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It was Eric Lauer’s first game in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform — he’d only signed with them 17 days earlier — but he pitched like he’d been a part of the organization for years as the Dodgers made quick work of the Colorado Rockies in a 15-6 rout with a bizarre ninth inning.

Kyle Freeland has another a rough outing

It wasn’t the night Freeland had hoped for.

On one hand, he met a personal benchmark. He began the game 1.1 innings shy of reaching 1300 innings, which would make him the second pitcher in Rockies history (Aaron Cook is the other) to throw at least 1300 innings for the club. This goal, he achieved despite the loss. He is 13.2 innings short of Cook’s 1312.1 IP, the most in franchise history — a record he will surely break before the season ends.

On the other, Freeland struggled to keep the ball in the park and the Dodgers in the dugout.

He gave up a two-run home run to Mookie Betts (5) in the first.

In the third inning, he surrendered two more homers, one to Kiké Hernández (1) and another to Andy Pages (12). By the end of the third inning, the Dodgers had a 4-1 lead.

Things got worse in the fourth when Freeland allowed two hits before hitting Shohei Ohtani with a pitch and loading the bases. A wild pitch scored Miguel Rojas while a Pages double scored two more. Freeland managed to finish the fourth on 81 pitches, but the score was 8-1, and the Dodgers never looked back.

He finished the evening with a final line of 4.0 IP. Freeland allowed eight runs (all earned) on nine hits, three of them home runs. He did not issue any walks and struck out four.

His ERA is 8.08. He also managed to throw a “pitchergami.”

“Their right-handed hitters came ready to hit tonight,” said manager Warren Schaeffer.

“Tough for me to find location,” Freeland said, noting that the Dodgers had taken advantages of any mistakes he made.

The bullpen (mostly) fares no better

The Rockies utility pitcher Zach Agnos entered the game in the fifth inning, but he fared no better than Freeland had. By the end of the fifth inning, the score was 10-1 Dodgers and Ohtani had left the game to prepare for his Wednesday start.

Things did not improve in the sixth when Agnos gave up a three-run homer to Betts (6), and the score was 13-1 with no outs.

Smith followed with a two-run homer of his own (5), making the score 16-1, a season high for the Dodgers.

Agnos lasted only two innings. He allowed six runs and seven hits (all earned) with one run and one struck out on 42 pitches.

On a more positive note, Reliever Welinton Herrera scored his first career strikeout against Dalton Rushing, who promptly burned one of the Dodgers ABS challenges to learn that he had, definitively, struck out.

He also struck out Freddie Freeman. Herrera had a final line of 1.0 IP with two strikeouts, one hit, and no runs.

“The arm’s alive,” Schaeffer said, adding that the Rockies were pleased to have him on their roster.

The eighth inning went to catcher-RHP Brett Sullivan in what would be his third relief appearance of 2026. Sullivan allowed one hit but no runs in 1.0 IP.

The Rockies avoid a shutout

The Rockies fell behind after the first inning, but they quickly fought back.

However, they had a quick answer in the second when Hunter Goodman led off with a homer of his own, making the score 2-1 Dodgers. (Of the 12 home runs he has hit this season, nine have been on the road, FWIW.)

They occasionally got runners on base — Willi Castro had two hits — but failed to score.

By the sixth inning, Schaeffer followed the lead of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and began pulling his starters.

As for Eric Lauer, he went 6.0 IP, allowing one run (earned) on one hit. He walked one and struck out four on 96 pitches.

“We just didn’t have an answer for him tonight,” Schaeffer said.

The Rockies never touched the Dodgers bullpen until position player Miguel Rojas pitched the ninth when manager Dave Roberts (presumably) attempted to save his bullpen.

Then things got weird

Brett Sullivan hit his first home run of the year — as a pitcher no less.

The last Rockies pitcher to hit a home run? Germán Márquez on July 31, 2021. Sullivan was also the first pitcher, other than Shohei Ohtani, to hit a home run in 2026.

The Rockies promptly began a rally of sorts. Braxton Fulford and Jake McCarthy singled followed by a Kyle Karros home run, making the score 15-5. Troy Johnston followed that up with a double.

Suddenly, the Dodgers had their bullpen warming as Sterlin Thompson hit a single to score Johnston, and the Rockies loaded the bases and batted around the order.

With two outs, Sullivan came very close to hitting a grand slam, but the ball died at the warning track.

Game over, 15-6.

“We never want to be in that position when they’re throwing a position player at us,” Schaeffer said. “But every at-bat in the big leagues counts.”

