Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 33rd home run and the New York Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles 4-1 in a game marred by a late benches-clearing incident on Friday night.

Benches cleared in the bottom of the ninth after Baltimore’s Heston Kjerstad was hit in the helmet by a pitch from closer Clay Holmes. There was some pushing and shoving, but no punches were thrown.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde walked toward the New York dugout and pointed at someone, at which point Yankees catcher Austin Wells tried to restrain Hyde.

The teams met for the first time since the Orioles took two of three in New York last month. Since then, the Yankees are 6-13 and Baltimore is 8-12.

Gerrit Cole rebounded from a poor start in his last outing by allowing one run and five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.

Tommy Kahnle and Luke Weaver each worked one inning and Holmes pitched the ninth for his 21st save.

The Orioles had their lead in the East trimmed to one game over the Yankees as they lost their fourth straight. They have scored three runs during that skid and are 1 for 26 with runners in scoring position.

New York scored twice against rookie Cade Povich in the second.

Anthony Volpe singled and moved to third on an error by right fielder Anthony Santander. He scored on Jose Trevino’s double and Jahmai Jones singled home another run.

Judge led off the third by sending an 0-2 pitch from Povich over the wall in left field for his first RBI in nine games. Judge walked in his other four plate appearances.

Surging Mets hold off Rockies

Jose Iglesias and Harrison Bader each homered twice and the New York Mets fended off the last-place Colorado Rockies, 7-6.

Mark Vientos also went deep and had an RBI double for the Mets, who are 4-0 on a six-game homestand against the struggling Nationals and Rockies heading into the All-Star break. New York has won six of seven overall and is 24-10 since it was 11 games under .500 on June 2.

Sean Manaea pitched seven effective innings, throwing a season-high 107 pitches. He allowed three runs and five hits while walking one and striking out nine.

He left with a 7-3 lead, but Charlie Blackmon homered to open the eighth and Brenton Doyle’s two-run shot later in the inning made it a one-run game.

Edwin Diaz worked around consecutive two-out walks in a hitless ninth for his 10th save.

Vientos and Iglesias hit back-to-back home runs in the second and Bader’s blast one batter later gave the Mets three homers in an inning for the first time since July 1, 2023, against San Francisco.

Hendricks pitches Cubs to 5th straight win

Kyle Hendricks pitched seven shutout innings and Nico Hoerner and David Bote each knocked in two runs as the Chicago Cubs stretched their season-best winning streak to five games with a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Hendricks didn’t allow a runner to reach second base and gave up five hits with three strikeouts and a walk. He rebounded from three straight losses to improve to 14-4 with a 2.57 ERA in 27 career appearances against the Cardinals.

Chicago was coming off consecutive shutouts in Baltimore and had a scoreless streak of 32 2/3 innings snapped in the ninth on Paul Goldschmidt’s RBI single.

Hector Neris walked Nolan Arenado with two outs to load the bases before striking out Lars Nootbaar for his 13th save in 17 chances.

Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 32nd home run but Elly De La Cruz and Will Benson each hit two-run shots and the Cincinnati Reds held on for a 5-4 win over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.

Judge’s solo shot in the seventh off Sam Moll was his third hit of the game and pulled the Yankees within 5-4, but Fernando Cruz pitched the eighth and Alexis Diaz worked a perfect ninth for his 18th save in 20 chances.

Judge leads the majors in batting average (.321), homers and RBIs (83).

Luis Gil retired nine in a row to open the game before De La Cruz led off the fourth with his sixth triple of the season. He came home on a groundout and the Reds scored four times in the next inning to knock out Gil.

After Stuart Fairchild was hit by a pitch, Benson hit his fifth homer and first since May 28. Jonathan India was then hit near the left elbow and Caleb Ferguson relieved Gil. De La Cruz followed by sending a 2-0 fastball into the visitors' bullpen in left-center for his 15th homer and a 5-0 lead.

Graham Ashcraft held the Yankees scoreless for four innings before running into trouble in the fifth. He allowed three runs and four hits over five innings with two walks and three strikeouts.

New York has lost 11 of its last 15 games.

Ohtani homers as Dodgers rally 

Teoscar Hernandez capped a two-out, ninth-inning rally with an RBI single to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 6-5 walk-off victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Joc Pederson snapped a ninth-inning tie with a home run to give the Diamondbacks a 5-4 lead, but the Dodgers responded with two runs in the bottom half after Paul Sewald struck out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani.

