Team featuring Jeremy Guscott and Mike Catt won Bath’s most recent title before professional era changed the game
It doesn’t take long to realise that one of England’s greatest attacking minds is still as sharp as ever. Asked what is keeping him busy at the moment, Brian Ashton, now 78, shoots back: “Staying alive.” There are many ways to emphasise how long it has been since Bath won the title but a two-word riposte from the man who led them to the league and cup double in 1995-96 does it better than most.
It is well documented that the dawn of professionalism was not kind to Bath, how it both enabled their rivals to catch up and derailed the country’s dominant side in the following years. As the former full-back Jon Callard has put it: “Bath got lost in professionalism, sometimes players forgot the value of the shirt.” In the final throes of the amateur era, however, Bath were the trailblazers.
Kagiso Rabada added his name to the Lord’s Honours Board for a second time before Australia’s world-class pace attack dismantled the South African top order as Pat Cummins’ men seized control of the World Test Championship final.
UCLA's David Greenwood dunks the ball during a game against Stanford in 1978. (Associated Press)
David Greenwood adored basketball so much in middle school that he would play for three different teams in three different parks on the same day, multiple times a week.
His brother, Al, would be in the car driving around with him between games while David traded in his sweaty uniform for a fresh one, repeating the process over and over.
“He was relentless,” Al said, “because he loved the game.”
At home, David would get tossed around in driveway games by the cement contractor father who was twice his size, only to keep getting back up for more contact. In practices, he shot blindfolded to perfect his form, his brother having to let him know when he was close to going out of bounds so that he could get his bearings.
UCLA's David Greenwood (34) shoots a basketball during a game against San Francisco at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, on March 15, 1979 (Peter Read Miller / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Greenwood, the determined Compton kid who went from a star high school player at Verbum Dei to one of the top scorers in UCLA history to an NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons, died Sunday night at a Riverside hospital from cancer. He was 68.
True to the nature of someone who played through debilitating foot injuries throughout his career, Greenwood did not inform family of his illness until the end of his life.
“Everything happened so quickly,” said Bronson Greenwood, David’s nephew. “It was kind of a shock.”
One of the all-time great high school players in Southern California, Greenwood and teammate Roy Hamilton were among the final players recruited by legendary UCLA coach John Wooden. They were shocked when Wooden retired shortly after their senior season of high school and was replaced by Gene Bartow.
But they decided to stick with their commitments, lured in part by the pitch of a coach they would never play for in college.
“He told me if I went to USC or UNLV or Notre Dame, I’d be an All-American,” Greenwood once told The Times of Wooden’s proposal. “But if I went to UCLA, I’d be able to test myself against 12 other high school All-Americans every single day. ... It was kind of like, ‘Come here and test your mettle.’ ”
Greenwood’s work ethic continued to push him as a Bruin. His practices with the team were followed by an hour in another gym, his brother feeding him passes. Along the way, he never shortchanged himself or teammates.
College athletes selected in the NBA draft pose with NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien, center, at New York's Plaza Hotel on June 25, 1979. The players are, from left: Calvin Natt, Northeast Louisiana, drafted by New Jersey; Sidney Moncrief, Arkansas, drafted by Milwaukee; Bill Garthright, San Francisco, drafted by New York; O'Brien; Earvin Johnson, Michigan State, drafted by Los Angeles; Greg Kelser, Michigan State, drafted by Detroit; and David Greenwood, UCLA, drafted by Chicago. (Associated Press)
“If he said he was going to shoot 100 free throws,” Al said, “it wasn’t 50, it wasn’t 65, it was 100 — and he didn’t stop until he got to 100.”
Having been dubbed “Batman and Robin” in high school, Greenwood and Hamilton remained close at UCLA, rooming together and biking to campus from where they lived in the Fairfax District. Hamilton remembered Greenwood as a remarkable rebounder who whipped outlet passes to him to get fast breaks started.
“We would always know how to motivate each other,” Hamilton said, “and connect with each other on the floor.”
Becoming a star by his sophomore season, Greenwood averaged a double-double in points and rebounds as a junior and a senior, finishing each season as an All-American. The 6-foot-9 forward’s go-to move was starting with his back about 10 to 12 feet from the basket before faking one way and unleashing a spin-around jumper.
One of his favorite memories as a Bruin, according to his brother, was a comeback against Washington State toward the end of his career in which the Bruins wiped out a late double-digit deficit, winning on Greenwood’s putback dunk only seconds before the buzzer.
