Category: Sports News

The Yankees’ bats were shut down as Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd dealt eight scoreless innings, before a ninth-inning rally came up just short as Chicago managed a 5-2 win on a sunny Saturday afternoon in The Bronx.

The scheduled pitchers’ duel between two southpaws never materialized as Yanks starterMax Fried lasted just three ineffectual innings before he was forced out due to a blister on his left index finger.

Aaron Judgenotched a milestone home run in a 3-for-4 day, butNew York saw its five-game winning streak snapped as they fell to 53-42. Chicago improved to 56-39.

Here are the takeaways...

- “The one thing we’ve been able to count on is Max being an ace. He’s been everything we could have hoped for,” Aaron Boone said before the game. Apparently, the manager stating the obvious was seen by the baseball gods as some sort of transgression. They settled the score in the form of tough luck for the starter before the blister ended his day after surrendering four runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts, which saw his ERA jump to 2.43.

Fried was clearly in discomfort from the start and was seen shaking his left hand on multiple occasions as he struggled for command and a grip on the baseball. He threw just 39 strikes out of 73 pitches (53.4 percent).

In the game’s first at-bat, Nico Hoerner roped a triple to center (100.2 mph off the bat). Fried limited the damage to one run and pitched out of a two-on and two-out situation in the second before the wheels came off in the third.

It started with Kyle Tucker’s single to left and Seiya Suzuki just keeping it fair down the left field line for a double. And then Fried had some tough luck as Carson Kelly's soft liner to third kicked off Oswald Peraza's glove for an RBI hit.

A weak pop-up on the infield set up a double-play ball to third that should have ended the inning, but Peraza's throw to second took Jazz Chisholm Jr. out of rhythm, and the second baseman's throw to first went way over Paul Goldschmidt's head into the protective netting. A single up the middle made it 4-0 before he managed to get out of the inning.

- Judge was the lone Yankee to make anything happen off Boyd, lining a two-out double in the fourth and a one-out ground-rule double in the seventh. The rest of the bombers went a combined 2-for-24, with the other hits being a swinging bunt from Chisholm to lead off the fifth and Anthony Volpe’s one-out single in the eighth.

That isn't to say there weren't some loud outs: Volpe smacked a liner 110.4 mph off the bat (.720 xBA) and Judge rocketed a ball deep into the left-center gap (109.3 mph) in the first, but Pete Crow-Armstrong ranged over and made a leaping catch at the wall for a 409-foot out. It would have been a homer in 23 other big league parks, including Wrigley Field.

- In the ninth against Cubs reliever Brad Keller, Cody Bellinger extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a one-out double to left before Judge launched a 388-foot home run to right (105.5 mph) for his 350th career homer. He is now the fastest player to hit that milestone, needing just 1,088 games. He pushed his average to .358 and his OPS to 1.204 on the season as he looks to repeat as AL MVP.

Keller then plunked Giancarlo Stanton on the arms, and the Cubs brought in Daniel Palencia. The hard-throwing closer snuffed out any hope by getting Chisholm swinging on a 101 mph fastball and Trent Grisham to ground out to third to end it.

- The Yanks' bullpen retired 12 straight Cubs to keep the Yanks in the ballgame as Ian Hamilton (two innings, two strikeouts on 18 pitches), Scott Effross (one inning on seven pitches), and Jonathan Loaisiga (one inning, one strikeout on 14 pitches) combined to get to the eighth. 

But in his second frame, Loaisiga was stung for a home run to left on a 0-2 curveball of Kelly’s bat. The dinger was the seventh he's allowed this year in 23.1 innings over 22 appearances.

Tim Hill needed four pitches to get three outs in the eighth, and JT Brubaker allowed a hit and a walk in a scoreless, 15-pitch ninth.

- Grisham, struggling with a nagging hamstring, went 0-for-4 at the plate, including grounding into a double play. He was able to make a running grab deep in the left-center gap in the sixth inning. 

Game MVP: Matthew Boyd

The NL All-Star needed just 85 pitches to get 24 outs, allowing just four hits and no walks with six strikeouts as his ERA fell to 2.34 on the season.

Highlights

Aaron Judge is the fastest player in MLB history to reach 350 career home runs! pic.twitter.com/PbJOacomZw

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 12, 2025

What's next

The Yankees conclude the first half of the 2025 campaign on Sunday with a 1:35 p.m. first pitch in The Bronx.

