion to a doubles party from Eldridge and Rafael Devers. Devers hit his 35th double, just missing his 36th homer, to knock in Turner Hill in the first inning, then hit his league-leading 36th double ahead of Eldridge’s 21st double of the season in the bottom of the 5th.

Eldridge knocked in another run on a sacrifice fly in the 3rd inning, then plated ghost runner Turner Hill (two runs) to tie the game in the 10th. The Cardinals walked Devers ahead of Eldridge twice on Monday, and the rookie responded with an RBI each time.

It could have been over in the 10th. With Devers on second and Eldridge on first with no one out, Tony Vitello played for the sac fly. He ordered Jonah Cox (slashing .287/.326/.494) to bunt the runners over, which he did, which led to an intentional walk to Jung Hoo Lee. Drew Gilbert just needed to hit a medium-depth fly ball to win the game. Instead, he hit a ball that went about nine inches for a C-1B double play.

Still, the gambit worked in the 11th inning, with Vitello also rearranging his defense. Cox, who moved to second base when Gilbert pinch-hit for Osleivis Basabe in the 9th, went back to center field, with Furman taking over at second. The pop-up falling in wasn’t really Cox’s fault, and the 9th-inning infield hits happened with him in the outfield, but the move still paid off.

Furman was the runner in place of Gilbert, Drew Cavanaugh’s sac bunt got him to third, and Whitcomb finished things off with his second hit of the game, bringing his on-base streak to five games.

Jason Foley got his third win of the season by getting through the 11th inning unscathed, getting a weak groundout to the catcher with a runner on third just like his opposite number. Then, with runners on second and third after a walk and a stolen base, Foley got Jose Fermin to ground out on the eighth pitch of his at-bat.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol made the box score interesting by pinch-running for catcher Ivan Herrera in the 8th, only to see the substitute got station-to-station and end up stranded at third. He replaced the pinch-runner with Pedro Pages, then pinch-hit Fermin for Pages in the 10th, where he tied the game with a sac fly.

Fermin stayed in the game to play second base, while designated hitter Leo Bernal, of the magical pop-up, caught the final two innings. That meant St. Louis lost its DH, and three Cardinals relievers appeared in the box score in the first batting position for St. Louis, though none actually swung the bat — Cesar Prieto had a pinch-walk in the 11th.

Hill got hosed by an umpire review for the second time in three days, when a throw to first clearly pulled Burleson off the bag but Hill was still called out.

It looked just as obvious as the hit-by-pitch that was ruled a foul ball from Saturday’s game, one that got Vitello ejected. The only conclusion we can draw is that Hill clearly slept with a replay official’s wife.

The Giants have no won 8 of their last 15 games and are two games clear of the Elk Grove Athletics for 27th place in the major leagues. Perhaps more important is that the team has reached 60 wins, meaning they only need three move to avoid a 100-loss season.

They need five more wins to finish better than the 2017 Giants, who went 64-98 in a season where Madison Bumgarner finished with more home runs than the team’s primary left fielder despite missing three months because of a dirt bike crash. “Worst Giants team in a decade” sounds so much better than “Worst Giants team in 41 years,” after all.

Blue Jays 5 A’s 6

I wanted to title this ‘Bad Pitching, Defense and Hitting Leads to a Loss’ but that’s too many words.

A bad moment on defense, in the first inning, turned out to be very costly. Dylan Cease was having a rough time in the first. A walk to Henry Bolte, who followed that with a steal. Then a ground rule double to score the first run of the game. A single gave the A’s runners on the corners, with two out. Carlos Cortes went to steal second, Alejandro Kirk threw to second, and the runner on third came home. Ernie Clement threw back home in plenty of time to get the runner, but the runner stopped and turned around. Kirk chased him, and the runner seemed to be giving up, but Kirk threw to Kazuma Okamoto, and it wasn’t a good throw, went off Okamoto’s glove and the runner scored. 2-0 after half an inning. Just a bad play. Just chasing him back to third would have been fine.

Kirk homered in the bottom of the inning, making up for the mistake.

But the A’s got two more in the third. Bolte again walked and stole season (maybe next year, Cease could come up with a way to hold runners?). After a popup, Bolte stole third. Next batter, Zack Gelof hit a ground ball to third, Okamoto came home but the throw was too late. Then Gelof steal second and third and a single scored him. 4-1 A’s.

