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Why did the umpires overturn Juan Soto's home run in the ninth inning?

When asked about the umpires' explanation for the controversial overturning of a solo homer hit by Juan Soto, Mendoza responded that "they didn't see the ball leave the ballpark.

Soto's homer would've been a much-needed shot in the arm for a Mets lineup that struggled all day against the Braves, and it came in a pivotal spot, as the slugger was leading off in the bottom of the ninth with the Mets down 3-1.

Given the lengthy review, and the presence of a fan reaching over the railing in right field to attempt catching the long fly ball (much to the frustration of Braves left fielder Mike Yastrzemski), many were wondering if the call of a ground-rule double was made due to fan interference. However, Mendoza clarified, "there was no fan interference" on the play.

"It was tough to tell from the big screen," the skipper lamented.

Lack of clutch hitting continues to cost the Mets

Today's loss was yet another instance of the Mets offense not being able to get going when it matters most.

The Mets have the fourth-worst OPS in all of MLB with runners in scoring position (.679), and today they were 0-for-3 with RISP.

Two of those opportunities came in the ninth inning, after the aforementioned double by Soto to lead off the inning. Mark Vientos struck out swinging, Marcus Semien walked, and Francisco Alvarez grounded into a double play to end the game.

"We created traffic," Mendoza said when asked about the team's inability to come up clutch. "We couldn't come up with the big hit, that's how good modern-day bullpens are, especially [Atlanta's], gotta give them credit."

Mendoza also called for a more disciplined approach from his hitters.

"We have to do our thing. Get better at-bats against good pitching... you have to be able to work some really good at-bats."

Yoshinobu Yamamoto was nearing major league history on Saturday afternoon.

Mookie Betts doomed any chances of that, however.

The Dodgers shortstop booted a routine grounder in the bottom of the eighth inning against the White Sox in Chicago, ending any chance the star right-handed pitcher could achieve baseball immortality in the Los Angeles’ 7-1 win.

Already with two outs in the frame, Yamamoto induced a ground ball from Chase Meidroth. Betts shuffled to his left and got in perfect position to field it, but the grounder bounced off him and caromed toward second baseman Santiago Espinal, who bobbled the ball and dropped it without being able to make a throw.

“Just a routine ground ball that I missed,” Betts told reporters after the game. “Not making any excuses.”

Yamamoto got out of the rest of the inning unscathed, so a no-hitter was still intact in the ninth. But Tristan Peters ended that chance at history with a lead-off solo homer.

The Dodgers hurler, had he thrown the perfect game, would have become the 25th pitcher to do so in MLB history and the first since ex-Yankees right-hander Domingo German did so in 2023.

Instead, Yamamoto’s effort will likely become just a small footnote in baseball history in the Dodgers win at Rate Field.

For Betts, who shifted to shortstop full-time last year, it marked just his second error of the season after having seven last year.

Betts has been mired in a slump at the plate this season, but he went 3-for-5 with three runs scored on Saturday.

The 2018 American League MVP’s average (.196) and OPS (.611) still remain far below career norms.

Occasionally there are games where a bad first inning is enough to make you consider doing something other than watching Orioles baseball that day. That was the case here as the Padres scored four runs before the O’s even got a chance to hit and eventually prevailed to a 9-3 win on Saturday afternoon in Baltimore.

It was a mixed day for rookie Trey Gibson. As mentioned, the first inning was brutal. He gave up two walks in the opening frame, and each one was shortly followed by a home run to get the visiting Padres out to an early four-run lead.

Gibson found his footing a bit after that, working three straight scoreless innings from the second through the fourth. But the fifth inning was trouble once again. He walked the lead-off hitter. Later, he hit Xander Bogaerts in the head with a wayward sinker. Craig Albernaz pulled him at that point, but his line wasn’t quite wrapped up as Keegan Akin came on and allowed both inherited runners to cross the plate.

When it was all said and done, Gibson tossed 4.1 innings and allowed six runs on three hits, five walks, and seven strikeouts. Missing bats had been an issue for him coming into this game. His 14.7% whiff rate was near the bottom of the league. He more than doubled that to 30% in this game, which was shown in the box score with the seven strikeouts. What he seemed to sacrifice to get there was control of the strike zone. The sky high walks and the bean ball to Bogaerts speak for themselves.

This is the sort of game that a rookie is going to have. He’s still figuring things out. The whiffs and strikeouts are good. The home runs and walks are bad. Sometimes you have to suffer through the growing pains and hope it all pans out on the other side.

