Category: Sports News

The Red Sox lost to the Twins 11-6 on Monday, a Crochet Day. They were down 11-0 before the second inning was over and got some runs after that, but it was plenty over by then. It was bad. It was very bad. It was abysmal. The end.

All sorts of problems were on display for the Yankees: infield defense that has been under the microscope again underwhelmed; a couple of misplays extended an inning that would not end; Will Warren could not overcome the problems behind him and could not put batters away; a bullpen that had been spotty was far worse than that and coughed up lead after lead.

But these issues become minimized when the Yankees offense hums and Aaron Judge destroys baseballs.

In an entertaining Monday matchup that pitted the past two Team USA World Baseball Classic captains against each other, Judge and Mike Trout put on a show for eight innings before Judge’s co-stars stole the spotlight in the ninth.

Trent Grisham — who did not even start yet launched his first two home runs of the season — stepped into a two-run home run to tie the game in the ninth before the Yankees manufactured the game-winner, José Caballero doubling, stealing third and scoring on a walk-off wild pitch to claim an entertaining and back-and-forth 11-10 victory over the Angels in front of 35,789 in The Bronx.

“Maybe it was good to have a game like that where it was a little messy,” manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees (9-7) snapped a five-game skid. “The offense was able to really pick up what’s been excellent pitching for us so far.”

The Yankees outhit their other issues, their offense awakening in the New York heat and against Angels pitching. It took five innings for the Yankees to score seven runs — or more runs than they had scored in each of their previous seven games.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Because of their other problems and because of Trout, they needed to keep adding on.

It was Trout — whose bid for a grand slam died a few feet short earlier in the game — who answered a three-run shot from Grisham in the fifth by smoking his own three-run home run to tie it 7-7 in the sixth.

A few minutes later, Judge crushed his second home run of the game to left, a bullet that might have dented the pole if angled a few feet to the left, giving the Yankees another lead that they would not hold.

They already had blown a 4-0 lead after three innings — because the Angels scored four unearned runs against Warren, done in by an inability to finish off hitters and an error from Caballero plus a play Paul Goldschmidt normally makes — and a 7-4 edge after five innings because of Trout’s first homer.

What was one more lead to blow, this one 8-7 after the sixth?

The Angels seized control in the seventh and eighth — in the former, two hits and a sacrifice fly off Jake Bird tied the game, before Trout victimized Camilo Doval by demolishing his second homer of the night, a two-run, 445-foot dagger that banked into the visiting bullpen — which made the Yankees reach for their remaining ammunition in the ninth.

“A bunch of big homers could really get you down as a team,” said Grisham, who sat against opposing lefty Yusei Kikuchi, entered in the fifth and authored his best game of the season. “Staying in there and fight and staying in it the whole time was good to see.”

What might have been the most backbreaking loss of the season became arguably the most inspired. Against closer Jordan Romano, who entered with a 0.00 ERA, Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled before Grisham — who entered the game hitting .133 but undeterred because of the strength of his at-bats — saw a 3-1 slider and punished it to right to flip the game.

“To go out there and get some results and put the ball in the seats in some big spots obviously was huge,” Boone said of Grisham, who then watched Caballero — the reigning American League steals leader — create havoc, aided by a nine-pitch at-bat from Ryan McMahon in which eight fastballs were followed by one slider, which slid all the way to the backstop and prompted a subdued Yankees celebration around the plate.

The defensive misplays, lack of length from Warren and, most notably, the 5 ¹/₃ innings of six-run ball from the Yankees bullpen could be forgotten for the time being.

So could that five-game losing streak.

“Every good team goes through at least two big losing streaks,” Judge said. “Hopefully we can get this one out of the way and hopefully try to avoid the other one. But it’s going to come, and you can’t ride the roller coaster.”

Mike Trout is a living legend of the game. His true prime ended before COVID-19 ravaged the world, due to a mountain of injuries costing not only him of accumulating the stats that would make him an inner-circle Hall of Famer, but robbing us fans of watching his greatness more.

