ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees will have a good head of steam as they bus 30 miles up the 5 Freeway for their World Series rematch against the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend.
New York's 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night gave the AL East leaders 16 wins in 20 games.
Clarke Schmidt continued a six-week stretch of superb starting pitching with six shutout innings, and Anthony Volpe drove in the only run with a first-inning sacrifice fly as the Yankees (35-20) completed a three-game sweep and sent the Angels (25-30) to their fifth straight loss.
A Yankees rotation that lost ace Gerrit Cole to season-ending elbow surgery and has two other starters — Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman — on the injured list has a major league-best 2.54 ERA over the last 40 games and has limited opponents to one run or less in 22 of those starts.
Left-hander Ryan Yarbrough allowed one run and two hits in six innings of Monday night’s 5-1 win over the Angels, left-hander Carlos Rodon gave up five hits in seven scoreless innings of Tuesday’s 3-2 win, and Schmidt, a right-hander, gave up four hits in his six shutout innings Wednesday night.
Left-hander Max Fried, who is 7-0 with a 1.29 ERA in 11 starts, will pitch Friday night’s series opener against the Dodgers, and right-hander Will Warren, who is 3-2 with a 4.09 ERA in 11 starts, is scheduled to pitch Saturday.
“They’ve given us a chance to win every single night,” said Yankees reliever Mark Leiter Jr., who notched his second save with a scoreless ninth inning Wednesday night.
“Each guy is going out there and doing it a little different way, putting their own spin on it, which is great for us, because it gives them a different look for six or seven innings, and we get to do our thing with a different look for the last couple innings. You’re only as good as your starting pitching, generally, and they’ve been great.”
The NL West-leading Dodgers (34-22) have three frontline starters — Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki — and four high-leverage relievers — Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates — on the injured list.
But they still have plenty of star power, with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, who have combined to win five MVP awards, plus Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith at the top of their lineup.
“Yeah, it will feel big,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the matchup. “Now, we won’t go in treating it any differently, but we played the Subway Series (against the New York Mets) last week, and there was a lot of hype for that. I think these are good things for our guys to play in and experience.”
The series will feature two of the best players in baseball in Judge and Ohtani, both coming off an MVP season.
Judge, who has won two American League MVPs, leads the AL in batting average (.391), on-base percentage (.488), slugging percentage (.739), OPS (1.227) and hits (81) — numbers that prompted the Angels to intentionally walk Judge twice in the first two innings on Wednesday night. He is tied for third in the majors in home runs (18) and ranks fourth in RBIs (47).
Ohtani, who has won three MVPs — his first two with the Angels in 2021 and 2023 — leads the major leagues with 20 homers and 59 runs and ranks third in OPS (1.042). He produced baseball’s first 50-50 season with 54 homers and 59 stolen bases in 2024.
The two-way star, who has a 38-19 record and 3.01 ERA in 86 starts over five seasons but did not pitch while recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2024, is also on track to return to the mound sometime after the All-Star break.
“I think Judge has been the best hitter in the sport now for a number of years, but what Shohei does with his speed and, when he’s healthy, being an ace on the mound, and his ability to swing the bat … we haven’t seen that,” Boone said.
“Ohtani, when you add in the pitching element, is just so unique, like nothing we’ve ever seen in this game.”
Freeman, the Dodgers first baseman, hit four homers, including a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning of Game 1, and drove in 12 runs to earn World Series MVP honors last October.
Freeman’s two-run single also keyed a five-run rally in the fifth inning that helped the Dodgers overcome a 5-0 deficit in their series-clinching 7-6 victory in Game 5 at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees held Ohtani to two hits in 19 at-bats (.105) and no RBIs in the World Series, but he played the final three games with a dislocated left shoulder that was surgically repaired after the season.
“You have to execute (pitches) at a high level against him, or we’re backing up bases or getting a new ball,” Boone said. “We did a pretty good job against him in the World Series last year, but he’s also hit some big homers against us.”
The Yankees will have a Dodgers nemesis that they didn’t have last October in veteran first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who signed a one-year, $12.5 million deal last winter and is batting .347 with an .899 OPS, five homers and 27 RBIs in his first 55 games with the Yankees.
