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Ben Rice homers against hometown team in Game 2

Ben Rice homers against hometown team in Game 2

\n\n”,”providerName”:”Twitter”,”providerUrl”:” is swinging the bat so well, especially here down the stretch,†manager Aaron Boone said.\n\nDespite that performance, Rice was on the bench for Game 1 against Boston left-hander Garrett Crochet. Boone has said he will start Paul Goldschmidt at first base against all left-handed starters this postseason, adding that the club also preferred Austin Wells behind the plate.\n\nWhile Jazz Chisholm Jr. made little attempt to hide his displeasure at being left out of the Game 1 starting lineup, Rice said he understood Booneâ€s call.\n\n“I know my role,†Rice said. “Yesterday my role was to be ready for a big at-bat off the bench, and today I was starting. The approach doesn’t change. I mean, I am just going to be prepared for every at-bat I get and every chance I get.â€\n\nProduction like Rice showed in his first postseason at-bat might change that equation. According to Baseball Savant, Rice was tied for seventh in the Majors in hard-hit percentage (56.1) and tied for ninth in average exit velocity (93.3), prompting Boone to refer to Rice as “Benny Barrels.—,”type”:”text”},{“__typename”:”OEmbed”,”html”:””,”providerName”:”MLB”,”providerUrl”:null,”thumbnail_url”:” key to that success, Rice said, has been “being aggressive to where and what I am looking for in the zone, always coming up with a plan, being convicted in that, and just being ready to go.â€\n\nSo will Rice be in the Yankees†Game 3 lineup against left-hander Connelly Early? Boone said it was still too soon to say for sure, but he did not dismiss the suggestion outright.\n\n“Itâ€s not just, ‘Itâ€s a lefty,â€â€ Boone said. “Itâ€s, ‘What lefty?†Is it a guy thatâ€s going to be out there for six or seven innings? I want to leverage a spot for whoever my bench guys are to have a good matchup, and not three bad matchups that I can guarantee. 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19 minutes ago

Bryan Hoch

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Giancarlo Stanton smacks two homers in Yankees’ 8-4 win over Orioles

The Yankees extended their winning streak to six games on Friday night, as timely power from their superstar sluggers lifted them to an 8-4 win over the last-place Orioles at Yankee Stadium.

However, for a third straight night, they were unable to claim sole possession of first place in the AL East. The division-rival Blue Jays still own the head-to-head tiebreaker, and they wrapped up Friday with a 4-2 home win over the Rays.

The worst-case scenario for the Yankees hasn’t changed. If they fail to leap ahead of the Blue Jays before the regular season ends on Sunday, they’ll host a best-of-three Wild Card series next week. Their opponent could be the Red Sox, Tigers, or Astros. These three teams are vying for two spots.

Here are the takeaways…

— Last weekend at Camden Yards, the Yankees struggled mightily against Orioles lefty Trevor Rogers, who struck out seven across six scoreless innings to lower his ERA to a stellar 1.35. But history didn’t repeat itself in the Bronx, as a quick first-inning swing from Giancarlo Stanton with two outs and one runner on produced a clutch two-run shot to right-center. The veteran slugger’s 22nd homer of the season traveled 397 feet with an exit velocity of 109 mph. Stanton appears wide-awake from a long September slumber — he entered Thursday hitting a measly .175 this month and then delivered a game-altering three-run double to help the Yankees sweep the White Sox.

— Will Warren couldn’t have looked any sharper through two innings, as he faced the minimum by inducing three strikeouts and three flyouts on 26 total pitches. But the rookie right-hander lost that groove in the third, and his mess frustratingly started against the No. 9 hitter with two outs already recorded. After giving up an infield single and a walk, Warren served up a three-run homer to Jordan Westburg that placed the Orioles ahead. Before completing the frame, Warren allowed one more single and received a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake. He needed 30 pitches to escape the jam.

— Much to the Yankees’ delight, the Orioles couldn’t even hold the one-run lead for an inning. With one out and a runner on first in the third, Aaron Judge clobbered a Rogers sinker that narrowly cleared the center-field wall for a two-run blast. It was homer No. 52 on the season for the Yankees’ captain, and his 110-mph liner traveled 423 feet with a low 23-degree launch angle. Then, seven pitches later, Judge’s behemoth teammate inflicted more damage off Rogers, as Stanton demolished a two-run shot to left-center that flew over the Orioles’ bullpen. A homer in all 30 ballparks — it traveled a whopping 451 feet.