The Rockies finished the evening with six runs on 12 hits. They walked twice and struck out seven times.

With the Colorado Avalanche being swept and ending their season, it was a grim night for Denver sports.

Get some sleep, everyone.

Up Next

Join us tomorrow for Game 3 at 8:10 pm when Tomoyuki Sugano will face Shohei Ohtani in a must-watch baseball game. (Seriously, there will be global interest in this one as a Japanese pitching legend takes on the greatest player on earth.)

See you then!

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The Dbacks were able to get their 9^th win in the past 10 games Tuesday evening in San Francisco as they were able to beat the Giants 7-5. An all around win for a surging Dbacks team as they were able to get pitching as well as timely offense as this team just keeps rolling.

Eduardo Rodriguez was crafty tonight giving the Dbacks 6 innings while striking out 6 Giants and allowing just 2 earned runs despite maybe not having his best stuff. ERod got off to a little bit of a bumpy start with a long first inning and a couple of runs by the 3^rd inning, but he settled in nicely getting some clutch outs as the game went on. This Dbacks starting rotation has continued to carry this team over the past several weeks as they seemingly give this team quality start after quality start and today was no exception.

The highlight of the night was Ketel Marte hitting an absolute moonshot on the day he was named the NL player of the week. The blast was simply incredible as it was a 2 run shot that traveled 452 feet. The fact that that blast happened at night at Oracle Park makes this swing the stuff of Dbacks lore. People will remember this hot streak that Ketel is on for a long time something is telling me.

It was not all highlights for the Dbacks tonight as unfortunately Nolan Arenado was lifted in the 8^th inning due to groin tightness. Lets all keep our fingers crossed that this is something that will resolve itself after some rest. Arenado has been such a fixture in this lineup this season as a steading force in the cleanup spot and at 3^rd base that any extended period of time without Arenado would be terrible. In the post game conference Torey said that Arenado is day-to-day, but he feels as though he is in a good spot and not getting any imaging. Arenado himself said that it was more precautionary than anything. Hopefully the Dbacks will dodge a bullet here.

I also wanted to note that Paul Sewald picked up his 13^th save of the season on his 36^th birthday tonight. Despite giving up a home run tonight, he definitely deserves some praise on his birthday as he has flat out gotten the job done as the closer in the early going saving 13 of 14 opportunities. He may not always be flawless, but he is a great closer and an even better human being who deserves the praise and a big happy birthday from Dbacks fans.

The Dbacks will send Mike Soroka to the mound tomorrow as they look for the 3 game sweep.

The Dodgers offense is down in May relative to April, and they’ve struggled especially at home dating back several weeks. But the floodgates opened on Tuesday night in a 15-6 rout of the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium, matching the team’s season high for runs scored.

The Dodgers in March and April hit a home run every 26.6 plate appearances, but in May it was down to just one home run every 38.2 plate appearances. They hit just 11 home runs in their previous 14 home games, but they broke out with five long balls on Tuesday, matching their season high. The other three games with five home runs this year came in April, and allon the road.

At first glance there’s something a little funny about moving a slumping hitter down in the lineup to batting cleanup, but for Mookie Betts it was notable. They did the same with Betts in Games 6and 7 of last year’s World Series, but in the regular season Tuesday was the first time Betts batted lower than third since September 29, 2017 while with the Boston Red Sox.

But after hitting just .165/.230/.342 through the first third of the season, including just eight hits in 51 at-bats since returning from the injured list, the Dodgers needed something from Betts on offense. In his first at-bat hitting cleanup, after a Freddie Freeman single, Betts took a fastball over the center field wall.

Two runs in the first inning were the most by the Dodgers in their last 12 home games, something they hadn’t done since tallying three in the opening frame on April 26 against the Chicago Cubs.

But they weren’t done there.

Kiké Hernández and Andy Pages each homered in the third inning, and Betts added his second two-run home run of the night in the sixth inning. It’s the first multi-homer game for Betts since May 19, 2025, one year and one week ago. Will Smith homered in the sixth inning, his first extra-base hit in eight games.

Pages had four hits on the night, and Betts had three, both season highs.

Hernández also doubled in the fourth, but was wincing on his way to second base. He later scored in the inning, but was removed before the top of the fifth inning with a left oblique strain. It doesn’t take a genius to see he’s going to be out for a while, after collecting four hits in four at-bats, with a home run and two doubles since returning on Monday.