Right-hander Will Warren (4.70 ERA, 1.400 WHIP in 90 innings) gets the ball for the home team against lefty Shota Imanaga (2.80 ERA, 0.984 WHIP in 61 innings).

The worst-case scenario for Mets reliever Dedniel Núñez has come to pass.

Núñez will undergo Tommy John surgery, manager Carlos Mendoza announced before Saturday's game against the Royals in Kansas City.

"Unfortunate. You feel for the guy. He gave it a try," Mendoza said. "It’s something he dealt with last year, missed the rest of the season. Rehabbed the whole year, worked extremely hard. Put himself in a position where he came in healthy in spring training and went through Triple-A. When we started to see that version of Núñez, for him to go down is unfortunate. We wish him the best, a quick recovery, and we’ll be praying for him."

It is the second such surgery Núñez will undergo in his career (2021). The Mets skipper said the procedure will be done next week and was unsure if it's the traditional Tommy John surgery or the internal brace surgery that comes with a shorter recovery time.

As Mendoza alluded to, the timing of Núñez's injury is unfortunate. After dominating in 2024, Núñez was placed on the IL in late July with a pronator strain. He returned to make one appearance in August before going down with right forearm tightness. 

This year, Núñez struggled after beginning the season on the IL. The right-hander was optioned to Triple-A, but when he was recalled to the team in late June, Núñez was much more effective. In five appearances since returning to the Mets bullpen, Núñez allowed just two runs over 6.0 innings pitched.

The Mets placed Núñez on the IL back on July 3 with an elbow sprain and did not rule out the surgery, but the procedure will knock the 29-year-old out for the rest of the 2025 season and potentially next year.

Juan Soto DHing

Mendoza penciled in Soto as the DH for Saturday's game and was asked for the reason. The Mets skipper said it was just to give his outfielder a breather after he fouled a pitch off his thigh in Friday's win.

"Just fouled it off [his thigh], got tight," Mendoza explained. "Went up to him yesterday before I put in Acuna to see if he can finish the game. And then he went deep. It’s one of those that happens throughout the year."

After Friday's homer, Soto is now hitting .328/.473/.687 with 14 home runs, five doubles, 29 RBI, 35 runs scored, and 35 walks over his last 39 games.

Phillies activate All-Star bonus for Sanchez after MLB omitted him from honor originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

SAN DIEGO – There has been a lot of life in the Phillies clubhouse the last couple of days in San Diego and it doesn’t really have to do with the way the team is playing. It has to do with the All-Star Game which will take place Tuesday in Atlanta’s Truist Park.

The subject has been the omission of pitchers Ranger Suarez and Christopher Sanchez from the National League team. The talk, sometimes borderline yelling, has mostly been over the fact that those two aren’t going.

No one had bad things to say about Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who was added to the team after just five starts, nor that Chicago Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd was granted a spot on Friday night. It was more of a protection of teammates. Shortstop Trea Turner, himself snubbed, was the most animated debater of the subject.

Suarez admitted Friday that he was contacted by the league to join the game but that he decided to decline the offer in order to rest and get ready for the remainder of the season. Earlier, Zack Wheeler had let the league know that he also was not going to take his spot on the NL roster.

Sanchez, who will start the series finale against the Padres on Sunday, talked about where things are with him. 

“Personally I did not (receive a call from the league), but (president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski) and Thoms (manager Rob Thomson) they did receive a call about it and they handled it the best way possible,” Sanchez said. “My teammates and my team are showing support and the front office as well has been supporting so much that they decided to, even though I’m not officially a part of the game, they’ve decided to activate the bonus clause that gets me a bonus for making the All-Star team. They decided to inform me that way and that just shows the overall support I’m receiving.”

That move by the front office goes a heck of a long way not only towards Sanchez, but to the rest of the team to see the backing of the big-wigs.

“It just means a lot. That’s why I love everybody here, I love everybody on this team,” added Sanchez. “We’re one. We’re playing for one team and it just feels like we’re one, one big group. Everyone knows that I’m an All-Star here.

“They’ve showed it by supporting me here, all my teammates. The league knows it, too. I’ve got to pitch tomorrow. By doing that I’m most likely out of being able to pitch for the game. Any other scenario where I’m not pitching tomorrow I think that I would be going to the All-Star game.”

