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When the Colorado Rockies welcomed the Texas Rangers to Coors Field for Game 2, their hope was to pick up where they left off after getting a Monday night win. After all, it was “Bark in the Park,” so the vibes (and the dogs!) were good.

However, by the time the game ended, there was nothing to be heard but howls of disappointment from the Rockies side of Coors Field as the Rangers racked up a decisive 10-0 win.

The hits, they kept coming — for the Rangers

The Rangers got on the board first after a rough first inning from opener Sammy Peralta.

He opened by walking Andrew McCutchen on four pitches and then hitting Brandon Nimmo. Ezequiel Duran hit a double to bring them home. After that, Peralta issued yet another walk, loading the bases with one out for Alejandro Osuna. After Peralta struck out Osuna, bulk reliever Tanner Gordon entered the game to get the final out, which he did with just one pitch.

Still, the Rockies were down two runs before even sending a batter to the plate. Worth noting is that the Rangers are 17-3 when scoring first, and that trend continued tonight.

In their half of the first, the Rockies did not get a hit. Adding to the bad news, Brenton Doyle left the game after attempting a diving catch with a left-side contusion.

E1: Rangers 2, Rockies 0

That would be as good as it got for Gordon with the Rangers hitting him hard for the rest of the game.

The second inning saw the Rockies falling further behind as a Nimmo RBI single scored Joc Pederson. Following that, Duran singled to bring home Nimmo, and then a Jake Burger single brought home Josh Jung. When the Rockies finally got the third out, the Rangers had a 5-0 lead.

Rockies pitchers had already issued three walks before the top of the second had ended.

Kumar Rocker took over pitching duties for the Rangers in the second inning and never looked back. Troy Johnston — the second hitter Rocker faced — hit a single, the Rockies’ first hit of the game. Tyler Freeman, fresh off paternity leave, followed that with another single, but the Rockies failed to capitalized.

E2: Rangers 5, Rockies 0

After a scoreless third inning, the Rangers got back to work in the fourth. They scored two more runs — seven runs on 10 hits with the game not yet half over.

Although Ezequiel Tovar walked in the bottom half of the inning, he was unable to advance.

E4: Rangers 7, Rockies 0

The hits kept coming in the fifth inning as Pederson scored his third hit despite entering the game in the second inning. Justin Foscue hit a sacrifice fly to bring him Evan Carter, and the score was 8-0 Rangers.

In contrast, the Rockies did not have a single baserunner in the fifth.

E5: Rangers 8, Rockies 0

This is a pretty grim game recap, so please enjoy this catch from Mickey Moniak in the sixth:

Also worth noting is that the Rockies got three outs on four pitches. The sixth was that rare inning when the Rangers failed to put a runner on base.

In the seventh inning, the Rangers scored again on a — stop me if you’ve heard this one before — Joc Pederson single that scored Danny Jansen. Pederson went 4-for-4 with one RBI.

The Rockies managed a baserunner in the bottom of the inning after a Johnston single, his second of the evening and the Rockies third hit, but they were unable to score.

E7: Rangers 9, Rockies 0

Seth Halvorsen entered the game in the eighth and promptly surrendered two hits, two walks, and a run.

Catcher Brett Sullivan was preparing to enter the game to relieve Halvorsen when Willi Castro caught two quick line-outs to end the inning.

E8: Rangers 10, Rockies 0

The Rockies sent Sullivan to pitch the ninth. Things were grim, but watching the Rockies turn a double play never gets old, and the Rockies turned a nice one to end the inning for Sullivan. (Unfortunately, no video was available.)

Ezequiel Tovar drew a two-out walk in the ninth — worth noting, he walked twice in this game. They were unable to score in the ninth.

E9: Rangers 10, Rockies 0

For the Rangers, this marked a season high in terms of hits (16) and runs (10). Add to that, an excellent performance from Kumar Rocker who absolutely muzzled the Rockies.

“The slider was devastating,” said manager Warren Schaeffer after the game.

On the flip side, it marked an offensive wasteland for the Rockies. They had just three hits and no runs. They walked three times and had and had seven Ks.

The Rockies pitching, it was not good

This will not go down as the best-pitched game in Rockies history.

Opener Sammy Peralta went 0.2 IP giving up two runs (both earned) on two hits. He also walked to and struck out one on 23 pitches. Tanner Gordon did his best, but the Rangers dinged him for hits throughout the game.

He went 6.1 IP, allowing seven runs (all earned) on 12 hits. He walked one and struck out five while throwing 81 pitches. Although Gordon was not effective on the mound, he saved the bullpen.

“The length was extremely valuable to us tonight, ” Schaeffer said.

The eighth inning went to Halvorsen, who struggled much as Gordon did. When the inning ended, he had thrown 25 pitches and allowed one run (earned) on two hits. He also walked two and did not strike out a hitter.

Sullivan pitched the ninth inning as the Rockies waved the white flag. He went one inning, allowed no hits or runs, and walked one.

“He’s willing to do it, and he saved the ‘pen,” Schaeffer said. “That was big for us and good job by Sullivan.”

Up Next

Join us tomorrow for the rubber match when Jack Leiter will face Kyle Freeland. First pitch is at 1:10.

See you then.

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It’s not often that the Mets score a bunch of runs in games started by Nolan McLean this season, but that’s exactly what they did on Tuesday night against the Washington Nationals after scoring five runs in the first two innings.

However, this time it was McLean who let his offense down after the right-hander allowed nine runs (six earned) in 5.2 innings. The six earned runs given up by McLean are a career-high and four of them came on one swing.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning, James Wood attacked McLean’s first pitch sweeper and sent it deep to left center field, where the Mets couldn’t make a play on it, which resulted in an inside-the-park grand slam.

In fact, all three hits allowed by McLean in that second inning came on the first pitch. All three were on different pitches.

“They were ultra aggressive, especially that first time through,” manager Carlos Mendoza said about the Nationals. “… They were hacking first pitch, they were looking hard. The sinker, the cutter, 1-0 [count] and they were aggressive. Balls found holes, they attacked him.”

With how aggressive Washington’s hitters were, McLean found it difficult to make the necessary adjustments on his pitches because they wouldn’t allow him to get settled or find a rhythm.

“Sometimes it’s tough to make adjustments when they’re putting the first pitch in play on multiple different pitches,” McLean said. “… They were just up there pretty aggressive, so sometimes it’s tough to get to the adjustment as quick as normal.”

To make things more difficult for McLean, he clearly didn’t have his best stuff and had to battle with every pitch. On top of that, his fastball, which usually sits around 96 to 97 mph, was hovering around 94 mph for most of the night, perhaps due to the high heat and humidity.

It’s also possible the 45-minute rain delay at the start of the game threw off the right-hander.

