Elmer Rodriguez only issued seven free passes over his first four Triple-A outings this season, but the young righty was a bit erratic making his MLB debut on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old was able to work around his shakiness at first, putting up a clean opening inning around two walks, then escaping a bases loaded jam in the second.
He retired the next six batters he faced, but Texas jumped on him in the fifth.
Rodriguez hit the leadoff man with a pitch then issued a seven-pitch walk, before giving up back-to-back singles to allow the Rangers to take a 2-0 lead.
The youngster was pulled after that, handing things over to Brent Headrick, who limited the damage to close his line with just the two runs allowed on four hits and four walks in as many innings.
While the youngster wasn’t as sharp as usual, Aaron Boone thought his stuff was good.
“There was a lot of good,” the skipper said. “We saw his stuff play, I thought his mix and spinning it was good, just a little better on the strike-throwing part and it’s a better line, but he still kept us in the game and gave us a chance.”
Rodriguez agreed that he could’ve executed a bit better, and he’ll look to grow from his mistakes in this outing before taking the ball again his next time out.
“It’s a good experience being here,” he said. “Obviously it’s my first time around, now I’m just trying to learn from all of the good and the bad and just go forward and continue to work.”
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - APRIL 25: Salvador Perez #13 of the Kansas City Royals is congratulated by teammates in the dugout after hitting a home run during the 2nd inning of the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Kauffman Stadium on April 25, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The first inning was a little wild in this one. First, the Royals scored a run on an unusual play. Bobby singled because he is really fast though not his most impressive work with the bat. Then Carter Jensen singled and Witt went first to third. Then this happened:
Salvador’s little flare was not caught by Jacob Wilson because he did not close his glove on purpose? It is hard to say definitively. He throws to second for the out at which point Bobby takes off for home. McNeil threw home rather than try to double off Perez at first, which was not a for sure out, but seemed the safer play. Then in the bottom of the first, Oakland had their hitting coach ejected. It was hard to tell exactly why, but whatever he said did not sit well with John Libka who was behind home plate tonight.
Unfortunately, the Royals could not get any more runs off of Luis Severino. He looked very good and the KC bats just could not get much going. Severino finished with 7IP, 4h, 2BB, and 8Ks by hitting his spots and staying on the edges of the strike zone. Meanwhile, the Oakland offense scored a run on back-to-back doubles from Jacob Wilson and Jeff McNeil to begin the bottom of the second to tie it up. Then in the 4th Wilson and McNeil started it again with a pair of singles, only this time Lawrence Butler brought them both in as part of a 3-run Home Run and take a 4-1 lead. A 5th run almost scored later that inning, but Lane Thomas gunned Kurtz down at home:
He was called safe initially, but the Royals challenged and won. Oakland had to wait until the 6th to get that fifth run in. Nick Kurtz was prevented from scoring it himself, but he hit a gapper to score Darrell Hernaiz against Luinder Avila who took over after Wacha racked up 105 pitches through his five frames. There was also a long rehashing of Hud calling the moon a planet there in the 6th, so at least the booth is in midseason form. Alex Lange and Mason Black put up clean innings in the 7th and 8th to hopefully keep it in reach.
The Royals would try to stage a comeback for the third game in a row. Joel Kuhnel had taken over for Severino to start the 8th and got through that inning unscathed. Then in the 9th it got a little more interesting. Bobby Witt Jr. singled to begin the inning and then then two batters later Slavador Perez had an infield single to short by hitting it slow enough and far enough away from Wilson to buy time for his sprint down the base path. Kuhnel then spiked a pitch to Michael Massey that moved them up to 2nd and 3rd base. Massey hit a deep fly to center to get Bobby home and Salby to third on the sacrifice. Mark Leiter Jr. came in to take over from the Athletic’s bullpen. He walked Isaac Collins and brough the potential tying run to the plate in the form of Jac Caglianone. Jac did not tie it up and struck out to end the game. The series will be decided tomorrow.
And so, Kansas City’s four game win streak is over as the team falls to 12-18 on the season. Thursday will see Noah Cameron on the mound for an afternoon game to wrap up the club’s time in Sacramento.
Athletics outfielder Lawrence Butler (4) is congratulated by Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson (5) and second baseman Jeff McNeil (22) after hitting a three-run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the fourth inning at Sutter Health Park. | Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
The Athletics and Royals were back at it tonight at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento after an extra-inning victory by the Royals last night. Luis Severino got the start for the Athletics against Michael Wacha for the Royals.
Bobby Witt Jr. got things started in the first with a base hit and moved to third on a Carter Jensen single. He scored on a funky line drive to Jacob Wilson that he mishandled, allowing Witt to score, giving the Royals a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second, the A’s got on the board after back-to-back doubles by Jacob Wilson and Jeff McNeil.
In the bottom of the fourth, Wilson and McNeil went back-to-back again, this time singles. Lawrence Butler followed with his third homer to deep right-center field.
The A’s were not done though. Nick Kurtz walked and Shea Langeliers singled. Carlos Cortes singled, apparently scoring Kurtz, but the Royals challenged the call at the plate and the run was overturned, ending the inning. When the dust settled, the A’s held the lead 4-1.
Skipping ahead to the bottom of the sixth, Darell Hernaiz singled, and Nick Kurtz ripped a double to center field to score Hernaiz.
That increased the A’s lead to 5-1. Severino came out to pitch the seventh and was dominant, striking out two of the three batters he faced. That would be all for Seve tonight.
