ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jac Caglianone got his first night off as a major leaguer with the Kansas City Royals in part because of a left-handed starter for the Texas Rangers.
A day later, the first two big league homers for the powerful 22-year-old prospect came in lefty-lefty matchups against relievers.
Caglianone went deep leading off the second and ninth innings of a 4-1 victory over the Rangers on Thursday as the Royals completed their first three-game sweep at Texas since five months after Caglianone was born in 2003.
“I don’t know how smart I was sitting him against a lefty,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He hit two homers on a lefty today.”
The first was against Jacob Latz, when Caglianone swung at a 95.5 mph fastball above the strike zone and pulled it 387 feet into the Texas bullpen in right-center field for a 3-0 Kansas City lead.
“I didn’t realize until I saw on video how far up I got him,” said Caglianone, whose 6-foot-5 frame makes high fastballs look even higher.
He pointed toward center field as he rounded second base — a gesture he repeated in the ninth — then had to wait out the silent treatment in the dugout.
“It felt like forever,” Caglianone said. “I picked up on it after I gave the coaches there high-fives, and nobody’s really moving, so I’m like, ‘All right, it’s going to happen.’ Didn’t really know when.”
The second was Robert Garcia's first pitch in the ninth — a slider — and this time a 439-foot drive went over that same bullpen. The doubt Caglianone had about whether the first one was deep enough was erased right away on the second drive.
Caglianone, the sixth overall pick in last year's amateur draft out of Florida, hit 15 homers in 50 games combined with Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha before getting called up June 3.
“The first pitch was up at his eyes. He got on top of it. That’s the strength,” Quatraro said. “The second looked like a get-me-over breaking ball, and he was ready to hit. Good for him in both cases. Good for us in that’s what we hope we see from him.”
The homers came 13 days after Caglianone made his debut with an 0-for-5 showing at cross-state rival St. Louis. He was hitting .194 after going hitless in the series opener against Texas. He sat against lefty starter Patrick Corbin on Wednesday night.
“I told myself I wasn’t going to swing, and I lied,” Caglianone said about his say off. “I got here early, hit a little bit with (hitting coach Alec Zumwalt), and then once the game comes around, it was different. I’m not used to doing that. I’m thankful for that mental reset.”
His first big league hit was a double, and he had another in a 4-for-4 game against the Chicago White Sox. But Caglianone knew what everybody was waiting to see.
“It was something I tried not to think about, but as the days kept climbing, I was conscious of it more and more,” said Caglianone, who played his first six games on the road before making his home debut against the New York Yankees. “Got a nice bit of relief right there.”
The same could be said for the neighbor to his right in the visiting clubhouse — Vinnie Pasquantino, whose team-leading 11th homer was a two-run shot that opened the scoring against Shawn Armstrong, the starter in a bullpen game for Texas.
“I saw some good swings from him and know he’s been grinding for some results a little bit,” said Pasquantino, a 27-year-old in his fourth season. “Good to see. Hopefully he can build off it.”
And maybe his manager won't spend much time thinking about the lefty-lefty thing.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Kansas City Royals' Jac Caglianone celebrates in the dugout after hitting his second home run of the game, and the second of his career, in the dugout in the ninth inning during a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Thursday, June 19, 2025, Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Albert Pena)
Kansas City Royals' Jac Caglianone rounds second base after hitting his second home run of the game and second of his career during a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Thursday, June 19, 2025, Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Albert Pena)
Kansas City Royals' Jac Caglianone celebrates in the dugout after hitting his first career home run during a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Thursday, June 19, 2025, Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Albert Pena)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.
In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.
Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.
Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.
But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.
More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.
The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.
Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.
A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