The bullpen was not much better. Akin only recorded those two outs in the fifth inning, and while he wasn’t charged with any runs of his own, he failed to prevent any of Gibson’s runners from pushing the lead even higher. At least Albert Suárez was able to provide length. He worked the final four innings, but also allowed three solo home runs.

The Orioles lineup showed some early life. They responded in the bottom of the first inning with two runs. Pete Alonso hit a two-out homer. Samuel Basallo followed with a walk and then came in to score on a Leody Taveras triple to right field. Maybe we had a game on our hands after all?

Not really. The Orioles had runners on base throughout the afternoon. But time and time again they failed to cash in on them. As a group the team went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.

Alonso and Blaze Alexander were the two most active on offense. They each had three hits. Alonso had the homer, a double, and two RBI. Alexander’s three knocks were all singles, but he added a stolen base on top of it all. Tyler O’Neill and Coby Mayo both had a double each, but were stranded.

Something to watch coming out of this game relates to Bogaerts being hit. The Padres, understandably, weren’t happy about it. Gibson had been wild all day, so there is no question about it being an accident. But it’s dangerous to pitch up in that area. If you don’t know where the ball’s going to that degree, you probably shouldn’t be in the game. Albernaz quickly pulling him was, at least in part, an acknowledgment of that.

San Diego was intent on retaliating, which probably would have been fine if they succeeded the first time. Bradgley Rodriguez went up and in on Gunnar Henderson twice in the seventh inning, but missed both times. Henderson eventually walked. Then, in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, Ron Marinaccio successfully nailed Henderson in the ribs with a 94 mph fastball. That got the Orioles’ hackles up. Henderson gestured something about trying “three times” towards Marinaccio. The umpires quickly got together and decided the San Diego pitcher was gone. His ejection riled up the skipper Craig Stammen, who clearly wanted to be thrown out himself at the point, when there was essentially nothing to lose. Eventually, he got his wish and was sent to the showers about five minutes before the rest of his team.

Padres reliever Adrian Morejon came on to throw two pitches and get the final out without any additional fireworks. But it’s possible that more is brewing. The Padres got to throw at Henderson twice on purpose. The Orioles had only thrown at Bogaerts once, and it was by accident. Do they now get to throw at Manny Machado or Jackson Merrill in the series finale now? Hopefully not. The Padres are probably looking at suspensions for someone coming out of this. Intentional hit by pitches usually come with consequences.

The best comeback from the Orioles perspective would be to go out and win the series on Sunday. The Padres aren’t some division (or even league) rival. Just beat them and wrap this series up on a positive note.

Trevor Rogers (3-6, 6.15 ERA) will be on the bump as he continues to keep his encouraging June going. The lefty has a 3.18 ERA this month. He will be opposed by Walker Buehler (3-3, 4.33 ERA). Buehler has also been good recently, allowing just two runs over his last 10.2 innings. First pitch is set for 1:05 from Camden Yards.

Is Sean Manaea…back?

The left-hander certainly appeared to be as he made his first official start of the season in Saturday afternoon’s middle-game of a huge weekend set with the Braves. 

While he ended up taking the loss, Manaea was able to keep the high-powered NL East leaders in check, completing six innings of work for the first time since the 2024 playoffs.

The lone damage against him came off the bat of righty-hitting outfielder Eli White.

White struck against Manaea for an RBI double to open the scoring in the top of the second, then lifted his third homer of the season to increase the advantage just two innings later. 

Other than that, the 34-year-old southpaw was in complete control the rest of the way, allowing just those two runs on four hits while striking out six and issuing no free passes.

Most importantly, his velocity was up a few ticks from his season-average, again.

“That was huge,” Carlos Mendoza said. “That’s the guy we’re going to need -- for him to go out there and give us a chance today, he was very solid today against a pretty good lineup over there.

“He used all of his pitches, competed in the strike zone, got swing-and-misses, and had a good pitch mix -- that’s the guy we saw a lot in 2024 -- big picture, that’s the guy we need moving forward.”

After a brutal start to the season that saw him relegated to an inning-eating low-leverage role out of the bullpen, Manaea has now pitched to a solid 3.33 ERA over his last eight appearances. 

He’s given up just three homers and has struck out (28) four times as many batters as he’s walked (7) over that span, fighting his way back into a regular spot in the Mets' starting rotation. 

