
Juan Soto hits first homer in three weeks after going back-to-back with Brandon Nimmo
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The Mets' Juan Soto vision may be starting to finally come into view.
As the Amazin's led the Rockies 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning Saturday, Francisco Lindor singled on a ground ball to right field.
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On the third pitch of the frame, Brandon Nimmo hit a home run — his ninth of the season.
With the Citi Field crowd on a high, Soto added to that energy, blasting his first home run in 18 days off the next pitch — a 90.5 mph sinker from Colorado's Antonio Senzatela.
3 Juan Soto rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the Mets' game against the Rockies on May 31.
Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
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The ball traveled 404 feet into center field, leaving Soto's bat at 109.5 mph.
As Soto rounded the bases, he pointed to the outfield in celebration.
The home run Saturday marked Soto's first since May 9 against the Cubs.
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He did the same before entering the dugout, sending the fans into a frenzy for their $765 million man.
And moments later, a 'Juan Soto' chant took over as the crowd embraced the newly acquired Met, who has had a slow start to the season.
3 Juan Soto celebrates after hitting a home run during the Mets' game against the Rockies on May 31.
Robert Sabo for the NY Post
3 Juan Soto greets Brandon Nimmo after Nimmo's homer during the Mets' game against the Rockies on May 31.
Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
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Prior to Friday night, the four-time All-Star was on a 0-for-17 skid.
He managed to snap out of the funk in the series opener against the Rockies, going 2-for-4 with an RBI double.
Soto also fouled out, walked and grounded into a double play during his other plate appearences entering the seventh inning on Saturday.

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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Yankees Build a Better Team After Losing Out on Juan Soto
Sometimes, as the saying goes, the best deals are the ones you don't make. It's a small sample size and very early in the process, but so far, the New York Yankees are fortunate to have not signed Juan Soto. Soto chose the New York Mets for a 15-year, $765 million contract, shunning an offer to return to the Yankees for 16 years, $760 million. Advertisement More from No question the Yanks wanted to keep Soto. They went to the World Series last fall for the first time since 2009 with Soto hitting ahead of Aaron Judge in the lineup, but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games. When Soto then became a free agent and signed with Mets, the Yankees pivoted and spent a portion of that money elsewhere, signing Max Fried and Paul Goldschmidt as free agents and trading for Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams for a projected outlay of $283 million. The team they built is running away with the American League East at a fraction of the long-term cost of a deal with Soto. They lead the fourth-place Boston Red Sox by nine games already and are playing them for the first time in 2025 this weekend at Yankee Stadium. Soto is batting .232 with 11 homers, 31 RBIs and an .802 OPS so far this season; he will get better and is doing so already with three homers in his last five games through Wednesday night. Judge, playing without him, is having another monster season as the Mets have been jockeying for first place in the National League East with the Philadelphia Phillies. Judge's OPS: 1.237. Advertisement Thus far, advantage Yankees. 'It seems that way now,' David Cone, the former Yankees pitcher and currently ESPN and Yes Network color analyst, said in an interview this past weekend at Dodger Stadium. 'Ten years from now we'll make that judgment, but this year, the first half of the season? Absolutely.' For the Yanks, of course, this is a very short-term snapshot. Fried is signed for eight years, $218 million. But he has his own history of left arm problems, including Tommy John ligament replacement surgery that caused him to miss 2015 as a prospect with the San Diego Padres and a forearm issue that cost a month last season with the Atlanta Braves. Bellinger ($26.7 million), Goldschmidt ($12.5 million) and Williams ($8.6 million) can all walk away after this season. Goldschmidt and Williams are unrestricted free agents on one-year deals. Bellinger has the second of two player options his agent Scott Boras threaded into the three-year, $80 million deal he signed in 2024 with the Chicago Cubs. Bellinger is the fourth highest-paid player this season on the team behind Judge ($40 million), Fried ($27.3 million) and Carlos Rodon ($27 million). Advertisement Those potential departures give the Yankees some maneuverability next offseason in the free agent market and financial room this year to upgrade at the July 31 trade deadline. The Yankees have the third-highest payroll in Major League Baseball for luxury tax purposes at $310.9 million, according to Spotrac, and the team is putting on a master class in short-term roster construction under today's collectively-bargained system. The Yanks spent $74.6 million on Fried, Bellinger, Goldschmidt and Williams, while Soto is earning $61.2 million alone from the Mets for luxury tax purposes. 'They've done very well with the money they spent this year, no question about it,' Cone said. 'The Yankees are much more well-rounded defensively. [Former Yanks, Mets and current A's pitcher] Luis Severino said the Yankees last year were a team with only two hitters: Judge and Soto. They've caught up with the Dodgers offensively and depth-wise.' Fried wouldn't be in New York had Soto chosen the Yankees. Advertisement At the time, the contract conversations with both players were occurring on concurrent tracks. Fried was New York's second choice. It was universally considered that Fried wanted to play where he grew up, in the Los Angeles area. But he also let it be known to the Yanks he was very much in favor of playing in the Bronx. 'Mostly I had a bunch of meetings, but before making a decision, I was just waiting for Soto to sign,' Fried said this past weekend at Dodger Stadium. Soto announced his decision on Dec. 8 at the Winter Meetings in Dallas and two days later Fried signed with the Yankees. The dominoes then started to fall. On Dec. 13 Williams was obtained in a trade with Milwaukee and Bellinger came over from the Cubs four days later. Goldschmidt was the last to sign on Dec. 30. With that the Yankees closed shop for the offseason. Advertisement While Williams has struggled at times in his back of the bullpen role, the other three have exceeded expectations. Fried, for one, replaced the injured Gerrit Cole and opened 7-0 with a 1.28 ERA before losing to the Dodgers this past Friday. His experience pitching at Yankee Stadium has exceeded his expectations. 'I love it,' Fried said. 'I'm very happy with where I'm at. Everything happened for a reason. I'm just happy I'm here with the Yankees.' The Yankees are happy to have him. In this case, sometimes the best deals are the ones you make. Best of Sign up for Sportico's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.