The Bulls' David Greenwood shoots over the Bullets' Elvin Hayes during a game in 1981 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. Greenwood played for the Bulls from 1979-85. (Focus On Sport / Getty Images)
UCLA never recaptured the Wooden glory during Greenwood’s four seasons, reaching the Final Four his freshman year and a regional final his senior year. But Greenwood remains No. 15 on the school’s all-time scoring list, having tallied 1,721 points.
After the Lakers selected Magic Johnson with the first pick of the 1979 NBA draft, the Chicago Bulls took Greenwood second as part of their massive rebuilding efforts. (Hamilton was also a lottery pick, going 10th to the Pistons.)
“He wasn’t exciting, he was steady,” Al Greenwood said of his brother. “You knew you were going to get a double-double every night out of him regardless of what the score was.”
Greenwood started every game in his first NBA season, averaging 16.3 points and 9.4 rebounds while making the all-rookie team. The Bulls went 30-52, their loss total more than triple the 17 losses that Greenwood’s teams had absorbed in four seasons as a Bruin.
But he persevered through the losing and a series of foot injuries caused by a running style in which his heels would hit the ground before his toes. Al remembered his brother coming back to Los Angeles to play the Lakers and taking his shoes off at home, saying it felt as if they were full of broken glass.
“That was how his feet felt a lot of the time, but he just played even when he shouldn’t have,” Al said. “I always called him The Thoroughbred.”
Former UCLA standout David Greenwood talks about his career during a National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction event on Nov. 21, 2021, in Kansas City, Mo. (Colin E. Braley / Associated Press)
Greenwood would undergo one Achilles’ surgery on one foot and two on the other, never missing a full season in the process.
In October 1985, before the widespread use of cell phones, Greenwood learned he had been traded to San Antonio for future Hall of Famer George Gervin while listening to the radio. Late in his 12-year NBA career, he was a surprise playoff contributor for the Detroit Pistons when they won the 1990 NBA championship. Hamilton worked for CBS Sports as part of the production team broadcasting the Finals that year.
“Having my best friend in the world on the team and winning a title,” Hamilton said, “that was a joy for me.”
Greenwood went on to own several Blockbuster video stores and coached at his alma mater, guiding Verbum Dei to state championships in 1998 and 1999. His nephew recalled a soft side, his uncle picking him up and giving him a good tickle.
Greenwood is survived by his brother, Al; sister, Laverne; son, Jemil; and daughter, Tiffany, along with his former wife, Joyce. Services are pending.
Happy Jeff was Walk-off Jeff on Tuesday night at Citi Field.
Jeff McNeil wore a huge smile on his face as he lined a single in the 10th inning of Tuesday's game against the Nationals to drive in the winning run. It was the culmination of a great day -- and week -- at the plate for McNeil, who has had his ups and downs with the Mets since winning the batting title in 2022.
His walk-off single capped off his 2-for-4, two RBI day as the Mets defeated the Nationals, 5-4, to extend their winning streak to four games and start their homestand on a happy note.
"I was just looking for anything I could hit to the right side. Wasn't trying to do too much," McNeil said of his final at-bat. "Feel like they were trying to go hard away, so I was cheating for something out there, hooked a ball to the right side and got down."
McNeil said he's been trying to swing the bat harder instead of "guiding" his bat to the ball like he's done when he is struggling at the plate. And to him, it's really just as simple as that.
“It’s pretty hard to hit for average in this league. Pitchers are so good and so tough," McNeil said. "When you do get a good pitch to hit, you gotta do some damage on it. That’s what I’ve been trying to do lately and it’s been paying off."
Over his last seven games, McNeil is hitting .333 with a .741 slugging percentage thanks to three home runs. Going back to his last 15 games, McNeil is still hitting .286 with four home runs and 11 RBI. That sort of hitting and "damage" has allowed manager Carlos Mendoza to start McNeil just about every day to lengthen his lineup.
But Mendoza remembers how tough it was for McNeil a season ago, but also remembers the turnaround and knows he can get that out of his player this season.
"I’m going to go back to the second half last year when he turned it around. When he started driving the ball using the whole field, just dictating at-bats and putting swings with conviction," Mendoza said of McNeil's contributions. "The past week, I feel like he’s done that, where he’s putting himself in a really good position to hit and not only hit, but do damage.