Joel Kuhnel replaced Luis Severino with a final line of 7.0 innings, one earned run, four hits, with eight strikeouts. Kuhnel walked Lane Thomas. That was the first leadoff hitter to reach for the Royals tonight. One batter later a 4-6-3 DP sent the A’s back into the dugout.
Kuhnel returned for the ninth inning, to face the heart of the Royals order. Witt and Salvador Perez each singled. Kuhnel bounced one to the plate allowing both runners to advance still with one out. Michael Massey hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Bobby Witt Jr. That would be all for Kuhnel. Kotsay replaced him with Mark Leiter Jr. to get the final out of the game. Leiter walked Isaac Collins to bring the potential tying run to the plate in Jac Caglianone. Leiter punched him out to close out the game. The A’s win this one 5-2.
Francisco Alvarez was one of the Mets’ most productive hitters early-on this season, but the young backstop has cooled off tremendously of late.
Alvarez’s struggles continued with another hitless showing in Wednesday's loss.
He failed to deliver in some pretty big spots as well -- first striking out looking with two men on and just one out trailing by a pair in the bottom of the first.
After going down looking for a second time two innings later, he came up with two on again in the fifth, and this time put the ball in play but rolled into a rally-killing double play.
It was Alvarez’s sixth double play of the season, tying his total from all of last year.
He completed the hat-trick of backwards K’s leading off the bottom of the eighth, working the count full before striking out looking with the game well out of reach.
The 24-year-old is now 0-for-his-last-12, and he’s just 3-for-23 in his last seven games.
“He’s a little bit in between here,” Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s going out of the zone but then taking good pitches to hit -- he started off good for us, and then the past week or so it’s been a battle for him.”
Alvarez is down to a .217 average with two doubles, four homers, 21 strikeouts, and .691 OPS on the season.
Manaea going through it in relief
David Peterson was knocked around in his return to the rotation, lasting just 3.2 innings on Wednesday, and things really spiraled out of control when he left.
The left-hander's night came to a close after forcing in a run with a bases loaded walk of James Wood with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.
Sean Manaea came on to try and limit the damage, but he ended up hitting the first batter he faced then gave up a grand slam to put this one away for good.
Manaea ate the next two innings, stretching out to 73 pitches, but he continued to be knocked around from there.
He was pulled after giving up a two-run double two Wood in the seventh.
“He comes in, hit by pitch on a sweeper and then he’s trying to go with a fastball up in the zone and just leaves it right there for the grand slam,” Mendoza said. “Then he just got hit today.”
This continues what’s been a rough stretch for Manaea working out of the bullpen.
His ERA is up to an ugly 6.55 for the year as he's allowed runs in all but one of his five April appearances.
Positives from Edwards Jr.
Though the game was long out of reach at that point, the Mets did see another encouraging outing from Carl Edwards Jr. behind Manaea.
The veteran provided length again and was very effective, striking out six batters across 2.2 innings of work.
His lone run came on a homer in the top of the ninth.
Edwards Jr. has now struck out 11, through his first two appearances as a Met.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 29: Matt Olson #28 of the Atlanta Braves reacts with Drake Baldwin #30 after hitting a walk-off two-run homer in the ninth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Truist Park on April 29, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Braves secured a nother series win Wednesday in a game pitched by Tarik Skubal and that really is a symbol of how things have gone for Atlanta so far this season. Atlanta comfortably has the best record in baseball and the best run differential in baseball to back it up. Franchise player Ronald Acuna’s production hasn’t really hit it’s expected level, even as he’s been hitting the ball well, and Austin Riley continues to struggle, but Atlanta has an MVP candidate in Matt Olson, has gotten tremendous seasons from a number of star position-players so far, has gotten good if perhaps lucky production from the rotation, and seems to have a dominant bullpen. To make matters even better, they have a host of reinforcements incoming, as Sean Murphy and Spencer Strider are expected back in the next week or so, Ha-Seong Kim seems to be a few weeks away from his return, and some of Atlanta’s young pitching seems to be progressing well from their surgical procedures. This has been a special and exceedingly fun start to the season and there are plenty of reasons to think that this Braves team can carry something resembling this success forward as the season goes on.
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - APRIL 29: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Arizona Diamondbacks hits a three-run home run against the Milwaukee Brewers during the fourth inning at American Family Field on April 29, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) | Getty Images
I don’t think it’s a particularly hot take to say that I hate blackouts. They inherently limit the number of fans who can view their team and forces those fans to subscribe to a dizzying number of broadcast services just to watch the games. It’s one of the reasons why I listed their elimination as my number one priority if I were magically granted the role of baseball commissioner for a day. I think it would fundamentally improve the game’s accessibility and by extension its popularity. This is a long-winded qualifier that I didn’t get to actually watch any of tonight’s game and instead had to piece it together by the Gameday feed and the Arizona radio. It was still a fun game regardless of how it was consumed though as the D-Backs marched onto the same field on which they were shellacked last night and played a crisp team win that was badly needed to set up a rubber match tomorrow afternoon.