Crazy to think with Wheeler and Suarez pulling out and Sanchez not getting asked that this Phillies starting rotation, which has been so terrific all season long, will not be represented.

“That’s what they do,” Thomson said of his team voicing their displeasure. “They stick up for each other, they support each other and that’s the sign of a good team. We all think (Sanchez) is an All-Star. It’s just the fact that he’s pitching on Sunday. We think he’s an All-Star. His teammates do, the entire organization does and I think that’s why (owner John Middleton) and Dave acted that way.”

Order switch

Thomson went with his usual left-handed heavy lineup on Saturday against Padres starter Yu Darvish. But there was a slight change as Bryson Stott was moved up to the sixth spot in the order and Max Kepler dropped to the eight hole. Kepler is just eight for his last 47.

“Just to take a little heat off Kep,” Thomson said for his reasoning. “He’s been coming up with a lot of situations with runners on base and it seems like he was grinding a little bit. Just want him to relax a little bit. He’s gotten through some really good stretches where you think he’s taking off and looks like the guy we signed in spring training. And there’s other times where he’s been smothering the ball. Just getting out in front too much and looks like he’s trying to do too much.

“But it’s not over, yet. We’ve got a lot more games to go. Things can change. I think between him and (Otto) Kemp, Kep and Kemp, I think we’re in a pretty good spot.”

Nola update

Aaron Nola continued his rehabbing from a rib fracture by throwing 41 pitches Thursday. Thomson is very pleased with the progress of Nola, who last pitched on May 14. “He’ll throw another batting practice on Tuesday, join us after the break and throw another BP on Saturday. If all goes well.”

Should be fun to see how the back of the rotation shakes out in the “second half” as Nola appears on track to return, the club has not committed to anything when it comes to prospect Andrew Painter, and Mick Abel just had a very good outing in Lehigh Valley the other night. Stay tuned.

Homer drought

The date was May 21 of this year, and the Phillies won 9-5 in Colorado. What does that matter? Well it just so happens to be the last time catcher J.T. Realmuto hit a home run for the team. Thomson was asked if he had any concerns in that area surrounding the 34-year-old Realmuto.

“I think his at-bats have been really good lately,” said Thomson. “The last couple of weeks anyways. Home runs will come. Just hasn’t happened, yet. They’ll come, I’m sure.” Realmuto has hit in seven of his last eight games, four of them being multi hit games. During that span he is 13-for-33 (.394).

Max Friedstruggled through three innings of work before exiting Saturday’s loss to the Chicago Cubs with a blister on his left index finger, the Yankees announced.

The Yanks’ All-Star left-hander was seen looking at his left hand on multiple occasions during his outing and appeared to be struggling for command and a grip on the baseball. He threw just 39 strikes out of 73 pitches (53.4 percent). Fried indicated after the game that the blister might not have impacted him: "I was bad, I just wasn't good. Not being able to execute pitches and get outs when I needed them."

Manager Aaron Boone said the blister wasn't something Fried had before the game, and this one "popped up at the end there."

"It was a good one; he definitely had to come out," the managers said about the size of the blister.

Fried added that he felt the blister coming on with the penultimate pitch of his outing and called it "unfortunate" timing.

"I was grinding and it popped up at the end," he said. "It's just frustrating not to be able to cover as many innings and be able to stay out there."

Fried's average velocity was up on the 13 four-seam fastballs, nine sinkers, and eight sweepers he threw. But it was down on 18 cutters, 16 curveballs, and eight changeups. Possibly more telling, the average spin rate was down on every pitch he threw, save the sinker.

"I thought stuff-wise, he was kinda electric with his stuff, he kinda had a hard time harnessing it early," Boone said. "So the strike throwing wasn't there to what it normally is... It was just finding that location and finding that command was a struggle today."

A blister on that same finger has sent Fried to the IL on three different occasions during his career, most recently in September 2023. He also missed time due to a blister on his middle finger in 2018.

"We'll see," Boone said when asked about his level of concern. "He's dealt with it a little bit even this year and been treated pretty well, so we'll just see how the next days unfold."

"As far as timelines," Fried said, adding it is fortunate timing with the All-Star Break coming up. "I don't know exactly how this one's gonna shake out. A lot of times, you just have to see how it starts healing over the next couple of days."

On the blisters, Fried said each case is its own thing, and more times than not, just letting the skin heal will do the trick.