New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
The fine pitching details behind why the Mets are better equipped to hang with the Dodgers
LOS ANGELES — Inside the New York Mets dugout Tuesday night, Griffin Canning studied how Tylor Megill pitched to Shohei Ohtani in the middle of a close game. Canning watched Megill throw four consecutive sliders out of the zone before spotting a changeup on the edge for a swinging strikeout. At a key point in the Mets' 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night, Canning applied what he had learned. Advertisement With a runner on first base with two outs in the fifth inning and the Mets holding a 3-0 lead, Canning started a matchup against Ohtani with five consecutive sliders. Then, with the count full, Canning unleashed a changeup. Ohtani stared at it for a called third strike. 'That was the best pitch to call there,' catcher Luis Torrens said. 'It's a different view.' The way Canning ended that at-bat against Ohtani — and, really, his entire outing of six scoreless innings — epitomized why the Mets are better equipped this season to hang with the Dodgers, the team that eliminated them last October in the National League Championship Series. Yes, Juan Soto's presence significantly improves the Mets' lineup and that's a major help. But a handful of finer reasons are also responsible for the Mets' ability to take four of the first six regular season games against the Dodgers this season with one matchup left. They all involve New York's pitching staff. And compared to last year, they are all new developments. The Mets value precision. In carrying out prep work to the mound, the Mets' pitchers are doing a better job of sticking to the idea of something like: We want to do this with these pitches in these areas against this hitter, and from there, whatever happens, happens. That's a small shift from the past. Under pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, the Mets always placed an emphasis on trusting strengths. Since spring training, however, there is a heightened intentionality to this idea. With Ohtani, the Mets know they have to mix things up. Before the fifth-inning encounter, Canning didn't show Ohtani a single slider in two prior plate appearances. In Ohtani's second at-bat against Canning, he hit a first-pitch fastball that was out of the strike zone for a single with an exit velocity of 106.9 mph. He was not going to get another fastball in a big spot. 'They're really not throwing fastballs in the hitting zone,' Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. 'If something is in the strike zone, it's spin or changeup, and they're changing a lot of locations, they're going in, crowding him, going away, they're just not repeating a lot.' They're following a plan. Advertisement That's why it was so strange to see deviation during the Mets' loss on Tuesday night. In the ninth inning, Huascar Brazobán threw Max Muncy a 1-2 fastball down the middle. The situation called for a changeup, Brazobán's best pitch. Brazobán and catcher Francisco Alvarez went with the fastball because they believed Muncy was sitting on a changeup. 'That's 100-percent on me,' Alvarez said. The Mets want Brazobán to throw his changeup a lot. Even when the batterymates think someone is sitting on the changeup, they still want Brazobán to throw it. Why? It's what he does best, so they want him to lean into it as much as possible. In spring training, the Mets' front office instructed their catchers to cut down on movement behind the plate. For example, no coming up out of the squat for high pitches or moving over for pitches inside. Instead, they wanted their catchers to set up directly behind the plate. While they were in Milwaukee, president of baseball operations David Stearns and vice president Eduardo Brizuela had the Brewers work this way, too. The way some executives see it, positioning catchers up the middle provides a better tunnel for pitchers. Some pitchers say it gives a better visual for command purposes. 'We started doing that early in the season, and we're getting really good results,' Torrens said. This is a small thing. But four of the six games so far this season between the two teams have been decided by one or two runs. The small details matter. And that's especially true when it comes to the Mets' pitching staff and command. In the six games during the National League Championship series last year, the Mets walked 42 batters. In the six games against the Dodgers so far in the regular season, the Mets have walked 22 batters. Advertisement Still, catchers can only provide the target; it's up to the pitcher to remain confident and execute. The numbers don't exactly bear this out. The Mets are actually throwing fewer strikes than last year (49.8 percent in 2025 compared to 50.1 percent in 2024). But club officials say that they see their pitchers attacking more in the strike zone when it matters most. When explaining success so far against some of the Dodgers' batters, particularly compared to last year, those same club officials point to pitchers challenging more with strikes. In Canning's showdown against Ohtani in the fifth inning on Wednesday, the right-hander threw a strike without using a fastball. 