A’s got one more in the fifth, a Bolte home run. 5-1 and it looked really bad.

It wasn’t Cease’s night, 5 innings, 5 runs, 4 earned, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts. Cutting down that run at the plate would have make it look better (and maybe he wouldn’t have had the same troubles in the third).

But the Jays got three runs in the seventh. Okamoto started the inning with a massive home run (making up for his share of the mistake in the first), 109.8 mph, 423 feet. Nathan Lukes and Clement each singled. Giménez doubled, bringing in one more. And Josh Smith, pinch hitting, hit a sac fly. 5-4, A’s.

With Giménez on second, the A’s pitcher Luis Medina ‘disengaged’ twice, meaning if he did again (and didn’t get the out) Giménez would be given third.

But, Andrés took off for third, before Medina came home and Medina threw to third for an easy out. Bad play by Giménez, since he was already in scoring position with just one out.

In the eighth, with two out, Kirk singled and Okamoto walked, but Lukes (against a lefty) ground out. We didn’t have right-handed bats on the bench (well, Brandon Valenzuela, a switch-hitter, but they weren’t going to pinch hit with him).

Down by a run in the top of the ninth, Giménez hit a game tying home run. We couldn’t get another run.

The comeback was rather amazing, considering our offense looked terrible for the first six innings.

Tie game going into the bottom of the inning and Louis Varland in to pitch. Spoiler….he wasn’t sharp (neither was plate umpire Chad Fairchild, though it really didn’t help that we wasted our challenges early).

Louis gave up a single to Max Muncy and a walk to Donovan Walton. Alika Williams put down a very good bunt, but Vlad made an amazing play, throwing to third getting the lead runner. No other first baseman make that play. A line out got us to two outs. Then a walk to Bolte loaded the bases.

Then Jeff McNeil hit an extremely soft ground ball (51.9 mph) that Giménez made a great attempt on, but his throw to first was just a bit late. They talk about it being a game of inches, and it was tonight.

The good news? The Guardians also lost, so we are still just 1 game back of the last Wild Card spot.

Bad news, we could be holding that spot, right now, with some better defense/pitching.

Jay of the Day: Giménez (0.36 WPA, though the bad base running would bring that down a bit) and Okamoto (0.12) had the number too, but I’m not giving him it, because not catching Kirk’s throw and though it wasn’t terrible, a slightly better throw home in the third inning would have saved what turned out to be a very important run).

Other Award: Varland (-0.35, he’s been so good, and he was hurt by a plate umpire with an interesting view of the zone, tomorrows umpire scorecard will be something to look at, but we needed him to be better today), Cease (-0.23, also could have been helped by some defense, two of the runs against him weren’t his fault), Springer (-0.18, for an 0 for 5, 2 k. He had a rough day), Smith (-0.12, kind of unfair, as he drove in a run as pinch hitter), and Clement (-0.09, 1 for 4).

We had 9 hits, they had 6. But then they had 5 steals, a home run and grouped their hits.

Tomorrow, well they have to shake this one off, and win tomorrow. It is slightly earlier, 9:40 start Eastern start time. José Soriano (11-7, 3.52) vs. Jack Perkins (3-10, 6.50)

Shohei Ohtani's return to the Los Angeles Dodgers' lineup Monday, Sept. 7 wasn't exactly a return to form just yet for the back-to-back National League MVP.

Back in his usual spot atop the batting order, Ohtani went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk in a 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Results aside, however, manager Dave Roberts was pleased with how Ohtani's swing looked compared to five days ago.

But as far as when Ohtani might return to the mound for the defending World Series champions, that news was rather bleak. Ohtani told reporters postgame that he doesn't expect to pitch again this season.

"Most likely no," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton when asked if he's still working towards getting back on the mound. "I'm gonna be focusing on hitting moving forward."

Ohtani has not pitched in a game since July 3 due to lingering injuries in his left knee and right bicep.

His progression was initially put on pause when his scheduled bullpen session on July 25 was postponed, and it didn't pick back up again until Aug. 8. From there, he ramped up throughout the month of August and faced live hitters on Aug. 22, but he was shut down again after a short bullpen session one week later.

Ohtani has not thrown since, and a prolonged slump at the plate prompted manager Dave Roberts to rest the Japanese phenom for four games over the weekend.