“They made some pretty good swings on some decent pitches,” McLean said. “Obviously, I didn’t have my best stuff, but that’s no excuse for not going out there and competing better than I did.”

In the end, McLean went 5.2 innings before handing it off to Daniel Duarte, who saved the bullpen by finishing the game with 2.1 scoreless innings.

Still, it’s not the outing that McLean expects out of himself.

“Obviously, the bullpen’s been getting after it these last couple of days, but my job every time, whether we have a full bullpen or not, is to go out there and get at least seven, so I’m disappointed I didn’t do that,” he said.

But back to the biggest swing of the night, that inning actually began with McLean retiring the first two batters. A double kept the inning going, but after that McLean got ahead 0-2 to No. 8 hitter Drew Millas before hitting him with a curveball.

That mistake elongated the inning and proved costly as an infield single loaded the bases before Wood jumped the rookie.

“In that second inning there, with two outs, even after the double, the 0-2 hit by pitch was kinda like the killer there,” Mendoza said. “… The 0-2 hit by pitch ended up costing a lot in that inning. Overall, especially in those early innings, like I said, he wasn’t able to go to his secondary, make that adjustment… It was a battle for him.”

Right-hander Kaleb Wing was promoted from rookie ball ACL Cubs to Low-A Myrtle Beach.

Right-hander Luis A. Reyes went from the Pelicans down to Mesa.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs lost their eighth-straight game, 6-3 to the Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals).

If you want some more bad news, Iowa starter Connor Noland had to be carted off the mound in this game after he was hit in the ankle by a line drive comebacker. Noland’s line on the game was one run on four hits over 1.1 innings. Noland struck out two and walked one.

If you want some good news, Ryan Jensen relieved Noland, stranded two runners and went on to pitch 2.1 scoreless innings. Jensen allowed two hits and walked two while striking out four.

The loss went to Yacksel Rios, who pitched two innings of relief and gave up one run on two hits. Rios walked two and struck out two.

Iowa pitchers walked a season-high 13 batters. Memphis got two runs with bases-loaded walks and two on sacrifice flies.

Left fielder Justin Dean hit a solo home run in the eighth inning, his third on the year. Dean was 1 for 3 with a walk.

James Triantos tripled in a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game 2-2. Triantos went 2 for 4.

Pedro Ramirez missed this game because of illness.

A Jensen strikeout.

The Triantos triple.

Dean goes 366 feet to right-center

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies were fried by the Montgomery Biscuits (Rays), 3-1.

Starter Yenrri Rojas took the loss after allowing three runs on six hits over five innings. He struck out four and walked no one.

Jace Beck tossed the next three innings, gave up no runs and struck out seven. He allowed one hit and walked two.

The Smokies had just five hits. First baseman Edgar Alvarez went 1 for 2 with an RBI double in the seventh inning. He also walked once.

Alvarez’s double.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs were taken out with the tide by the West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers), 6-4.

Nazier Mulé made his first start since returning from the Development List and got the loss. Mulé allowed one run on one hit over 1.1 innings. He walked four batters and struck out three.

Center fielder Kane Kepley was most of South Bend’s offense tonight as he hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning. It was Kepley’s second home run this year. Kepley went 1 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Shortstop Ty Southisene continued to hit for average in South Bend. Tonight he went 3 for 5 with a stolen base. Southisene is hitting .373 over 13 games in the Midwest League.

Kepley’s three-run home run.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

‘The Myrtle Beach Pelicans got splashed on by the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (White Sox), 3-1.

Pierce Coppola was terrific for the Birds even if his final line doesn’t completely show it. He no-hit the Cannon Ballers through five innings, although he did give up a run in the fourth inning on a walk, two stolen bases and a sac fly. He came out to pitch the sixth and exited after giving up a one-out walk and a single. Both of those runs scored off of reliever Mason McGwire, although to be honest, it was more an issue with the Pelicans defense than McGwire.

So Coppola ended up getting the loss after being charged with three runs on one hit over 5.1 innings. He walked three and struck out nine.

McGwire pitched 1.2 innings and allowed two hits and no runs of his own. He walked one and struck out one. But the two runs scored because of a high infield chopper that both shortstop Alexis Hernandez and third baseman Derniche Valdez just whiffed on, so it rolled into shallow left field for a double.

The only Pelicans run came on a single in the seventh inning by second baseman Jose Escobar. Escobar was 2 for 3 with a double.

Here’s that double by Kannapolis’ Javier Mogollon that I was talking about [VIDEO]. Low-A ball at its finest.

Some Coppola highlights.

ACL Cubs

Tied 6-6 with the Diamondbacks in the 7th inning.

Will Sanders made a rehab start in this game and got battered for five runs on six hits over 1.2 innings. Sanders struck out two and walked one. That’s not good, but as I always say, the only thing that matters about a rehab appearance is how the player feels afterwards. It’s about health, not results.

With Kris Bubic out with some elbow discomfort, the Kansas City Royals turned to ye olde “bullpen game” against the Boston Red Sox. While the bullpen held for most of the game, the Royals offense stayed sleepy and the Red Sox eventually did their damage, beating the Royals in a 7-1 slog.

Kansas City turned to Bailey Falter, whose ERA entering tonight’s game was an eye-watering 10.13. Falter did nothing to dispel the implication that his ERA suggested, immediately walking leadoff hitter Jarren Duran on four consecutive pitches.

Somewhat miraculously, Falter only gave up two runs in his two innings of work. A Willson Contreras single poked across one run in the first inning, and Falter escaped a bases loaded jam in the second inning while only allowing one run thanks to a Wilyer Abreu double play.

In the clubhouse, a visibly frustrated Falter answered the first question from our press corps simply and directly: “I haven’t been good since being acquired.” He took responsibility for not being good, but it sure doesn’t seem like he has any answers, unfortunately.

On the offensive side, the Royals drew blood quickly. Bobby Witt Jr. hit a bouncing single to opposite field. Salvador Perez—who was briefly possessed by Juan Soto during this game—challenged a strike call! At the plate! And won! And then walked! Lane Thomas then hit a hustle double (a questionable send, TBH, but that will be a theme) to tie the game at the time.

Then, one of the turning points happened. Against a tough lefty, Cags hit a dribbler to the right side. It sure seemed that he beat it out on replay. But New York upheld the call, making it two outs. It really should have been one, but a questionable call shouldn’t sink a whole team.

Oh, we should mention Duran here. Duran walked in the first inning. He also walked in the second inning. He also was flying everywhere on defense. In the second inning, Vinnie Pasquantino struck out looking bad against Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez, a lefty. But Nick Loftin came up to bat and swatted a beautiful line drive.

But then, Duran made a hell of a diving play. Out.

