Mickey Togs

David Ortiz appears to have a new business venture days after his Baseball Hall of Fame enshrinement.

The Boston Red Sox legend is teaming up with Massachusetts-based cannabis company Rev Brands to launch a new line called “Papi Cannabis,” the company announced.

“Once I embraced the flow of the flower everything changed,” Ortiz said. “Cannabis has helped me relax, sleep better, manage stress and heal physically after a lifetime of playing ball, and I look forward to sharing Papi Cannabis and my personal journey to help people understand its benefits.” 

Papi Cannabis’ first product be a “Sweet Sluggers” line, which will include what Rev Brands referred to as Ortiz’s “favorite strains” such as “Black Mamba #7,” “Lava Cake #7,” “Motorbreath #15” and “Bootylicious #4,” to be sold at recreational dispensaries in Massachusetts, with others products expected to be released later this summer.

Ortiz was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native finished his MLB career with a .286 batting average, 541 home runs and 1,768 RBI.

Ortiz began the fourth Dominican native to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, joining Juan Marichal (1983), former Red Sox teammate Pedro Martínez (2015) and Vladimir Guerrero (2018) upon induction.

The true test may come in October, but for now, the Mets are kings of New York.

Starling Marte hit a walk-off single against Wandy Peralta in the ninth inning Wednesday, leading the Mets to a 3-2 victory and a two-game series sweep of the Yankees at Citi Field. The series marked the first time in history the Mets and Yankees both entered a regular-season Subway Series in sole possession of first place.

The winning rally began when Eduardo Escobar hit a leadoff double and moved to third on Tomás Nido’s sacrifice bunt. Following a Brandon Nimmo infield hit, Marte lined a single into left field to walk it off.

Max Scherzer gave the Mets seven scoreless innings on his 38th birthday, twice striking out Aaron Judge with two men on base (and joining Oakland’s Frankie Montas as the only pitchers to whiff Judge three times in a game this season). But after Scherzer departed, the Mets — with a short bullpen — turned to starting pitcher David Peterson, who allowed a game-tying homer to Gleyber Torres on his fifth pitch.

Seth Lugo entered from there and retired five of the six batters he faced, including Judge, who finished 0-for-5.

The New York Mets bats awoke in an 8-5 victory over the Padres. The bonus for Buck Showalter’s crew was a Braves loss earlier in the day, allowing the Mets to extend their NL East lead to 1 ½ games. 

Alonso blasted a three-run homer as part of a sixth inning in which the Mets scored five times. In the seventh, Alonso just missed another homer — it went for an RBI double that completed his night of reaching base three times. The four RBIs gave Alonso 82 for the season, moving him one ahead of Aaron Judge for the MLB lead. 

“Our team is extremely good and we can win in a bunch of different ways. Tonight it was a great offensive and pitching job,” Alonso said.

Mets pitcher Carlos Carrasco delivered five shutout innings, but it wasn’t easy for him: he allowed eight base runners and threw 92 pitches. But the right-hander got the Padres to hit into double plays in the third and fourth innings after escaping a bases-loaded jam in the first. 

The choppy (but effective) outing gave Carrasco an 11-inning scoreless streak over his last two starts. Over his last four starts, Carrasco has pitched to a 1.21 ERA. This extended a team record to 14 straight games in which a Mets starting pitcher allowed two runs or fewer.