It makes it all the more frustrating that he’s spent his career in the shadows of Anaheim, playing just three playoff games in his decade-and-a-half in the league. Even as it’s been seven years since his last truly great season, we see glimpses every so often of the player who once ruled the world.

Tonight, Trout hit two clutch home runs that first tied the game at seven and then gave the Angels the lead, the 407th and 408th bombs of his career (moving past Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer Duke Snider). He went shot-for-shot with the current gold standard, Aaron Judge, in a memorable back-and-forth that you only hear about in legend. He even made a great catch to rob Randal Grichuk of extra bases, showing he’s all the way back in center field. This was vintage Mike Trout.

And yet, as it happens over and over again, the Angels found a way to lose. As the ancient scrolls dictate, “Mike Trout hits two home runs and makes a run-saving catch, while Josh Lowe did something that hasn’t been done since Tungsten Arm O’Doyle of the 1921 Akron Groomsmen, as the Angels get walked off by the Yankees, 11-10.”

Will Warren got things started with a 1-2-3 first inning against the top of the Angels’ order, giving the offense the opportunity to strike first. Paul Goldschmidt did his usual lefty-killer things with a leadoff double against Yusei Kikuchi to bring up the slumbering captain. It’s impossible to know in the moment when a player starts to figure it out, but after homering in his last at-bat on Sunday, it was a good sign to see Judge identify a 2-0 changeup that went right down Broadway and obliterate it into the left-field bleachers to open the scoring.

That’s been the problem for Judge in the early going, not swinging enough at pitches that he’s historically done a lot of damage on, but he swung at that one, and it landed 456 feet away to quickly jump on Kikuchi, who’s had success in the past against the Yankees. Amusingly, it tied him for 82nd on the all-time home run list with … Goldschmidt, the man who scored ahead of him on dinger no. 373.

Warren gave the Yankees a shutdown inning in the second, pitching around a two-out hit-by-pitch of Jo Adell. In the bottom half of the inning, Grichuk worked a good at-bat to finally get on base of his own volition and set up José Caballero, who crushed a similarly hanging changeup down the pipe for a two-run homer of his own to make it 4-0.

Kikuchi was really laboring, and his defense wasn’t helping. After walking Austin Wells, he seemed to have gotten a routine 5-4-3 double play ball out of Judge, but Yoan Moncada booted it. A walk to Giancarlo Stanton loaded the bases for Amed Rosario, who put a charge into a 2-2 pitch with the bases loaded, but it resulted in a barreled fly out into Trout’s glove in center field.

It was more of the same in the third for Warren, as he tore up the bottom of the Angels’ order with his entire arsenal. Kikuchi finally put up a zero in the bottom half, but was still allowing hard contact. Grichuk was once again robbed of his first Yankee hit by Trout in center. It wasn’t quite going to be a home run, but it would’ve been in 22 ballparks.

The fourth is where things fell apart. Warren was cruising, but a routine groundball by Trout was booted by Caballero, and the wheels slowly fell off. Goldschmidt had a chance to turn a 1-6-3 double play a few pitches later, but muffed it and settled for a 3-unassisted. Jorge Soler and Adell put up good at-bats that ended in RBI hits to suddenly get the Angels on the board, but there were still two outs and Josh Lowe at the plate. Well, what if I told you that a guy with bad whiff and strikeout rates put together an 11-pitch at-bat and fouled off 3-4 excellent putaway pitches by Warren? Not great.

And then it got worse. Logan O’Hoppe put a good swing on a sinker below the zone for an RBI single to chase a laboring Warren, who exited with zero earned runs allowed. Fernando Cruz was tasked with putting out the fire and he certainly did not, walking back-to-back batters to tie the game before giving up a long flyout to center field to Trout. At least the Yanks got some luck back, right?