In the third inning, Salvador “Juan Soto” Perez walked, again, his second walk in three innings. Now, he didn’t score, but if Salvy can draw some walks, he can mitigate his declining hit tool a bit. Notably, Salvy was in the third spot in the order. Perez was the DH tonight, and Carter “Salvador Perez” Jensen threw out Isiah Kiner-Falefah on a delightful, perfectly thrown ball to second base.

Duran continued his night in the fifth inning with a booming double. But Lane Thomas scooped up the ball quickly and rifled a throw to Witt, who unleashed a beautiful laser of his own to third base and cut Duran down. It was ruled a double, but you should know.

Amusingly, one of the Boston beat writers to my left confidently said “triple” as the ball sailed to center field. Well, welcome to Kansas City. Witt is in charge here, and the only triples allowed here are his own.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, more baserunning bad happened. Jensen hit a leadoff double, a ground ball just fair down the first base line. A Maikel Garcia line drive moved him to third base, but Garcia was thrown out at second base after the relay went home; he had slowed down at first base and almost belatedly decided he would do it. It looked odd at the moment.

After the game, Garcia—through a translator, which is not his standard practice—answered some questions. “We made too many mistakes running the bases,” he said. He elaborated that he wasn’t running hard out of the box, and that first base coach Damon Hollis sent him when the throw came in high. “Honestly, it was a mistake. Coach said ‘go,’ but he didn’t see me coming out of the box.” To be clear, I think that Garcia blamed himself, and interviews through translators always have a sort of margin for error. But it was interesting nonetheless.

Anyway, nobody scored. A fly ball from Witt was too shallow, and a blistered line drive from Perez wasn’t quite high enough to go over the fence, instead finding its way into, of course, Duran’s glove. Duran made a…questionable route, but a leaping catch looked very snazzy.

In the sixth inning, this seemed like a turning point in the game. After failing to push a run in scoring position across with one out, and with John Schreiber coming into the game, things seemed prime to fall apart.

Now, while it didn’t fall apart immediately, it did fall apart—it just took some time, with a baserunning farse detour along the way. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Thomas led off with a single. Cags struck out, but Starling Marte singled to put men on first and second…until Thomas got picked off at third base, the Royals’ second. A Vinnie line drive then ended the inning.

The pitching took a little bit to topple. I mentioned Schreiber—he actually pitched a clean sixth inning. Nick Mears struck out a pair in his two innings of work, giving up one run in the eighth inning off a Rafaela double and some productive out shenanigans. But it was the ninth inning where things really fell of the rails. Fresh from Triple-A Omaha, the Red Sox greeted reliever Eli Morgan with a flurry of hits. And then Duran, capping off an excellent game, smashed a three-run shot to expand Boston’s lead to 7-1. Red Sox social media called it a “dagger,” but let’s be real—the true dagger came three runs earlier.

In the ninth inning, the Royals were blessed with not needing to face Aroldis Chapman. It didn’t matter; lefty Jovani Moran might as well have been, as he mowed down Caglianone, Marte, and Pasquantino with three strikeouts.

A halfhearted chorus of boos percolated through the crowd. The game ended. The Royals fall to 20-29, but are not yet alone at the bottom of the division because the Detroit Tigers are inexplicably also 20-29. So it goes.

The Texas Rangers scored a girthy ten runs while the Colorado Rockies scored no runs at all.

This one’ll do wonders for the ol’ Pythagorean W-L.

Maybe last night’s loss was the kick in the butt moment the Rangers needed as they came out tonight and immediately scored a couple of runs before turning to a opener to help ease Kumar Rocker into one of his best outings as a big leaguer.

The first inning has been among the biggest trouble areas for Texas this season as they have given up a lion’s share of their runs allowed in the first frame while not scoring much of their own in the game’s first inning. That has put the Rangers in a hole in an exorbitant number of contests, which has only hindered a lineup that has clearly been pressing.

Tonight however, it felt like an upset that Texas scored only two runs in the first inning as Ezequiel Duran doubled in a pair before the Rangers left ‘em loaded.

Meanwhile, in the bottom of the first, on Rocker’s usual day, manager Skip Schumaker decided to go with reliever Tyler Alexander for an inning with Rocker being among the biggest first inning-issues offender this season.

The plan worked swimmingly as not only did Alexander enter with a lead and pitch a scoreless frame, by the time Rocker took the mound to start the second inning, the Rangers had scored three more runs to give Rocker a 5-0 lead to work with.

Big lead Rocker was a hit to put it mildly. The righty ended up going all but the final out with 7.2 shutout innings while allowing just three hits and three of walks with seven strikeouts.

Meanwhile, the Rockies also went for an opener and it, uh, didn’t work out as well for them. Left-handed opener Sammy Peralta didn’t even make it out of his opening inning and once he left, Schumaker inserted left-handed hitting Joc Pederson in for leadoff man Andrew McCutchen and Pederson ended up with four hits in five at-bats.

Texas scored runs in six of the nine innings and every member of the lineup contributed at least a hit, walk, or run scored.

The Rangers reached double digits in runs scored for the first time this season as the season-high ten runs allowed them to tie up this series ahead of tomorrow’s finale.

Player of the Game: The lineup had a lot to like tonight. Aside from Pederson, Brandon Nimmo had three hits including the game’s lone home run. Duran had three hits and drove in a team-high four runs. Justin Foscue doubled in a run and walked. Jake Burger had a couple of hits, walked, and drove in a run.

But then again, it’s hard to ignore what Rocker accomplished. 7.2 innings of shutout relief on 103 bullpen-saving pitches. It goes down as a win but it was the ultimate save!

Up Next: The Rangers close out this series against the Rockies with a day game finale with RHP Jack Leiter expected to pitch for Texas opposite LHP Kyle Freeland for Colorado.

The Wednesday afternoon first pitch from Coors Field is scheduled for 2:10 pm CDT and will be viewable via the Rangers Sports Network.

Jays 4 Yankees 5

I don’t know…..

Dylan Cease was pitching great and the Jays got three runs in the fourth. All seemed good in the world.

In that fourth:

• Daulton Varsho singled.
• Kazuma Okamoto walked.
• Yohendrick Piñango singled, and we had our first run.
• Jesús Sánchez singled in the second run, nice line drive hit, but his follow through caught catcher Austin Wells in the head and there was a delay while they looked at him.
• Andrés Giménez singled, scoring our third run. Unfortunately it ended there, Tyler Heineman popped out and George Springer ground out.

The long break seemed to affect Cease, he wasn’t great in the bottom of the fourth, giving up a couple of walks and a Ryan McMahon home run.

Cease gave up two more in the fifth, on a Ben Rice homer. 5 innings, 5 earned isn’t what we were hoping to see.