A former Arizona Diamondbacks and St. Louis Cardinals slugger, Goldschmidt has a .283 average, .872 OPS, 35 homers and 109 RBIs in 163 career games against the Dodgers and a .308 average, .928 OPS, 19 homers and 50 RBIs in 77 games in Dodger Stadium.
“I would say he’s more than an X-factor,” Boone said of Goldschmidt, who led off Wednesday night’s game with a double and scored on Volpe’s sacrifice fly. “He’s one of our dudes.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani runs after grounding out during the third inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Dermer)
New York Yankees designated hitter Aaron Judge looks on during batting practice before a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded nine others at Brown University on Saturday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities said, and police were searching for the suspect.
University President Christina Paxson said she was told that 10 people who were shot were students. Another person was injured by fragments from the shooting, but it was not clear if that victim was a student, she said.
Officers scattered across the campus and into an affluent neighborhood filled with historic and stately brick homes, searching academic buildings, backyards and porches late into the night after the shooting erupted in the afternoon.
The suspect was a man in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the engineering building where the attack happened, said Timothy O’Hara, deputy chief of Providence police.
Security footage showed the suspect walking away from the building, but his face was not visible. Some witnesses reported that the man, who could be in his 30s, may have been wearing a camouflage mask, O’Hara said.
Investigators were not yet sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom where he opened fire. Outer doors of the building were unlocked, but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Providence’s mayor said.
Authorities believe the shooter used a handgun, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The unthinkable has happened,” said Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, who vowed that all resources were being deployed to catch the suspect.
Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place remained in effect and encouraged people living near the campus to stay inside or not return home until it is lifted. Streets that normally bustle with activity on weekends were eerily quiet.
“The Brown community’s heart is breaking, and Providence’s heart is breaking along with it,” Smiley said.
Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the building’s lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side. Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she sheltered for several hours.
Nine people with gunshot wounds were taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where one was in critical condition, said Kelly Brennan, a spokesperson for the hospital. Six required intensive care but were not getting worse, and two were stable, she said.
University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, but later said that was not the case. The mayor said a person preliminarily thought to be involved was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.
Nearly five hours after the shooting, officers in tactical gear led students out of some campus buildings and into a fitness center.
The shooting occurred in the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.
Engineering design exams were underway there when the shooting occurred.
Eva Erickson, a doctoral candidate who was a finalist earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show “Survivor,” said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before shots rang out.
The engineering and thermal science student shared candid moments on “Survivor” as the show’s first openly autistic contestant. She was locked down in the campus gym following the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab who was present was safely evacuated.
Biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens and received a text about an active shooter shortly after 4 p.m.
“I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as a half-dozen armed officers in tactical gear surrounded his dorm.
Students in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block away from the scene.
Mari Camara, a junior from New York City, was coming out of the library and rushed inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.
“Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened,” she said.
Brown, the seventh oldest higher education institution in the U.S., is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges, with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students. Tuition, housing and other fees run to nearly $100,000 per year, according to the university.
President Donald Trump told reporters that he had been briefed and “all we can do right now is pray for the victims.”
Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun laws in the U.S. Last spring the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed an assault weapon ban that will prohibit the sale and manufacturing of certain high-powered firearms, but not their possession, starting next July.
Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City and Durkin Richer from Washington. Associated Press journalists Mike Balsamo and Seung Min Kim in Washington, Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Martha Bellisle in Seattle contributed.
Law enforcement officials carry rifles on a street in a neighborhood near Brown University, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I. during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
A police officer hangs yellow crime tape at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
People board a bus in a neighborhood near Brown University, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I., during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Students are escorted by law enforcement officers to a building at Brown University after a shooting, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I.. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A law enforcement official walks past articles of clothing on a sidewalk near an entrance to Brown University, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Providence, R.I., during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Law enforcement officials carry rifles while walking on a street in a neighborhood near Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Law enforcement officials walk near an entrance to Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Emergency personnel gather on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Emergency personnel gather on Waterman Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Law enforcement officials carrying weapons gather near Brown University in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during the investigation of a shooting. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Ambulances line Hope Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Emergency personnel gather at Hope and Waterman Streets at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Ambulances line Hope Street at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Emergency personnel gather at Hope and Waterman Streets at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, during reports of a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
In this image from video, law enforcement officials gather outside the Brown University campus in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
FILE - The logo for Brown University is displayed at the school's campus in Providence, R.I., on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
