NEW YORK (AP) — Third baseman Mark Vientos was scratched from the New York Mets' lineup Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers because of abdominal soreness, and left fielder Brandon Nimmo exited the game with a stiff neck.
Nimmo said his neck tightened up Friday morning, but he tried to play anyway. He banged into the outfield wall with his right shoulder while catching Will Smith's long drive leading off the second inning, then struck out looking in the bottom half.
Nimmo said his neck prevented him from pulling the trigger on a swing, so he told manager Carlos Mendoza he was more a detriment than a help at that point.
“It’s from 2019, when I ran into the wall. We’ve been really good with the training staff and myself about being able to keep it under control and at bay, but sometimes with the travel and just everything, sometimes it pops its ugly head,” Nimmo said after the Mets lost 7-5 in 13 innings.
“Takes a few days to deal with it,” he added. “It's frustrating. But unfortunately, it’s just part of it and just try and get back out there as soon as possible.”
Following a 98-minute rain delay in the top of the third, Nimmo was replaced by Jeff McNeil in left.
“Turning to the right was very, very limited today,” Nimmo said. “In the past it’s usually been I usually I go get off of it for a little bit, go to sleep and take a muscle relaxer. And then usually it’s a day or two after that. Hopefully I can be sooner than that. But right now, in the past, that’s the way it’s gone.”
Vientos had been set to bat second against left-hander Clayton Kershaw. But about 65 minutes before the first pitch at Citi Field, the Mets announced Vientos wouldn't start.
“Just felt like a tightness in my stomach area. Just a weird pain,” he said.
Vientos said the issue was on his left side and he felt something similar during the offseason. He said he's “not really too worried about it” but he wasn't sure if he will play Saturday night.
“We’ll see. I’m going to come in tomorrow, see how it feels and talk to the trainers and they’ll let me know,” Vientos said.
Brett Baty shifted from second base to third and rookie Luisangel Acuña was inserted into the lineup at second base, batting ninth. Designated hitter Starling Marte moved from fifth in the order to the No. 2 slot.
The 25-year-old Vientos is hitting .232 with five home runs, 18 RBIs and a .674 OPS. He is 6 for 45 (.133) with runners in scoring position this season.
He had three homers and seven RBIs in last year's National League Championship Series against the Dodgers.
In other news, Mendoza said pitcher Frankie Montas will begin a minor league rehab assignment Saturday with Class A Brooklyn.
Montas, sidelined since spring training with a right lat strain, is scheduled to throw two innings and 30-35 pitches. The right-hander signed a $34 million, two-year contract with the Mets as a free agent in December after spending last season with Cincinnati and Milwaukee. The deal includes a player option for 2026.
Veteran right-hander Paul Blackburn will make one more rehab start with Triple-A Syracuse next week before the Mets must decide whether to reinstate him from the injured list and add him to the active major league roster.
The 31-year-old Blackburn also has been out all season. He is on the 15-day IL with right knee inflammation.
Blackburn is 1-2 with a 3.91 ERA in 23 innings over six minor league starts across three levels this year. He threw seven shutout innings of one-hit ball Wednesday for Syracuse in a win against Rochester.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
New York Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo (9) catches a ball hit by Pittsburgh Pirates' Joey Bart during the eighth inning of a baseball game Monday, May 12, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, left, and outfielder Brandon Nimmo, center, talk to officials after Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, right, was declared safe at second base on a hit by Mookie Betts during the third inning of a baseball game Friday, May 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he’s dropping — for now — his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, a move that comes after legal roadblocks held up the effort.
“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again - Only a question of time!" he said in a social media post Wednesday.
Governors typically control states' National Guardsmen, and Trump had deployed troops to all three cities against the wishes of state and local Democratic leaders. He said it was necessary as part of a broader crackdown on immigration, crime and protests.
The president has made a crackdown on crime in cities a centerpiece of his second term — and has toyed with the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act to stop his opponents from using the courts to block his plans. He has said he sees his tough-on-crime approach as a winning political issue ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Troops had already left Los Angeles after the president deployed them earlier this year as part of a broader crackdown on crime and immigration.
In his post, Trump said the troops' presence was responsible for a drop in crime in the three cities, though they were never on the streets in Chicago and Portland as legal challenges played out. When the Chicago deployment was challenged in court, a Justice Department lawyer said the Guard’s mission would be to protect federal properties and government agents in the field, not “solving all of crime in Chicago.”
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson’s office in a statement said the city’s reduction in crime was due to the efforts of local police and public safety programs. Chicago officials echoed the sentiment, saying in a release Tuesday that the city had 416 homicides in 2025 — the fewest since 2014.
Trump’s push to deploy the troops in Democrat-led cities has been met with legal challenges at nearly every turn.
The Supreme Court in December refused to allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area. The order was not a final ruling but was a significant and rare setback by the high court for the president’s efforts.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote on X Wednesday that Trump “lost in court when Illinois stood up against his attempt to militarize American cities with the National Guard. Now Trump is forced to stand down.”
Hundreds of troops from California and Oregon were deployed to Portland, but a federal judge barred them from going on the streets. A judge permanently blocked the deployment of National Guard troops there in November after a three-day trial.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement Wednesday that her office had not yet received “official notification that the remaining federalized Oregon National Guard troops can return home. They were never lawfully deployed to Portland and there was no need for their presence. If President Trump has finally chosen to follow court orders and demobilize our troops, that’s a big win for Oregonians and for the rule of law.”
Trump's decision to federalize National Guard troops began in Los Angeles in June, when protesters took to the streets in response to a blitz of immigration arrests in the area. He deployed about 4,000 troops and 700 Marines to guard federal buildings and, later, to protest federal agents as they carried out immigration arrests.
The number of troops slowly dwindled until just several hundred were left. They were removed from the streets by Dec. 15 after a lower court ruling that also ordered control to be returned to Gov. Gavin Newsom. But an appeals court had paused the second part of the order, meaning control remained with Trump. In a Tuesday court filing, the Trump administration said it was no longer seeking a pause in that part of the order.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to return control of the National Guard to Newsom.
“About time (Trump) admitted defeat,” Newsom said in a social media post. “We’ve said it from day one: the federal takeover of California’s National Guard is illegal.”
Troops will remain on the ground in several other cities. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in December paused a lower court ruling that had called for an end to the deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., where they’ve been deployed since August after Trump declared a “crime emergency.”
Trump also ordered the deployment of the Tennessee National Guard to Memphis in September as part of a larger federal task force to combat crime, a move supported by the state’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee and senators. A Tennessee judge blocked the use of the Guard, siding with Democratic state and local officials who sued. However, the judge stayed the decision to block the Guard as the state appeals, allowing the deployment to continue.
In New Orleans, about 350 National Guard troops deployed by Trump arrived in the city's historic French Quarter on Tuesday and are set to stay through Mardi Gras to help with safety. The state's Republican governor and the city's Democratic mayor support the deployment.
Ding reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press reporters John O'Connor in Springfield, Illinois, Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, Jack Brook in New Orleans and Adrian Sanz in Memphis contributed.
FILE - A protester confronts a line of U.S. National Guard members in the Metropolitan Detention Center of downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)
FILE - Protesters stand off against California National Guard soldiers at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, during a "No Kings" protest, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