The bullpen did the job. Adam Macko (two outs), Chase Lee (one out, two walks), Mason Fluharty (one inning), Louis Varland (1 inning).

But we didn’t score again. We had chances:

• In the seventh, Vlad was hit by pitch and Varsho singled but Okamoto ground out.
• In the ninth, Giménez walked and Ernie Clement singled (have to admire that he came into the game since he was suffering from strep throat). But Springer lined one right at pitcher Camilo Doval, who managed to snag it. 90 mph and almost straight at his head (Baseball Savant has it at a .470 expected BA). Then Vlad lined one fairly deep to right-center (339 feet, I thought it was deeper when I first watched), but Trent Grisham made the catch (Baseball Savant says a .320 expected BA) that scored a run. Varsho beat out an infield single, putting runners on the corners. But Okamoto ground out and that was the game.

We had nine hits, and 3 walks, but again, no extra base hits, which seems to be the usual thing for out Jays.

Daulton went 4 for 5. No one else had more than one hit.

We had three guys in the lineup with batting average in the .100s, with Schneider’s .136 being the low mark. I don’t know how much more run way he has. You can tell he’s been bad, John had him bunt (and he did a good job of it). Heineman isn’t much better at .143.

Of note, the Yankees lost a challenge on a caught stealing call that the replay we saw made it look like he was easily safe. Aaron Boone was understandably upset.

And I always get irritated when announcers talk about how hard it will be for a pitcher when he sits a long and generally, when they come back for the next inning they are fine, but tonight was the time it came to pass that Clease (at least seemed) to be affected by the long inning.

Jays of the Day: Varsho (0.21 WPA), Clement (0.15) and Giménez (0.09).

Other Award: Cease (-0.36), Vlad (-0.18), Springer (-0.10), and Heineman (-0.10).

Tomorrow Trey Yesavage (1-1, 1.40) goes against Cam Schlittler (6-1, 1.35). The bullpen could use a big of a rest but Trey isn’t pitching deep into games.

Matthew Liberatore had another strong start, but another not strong ending as he pitched 4 solid innings, but he would not finish the 5th inning as the game got away from him. Fortunately, the Cardinals offense lead by JJ Wetherholt, Nolan Gorman, Alec Burleson and eventually Ivan Herrera picked him up beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-6, but it would take extra innings heroism to get it done.

The Cardinals would score first as Pedro Pagés walked and then JJ Wetherholt put a charge into a 2-1 pitch from Mitch Keller and deposit it in the left-center field greenery giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead.

The Cardinals would add a run to that lead in the bottom of the 4th inning as Alec Burleson singled followed by another single by Jordan Walker. Alec advanced to third on Jordan’s single. Nolan Gorman then hit into a double play, but Burleson scored giving St. Louis a 3-0 lead that wouldn’t last long.

The first few innings of Matthew Liberatore’s performance was impressive and that included a career-high 9 strikeouts. It was the 5th inning that would be his nemesis again. Lowe and Triolo singled to start the top of the 5th. Liberatore would get Davis to fly out to center for the 1st out, but then walked Gonzalez to load the bases. Matthew then unleashed a wild pitch that bounced off the backstop allowing Lowe to score from third base for the first Pirates run making it 3-1 Cardinals. Liberatore struck out Konnor Griffin, but then Bryan Reynolds doubled to left driving in both runners and tying the game 3-3. O’Neill Cruz would untie it with a single to score Reynolds and give the Pirates their first lead at 4-3. Gordon Graceffo was brought in by manager Oli Marmol and he was able to get Garcia out on a pop-out to first to end the inning. Matthew Liberatore’s final stat line for the night was 4 2/3 innings allowing 7 hits and 4 earned runs with 2 walks and that impressive strikeout total of 9.

The comeback Cardinals would so so again in the bottom of the 6th inning when Alec Burleson was hit by a pitch. After Jordan Walker popped out, the Pittsburgh Pirates made the fateful decision to remove Mitch Keller to go lefty-on-lefty bringing in Evan Fisk. Nolan Gorman made them pay by jacking a 437 foot homer into the right-center field seats giving the Cardinals the lead back at 5-4.

Gordon Graceffo pitched the Cardinals through the 6th inning keeping the game close and Ryne Stanek got 2 outs in the 7th inning while JoJo Romero closed out the Pirates for the final out in the top of the 7th inning and also pitched into the 8th inning for St. Louis.

The Cardinals squandered a chance to add an insurance run (or runs) to their lead in the bottom of the 7th inning when Thomas Saggese walked followed by a single from Pedro Pagés. Victor Scott II executed a picture-perfect sacrifice bunt to move Saggese to third and Pagés to second which brought up JJ Wetherholt. Unfortunately, Thomas Saggese would get caught leading off of third base and then falling down before being tagged out in a rundown. Wetherholt would then walk, but Ivan Herrera struck out to end the Cardinals 7th. Opportunity missed for St. Louis.

Kudos to Alec Burleson on two great achievements in the top of the 8th inning in what could be argued were game-savers. With one out and Garcia on first, Triolo hit a weak grounder to Alec Burleson who was well off of first base. JoJo Romero did not get a proper jump off of the mound to cover first, but Alec laid himself out and managed to get the tag on Triolo for the second out of the inning. Rodriguez would fly out to deep right-center to end the Pirates 8th inning. Then, in the bottom of the 8th inning, Alec would lead off the inning by tomahawking a ball into the right field bullpen giving St. Louis the insurance run they so badly needed making it 6-4 Cardinals. They would end up needing that additional run.

A rested Riley O’Brien was brought in to close out Pittsburgh in the top of the 9th inning. He would face the top of the Pirates order and it was not without some drama. Gonzalez would lead off the inning with a bloop single. Konnor Griffin was hit by a pitch which stood even though the Cardinals challenged the call and it appeared to hit the knob of the bat instead. Guess New York didn’t consider the video replay as clear and convincing enough to overturn it. That brought up the dangerous Bryan Reynolds as the potential go-ahead run at the plate. Riley O’Brien would bounce a ball in the dirt that hit Reynolds after getting him 2 strikes down loading the bases. Marcell Ozuna was the next man up and he kindly hit into a double play, but a run scored cutting the Cardinals lead to 6-5. O’Neill Cruz at the plate with the tying run in the form of Konnor Griffin on third base was next. O’Brien would again get ahead with 2 strikes before throwing 4 straight balls to put Cruz on as a potential go-ahead run. Spencer Horwitz pinch-hit for Garcia and promptly slapped a single to left field on the first pitch he saw to tie the game at 6-6.

