NEW YORK (AP) — Rookie infielder Luisangel Acuña was sent to the minors by the slumping New York Mets amid several roster moves Monday.
New York also signed left-handed reliever Richard Lovelady to a one-year deal and selected the contract of outfielder Travis Jankowski from Triple-A Syracuse. Both were available for the opener of a four-game series against Atlanta.
Acuña, the younger brother of Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr., was optioned to Syracuse along with right-handed reliever Tyler Zuber following Sunday night's 7-1 loss at Philadelphia.
Before that game, the Mets demoted another touted youngster to Syracuse: catcher Francisco Alvarez.
New York had lost eight of nine going into Monday, falling a game behind the first-place Phillies in the NL East.
Acuña, acquired from Texas in 2023 for three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, has scuffled lately at the plate after hitting .308 with six steals to earn NL rookie of the month honors for March/April. The 23-year-old has slumped to a .241 batting average and largely been relegated to pinch running and defensive-replacement duties. He is expected to receive regular playing time at Syracuse.
In other news, ace pitcher Kodai Senga, speaking through a translator, told reporters his injured right hamstring feels “great” and he hopes to throw off a mound soon. Senga, injured covering first base June 12 against Washington, believes a rehab assignment is “on the horizon.”
“The good thing is that he kept throwing, even right after the injury, so he was able to keep the arm going," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "I was told that he was going to play catch off the mound. Not necessarily a bullpen, but he’s already getting on the mound and letting the ball go with some type of intensity. That’s a really good sign.”
After being limited to one start during the 2024 regular season because of shoulder and calf injuries, Senga was brilliant in his first 13 starts this year, going 7-3 with a 1.47 ERA.
“I feel great and I am recovering really well,” he said. "I want to take it day by day. Maybe some days I can push it a little bit further, while some days I need to take it a step back and take it easy. So those are the types of conversations I’m having every day and those are very helpful.”
Jankowski signed a minor league contract with New York on June 10. He is playing on his third major league team in 2025, after spending time with the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. He received a spring training invite from the Chicago Cubs but was released on March 12.
Jankowski appeared in 43 games for the Mets in 2022. He played college ball at Stony Brook University, located on Long Island less than 40 miles from Citi Field.
Lovelady had been pitching at Triple-A St. Paul in the Minnesota Twins organization before getting released last week. The 29-year-old reliever had a 1.31 ERA in 19 outings.
Lovelady made two appearances for Toronto in March and also has pitched for the Royals, Rays, Athletics and Cubs during a six-year career. He is 5-13 with a 5.26 ERA and three saves in 110 games, holding left-handed hitters to a .232 batting average.
“Lefty, kind of the low slot, the sinker, the slider, and now he’s got a sweeper, too,” Mendoza said. “He’s just another weapon for the bullpen that we can use to mix and match.”
Right-hander Frankie Montas is expected to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list Tuesday to make his Mets debut. Montas, signed to a $34 million, two-year contract in December, has been sidelined since spring training with a right lat strain.
“He's a guy, when we signed him in the offseason, that was going to be a big part of this rotation," Mendoza said. “I’ve seen him pitch for a lot of years at this level and have success. ... The expectation is to go out there, compete and give us a chance to win a baseball game every time he takes the ball, starting tomorrow.”
In another roster move, outfielder Jose Siri (left tibia fracture) was transferred to the 60-day IL.
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Philadelphia Phillies' Buddy Kennedy (19) is forced out at second as New York Mets second baseman Luisangel Acuna (2) throws to first in the third inning of a baseball game, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
Glenn Hall, a Hockey Hall of Famer whose ironman streak of 502 starts as a goaltender remains an NHL record, has died. He was 94.
Nicknamed “Mr. Goalie,” Hall worked to stop pucks at a time when players at his position were bare-faced, before masks of any kind became commonplace. He did it as well as just about anyone of his generation, which stretched from the days of the Original Six into the expansion era.
A spokesperson for the Chicago Blackhawks confirmed the team received word of Hall’s death from his family. A league historian in touch with Hall’s son, Pat, said Hall died at a hospital in Stony Plain, Alberta, on Wednesday.
A pioneer of the butterfly style of goaltending of dropping to his knees, Hall backstopped Chicago to the Stanley Cup in 1961. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs in 1968 with St. Louis when the Blues reached the final before losing to Montreal. He was the second of just six Conn Smythe winners from a team that did not hoist the Cup.
His run of more than 500 games in net is one of the most untouchable records in sports, given how the position has changed in the decades since. Second in history is Alec Connell with 257 from 1924-30.
“Glenn was sturdy, dependable and a spectacular talent in net,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “That record, set from 1955-56 to 1962-63, still stands, probably always will, and is almost unfathomable — especially when you consider he did it all without a mask.”
Counting the postseason, Hall started 552 games in a row.
Hall won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1956 when playing for the Detroit Red Wings. After two seasons, he was sent to the Black Hawks along with legendary forward Ted Lindsay.
Hall earned two of his three Vezina Trophy honors as the league's top goalie with Chicago, in 1963 and '67. The Blues took him in the expansion draft when the NHL doubled from six teams to 12, and he helped them reach the final in each of their first three years of existence, while winning the Vezina again at age 37.
Hall was in net when Boston's Bobby Orr scored in overtime to win the Cup for the Bruins in 1970, a goal that's among the most famous in hockey history because of the flying through the air celebration that followed. He played one more season with St. Louis before retiring in 1971.
“His influence extended far beyond the crease," Blues chairman Tom Stillman said. “From the very beginning, he brought credibility, excellence, and heart to a new team and a new NHL market.”
A native of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Hall was a seven-time first-team NHL All-Star who had 407 wins and 84 shutouts in 906 regular-season games. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975, and his No. 1 was retired by Chicago in 1988.
Hall was chosen as one of the top 100 players in the league's first 100 years.
Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz called Hall an innovator and “one of the greatest and most influential goaltenders in the history of our sport and a cornerstone of our franchise.”
“We are grateful for his extraordinary contributions to hockey and to our club, and we will honor his memory today and always,” Wirtz said.
The Blackhawks paid tribute to Hall and former coach and general manager Bob Pulford with a moment of silence before Wednesday night’s game against St. Louis. Pulford died Monday.
A Hall highlight video was shown on the center-ice videoboard. The lights were turned off for the moment of silence, except for a spotlight on the No. 1 banner for Hall that hangs in the rafters at the United Center.
Fellow Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, the league's leader in wins with 691 and games played with 1,266, posted a photo of the last time he saw Hall along with a remembrance of him.
“Glenn Hall was a legend, and I was a big fan of his,” Brodeur said on social media. “He set the standard for every goaltender who followed. His toughness and consistency defined what it meant to play.”
AP Sports Writer Jay Cohen in Chicago contributed to this report.
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FILE - Glenn Hall, second from left, stands with fellow former Chicago Blackhawks players Stan Mikita, former general manager Tommy Ivan, Bobby Hull, Bill Wirtz and Tony Esposito during a pre-game ceremony at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Ill., April 14, 1994. (AP Photo/Fred Jewell, File)
FILE - St. Louis Blues goalie Glenn Hall, top right, is pinned to his net waiting to make a save on a Montreal Canadians shot as Blues' Noel Picard (4) tries to block the puck while Canadiens' John Ferguson (22) and Ralph Backstorm wait for a rebound in the third period of their NHL hockey Stanley Cup game, May 5, 1968. (AP Photo/Fred Waters, File)
