Luis Severino's seven sharp innings allowed the rolling New York Mets to further close the gap in the National League wild card race with Monday's 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox.
Severino (10-6) scattered six hits while yielding one run to win his third consecutive decision and lead the Mets to a fifth straight victory. New York, now 12-5 over its last 17 games, moved within a half-game of the Atlanta Braves for the NL's final wild card spot.
Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor continued a hot stretch as well by going 2 for 3 with an RBI to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Luis Torrens also went 2 for 3 for New York, which also received a run-scoring double from Brandon Nimmo.
Nimmo's hit followed a single by Lindor in the bottom of the third inning and snapped a 1-1 tie, and the Mets pushed home two more runs against Boston starter Brayan Bello in the fourth to increase the margin.
After DJ Stewart started a two-out rally with a single, Torrens lashed a double to left that enabled Stewart to score when Boston's Tyler O'Neill misplayed the ball caroming off the wall. A Lindor single then brought home Torrens for a 4-1 advantage.
The Mets had their first run set up by back-to-back singles by Jose Iglesias and Jeff McNeil in the second inning that put runners at first and third, with Iglesias crossing the plate on a double-play grounder off the bat of Starling Marte.
Boston would pull even in the top of the third when Ceddane Rafaela tripled and scored on Jarren Duran's single.
Severino shut down Boston's offence from that point on, though, with Danny Young and Phil Maton closing out the win with a scoreless inning each.
Bello (12-7) gave up all four New York runs in five innings of work in the latest loss for the slumping Red Sox, who have now dropped three straight and eight of 11.
Torres, Cole help keep Yankees atop AL East
Gleyber Torres had three hits, including a go-ahead two-run double, and Gerrit Cole struck out nine over six strong innings as the New York Yankees maintained their slim lead atop the American League East with an 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers.
Anthony Rizzo also had a two-run double for New York in his second game back from a broken arm, while Giancarlo Stanton added a solo homer to help keep the Yankees a half-game ahead of Baltimore in the race for the AL's best record. The Orioles kept pace with a 13-3 rout of the White Sox, the 11th straight loss for Chicago.
Cole (6-3) held the Rangers to one run on four hits before departing due to a cramp in his right calf he developed while warming up for the seventh inning.
The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner had a 7-1 lead at that point, with Torres opening the scoring with a third-inning double that drove in Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo, both of whom reached on singles off Jack Leiter.
Cole's lone blemish occurred in the bottom of the third, when Josh Smith delivered a two-out double that brought in Marcus Semien, who was aboard on a fielder's choice that followed Leody Taveras' single.
Leiter (0-2) kept it a 2-1 game until the sixth, which Torres and Juan Soto began with singles before Aaron Judge ended the rookie's night with a run-scoring double.
The Yankees would put up four more runs before the end of the inning. Jazz Chisholm brought home Soto with a single, Rizzo knocked in two more with an opposite-field double and Chisholm scored on a wild pitch to increase the margin to 7-1.
Wyatt Langford's two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh got Texas a little closer, but Stanton opened the eighth with his 25th homer of the season to push New York's lead to 8-3.
Langford added a double in the ninth inning that followed a single by Josh Jung, who scored the Rangers' final run on a groundout by Jonah Heim.
Freeman, Ohtani lead another Dodgers' offensive outburst vs. Diamondbacks
Freddie Freeman homered twice and knocked in five runs, Shohei Ohtani stole three more bases, and the Los Angeles Dodgers punished Arizona Diamondbacks pitching once again in an 11-6 victory that allowed the NL West leaders to win an important four-game series.
The Dodgers hammered out 17 hits, including five from Teoscar Hernandez, en route to their 11th win in 14 games. Los Angeles took three matchups in this series while totalling 32 runs and averaging 13 hits over the four games.
Ohtani finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored while running his stolen base total to 46 as he bids to become the first player in MLB history with 50 home runs and 50 steals in a season.