Will Smith doubled off the wall in center and scored on Freddie Freeman’s double into the right-center field gap. Hernandez then singled home Freeman for the game-winner.

Ohtani fell a triple shy of the cycle and homered for the 10th time in his last 14 games. He is batting .396 (21 for 53) with 20 RBIs during that stretch.

Ohtani, Smith, Freeman and Hernandez combined to go 10 for 20 with six RBIs and five runs as the Dodgers salvaged a game in which they led 2-0 and 4-3.

Christian Walker’s fourth-inning home run was his 15th at Dodger Stadium, with all coming since 2018. That is the most of any visiting player in that time.  

Twins extend home run streak in win

Manny Margot and Carlos Correa went deep and the Minnesota Twins extended their club-record home run streak to 20 games in a 5-3 win over the Detroit Tigers.

Byron Buxton led off the seventh with a double and scored the go-ahead run on a head-first dive into home plate.

Minnesota’s bullpen came up big with Jorge Alcala working 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Griffin Jax pitching one inning before Jhoan Duran earned his 13th save of the season.

The Twins moved a season-high 11 games over .500 with their seventh win in nine games.

The news, however, wasn’t all good as third baseman Royce Lewis left after five innings with tightness in his left groin.

Jose Ramirez hit a three-run homer and Gabriel Arias had three hits and three RBIs as the Cleveland Guardians won their seventh straight, 10-8 over the struggling Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.

Bo Naylor fell a home run shy of the cycle and scored three runs as Cleveland collected 14 hits and went 7 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

Ramirez’s drive to center capped a five-run fourth that extended Cleveland’s lead to 8-4. With 237 homers, he’s now in sole possession of third place on the franchise’s career list.

The major league-leading Guardians used five relievers after Logan Allen was tagged for six runs and nine hits over three-plus innings.

Emmanuel Clase pitched the ninth for his AL-best 25th save.

Jordan Westburg went 4 for 4 and Gunnar Henderson, Colton Cowser, James McCann and Anthony Santander homered for the Orioles, who lost their season-high fifth straight.

Santander’s home run was his 12th this month, tying the club record for June shared by Boog Powell (1964), Rafael Palmeiro (1998), Albert Belle (2000) and Chris Davis (2013).

Surging Mets rough up Cole

Mark Vientos homered twice off Gerrit Cole and the New York Mets took the New York Yankees’ ace deep four times before holding on for a 9-7 victory in the first Subway Series matchup of the season.

Reed Garrett gave up Aaron Judge’s grand slam – his major league-leading 29th home run – in the eighth inning but worked a perfect ninth to preserve the Mets’ 10th win in 12 games.

Vientos led off the second with his first home run of the night and Harrison Bader connected against his former teammate one out later.

Vientos opened the fourth with another longball to extend the Mets’ lead to 4-0 and Brandon Nimmo’s two-run shot off Cole in the inning made it 6-0.

Cole allowed six runs on seven hits in four innings with four walks and no strikeouts in his second start of the season.

He surrendered a career-high five home runs at Minnesota on June 9, 2022.

Juan Soto also went deep for the Yankees, who have lost seven of nine but maintain a two-game lead over Baltimore in the AL East.

Padres’ Profar hits grand slam after benches empty

Jurickson Profar broke open the game with a grand slam after he was the focal point of a benches-clearing dustup and Manny Machado had a two-run homer as the San Diego Padres defeated the Washington Nationals 9-6.

With one out in the first inning, Washington catcher Keibert Ruiz jawed at Profar and put a hand on his shoulder just before his at-bat. Machado, who was on deck, then put a hand on Ruiz’s shoulder as he got in between them, and players and coaches from both teams swarmed onto the field.

Plate umpire Brian Walsh warned both teams, and Nationals pitcher MacKenzie Gore hit Profar with a pitch but wasn’t ejected.

Machado followed by taking Gore deep for a 2-0 lead.

Profar’s fourth career grand slam and second this season came in the sixth off Derek Law and extended the lead to 9-4.

The Nationals apparently felt Profar trolled them after hitting a walk-off, two-run single in the 10th inning in Monday’s 7-6 win.

Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 25th home run and Austin Wells had a three-run shot as the New York Yankees cruised to a 10-1 rout of the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

Giancarlo Stanton also homered for the AL-best Yankees, who have won seven straight on the road and 11 of 13 overall.

Back in the lineup after he was rested in Monday’s series opener, Judge had a run-scoring single in the first inning and his 446-foot home run in the seventh – a two-run shot - gave him 62 RBIs, tied with Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez for the major league lead.

Since the beginning of May, Judge is 51 for 127 (.402) with 19 home runs, 44 RBIs and 40 runs in 37 games for a 1.506 OPS.

The Yankees improved to 39-4 when Judge and Stanton homer in the same game, including playoffs, and are 16-1 against the AL Central this season.

Marcus Stroman pitched four-hit ball over 5 2/3 scoreless innings to win his fourth consecutive decision.

Freddy Fermin homered for the Royals, who dropped their third in a row and are 3-12 in their last 15 meetings with New York.

Mateo lifts surging Orioles over Braves

Jorge Mateo hit a three-run homer in his return to the lineup and Albert Suarez worked into the sixth inning to lead the Baltimore Orioles to their fifth straight victory, 4-0 over the Atlanta Braves.

Mateo, reinstated from the concussion injured list before the game, hit a drive into the Baltimore bullpen in the second inning off Max Fried after Anthony Santander walked, and Austin Hays singled for one of his three hits.

Suarez allowed four hits over 5 1/3 innings with three walks and four strikeouts. Four relievers finished up the five-hitter with Dillon Tate fanning two in the ninth.

Baltimore matched its longest winning streak of the season and sent Atlanta to its season high-tying fourth consecutive loss.

The Braves went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base.

Dodgers hit 4 home runs in one inning in rout

Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez and Jason Heyward all homered during a seven-run sixth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers pounded the Texas Rangers, 15-2.

Mookie Betts’ three-run double in the fourth gave the Dodgers a 6-1 lead and Gavin Lux’s RBI single an inning later made it 7-1.

Ohtani hit his 16th home run with one out in the sixth after Betts walked and Freeman followed with his ninth of the season. After Will Smith singled, Hernandez connected for his fifth home run in five games. Andy Pages singled after Grant Anderson got the second out and Heyward’s blast pushed the lead to 14-1.

Rangers catcher Andrew Knizner pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

Smith had a three-run homer in the first inning and finished with three hits for the Dodgers, who last had four home runs in an inning on Sept. 29, 2021, against San Diego.

Defending World Series champion Texas lost its fifth in seven games.

Aaron Judge drove in five more runs and Carlos Rodon won his sixth straight start as the New York Yankees rolled to their seventh consecutive victory with another win over the Minnesota Twins, 9-5 on Wednesday night.

Judge had an RBI groundout in a four-run first against Chris Paddack, lined a three-run triple in the fifth and added a bases-loaded walk in the sixth.

Judge is 10 for 21 with four home runs, a double, a triple and 15 RBIs in his last six games. He has 54 RBIs this season, second in the majors behind Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez (58).

The Yankees have won six straight against the Twins dating to last season and are 106-42 in the series since 2002.

New York, which has outscored Minnesota 28-7 in winning all five meetings in 2024, matched its longest win streak of the season and is tied with Philadelphia for the majors’ best record.

Rodon retired the first 16 batters before Carlos Santana homered with one out in the sixth. The left-hander allowed two runs on three hits in six innings, striking out nine and walking none.

Royce Lewis homered in the seventh on his 25th birthday, a day after he went deep in his return from a strained right quadriceps that sidelined him for 58 games. Lewis became the first player in franchise history to homer in his first three games of a season.

Pivetta dominates Braves as Red Sox win

Nick Pivetta pitched one-hit ball over seven innings and Rafael Devers hit a pair of home runs to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 9-0 rout of the Atlanta Braves.

Pivetta allowed his only hit on an Austin Riley leadoff single in the fourth inning and struck out nine with two walks.

Zach Kelly and Brad Keller each worked one scoreless inning to finish up the one-hitter.

Devers hit a solo homer in the second inning and added a two-run shot in the seventh for the 17th multi-homer game of his career.

Jarren Duran also went deep for the Red Sox, who moved back to .500 by completing a 3-3 homestand.

Braves rookie Spencer Schwellenbach was tagged for six runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings in his second career start.