“I feel good,” Manaea said. “I'm excited with where I’m at and just want to keep this train rolling.”

“He continues to earn the opportunity,” Mendoza added. “To go out there and have that type of outing today, he just puts himself in a way better position, and he’s going to only make us better moving forward."

Shohei Ohtani is back; he homered to open the scoring in what turned out to be a 7-1 Dodgers win, and yet he takes a backseat in the storyline of this game as Yoshinobu Yamamoto toyed with perfection—not allowing a single baserunner through the first 7.2 innings—carrying a no-hit bid into the ninth inning before Tristan Peters took care of it with a solo shot. Dating back to his previous performance against the Angels, Yamamoto went as far as retiring an absurd 45 straight batters, and for the second straight appearance, tossed eight innings of one-run ball, allowing a combined three hits.

Forget recording a hit; even lifting the ball in the air was a massive challenge for the White Sox, who, through the first seven innings, recorded only a pair of flyouts. Specifically for this game, Yamamoto found himself with a little extra zip on the fastball with an average velocity 1.2 MPH higher than his season average, and he took advantage of it. The Dodgers’ starter defaulted to his four-seamer far more regularly than he has in 2026, and the success behind his performance evidently justified that choice. Although it should be noted that Peters’ home run in the ninth came on a poorly located fastball with not enough zip to miss his bat, as the Dodgers starter was already over 100 pitches at that point.

Shortly before that home run, though, the perfect game bid ended in brutal fashion—there were two outs at the bottom of the eighth when the White Sox would put their first man on via an error. Chase Meldroth hit what was by all accounts a routine grounder to short, and Mookie Betts couldn’t collect it cleanly, allowing the White Sox’ second baseman to reach base. Going back to the events in Baltimore a year ago, Yamamoto is establishing similarities with Dave Stieb as a bit of a no-no specialist, well before eventually recording one.

For the Dodgers offense, much like it was the case against the Angels, once again they rewarded Yamamoto’s outstanding performance with a slugfest that left no doubts about the winner of this game. As stated at the top, the scoring began early when Ohtani knocked one out of the yard to lead off the game.

Lacking in the power department on what are the inhuman standards he has set for himself, Ohtani briefly tied Max Muncy for second place in homers on the team with 14. However, it was Muncy’s day to shine, hitting not one but two long balls, one in the first and one in the eighth. In doing so, Muncy overtook Andy Pages for the team lead in homers, with 16, and became the main driving force behind this seven-run effort on the road.

What’s even more impressive is that had the Dodgers supplemented their power output with a bit more quality with runners in scoring position—finishing the game 1 for 11 in such instances—they could’ve easily gotten into the double digits. In the end, they didn’t need much with Yamamoto dismantling the White Sox lineup, leaving the game to a standing ovation after recording the first out in the ninth.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (14), 2 Max Muncy (16)
• WP— Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7-4): 8.1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 7 strikeouts
• LP— Sean Burke (3-4): 4 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, 5 walks, 6 strikeouts

Up next

Emmett Sheehan and the veteran Erick Feede will be the protagonists in an early Sunday matchup for West Coast viewers as the Dodgers and White Sox will meet for the final time in Chicago this season, first pitch at 11:10 a.m. PT.

The Texas Rangers scored three runs but the Boston Red Sox scored six runs.

The Rangers had four opportunities with the bases loaded today and went 0-for-4. The Red Sox had one opportunity with the bases loaded after two infield dribble hits and a walk and went 1-for-1 with the eventual winning hit.

The Rangers have gone 1-for-10 with the bases loaded on this road trip, which they now need a win tomorrow to avoid being a losing road trip after clinching their first losing series of June with today’s loss.

Player of the Game: Jacob deGrom allowed two runs on six hits in six innings while walking zero and striking out five Red Sox batters. He was pretty good.

After the Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, deGrom’s big sin today was pitching to Wilyer Abreu with a runner in scoring position after Boston had tied the game at one apiece which, if you’ve ever seen Wilyer Abreu hit against the Rangers, that meant the game did not stay tied.

A bigger sin, though, was being a member of the Texas Rangers when the lineup backing him went 1-for-9 with RISP. That hit did not even score a run.

Up Next: The Rangers and Red Sox close out this series with RHP Nathan Eovaldi set to pitch for Texas against LHP Connelly Early for Boston.

The Sunday evening first pitch in the series finale from Fenway Park is scheduled for 6:20 pm CDT time and will be back on Peacock.

