NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer to power the New York Mets to a 6-3 win and series sweep of the Los Angeles Angeles on Wednesday.
Alonso, mired in a 2-for-34 slump dating back to July 10, homered two batters after Francisco Lindor broke a career-long 0-for-31 drought with an RBI single.
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Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout (27) runs the bases after hitting a home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Mets' Francisco Lindor hits an RBI single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Mets' Pete Alonso celebrates with teammates after hitting a three-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Mets' Pete Alonso watches a ball he hit for a three-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Brandon Nimmo hit his 14th career leadoff homer and Lindor added another RBI single in the fourth for the Mets, who swept a series for the fifth time this season.
Sean Manaea (1-1), making his third appearance and second start after battling oblique and elbow injuries, allowed one run and struck out five over five innings. Edwin Díaz got the final four outs for his 21st save.
Mike Trout homered in the third — the 396th home run and 999th RBI of his career — for the Angels, who were swept for the seventh time. Luis Rengifo (forceout) and Chris Taylor (double) collected RBIs in the seventh.
Left-hander Jake Eder (0-1), the last of three Angels pitchers on a bullpen day, gave up five runs in a career-high six innings.
Alonso’s first homer since July 8 was the 248th of his career, pulling him within four of Darryl Strawberry for the all-time franchise lead.
Trout is aiming to become the second active player with 400 homers and the ninth with 1,000 RBIs.
The Mets travel west for a six-game road trip starting Friday, when RHP Clay Holmes (8-5, 3.48 ERA) opens a three-game series against RHP Logan Webb (9-7, 3.08 ERA) and the San Francisco Giants.
Angels LHP Yusei Kikuchi (4-6, 3.13 ERA) starts Thursday, when the Angels return home for a four-game series against the Seattle Mariners and RHP Logan Evans (3-3, 3.81 ERA).
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Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout (27) runs the bases after hitting a home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Mets' Francisco Lindor hits an RBI single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Mets' Pete Alonso celebrates with teammates after hitting a three-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Mets' Pete Alonso watches a ball he hit for a three-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Cumberland, Md. (AP) — Three members of the Zizians, a cultlike group linked to six deaths across the U.S., were granted permission Friday to work together in preparation for their upcoming trial on trespassing, weapons and drug charges.
Jack LaSota, Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank are among a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists drawn together by radical beliefs about veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence.
Authorities have described LaSota, a transgender woman known as Ziz, as the apparent leader of the “extremist group." Since 2022, Zizians have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord, the landlord’s subsequent killing, the deaths of Zajko’s parents in Pennsylvania, and a highway shootout in Vermont that left another member and a U.S. Border Patrol agent dead.
LaSota, Zajko and Blank were arrested in February after a property owner said he found them living in box trucks on his land in Frostburg, Maryland. Zajko was charged in Vermont with lying on her application to buy the gun used to kill agent David Maland in January 2025, while LaSota faces separate federal charges of being an armed fugitive.
On her way into the courthouse Friday, LaSota accused prosecutors of pressuring the trio to commit perjury by accepting plea deals and said, “They're violating our speedy trial rights.” Friday's hearing was supposed to include discussions of the trio's motions to dismiss the charges and logistics of the trial that begins Feb. 9. Much of the agenda was postponed until Jan. 30 after Zajko indicated a desire to fire her attorney.
Earlier, Allegany County Circuit Court Judge Michael Twigg agreed to allow the trio to work together on their defense. Since their arrest, LaSota and Blank have been allowed to meet, but Zajko was kept apart in what she described as “absurdly difficult circumstances.”
When the prosecutor told the judge he had reason to believe the three had already been communicating amongst themselves, LaSota interjected, “In the car ride here!”
“We should be able to talk to each other without being recorded and without fear of our notes being intercepted," LaSota said.
“We're adults. We have work to do, and we want to do our work," Zajko said.
At one point, all three spoke up in support of each other.
“I repudiate any notion of protecting me from our codefendants,” LaSota said.
“I do, too,” said Zajko.
“As do I,” Blank said.
In the Vermont case, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Zizians member Teresa Youngblut, who has pleaded not guilty to murder for her alleged involvement in the shootout. Though she initially faced lesser charges, President Donald Trump's administration had signaled early on that more serious charges were coming as part of its push for more federal executions.
At the time of the shooting, authorities had been watching Youngblut and her companion, Felix Bauckholt, for several days after a Vermont hotel employee reported seeing them carrying guns and wearing black tactical gear. She is accused of opening fire on border agents who pulled the car over on Interstate 91. An agent fired back, killing Bauckholt and wounding Youngblut.
Two other members of the Zizians group are awaiting trial in connection with the 2022 attack on a landlord in California that left another member dead. Zajko has been called a person of interest in the deaths of her parents later that year, and another member of the group is charged with killing the landlord three days before the Vermont shooting.
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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.
In this image from video, Michelle Zajko, who is associated with a cultlike group known as Zizians that is linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
In this image from video, Daniel Blank, who is associated with a cultlike group known as Zizians that is linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
In this image from video, Jack LaSota, also known as Ziz, who is at the center of a cultlike group known as Zizians and linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
In this image from video, Jack LaSota, also known as Ziz, who is at the center of a cultlike group known as Zizians and linked to several deaths across the U.S., is escorted into court for a pretrial hearing on trespassing, gun and drug charges in Cumberland, Md., Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)