"We know the bat-to-ball skills are off the charts. I feel like he gets in trouble at times when he just tries to put a ball in play on pitcher’s pitches. As opposed to getting a pitch to drive. We’ve seen that. And when he’s going that way, he’s a really good hitter."
A year ago, in his first season managing, Mendoza saw McNeil struggle mightily at the plate. In the first half, McNeil was slashing .216/.276/.314 with a .591 OPS. But adjustments, like swinging harder, paid off for the veteran infielder/outfielder. In the second half, McNeil slashed .289/.376/.547 with a .923 OPS.
"The first half of last year is not who I am. It was tough. It was frustrating. It was not very fun," McNeil said. "This game is about adjustments and I feel I'm the kind of player that can adjust on the fly, do what I need to do and get the job done."
With Tuesday's win, the Mets sit atop the National League at 43-24 and five games ahead of the Phillies in the NL East.
Kiké Hernández pitches during the sixth inning Tuesday. (Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
Major League Baseball does not have a mercy rule for ending games early.
On Tuesday night at Petco Park, the Dodgers could have used one.
In recent years, the club has punted on plenty of games in the interest of protecting their often injury-riddled and shorthanded pitching staffs. But in an 11-1 loss to the San Diego Padres, they took the act of de facto forfeiture to levels even they hadn’t previously pioneered.
First, they let minor league call-up Matt Sauer wear it — in every sense of the phrase — over a nine-run, 13-hit, 111-pitch outing.
Then, in the face of a nine-run deficit in the bottom of the sixth, they sent position player Kiké Hernández to the mound to pitch the rest of the game, the earliest a true position player had ever taken the mound in a contest in Dodgers franchise history.
"Very awkward,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It doesn't feel good.”
The Dodgers' decision to pack, even before the seventh-inning stretch, it in was rooted in logic.
They are currently operating with only four healthy starting pitchers. Their equally banged-up bullpen is leading the majors in innings, and was coming off five frames of work in an extra-inning win the night before. And by the time Hernández took the mound in the sixth, the game had long been lost, the Padres (38-28) teeing off on Sauer with three runs two-out runs in the third inning, single scores in the fourth and fifth, and a four-spot in the sixth.
“I know that my job is just eat as many as I can,” said Sauer, who entered the game as a bulk man in the second inning after opener Lou Trivino tossed a scoreless first. “Obviously, today, didn't have as good of stuff, but I felt like I was just out there pitching my ass off, trying to compete and trying to eat as many innings as I could for the bullpen."
On the other side, Padres ace Dylan Cease mowed down the Dodgers, giving up three hits while striking out 11 batters over seven scoreless innings.
“We had a couple chances early,” Roberts said. “But I think when the game got away, you could just see things flip.”
Thus, the Dodgers (40-28) quickly turned their attention to Wednesday’s series rubber-match, one they will have to win to maintain sole possession of first place in the National League West.
Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández were removed from the game after the top of the sixth.
And knowing Wednesday’s starter will be left-hander Justin Wrobleski, who has a 7.20 ERA in three big-league outings this year and has spent much of the campaign in triple-A, Roberts decided not to waste any of his other available relievers on the latter innings either, inserting Hernández as pitcher the moment the Padres pushed their lead past eight runs with two out in the bottom of the frame (MLB rules prevent losing teams from using position players on the mound until they face an eight-run deficit).
“You just got to look at where our ‘pen is at, and appreciating what we have the next couple days, it wasn't smart to chase and redline guys,” Roberts said. “A guy that was available tonight, [Michael] Kopech, I'm not going to pitch him down six or 7-0 in the sixth inning, to then not have him available tomorrow. As the rules are, we abided. That's kind of what you do to essentially move forward and win the ensuing games."
Still, a position player taking the mound in the sixth inning to finish off a blowout loss represented an almost unprecedented use of the tactic; one that has become so popular among MLB clubs in recent years that the league had to put in the eight-run restriction for when teams can do it.
Two years ago, the Cleveland Guardians had David Fry pitch four innings at the end of a rout against the Minnesota Twins, the first time a true position player had pitched at least three innings in a game since 1988, according to USA Today.
In 2018, the Arizona Diamondbacks used two position players for the final 4 ⅔ innings of a lopsided defeat at Coors Field to the Colorado Rockies.
Hernández’s 2 ⅓ innings (in which he gave up two runs, three hits and two walks) marked the longest pitching outing by a true position player in Dodgers history.