To put it mildly, last night’s game was not a shining moment for the Arizona pitching staff, giving up 13 runs on 15 hits and walking an additional six batters. But with the new and improved Eduardo Rodriguez starting tonight and surprise staff ace Michael Soroka starting tomorrow, I felt pretty good coming into the game. Unfortunately, Rodriguez continued his slide of reversion back towards his mean of the last two seasons in the desert rather than the excellent form he showed in the World Baseball Classic and the first three starts of this season. Once again, the veteran lefty struggled with his command, walking four batters and striking out just four while throwing a middling 55% of his 87 pitches for strikes and generating only five whiffs. Those kinds of numbers rarely equate to a good pitching performance and tonight was no exception as he had his shortest outing of the year, but was able to limit the damage from Milwaukee to just two runs. The Brew Crew opened the scoring with a pair of doubles from Brice Turang and Jake Bauers in the opening frame and plated another in the third when Turang doubled home Brandon Lockridge. Outside of those two plays, the home team created plenty of traffic on six hits and four walks, but failed to capitalize on any scoring opportunity – combining for a miserable 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranding 8 runners on the game.
I’m fairly convinced that Milwaukee’s American Family Field (which still feels wrong to write out) sits on top of a magical pitching fount that’s able to turn reclamation projects into dominant relievers that the front office can then flip for more prospects from unsuspecting franchises. But for the first time in a hot minute, the Brewers have multiple exciting young pitching prospects in Jacob Misiorowski, Kyle Harrison, and Brandon Sproat all of whom have had uneven starts to their careers but still have plenty of talent upside. We got to see both sides of Sproat tonight as he completely shut down the D-Backs through the first three innings, allowing just three baserunners, but lost his command and hit a wall in the fourth that significantly curtailed his outing. After collecting his fifth strikeout of Corbin Carroll to open the fourth inning, he gave up a solo home run to Adrian Del Castillo, singles to Ildemaro Vargas and Lourdes Gurriel Jr, and an absolute moonshot of a three-run blast to Nolan Arenado that gave the D-Backs the lead for good. The offense mostly shut down again thanks to the Milwaukee bullpen until the visiting half of the ninth when Ketel Marte and Carroll jacked consecutive homers to pad the lead and make it a much more comfortable outing for Paul Sewald to earn the save.
Sewald’s 13-pitch dramaless save was simply the cherry on the cake for an Arizona bullpen that was absolutely lights out tonight. The unit ended the night by retiring 13 batters in a row and allowed just one baserunner across the final 4.1 innings of the game after Rodriguez exited in the fifth. It’s part of a maddeningly inconsistent pattern for the relief corps that could just as easily be incredible or one of the worst in the entire major leagues. Optimistically though, this period could just as easily be seen as an evaluation period before some of the team’s higher-leverage relief arms return from injury later this season – namely AJ Puk and Justin Martinez – that can further bolster and stabilize the entire unit. If the team can correctly identify which relievers can be the most consistent and find their appropriate roles, the bullpen could be a genuine strength for the team for the first time in a long time.
Every time the Mets appear to take one step forward lately, they respond by taking two steps back.
That was again the case on Wednesday night.
After their offense finally broke through with one of their best showings of the season Tuesday, they came back and got blown out by the Nationals in the middle of a three-game set.
David Peterson had the matchup the Mets were looking for, but his struggles continued, as he lasted just 3.2 innings and allowed seven runs in his return to the starting rotation.
And things only spiraled after he was pulled, as Sean Manaea entered with the bases loaded and hit the first batter he faced, then gave up a grand slam to officially put this one out of reach.
The two combined to allowed 13 of Washington's 14 runs on five walks and 12 hits.
New York's offense did have opportunities to show some sign of life, but other than the locked in Juan Soto,theycouldn’t deliver the big hit needed against Washington's pitching staff.
So with the Phillies having the night off due to rain, the Mets’ loss now puts them in sole possession of the worst record in baseball through their first 30 games (10-20).
Having dropped 16 of their last 19, Carlos Mendoza isn’t looking for excuses.
“We have to be better,” he said. “It’s been a long period of time where we’re not playing well, we have to fix it.”
With the opening month of the season set to come to a close on Thursday, New York certainly must get things fixed sooner rather than later.
They’ll look to end the brutal month on a high note with Freddy Peralta on the mound.
“It’s easy to let things compound, it’s easy to get caught up in it,” Peterson said. “But the only way we’re going to get out of it is by taking things one day at a time, trying to attack, and just trying to win tomorrows game.”
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alexandre Texier broke a tie 1:06 into the third period and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Wednesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the first-round series.
Rookie Jakub Dobes stopped 38 shots to help Montreal move within a victory of advancing for the first time since losing to the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021.
Brendan Gallagher got his first goal in his first game this series and Kirby Dach also scored for the Canadiens.
Dominic James scored his first career playoff goal and Jake Guentzel also connected one for the Lightning. They are one loss from being eliminated in the first round for the fourth straight season.
FLYERS 1, PENGUINS 0, OT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Cam York scored 17:32 into overtime and chucked his stick into the crowd in a wild celebration to send Philadelphia into the second round for the first time in six years with a Game 6 win over the Pittsburgh.
Dan Vladar was again sensational in the net and stopped all 42 shots and prevented the Penguins from playing for a shot at playoff history.
Sidney Crosby and the Penguins tried to become just the fifth team in NHL history to win a series after trailing 3-0. They’ve won two straight games to force Game 6.
MESA, ARIZONA - MARCH 04, 2026: Tommy Troy #98 of the Arizona Diamondbacks bats during the fifth inning of a spring training game against the Athletics at Hohokam Stadium on March 04, 2026 in Mesa, Arizona. (Photo by David Durochik/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
Introduction
While it is still early in the season, I can’t help but notice that while the team is struggling at the MLB level, there’s several of the Dbacks top prospects playing very well for the D’Backs AAA level affiliate, the Reno Aces. There are also a couple veteran relief pitchers that have been pitching very well, who merit discussion, but who I won’t be discussing in this article. (NOTE: We’re just just under a full month into the Minor League Baseball season, so small samples abound, especially with the relief pitchers. Just a few good/bad outings and games can turn these numbers upside down, so this is just a fun exercise. It’ll be another month before any Minor League stats should be taken seriously. All stats in this article through 28th April, 2026.)
