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It was quality over quantity for the Dodgers on Monday night. A bunch of empty at-bats, salvaged by a few emphatic drives that left the ballpark.

In six innings against struggling Minnesota Twins starter David Festa, the Dodgers’ slumping offense managed only four hits — doing little to quell the offensive concerns that have mounted during a puzzling month of poor all-around production.

Three of the knocks, however, went over the fence, with a two-run blast from Shohei Ohtani in the first inning and a pair of solo homers from Will Smith in the fourth and sixth lifting the team to a 5-2 win at Dodger Stadium.

Read more:From a day off to the leadoff spot, Dodgers try unraveling mystery of Mookie Betts' slump

A course correction, this was not for the Dodgers’ supposed powerhouse offense.

Entering the night, the team had the third-lowest team batting average in the majors this month. As even president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman acknowledged during pregame batting practice, “we've had more than half of our lineup really scuffle” for the last six weeks running.

“The offense scuffling the way it has,” Friedman added, “was something that I didn’t expect over this kind of protracted period of time.”

On Monday, though, the Dodgers did rectify at least one issue plaguing their recent offensive struggles. After hitting only 19 total home runs in their first 15 games in July, they went deep four times against the Twins (48-52), with Andy Pages adding an insurance shot in the seventh inning against reliever Cole Sands. It marked only the fifth time this season they hit at least four homers in a single contest.

Ohtani provided the night’s first big swing, immediately erasing the leadoff blast he gave up to Byron Buxton in the top of the first while making his sixth pitching start of the season.

In his second game occupying the second spot in the batting order, the two-way star wasn’t forced to rush between the mound and the plate (something manager Dave Roberts hoped would be a side benefit of replacing him with Mookie Betts as the team’s leadoff hitter). He was able to go through his normal routine of on-deck swings while watching Betts draw a five-pitch walk.

Read more:New mural at Dodger Stadium honors Fernando Valenzuela

Then, for the first time in his six games as a pitcher this season, Ohtani not only got a hit, but clobbered a hanging changeup in a 2-and-1 count, launching his 35th home run of the season 441 feet to straightaway center.

From there, the Dodgers (59-42) kept playing long ball.

Festa, a second-year right-hander who entered the night with a 5.25 earned-run average, retired the next nine batters he faced before Smith came up to lead off the fourth.

Festa got ahead 1-and-2 in the count, before throwing a changeup that Smith fought off and missing wide with a slider. Festa’s next pitch was a fastball left over middle. Smith, the one Dodgers hitter who has been swinging a hot bat of late, didn’t miss it, going the other way to make the score 3-1.

Festa was still in the game when Smith came back up in the sixth. Once again, the pitcher made a mistake, hanging a slider over the heart of the plate. Once again, Smith was all over it, sending a souvenir into the left-field pavilion for his 14th home run, and first multi-homer game since last July.

With the two blasts, Smith raised his National League-leading batting average to .327. Since the start of July, he is 15 for 40 with a 1.163 OPS.

By the time Pages added to the lead in the seventh, whacking his 18th of the season deep to left, the game was already in hand.

Despite giving up plenty of hard contact and lacking the pinpoint command he’d flashed in his previous starts, Ohtani kept the Twins off the board over the rest of his three-inning outing, collecting three strikeouts over a season-high 46 pitches to finish the night with a 1.50 ERA.

After that, converted starter Dustin May followed with a productive bulk outing from the bullpen, scattering five hits over 4 ⅔ scoreless innings.

Read more:Pitching injuries continue to be an issue in MLB. How it's impacting pitchers at all levels

The Dodgers did not get out of Monday unscathed. In the top of the ninth, closer Tanner Scott left the game alongside a trainer after walking one batter, hitting another and then spiking a slider that left him grimacing.

As he left the field, he appeared to be flexing his left throwing arm — a potentially troubling sign for a Dodgers team that was already in need of bullpen reinforcements ahead of next week’s trade deadline.

But on Monday, at least, the team survived, with James Outman denying Carlos Correa a potential tying three-run homer off Scott’s replacement, Kirby Yates, with a leaping catch at the center-field wall for the night’s final out.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

On Monday night, Mets right-hander Kodai Senga looked like a pitcher on the mound for the first time in 10 days and making just his second start in over a month.

The sharpness from routine and the swings and misses from hitters looking to protect the strike zone as forkballs dive below the strike zone was nowhere to be found.