And in what might be a move to lighten Ohtani's workload with October less than a month away and with the Dodgers boasting a mostly healthy rotation, Roberts mentioned they've "put a pin on throwing."

"It's not dead, but we're not throwing," Roberts said. "We have no timetable for when he's gonna pick up a baseball."

The Dodgers skipper stopped short of outright saying Ohtani won't pitch again in 2026, but given where we are in the calendar, that in itself is a strong indication of where things are headed.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shohei Ohtani 'focusing on hitting,' unlikely to pitch again in 2026

The Athletics faced the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game series on Labor Day at Sutter Health Park. The Green and Gold got out to an early lead before allowing the Blue Jays to claw back late, only for the A’s to win 6-5 in walk-off fashion.

Early Offense

After A’s starter Jacob Lopez tossed a scoreless first inning, the A’s generated their first scoring chance against Blue Jays starter Dylan Cease in the bottom of that inning. Athletics center fielder Henry Bolte drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third with one out. Zack Gelof knocked Bolte in with an RBI ground-rule double, putting the hosts ahead 1-0.

With two outs, the A’s scored a second run when Toronto misplayed a rundown, allowing Gelof to slide home safely.

The Blue Jays immediately answered back. Catcher Alejandro Kirk led off the second inning with his ninth home run of the season, a solo shot just over the right field wall. If he had taken a better route, A’s right fielder Lawrence Butler would have had a chance to rob the home run.

Lopez followed that by allowing two straight baserunners before retiring the next three hitters to preserve his team’s 2-1 lead.

A’s Run Wild Against Cease

The A’s took advantage of Cease’s weakness, as he has allowed more stolen bases than any other pitcher. Leading off the bottom of the third inning, Bolte walked and stole second for the second time in two at-bats. With one out, the speedster stole third base, his third steal of the game.

Gelof grounded to third, and it looked like Bolte was out at home, but he slid safely past Kirk’s tag attempt to tally the A’s third run of the game. Gelof then swiped second and third, putting himself in scoring position just as Bolte had done. With two outs, Carlos Cortes lined an RBI single, bringing home Gelof to give the Athletics a 4-1 lead.

Electric Bolte: One-Man Show

After showing off the speed earlier in the game, Bolte displayed his power in his third at-bat against Cease. Leading off the bottom of the fifth inning, the A’s center fielder hit his ninth home run of the season, a solo shot down the right-field line that extended his team’s lead to 5-1.

Lopez Unravels as Blue Jays Mount Comeback

Lopez kept the momentum on the A’s side by pitching three straight scoreless innings, preventing the visitors from mounting an immediate response. The lanky left-hander outdueled Cease, needing just 78 pitches to complete six innings of one-run ball.

Lopez remained in the game an inning too long, as he failed to record an out in the seventh inning. Toronto third baseman Kazuma Okamoto hit his 29th home run of the season, a solo shot to left field. Two straight singles brought the tying run to the plate. Andrés Giménez’s RBI double made it a a 5-3 game and ended Lopez’s outing. The left-hander only recorded one strikeout, yet did a good job of pitching to contact, inducing six groundouts and nine flyouts.

A’s Bullpen Blows Save

Right-hander Luis Medina replaced him, entering with runners on second and third and no outs. The first batter he faced, pinch-hitter Josh Smith, hit a sacrifice fly to make it a one-run game. Medina escaped the jam with the Athletics still ahead. Giménez helped him out by getting caught stealing for the second out.

Medina got the first two outs of the eighth inning before letting the next two Blue Jays reach base via a single and a walk. With the tying run on second, left-hander Hogan Harris replaced Medina and escaped the jam by getting Nathan Lukes to ground out.

Harris failed to secure the four-out save. With one out in the top of the ninth inning, Giménez tied the game with his ninth home run of the season, the Blue Jays third home run of the night.

A’s Win!

Facing Blue Jays closer Louis Varland, Max Muncy led off the bottom of the ninth with an infield single and advanced to second when Varland walked Donovan Walton. The most significant at-bat of the inning came when Bolte drew his third walk of the game. He reached base in all five of his plate appearances. If the Blue Jays had any ABS challenges remaining, that inning may have gone differently, as there were numerous close pitches that the home-plate umpire called balls.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Jeff McNeil hustled down the line for a walk-off infield single, sparing Harris’ blushes and delivering the A’s first walk-off victory since June 19.