The Hot Hitting Prospects
Top 100 overall prospect Ryan Waldschmidt (Fangraphs |B-Ref player pages) has unsurprisingly been one of the Reno Aces best hitters. The 23 year old right handed hitting outfielder has played mostly center field in the 2026, but is capable of playing all three outfield positions competently. Through his first 131 plate appearences, he’s hit .303/.400/.505 with a 122 wRC+ and a .408 wOBA.
Tommy Troy ( Fangraphs|B-Ref), the 12th overall pick in the 2023, in his first 122 plate appearences is hitting .317/.405/.481 with a 120 WRC+ and .404 wOBA. Troy has seen the majority (60%) of his starts at second base, but surprisingly has spent a good chunk of time in left field and couple games worth of innings in center.
LuJames ‘Gino’ Groover III ( Fangraphs|B-Ref) through his first 127 plate appearances is hitting .340/.440/.427, with a 123 wRC+ and a .410 wOBA. He’s spent slightly more than half his time in the field this season at third base with the rest spent across the diamond at first.
Kristian Robinson’s ( Fangraphs | B-Ref ) history has been discussed so much that I’m not going to discuss it here other than the very short version. Once a top prospect, legal issues that came as a result of cannabis induced psychiatric episode along with pandemic kept him away from baseball for three years. Robinson is probably not the star outfielder we thought he was, but he is a perfectly servicable outfielder with an intriguing mix of power and speed. In his first 110 plate appearences in 2026, Robinson is hitting .286/.400/.484 with a 119 wRC+ and a .402 wOBA. Robinson is capable of playing all three outfield position as well, with a better throwing arm than any of the other outfielder on the MLB roster.
The biggest reason to not call up any of these four players is finding regular playing time, along with service time and roster considerations. Ryan Waldschmidt and Kristian Robinson are (arguably) an across the board upgrade over current Dback OFer Jorge Barrosa, but if they’re only on the roster as the fourth outfielder, they won’t get as much playing time as needed to further develop as hitters. With his .524 OPS and 46 wRC+, Tim Tawa has been a below average hitter in 2026, so bad that he’s been worth -0.3 WAR. Lourdes Gurriel may only have recently been activated of the Injury List, but he’s already matched Tawa in negative WAR despite having played in 10 fewer games. The aforementioned Barrosa’s job is arguably pretty safe, despite the 79 wRC+, he’s an above average outfielder who’s put up .2 WAR thanks to his defense. In a similar vein, the defensively gifted Alek Thomas is once again struggling offensively, and while he still is putting up positive value, his defense isn’t that much of an upgrade over Waldschmidt’s to make his job safe either. Theoretically Waldschmidt and Robinson could replace Barrosa and Thomas , and while there would almost certainly be a drop off defensively, the potential for a massive offensive upgrade could might very well be worth it.
Tommy Troy, who has the most defensive versatility thanks to his ability to play both infield and outfield, is an obvious choice to replace Tim Tawa on the roster. As long as the Ildemaro Vargas/Nolan Arenado experiment continues to be successful, and Jose Fernandez continues to rake, I can’t imagine we’ll see Groover anytime soon, unless Adrian Del Castillo just completely fails to provide any offense at DH. Which is unfortunate, as Groover statistically has been the best hitter on the Aces, while also having the exit velocity and batted ball data that legitimizes his production as more than a PCL induced fluke.
Pitching Prospects Having Success Shutting Down A Punishing PCL
Amongst the actual ranked pitching prospects on the Aces, Mitch Bratt (Fangraphs|B-Ref) has been the most effective of the starting pitchers in the Aces rotation so far. In his first five starts, he’s put up a 2.84 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, with a 50 ERA-. His 4.35 FIP and 4.64 xFIP aren’t exactly inspiring but overall those are very solid numbers for a starting pitcher in hitters haven that is the Pacific Coast League.
Yilber Diaz (Fangraphs|B-Ref) and Brandyn Garcia (Fangraphs|B-Ref) have combined to form a very effective relief duo. In his 10 relief appearances, he’s put up 13 ⅔ IP while striking out 20 batters (a 34% SO%) and walking just five batters (9.3BB%) His 1.32 ERA and 24 ERA- are absolutely stellar, though his 3.11 FIP and 2.90 xFIP do suggest his ERA won’t stay that low forever. Brandynn Garcia has also appeared in 10 games, putting up 12⅓ IP with 18 strikeouts and 10 walks. His 2.19 ERA works out to a 39 ERA-, though his stats do seem like they’re do for some regression, as indicated by the 4.58 FIP and 4.35 xFIP.
It’s almost certainly a matter of when, not if Yilber Diaz and Brandyn Garcia get called up in 2026, and there are already candidates in the bullpen for them to replace. The most obvious would be Paul Sewald, but arguements could be made for Ryan Thompson as well. Originally I was going to mention Andrew Hoffman, but the latter was sent down for Philip Abner whilst writing this article.
