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NEWARK, N.J. — After his New Jersey Devils were embarrassed by the rival New York Rangers at home on Thursday, star center Jack Hughes said his team needs an attitude adjustment as their playoff hopes dim.

“We’ve got to digest tonight and then we’ve got to wrap our heads around changing our attitude and really believing in ourselves,” said Hughes, who scored the Devils’ only goal in their 5-1 loss to the Rangers, who won their ninth straight game. “Not just talking and saying that, but actually doing that.”

The Devils followed their Stadium Series victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night with two straight losses to Metro Division rivals. On Tuesday, they lost at the Washington Capitals by a 6-2 score, before returning home to get blown out by the Rangers.

“That was a big win and we had two good opportunities. We didn’t do very much with it. So now we’re in a hole,” said Hughes of the Stadium Series win at MetLife Stadium.

The Devils are now five points in back of Tampa Bay, who visits New Jersey on Sunday, for the final wild card spot in the East. They have two games in-hand on the Lightning. The Devils are seven points behind the Flyers, who are third in the Metro, with one game in-hand on Philadelphia.

New Jersey’s power play continued to struggle mightily and might have ultimately cost them the game against the Rangers. The Devils squandered a five-minute match penalty given to the Rangers’ Matt Rempe after an illegal check to the head of Nate Bastian only 2:25 into the game. New York would score the game’s first goal five seconds into their own power play at 9:14 of the first.

In the second period, trailing 3-0, the Devils failed to score during four minutes of power play time following a double-minor high-sticking call against Kaapo Kakko. In total, New Jersey had 11:52 of power play time in the game and didn’t convert. They’re now in a 1-for-16 rut over their last four games, having scored one power-play goal in over 31 minutes of man advantage time.

With top defenseman Dougie Hamilton having missed the majority of the season with a torn pectoral muscle, Devils coach Lindy Ruff had to turn to rookies Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec to quarterback his power play.

“We need that ‘next game’ mentality. I think everyone knows that tonight wasn’t a good game for everyone. So we’ve got to come back and do our jobs,” said Luke Hughes.

“They’ve probably done a better than expected job for me and they’re going to continue to grow,” Ruff said, vowing to make more changes on their power play. “But with young defense, there’s going to be mistakes. There be some poor decisions at times, but you have to just live with that and you got to grow through it.”

Jack Hughes felt the Devils’ offense was too passive against Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, who made 39 saves.

“One goal, 40 shots. It probably means a lot of perimeter shooting. He saw a lot of pucks,” said Hughes.

The Devils star put the responsibility on himself to be better. “I’m obviously not playing at my best but got to find a way to get to that point and help us make a push,” he said.

Hughes missed 11 games recently for an upper-body injury. In his seven games since returning, he has 3 goals and 3 assists. Hughes said after the game he’s healthy. Ruff admitted that isn’t completely the case.

“Is he 100%? He’s not 100%, no,” said Ruff. “Jack is battling hard. Probably not happy with his game, but he’s battling hard here to do whatever he can do to help us win a hockey game

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

The San Francisco Giants are acquiring All-Star slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday evening.

The Giants are sending starter Jordan Hicks and 23-year-old lefty Kyle Harrison, among others, to Boston in exchange, sources said.

Devers, 28, is in just the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract he signed to stay in Boston in January 2023, however his relationship with the team suffered a significant blow after the star third baseman was reportedly blindsided by a move to designated hitter in the spring.

Tensions flared again last month after Devers refused an offer from the team to move him to first base after starting first baseman Triston Casas was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.

It reached a point where Red Sox owner John Henry met with the disgruntled star, making a rare trip to meet the team on the road and smooth things over after Devers’ pointed comments about the request to switch positions again.

Hicks and Harrison give a pitching-starved Red Sox team more depth on their staff while Devers provides a huge boost to a middling Giants offense.

Devers has more than 200 career home runs to his name and has a .894 OPS for Boston this season.

The deal was first reported by Fansided.