— The Yankees’ power surge couldn’t have been predicted with confidence. Rogers entered Friday’s outing with just three homers allowed across 106.2 innings this season, and he’d logged 15 straight appearances with two or fewer runs on his ledger. With a few swings from Stanton and Judge, his homer total doubled. The Orioles didn’t ask for a fourth inning of work from Rogers, who threw 52 pitches — they turned to the bullpen instead.

— The three-run cushion helped Warren settle back in. While he allowed a two-out double in the fourth, he induced two strikeouts in that inning and then completed a scoreless fifth with another punchout. The fifth-inning strikeout pushed his season total to 171, the second-most from a rookie in franchise history. Warren couldn’t register an out in the sixth, however — a leadoff homer to Tyler O’Neill cut the Yankees’ lead to 6-4 and forced a call to the bullpen. He left the mound with seven strikeouts and a 4.44 season ERA (four runs on six hits and one walk, 81 total pitches).

— The Yankees were wise to pull Warren after the solo homer, but the reliever they turned to first made everyone sweat. Mark Leiter Jr.quickly found himself in a bases-loaded jam after seeing Paul Goldschmidt botch a chopper at first and walking a pair. With two outs and the tying run at second, Tim Hillwas called upon to clean up the mess, and he did just that by getting Jackson Holliday to ground out. The Yankees placed pressure on Orioles reliever Yennier Cano in the bottom of the sixth, and after a pair of singles from Trent Grisham and Anthony Volpe, their lead was bumped to 7-4 on an RBI single from Austin Wells. The seventh inning belonged to Fernando Cruz— he walked a pair but kept the Orioles from scoring.

—  An insurance run arrived for the Yankees in the seventh. A single from Goldschmidt, a walk from Judge, and another single from Cody Bellinger set the bases loaded for — guess who? — Stanton with no outs. The wish for a three-homer game didn’t come true, though — he had to settle for an RBI groundout that pushed the lead to 8-4. The Orioles had a chance to turn two on the chopper to third, but Westburg opted not to throw home. The rally could’ve been greater, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out and Volpe popped out to end the threat.

— Camilo Dovalpitched with confidence for a sixth straight appearance, striking out the side in a scoreless eighth and lowering his ERA from 3.64 to 3.58. With a four-run lead, the ninth inning didn’t present a save situation for David Bednar, but the Yankees wanted their closer on the mound with the stakes still high. Due to a walk and an infield single, he found himself in a jam with runners on the corners and one out. Bednar didn’t waver, though — he struck a pair to seal the deal.

Game MVP: Giancarlo Stanton

For a second straight night, Stanton lifted the Yankees to victory. He’s driven in eight runs over the last two games.

Highlights:

What’s next

The Yankees (92-68) will continue their weekend series with the Orioles on Saturday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

RHP Cam Schlittler (3-3, 3.27 ERA) is slated to take the mound, opposite RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (10-9, 4.54 ERA).

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Zach Cole homers to help Astros beat Rangers

HOUSTON — Four games into his Major League career, Zach Cole has become a master of the pick-me-up.

After entering Tuesday nightâ€s game in place of the injured Yordan Alvarez, Cole hit a go-ahead two-run homer and added an RBI single as the Astros defeated the Rangers, 6-3, in the opener of a three-game series at Daikin Park.

Cole, whose MLB debut on Friday included a home run and two other hits in a victory at Atlanta, entered Tuesdayâ€s game after Alvarez sprained his left ankle while scoring a first-inning run. In his second at-bat against Rangers starter Jack Leiter, Cole hit a two-out, fifth-inning blast to right field to put the Astros up, 4-3.

“That was a fastball well-executed,†Astros manager Joe Espada said of the pitch Cole hammered. “Leiter put that pitch where he wanted to, and this kid just put an ‘A†swing on it. He continues to do things that show heâ€s well prepared. The stage is not fazing him. And Iâ€ve got to give him credit, because weâ€re in the middle of a race, and this kid is showing up.â€

Cole fouled off three two-strike pitches — two changeups and a slider — before getting a 95.9 mph four-seamer from Leiter, whom he never faced in the Minors.

“Just trying to be competitive,†Cole said. “That guyâ€s really good. Heâ€s got a lot of good pitches. Just trying to do my best to foul off anything close just to get another pitch.â€

Espada admitted the Astros†dugout was initially subdued as Alvarez gingerly made his way through it after hurting himself in the bottom of the first.

“Silence in the dugout,†the manager said after the game. “What I do have to say is that once he went to the tunnel, you could hear the guys saying, ‘Letâ€s go. Weâ€ve got to pick him up.†And that was very encouraging – how the players recognized that weâ€re in the middle of a fight. One of our big boys just went down, but instead of using that as. ‘Here we go. Another injury,†they went, ‘Somebody needs to pick him up.†I thought that was a big moment.