It’s actually somewhat fitting that the most obvious candidate in the starting rotation that Mitch Bratt could potentially replace is the pitcher the Dbacks traded away last summer to acquire him (along with Hagaman and Kohl Drake), Merrill Kelly. To be as blunt as possible, Merrill Kelly has not been good at all so far this season, and his performance so far has been troubling. In his first start back in a 4-3 win against the baltimore Orioles, Kelly pitched 5 ⅓ innings, allowing a pair of earned runs on five hits and four walks. It doesn’t sound that bad, but it was a messy outing saved thanks to Ildemaro Vargas and Jose Fernandez’s offense, though he does deserve some extra credit for a successful pickoff throw of a runner on third. Kelly’s 2nd outing was a disaster: 4⅓ innings, 8 earned runs allowed on 10 hits ans 3 walks. Of those ten hits, half of them went for extra base hits, three of which were homeruns. His most recent outing wasn’t any better. He pitched 5 ⅓ innings, allowing five earned runs on six hits and five walks, with another homerun allowed. All that adds up to a 9.20 ERA with 8.78 FIP, which has cost the Diamondbacks -0.5/-0.6 fWAR/bWAR. It’s still early and he can turn it around, but if his season continues like this, then I would think that eventually a move will have to be made. Alternatively, Ryne Nelson and his 7.71 ERA or Brandon Pfaadt and his 5.54 ERA aren’t exactly lighting the world on fire either.
Conclusion
Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen has quite a few options in AAA that could potentially bolster the Major League roster. Which of these players do you think is most likely to be able to contribute to an MLB roster right now? Is there a prospect on the AAA or even AA roster that you feel is more deserving of a call up?Which player on the MLB roster do you think will be the next to go after Andrew Hoffman? Who do you expect to be called up first? Let me know in the comments down below!
Next Week: We wrap up the Top Prospect series by finally ranking the Dbacks top pitching prospects.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 24: Dansby Swanson #7 and Pete Crow-Armstrong #4 of the Chicago Cubs celebrate Swanson's two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium on April 24, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the bopping-est bar for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. So glad you decided to stop by. It’s been a great day and we hope to make it better. The dress code is casual. The hostess can seat you now. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
The Cubs beat the Padres today 5-4, which wraps up a 3-3 road trip to Southern California. Considering how good those two teams are and that they’re both likely to be playoff teams. that seems like a very good result.
Last night I asked you if the Cubs should continue to let Moisés Ballesteros catch or whether he should be made a full-time DH. The vote was close, but 53 percent of you would continue to develop him as a catcher whereas 45 percent would just let him hit (and maybe play first base once in a while).
Here’s the part where we listen to jazz and talk movies. You can skip ahead if you want.
Tomorrow—or today (April 30) depending on when you read this—is International Jazz Day and the home city this year is Chicago. An all-star concert will be held at Millenium Park starting at 3 pm tomorrow and you can watch it online if you can’t make it to the show.
International Jazz Day was Herbie Hancock’s idea when he was a UNESCO Ambassador and was adopted by that organization in 2011. Here’s Hancock in a 2018 International Jazz Day concert in Osaka, Japan. Also in this All-Star show was Kenny Garrett (alto sax), Marcus Miller (electric bass), John Scofield (guitar), Roy Hargrove (trumpet), Terri Lyn Carrington (drums), Josh Johnson (alto sax), Courtney Pine (tenor sax), Steve Turre (trombone), Mike Cottone (trumpet), Takuya Kuroda (trumpet), Sheila E. (percussion) and Pete Escovedo (percussion).
This is “Hang Up Your Hang Ups.”
Generally I only tell you about the films that I’ve watched that I liked, but the only film I’ve watched in the past few days is Wife vs. Secretary (1935), a romantic comedy directed by Clarence Brown with an all-star cast of Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Myrna Loy. It also has a pre-star James Stewart in one of his first big supporting roles. It’s a typical mid-century (or so) story of a wife (Loy) who gets jealous of the secretary (Harlow) of her workaholic husband (Gable). Unfortunately, despite the powerhouse cast, the film is very light on the “comedy” part of a rom-com. Maybe the jokes just don’t translate after ninety years, because I didn’t get it.
Gable plays Van “Jake” Stanhope, a magazine executive who is madly in love with his wife Linda (Loy). He also is married to his work, which puts him in constant contact with his super-competent secretary “Whitey.” (Harlow) Jake comes up with a plan to expand his magazine’s reach by acquiring another publication, which means he is spending all of his time at the office to complete the merger. It’s also top secret, so no one can know his plans other than Whitey, who has to help him.
Linda is initially quite understanding and trusting of her husband, knowing that he deeply loves her. Whitey’s fiancé Dave (Stewart) isn’t so understanding when she gets called into the office at all hours and he wants her to quit her job after they get married. But Whitey actually loves her job and is super good at it and doesn’t want to quit it to marry Dave. Obviously she’s someone whom 40 years later would be an executive herself and not a secretary.
Anyways, all the gossipy other executive wives tell Linda that they’d never let their husbands spend so much time with a secretary that looks like Jean Harlow. That plants a seed in her head. And while Jake deeply loves Linda and thinks of Whitey as more of a business partner, a series of coincidences and random comments makes Linda start to doubt her husband’s fidelity. Meanwhile, Whitey isn’t quite sure who really has her heart, Jake or Dave, even though Jake has made no indication that he sees her as anything other than a secretary.