“Again, it’s about do you want to chase? And is it worth it versus [trying] to win tomorrow?” Roberts said. “I think those are things are part of the math … The goal was to come in here to win a series, and we got a really good chance to do that tomorrow.”
Given how Tuesday went, they better hope so. Because if not, their 10-run loss will be an embarrassment without much of a reward.
The 30th Australian Football Hall of Fame was a reminder that there’s more to the sport than the AFL. It was a reminder that the talent in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania was at various times every bit the equal of what was coming out of Victoria. Last night’s inductees included a five-time All Australian, a self-described “little fat kid from Colac”, and a man considered the best ever Tasmanian footballer never to play on the mainland. They included a man who took more marks than anyone else in the history of VFL/AFL football, a giant raconteur from South Australia who reflected that “football was simply something I did on a Saturday,” and a seven-time premiership player in the WAFL who later umpired five grand finals. A goalkicking machine from South Australia during the Depression years was also elevated to legend status.
But last night’s event did something very different to the preceding three decades – it inducted two AFLW players. Erin Phillips won two WNBA championships, a basketball world championship gold medal and represented Australia at two Olympics. But until just over a decade ago, the idea of playing Australian football professionally seemed fanciful. “I never wanted to be a boy,” she said last night, “I just wanted the opportunities they had and that was footy.” Her dad, Greg, a Hall of Famer himself, was a fine footballer for Port Adelaide and Collingwood. He had thighs like John Nicholls, the sort of legs that could prop up jetties. Last night he was a blubbering mess. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to tell your 13-year-old daughter that she can’t play the game she loves any more,” his daughter said. “Now she’s standing next to you in the Hall of Fame.”
The Knicks continue to search for their next head coach, but the candidates they were initially interested in are becoming unavailable one by one.
SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley reports that the Knicks formally reached out to the Houston Rockets for permission to talk to head coach Ime Udoka. However, the Rockets denied the Knicks, per people familiar with the Rockets' stance.
It seems Houston is not ready to part with the coach who has turned the franchise around. In just his second year with the Rockets, the 47-year-old Udoka led the team to a first place finish in the Southwest Division and the organization's first playoff appearance since 2020. This year, Houston was eliminated by the Warriors in seven games of the opening round of the NBA Playoffs. After finishing 41-41 in his first season, the Rockets improved to 52-30 and the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference under Udoka.
Udoka was one of three coaches currently under contract the Knicks were interested in. In addition to Udoka, Minnesota's Chris Finch and Dallas' Jason Kidd were the names the Knicks had interest in, per Begley.
While it seems the Mavericks are confident Kidd won't leave Dallas, the Knicks were denied permission by the Timberwolves to speak with Finch, according to multiple reports.
Like Houston, the Timberwolves are not interested in allowing their coach to potentially go elsewhere after so much recent success. Minnesota had made the playoffs in four consecutive seasons, including back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances.
Finch has amassed a 209-160 record in the regular season since being hired midseason to replace Ryan Saunders in 2021. He also has a 21-21 mark in the postseason.
With Udoka and Finch formally off the table, and Kidd hypothetically unavailable, it's unclear where the Knicks go for a head coach.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels placed Chris Taylor on the 10-day injured list because of a broken left hand on Tuesday, an injury the utility man sustained when he was hit by a pitch a night earlier.
Taylor was hit by Tyler Ferguson's 95-mph fastball in the eighth inning of the Angels' 7-4 victory over the Athletics on Monday. He finished the game in right field, but X-rays afterward revealed a fracture that manager Ron Washington said will sideline the 34-year-old veteran indefinitely.
A similar injury forced Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts to miss almost two months last season.
“He’s just been having some bad luck, and it just keeps happening,” Washington said of Taylor, who battled a neck injury for much of 2024. “So now all he can do is just get well. But in the game of baseball, things like that happen, and the next guy’s got to step up.”
Taylor, who was released by the Dodgers on May 18, hit .200 (6 for 30) with one homer, three doubles and three RBIs in 10 games with the Angels, but he seemed to be heating up at the plate. He had four hits, including a homer and two doubles, and three RBIs in a pair of weekend games against the Seattle Mariners.
Taylor was replaced on the active roster by utility man LaMonte Wade Jr., a veteran utility man who was acquired from the San Francisco Giants on Sunday for a player to be named or cash.
Wade, 31, batted .167 (24 for 144) with one homer, eight doubles and 15 RBIs in 50 games for the Giants this season. Though he has extensive big league experience at first base, Washington said Wade will play mostly corner outfield for the Angels.