The Athletics will look to continue playing spoiler and win a second consecutive series tomorrow. Right-hander Jack Perkins will start for the A’s, while Toronto will counter with its prized trade deadline acquisition, right-hander Jose Soriano.

Based on tonight’s game alone, you could’ve fooled someone into believing Emmet Sheehan was the starting pitcher in this outing, putting up an All-Star season, as he led the way for a 6-3 win in his return to the bigs. With a scarcity of hits, particularly on the home side, the Dodgers saved their only home run for the most impactful of moments as Teoscar Hernández crushed a three-run bomb in the sixth, responsible for half their runs.

The Reds came into this game with a plan to keep Chase Burns on a tight leash, protecting their prized pitching asset down the stretch in a season without a postseason chase. The game tested the Reds’ resolve, with Burns smoking through the Dodgers’ lineup in three near-perfect innings—the only Dodger to get on base was Max Muncy via walk. Striking out half of the 10 batters he faced, Burns was still removed from the game after just three frames, paving the way for Brandon Williamson to operate against a lefty-heavy lineup.

Williamson picked up right where Burns left off, and a bit of luck and the right timing helped the Dodgers get on the board for the first time and, doing so, take the lead. Trailing 1-0 through the first half of this game after Elly De La Cruz’s first-inning bomb, the Dodgers had one on and two outs in the fifth, following strikeouts from Kyle Tucker and Hunter Feduccia. Alex Call was down 0-2 in the count, ready to make it three Ks when he was plunked by Williamson, who would induce a high-bouncing grounder by Miguel Rojas—that grounder rushed an errant throw from the Reds’ third baseman, allowing both runners to score.

As quickly as the Dodgers took that lead, they nearly surrendered it, with the Reds circling in the top of the sixth. Emmet Sheehan faced runners at the corners with one out and the Reds’ top two hitters up. He struck out De La Cruz, chasing well outside the zone, to reach a double-digit punchout total—tying a career high—before walking Sal Stewart to load the bases and seal his exit. With a lefty coming up, Dave Roberts made the call to the bullpen, bringing in Alex Vesia, who promptly struck out J.J. Bleday. No pitcher ever wants to hand off a free pass, but as far as they go, the one to Stewart wasn’t too bad from Sheehan, not giving up against the league leader in RBI.

Baseball has a term for a scoreless frame right after getting on the board: your traditional shutdown inning, the case for the Dodgers in the top of the sixth. It should also have a term for pouncing on that opportunity and scoring big in the next chance, something like an opportunistic inning, exactly what the Dodgers had in the bottom of the sixth. Max Muncy and Freddie Freeman worked walks off Williamson, and then the lefty-mashing skill set of Teoscar Hernández took over, putting one in the home bullpen over the left field wall to up the lead to 5-1.

This power display from Hernández was the perfect summary of a heavy three-true-outcome game, one in which both teams combined for an absurd 20 strikeouts in the first six innings alone. Emmet Sheehan (10), Chase Burns (5), Brandon Williamson (4)—basically anyone was able to induce swing-and-miss stuff consistently. Furthermore, when Eugenio Suárez took Seth Halvorsen deep for the Reds’ second solo shot to make it 5-2 in the seventh, half of the game’s six hits were home runs. What put the Dodgers in front was superior defense and an easier ability to draw walks.

The Reds don’t get to lament their lack of opportunities in this one. Pitching in the eighth, Jack Dreyer faced two on and no one out, defending a three-run lead with the heart of the Reds’ order up. Operating like someone leading by three, Dreyer punched out Stewart and allowed an RBI groundout to pinch-hitter Dane Myers, replacing Bleday, whom Terry Francona wouldn’t allow to have another lefty-lefty duel late in this game. Whatever impact that run might have had was neutralized when Will Smith pinch-hit with the bases loaded in the bottom of the frame and secured a sac fly. Any time the Reds threatened to gather some momentum, the Dodgers quickly reaffirmed their dominance in this game.

Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 3 in his first game back with a couple of strikeouts and a walk. The good news is that the lineup didn’t need him to win their fifth straight. Unlike Dreyer in the eighth, Evan Phillips had a clean ninth, securing his first save of the season.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Teoscar Hernández (13), Eugenio Suárez (22), Elly De La Cruz (24),
• WP— Emmet Sheehan (5-8): 5.2 IP, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts
• LP— Brandon Williamson (3-4): 4.1 IP, 3 hits, 6 runs, 3 earned runs, 5 walks, 4 strikeouts
• SV—Evan Phillips (1): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts

Up next

It’s the Dodgers’ turn to deploy one of their aces on Tuesday (6:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA) as Tarik Skubal takes the ball, coming off his first start allowing double-digit hits in over two seasons—not that it particularly damaged his final line, allowing just two runs—with Nick Lodolo on the other side for the Reds.

Suddenly, there’s an uncomfortable irony to Shohei Ohtani’s walk-up music.

Every time the dulcet tones of Michael Buble singing “…and I’m feeling good” come on, the Dodgers have to hope their two-way star does too.

For the first time in almost a week on Monday, Ohtani was feeling good enough to return to the Dodgers’ lineup, ending a previous streak of four-straight games missed while he was managing injuries to his right arm and left knee.

However, whatever was ailing him at the plate before his recent absence –– when he went 6-for-46 over a 12-game stretch from Aug. 19 to Sept. 2 –– had clearly yet to be resolved.

“It was certainly good to get him back out there,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But there was certainly nothing to write home about.”

Indeed, while the Dodgers rode another big night from Teoscar Hernández (two hits, including a three-run home run, plus a walk) to a 6-3 defeat of the Cincinnati Reds, Ohtani went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts while drawing only a seventh-inning walk –– inspiring little confidence that, even if he’s able to take the field right now, his swing is close to being where he and the team would like it to be.

Back in his customary leadoff spot, Ohtani began the night with relatively loud contact, lifting a deep fly ball to left field that died just shy of the warning track. 

But after that, the 32-year-old looked largely unchanged from his recent offensive struggles.

He swung through a changeup and slider from young Reds ace Chase Burnes in the third inning, going down on the latter while chasing a pitch in the dirt.

He went down swinging again during his highest-leverage at-bat in the fifth, leaving a runner stranded at third after fanning on a sweeper and changeup from left-handed reliever Brandon Williamson.

“I should have enough experience to be able to address any kinks or injuries or anything like that with the swing,” Ohtani said through an interpreter afterward. “I’m going to use this as an opportunity to add on to the experience that I’ve had previously and be able to address it regardless [of my injuries].”

Ohtani did show better plate discipline in the seventh, fouling off two pitches in the zone while taking four misses from Williamson for a walk.

And to Roberts, the most important part of the game was that Ohtani was simply able to play.

“I think the main thing is that there was nothing alarming from the at-bats,” he said. “To take four days off, to come out of it feeling good, I think that’s a win in itself.”

When asked how far away Ohtani’s swing looks from its ideal state, Roberts even tried to strike an optimistic tone, writing off Monday as more of a timing issue after Ohtani’s recent break.

Just like the last four nights, in which the Dodgers all won with Ohtani out of the lineup, the team overcame his lack of impact again to run their winning streak to five games.

Emmet Sheehan was key to that, returning from triple-A Oklahoma City for a 5 ⅔-inning, one-run, 10-strikeout gem.

So too was Hernández, who continued his recent tear by lacing a 112 mph line drive into the left-field bullpen for a three-run homer in the sixth.

An inning before that, a two-run throwing error by Reds’ third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes had also given the Dodgers a lead.

Still, come October, the Dodgers know they will require more from Ohtani at the plate.

That’s what has made this last week so tricky, as they tried to balance his tenuous health with the need to give him a chance to rectify his swing –– all while also finally pulling the plug on his progression as a pitcher.

“I’m confident that my overall performance should be better moving forward,” Ohtani insisted. “I think the thing that I was more focused on was making sure that the pitching wouldn’t cause the worse scenario, which was for me to not be able to play at all.”

For now, that potential outcome has indeed been avoided.

But Monday was a reminder that, even if Ohtani is feeling good enough to return to the field, there’s still much work left to go before he looks right at the plate.

“Physically, he looked good, he came out of it feeling strong, feeling healthy,” Roberts said. “Just to get a day under his belt, four at-bats, and him to come out of it not going backwards was important, and we accomplished that.”