“And then Zach Cole goes out there and goes off. Thatâ€s good managing not putting that guy in the lineup, huh? Heâ€s playing [Tuesday].â€

Espada made what turned out to be another deft move by inserting Cole in right field and shifting Jesús Sánchez from right to left. It paid off big when Sánchez prevented the Rangers from tying the game by throwing out Jonah Heim at home plate to end the Texas seventh. Heim was trying to score from second on a single by Wyatt Langford.

“Itâ€s the familiarity of this ballpark for Sánchez,†Espada said. “Heâ€s played here. Cole has played more right field in the Minor Leagues, so I just wanted to take the [left-field] wall element out of there.â€

Cole came through again in the seventh. After Jeremy Peñaâ€s RBI double off Leiter made it 5-3, Cole drove Peña home with a single off Jacob Webb. That made Cole 6-for-13 (.462) in the Majors, with an early-career OPS of 1.456.

“Looks like heâ€s the greatest player in the world,†said Peña, who contributed two hits and three runs. “Should have called him up sooner.â€

When he returned to right field for the eighth inning, Cole drew a huge ovation to make his Daikin debut even more memorable.

“It was an amazing experience,†said Cole, who was selected by the Astros in the 10th round of the 2022 Draft. “Obviously, my first game out there, kind of a new face. They were very warm and welcoming. They were great.â€

The 25-year-old admitted his first four days of Major League service were quite the whirlwind.

“An unreal experience,†Cole said. “Itâ€s been a rush. Itâ€s been a lot of here-and-there, a lot of sleepless nights, and losing some weight ‘cause I canâ€t eat too much. I have so much adrenaline.â€

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Matt Olson homers for 3rd straight game

WASHINGTON — When Matt Olson crushed a three-run homer in the top of the fifth inning on Monday night at Nationals Park, it wasnâ€t just any home run.

It was his fifth homer in his past nine games, and his third straight game with a home run. The last time he had a streak like that was in September 2023, when he hit long balls in four consecutive games.

Olson, who on Sunday had secured his fourth straight season with at least 25 home runs, dominated the Nats†pitching staff as he racked up four RBIs and led the Braves to an 11-3 win to open the four-game set.

Olsonâ€s offensive outpouring backed Spencer Striderâ€s second straight quality start, as the righty threw seven innings of one-run ball and allowed just four hits (one home run).

The highlight of Olsonâ€s 4-for-5 night was undeniably that three-run blast. Olson jumped Nats starter Mitchell Parker immediately, singling in his first at-bat then doubling to lead off the fourth inning.

By the time Olson stepped to the plate in the fifth, with two on and two outs, there seemed only one logical result: Another hit.

Olson mashed a curveball from Parker a Statcast-projected 400 feet into the right-field stands.

“He’s a professional hitter,†Nationals interim manager Miguel Cairo said. “He can hit lefties, he can hit righties. He’s a professional hitter. He’s a really good first baseman. A superstar. You make a mistake with him, he makes you pay.”

“He jumped on one bad pitch,†Parker said. “We were doing well, he just got the curveball and he did what he was supposed to do.”

Arguably, itâ€s no fault of Parkerâ€s — even if he did leave the 80.5 mph pitch middle-middle to one of Atlantaâ€s best hitters. The first baseman has been on an obscene tear of late, hitting .386 in 13 games in this final month of the season.

That continued on Monday, when he finished a triple shy of the cycle for the fourth time this season (the 10th time in his career) while tallying four RBIs for just the second time this year (July 2 vs. the Angels).

But, while the numbers are impressive, itâ€s Olsonâ€s demeanor that really strikes a chord with his teammates and coaches.

“Itâ€s just how he’s been,†manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s swinging the bat really, really well and looking at having a really good year again. So, it’s nice to see. …

“[Itâ€s] just the consistency and stability that you get with a guy like that, and the teammates know he’s going to come to work every day and he’s going to prepare and he’s going to show up and play. I mean, he signed the contract, and he plays the games, and he’s just such a calming influence on guys, I think. And just the steadiness and professionalism and everything that he brings, it’s really special.â€

Rookie catcher Drake Baldwin, who went 3-for-5 with a home run of his own, echoed his managerâ€s sentiments.

“Olson just comes in here and does it every day,†Baldwin said. “He’s the same guy every day. He goes and gets his work done. I mean, he’s just a lead-by-example guy and a great guy to have in the clubhouse. …

“If he’s struggling a little bit or doing really well, itâ€s literally the same guy. And I think that’s huge in baseball, because of all the ups and downs. I mean, tonight he had a huge night, and just seems like he’s going to go in there tomorrow and he’s going to do everything the exact same and and play his hardest.â€

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