“It all comes down to mechanics,” Senga said after lasting just three laborious innings in what would end up being a 7-5 comeback win after the starter put them in an early hole.

Senga, who allowed the game's first batter to reach for the ninth time in 15 starts this year, surrendered four runs on four hits with three walks, including three two-out runs in a third inning that saw him throw 37 of 73 pitches. Monday's outing ended a streak of 31 starts of allowing three runs or fewer.

The diagnosis was pretty simple from manager Carlos Mendoza.

“I feel like he had a hard time with all of his pitches,” he said. “At times, he threw a couple of good splits. But then there were some of them that were non-competitive.

“He got away from his fastball a little bit, the cutter wasn’t a pitch. And then with two outs [in the third]... they got pitches to hit and then they didn’t miss ‘em.”

Senga’s diagnosis was not too dissimilar.

“I was thinking about a lot of things, and it didn’t come to fruition,” the right-hander said, speaking through an interpreter, before adding, “I used my brain quite a bit today.”

For Senga, who began the year with a 1.47 ERA over his first 73.2 innings before a stint on the IL cost him a month before returning for one outing before the All-Star break, the absence of thought was a good thing.

“I think, ideally, you’re so dominant that you don’t have to think about anything. But, obviously, it’s not easy,” Senga said. “Not thinking too much about myself, thinking about the opposing hitters is the most important thing.”

Perhaps the busy mind was the result of trying to figure out why the Angels hitters – who are some of the most likely strikeout candidates in the majors – seemed to show no interest in swinging at Senga’s forkball, which entered Monday’s start with a 42 percent whiff rate.

“I think towards the beginning of the game they were swinging when it was landing, but throughout the game maybe [I was] too heavy on the offspeed and not enough fastballs,” Senga said. “That’s a conversation we’ll have with the catchers and the pitching coaches.”

In all, Senga did manage five strikeouts and the forkball did garner six whiffs on seven swings, but it was taken for a ball 12 times. And overall, half of the 10 whiffs came on pitches thrown inside the strike zone. Notably, Senga looked displeased when he got Mike Trout swinging in the first inning when the future Hall of Fame slugger whiffed at a forkball that hovered into a dangerous spot.

Before his next start, Senga said he will reflect on what went wrong and make sure it doesn’t happen again. The Mets will hope the thinking between starts will do the trick as they will look to continue to build him back up after he was capped at 80 pitches in his first start of the season’s second half.

Monday wasn't just a return to the majors for Francisco Alvarez; it was a culmination of hard work and a good attitude by the Mets catcher that the organization and fans have grown accustomed to seeing during his young career.

So, before his first at-bat with New York after he spent a month in Triple-A diligently working on all the things that the team asked him to do, the fans showed their continued appreciation and support of the 23-year-old by giving him a standing ovation.

Francisco Alvarez gets a big hand from the Citi Field crowd before his first at-bat pic.twitter.com/XkZHeztMJx

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 21, 2025

Not only was it deserved after the work he put in down in the minors (with the results to match), the love from the crowd served as a reminder to Alvarez that they've got his back no matter what.

"It felt really good just because of all the struggles that I’ve had earlier in the season and the way that they’ve kept supporting me and the way they received me today, through all the hard work that I’ve been putting in, it felt really special to me to be able to get that reception from the fans," Alvarez said through a translator. "I’m super appreciative of all the fans here."

Even manager Carlos Mendoza could feel the love from the dugout and thanked Mets fans for the gesture.

"From the very beginning, it was really special for us to see the reception from the fan base," the skipper said after the game. "I didn’t even think anything until he’s walking towards the plate and everybody’s on their feet. Like, shoutout to the fans today because that was special. I feel like he felt it, it meant something for him, it meant something for all of us in the dugout, so that was just the very beginning there."

Alvarez went on to have a nice game and was an important part of the Mets' come-from-behind 7-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels.

It started with his defense, which had become a problem this season, especially in blocking. Put right to the test with Kodai Senga and his dastardly ghost fork on the mound, Alvarez picked a few balls in the dirt on a night that Senga also didn't have his usual control on some of his other pitches.

With Senga done after just three innings, it was obvious New York would need to use a few relievers to finish out the game. The first of those relievers was Kevin Herget, who was making just his third appearance this season.

Herget, with the help of Alvarez, pitched 2.1 scoreless innings to keep the Mets in the game. In fact, the five relievers out of New York's bullpen pitched six innings and allowed just one run, allowing the Mets to stage their comeback. At the heart of it all was Alvarez, who added a caught stealing and had a nice tag on an out at home plate.