The Cardinals bottom of the 9th meant they’d have to walk off the Pirates with the bottom of their order. Thomas Saggese struck out to start the St. Louis 9th. Pedro Pagés also whiffed for the second out. Victor Scott II lost his 3rd strike appeal to join the strikeout club ending the Cardinals 9th.

The first Cardinals hero in extra innings was George Soriano who did not allow Pittsburgh’s designated runner to score. He struck out Mangum and got Rodriguez to fly out to right field. The other Cardinals hero in the top of the 10th was Nolan Gorman who made a great play on a ground ball to his left and an equally great play by Alec Burleson to pick his throw out of the dirt for the final Pittsburgh out in the top of the 10th.

The heroes in the bottom of the 10th inning included JJ Wetherholt who singled to move designated runner Victor Scott II to third. Then, it was Ivan Herrera who would provide more than just a sacrifice fly crushing a walk-off 3-run home run into the Pirates bullpen giving St. Louis a huge 9-6 victory.

It’s game 2 of the St. Louis Cardinals barrage of games against NL Central rivals Wednesday as Michael McGreevy will try to dominate the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bucs will counter with Carmen Mlodzinski on the mound for Pittsburgh. First pitch scheduled for 6:45pm at Busch Stadium and game viewable on Cardinals.tv.

Box Score

Jacob Misiorowski hasn’t allowed a run since April 25.

The Miz extended his scoreless streak to four straight starts and 24 1/3 innings this evening, and this time the Brewers were able to hold the slim lead that he left the game with. A good thing, too, as the Brewers had plenty of chances to turn this one into a laugher early. While they let some of those chances go by the wayside, some scrappy early runs against starter Ben Brown (who has been excellent this year) and a big hit from Brice Turang late gave the Brewers the cushion they needed to survive a late rally by the Cubs.

The Brewers again got out to an early lead tonight. After Jackson Chourio struck out, Turang and William Contreras walked and singled to put runners on first and second. Brown struck out Yelich for out number two, but Garrett Mitchell came through with a big two-out hit on his bugaboo, the high fastball. Mitchell turned one around for an RBI single up the middle, and the Brewers led 1-0.

Misiorowski got off to a somewhat shaky start when Nico Hoerner walked, and Michael Busch reached on a David Hamilton error. But Alex Bregman flew out to center, Ian Happ struck out looking, and Seiya Suzuki went down swinging on a 95-mph slider.

The second inning passed without much fanfare, but the Brewers were back at it in the third. Chourio and Turang led off the inning with back-to-back singles, and after a Contreras fielder’s choice, the Brewers had runners on first and third with one out. After another Yelich strikeout, Brown had a path out of the inning, but a wild pitch with Mitchell at the plate scored Chourio from third (it was Brown’s league-leading sixth wild pitch of the season). After a Mitchell walk and a mound visit, Jake Bauers jumped on a hanging first-pitch curveball and smacked it into right for another RBI single, extending Milwaukee’s lead to 3-0.

Misiorowski put up his second straight 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the third, and the Brewers again got off to a threatening start in the top of the fourth. Sal Frelick reached second base when Pete Crow-Armstrong inexplicably dropped a fly ball, and a patented David Hamilton bunt single put runners on the corners, which turned into runners on second and third when Hamilton stole second with Chourio at the plate. Brown battled back, though: Chourio and Turang both struck out, and Contreras hit a hard ground ball to third that turned into an out. The Cubs were teetering, but remained in the game.

Suzuki managed a two-out single — Chicago’s first of the game — in the bottom of the fourth, but that was all the Cubs got off of Miz, who struck out two more batters and added another inning to his scoreless streak. Yelich hit a double on a fly ball down the left-field line to start the fifth, but Brown wriggled off the hook again when Mitchell grounded out, Bauers struck out with Yelich standing on third, and Rengifo grounded out.

Dansby Swanson led off the bottom of the inning with a single, but PCA struck out, and Miguel Amaya grounded into a double play, with Bauers making a nice stretch on the back end. Milwaukee threatened again in the sixth, this time against reliever Jacob Webb, when Frelick singled to start things, but Hamilton failed to get a bunt down(!), and Chourio flied out. Turang singled with two outs, and Contreras put a charge into one, but it held up in center for Crow-Armstrong, and he made the catch for the third out.

Hoerner started the sixth with a swinging bunt for a single, but Misiorowski got the next three without much trouble. That capped another stellar outing for Misiorowski: he extended his scoreless inning streak to 24 innings, allowed just three hits (all singles) and one walk, and struck out eight (restoring sole possession of the league lead in strikeouts). His ERA is down to 1.89.

Caleb Thielbar was the Cubs’ new pitcher in the seventh, and he got through the inning with no damage beyond a two-out single from Bauers. Trevor Megill was the first man out of Milwaukee’s bullpen tonight, and he struck out Suzuki, got Moisés Ballesteros on a fly ball, and struck out Swanson after a bit of a battle.

The Brewers got a couple of important insurance runs in the top of the eighth. With one out, Hamilton walked. Chourio flew out for the second out, and Hamilton was safe stealing second, a call that stood after the Cubs challenged it. The stolen base didn’t matter, but the extra out did, as Turang got a fastball that got too much of the plate and blasted his seventh homer on a high fly ball to left-center, putting the Crew up 5-0.

Aaron Ashby replaced Megill in the bottom of the eighth, and things got hairy. PCA singled to start things, and Amaya followed with a ground-rule double into the ivy. A Hoerner single scored Crow-Armstrong and put runners on the corners. Busch was called out on strikes for the first out, and a wild pitch advanced Hoerner to second (though Amaya had to hold at third). Bregman struck out for the second out, but Happ walked, and Rengifo was unable to handle a hard grounder from Suzuki. Rengifo was at least able to keep it in the infield, and thus the Cubs only scored a run — Suzuki was credited with an infield single.

That was all for Ashby, though, as the go-ahead run came to the plate. Pat Murphy called for Chad Patrick from the Milwaukee bullpen, and Craig Counsell countered by pinch-hitting Michael Conforto for the initially announced pinch-hitter Matt Shaw (who was supposed to bat for Ballesteros). But Patrick did what he needed to do, and Conforto grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning. It wasn’t a fun inning for Brewers fans, but they came out of it hanging onto a three-run lead.

Phil Maton shut the Brewers down in the ninth. Abner Uribe came in for Patrick, and he nearly walked the leadoff (and nine-hole) hitter, Swanson, but he struck him out looking on a very close pitch that was upheld on review. After that, it was much easier: Crow-Armstrong grounded out, as did pinch-hitter Carson Kelly. The Brewers won 5-2.

