Connect with us

Published

on

SAN FRANCISCO — Aaron Judge homered for the third time in two games in San Francisco and the New York Yankees beat the Giants 7-3 on Saturday night.

Judge followed up his two-homer performance Friday night in his first game at the stadium where he rooted for the Giants as a child with one of the more prodigious shots hit in this ballpark’s 25 seasons.

“I have a lot of family in town, a lot of friends in town,” Judge said. “I have to do something special for them. Just trying to stay locked in and put on a show.”

He capped a nine-pitch at-bat in the first inning against Logan Webb (4-5) by launching a changeup 464 feet into the left-field bleachers for his major league-leading 21st home run of the year and a 2-0 lead.

Judge has six homers and 12 RBIs on the first eight games of this California road trip.

“I thought he was at another level in San Diego, Anaheim and just taking his act up the coast now,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “There’s no doubt that I think he’s excited to be here and play here for the first time. … I think it’s cool for him to be here and playing in this building and to put on the performance that he’s put on the last two nights is in line with what he’s been here for a pretty good stretch.”

The change in the calendar did little to slow down Judge, who had 14 homers, 12 doubles and 27 RBIs in May for the most extra-base hits in a month by a Yankees player since Joe DiMaggio had 31 in July 1937.

Judge has reached base safely in 28 straight games and is as locked in as he was two years ago during stretches of his record 62-homer season.

“There were runs in the ’22 season that were pretty wild but this is on par with that for sure,” teammate Giancarlo Stanton said.

Webb intentionally walked Judge with a runner on third and one out in a two-run third inning before striking him out with a runner on third to end the fifth. Judge singled in his last at-bat.

Judge got plenty of help, with Stanton hitting a two-run homer in the eighth off Ryan Walker, and Alex Verdugo also driving in two runs.

That was more than enough to lead the Yankees to their 15th win in 19 games in support of Cody Poteet (2-0), who was called up from Triple-A to make the start.

Poteet allowed a two-run homer to Casey Schmitt in the third inning and an unearned run in the fifth to earn the win in his second start of the season.

Webb had allowed only four earned runs in five starts at home this season before giving up that many in seven innings against Judge and the Yankees.

“He’s an MVP for a reason,” Webb said. “You can’t throw pitches in the heart of the plate. It’s the name of the game. He’s not the only one like that, but especially right now with him being as hot as he is.”

The Giants have lost three straight games for the first time since getting swept in a four-game series at Philadelphia from May 3-6.

Continue Reading

Sports

Ohtani hits long home run in return to Japan

Published

on

By

Ohtani hits long home run in return to Japan

TOKYO — Japanese star Shohei Ohtani showed off some prodigious power in his return to the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night.

In an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants, the three-time Most Valuable Player belted a long two-run homer to right field in the third inning to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead, setting off a roar from the roughly 42,000 fans in attendance.

The Dodgers put on quite a power display in the third with Michael Conforto, Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández all going deep to give Los Angeles a 5-0 advantage.

The Dodgers are playing in Japan as part of the Tokyo Series. The team is playing two exhibition games against Japanese teams before starting the regular season with two games against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to have at least 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in one season in 2024. He played several seasons for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan before coming to the U.S. in 2018 with the Los Angeles Angels.

Continue Reading

Sports

Rangers’ Gray fractures wrist on comebacker

Published

on

By

Rangers' Gray fractures wrist on comebacker

The Texas Rangers‘ pitching staff took another hit Friday, when right-hander Jon Gray suffered a right wrist fracture.

Gray was struck by a line drive from Colorado Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia to lead off the fourth inning that knocked him out of the game.

“Not good news, not good news,” manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. “It’s terrible. I feel awful for him, to be this close to getting the season going. It’s just not good news. I’ll get back in there and find out more, but right now, there is a fracture.”

Gray’s injury is the third setback for the Rangers rotation this week. The team said Thursday that left-hander Cody Bradford would start the season on the injured list because of soreness in his throwing elbow. Tyler Mahle had been scratched from a start with forearm soreness, but the right-hander returned to pitch in a minor league game Thursday.

Gray went 5-6 with a 4.47 ERA in 23 appearances (19 starts) for the Rangers last season, when he was shut down in September for a foot injury that required surgery. He is in the final year of a four-year, $56 million deal.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Dodgers’ Betts to miss Japan games with illness

Published

on

By

Dodgers' Betts to miss Japan games with illness

TOKYO — Shortstop Mookie Betts will miss the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ two exhibition games in Japan because of an illness, manager Dave Roberts said Saturday.

Roberts said he’s still hopeful that the eight-time All-Star will be available for the team’s first regular season game against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome. The Dodgers are playing the Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers — two teams from Japan — in exhibition games on Saturday and Sunday.

Roberts said the 32-year-old Betts started to feel flu-like symptoms during the team’s final day in Arizona, but team doctors said he was OK to make the long trip to Japan.

“Mookie is here today, but he’s been really sick,” Roberts said. “Lost some weight, so we’re trying to get him hydrated. He’s going to work out a little today, but he won’t be playing either tonight or tomorrow.

“Then when we have our off day, our workout day, we’ll see how he is.”

Betts is making the full-time transition to shortstop this season after playing most of his career in right field and second base. The 2018 AL MVP hit .289 with 19 homers and 75 RBI last season, helping the Dodgers win the World Series.

Continue Reading

Trending