NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Alonso ended the longest home run drought of his career with a two-run shot and the New York Mets took advantage of some shoddy Los Angeles Dodgers defense in a 3-1 victory Sunday night.
Shohei Ohtani hit a leadoff homer — hours after throwing 22 pitches of live batting practice in a significant rehab step — but that was all Los Angeles could muster against Kodai Senga (5-3) and three relievers.
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New York Mets pitcher Reed Garrett, left, and Pete Alonso, right, celebrate after a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani watches his solo home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Mets' Pete Alonso reacts after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Mets' Pete Alonso watches his two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A hustling Juan Soto contributed an RBI groundout and a difficult running catch in deep right field to help New York take two of three from the Dodgers after losing to them in six games in last year's National League Championship Series.
Los Angeles committed a season-high four errors, two of which led to all three Mets runs.
Alonso homered in the first off hard-luck loser Landon Knack (2-2), who permitted one earned run and four hits in six innings for the NL West leaders. He struck out five, walked none and set down 11 straight during one stretch.
The slugger connected on the next pitch after third baseman Max Muncy booted a two-out grounder by Soto, who beat a rushed throw to first.
It was the 236th career homer and 10th this season for Alonso, who had gone 16 games and 65 at-bats without a longball — both career worsts.
Senga struck out five and walked four in 5 1/3 innings of five-hit ball. He retired cleanup batter Will Smith on a bases-loaded grounder to end the fifth.
Ryne Stanek induced an inning-ending double play in the sixth, Max Kranick pitched two perfect innings and Reed Garrett worked a one-hit ninth for his fifth major league save and first this season.
Center fielder Tyrone Taylor made a terrific defensive play to stop the Dodgers' early momentum in the first. Already leading 1-0, they had runners at second and third with nobody out when Smith sent a flyball to shallow right-center. Taylor sprinted in and to his left to make the catch, then threw out Mookie Betts at the plate for a double play. Betts was initially ruled safe, but the call was overturned following a replay challenge.
Senga went 202 batters and a career-best eight games without allowing a home run until Ohtani connected. ... New York improved to 19-6 at home, the top mark in the majors. ... Soto got his seventh stolen base, matching his total last year with the Yankees.
Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-3, 1.86 ERA) pitches Monday night in Cleveland against RHP Gavin Williams (4-2, 3.94).
New York RHP Clay Holmes (5-3, 3.13 ERA) starts Monday at home in the opener of a three-game series against Chicago White Sox RHP Adrian Houser (1-0, 0.00), who pitched for the Mets last year before getting released on July 31.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
New York Mets pitcher Reed Garrett, left, and Pete Alonso, right, celebrate after a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani watches his solo home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Mets' Pete Alonso reacts after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Mets' Pete Alonso watches his two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