In Misiorowski’s last start, the Brewers’ bullpen was unable to preserve his gem of an outing. Tonight, he did it again, and while Milwaukee flirted with disaster, they held on for a satisfying win. Miz was the big star, but Megill and Uribe both looked good, and Patrick came up with a clutch out. On the offensive side, Turang was the standout: he went 3-for-4 with two singles, a homer, a walk, two runs scored, and two RBIs. Every other Brewer starter contributed a hit (Bauers had two) except for Rengifo, while Yelich had the team’s only other extra-base hit with his double.

Milwaukee now leads the division, and they’ll try to preserve that lead by sweeping Chicago, a team that had won 15 straight home games coming into this series, tomorrow. It’s a good pitching matchup, with Kyle Harrison on the mound for the Brewers and Edward Cabrera for the Cubs. It’s a rare third straight night game on the north side, so catch that game at 6:40 p.m.

We’re all relaxing here at BCB After Dark: the heppest joint for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and join us. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. There are still a few tables available. The show will start shortly. 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.

Last night I asked you if you thought that Ben Brown could stay in the starting rotation all or most of the rest of the year. You all were very optimistic about that as 82 percent of you think the Cubs have another starter in Brown.

On Tuesday night, I don’t normally write about films. But I always have time for jazz and that time is now. You can skip ahead if you want.

We are continuing our celebration of Miles Davis in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of his birth on May 26. Every legend gets their start somewhere. For Miles, he left East St. Louis to go to the Juilliard School of Music in New York in 1944. There, Miles said the only class that taught him anything was music composition and the rest was a waste of time. His real education, according to Miles, came playing trumpet for Charlie Parker.

He soon dropped out of Juilliard to play with Parker full time. So here is the Charlie Parker Quintet in 1948 at a club in New York as broadcast on WMCA radio. Bird is on sax, of course, and Miles on trumpet. Al Haig on piano, Tommy Potter on bass and Max Roach on drums round out the quintet.

This is some pure bebop, music that Miles would soon leave behind.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.

I don’t have to tell you that the Cubs are in the market for starting pitching. I’m sure the front office is calling around right now, but teams are generally loath to start selling in May for a few reasons. One, most teams still harbor playoff hopes at the moment. Two, selling teams know that as they get closer to the deadline, there will be more bidders and more desperate bidders, which means they can probably get more for them later on. Yes, there’s always the chance that a player gets hurt (See Clay Holmes), but most teams are willing to take that risk.

Still, what if I told you that there is a starting pitcher who is having a great year and is on a one-year deal playing for a team with less than a 30 percent chance of making the postseason according to Fangraphs? What if I told you that the Cubs had said pitcher last year and let him walk over the winter? Would you want to get him back?

By this time, you know who I’m talking about. You likely knew when you saw the picture at the top of the article. The Cubs were desperate for starting pitching at the Trade Deadline last year and after striking out on several big names (none of whom ended up getting dealt), the Cubs acquired right-hander Michael Soroka from the Nationals. Then, as you no doubt remember, Soroka got hurt in his first start with the Cubs and missed the next six weeks. He rushed back to return before the end of the season, but that meant he didn’t have time to build up the arm strength to start. So what the Cubs ended up was two weeks of a middle reliever for two good prospects.

That’s always been the knock on Soroka: he can’t stay healthy. After being an All-Star in 2019, Soroka missed most of 2020, all of 2021 and 2022 and most of 2023 with multiple surgeries on his torn Achilles tendon that he kept on re-injuring. Once that finally healed, he missed much of 2023 with forearm inflammation. With the Cubs, he missed six weeks of 2025 with shoulder issues.

But this year, Soroka is healthy and having his best season since he was an All-Star in 2019. Soroka is 6-2 with a 3.49 ERA in nine starts for the Diamondbacks. His strikeout percentage is at a career high of 10.1 and his walk percentage is the lowest it’s been since 2019 at 2.57 percent. Except for one really bad start against the Brewers where he gave up eight runs in three innings, Soroka has gone five or more innings in all of his other eight starts. He’s allowed two of fewer runs in seven of those eight, or seven of nine starts overall. Basically, he’s been everything the Cubs had hoped he would be last year.

So would you be willing to roll the dice on Soroka again? To be clear, the Diamondbacks aren’t trading him right now. For one, their record at the moment is at .500 and they still have a 29 percent chance of making the playoffs per Fangraphs. But as May turns to June and July, Arizona could fall out of the playoff hunt and be looking to sell. Since Soroka is only on a one-year deal, the D-Backs would almost certainly be willing to trade him if they fall out of the Wild Card hunt. Since he’d only be a rental, I would imagine that the price for him in prospects would be similar to what the Cubs gave the Nats last year—two prospects in the lower half of the Cubs top 30.

Of course, the risk would be that the Cubs would trade for him and he’d injure himself again. Soroka has never demonstrated that he’s able to stay healthy for a long period of time. So were the Cubs to deal for him, they’d likely let him walk again at the end of the year. But the Cubs would just need to keep him healthy through October.

Soroka is also only 28 years old. I don’t know if that really makes a difference on a short-term rental, but maybe his body has matured now to the point where the constant injuries are a thing of the past. Many pitchers who do suffer injuries in their youth are able to stay healthy once they get older. Of course, some are just injury-prone and end up retiring early. There’s no way to know which one Soroka is.

So would you be willing to roll the dice on Michael Soroka again?

Thanks for stopping by. We always like to spend time with friends, new or old. Please get home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow evening for more BCB After Dark.

This game got off to an inauspicious start with a leadoff home run by Taylor Ward, but this was otherwise yet another persistent team effort to lead to the club’s 32nd win of the season as well as their eighth consecutive series win. Ward’s homer was no cheapy as it was a no-doubter that would have been out of any park in baseball, but that would be the only offense Baltimore was able to put together on the evening thanks to stellar pitching by Griffin Jax early and the bullpen behind him.

Kyle Bradish was coming off easily his best start of the season where he one-hit the Yankees on May 13th, and came out of the gates hot striking out both Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero to start the game on just ten pitches. Jonathan Aranda put the brakes on that expedited inning with a tremendous 10-pitch at bat coming back from an early 1-2 count to draw a walk. Yandy Diaz, who came into this contest with a healthy .421/.476/.569 triple-slash against Bradish in 21 career plate appearances, drove in Aranda with a double to tie the game in the bottom of the first and helping push Bradish over 30 pitches in the first inning. We’ll come back to that history in a bit.

