Juan Soto, Mets stay hot with win over Royals
Frankie Montas allowed one run while pitching into the sixth inning, and Juan Soto clubbed a two-run homer, securing the New York Mets their first winning road series in more than a month with Saturday's 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Making his fourth start of the season after missing roughly the first three months with a lat strain, Montas (2-1) was quite solid. He survived a 21-pitch first inning without yielded a run. For the game, he gave up four hits and struck out five; his only earned run came on Jonathan India's RBI double in the sixth.
Soto, meanwhile, went deep for the second straight game for New York, which managed six hits but build on Friday's 8-3 series-opening victory to win back-to-back road contests for the first time since sweeping a three-game set at Colorado on June 6-8. Edwin Diaz pinched the final two innings for his 19th save.
Kansas City won four straight entering this series, but is 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position the last two days. India's two doubles accounted for half of the Royals' hits Saturday.
After scheduled starter Michael Lorenzen was scratched due to illness, it turned into a bullpen day for Kansas City. Angel Zerpa pitched a scoreless first, then Jonathan Bowlan (1-2) pitched the next three, but yielded Soto's drive, with Franciso Lindor on second base, that landed into the second tier of the right-field fountains in the fourth for a 2-0 Mets edge.
Montas, meanwhile, allowed two hits through five innings before back-to-back doubles from Kyle Isbel and India to open the sixth made it 2-1. That ended Montas' day, but Reed Garrett came on and retired the heart of the Royals order -- Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino and Maikel Garcia -- while stranding India at third.
Kansas City also stranded runners on first and third in the seventh. With one out in the eighth, Diaz walked Witt, who was then caught stealing after replay overturned the safe call on the field.
In the Mets' ninth, Pete Alonso doubled and scored on Jeff McNeil's two-out single into center field.--Field Level Media
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5 major reasons behind Team India's defeat in Lord's Test vs England
Much like their defeat in the series opener at Headingley, India ended up on the losing side at Lord's despite finding themselves in a commanding position at multiple stages of the match. Only this time, the loss was a lot narrower and more heart-breaking. read more The English players celebrate Shoaib Bashir's dismissal of Mohammed Siraj that seals their 22-run victory in the third Test at Lord's. AP Team India are set to play catch-up with England once again in the ongoing Test series in England, having conceded the series lead once again to the Ben Stokes-led hosts with a 22-run defeat at Lord's on Monday. India had leveled the five-match series in style with a 336-run thrashing of England at Edgbaston after losing the series opener by five wickets. 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Rishabh Pant is cleaned up by Jofra Archer on the final day of the third Test between India and England at Lord's. Reuters India were staring at the prospect of a handy first innings lead, or going past the 400-mark at the very least, at 376/6 after bowling England out for 387 – only to lose their next four wickets for just 11 runs to finish level on scores with the hosts. Two days later, KL Rahul and Karun Nair had steadied the ship with a 36-run partnership for the second wicket that was filled with some delightful strokes, only for India to end the day at 58/4 after losing three wickets for 17 runs. The procession continued on the following day, with India losing three more wickets for just 24 runs. Which adds up to six wickets list for just 41 runs across two days. 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England tail-ender Brydon Carse raises his bat after completing his half-century on Day 2 of the third Test against India at Lord's. Reuters With Bumrah back in the attack after being rested at Edgbaston and Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep breathing fire after starring in the victory in the second Test, one would have expected India to dish out an even more clinical performance at Lord's. Though they did struggle for wickets initially, the Bumrah-led attack managed to reduce the hosts to 271/7 despite Joe Root's 104 – his 37th Test hundred. The in-form Smith and tail-ender Brydon Carse, however, struck half-centuries and added 84 for the eighth wicket to take the hosts past 350, with the latter hanging around long enough to nearly guide England past 400. Had they suffered a collapse the way India did in their first innings, England might have been bundled out in the range of 300. 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