PHILADELPHIA — Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola suffered another setback in his return to pitch when an MRI showed he has an injury in his right ribcage and will be shut down for two weeks.
Nola had already been out since early May with a sprained right ankle that was progressing more slowly than expected. He experienced stiffness in his right side last week in Toronto and that wiped out a planned session against live batters.
Nola underwent testing this week and had what the Phillies called a stress reaction in his right ribcage. Phillies manager Rob Thomson said ahead of Tuesday's game against the Chicago Cubs that Nola was unsure how the injury may have happened.
Nola is 1-7 with a 6.16 ERA in nine starts. Nola, who signed a $172 million, seven-year contract ahead of the 2024 season, injured his ankle on May 8 during pregame agility drills when the Phillies played the Rays at Steinbrenner Field.
Nola is 105-86 with a 3.78 ERA in 11 seasons with the Phillies.
Thomson said slugger Bryce Harper was starting to feel better as he recovers from right wrist inflammation that last Friday landed him on the 10-day injured list.
The two-time National League MVP and eight-time All-Star is hitting .258 with nine home runs, 34 RBIs and eight stolen bases in 57 games. He missed five games, from May 26 to June 2, with a bruised right elbow after being hit by a pitch from Atlanta’s Spencer Strider.
Carlos Mendoza doesn't have many problems as the manager of a team that moved to 19 games above .500, the Mets' best mark of the season after scoring a come-from-behind walk-off win over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night.
And to make the other 29 big-league managers green with envy, some of the problems he has are what he calls "good problems."
One such conundrum is figuring out how to balance the playing time for a pair of young, versatile infielders in Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña.
In Tuesday’s win, Mauricio got the start at third base and Acuña had to wait til the final play of the game to leave his mark on the win. In the end, the Mets are managing to have their cake and eat it too.
Here’s what the manager had to say about the situation before the series opener…
On Mauricio’s play so far
Despite missing significant time of development, and going 20 months and two days between his last big league appearances after sustaining an ACL tear and his first game last week against the Dodgers, Mendoza said the 24-year-old has performed “definitely better” than expected since his call-up from Triple-A.
“He’s very consistent, he doesn’t get too high or too low, especially after a tough start in LA, where they pitch him tough,” the manager said before Tuesday's game. “Going to Colorado and having a really good series. Just overall the way he goes about his business.”
“I think I've finally gotten into the rhythm of things,” Mauricio said before the game, speaking through an interpreter. “I'm not all the way there yet, but, but as the games have been going on, I feel like I'm starting to get it a little more.”
It was a difficult night for the youngster, striking out twice as he went hitless in three times up, and he is now 5-for-22 (.227) in six games since his call-up with two walks to seven strikeouts.
Mendoza added he liked how Mauricio is moving defensively and giving the Mets versatility with his ability to play shortstop, his natural position, and third base.
“Good hands, angles to the ball, very good arm,” he said about Mauricio at short. “Third base is kinda a newer position for him, and he’s looked fine there, as well, coming in on slow rollers.
“Overall, I think for a guy that missed so much time and [had a] pretty significant injury, he’s handled it very good here.”
Mauricio credited all the work he did to get to this point has given him the confidence to perform and deal with adjusting to the majors.
“And now that I am at this point, it's because I belong here,” he said. “So obviously there's an adjustment period, and, there's a moment where we have to adapt. But, at the moment, I feel good and I feel like we put in a lot of good work to be here.”
On keeping Acuña involved
Acuña, who was not in the starting lineup on Tuesday night, has started just eight of the last 25 games. However, he entered for the bottom half of the 10th as a pinch-runner and scored the winning run, and has now appeared in 22 of those games because of his ability to impact in the later innings off the bench.
Members of the New York Mets celebrate defeating the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
Mendoza said this is all part of the balance that the Mets are dealing with and he’d rather have the youngster here than playing each day at Triple-A.
“He’s got a role right now, he’s helping us win a baseball game here,” the skipper said. “We’re always trying to put that on the table and say, ‘What’s best for the kid?’ ‘What’s best for the team?’ and right now, we feel like he continues to contribute.”
But in this situation, chances at the plate are hard to come by as he has just 15 in his last 15 games (three starts) and he has two hits in those games. Of course, New York is 12-2 over that span.