So it’s a basic misunderstanding plot with a double love triangle, although Stewart’s Dave really isn’t in the film enough to be more than a minor diversion. (He does get the last words, however!) The problem is that none of these misunderstandings are actually funny. They are just very ordinary basic things associated with the business deal and Jake’s complete inability to get anything done without Whitey’s help. All four of those actors have made very good comedies elsewhere, but none of them get to show that talent here. Jake is just clueless about his wife’s suspicions. Whitey isn’t sure if she’s not falling in love with Jake, but she’s a good girl and would never be “the other woman.” Linda just goes from trusting, loving wife to a helpless, green-eyed woman.
There were a few things about the film I liked. For one, Loy is allowed to play a very sexual wife, at least early in the film. This is a break from the stereotype of the dowdy wife versus the hot secretary. Conversely, Harlow plays Whitey as very professional and is dressed most of the time in proper business attire for women of the 1930s. (She does have a few sexy evening gowns when the situation calls for it.) Harlow is very much trying to shed her “blonde bombshell” image in this film, playing a capable businesswoman who doesn’t flaunt her obvious attractiveness. You can almost see her trying to have Katharine Hepburn’s career here as she aged had she not tragically died of kidney failure two years later.
The other thing I loved was the gorgeous Art Deco apartment that Jake and Linda lived in. In fact, most of the sets were in the best style of the era with a classy sophistication. The costuming was also a nice touch, with the wife Loy wearing a lot of attractive, stylish and sexy outfits and the secretary Harlow dressing down most of the time in some smart business attire. Gable also wore some fine menswear, although I couldn’t tell if he wore an undershirt. (Heh.)
Overall, the purpose of a comedy is to be funny and despite the stellar cast, Wife vs. Secretary just isn’t funny. Great looking, but not dramatic enough to be a good drama and not funny enough to be a good comedy.
Here’s the original trailer for Wife vs. Secretary. At least you get to see the great clothes here.
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.
The Cubs have finished the first month and change of the season with a record of 19-12, just half a game behind the surprising Reds. They’ve weathered a whole mess of injuries, especially to the pitching staff, and are still in prime position to win the division. They’re tied for second in the league in runs scored and home runs. They’re third in batting average and they lead the league on on-base percentage.
The Cubs’ pitching isn’t quite as good, with an ERA of 4.01. That’s seventh in the league, which puts them right in the middle of the pack. But that’s still not bad considering the number of injuries they’ve had. Probably good enough if the offense continues to produce like it has.
So what grade do you give the Cubs after one month (and change) of the season?
And by “April,” I mean the few games in March too.
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SCOTTSDALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 18: Pitcher, Tanner Gordon stands for a photo during media day at spring training for the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Field at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 18, 2026. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images) | Denver Post via Getty Images
The Rockies’ new pitching philosophy is no longer a secret. They promised to leave no stone unturned, and one month in, the results have been genuinely impressive. Depending on your preferred WAR metric, Colorado has had one of baseball’s most valuable pitching staffs — at altitude, no less.
That story has been covered well, including here at Purple Row. So here’s the next question: When does experimentation become refinement?
I started thinking about that while watching Tanner Gordon on Tuesday. The shapes of his fastball, changeup and sinker all looked…. similar. So, naturally, I spent my Tuesday night in a Baseball Savant rabbit hole.
While looking at Gordon’s movement profile, the arm angle caught my eye: He is up from 43° last year to 46° this year.
The slot and the sinker
That arm-angle change makes the curveball experiment logical. A higher slot can help create a more vertical breaking ball, giving Gordon a different plane from the fastball/changeup/slider foundation.
The sinker, though, is harder to defend.
Gordon has not been given a start yet, so this is an imperfect evaluation. He has mostly worked out of the bullpen, and the sample sizes are tiny. His sinker has made up only 12% of his pitches — 23 total.
Still, in that tiny sample, hitters are batting .667 against it with a 2.000 slugging percentage, 100.4 mph average exit velocity, and no putaways. Hitters are not just seeing the sinker; they are ordering it off the menu.
The concern is not only the results. It is the shape. The sinker visually lives too close to the fastball/changeup lane. If it is not creating grounders, weak contact, or a different plane, it risks becoming another version of a pitch family Gordon already has.
Fewer pitches, better fit?
The Rockies have had early success letting pitchers find footing in the bullpen, and Gordon can still offer rotation value because his command is legitimately excellent. He does not need overwhelming stuff to survive, but the pitch mix has to be coherent.
Of course, pitches take time. Michael Lorenzen is a useful reminder. His curveball was barely part of his mix in 2023 at 1%, then grew to 8% in 2024, 11% in 2025, and 15% this season. That is what refinement can look like: not instant reinvention, but gradual trust.
Still, patience and commitment are not the same thing.
The Rockies may not need Gordon to throw more pitches. They may need him to throw fewer pitches that make more sense.
So, After Dark: keep developing the sinker, reduce it, or lean harder into the curveball/changeup path?
CLEVELAND (AP) — Dennis Schroder scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, Evan Mobley hit a pair of pivotal 3-pointers in the final period and finished with 23 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied for a 125-120 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night in Game 5 of their first-round series.
Cleveland leads the series 3-2. Game 6 is Friday night in Toronto.
James Harden scored 23 points and Donovan Mitchell added 19 for the Cavaliers.
RJ Barrett led Toronto with 25 points while Ja’Kobe Walter added 20 and Jamal Shead had 18 off the bench. All-star forward Brandon Ingram left the game in the second quarter with right heel inflammation.
The Raptors led 74-67 at halftime and scored the first five points of the third quarter. The Cavaliers slowly rallied but trailed 103-100 going into the final 12 minutes.
