Rookie Luis Gil pitched two-hit ball over eight masterful innings to win his sixth straight start and Alex Verdugo homered as the New York Yankees held on for a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.
In the longest of his 18 major league starts, Gil gave up Luis Rengifo’s single in the third and Logan O’Hoppe’s home run in the seventh. He walked two and struck out nine to improve to 7-1 with a 1.99 ERA in 11 starts this season.
New York’s starters have gone at least five innings and allowed two runs or fewer in an MLB-record 16 straight games. That group has allowed only 11 earned runs in 99 innings for a 1.00 ERA during that stretch.
Clay Holmes gave up a leadoff single to Rengifo in the ninth and walked Taylor Ward but got Willie Calhoun to hit into a double play and retired O’Hoppe on a game-ending groundout to third for his 16th save.
Anthony Volpe extended his hitting streak to 21 games with two hits, matching the longest run in the majors this season.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected for arguing an interference call in the first inning.
Royals’ Lugo first in AL to 9 wins
Seth Lugo pitched six strong innings to become the American League’s first nine-game winner and Nelson Velazquez homered twice as the Kansas City Royals topped the Minnesota Twins 6-1 to end a three-game losing streak.
Lugo allowed one run on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts to win his fourth straight start and sixth consecutive decision.
He joined Philadelphia’s Ranger Suarez as only nine-game winners in the majors and surpassed his previous career high of eight wins set last season with San Diego.
Lugo’s ERA dropped to an MLB-best 1.72, the lowest by a Royals pitcher through 12 starts in team history.
Salvador Perez also homered for Kansas City, which had lost three in a row after winning eight straight.
Velazquez’s first home run came in a four-run third, and he went deep again in the fifth after Perez homered earlier in the inning.
Willi Castro had three of Minnesota’s seven hits as the Twins lost for the second time in eight games.
Seager homers again to lift Rangers
Corey Seager continued his power surge with his eighth home run in eight games and Dane Dunning pitched five scoreless innings as the Texas Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-1 to sweep a two-game rematch of last year’s World Series.
Seager’s two-run shot off starter Ryne Nelson in the fifth inning extended the Rangers’ lead to 4-0.
Seager has 13 home runs this season and four in the past three games. He went deep twice in a series finale victory at Minnesota on Sunday, which ended Texas’ season-high six-game skid, and is batting .357 (10 for 28) with eight home runs and 13 RBIs over his last eight contests.
He is the fifth player in franchise history with at least eight home runs in an eight-game span, joining Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro, Josh Hamilton and Joey Gallo.
Reigning World Series champion Texas has won three in a row after losing five consecutive series.
Dunning allowed three hits and walked four with six strikeouts in his second start back from a stint on the injured list with a right rotator cuff strain.
Mets land Juan Soto on record $765M contract
Juan Soto has made his decision. He'll be staying in the same city, albeit with a new team.
Multiple outlets reported Sunday that the New York Mets have landed baseball's most coveted free agent with a massive 15-year, $765 million contract that ranks as the largest in professional sports history.
Soto chose the Mets over a handful of suitors that included the crosstown-rival New York Yankees, the team he spent the 2024 season with and helped reach the World Series.
The contract surpasses the 10-year, $700 million deal the Los Angeles Dodgers gave two-way superstar and 2024 National League MVP Shohei Ohtani last December as the largest ever in terms of overall value. And while the majority of Ohtani's guaranteed money was deferred, the Associated Press reports that Soto's agreement contains no deferments.
Soto's contract is also the longest in MLB history in terms of length, exceeding the 14-year, $340 million extension his former San Diego Padres team-mate, Fernando Tatis Jr., signed in 2021.
The New York Post reports that Soto's deal also includes an opt-out clause following the 2029 season, which would allow the four-time All-Star outfielder to re-enter the free-agent market at age 31.
The Yankees, who acquired Soto from the Padres a year ago in a seven-player trade that sent five players to San Diego, reportedly made a final offer of $760 million over 16 years, according to the Associated Press.
Soto was indisputably the crown jewel of this year's free-agent class as a 26-year-old who established himself as one of the game's premier offensive players ever since entering the majors at age 19 with the Washington Nationals in 2018. An exceptionally disclipined hitter, the Dominican native has drawn 125 or more walks in four straight seasons and his .421 career on-base percentage is the highest of any active player with at least 500 plate appearances.
The five-time Silver Slugger recipient also owns a career .285 batting average with a .953 OPS while compiling 201 home runs and 592 RBIs over seven MLB seasons.
Soto helped the Nationals to the franchise's lone World Series title in 2019 by hitting .282 with 34 homers and 110 RBIs in his second major league season. He spent four-plus seasons with Washington before being traded to the Padres midway through the 2022 campaign after turning out a reported 15-year, $440 million extension.
The Padres moved Soto to the Yankees prior to his final year before free agency in a deal that ended up aiding both teams, with the slugger playing a major role in the Bronx Bombers' run to their first World Series appearance since 2009.
Soto hit a career-high 41 homers in his lone season with the Yankees to go along with a .288 average and 109 RBIs in 157 games, and finished third in voting for the 2024 American League MVP award won by team-mate Aaron Judge.
The Mets have annually been among MLB's biggest spenders since owner Steve Cohen purchased the team in November 2020 and were already active in free agency this off-season. The team signed another former Yankee earlier this week by adding pitcher Clay Holmes on a three-year, $38 million contract and also reached a two-year, $34 million agreement with starting pitcher Frankie Montas.
Dodgers, left-hander Snell agree to 5-year, $182 million contract
In the latest installment of the rich get richer, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and left-hander Blake Snell are in agreement on a five-year, $182 million contract, pending a physical, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
Snell, who turns 32 next month, is a two-time Cy Young Award winner who spent last season with the San Francisco Giants, going 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 20 starts.
He had a 6.31 ERA at the All-Star break after a limited spring training, but over his final 12 games, he posted a 1.45 ERA with 103 strikeouts in 68 1/3 innings, including a no-hitter at Cincinnati on Aug. 2.
Snell won the 2023 Cy Young while pitching for the San Diego Padres and entered free agency. He didn’t have a team by spring training, so he landed with the Giants on a two-year, $62 million contract with an opt-out after the first year, which he exercised.
Durability is a concern with Snell, who has thrown more than 129 1/3 innings just twice in nine major league seasons. He also has a lifetime 4.1 walks per nine innings average and rarely pitches deep into games with only one career complete game.
He becomes the latest addition to the star-studded Dodgers, who gave out the first mega deal of this offseason following Shohei Ohtani's $700 million, 10-year contract last winter.
Snell joins a rotation that already features Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Ohtani.
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).
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