Cubs walk-off lowly White Sox

Mike Tauchman homered to lead off the ninth inning and the Chicago Cubs rallied again to finish a two-game sweep with a 7-6 win over the Chicago White Sox, who lost their 13th straight game.

Tauchman sent Michael Kopech’s second pitch in the ninth deep to center for his first career game-ending home run.

One night after blowing a 5-0 lead, the White Sox squandered a 5-1 advantage in this one.

Cody Bellinger had a run-scoring fielder’s choice in the fifth and another run scored on a balk to get the Cubs within 5-3. They took the lead with three runs in the seventh on a wild pitch, Bellinger’s sacrifice fly and Ian Happ’s broken-bat RBI single.

Corey Julks and Paul DeJong homered for the White Sox, who have lost 17 of 18 to drop to a major league-worst 15-47.

They have led by at least two runs at one point in each of their last five losses. The 13-game skid matches the single-season franchise record set in 1924.

Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 21st home run to continue a superb stretch and Giancarlo Stanton added a two-run shot as the New York Yankees won their fourth straight game, 7-3 over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday. 

Judge capped a stellar May with two home runs in Friday’s win and was back at it on the first day of June with a two-run, 464-foot shot in the first inning. 

Since the start of May, Judge is batting .370 with 15 home runs, 29 RBIs and 30 runs in 29 games. He has reached base safely in 28 straight games. 

Cody Poteet allowed three runs – two earned – and three hits over five innings in his first start since April 13. He took the rotation spot of Clarke Schmidt, who is out indefinitely with a right lat strain.

Four relievers kept the Giants scoreless the rest of the way as New York won for the 15th time in 19 games. 

The Giants pulled to within 4-3 with a run in the fifth, but the Yankees scored three times in the eighth after reliever Ryan Walker opened the inning with strikeouts of Anthony Volpe and Juan Soto. 

Judge hit an infield single and scored on Alex Verdugo’s triple before Stanton connected for his 14th homer of the season. 

Guardians extend home streak

Rookie Kyle Manzardo delivered a bloop two-run single in the first inning and the Cleveland Guardians won their ninth straight home game, 3-2 over the Washington Nationals.

Ben Lively limited the Nationals to two runs and five hits over 5 2/3 innings to win his career-best fourth consecutive start. He is 3-0 with a 1.90 ERA in four home starts this season. 

Cleveland’s bullpen allowed one hit over 3 1/3 scoreless innings with Emmanuel Clase pitching the ninth for his AL-best 18th save. 

The AL Central-leading Guardians are an MLB-best 20-6 at home and their nine-game run at Progressive Field is their longest since 2017. It was also their 12th win in 15 games overall. 

Cleveland’s David Fry extended his on-base streak to 19 straight games with a double, walk and hit by pitch.

Mountcastle’s homers power Orioles

Ryan Mountcastle homered twice, and Anthony Santander and Jordan Westburg also went deep to lift the surging Baltimore Orioles to a 9-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Mountcastle hit a two-run shot in the first inning and Santander made it back-to-back shots to give the Orioles a 3-0 lead. Mountcastle delivered another two-run blast in the fourth to make it 9-5.

He is 17 for 37 (.459) with seven extra-base hits in his last 10 games. 

After Kyle Bradish lasted just 2 2/3 innings, Baltimore’s bullpen pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings to seal the Orioles’ 19th consecutive series without a loss against AL East opponents.

Baltimore (37-18) have won three straight and eight of nine to move a season-best 18 games over .500.

Aaron Judge completed a torrid month with his major league-leading 19th and 20th home runs and Marcus Stroman pitched into the eighth inning as the New York Yankees defeated the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 on Friday night.

Judge singled in the first inning, then erased New York’s 1-0 deficit with a three-run homer in the third off starter Jordan Hicks and led off the sixth with a solo shot to make it 4-1.

Judge, who grew up about 100 miles away in Linden, California, was heavily recruited by the Giants in free agency in December 2022, but decided to remain with the Yankees and signed a nine-year, $360 million contract.

He finished May with a .371 average, 14 home runs, 12 doubles and 27 RBIs in 28 games. Judge’s 26 extra-base hits are the most by any Yankees player in a month since Joe DiMaggio had 31 in July 1937, and this is just the eighth time since the end of World War II that any player in the majors had that many extra-base hits in any month.