Cleveland seized control by scoring the first eight points of the fourth quarter. Jaylon Tyson hit a step-back 3-pointer to tie it at 103-all, and a 3 by Mobley gave the Cavaliers a 106-103 lead.
Toronto missed its first 11 shots and was 7 of 28 from the field in the fourth while Cleveland made 7 of its first 11 and was 9 of 19.
As has been the case all season, Peterson put the Mets behind from the get-go, as Washington was able to jump on him for a pair of runs on three hits and a wild pitch in the top of the first.
He's now racked up an ugly 10.80 ERA in the opening frame through five starts.
Peterson then appeared to find his groove as he retired nine in a row, but things caved in on him in the fourth, as the Nationals made him pay for a one-out walk to Jacob Young.
The lefty gave up two hits and another walk, then almost danced his way out without further damage, but a bases loaded free pass to James Wood to forced in another run and end his night.
Sean Manaea entered and things spiraled from there, as he hit a batter before giving up a grand slam, pushing Peterson’s total to seven runs in just 3.2 innings of work.
“The first he fell behind hitters and they got to him,” Carlos Mendoza said. “In the fourth he lost a feel for all of his pitches -- even with the bases loaded he had a chance to get out to it getting ahead of Wood 0-2, then issues the walk.
“It’s just the feel for his pitches, not able to get in the zone consistently, and it cost him.”
That specific issue has cost Peterson not just throughout the early-part of this season, but also as he was knocked around during the second-half last year.
With his ERA now sitting at an ugly 6.53 through seven appearances (five starts), Mendoza said that the team will have more discussions about how they use him moving forward.
While he’s going through it right now, they remain confident he can turn things around.
“He’s a big part of this team,” the skipper said.
"I've done it before," Peterson added. "I believe in myself and know I have the stuff to do it."
Apr 29, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brian Fitzpatrick (35) makes his Major League Baseball debut against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the sixth inning at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images | Michael McLoone-Imagn Images
It was a bit of a Jekyll-and-Hyde night for the Brewers, both for the team’s offense and for their starting pitcher, Brandon Sproat. Sproat showed his immense potential early but ran into trouble later on; that trouble was all the Diamondbacks needed, as a Milwaukee offense that showed some life early went into a deep rut after that and couldn’t come back.
Sproat came in going as hard as William Friedkin in To Live and Die in L.A. With a fastball that hit 99.9 mph, Sproat struck out the side—and this wasn’t some scrubs, either. It was three of the best hitters in the NL: Geraldo Perdomo, Ketel Marte, and Corbin Carroll.
In the bottom of the first, the only two lefties in Milwaukee’s starting lineup came through against the left-handed Arizona starter, Eduardo Rodríguez. With one out, Brice Turang lined a double to left center. After a three-pitch William Contreras strikeout, Jake Bauers lined a nearly identical double on a 3-2 pitch. Turang scored, and Milwaukee took an early lead.
In the top of the second, Sproat was nice enough to allow Ildemaro Vargas extend his hitting streak to 22 games early to avoid any sort of drama, a cheapie bloop single to shallow left. But Adrian Del Castillo was Sproat’s fourth strikeout victim, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Nolan Arenado popped out, and it was a pretty easy second inning.
Rodríguez had a quick bottom of the second against the soft bottom of the Brewers lineup. Jose Fernandez led off the third with a base hit, but Sproat got Alek Thomas to fly out and Fernandez was caught stealing. With two outs, Sproat issued his first walk to Perdomo, and Marte put a scare into the Brewer faithful with a fly ball to deep right, but Greg Jones caught it calmly with his back against the wall.
Milwaukee added on in the bottom of the third, and it was the lefty Turang, again. After Lockridge started the inning with a bunt single, Turang hit another hard line drive just to slight center, but he hit it hard enough that Thomas, the Arizona center fielder, couldn’t make the catch going back. It was over his head for Turang’s second double, and Lockridge scored from first to make it 2-0.
Arizona answered in the top of the fourth. After Sproat struck out Carroll for a second time to start the inning, Del Castillo hit an opposite-field homer just over the outstretched glove of Lockridge in left field. After that, Vargas and Gurriel hit back-to-back singles on lazy, looping line drives (77 and 82 mph exit velocity), and Chris Hook was out of the dugout for a visit with runners on first and second and one out.
The mound visit did not work. Sproat threw two sinkers low and in to Arenado; he fouled off the first, but detonated the second one, which went way out to left field (411 feet). Two of the four hits that Sproat allowed in the inning were cheap, but the runs counted just the same, Arizona had a 4-2 lead, and what started as an outstanding night for Sproat had quickly turned sour.
Milwaukee put themselves in a good position to get something back in the bottom of the fourth. Luis Rengifo led off with a double over the head of Carroll in right that bounced into the stands. But Jones unwisely burned the Brewers’ only remaining challenge before striking out and Perkins popped out behind the plate for two quick outs that didn’t advance the runner. Joey Ortiz came from behind to work a two-out walk, and Lockridge walked too, even after a 3-1 pitch that was initially called ball four was overturned by a Diamondbacks challenge. That gave Turang, who already had two doubles, a big opportunity with the bases loaded and two outs. But Turang grounded out, and the rally fizzled.
