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5 months ago

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  • Associated Press

May 10, 2025, 08:42 PM ET

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Aaron Judge celebrated his return to the Sacramento area by hitting two home runs Saturday in a losing effort for the New York Yankees against the Athletics to extend his major league leading total to 14.

Judge is playing in the Sacramento area for the first time since college in New York’s first visit to the A’s temporary home near California’s capital.

Judge was born in Sacramento and grew up not far away in Linden and had many friends and family in the crowd of 12,113 at the minor league park that is hosting the A’s.

“It just felt like being home,” Judge said after the Yankees’ win Friday night. “Any time we play the A’s, that’s always something that’s familiar to me and close to home to me. It was special.”

After going 1-for-4 with a walk and two near homers in the series opener, Judge granted A’s owner John Fisher his wish Saturday in an 11-7 victory for the home team.

He led off the fourth inning with a homer off JP Sears and then connected again to lead off the sixth against Justin Sterner to the delight of the Yankees fans in attendance, many of whom chanted “MVP! MVP!”

“Not surprising,” Yankees starter Carlos Rodon said. “Once again putting on great swings like he always does. Really good player.”

The second homer gave Judge 14 on the season and gave him 41 career multihomer games — fourth most in Yankees history.

Judge leads the majors in batting average (.396), on-base percentage (.486), slugging percentage (.772) homers and RBIs (37).

When the A’s announced their plans last season to play in this minor league park, Fisher said he was excited to see what players like Judge could do in a stadium known for offense.

“We’re excited to be here for the next three years playing in this beautiful ballpark but also being able to watch some of the best players in baseball, whether they be Athletics players or Aaron Judge and others launch home runs out of this very intimate, the most intimate ballpark in all of Major League Baseball,” he said.

The ball carried well for everyone with the teams combining for six homers — including a go-ahead, three-run shot by Shea Langeliers for the A’s that pitcher Fernando Cruz was shocked carried over the wall.

Cruz said he went to back up home plate, assuming it would be a potential sacrifice fly only to see the ball carry out.

“It’s the same for all of us,” Cruz said. “It’s the same for the other team, the same for me, the same for my other teammates. Just have to come back tomorrow and do the same thing, pitch and locate a little better.”

Games at this stadium that had previously been solely used in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League have had a combined 2.75 home runs per game — up more than 40% from the rate of homers hit last season at the Oakland Coliseum.

“I’m sure as the summer builds up and the heat builds up, the PCL is known for that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said about the way the ball carries. “I’d be speaking out of turn if I said I knew how this place is going to play throughout. Today was a little different throughout.”

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Cubs vs. Brewers (Oct 6, 2025) Live Score – ESPN

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51 mins ago

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October 7, 2025

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Cubs vs. Brewers (Oct 6, 2025) Live Score - ESPN

After breezing past the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card round, the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers have kept up the momentum against the Phillies, and with Monday’s Game 2 victory in Philadelphia, they now have a 2-0 NLDS advantage.

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Chourio (hamstring) gets start, hits HR in Game 2

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56 mins ago

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October 7, 2025

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Chourio (hamstring) gets start, hits HR in Game 2

  • ESPN News Services

Oct 6, 2025, 05:27 PM ET

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio got the start in left despite a hamstring injury and made his presence felt with a 419-foot, three-run homer in the fourth inning of Game 2 of the NL Division Series against the Chicago Cubs.

The homer gave Milwaukee a 7-3 lead.

Chourio, 21, had an MRI after leaving Game 1 on Saturday with a right hamstring injury after legging out an infield hit in the bottom of the second inning. It’s the same hamstring he injured in July — also while playing against the Cubs.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy said before Monday’s game that Chourio isn’t 100% and would be removed if he’s hampered at all by the injury.

“I’m sure it’s not 100%, but I’m more worried about behavior than feelings,” Murphy said before the game. “However he feels isn’t as important as how he behaves. If he gets in a situation where he doesn’t feel like he can do the job, we’re going to take him out.”

Chourio was 3-for-3 with three RBIs in Game 1 before he suffered the injury. He hit .270 with 21 home runs and 78 RBIs during the regular season.

The Brewers lead the best-of-5 series 1-0.

ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Dodgers stay playoff perfect, take 2-0 NLDS lead

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October 7, 2025

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Dodgers stay playoff perfect, take 2-0 NLDS lead

  • ESPN News Services

Oct 6, 2025, 09:16 PM ET

PHILADELPHIA — Will Smith drove in two runs in support of Blake Snell, who tossed six masterful innings of one-hit ball, and the Los Angeles Dodgers outlasted the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 in Game 2 of the NLDS on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park.

With the win, the Dodgers improved to 4-0 in the postseason, and own a 2-0 series lead headed into Wednesday’s Game 3 in Los Angeles.

The Phillies, eliminated in the same round last season by the New York Mets, have lost five of the past six postseason games. And in Monday’s loss, the struggles continued for stars Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.

“You’d like those guys to be swinging the bats,” Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson said of his top three hitters, who are a combined 2-for-21 in this series. “But I do like what we’re doing at the bottom part of the order. And Snell was good tonight, but I thought our at-bats were better. … But you do have to have confidence that those guys will get it going.”

Turner ended the game with a groundout in the ninth inning, when Los Angeles first baseman Freddie Freeman saved a wild throw from second baseman Tommy Edman that would have scored at least the tying run.

“Obviously, Tommy threw it into the dirt, thankfully, I was able to catch it and stay on the base,” Freeman said. “But that was a stressful inning.”

Snell struck out nine before giving way to relievers Emmet Sheehan, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia and Roki Sasaki.

Shohei Ohtani delivered an RBI single for his first hit of the series in a four-run seventh, and the Dodgers took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth.

Nick Castellanos slid headfirst into second base, barely eluding a tag, for a two-run double off Treinen that sent the Philadelphia crowd into a frenzy and trimmed the Phillies’ deficit to 4-3. Vesia came in to face Bryson Stott, who tried to advance Castellanos with a bunt. But third baseman Max Muncy wheeled and threw to shortstop Mookie Betts, who sprinted to cover the bag in time to get Castellanos.

Pinch hitter Harrison Bader singled, and Max Kepler grounded into a fielder’s choice that left runners at the corners with two outs just before Turner grounded out.

The Dodgers can advance to their 17th National League Championship Series with a win Wednesday night. A club that used the injured list this season 37 times for 2,585 days, according to Major League Baseball, is finally mostly healthy and needs to win just once in two home games to clinch the series. Teams taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five postseason series have won 80 of 90 times, including 54 sweeps.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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