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Ohtani’s pitching return might be coming soon

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Ohtani's pitching return might be coming soon

Shohei Ohtani‘s pitching debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers might be quickly approaching.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Sunday that Ohtani would throw another simulated game in the coming days that could “potentially” be his last one, and a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney that Ohtani should join the Dodgers’ rotation “sooner rather than later,” potentially within the week.

Ohtani took a big step forward during his most recent simulated game at Petco Park on Tuesday, throwing 44 pitches over the course of three innings against a couple of lower-level minor league players. Ohtani’s fastball reached the mid- to upper-90s, and he exhibited good command of his off-speed pitches in what amounted to his third time facing hitters. Afterward, Roberts said there was a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could join the rotation before the All-Star break.

Because of his two-way designation, the Dodgers can carry Ohtani as an extra pitcher, which means he can throw two to three innings and have someone pitch after him as a piggyback starter. At this point, it seems that is the Dodgers’ plan.

The Dodgers’ pitching staff has again been plagued by injury, with 14 pitchers on the injured list, including four starting pitchers the team was heavily counting on for 2025 — Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow.

If Ohtani returns in July — the likely outcome at this point — he will be 22 months removed from a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament.

The update isn’t as optimistic for Sasaki. He paused his throwing program and is set for a lengthy layoff. Sasaki has not pitched in a game since May 9 and is not part of the team’s long-term pitching plans this season.

“I think that’s what the mindset should be,” Roberts said. “Being thrust into this environment certainly was a big undertaking for him, and now you layer in the health part and the fact he’s a starting pitcher, knowing what the build-up [required to return] entails … I think that’s the prudent way to go about it.”

Sasaki, 23, went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts after joining the Dodgers from the Pacific League’s Chuba Lotte Marines, averaging less than 4⅓ innings per start. He walked 22 and struck out 24 in 34⅓ innings, and his fastball averaged 95.7 mph, down 3-4 mph from his average in Japan.

Roberts said Sasaki was pain free when he resumed throwing in early June, but the pitcher was shut down after feeling discomfort this past week. Sasaki recently received a cortisone injection in the shoulder; Roberts said no further scans are planned.

“I don’t think it’s pain,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if it’s discomfort, if it’s tightness, if he’s just not feeling strong, whatever the adjective you want to use. That’s more of a question for Roki, as far as the sensation he’s feeling.

“He’s just not feeling like he can ramp it up, and we’re not going to push him to do something he doesn’t feel good about right now.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

BOSTON — Aaron Judge blamed himself for swinging at pitches outside the strike zone as the New York Yankees were swept in a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.

“You got to swing at strikes,” Judge said after going 1-for-12 in the series, which Boston completed with a 2-0 victory on Sunday.

Judge struck out three or more times in three straight games for only the third time in his major league career.

“That usually helps any hitter when you swing at strikes,” Judge added. “Definitely some pitches off the edge or off the edge in, you know, taking some hacks just trying to make something happen.”

Judge had a tying solo homer in the opener Friday night but struck out nine times as the Yankees were swept in a series for the first time this season.

New York scored only four runs in the three games, matching its fewest in a three-game series at Fenway Park, on June 20-22, 1916 and on Sept. 28-30, 1922.

“It’s very hard,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of facing Judge. “He’s so good at what he does. We used our fastballs in the right spots, we got some swing and misses.”

“Throughout the years we’ve been aggressive with him,” Cora added. “Sometimes he gets us, sometimes we do a good job with that. It’s always fun to compete against the best, and, to me, he’s the best in the business right now.”

Judge’s major league-leading average dipped to .378.

“I don’t think much of it,” teammate Ben Rice said. “If I could have that guy hitting every single at-bat even if he’s not at his best, I would do it. I’m sure he’ll bounce back. He’ll be all right.”

Judge faced Garrett Whitlock with two on in the eighth Sunday and bounced into an inning-ending double play.

“He’s one of the greatest hitters in the world,” Whitlock said. “It’s special to watch him play and everything. We tried to execute and had some execution this weekend.”

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