Mookie Betts also had two hits while driving in three runs to help the Dodgers maintain a five-game advantage over the second-place San Diego Padres in the division. The Diamondbacks are now six back after losing for the fourth time in five games.
Los Angeles also got a solid pitching performance from Jack Flaherty, who fanned seven while holding Arizona to one run in 5 2/3 innings to improve to 4-1 in six starts since being acquired from the Detroit Tigers in late July.
Freeman's first home run, a two-run shot off Eduardo Rodriguez in the third inning, staked Los Angeles to a 3-0 lead. The blast came with Betts aboard after the fellow All-Star reached on a single that plated Chris Taylor, who opened the inning with a double.
Arizona got a run back in the bottom of the third when Eugenio Suarez doubled and later scored on Corbin Carroll's groundout.
It remained a 3-1 game until Ohtani singled in the seventh, stole both second and third base, and crossed the plate on Freeman's sacrifice fly after Betts was intentionally walked. Hernandez followed with a single and stole second before he and Betts were brought in on Will Smith's single that extended the lead to 6-1.
The Diamondbacks did close the gap in their half of the seventh. Suarez and Luis Guillorme singled before Geraldo Perdomo drove in one run with a sacrifice fly and Jake McCarthy another on a groundout.
Los Angeles answered with a five-run eighth, however, highlighted by Freeman's two-run homer that made the score 10-3. Betts had preceded Freeman's shot with a two-run double, while Hernandez later delivered another hit before eventually scoring on Tommy Edman's single.
Suarez capped a three-hit night with a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth, and the Diamondbacks managed two runs in the ninth via Josh Bell's single that brought home Carroll and Randal Grichuk.
Ohtani, Judge both unanimous picks for MVP awards
Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were both unanimously selected to win Most Valuable Player Awards in their respective leagues on Thursday.
Judge collected all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. garnered all 30 second-place votes.
Yankees outfielder Juan Soto finished third with 21 third-place votes.
Ohtani was an unanimous MVP for the third time, receiving all 30 first-place votes and 420 points in voting by the BWAA. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor was second with 263 points and Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte third with 229.
It is the second AL MVP award of Judge's career after he also won the award in 2022.
Judge led the major leagues with 58 homers, 144 RBIs and 133 walks while hitting .322. He also drew a league-high 133 walks and posted a spectacular 1.159 OPS.
Witt topped the big leagues with a .332 average, hitting 32 homers with 109 RBIs.
With two MVP Awards to his name, Judge is the seventh player in Yankees history to win multiple MVPs. He joins Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Alex Rodriguez.
There was an extended stretch over the summer where Judge was on a pace to reach and possibly break his own single-season home run record (62 in 2022). The same goes for a bid at a Triple Crown.
The stretch that truly defined his season began on April 27. Judge entered play on that day in Milwaukee with a .178 batting average and .674 OPS on the season. He had only four home runs with 35 strikeouts across 27 games.
Over his next 100 games, through August 23, Judge hit .378 with 45 home runs. It was the first time in MLB history a player batted higher than .375 with 45-plus homers in a stretch of 100 games within a single season.
Ohtani was unanimously voted AL MVP in 2021 and 2023 as a two-way star for the Los Angeles Angels and finished second to Judge in 2022 voting. He didn’t pitch in 2024 following elbow surgery and signed a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers last December.
Ohtani hit .310, stole 59 bases and led the NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs exclusively as a designated hitter, becoming the first player with 50 or more homers and 50 or more stolen bases in a season. He helped the Dodgers to the World Series title, playing the final three games with a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
Ohtani is the first primary DH to win an MVP. He joins Frank Robinson for Cincinnati in 1961 and Baltimore in 1966 as the only players to win the MVP award in both leagues.
The Japanese sensation is the 12th player with three or more MVPs, joining Barry Bonds (seven) and Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Mike Schmidt, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout (three each).