'I didn't want to give in,' Canning said. He didn't have to. Canning shut 'em down 🔥 #LGM — New York Mets (@Mets) June 5, 2025 The Mets entered Wednesday throwing the Dodgers a fastball 48.5 percent of the time. Only the Miami Marlins (44.3 percent) have thrown the Dodgers fewer fastballs. The Dodgers see fastballs 52.6 percent of the time. The Dodgers feast on fastballs. They're not getting many from the Mets, particularly not early in counts. For the Mets, it's working. One of the best examples is late-inning reliever Reed Garrett, who is using his four-seam fastball only sparingly compared to last season. With two runners on and none out in the eighth inning on Tuesday, Garrett relied on his sweeper and splitter to retire Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith without allowing a run. In the NLCS, Garrett appeared in four games and allowed five runs. In three games so far against the Dodgers this season, Garrett has six strikeouts and two walks without allowing a run. More samplings of numbers changing: Ohtani in the NLCS: 8-for-22, 2 home runs, 9 walks, 7 strikeouts Advertisement Ohtani vs. the Mets in 2025: 5-for-24, 2 home runs, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts Mookie Betts in the NLCS: 9-for-26, 2 home runs, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts Betts vs. the Mets in 2025: 4-for-22, 0 home runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts Tommy Edman in the NLCS: 9-for-22, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts Edman vs. the Mets in 2025: 2-for-17. 0 home runs, 1 walks, 5 strikeouts 'They've pitched us really well,' Roberts said. 'The execution, sequencing, we're kind of one step behind as far as anticipating what they're going to do, and then when we do get opportunities with mistakes in the hitting zone, we're not cashing in. I don't know the answer, but I do know you have to give those guys credit for pitching us well.' Mets officials will likely say that they did not build their team specifically to beat the Dodgers. And that they just wanted to construct a better team than last year. The new developments shining through against the Dodgers should help the Mets against all teams. The thing is, improvement means being able to handle the Dodgers. The Mets' brass also would likely say they felt they could hang with the Dodgers last season, too. Last October, the Mets' pitching staff entered the NLCS on fumes after barely making the postseason. Also, they were coming off a series win over the Philadelphia Phillies, an uber-aggressive team and the opposite of the patient Dodgers. For the Mets, the results just weren't there, even dating back to last year's regular-season matchups. Come this October, both clubs' rosters will likely look at least somewhat different than they do now because of health and the upcoming trade deadline. The Mets, however, are demonstrating that they're on the defending champion's level. (Top photo of Mets pitcher Griffin Canning: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images)


New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Guardians' Jose Ramirez puts on defensive clinic in win over Yankees
Access the Yankees beat like never before Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees. Try it free An All-Star third baseman walked into Yankee Stadium and was a wall on Wednesday night, but he wasn't dressed in pinstripes. The Guardians' José Ramírez showed what a top-flight third baseman can do on the diamond. He was a key part of two double plays and additionally hit a double in Cleveland's big first inning to kick off their 4-0 victory over the Yankees. In the bottom of the second inning, Anthony Volpe grounded to Ramírez, who completed the double play to end the frame in three batters for starting pitcher Luis Ortiz. In the bottom of the sixth, Ben Rice hit a grounder to the six-time All-Star and he was initially called safe before the Guardians successfully challenged for the double play call. Ramírez sprinted over to Ortiz on the mound and pounded the pitcher's chest in celebration just before the righty's exit. The inning ended two batters later on a grounder from Cody Bellinger. Guardians third baseman José Ramírez throws out a runner during the fifth inning of the Yankees' 4-0 loss on June 4, 2025. Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images 'It's a big sense of pride. He's always been a big supporter of myself,' Ortiz said through an interpreter of his teammate after the win. 'It was a big moment for me, knowing that somebody will support me that much like he does when he pumps me up in that situation.' 'José is the best teammate on the planet. One of the best players on the planet,' Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt added. 'A double play he turned tonight, that's super special. That's a heady play and you've got to be pretty good. But José cares about his teammates. He wanted to go pump up Luis. He wanted to make sure that he knew he did a great job and that's José.' José Ramírez rips a double during the Guardians' three-run first inning in their win over the Yankees. Getty Images Ramírez is also a big hitter at Yankee Stadium, though he didn't exactly have it on Wednesday, going 1-for-5 with two strikeouts. Nevertheless, prior to Wednesday, the five-time Silver Slugger had batted .398 with an 1.189 OPS all time at the ballpark. He has also hit nine home runs in The Bronx throughout his 13-year career. In the series opener — a 3-2 Yankees victory on Tuesday — Ramírez went 2-for-4.