The Yankees have won 14 of 18 and are just the fourth team ever to reach 40 wins before June 1.

Stroman allowed two runs and six hits over 7 1/3 innings. New York tied a franchise record set in 1981 with its 18th straight start with a pitcher going at least five innings and allowing three runs or fewer.

Yelich’s big night powers Brewers

Christian Yelich had five of the Brewers’ 23 hits and drove in five runs in Milwaukee’s 12-5 rout of the lowly Chicago White Sox.

Yelich, who had a career-high six hits on Aug. 29, 2018, had a two-run single in the fourth, a two-run double in the seventh and an RBI single in the eighth. He had a career-high six hits at Cincinnati on Aug. 29, 2018.

Brice Turang, William Contreras and Sal Frelick each had three hits for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who have won four of five.

Paul DeJong homered for the White Sox, who lost their ninth straight to fall to a major league-worst 15-43.

Bibee sharp in Guardians’ win

Tanner Bibee took a shutout into the seventh and Davis Fry hit a three-run homer as the Cleveland Guardians won their eighth straight at home, 7-1 over the Washington Nationals.

Bibee gave up one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. He has a 1.82 ERA in his last five starts.

Cleveland broke open the game with a four-run seventh. Josh Naylor knocked in a run with a force out grounder and Fry followed with his eighth home run, a blast to left-center field off Robert Garcia.

Fry is batting .455 (15 for 33) with five homers, 15 RBIs and 13 runs in his last 11 games.

Guardians leadoff hitter Steven Kwan had three hits, two runs and a walk in his return after being activated from the injured list before the game. He raised his batting average to .365 in 33 games.

New York Yankees lead-off hitter Anthony Volpe started off Thursday's game against the Minnesota Twins with a home run.

That was all the run support Clarke Schmidt would need.

Schmidt pitched a career-high eight innings and the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Twins with a 5-0 win.

Schmidt permitted three hits without a walk while striking out eight as New York won for the 10th time in 12 games to become the first AL club to 30 wins.

The Yankees (30-15) posted back-to-back shutouts at Minnesota and extended their scoreless streak to 26 innings dating to the first inning of Tuesday's series opener.

Volpe's homer sparked a three-run first inning for New York, which outscored Minnesota 14-1 in the three games.

Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres each hit two doubles, while Anthony Rizzo, Austin Wells and Alex Verdugo all drove in one run.

The Twins (24-19) entered this series with only three losses in their previous 20 games before promptly being swept for the first time since April 15-17, at Baltimore.

Mets score two in 11th to edge Phillies

J.D. Martinez hit a go-ahead single in the 11th and later scored on a wild pitch to provide the final margin as the New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies to avoid a four-game sweep in the home-and-home series.

The Phillies sent the game into extras after Bryson Stott tied the game with a single off Mets closer Edwin Díaz in the 9th.

It marked the second straight blown save for Díaz and his third in four opportunities since May 5.

Pete Alonso opened the scoring with a first-inning homer for the Mets (20-23), who had lost to the Phillies at home on Monday and Tuesday and then lost the opener of the two-game series in Phildelphia on Wednesday.

In a scheduling quirk, these teams played four consecutive games split between New York and Philadelphia, as part of the arrangement with the teams playing a two-game set in London on June 8-9.

Kyle Schwarber and Alec Bohm each had run-scoring doubles for the NL East-leading Phillies (31-14), who lost for only the fourth time in 20 games.

De La Cruz runs wild as Reds blank Dodgers

Elly De La Cruz had four hits, three runs and four stolen bases as the visiting Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-2 in their series opener.

De La Cruz now has a major league-leading 30 steals - 13 more than the next-closest player (Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Jose Caballero).

Playing in Cincinnati's 44th game, he is the fastest player to 30 steals since 1996, when Kenny Lofton reached 30 steals in Cleveland's 41st game.

De La Cruz had has many hits as the Dodgers (29-17), who have now totalled one run in their last two games to lose consecutive games for the first time since April 19-20.

The Reds (19-25), who ended up using seven pitchers during a bullpen day, won for the second time in three games after going just 1-11 in their previous 12.

Aaron Judge capped a four-run ninth with a two-run single to rally the New York Yankees to a 6-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday to avoid a three-game sweep.

The Blue Jays took a 4-2 lead into the ninth with Erik Swanson making his season debut after opening the season on the injured list.