Nationals 8, Mariners 3

Day baseball nap: Colt Emerson, .17 WPA

Day baseball nap, on the cap: Luis Castillo, -.37 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

A White Sox hat waved in the air. Fans clad in Chicago’s black pinstripes and Dodger blue alike rose to their feet.

Rooting interests didn’t matter as they watched Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto embrace his teammates on the mound. The brilliant performance they’d just witnessed deserved to be celebrated.

In the Dodgers’ 7-1 win against the White Sox on Saturday, Yamamoto carried a perfect game into the eighth inning until Mookie Betts booted a grounder at short, and a no-hit bid into the ninth before Chicago’s Tristan Peters homered to end it.

Perhaps even more astounding, dating to Yamamoto’s previous start against the Angels, he retired 45 straight batters, one shy of the major league record set by Yusmeiro Petit in 2014.

In an eventful game, which included Shohei Ohtani returning to the lineup to homer in his first at-bat, a two-homer performance from Max Muncy and a team bounce-back after getting blown out the night before, Yamamoto’s performance on the mound stole the show.

“I do feel a little bit [of regret], because I went into the ninth inning and I was not able to achieve a no-hitter,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “But how I was pitching, I was pretty satisfied.”

It marked the second time in about nine months that Yamamoto fell just short of his first major league no-hitter. Last September, he was one out away in Baltimore when he surrendered a solo homer to Jackson Holliday.

“Every time he takes the mound we feel he’s got a pretty good chance to do something special,” pitching coach Mark Prior said.

That feeling only grew stronger as Yamamoto cruised through seven innings. The only thing that slowed his roll was the mound itself. Yamamoto asked for the grounds crew to fix it in the sixth. And then he kept rolling.

“He can attack the plate on both sides from ball-to-strike better than anybody I’ve ever seen,” Prior said. “He has that ability to do that when he’s on. And that makes it tough on hitters. You don’t know if the ball is coming at them, from the right side or the left side, and going in. He did a lot of really good things to keep guys off balance.”

Read more:Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani returns with a bang after day off

Yamamoto also had help from a steady defense behind him for much of the game.

The sixth inning included two highlight plays. Peters hit a sharp ground ball up the line, and first baseman Freddie Freeman made a sliding stop, tossing the ball to Yamamoto at the bag to get the out. Then left fielder Alex Call ran into the retaining wall in foul territory to catch Edgar Quero’s fly ball for the final out of the inning.

The hardest contact against Yamamoto came the third time through the lineup. In the seventh inning, he pumped a heater to the top rail against Miguel Vargas, who stayed on top of the pitch to send a line drive to left field — and right to Call.

In the eighth, Yamamoto fell behind Colson Montgomery 3-and-1. But Yamamoto worked back to a full count. Montgomery then scorched a line drive up the first base line — into Freeman’s glove.

Yamamoto’s perfect game ended two batters later.

“I’m not making any excuses,” Betts said. “I should have made the play.”

It looked like Yamamoto had tied the record for consecutive batters retired when he got Chicago’s Chase Meidroth to chase a slider and hit a routine grounder to Betts.

But the last hop was higher than Betts expected. The ball ricocheted off him to his left, where second baseman Santiago Espinal made a last-ditch effort to salvage the play but couldn’t pick up the ball cleanly.

“I thought I got him, but that was kind of an irregular bounce,” Yamamoto said. “So it was just what it is. I didn’t really think much.”

An inning later, the no-hit bid was next to fall.

Peters led led off the ninth, and on a 1-and-0 count, Yamamoto put a high fastball over the plate. Peters turned on it and drove it into the stands in right, craning to see it stay to the left of the foul pole.

“I was a little heated in the ninth inning,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “Jumped on a pitch that was really decently executed.”

Yamamoto stayed in for one more batter, inducing Quero to fly out, before handing the ball to manager Dave Roberts.

Yamamoto wasn’t the only one feeling mixed emotions on the mound as he embraced Rushing, tapped Muncy on the back in a side hug and bumped fists with the rest of the infielders.

“I was still frustrated,” Rushing said. “He’s such a great teammate, he’s one of my good friends. You can talk to him just about anything, and he’s just a good dude. So you want to see good things happen to guys like that.”

Rushing made a prediction: “I know we’re going to have more opportunities with Yoshi like that, and I’m looking forward to it.”