Not only that, but with Francisco Lindor dealing with a broken pinky toe that is still causing him discomfort, having an extra guy to play shortstop – even had Lindor been healthy – is something Mendoza sees value in having around.
“He’s a plus defender, the speed off the bench. He allows me to make some in-game moves,” he said. “We’ll continue to watch this situation, but in the meantime, he’s helping us at the big-league level.”
While the opportunities to play and start may not be that often, when Acuña is not in the lineup, the Mets are keeping him very active.
“In Acuña’s case, when he’s not in the lineup, hitting extra off the velo machine, hitting off the iPitch where it’s random BP, continue to improve his bunting game, with Antoan [Richardson] working on base stealing, base running, defensively in the outfield, with [Mike Sarbaugh] in the infield,” Mendoza said. “By being here at the big-league level, just learning from the other guys how they go about their business and watching the game.
“And after a game, we’ll sit down and talk through some situations. So there’s a lot of different ways we are attacking this and we will continue to help him.”
Mendoza praised the Mets’ coaching staff for continuing to coach and teach, not only the younger guys but the entire squad. “There’s always teaching moments and then there’s situations where you could go over and continue to coach,” he said.
“It’ll play itself out whether the playing time comes here or not, but, as he’s a big league player,” Mendoza said of Acuña. “Our job is to continue to help him, educate him, teach him, and then we’ll go from there.”
As it has happened many times before, the big moment found Juan Sotoon Tuesday night at Citi Field.
With the Mets down two in the bottom half of the eighth inning, Soto came to the plate to face Jose A. Ferrer, Washington's hard-throwing left-hander out of the bullpen.
After taking a strike on a 99.4 mph sinker and fouling off a second one that came in at 100.1 mph, Soto, like the Mets had been all night, was behind. But his approach didn’t change; he was trying to “hunt the mistakes.”
“I know that guy, and he has nasty stuff. I’m just trying to stay locked into my zone,” he said. “He missed in my zone and I made the adjustment.”.
And when Ferrer's 0-2 slider hung in the middle of the zone, and Soto smacked it (107.3 mph off the bat). In fact, he nearly hit the ball too well as right fielder Rober Hassell III looked to have a decent shot at making the catch, but the ball just dipped below his glove, allowing Starling Marte to score all the way from first.
“How things are going, I definitely was hoping [it] got down,” Soto said. “I thought the ball was a little farther than it went, but got it done.”
Of course, Soto had the hit, but praised the man who set the table for him and the man after, Pete Alonso, who pulverised a game-tying hit to score Soto en route to the Mets’ extra-inning win.
“That was a 12-year veteran taking an at-bat right there,” Soto said of Marte's ability to work a walk after falling behind 0-2. “He did a really good job, he stayed on his plan. Everybody wants to come through in that situation, but he stayed patient and give myself and Pete another chance to come through.”
The late double was Soto's second big hit of the night. In the bottom of the third, Soto battled MacKenzieGore, who Washington got from the Padres in the trade that sent the slugger to San Diego in 2022, and drove a 2-2 slider that got a lot of the middle of the plate for a 373-foot opposite-field home run.
“Just a great swing,” Soto said. “Another mistake, I’m waiting for mistakes and he made a mistake and I put the ball in play.”
While the homer landed just over the left field wall, Soto spent time admiring the drive and appeared to exchange words with Gore. The slugger was coy about the interaction, “We were just saying 'hi' at each other. That’s it.”
With the two-hit day, Soto is now batting .341 (14-for-41) with 14 runs, three doubles, four homers, eight RBI, and 14 walks in his last 12 games. Does he feel this is about his luck starting to change after a slow (by his high standards) start?
“Little by little, we just gotta be patient,” he said. “Keep doing my thing, definitely really happy to see the ball landing in some spots and coming through in big moments. I’m really happy, I’m just gonna try and keep it the same way.”
While his bat will always get the headlines, Soto also contributed in the field, taking a run off the board when he nailed Jose Tena at the plate as he tried to score from first with two outs in the top half of the second inning.
The right fielder, who had been working with the Mets’ pitching coaches to sort out some mechanical issues with his arm, said he feels great with how he is progressing in the outfield.
“I feel like we going in the right path with the coaches,” he said. “We’ve been doing great things so far and I’m happy for that.”
Ron Darling joined @SteveGelbs to break down Juan Soto's outfield assist and a pitcher's perspective on what Soto is working on with the help of the pitching lab for his throws pic.twitter.com/EQQ8hNIhhx
On the eve of the World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa, both teams trained under overcast skies at Lord’s on Tuesday before the weather started to clear.