Suddenly, in a tie game, the Yankees only got a Goldschmidt walk in the fourth, but it did chase Kikuchi midway through. Tim Hill got the ball for the fifth and it looked like it was happening again, as the usual groundball specialist was getting groundballs, but they kept finding holes. Suddenly in a precarious spot, he induced an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play out of Adell.

Stanton led off the fifth with an absolute rope of a double that just missed being a home run to center field (110.5 mph and a homer in 17 ballparks!). We then saw Aaron Boone aggressively deploy his bench against Shaun Anderson, going to both Ben Rice and Trent Grisham in place of Rosario and Grichuk. Rice was able to work a walk, and after Jazz Chisholm Jr. made contact on a groundout that worked like a bunt, Grisham porched his first extra-base hit of the season for a big go-ahead home run to make it 7-4.

Of course, it can never be that easy. Hill got the first two outs of the inning, but gave up a sawed-off single to Adam Frazier that prompted Boone to go to Jake Bird.

It started well, as Bird jumped ahead of Zach Neto and got him to chase a 1-2 sweeper in the other batter’s box… the problem was that the young star shortstop managed to flick it into center field for a hit, which brought up a three-time MVP, who patiently waited for a pitch to hit until Bird served one up on 3-2 for a game-tying homer.

Anderson was still somehow pitching for the Angels in the bottom of the sixth and the managerial novice of Kurt Suzuki showed in a big way. After getting Ryan McMahon to roll one over for an out, he faced Judge once again, and the Yankees’ captain once again obliterated a changeup to deep left field for his second home run of the game, putting the Yankees back in front, 8-7 — and passing his pal Goldschmidt on the all-time leaderboard with no. 374.

Stanton finally chased Anderson with a single to left field, bringing on Mitch Farris. Rice singled to right field to put runners on the corners with two out, but the young lefty was able to strike out Chisholm to end the threat.

MLB games nowadays last about two hours and 40 minutes, and we reached this mark at the top of the seventh. Bird stayed on to start the inning and, after striking out the leadoff hitter, gave up a single, double, and game-tying sac fly to Lowe before Boone pulled the plug and asked Camilo Doval to strand the tying run at third, which he was able to do.

Farris stayed out there after the seventh-inning stretch and gave up a two-out single to Wells, but left him on. Doval started the eighth, as Boone desperately looked for someone to step up, and he did not. With one on and one out, Doval got stuck in a 3-2 count against Trout, and the future Hall of Famer obliterated his second homer of the game to give the Angels their first lead, 10-8.

The vibe was dejected, from the fans to the players to everyone involved. Drew Pomeranz pitched around a Bellinger single in the eighth and Paul Blackburn finally produced a 1-2-3 ninth, but the Yankees were down to their final three outs, facing an old foe, Jordan Romano.

Romano’s career has fallen on hard times since his run as Toronto’s closer. After a truly terrible stint with the Phillies, he’s now the closer for the Angels, and he’s been off to a good start this year. That said, he has bad, bad memories against the Yankees and especially in this ballpark. Those demons needed to be exorcised.

But not today. Chisholm led off with a single to give Grisham another at-bat, and the Big Sleep didn’t miss. The bad luck he’s hit into to start 2026 faded away as he smashed his second clutch home run of the night to improbably tie this game at 10.

Normally, you’d be content with that and be ready for David Bednar in extras, but the Yankees weren’t done. Caballero smoked a double down the left-field line, Wells worked a gritty walk, and up stepped the pariah of the early season: Ryan McMahon. As much as his numbers are still brutal, it does feel like his swings and at-bats are slowly improving, and this was his masterpiece.

Foul ball, ball, called strike that he cleverly overturned with ABS, called strike. With a 2-2 count, he fouled off back-to-back tough pitches, fought off a center-cut fastball, and took ball three low. With a full count and the winning run on third, the strikeout-prone McMahon stared down a slider in the dirt that trickled away from Logan O’Hoppe, allowing the winning run to score to complete the wildest game of the young season.