Giancarlo Stanton led off with a home run to make it a one-run game and Gleyber Torres singled before Alex Verdugo doubled. After Oswaldo Cabrera grounded out, pinch-hitter Jose Trevino singled into right-center off Tim Mayza to tie it.

Anthony Volpe fouled out for the second out, but Juan Soto walked and Judge drilled a 3-2 pitch down the left-field line for a 6-4 lead.

Soto’s home run in the eighth drew the Yankees within 4-2. He had three hits, two RBIs and reached base five times.

Daulton Varsho hit a pair of home runs for Toronto, which had won four straight.

Padres’ King takes no-hitter into 7th in tough luck loss

Michael King pitched no-hit ball for 6 2/3 innings, but Blake Perkins singled home the game’s only run as the San Diego Padres topped the Milwaukee Brewers, 1-0.

King went a career-high 7 2/3 innings and threw 109 pitches, striking out 10 and walking two. He didn’t allow a runner past first base until the eighth inning, when Bryce Turang singled with one out, stole second and scored on Perkins’ hit to left.

Milwaukee snapped a three-game losing streak and ended Pittsburgh’s three-game winning streak.

Abner Uribe earned the win with a scoreless eighth, giving up a leadoff triple to Matthew Batten before he retired the next three hitters.

Homer-happy Orioles sweep Twins

Cedric Mullins belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Baltimore Orioles to a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins and a three-game sweep.

Gunnar Henderson and Anthony Santander also went deep as the Orioles homered at least three times for the fifth consecutive game. Baltimore had a streak that long only twice before in franchise history, in 1987 and 1996.

Albert Suarez pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his first major league appearance in seven years for the Orioles. The 34-year-old right-hander was called up from Triple-A Norfolk to take the place of Tyler Wells, who went on the injured list on Tuesday.

Minnesota has been outscored 26-12 during a four-game losing streak.

Aaron Judge had the first three-homer game of his career, and the New York Yankees snapped their first nine-game losing streak in 41 years with a 9-1 rout of the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.

Judge took starter MacKenzie Gore over the Yankees bullpen in right-centre in he first inning and opened a 6-0 lead the following inning with his fifth career grand slam.

He combined with DJ LeMahieu for back-to-back homers in the seventh with a shot over the right-field wall just inside the foul pole.

Judge, who notched his 32nd career multihomer game, drove in six runs for the third time in his career.

The reigning AL MVP is batting .279 with 27 home runs and 54 RBIs in 72 games. He missed nearly eight weeks because of a sprained right toe before returning late last month.

Last-place New York avoided what would have been its first 10-game losing streak since 1913.

Luis Severino allowed one hit over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, ending an 0-4 stretch since he beat Kansas City on July 23.

Ian Hamilton pitched 1 1/3 innings and Wandy Peralta gave up a home run to Dominic Smith in the ninth to spoil the shutout.

Ohtani hits 44th homer, then exits mound early as Reds sweep

The day began splendidly for Shohei Ohtani, with the two-way superstar hitting his major league-leading 44th homer in the first inning of the Los Angeles Angels’ first game of a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds.

One inning later, however, he left the mound due to arm fatigue and the Reds went on to win 9-4 behind Elly De La Cruz’s career-high six RBIs.

Ohtani threw 26 pitches before he departed with a 2-2 count against Christian Encarnacion-Strand, following a discussion with trainers.

Angels manager Phil Nevin said after the game that Ohtani said his pitching arm “just didn’t feel right.”

The Reds took a 4-3 lead on De La Cruz’s three-run home run in the fifth inning, his 11th of the season. Two innings later, the 21-year-old rookie shortstop hit a bases-clearing triple.

His six RBIs were one shy of the single-game rookie franchise record, established by Robin Jennings against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug. 31, 2001.

Ohtani served as the Angels’ designated hitter in Game 2 and went 1 for 5 with a run scored.

Tyler Stephenson and Matt McLain each hit two-run homers to lift the Reds to a 7-3 win in Game 2. They swept the three-game series and moved into sole possession of the third and final NL wild-card spot.

DeJong has memorable debut with Giants

Just one day after signing with the San Francisco Giants, Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning and had a two-run single in the 10th in an 8-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Giants closer Camilo Doval blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning on Bryce Harper’s three-run home run that rang off the foul pole in right field.