The afternoon got off to a rocky start when Nico Hoerner roped a triple to center (100.2 mph off the bat) off a Fried cutter. The lefty limited the damage to one run. He pitched out of a two-on and two-out situation in the second before the wheels came off in the third.

After Kyle Tucker notched a single to left, Seiya Suzuki just kept a ball fair down the left field line for a double. And then Fried had some tough luck as Carson Kelly's soft liner to third kicked off Oswald Peraza's glove for an RBI hit.

And after getting a weak pop out on the infield, a double play ball looked to end the inning, but Peraza's throw to second took Jazz Chisholm Jr. out of rhythm, and the second baseman's throw to first went way over Paul Goldschmidt's head into the protective netting. A single up the middle made it 4-0 before he managed to get out of the inning.

His final line: four runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts, which saw his ERA jump to 2.43.

Jonah Tong can’t explain the science behind his new devastating changeup’s action. But since adding the pitch to his arsenal, the results – 125 strikeouts in 78.2 innings at Double-A this year – for the Mets’ fast-rising prospect have science fiction to thank.

Standing in front of his locker at the MLB Futures Game in Atlanta on Saturday, Tong reached behind him to pick up a baseball to show exactly how the changeup had evolved.

“Originally, it was across the four-seam,” he said, stretching his middle and index fingers across the baseball. The new grip came to him when he saw a guy on Instagram demonstrate the “Vulcan” grip. “I’m like, ‘That looks sick, let me try it.'"

While he had some success with the grip, which gets its Star Trek-inspired name from mimicking the stretching of those middle two fingers like Spock, they noticed the pitch was getting too much vertical rise. At the suggestion of Mets vice president of pitching Eric Jagers, Tong rotated the ball in his hands to place the two stretched out fingers around the horseshoe of the baseball.

“I can’t tell you why, I’m sure they could do a way better job than me. But it just helps,” Tong said, pausing to look up and rotate his index finger in a circle. “Helped it lose some vert with it. We’re seeing great return with it and it’s been really fun to play around with.”

While the changeup has been a big part of Tong’s recent form this year, pitching to a 1.83 ERA and 0.928 WHIP through 15 starts, the right-hander said the mental side of the game has been the key.

“My first month of the year wasn’t amazing, it wasn’t bad by any means,” he said.

After getting through his first five starts, when he allowed nine runs (eight earned) on 16 hits over 21.1 innings, he sat down with his pitching coach and asked for help: What do I need to do? The answer was to keep it simple. 

“Don’t let small things affect you and just go out there and have fun. It’s a kid’s game,” Tong said of the advice he received. “I feel like that’s really helped me realize how free and easy this game can be if you just take a minute to enjoy it.”

Opposition hitters haven’t found much enjoyment at all batting .116 with a .365 OPS and 87 strikeouts to 21 walks in 57.1 innings.

“Facing him is not very fun,” Carson Benge, fellow Mets prospect at the Futures Game, said on Saturday.

Jonah Tong grabs a ball from his bag to detail how he adjusted his changeup grip pic.twitter.com/Fqp02mo5wy

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) July 12, 2025

While the changeup has become his “most consistent strike pitch,” especially from an offspeed standpoint, Tong’s fastball, which he has said in the past is his “bread and butter” pitch, is still giving hitters trouble.

"I would like to attribute it to the shape… It’s interesting, it’s unique,” he said. “It's something I'm really comfortable throwing and confident. And I feel like if you’re confident, you’re gonna have a lot of success with it.”

While he may be one of the Mets’ fastest rising prospects, Tong is trying to keep the focus on the present instead of his big-league future. 

“I try to catch myself, because my entire goal this year… was to just be where my feet are,” he said. “I think that when you start looking at the future, it’s awesome, but you can’t really control that. Big thing is just being in the moment, being present, and everything else will take care of itself.” 

Benge glad to feel wind at his back

It is the common refrain from Mets left-handed hitting prospects after they reach Double-A Binghamton after spending time at High-A in Coney Island: The wind is gone.

Benge, the organization's No. 5 prospect per Joe DeMayo's rankings, is no different as he is batting .302 with a .956 OPS through 13 games after his recent promotion

“There wasn't too much of an adjustment, but getting out of Brooklyn with the wind always blowing in, that's been pretty nice,” he said Saturday. “Sticking with my same approach, it hasn’t led me wrong yet.”

