Scherzer tossed by umps on sticky stuff
Max Scherzer was ejected from the Mets’ game at the Dodgers on Wednesday after umpires did a customary check of his glove before the bottom of the fourth inning.
Scherzer was furious when tossed by umpire Phil Cuzzi following the inspection of his glove and a lengthy conversation that included plate umpire Dan Bellino, the crew chief. The 38-year-old righthander already had been told by umpires to change his glove before he took the mound one inning earlier in the bottom of the third.
Scherzer yelled “It’s rosin!” at Bellino and Cuzzi before his ejection.
Mets manager Buck Showalter came out of the dugout for a lengthy discussion with the umpires while Scherzer reluctantly went to the dugout.
Scherzer pitched three scoreless innings of one-hit ball before his ejection from his fourth start of the season.
Brandon Nimmo went 5 for 5 for the Mets, who won, 5-3.
Judge homers, robs Ohtani
Aaron Judge robbed Shohei Ohtani of a homer just before hitting a two-run shot, and the Yankees beat the Angels, 3-2, on Gleyber Torres’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning.
Judge also saved the go-ahead run with a diving grab in the eighth inning, and the Yankees evened this star-studded series after dropping the opener.
Gio Urshela tied it 2-all for the Angels in the eighth with a two-out RBI single against his former team — one pitch after Wandy Peralta balked Hunter Renfroe to second base.
Brandon Drury followed with a slicing drive to deep right-center that would have knocked in the go-ahead run if Judge hadn’t made a sensational catch just shy of the warning track.
Angels manager Phil Nevin was ejected in the ninth for arguing after Mike Trout was called out to end the inning on a fullcount check swing with two on against
Clay Holmes. Between innings, Nevin went all the way out to shallow right field to get in the face of first base umpire Will Little and give him an earful.
With one out and the automatic runner at second, Judge was intentionally walked in the 10th before Matt Moore (1-1) plunked Anthony Rizzo with a breaking ball to load the bases.
Torres, in a 1-for-21 slide, lofted a fly ball to deep right-center, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa scored easily from third without a throw.
Another shutout for Rays
Yandy Díaz homered on the third pitch of Levi Stoudt’s big league debut to spark a six-run first inning, and the Rays routed the Reds, 8-0, at Cincinnati to improve to a major league-best 16-3.
Tampa Bay pitched its second straight shutout and has six this season, more than half the Rays total of 10 for all of last year. The Rays tied for the most shutouts in a team's first 19 games, matching the 1876 St. Louis Brown Stockings, 1966 Cleveland Indians and 1981 Texas Rangers.
Tampa Bay tops the big leagues with 133 runs and has allowed 50, tied for the big league low entering the day.
Rockies activate Bard
The Rockies activated pitcher Daniel Bard from the 15-day injured list ahead of the team’s series finale against the Pirates after the star closer had been out since March 30 because of anxiety.
Bard threw one inning in his team’s loss Wednesday, giving up no hits or runs on nine pitches.
Last season, Bard ranked third among all National League pitchers with a careerhigh 34 saves. He earned the save in 91.9 percent of his appearances, the best mark in MLB in 2022 and the second-best percentage in a single season in Rockies franchise history.
Bard pitched for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, but struggled with control, displayed most notably when he threw a pitch inside against Venezuela that broke the hand of Astros second baseman Jose Altuve.
Giants win in extras
Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski hit two-run homers off Devin Smeltzer in the 11th inning, lifting the Giants over the Marlins 5-2 to stop a five-game losing streak . . . Marcus Semien had three hits and drove in a pair of runs, and Jonah Heim capped a big day for the Rangers offense with a three-run shot in the ninth inning, leading them to a 12-3 victory over the Royals. Rodolfo Castro hit a 458foot homer and drove in four runs, leading Pittsburgh over the Colorado Rockies 14-3 to complete the Pirates’ first threegame sweep at Denver since 2019.Colorado has lost eight straight games