That set the stage for DeJong, who singled with the bases loaded in the 10th to put San Francisco back on top, 7-5.

He signed with the Giants on Tuesday one day after he was released by Toronto.

Thairo Estrada added a sacrifice fly and Ryan Walker retired Trea Turner with a man on second for the save.

Aaron Judge’s return to the New York Yankees’ lineup may be further away than previously thought.

Just two days after the Yankees said the reigning American League MVP would be resuming baseball activities this weekend, Judge tempered expectations of an imminent return and said he is dealing with a torn ligament in his right great toe.

“I'm not giving you any timeline,” Judge said before Saturday’s game against the Texas Rangers. “There's no need. I've just got to get better and then I'll be out there.”

Judge told reporters Saturday that the uncommon nature of the injury makes it difficult to predict when he will be back on the field.

“I don’t think too many people have torn a ligament in their toe,” Judge said. “If it was a quad we’d have a better answer. If it’s an oblique or hamstring we got timelines for that. With how unique this injury is and it being my back foot which I push off of and run off of, it’s a tough spot.”

Judge injured his toe on June 3 while crashing into the outfield wall at Dodger Stadium after catching a fly ball.

The AL home run king worked out in a pool this week and had inquired about on-field work, leading to the club’s optimism.

“It’s something I mentioned to the training staff: I want to test it out a little bit,” Judge said. “Maybe play catch, maybe take some dry swings. I just kind of see where it’s at.

“I really wouldn’t say it’s me running on the field and or doing a lot of baseball activity. It’s more me being passive saying, `We’ve done a lot of stuff in here. We’re making some great progress. Let’s test with what I’m going to be actually doing on the field.'”

Judge slugged an American League-record 62 home runs in 2022, the first season of a nine-year, $360million contract. His 19 home runs this season were one short of the major league lead when he was injured.

Judge, a four-time All-Star, leads baseball with 235 home runs since his first full season in the majors in 2017.

New York is 16-26 over the last two seasons when Judge is on the 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.

Aaron Judge overcame injury as he drove in three runs to lead the New York Yankees past the Minnesota Twins 12-6 on Wednesday.

Judge had an injury scare with an awkward slide into third base on a failed steal attempt in the second inning, immediately walking off the field and into the Yankees tunnel.

The Yankees outfielder got himself stuck in the ground on the head-first slide, with his shoulders lurching forward while his body stayed almost still.

Judge, on his 31st birthday, appeared to be favouring his right arm as he left the field and seemed to have some wrist discomfort when he returned to the bench. He would return to play, with a walk, single and strikeout, having hit a three-run double in the second inning before his injury scare.

Gleyber Torres capped a six-run fourth-inning by crushing a 429-foot two-run blast to left field to open up an 11-1 lead.

Jose Miranda homered twice for the Twins, while Joey Gallo drove in Miranda with a sixth-inning blast to make it 11-5, but the Yankees were always in control after racing to an early 5-0 lead.

Anthony Volpe and Anthony Rizzo both had two-run doubles, with the former going two-for-three with three RBIs. Dominic German had eight strikeouts across six innings but allowed five runs.

Rays shut down again

The record-breaking Tampa Bay Rays were shut down for the second straight time as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against the reigning world champion Houston Astros.

Hunter Brown had a career-high eight strikeouts as he combined with two relievers on a two-hitter, with Ryan Pressly working a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save.

The Astros scored on a Wander Franco error for misplaying a potential inning-ending double play, with Alex Bregman credited with the RBI, as Jeremy Pena scored.

Houston ended the Rays' 14-game home winning run to start the new season on Tuesday and backed that up.

Maggi's magic moment after long wait

Drew Maggi had a moment to remember, making his MLB debut after 13 seasons and more than 1000 games in the minor leagues, as the Pittsburgh Pirates downed the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-1.

The 33-year-old journeyman came in to pinch hit in the eighth inning and struck out on four pitches, having cranked a foul shot into the stands down the left-field line off his first pitch. It was Maggi's only at-bat and the end result was slightly underwhelming but it stirred up loud applause from the PNC Park crowd.

Jason Delay went three-for-three with three RBIs, while Roansy Contreras took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Contreras finished with five strikeouts and two walks, allowing only two runs.