The Yankees put up 10 runs, with Austin Wells providing half of them, on 16 hits as New York defeated the Royals, 10-2, in Kansas City on Tuesday night.
Here are the takeaways...
-Aaron Judge has done plenty of things not seen by baseball fans and he did so again. Ahead in the count 2-0 in the first inning, Judge took a Noah Cameron fastball over the middle of the plate and launched it 469 feet (117.9 mph exit velocity) for his 24th home run of the season. The ball landing was not caught on camera and seemingly reached the Royals Hall of Fame in deep left field.
Judge's smash wasn't the only one on Tuesday, as Austin Wells took Cameron deep in the fourth after fighting back from a 2-2 count. On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Wells launched a changeup 381 feet over the right field wall to put the Yanks up 5-1.
-The Yankees would pour it on with a five-run sixth inning. Wells got the scoring started with a two-run double. Trent Grisham, Judge and Cody Bellinger followed with RBI singles.
-Max Fried pitched into an early jam in this one. In the second inning, he had runners at the corners with one out -- thanks to a botched double play attempt by DJ LeMahieu -- when rookie Jac Caglianone came to the plate as the Kauffman Stadium crowd rose to their feet for the top prospect. However, the slugging rookie grounded out, but it did drive in the Royals' first run.
After that, Fried would settle in, retiring 11 straight Royals before a two-out single in the fifth. The long wait in the dugout in the sixth inning probably got Fried off his game, as Jonathan India led off with a solo shot and the southpaw allowed two more singles before he got the final out of the frame.
Fried threw 91 pitches (61 strikes) in seven innings while allowing two runs on six hits, no walks and striking out four. Although his outing was strong, Fried's season ERA actually increased to 1.84.
-Yerry De los Santos got the next five outs but allowed the Royals to load the bases with two outs in the ninth. Aaron Boone made a pitching change, and Tim Hill got Tyler Tolbert to fly out to end the game.
-The Yankees picked up 16 hits on Tuesday, with every starter picking up at least one knock. Judge went 2-for-5 and his average is at .396, while Wells and Grisham went 2-for-4. LeMahieu went 2-for-3 with two walks and made a nice sliding catch in shallow right field.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. went 1-for-4 with a run scored and was replaced in the later innings by Oswald Peraza. The Yankees announced that Chisholm left the game with "neck tightness." He was hit in the helmet by a throw when he stole third base earlier, but remained in the game.
Game MVP: Austin Wells
Wells, his first game batting in the nine-hole, drove in five of the team's 10 runs
Highilights
AARON JUDGE DEMOLISHES ONE TO LEFT FIELD IN KANSAS CITY
The Ottawa Senators held their second annual Season Seat Member Spring Summit at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday night. It was an opportunity for season ticket holders to rub elbows and get an insider's view on what's happening with the club.
One of the biggest pieces of news on the evening was a glimpse at what the Senators and Fanatics (the NHL's outfitter of on-ice uniforms) appear to have settled on for their new third jersey. It appeared in a video the team showed to fans on the CTC big screen. Naturally, it had some fans and media members grabbing their cell phone cameras to share on the new look on social media.
The video provided close ups of the new third jerseys, which are all-red with black and metallic gold trim (think Vegas Golden Knights). At the end of the video, a blurry image of a player wearing the jersey walks toward the camera, came into reasonably clear view for one single frame before the video ends.
This image falls completely in line with a social media post that surfaced earlier this season from a Reddit user. It had photos of a player wearing a similar uniform, standing on the CTC ice surface on a non-game day, perhaps as part of the production of the very video that was shown to fans on Tuesday, or simply testing how it looked to the TV cameras.
For example, for TV viewers, going with black numbers directly on red is rarely a good choice. They look fine and they're legible up close but the lack of colour contrast makes it a struggle on the standard wide shot from a distance. Perhaps the gold trim in this case will make them stand out enough. Regardless, this is the kind of thing they test for.
The only visible difference in the two images might be the added detail in the centurion's red plume and possibly the removal of the S logo on the shoulders, but it's hard to tell for certain.
It's probably not fair to fully judge a jersey until you see it in person, or at least in higher resolution. But barring any last minute changes, this gives you a good sense of what appears to be the Sens' new thirds that will launch in September.
We'll have more on Tuesday's Season Seat Member Spring Summit coming up shortly.