Benge said at the plate he’s trying to stay the same hitter, but he feels he is “pulling the ball more” and “getting good contact to all [parts] of the field.”

And the results have been good through 73 games this year across both levels: 21 doubles, five triples, and six home runs with 44 RBI and a .302/.422/.485 slash line for a .907 OPS.

“Special hitter,” Tong said of Benge. “I’m just really lucky to be on the same team as him because I don’t know how I would feel facing him.”

The 22-year-old former two-way prospect said the adjustment to playing pro ball is about the routine of getting your body ready for the grind of a season.

“Keeping my body healthy enough to play every day would be the main thing, getting my recovery in,” he said. “Because in college ball it’s nice to do, but with 50-some games it wasn’t something you had to do. But with this long season, gotta stay on top of that.”

And switching to just being a position player, Benge said he finds it easier to just focus on one aspect of the game.

“I feel like it's definitely easier to grow when I'm just focused on hitting. Taking that strain off my body is big too, I feel like I'd be almost dead right now if I had to pitch. 

He added: “I do miss pitching, it’s fun, a lot of fun. But I like [hitting] more.”

Benge has sights on continuing to climb the ladder and connecting with Mets prospect Nolan McLean, his former teammate at Oklahoma State, who is dazzling at Triple-A Syracuse

“Seeing him in college, you could tell there was something special about his arm, something special about how he goes about his business,” Benge said of Mclean. “Seeing him put in the work day in and day out, it’s really special to see it paying off.”

Giants receive full Shohei Ohtani experience through first two games vs. Dodgers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Heliot Ramos was never a pitcher when he was growing up, but if he had the skill set to be a two-way player, he knows which direction he would choose. 

“If I was him,” he said of Shohei Ohtani, “I would hit.”

Ramos pointed out that Ohtani seems to be the same guy every night at the plate. Even his outs look hard, and he’s a threat to go deep every time he digs into the dirt. As a pitcher, Ramos said, you can have the occasional bad day. Saturday did not qualify for Ohtani. 

The game’s best player had his longest start since coming back from right elbow surgery, allowing just one hit in three innings to get the Dodgers going in a game they would win 2-1. Ohtani already has made an impact on this rivalry as a hitter, but Saturday was his first time facing the Giants as a pitcher for the Dodgers, and he certainly embraced the moment. Ohtani struck out the side in the first inning, hitting 100 mph. 

“He was attacking everybody, he has a good fastball,” Ramos said. “He looked pretty good today.”

3 batters, 3 strikeouts for Shohei Ohtani ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/m8CctcmuUc

— MLB (@MLB) July 12, 2025

The problem for the Giants was not that Ohtani dominated. They kind of figured that was coming, but their hope was that they could at least get his pitch count up and get him out of the game relatively early. Instead, Ohtani got through the first two innings on 23 pitches, which allowed him to go out for the third for the first time since his surgery. 

The bigger problem was that the Giants then did just about nothing against righty Emmet Sheehan, who took over in the fourth. Their lone run came in the eighth, when they had the bases loaded with one out. Rafael Devers hit a sacrifice fly but Matt Chapman grounded out. 

That wasted a strong performance by Landen Roupp, who got shelled at Dodger Stadium last month. Roupp never even pulled up the video of that game to review what went wrong. He was ready to move on, and on Saturday he allowed two runs over six. 

“I just had full control of everything,” he said. “Last outing there at Dodger Stadium, I just didn’t have a feel for anything. Today that was different and I was able to get through six.”

Roupp was on the mound well after Ohtani walked off, but that didn’t mean he was done with him. He got Ohtani to roll over twice on curveballs early in the game and then struck him out with a nasty sinker in the fifth, two innings after Ohtani had finished pitching. 

“I didn’t want to go back to [the curveball] because I figured he was looking for it,” Roupp said. “I stayed hard there and put a pitch at the top of the zone and got the call.”

Roupp finished the first half with a 3.27 ERA. He has given the Giants a reliable third option, and he said he’s looking forward to getting back home to North Carolina next week and doing some hunting.

Ohtani is also headed to the South, but he’ll be in Atlanta at the 2025 MLB All-Star Game. Through two games of this series, he has shown every bit of why he’s a perennial All-Star. A day after hitting a ball into McCovey Cove, he struck out four Giants. 

“It was crazy,” Roupp said. “Going into today, I was kind of shocked he was still leading off just because you have to throw your pregame bullpen, but he does it so well.”

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