Aaron Judge robbed Shohei Ohtani of a homer before delivering a blast of his own as the New York Yankees downed the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 on Wednesday.

Gleyber Torres hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, after the Angels had squared the game up following Judge's first-inning two-run shot.

Judge was at the heart of everything early, robbing Ohtani of a first-inning homer with a leaping ricochet catch on the wall at center field after the ball hit the heel of his glove and bobbled into his throwing hand.

The reigning AL MVP then launched a two-run blast into the left-center bullpen at the bottom of the first to open up a 2-0 lead. It was Judge's sixth homer of the 2023 season.

Judge produced another moment of magic in the field in the eighth inning with a diving one-handed grab at right-center field to save a go-ahead run from Brandon Drury.

Ohtani had a frustrating game, going none-for-four and stranding three runners with inning-ending strikeouts in the fifth and seventh innings.

The Angels reeled in the Yankees' early lead with Taylor Ward's fifth-inning RBI, before Gio Urshela's two-out RBI single in the eighth.

In the 10th, Urshela lined out to right with Mike Trout stranded on third with two-out, before Torres' walk-off sac fly to center-right field with bases loaded, driving in Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

Soto shines as Braves' run ended

Juan Soto continued to emerge from his early-season slump with a 431-foot blast to right-center field in the San Diego Padres' 1-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.

The result snapped the Braves' eight-game winning streak, with the Padres improving to a 9-11 record with Fernando Tatis Jr set to return from a long-term suspension on Thursday. Joe Musgrove's return from injury is close too.

Soto, who was hitting .175 with three home runs from 19 games coming in, delivered the decisive blast the fourth inning while Nick Martinez threw six strikeouts across seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits.

More milestones for free-wheeling Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays' outstanding early season form continued with an 8-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds setting more records, having started the year with a 13-game winning streak.

The Rays blasted six first-inning runs with Yandy Diaz setting the tone with a lead-off homer, setting a modern era record for differential after 19 games (+83), having scored 133 runs and allowed 50, beating the previous mark held by the 1905 New York Giants (+79).

Tampa Bay also became the first team n the modern era to have four shutouts of eight-plus runs in their first 19 games of the season, as Drew Rasmussen had seven K's across five scoreless innings. It was the team's sixth shutout in 19 games.

Clayton Kershaw brought up his 200th career win with a shutout as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Mets 5-0 on Tuesday.

The Dodgers left-hander moved to 22nd on the all-time major league strikeout list with nine K's across seven scoreless innings, allowing only three hits and no walks.

Kershaw joined Don Sutton and Don Drysdale as the only pitchers with 200 wins in a Dodgers uniform, while he becomes one of four active players to reach the mark, alongside Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Zack Greinke.

J.D. Martinez blasted home runs in the first and third innings, before adding an eighth-inning RBI single to finish with four RBIs.

Freddie Freeman went one-for-four, with one run and one RBI from a sacrifice fly.

The win was the Dodgers' first shutout of the season, led by Kershaw who produced a vintage performance to bring up his milestone.

The three-time Cy Young ward winner's career record improved to 200-88 in 405 games.

Ohtani laser sets up Angels win over Yankees

Shohei Ohtani blasted a two-run laser beam homer in the first inning as the Los Angeles Angels downed the New York Yankees 5-2 on the 100th anniversary of Yankee Stadium.

Ohtani's early blast sparked the Angels' triumph in a star-studded encounter featuring three AL MVPs where Aaron Judge went none-for-three, struck out twice while he drove in one with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly.

Mike Trout went two-for-four scoring in the fourth inning from Anthony Rendon's single. Rendon also drove in Ohtani in the fifth with a sacrifice fly, opening up the decisive 5-2 lead.

Verdugo delivers bizarre walk-off hit

Alex Verdugo produced a bizarre walk-off hit as the Boston Red Sox edged the Minnesota Twins 5-4 in a dramatic 10th inning thriller.

Verdugo's fly ball to right field barely stayed fair, catching outfielder Max Kepler unaware as it bounced off the wall just short of Pesky's Pole and back into play. The umpires reviewed the drive for several minutes, deeming it fair to clinch the walk-off win.

Red Sox starter Chris Sale had 11 strikeouts across six innings, while Verdugo went three-for-five with one run and the decisive RBI for Reese McGuire to score after the Twins had gone 4-2 up at the top of the 10th.