Perdomo walked to lead off the fifth. Marte hit a ground ball that looked like it might become a double play, but a miscommunication meant no one covered first base and Ortiz could return the throw to first. Still, Milwaukee erased the lead runner, but that was all for Sproat, who was pulled from the game after 4 1/3 innings. DL Hall replaced Sproat and promptly struck out Carroll, the third time he’d struck out on the night, and got Del Castillo to pop out to Rengifo in foul territory.
Sproat’s night featured highs (he struck out the first four batters of the game in extremely impressive fashion) and lows (two homers, four runs in the fourth inning). That’s sort of a microcosm of the Sproat experience thus far this season, but there are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the young right-hander.
Contreras hit a ball pretty well to start the fifth but he hit it to the wrong part of the ballpark and it became the first out. Bauers grounded out, but a two-out walk to Sánchez spurred Arizona manager Torey Lovullo to go to his bullpen, a decision that Rodríguez—who, I noted in the game thread, is only four wins from 100 for his career—wasn’t happy about. In any case, Kevin Ginkel entered to flip Rengifo to the left side of the plate; that didn’t work, as Rengifo singled to right and sent Sánchez to third, and Pat Murphy countered the Ginkel move by pinch-hitting Garrett Mitchell for Jones. That didn’t work either, as Mitchell struck out to end the inning.
Hall kept pitching in the sixth and got a 1-2-3 inning, although not without some excitement; with two outs, Arenado hit a grounder to third, and Rengifo’s throw to first went over Bauers’ head. But Arenado tried to go to second, and the ball bounced back to Ortiz in between first and second base, and he threw to Rengifo, covering second, who tagged Arenado out (although Milwaukee had to successfully challenge the play, as Arenado was called safe on the field).
Sal Frelick, who’d entered defensively for Perkins in the top of the inning, led off the bottom of the sixth but grounded out. David Hamilton pinch-hit for Ortiz but struck out looking, and Lockridge struck out swinging. Hall continued in the top of the seventh. He got two quick outs, but issued a two-out walk to Perdomo (his third of the game) and then gave up a single to Marte.
With 42 pitches, Murphy decided to pull Hall and go with the brand-new lefty Brian Fitzpatrick, called up earlier today to replace Ángel Zerpa. A heck of a time to make your major-league debut: two on, two out, and Corbin Carroll at the plate. Fitzpatrick should’ve gotten Carroll, who hit a dribbler up the first-base line, but Carroll is extremely fast and the ball kind of landed in no-man’s land, and he was on with an infield hit to load the bases. But Del Castillo went after the first pitch and popped it up to shallow right, where Frelick made the catch and got Fitzpatrick successfully out of the first inning of his big-league career. Congrats, kid.
The heart of Milwaukee’s order went down quickly in the seventh versus the new Arizona pitcher, Juan Morillo; Turang grounded out, Contreras flew out to the warning track in right, and Bauers struck out. Fitzpatrick continued in the eighth and allowed another infield hit, this one to Gurriel, and walked Arenado to put runners on first and second with one out. But he got Fernandez and Thomas on pop-ups, and in his debut, Fitzpatrick got four outs and didn’t allow any runs (or hits out of the infield).
Former Brewer Taylor Clarke was the pitcher in the bottom of the eighth and had no trouble retiring Sánchez, Rengifo, and Mitchell in order. Grant Anderson, on for the ninth, finally retired Perdomo, but gave up back-to-back bombs to Marte and Carroll, both of them no-doubters. Anderson, who hadn’t allowed a homer all year, was due, I guess. Arizona’s lead doubled.
Milwaukee’s offense, which had looked punchless since the third inning, had a tall task in the ninth, down four runs. It turned out that two would’ve been plenty; Paul Sewald got Frelick, Hamilton, and pinch-hitter Tyler Black in order, and the game was over.
Not a whole lot to write home about: this was a pretty standard, anonymous regular season baseball loss. Turang was the offensive standout, as he was 2-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI, and a run scored. Rengifo also had two hits, and Bauers added his RBI double. On the mound, we covered Sproat’s outing; Hall completed 2 1/3 solid, scoreless innings, while Fitzpatrick created a nice memory with his 1 1/3 inning scoreless debut.
The series will be decided tomorrow, when Brandon Woodruff faces off with Arizona’s Michael Soroka. It’s an early one, at 12:40 p.m.
DETROIT (AP) — Cade Cunningham scored a franchise playoff-record 45 points, including a step-back jumper with 32 seconds left, and the top-seeded Detroit Pistons beat the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic 116-109 on Wednesday night in Game 5 of their first-round series to stave off elimination.
Orlando leads the series 3-2 and will get a second chance to advance at home on Friday night.
The Magic fell to 0-10 in franchise history on the road in a Game 5.
Detroit never trailed and went ahead by 15 early in the final quarter. The Magic made one more run, pulling within three points on Paolo Banchero’s sixth 3-pointer with 1:09 left. Banchero matched Cunningham with 45 points, also a playoff career-high — and missed 7 of 12 free throws.
CAVALIERS 125, RAPTORS 120
CLEVELAND (AP) — Dennis Schroder scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, Evan Mobley hit a pair of pivotal 3-pointers in the final period and finished with 23 points, and Cleveland rallied for a victory over Toronto in Game 5 of their first-round series.
Cleveland leads the series 3-2. Game 6 is Friday night in Toronto.
James Harden scored 23 points and Donovan Mitchell added 19 for the Cavaliers.
RJ Barrett led Toronto with 25 points while Ja’Kobe Walter added 20 and Jamal Shead had 18 off the bench. All-star forward Brandon Ingram left the game in the second quarter with right heel inflammation.