Somehow, these two teams will pick themselves up after this three-hour, 36-minute marathon and continue this four-game set tomorrow at 7:05 pm EST. It’s Ryan Weathers, hoping for some of this run support, up against left-hander Reid Detmers on YES. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to lie down.

Box Score

After losing by 12 runs last night, the Guardians destroyed a decent team tonight in beating the Cardinals 9-3.

We are still getting to know this team, but some exciting trends are emerging:

-Gavin Williams can have an off night without his good stuff and still only give up 2 runs in five innings.

-The bullpen looked solid. Hunter Gaddis,.in his return to the roster in place of Kolby Allard gave up a BABIP run. Erik Sabrowski was ridiculous again. Tim Herrin wanted to play with his food again, but emerged triumphant. And Cade Smith was Cade Smith.

-Is Angel Martinez the corner outfielder of our dreams to pair with Chase DeLauter, the corner outfielder beyond our wildest dreams? My column: …in any case, Martinez has started this season with a 162 wRC+. Most excitingly, he had a 234 wRC+ entering tonight off of RHP’s and we KNOW he can hit LHP, as he did tonight, hitting a homer in the first inning:

Martinez had a single as well, but his four batted balls today averaged over 102 mph. He’s an exciting young player, folks.

-But so is Brayan Rocchio:

-Juan Brito had a great at-bat in the 8th, Daniel Schneemann got a huge hit in the fourth, and David Fry finally put a good game together at the plate.

This is such a fun team. Fun enough where last night’s clunker didn’t bother me and I was excited to watch them play again tonight.tonight. Now to try to make it through to tomorrow night’s episode of Guardians 2026.

Oh, to top it all off- GEORGE VALERA IS BACK! (No offense, CJ Kayfus, see you soon). The Guardians are now 10-7.

Is this my most strained pun headline yet? Most likely. Also, please don’t crochet your socks. That’s just asking for blisters. 

After chasing Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez early last week, tonight they ambushed 2025 AL Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet for 11 runs in the first two innings. To say the lineup has come to life over the past week would be an understatement. The fact they’re doing it off of the best pitchers in baseball and, notably, left-handed ones, has this lineup looking more complete than they have in two years. 

Minnesota had a clear game plan against Crochet and executed it to perfection, swinging early and often against a pitcher that likes to pound the strike zone. They swung at 5 of the first 7 pitches of the game, leading to a Buxton pop out and back-to-back hustle doubles down the left field line by Austin Martin and Luke Keaschall to plate the first run. Ryan Jeffers followed with an RBI single to give the Twins a two run lead before Crochet had a chance to get settled. 

Crochet was able to retire Josh Bell, but issued a five-pitch walk to Victor Caratini and nailed Matt “cement bones” Wallner with a 95 MPH sinker to load them up for Brooks Lee. Lee didn’t hit it hard, but a perfectly placed infield singled plated two more. 4-0 Twins after the first.

The Twins weren’t done there. The first six Twins of the second inning reached, highlighted by a Caratini three-run dong dong to give Minnesota a 10-0 lead. Not to be outdone, known power hitter Ryan Kreidler delivered the kill shot, a 110 MPH laser over the left field fence and finally put Crochet out of his misery. 

On the pitching side, Bailey Ober still didn’t have very good velocity on his pitches, but was clearly fooling the Boston hitters, generating 13 whiffs and racking up 7 strikeouts in his 6 innings of work, all season-best figures. He allowed too many baserunners, but he was also likely attacking the zone more than usual with a generous 11 run lead to work with. Ober doesn’t look like he will recover the velocity he showed earlier in his career, but you can do a lot worse than this version of Ober as your fifth starter, especially given the emergence of Taj Bradley. 

The Twins weren’t done there though. Ryan Jeffers and Byron Buxton added homers of the own, the latter putting Buxton alone atop the all-time Target Field home run leaderboard, a well-deserved honor for unquestionably the most exciting Twin since leaving the Metrodome. 

Boston didn’t go quietly, tacking on a few more runs against Eric Orze in the 7th, but luckily the Twins had Garret Action Acton warmed and ready to silence the Boston bats over the final two frames. 

