Kris Bryant hit two home runs and Brandon Crawford was perfect at the plate as the San Francisco Giants defeated the New York Mets 7-5 in MLB action Monday.
Bryant's two-run drive in the fifth inning gave the Mets a 4-3 lead and he helped expand it in the seventh, following Brandon Belt's solo shot by homering on the next pitch.
Crawford drove in the final San Francisco run with a triple later than inning, capping a four-for-four night.
Whle the Giants improved to an MLB-best 77-42, the Mets (59-59) dropped the fourth in a row after being swept in Los Angeles by the Dodgers over the weekend.
Cole beats Angels in return
A pair of first-inning home runs accounted for all the scoring as the New York Yankees defeated the Los Angeles Angels 2-1, with Joey Gallo's two-run shot trumping Justin Upton's solo homer. The latter was the only blemish for Yankees ace Gerrit Cole as made his first start in more than weeks thanks to a stint on the COVID-19 injured list. Cole allowed just one other hit and struck out nine in 5.2 innings.
After Trent Grisham's three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning tied the game for the San Diego Padres, the Colorado Rockies walked off 6-5 winners on a homer in the bottom of the inning from C.J. Cron.
The Chicago White Sox expanded their division lead to an MLB-high 11 games with a 5-2 home win against the Oakland Athletics as Luis Robert homered and Seby Zavala drove in a pair of runs.
After a two-homer game Sunday, Max Muncy's eighth-inning solo shot gave the Los Angeles Dodgers their winning margin in a 2-1 triumph over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Freddie Freeman and Adam Duvall homered while Ozzie Albies drove in three more runs as the Atlanta Braves routed the Miami Marlins 12-2 to extend their lead in the National League East to 1.5 games.
Jorge Polanco had his second walk-off hit in as many games for Minnesota, with his 10th-inning RBI double giving the Twins a 5-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians a day after his sacrifice fly in the ninth beat the Tampa Bay Rays. The last Twins player to produce walk-off wins in successive games was Jacque Jones in July 2005.
Sparse crowd in St. Pete
The Rays (72-47) have the best record in the American League, but the official attendance at Tropicana Field for Monday's 9-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles was the lowest in franchise history for a game not affected by coronavirus-related capacity restrictions. The loss was the 12th in a row for the Orioles, who have the worst record in the AL at 38-79.
Votto collects 2,000th hit
At age 37, Joey Votto's impressive 2021 season produced another milestone as he collected his 2,000th career hit in Cincinnati's 14-5 demoltion of the Chicago Cubs. He is the 35th player in MLB history to reach 2,000 hits and 300 home runs with one franchise, and the second Reds player to do it, joining Hall of Famer Johnny Bench.
Monday's results
New York Yankees 2-1 Los Angeles Angels
Cincinnati Reds 14-5 Chicago Cubs
Tampa Bay Rays 9-2 Baltimore Orioles
Atlanta Braves 12-2 Miami Marlins
Kansas City Royals 7-6 Houston Astros
Minnesota Twins 5-4 Cleveland Indians
Chicago White Sox 6-2 Oakland Athletics
Colorado Rockies 6-5 San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants 7-5 New York Mets
Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 Pittsburgh Pirates
Red Sox at Yankees
Eternal rivals the Boston Red Sox (69-51) and New York Yankees (66-52) will play a doubleheader in the Bronx as both teams chase Tampa Bay in the American League East.
Yankees slugger Judge goes back on injured list
The New York Yankees will be without slugger Aaron Judge for at least the next 10 days, with the superstar going back on the injured list with a contusion and sprained ligament in his right big toe.
An MRI on Tuesday showed Judge has no break or fracture in his toe, but a sprain will keep him sidelined until at least mid-June.
The 2022 AL MVP sustained the injury while making a highlight-reel catch against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday. He knocked open the door of the visiting bullpen while making the catch and slammed his toe against the concrete at the bottom of the wall.
This is the second time this season that Judge will spend time on the injured list after a right hip strain forced him to miss two weeks in late April/early May.
Judge is putting together another stellar season, batting .291 with an AL-best 19 home runs and 40 RBIs in 49 games.
Blue Jays send struggling Alek Manoah to minors
The 2022 season could not have gone much better for Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Alek Manoah.
The 2023 season, meanwhile, could not have started much worse for the struggling right-hander.
The Blue Jays sent Manoah to the rookie-level Florida Complex League on Tuesday, one day after he managed to get just one out in an 11-4 loss to the Houston Astros.
The 25-year-old has been a major disappointment this season after finishing third in AL Cy Young Award balloting in 2022 and earning a selection to the All-Star Game.
Through 58 innings and 13 starts this year, Manoah has surrendered 45 runs - 10 fewer runs than he permitted all of 2022 in 196 2/3 innings.
He's 1-7 with a 6.36 ERA this year after going 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA in 31 starts last season. As a rookie in 2021, he was 9-2 with a 3.22 ERA in 20 starts.
Among the 96 players in the majors with at least 50 innings pitched this season, Manoah's ERA is the ninth highest while his 1.90 WHIP is second worst.
This is after he compiled the fourth-lowest ERA and 10th-lowest WHIP (0.99), among all qualifying MLB pitchers in 2022.
His latest outing was the shortest out of 64 career starts.
Manoah faced nine Astros and got just one out, allowing six runs and seven hits - including a grand slam - while walking one.
He'll now be working at one of the lowest minor league levels.
Reds call up highly touted prospect Elly De La Cruz
The future is now for the Cincinnati Reds.
Elly De La Cruz will make his highly anticipated major league debut after the Reds called up the touted prospect ahead of Tuesday's series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
With the lethal combination of power and speed, the 21-year-old shortstop is ranked as Baseball America's third-best prospect, and has been crushing the ball in the minors.
In 38 games this season for Triple-A Louisville, Cruz slashed .297/.398/.633 with 12 home runs, 11 doubles and 11 stolen bases. He's also driven in 36 runs and scored 38.
This came after he hit .304 with 28 homers and stole 47 bases in 120 games last year for Class A Dayton and Double-A Chattanooga.
Signed as a teenager by Cincinnati out of the Dominican Republic, the tall middle infielder has drawn comparisons to Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz.
De La Cruz joins a Reds team that has won three in a row to improve to 27-33, and is surprisingly in the mix in the pedestrian NL Central, sitting 5 /1/2 games behind the first-place Pirates.
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