Sale, Skubal win MLB's Cy Young Awards
Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal and Atlanta Braves lefty Chris Sale were each named the winner of their respective league’s Cy Young Award on Wednesday.
The announcement was hardly a surprise after each ace won their league's pitching triple crown during the 2024 regular season.
This is the first Cy Young for both pitchers.
Skubal, who turned 28 on Wednesday, enjoyed a break-out year in his fourth full MLB season, and was a unanimous winner, receiving all 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The Kansas City Royals' Seth Lugo finished second and Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase finished third in the balloting, which was completed before the play-offs.
Sale received 26 of 30 first-place votes, while Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler finished second, ahead of Pittsburgh Pirates righty Paul Skenes, who was selected as the National League Rookie of the Year on Monday.
The 35-year-old Sale has come close to winning the award before, finishing as runner-up to Cleveland's Corey Kluber in 2017, with five other top-five finishes in voting since his first full season in the majors in 2011.
Since the inception of the Cy Young Award in 1956, there have been 16 pitchers to win his league's pitching crown. And now, every one of them has also won that year's Cy Young.
Skubal and Sale each won an MLB-best 18 games, while Skubal led all pitchers with 228 strikeouts – three more than Sale. Sale's ERA of 2.38 was just a tick better than Skubal's 2.39.
Both were dominant down the stretch in leading their teams to the play-offs, with Sale permitting two earned runs or fewer in each of his final 18 regular-season starts, though he was unable to pitch in the season final or the Braves' NL Wild-Card series loss to the San Diego Padres because of a back injury.
Skubal posted a 1.94 ERA in his final nine outings, and then threw 13 shutout innings in his first two play-off starts in helping the Tigers surprisingly reach the American League Division Series. He ended up going 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA in three post-season starts.
Skubal became the fifth Tiger to win the Cy Young trophy – and first since Max Scherzer in 2017 – and Sale is the fifth Brave to earn the award – and first since Hall of Famer Tom Glavine in 1998.
Despite several close calls in Cy Young voting for Sale, he has dealt with injuries for the past five seasons, and was limited to a total of 151 innings over the past three years for the Boston Red Sox.
In his first season with the Braves, however, he threw 177 2/3 innings and was awarded the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award last Thursday.
Dodgers erase 5-run deficit, beat Yankees to win World Series
The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second World Series championship in five seasons, overcoming a five-run deficit with the help of three Yankees defensive miscues and rallying on sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts in the eighth inning to beat New York 7-6 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning, Alex Verdugo’s RBI single chased Jack Flaherty in the second and Giancarlo Stanton’s third-inning homer against Ryan Brasier built a 5-0 Yankees lead.
But errors by Judge in center and Anthony Volpe at shortstop, combined with pitcher Gerrit Cole failing to cover first on Betts' grounder, helped Los Angeles score five unearned runs in the fifth.
After Stanton’s sixth-inning sacrifice fly put the Yankees back ahead 6-5, the Dodgers loaded the bases against loser Tommy Kahnle in the eighth before the sacrifice flies off Luke Weaver.
Winner Blake Treinen escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the bottom half by retiring Stanton on a flyout and striking out Anthony Rizzo.
Walker Buehler, making his first relief appearance since his rookie season in 2018, pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers’ record-setting $700 million signing and baseball’s first 50-homer, 50-steal player, went 2 for 19 with no RBIs and had one single after separating his shoulder during a stolen base attempt in Game 2.
Freddie Freeman hit a two-run single to tie the Series record of 12 RBIs, set by Bobby Richardson over seven games in 1960. With the Dodgers one out from losing Friday’s opener, Freeman hit a game-ending grand slam reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s homer off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in 1988’s Game 1 that sparked Los Angeles to the title.
The Dodgers earned their eighth championship and seventh since leaving Brooklyn for Los Angeles - their first in a non-shortened season since 1988. They won a neutral-site World Series against Tampa Bay in 2020 after a 60-game regular season and couldn’t have a parade because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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