The win makes Minnesota the first AL team to reach 10 wins, while trailing only the Dodgers who have 11 pending the rest of tonight’s games. They’ve won 7 of their past 8 and have a chance to clinch their third straight series facing old friend Sonny Gray. I don’t know if the Twins can keep this up all season, but for now, let’s enjoy the ride and rack up some W’s. 

STUDS

• Ryan Jeffers: 3-4, 1 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB
• Victor(y) Caratini: 1-2, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB
• Byron Buxton: 2-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, Target Field Home Run KING
• Ryan Kreidler: 110 MPH EV home run off Crochet for a player with a career .376 OPS? You definitely get a shoutout, buddy

DUDS

• NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!!

Comment of the game goes to gintzer for their soothsaying talents and top notch preparedness. As any true Minnesotan knows, the best time to invest in winter gear is over the summer. 

It appears Edwin Díaz and the New York Mets will have a reunion this week after all.

Score-willing, of course.

Before Monday’s series-opener against the Mets, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that he expected L.A.’s new $69 million closer –– who is facing his former Mets team for the first time since leaving as a free agent this winter –– to pitch at some point this week, if the Dodgers have a save situation.

That represented news in the wake of a strange weekend for Díaz, who squandered a three-run lead in a blown save on Friday, was bypassed for a save situation on Saturday, and seemed to be potentially unavailable Sunday had another ninth-inning opportunity cropped up.

The reason for the conservative usage, Roberts said, was concern over Díaz’s diminished fastball velocity early on this season.

During the two days Díaz didn’t pitch, the team did manual tests –– but no medical imaging –– on the knee he blew out back in 2023.

Díaz noted this weekend that he’s had early-season velocity problems in the three seasons since that injury, though also emphasized that he has felt good physically since this campaign began.

“He’s wanting to pitch, says he’s available,” Roberts said. “I think now it’s just me kind of consulting with the training staff to figure out what’s the best case.”

Roberts struck a more optimistic tone with his Monday comments than he had over the weekend, voicing hope that this recent episode with Díaz –– who was 4-for-4 in save situations prior to Friday’s clunker –– was “behind us.”

“I talked to Edwin briefly, just a little bit ago, and he feels great, which is a good thing,” Roberts said. “I think now it goes to me having a conversation with the training staff … But now, just watching with my eyes and having him playing catch and talking to him, we feel very confident that he’s in a good spot.”

Though Díaz has dealt early-season velo dips before, his 95.8 mph average so far this season was almost a tick and a half below what he threw last year. On Friday, the three-time All-Star also struggled to keep a seemingly flat slider from hanging in the middle of the strike zone. 

Though Díaz told reporters on Saturday that he felt good physically, Roberts revealed on Monday that Díaz told the team following Friday’s outing that “he just didn’t feel right.”

Thus, at this early stage of the season, the club wanted to ensure he didn’t have any underlying health problems before sending him back to the bump.

“I would say a huge part of it is based on the calendar,” Roberts said. “Obviously his health is paramount. But I do think that us just being even more conservative right now certainly is that.”

Now, moving forward, Roberts said the Dodgers expect to see Diaz’s velocity start to tick back up.

“If he feels good,” Roberts said, “then the expectation is that the velocity will mirror that.”

Injury shuffle in the bullpen

The Dodgers did have another injury concern in their bullpen on Monday, placing right-hander Ben Casparius on the injured list with shoulder inflammation.

Kyle Hurt was called up to replace him.

A third-year big-leaguer, Casparius had struggled mightily early this season, posting a 9.64 ERA with four walks and four strikeouts in five appearances. 

With his injury, Hurt will get his first opportunity in the big leagues since undergoing a Tommy John procedure back in 2024. A USC product and former fifth-round draft pick, Hurt made only four career appearances before that surgery, but impressed with his performance in spring camp this year and pitched scoreless appearances in five of his six triple-A outings to begin this season.