Meanwhile, after hitting 11 home runs for Syracuse, Alvarez showed off a much calmer approach at the plate. He walked twice and then had a huge double in the eighth inning that led to the winning run.

Mendoza noticed it all, offensively and defensively, and was proud of how the catcher handled it, particularly after such a long absence from the team.

"Just watching him the whole game, the takes, couple of walks, and then for him to drive the ball like that against a righty, that’s a really good sign," Mendoza said. "Kind of like what we’ve been seeing the past two weeks or so. But it’s just the confidence that you can see it in the box… and it’s just knowing that he’s in control of the at-bat so it was really good to see."

"It feels good and it’s super important, especially because we got the win," Alvarez said about his overall game. "Had we lost this game, and I would’ve hit that double and I would’ve thrown out the runner, it wouldn’t have felt the same. We’re here for the reason of winning, that’s the most important thing for all of us and I think that’s why it was so special to have success on both sides."

The goal of every big league ball player is to make the impact plays that help the team win. If that comes at the plate or in the field, everyone wants to be the guy who makes things happen when it matters.

Brett Baty had the rare treat of doing both in the Mets’ 7-5 win on Monday night, overturning a 4-0 deficit against the Los Angeles Angels. 

“Just trying to have quality at-bats, hit the ball hard, and play good defense,” Baty said of his performance on both sides of the ball. “I feel like I’m in a good spot.”

His first big moment of the game came with two down in the home half of the fourth with Jeff McNeil on first and the Mets in a 4-0 hole. Facing lefty Tyler Anderson, Baty got ahead 2-0 with a good eye laying off a tough low-and-away slider. He then got a sinker that slid right into the happy zone and put the barrel on the ball to drive it 404 feet to right-center for a two-run home run, his 11th on the season and second of the current homestand.

Despite it being Baty’s first home run off a left-handed pitcher on the season, the lefty swinger said taking the southpaw deep didn’t mean anything extra. “Just trying to have quality at-bats,” he said after a quick shake of the head.

With one out in the top of the seventh and runners on the corners, after the Angels pushed their lead back to three runs, Baty leaped to field a Jo Adell chopper, collected himself, and threw home to easily nab Mike Trout at the plate. It wasn't that difficult of a play, but one his opposite number, Yoán Moncada, failed to make later in the game that saw Baty score the game-winning run.

“I thought they were both good,” Baty said of his homer and throw to the plate.

Was one more pivotal than the other? “No, I think without either one of those, then I don’t know if we win the game, so I think both of them were crucial for sure.”

Manager Carlos Mendoza feels like the young infielder is “getting to a point now where like every little thing that he does, he knows that it’s meaningful.”

“Good player that is having good results, offensively, defensively – not only at third, [but] at second base,” Mendoza said. “Just good to see him continue to develop here.”

In the last 13 games, Baty has been seeing the ball much better, with 11 hits in 35 at-bats (.314), including three home runs and five RBI. Asked if anything has changed, he just shook his head once more, "No, I'm just trying to be the best player I can be. Just trying to have quality at-bats, I feel like I did when I started the year, feel like I did when I was in spring training, so, just trying to be me.”

Mendoza called Baty a “confident player” who is getting results thanks in part to knowing that he’s going to be in the lineup each day.

“He continues to help us win baseball games,” Mendoza said, adding that at the big league level, “It’s all about winning here. And, a lot of times, when you come from the minor leagues, it takes some time” to adjust to making the winning play every time. 

"Like, ‘hey, man, it’s a team effort here,’” the skipper continued. “If you get a guy over, if you make a play, you [might be] 0-for-4, but you’re still contributing."

The one spot Baty may have just been a tick slow came on the basepaths in the eighth inning when Francisco Alvarez lined a double off the wall in right field with one out and the score tied. “I just wish I could have scored for him on that double,” Baty said of the catcher playing in his first game back in the big leagues after a stint at Triple-A.

Of course, Baty is being a bit harsh on himself. The ball only found the wall because Angels right fielder Chris Taylor misplayed the drive and likely should have come up with the catch. Baty got near second base before he started backtracking toward first as Taylor looked settled under the ball, but he still managed to speed around to third when the ball fell in.

When Baty crossed the plate after Moncada’s throw got past Angels catcher Logan O'Hoppe one batter later, his baserunning ‘mistake’ was totally forgotten.