Bradish settled won nicely through the rest of the first time through the lineup allowing just a walk to Palacios and a seeing eye single to Cedric Mullins. The next trip through the lineup saw Junior Caminero nearly hit one out to center while settling for a double, but nobody else was able to do anything against Bradish. The efficiency by which Bradish worked through innings two through five gave manager Craig Albernaz the confidence to allow Bradish to face Diaz a third time. He chose poorly:

It was confusing to see Albernaz laugh in the face of both the times through the order penalty as well as the hot history Diaz has had against Bradish, but the move backfired in spectular fashion as Diaz hit the second-longest home run in Tropicana Field this season at 439 feet. Bradish struck out Richie Palacios before giving way to the Baltimore A bullpen to keep them in the game. Compare that moment to Kevin Cash pulling Griffin Jax after five innings and not allowing him to face Taylor Ward a third time. Cash instead went to old reliable Kevin Kelly who came in and retired the side with the minimum batters faced thanks to a pretty double-play started by Richie Palacios.

The Baltimore pen held the Rays at bay through the 7th inning, including this perfectly executed quasi-pitchout between Yennier Cano and Sameul Basallo with the best peg to second base this side of Cal Raleigh throwing out Cody Bellinger earlier this season:

Simpson has now been caught stealing in 6 of his 20 attempts, but this is at least the second time it has taken perfect execution in all aspects to get him. Cash is not going to put any brakes on Simpson running, as he showed just last year when Jose Caballero ran with less efficiency on his way to the AL stolen base crown.

The Rays cashed in on some insurance runs in the 8th, and it may have come at a cost. Diaz was hit on the hand by an errant Cano fastball with two outs and had to leave the game. Hopefully the x-ryas on his hand come back clean because this lineup absolutely cannot lose his bat on a long-term basis. Carson Williams came in to pinch run for Diaz and fortunately scored on a Palacios as Williams lost track of the outs and stopped on the bases before barely making it home safely with the third run of the game:

Last year, that batted ball is probably caught or the throw home to Basallo is on the money and Williams is dead to rights at home, but this is a magical season so far and both events broke the Rays’ way to bring home the third run and put Palacios in scoring position. Johnny DeLuca followed that up with a second consecutive hit off Rico Garcia, equaling the number of hits Garcia had surrendered in the 20 innings of work he has had this season coming into this contest. Bryan Baker came in and went 1-2-3 against his former teammates for his 12th save.

The big story was the continued transition of Jax into the starting role. He worked five complete innings and did so using just 62 pitches while regaining some of his seemingly lost whiffiness. Jax generated a season-high 11 swings and misses on the evening, 7 coming off his changeup. Jax had generated 22 swings and misses over his past four contests in his transition from the bullpen, so this was notable. He threw that changeup 16 times generating 14 swings along with the 7 whiffs. This changeup usage appears to be very matchup driven with six lefties in the starting lineup for Baltimore and he used the pitch exclusively against lefties in the contest. This was arguably the best Jax has looked since the Rays acquired him last season:

The Rays go for the sweep in the day game finale tomorrow and hopefully the news on Diaz’s finger is not bad. The Rays will be facing former teammate Shane Baz while someone will open the game for Jesse Scholtens to do some bulk work.

Yesterday was such a nailbiter that even though tonight’s game was just about as close, the cadence of the evening felt very different — until it didn’t. Both teams reserved almost all their scoring for the middle innings, with an emphasis on a very stressful “almost.” The most charitable reading of the ninth inning would be “edge of your seat”, but it ended up thankfully breaking the Yankee way, and they won their second straight in this series, 5-4 your final.

Both teams had to be annoyed with missed opportunities in the first. The Jays ended up with men on the corners and just one out before Will Warren was able to get some weak contact and get out of danger. For their own troubles, the Yankees had multiple men reach in the bottom half, but Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s strikeout on what should have been ball four had us scoreless after one.

Despite both working out of jams, or perhaps fittingly so, neither pitcher looked great, and both were perfectly happy to take their time on the mound. This was a slowwwww first five innings to get through, with both Warren and Dylan Cease happy to let the pitch clock tick all the way down multiple times an at-bat. Both ended up going five, with Warren having a couple quick innings in the second and third before running into more problems in the fourth, and Cease cruising until he ran into the hulking Ryan McMahon.

For Warren, it felt like the Jays had a really good gameplan for him, rather than there being something obviously deficient in his performance. His two fastballs, the four-seam and sinker, were both down about a half-mile per hour from his baseline, but to me I wonder how much of that was a focus on getting the ball in the zone more, as a check on his oft-discussed habits of nibbling.

Unfortunately, the Blue Jays still do make a lot of contact, and that’s how they got their runs in that fourth inning. Five of the first six players to come to the plate in that frame reached base, one via walk and the rest all hitting singles. It wasn’t a bludgeoning the way that Cease would experience in a few moments, more the old “death by a thousand cuts” kind of inning. Either way, it was 3-0 Blue Jays.

I had said in the gamethread that Dylan Cease is very good but perhaps playing a bit over his skis. With only one home run allowed so far this year, the righthander was due for some regression. While he did strike out six Yankees in the first three innings, yea did the Regression Monster arrive quickly:

A pair of walks, one ABS-enabled after Aaron Judge finally asked for a review, set up McMahon’s big fly to left field and just like that we were back to square one. With the game tied up, Will Warren needed to have himself a shutdown inning, and he did just that: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. popped up, Daulton Varsho grounded out, and Kazuma Okamoto was called out on strikes as the last man Warren faced.

The Yankees — specifically Ben Rice — would thank their starter for getting the bats back up quickly, and the Regression Monster roared again:

The Yankees certainly weren’t going to string a bunch of singles together against the kind of stuff Cease was slinging tonight, best to jump on a pair of fastballs in the zone and score that way. The Toronto righty entered play with a 1.80 FIP, and left with a 2.32. That’s what reverting to a baseline looks like all at once.

Perhaps the most refreshing bit of the game came after Warren left. The much-maligned and unfortunately quite well-worked Yankee bullpen combined to throw three shutout innings, getting the Yankees to the ninth with the lead. With neither David Bednar nor Fernando Cruz available, Camilo Doval was called upon to get the save, and here our troubles began.

Doval walked the first batter he faced, and gave up a hit to pinch-hitter Ernie Clement — who was playing with an active strep throat infection, a possible bioweapon — to set the table. Baby Vlad drove Andrés Giménez in with a sac fly, and with two outs, Doval couldn’t get to first in time to beat out Varsho, who stole second base some pitches later. With tensions high, Camilo got a medium groundball from Okamoto, Anthony Volpe made a nice easy throw from short, and the Yankees once again held on.

It was a bad weekend in Queens, and nobody is going to deny that. This week has started as well as it could, though, and while you can never count on sweeping a four-game series, the Yankees have put themselves in a great position to take three in this set. Cam Schlittler, who right now is the best pitcher in the American League, will get the ball and the start tomorrow night, with a 7:05pm Eastern first pitch.