After coming so close to a no-hitter twice, maybe the third time will be the one Yamamoto completes.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

CHICAGO — Earlier this season, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he believed Yoshinobu Yamamoto would throw a no-hitter this year.

Deep into Saturday’s game at Rate Field against the White Sox, it seemed like that prediction might not be bold enough.

On a mild Chicago afternoon, in which the Dodgers’ understated staff ace nearly topped his World Series MVP-winning form from last October, Yamamoto carried a perfect-game bid all the way into the bottom of the eighth inning and a no-hitter into the ninth.

That close, the Japanese right-hander was to making history.

Instead, in the Dodgers’ eventual 7-1 win, both achievements were lost on a pair of stunning moments.

With two outs in the eighth — and Yamamoto also one out away from matching an MLB record of 46 consecutive batters retired in a row, going back to the seven-plus perfect innings he threw at the end of a start against the Angels last week — White Sox infielder Chase Meidroth hit a seemingly routine chopper to shortstop.

Standing there, ready to make the play, was 2025 Gold Glove finalist Mookie Betts.

The last hop, however, looked bigger than he expected, sending the ball booting off the heel of his mitt for a perfecto-snapping error.

“Just a routine ground ball that I missed,” Betts said afterward. “Not making any excuses.”

Yamamoto temporarily recovered, retiring the side in the next at-bat to keep the no-hitter intact.

Back in the dugout, he was also one of several Dodgers players to pick the downtrodden Betts up with a pat on his back.

“It took a tough hop, even from my view,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “That’s a tough ball to make a play on. And at the end of the day, it didn’t lose him a no-hitter, so we weren’t beating him up about it. But obviously, Mookie being the competitor, the athlete that he is, he was pretty hard on himself about it.”

Thus came the ninth, with a sold-out crowd rising to its feet in anticipation as Yamamoto returned to the mound.

Two pitches later, though, White Sox outfielder Tristan Peters — a rookie left-handed hitter with only two home runs previously this year — squared up a fastball that Yamamato left over the middle and hooked it inside the right-field foul pole for a home run.

It was the second time in the last two years that Yamamoto — who would get one more out before finishing an 8 ⅓-inning, 109-pitch, seven-strikeout gem — had lost a no-no on a ninth-inning long ball.

“I do feel a little bit regrettable, because I went into the ninth inning and I was not able to achieve a no-hitter,” he said through an interpreter afterward. “But how I was pitching, I was pretty satisfied.”

What it means

Just like in Baltimore last September, when Yamamoto was one out from a no-hitter before Jackson Holliday hit a home run that triggered a stunning Orioles comeback, the Dodgers’ ace had looked untouchable right up until Peters’ blast sailed past the foul pole.

“He’s surgical with all his pitches,” pitching coach Mark Prior said. “I think from a hitter’s perspective it’s gotta be really hard to zero in on a specific pitch or a specific location.”

Indeed, Yamamoto mixed and matched with his six-pitch arsenal. He got two strikeouts each with his fastball (which played up a tick at 97 mph), splitter (which only got one whiff but kept White Sox hitters off balance) and cutter (a chance-of-pace weapon that keyed his success in last year’s playoffs).

The home run to Peters wasn’t perfectly located. But at 97 mph, Rushing noted, “that’s usually a pretty good pitch.”

At least, unlike last year’s other close call in Baltimore, the Dodgers had no trouble holding on to win this time.

“I know we’re gonna have more opportunities with Yoshi like that,” said Rushing, who admitted some frustration at how close his batterymate came. “And I’m looking forward to it.”

Who’s hot

One key in Yamamoto’s outing: He was pitching with a big lead.

The Dodgers’ offense scored three times in the first, on home runs from Shohei Ohtani (who returned to the lineup after battling knee inflammation the past couple days) and Max Muncy. They stretched it to 5-0 by the sixth. And then in the eighth, Muncy added more insurance with his second two-run blast of the day, giving him a team-high 16 home runs this season.

Who’s not

Miguel Rojas exited the game in the seventh inning after hopping awkwardly out of the way of an inside pitch. His status was not immediately clear postgame, with manager Dave Roberts departing before speaking to reporters to travel to his daughter’s college graduation on Sunday. Bench coach Danny Lehmann will fill in for him in the series finale.

Up next

The Dodgers will go for a series win Sunday to punctuate this road trip, with Emmet Sheehan (3-3, 4.70 ERA) slated to face right-hander Erick Fedde (1-5, 4.69 ERA).