The Mets came back from four runs down by taking advantage of some shoddy defense by the Los Angeles Angels to grab a 7-5 win on Monday night at Citi Field.

Kodai Senga, lacking sharpness and striking no fear in the Angels -- who showed no fear in laying off the Ghost Fork below the strike zone -- managed to go just three frames as his streak of 31 starts of allowing three runs or fewer ended. But New York's bullpen bought enough time for the bats to respond with a three-run seventh and two-run eighth to improve to 57-44 on the season and 35-16 at home.

Here are the takeaways...

- Down three in the seventh, the Mets came alive when Francisco Alvarez, in his first game back after his demotion, led off with a walk and Luisangel Acuña singled up the middle to knock out Angels starter Tyler Anderson who had been terrific. Reliever Reid Detmers came on and plunked Brandon Nimmo to load the bases. Francisco Lindor grounded into a run-scoring 6-4 fielder’s choice, beating the relay to first and then swiping second without a throw. That proved big as Juan Soto, in a 3-for-30 skid, knocked a base hit up the middle to score a pair and tie the game. 

- Down 1-0 with one out in the second, Jeff McNeil looped a single over the second baseman's head and Mark Vientos followed with a lined smash to left, but the Mets failed to do anything with the opportunity against Anderson, as Brett Baty and Alvarez grounded out.

Baty, with two down and McNeil on first after he walked, redeemed himself in the fourth, clubbing a 2-0 Anderson sinker in the lefty happy zone 404 feet to right for a two-run shot to halve the deficit. The 106.3 mph rocket was Baty's 11th on the year and first against a southpaw. McNeil finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Baty finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Vientos went 1-for-4.

- Alvarez got another chance with the go-ahead runner on first and one down in the eighth, and came up big, taking a low-and-away 97 mph fastball and driving it off the wall in right for a double, aided by Angels right fielder Chris Taylor misplaying the 375-foot smash. 

With runners on second and third, Ronny Mauricio (pinch-hitting for Acuña) grounded it to third, but Yoán Moncada’s throw home was off target and got past the catcher to allow Baty to score the go-ahead run on a play he should have been out on by 10 feet. Nimmo added a sac fly to right to give the Mets a 7-5 lead.

At the plate, Alvarez looked much quieter and worked a pair of walks, to finish 1-for-2 with two walks.

- Edwin Diaz, looking to shake off a blown save in Sunday’s win, struck out the side on 14 pitches to nail down the win.

- Other than Soto’s two-RBI hit, the struggles for the Mets’ heart of the order continued. Lindor, who entered the game in an 0-for-21 slump, popped out twice on the infield as he went 0-for-5 with an RBI. Soto made three straight first-pitch outs, making solid contact on a flyout to center as he went 1-for-4. And Pete Alonso, with just eight hits in his last 48 at-bats (.167) over his last 14 games, went 0-for-3 with a walk and strikeout.

- Senga opened the game by allowing the first batter to reach for the ninth time in 15 starts with a walk, but a strikeout and two good defensive plays on balls in the infield saw him settle into the game.

With two down in the second, Logan O'Hoppe got a center-cut cutter and drove it into the visitor's bullpen for a 401-foot solo home run, 107 mph off the bat.

Senga’s lack of sharpness was apparent with two down in the third. He surrendered a leadoff infield hit to third before getting the next two, but then walked Mike Trout as the Angels continued to have little interest in chasing the splitter. Then Taylor Ward took a 2-1 cutter that got too much of the middle of the plate for a two-run double to left. The Mets probably should have got Trout at the plate, but Nimmo's throw to Lindor was a bit high and the shortstop’s throw to the plate went over everybody’s heads. Jo Adell took a first-pitch fastball to right for a single to make it a three-run inning. Senga issued one more walk before ending the inning with a strikeout on his 37th pitch of the frame.

His final line: 3.0 innings, four runs on four hits and three walks with five strikeouts on 73 pitches (39 strikes). Senga's average velocity was down at least a mph on all of his pitches, with the average forkball velocity down 2.2 mph and the average sinker velocity down 1.9 mph. He managed 10 whiffs on 26 swings, but half of those came on pitches inside the strike zone.

- Called on early, the bullpen responded well at first. Righty Kevin Herget worked 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just two singles. Chris Devenski entered with a man on first and one out in the sixth, and got a strikeout and groundout. 

But Devenski had nothing in the seventh, after a single and caught stealing, a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and a single to right scored the Angels’ fifth run and put runners on the corners.