Box Score

The Mets were coming into the second game of the Nationals series on fire. Between a five game winning streak, back-to-back extra inning wins, and a ten run twelfth inning the night before, they were riding high. And their de facto ace and rookie sensation Nolan McLean was getting the start, which was a good omen to begin the game. They were facing former first rounder Foster Griffin, who parlayed three seasons of success in NPB to a contract with the Nationals this offseason.

The Mets got off to a hot start. After Carson Benge led off with a single, Bo Bichette hit his fourth home run of the season, putting the Mets ahead early. Juan Soto and Mark Vientos hit a single and double respectively to put two runners into scoring position with still no outs. Marcus Semien hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the Mets third and final run of the inning. 

After a scoreless bottom of the first and two outs to start the top of the second, the Mets decided to rerun the first inning. Carson Benge got a two-out single and Bo Bichette hit his second home run of the game and fifth of the season. The Mets didn’t score again that inning, but they had a five run lead to start the game.

In the bottom of the inning, the Mets began unraveling with impressive force. After two outs to start the inning, a double, hit-by-pitch, and single loaded the bases. Then James Wood hit a long fly ball to the wall in left-center field which was nearly caught by Nick Morabito.

Nearly.

Instead, the ball bounced off Morabito’s glove and away from him. Taylor couldn’t find it at first, and Wood turned the fly ball into an inside-the-park grand slam, the first grand slam of his career. Suddenly the Mets turned a comfortable five run lead into a narrow, insecure one run lead. The Mets got out of it after that.

That lead vanished immediately at the start of the bottom of the third. José turned the first pitch of the at-bat into a sole home run, tying the game. CJ Abrams walked and Daylen Lile singled to put runners on the corners with no outs, then a passed ball by Luis Torrens allowed Abrams to score as the go-ahead run. After a ground out moved Lile to third, Jorbit Vivas hit a sacrifice fly to drive him in to give the Nationals a two-run lead.

After another scoreless top of the inning for the Mets, they unraveled even further in the bottom of the fourth. James Wood reached on a single to lead off the inning, then a one-out grounder from Tena turned from a potential inning ending double play to pure chaos. Marcus Semien dropped the ball after he fielded it, and he threw it away attempting to get it to Bichette at second. Wood reached third and Tena reached second with one out. Abrams hit a ground ball to Bichette, who threw to home to try and get Wood. But Torrens couldn’t catch it, and both runners scored. While that was the last run scored in the inning, it wasn’t the last misplay, with Abrams almost getting caught in a rundown before McLean cut off a ball meant for Baty that allowed ABrams to return safely, though the inning ended not long after.

Nolan McLean didn’t allow any more runs in his appearance, but after hitting Abrams with a pitch in the bottom of the sixth, he was pulled. In his 5.2 innings, he gave up eight hits and nine runs (though only six of them earned). He struck out five while walking two, ballooning his ERA to 3.57.

The Mets got a little jolt in the top of the seventh, with Juan Soto hitting a two-out solo home run to bring the Mets within three runs of the Nationals. Daniel Duarte held the line for 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out one batter. But the damage was done, and the Mets only being able to muster four hits after the second inning didn’t help matters after their comedy of errors in the middle of the game. The Mets have had a good month, and this currently looks like just a small blip on the radar of course correction after their disastrous start to 2026. Tomorrow yet another Met prospect will make his debut in Zach Thornton. He’ll be facing off against his given name brethren Zack Littell, who had a disastrous start against the Mets a little under a month ago at Citi Field.

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Box scores

MLB.com
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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Bo Bichette, +21% WPA
Big Mets loser: Nolan McLean, -61% WPA
Mets pitchers: -59% WPA
Mets hitters: +9% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Bo Bichette’s two-run home run in the first inning, +15.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: James Wood’s inside-the-park grand slam, -25.6% WPA

The Yankees scored five unanswered runs thanks to longballs from Ryan McMahon and Ben Rice to defeat the Blue Jays, 5-4, on Tuesday night in the Bronx. 

New York (30-19) has now won two games in a row and 2-0 on this current home trip.

Here are the takeaways...

-Will Warren got off to a tough start, allowing two hits in the first frame to put runners on the corners with one out. But he wriggled his way out of trouble and settled in, retiring eight straight Blue Jays. 

That changed in the fourth after Dalton Varsho led off with a single and Kazuma Okamoto worked a four-pitch walk. Yohendrick Pinango followed with a single to score the game's first run. Jesus Sanchez hit an opposite-field single, and Andres Gimenez followed with a one-out single to put Toronto up 3-0. 

Warren would get through the fifth, and that was it for the right-hander. Warren allowed three runs on six hits, one walk across five innings (86 pitches/54 strikes) while striking out three batters. His ERA rose to 3.61 on the season. 

-Dylan Cease had a similar outing. After allowing two baserunners in the first, Cease continued to mow down the Yankees. He had six strikeouts across the first three frames. Again, like Warren, Cease pitched into trouble in the fourth. He walked two batters before McMahon took Cease the other way to tie the game at 3-3. 

Rice would get in on the fun with a two-run shot in the fifth to give the Yankees their first lead of the game. The pitch came on a 98 mph fastball up and in on Rice, but the young first baseman put on a great swing. It's the most runs Cease has allowed since July of 2025. 

-The much-maligned Yankees bullpen was put to the test as they tried to get the final 12 outs of this one. Aaron Boone used three relievers to get to the ninth inning with the lead for Camilo Doval. 

Doval allowed a walk and a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. George Springer hit a liner right at Doval, but the right-hander had to settle for the out at first after not being able to catch the ball on a line. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. flew out as the Blue Jays cut the Yankees lead to 5-4, but after an infield single by Varsho, Doval got Okamoto to ground out to end the game. 

• Tim Hill: 1.0 IP, 1 BB, 1 K
• Jake Bird: 0.2 IP, HBP, 1 K
• Brent Headrick: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 K
• Camilo Doval: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB

-Anthony Volpe went 1-for-4 and has reached base in five consecutive games. Austin Wells returned to the lineup after not starting in two straight games and finished 0-for-2 with a walk and two strikeouts. He's now 2-for-23 (0.87) over his last seven games. 

Game MVP: Ben Rice

Rice's two-run shot gave the Yankees a lead they wouldn't give back. His 16 homers are now tied with Aaron Judge for the team lead.

Highlights

RYAN MCMAHON GAME-TYING 3-RUN HOMER TO LEFT! pic.twitter.com/ARytFw6kFj

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 20, 2026

Ben Rice for the lead!

He ties Aaron Judge with his 16th homer of the season! pic.twitter.com/uRuI0bNPGo

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 20, 2026

What's next

The Yankees and Blue Jays continue their four-game set on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

Cam Schlittler (6-1, 1.35 ERA) looks to continue his hot start against rookie Trey Yesavage (1-1, 1.40 ERA).