Huascar Brazobán got a 5-2 putout with Baty and Alvarez combining well before a strikeout stranded two runners in the seventh. Brooks Raley allowed a two-out single in a scoreless eighth.

- Part of the reason Alvarez was sent down was to work on his receiving, blocking, and all things defense. In the first, he had plenty of opportunities to block and pick balls as Senga struggled to find the zone or get chases. He did well to pounce on a little dribbler in front of the plate and snap a throw to first to get the final out. Alvarez later gunned down Zach Neto trying to steal second for the first out in the seventh, aided by a fine tag by Lindor.

Game MVP: Bullpen

The work from Herget, Devenski, Brazobán, Raley, and Diaz kept the Mets in the game and shut the door after Senga failed to get to double-digit outs.

Highlights

Kodai Senga fans Mike Trout with the ghost fork 👻 pic.twitter.com/oHkSb8W81z

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 21, 2025

Brett Baty cuts the deficit in half with a two-run blast! pic.twitter.com/WdPrkdEpIR

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

Francisco Alvarez throws out Zach Neto with help from Francisco Lindor pic.twitter.com/bUwe9p73Nz

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

Brett Baty makes the acrobatic play on the ground ball and the throw home to get Mike Trout! pic.twitter.com/DXodGMdysR

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

JUAN SOTO TIES THE GAME! pic.twitter.com/8Y6quQg1E7

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

Francisco Alvarez hits a long double off the wall! pic.twitter.com/RkilSuuNbL

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

BAD FUNDIES BY THE ANGELS!

THE METS HAVE THE LEAD! pic.twitter.com/d2rYjPj4Nt

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

EDWIN DÍAZ STRIKES OUT THE SIDE IN THE 9TH! pic.twitter.com/cFQwz3Vxxv

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2025

What's next

The two sides are right back at it Tuesday night for a 7:10 p.m. first pitch in Flushing.

Right-hander Frankie Montas (5.03 ERA, 1.169 WHIP in 19.2 innings) climbs the hill for New York in his fifth start of the season. Righty Kyle Hendricks (4.88 ERA, 1.292 WHIP in 96.0 innings) toes the rubber for Los Angeles for his 19th start of the campaign.

The Yankees lost the series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night by a score of 4-1.

Here are the takeaways...

-Things were going okay for Carlos Rodón until a four-run fifth inning put an abrupt end to his night. Holding on to a 1-0 lead, Rodón began the inning with a walk to George Springer. It was his fifth walk of the night as the lefty had trouble with his command. Up until then, the walks didn't come back to bite Rodón, who maneuvered through traffic on the basepaths, including twice with the bases loaded.

-Things started to cave in, though, during the fifth following the leadoff walk. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled and Bo Bichette drove in two with a double, which gave Toronto the lead. After retiring the next two batters, Rodón's defense let him down.

-Throwing errors by third baseman Oswald Peraza and shortstop Anthony Volpe on routine ground balls scored two more runs, both unearned. Rodón was finally able to put the inning to bed by striking out Joey Loperfido, but not before throwing 40 pitches in the inning (which included a 14-pitch at-bat against Davis Schneider that resulted in a pop out).

-Rodon's final line: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 4 K on 107 pitches (66 strikes).

-Offensively, the Yankees were outmatched by Kevin Gausman, who handled them over seven innings. He allowed a run on four hits and two walks while striking out eight.

-The only run New York scored came in the fourth inning on Giancarlo Stanton's leadoff home run. The blast, Stanton's fifth of the season, gave the Yanks a 1-0 advantage as the designated hitter stayed red-hot. Stanton is now slashing .421/.522/.947 with three home runs over his last seven games.

-Trent Grisham had a two-out double in the third inning, but after Gausman intentionally walked Aaron Judge, the right-hander struck out Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was batting third in the lineup. Despite phenomenal numbers against Gausman, Judge finished 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.

Game MVP: Kevin Gausman

In command all night, Gausman was able to silence the Yankees' hot bats.

Highlights

GIANCARLO STANTON OPENS THE SCORING WITH A HOME RUN pic.twitter.com/xytlEhaBxI

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 21, 2025

What's next

The Yankees continue their series against their division-leading rivals on Tuesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m.

RHP Cam Schlittler (1-0, 5.06 ERA) will make his second career start and will be opposed by veteran RHP Max Scherzer (1-0, 4.70 ERA), who is making his sixth start of the season and 463rd of his career.