Eric Lauer with all that support got a warm welcome in his Dodgers debut, and he obliged by throwing strikes for six innings. The left-hander allowed a solo home run but otherwise only three singles and a walk, with four strikeouts,

Shohei Ohtani was hit on his right (pitching) hand in the fourth inning. He remained in the game and scored in the inning. The 85.2-mph changeup appeared to hit the heavy padding Ohtani was wearing, and he waved any attempts from a visit from a Dodgers trainer. Ohtani was later pinch-hit for, but by then the score was 10-1.

Colorado scored only once in eight innings against real pitching, but homered twice off position player Miguel Rojas in a five-run ninth. Amid the maneuvering in the final frame, Max Muncy played third base, in his first game since getting hit on the wrist by a pitch on Friday. It’s possible Muncy might return to the lineup as early as Wednesday.

Tuesday particulars

Home runs: Mookie Betts 2 (6), Kiké Hernández (1), Andy Pages (12), Will Smith (5); Hunter Goodman (12), Brett Sullivan (1), Kyle Karros (2)

WP — Eric Lauer (2-5): 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts

LP — Kyle Freeland (1-6): 4 IP, 9 hits, 8 runs, 4 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers close out this series with Shohei Ohtani on the mound on Wednesday (7:10 p.m.; SportsNet LA, MLB Network).

Kiké Hernández might be headed back to the IL just two games into his 2026 season.

Hernández, who hit his first home run of the year earlier in the Los Angeles Dodgers' May 26 game against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium, looked to be laboring as he rounded first base on his fourth inning double. He later came around to score on an RBI double from Andy Pages, but would not return to the field as Hyeseong Kim came out to replace him in the field for the top of the fifth.

Spectrum SportsNet LA broadcast cameras showed manager Dave Roberts consoling a distraught Hernández in the dugout between innings.

Shortly after, the Dodgers announced that Hernández had been removed from the game with a left oblique strain.

Not a good sign here as Kiké Hernández is OUT of the game, and it seems like Dave Roberts is consoling him in the dugout.pic.twitter.com/8K97WmCVo6

— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) May 27, 2026

It's a tough break for Hernández, as he was 4-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and two RBIs since making his season debut on May 25. The fan favorite utilityman underwent surgery last winter to repair a significant left elbow injury that according to him, Dr. Neal ElAttrache said was the worst of its kind he had ever seen.

Hernández first suffered that injury while sliding home to score on a wild pitch on May 28, 2025 and spent two months on the IL with elbow inflammation. He later reaggravated it diving for a fly ball in Game 3 of the NLCS that October and told reporters he "would feel like I had a blowtorch on" every time he got into his batting stance.

Shohei Ohtani was also pulled from the game when Dalton Rushing pinch hit for him in the bottom of the fifth. Ohtani was hit by a pitch right after Hernández's double in the fourth, but appeared to be fine after. There's yet to be any official announcement on Ohtani's status, so it's possible he was pulled as a precaution ahead of his scheduled start on the mound against the Rockies on Wednesday, May 27.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kiké Hernández injury update: Dodger leaves game with oblique injury

It was a simple win.

The Mariners got a lot of hits and scored four runs. The A’s got fewer few hits and scored fewer runs. The Mariners beat the A’s 4-1 on Tuesday. It was that simple.

The Mariners wasted no time in jumping on Gage Jump, making first his first start as a big leaguer. Josh Naylor and Rob Refsnyder led off the second with a pair of singles. It seemed they’d both score after Mitch Garver doubled into the left field corner, but the ball lodged itself in the fence and the umpires sent Refsnyder back to third. No matter. Cole Young hit a sac fly to plate Refsnyder and make the game 2-0. Victor Robles came through with a single to make it 3-0.

Robles led off the fourth with a double (his second of three hits on the day) and Julio Rodríguz would later make it 4-0 with a rocket single to left. The Mainers wouldn’t score again, but it was an overall great night for the lineup, especially facing the lefty in Gage. They picked up 11 hits and a walk, and every starter either reached base or plate a run.

Emerson Hancock was perfect through four. He was efficient, needing just 37 pitches to get there. He wasn’t necessarily picking up lots of whiffs or punching out batters — save for a beautiful top-rail fastball that Nick Kurtz swung through in the first — but the A’s couldn’t square him up, or could only do so right at a Mariners fielder. Hancock got Darrell Hernaiz to hit the ball less than a foot in the third inning; he ticked it straight down to where Garver could simply pick it up and tag him out in the batter’s box. It was going that well. In the fourth, Hancock got the top of the order of Carlos Cortes, Kurtz, and Shea Langeliers to go down without much fight. For a moment, I wondered if this was it.

Hancock has been a revelation this year. It’s one of the most impressive career turnarounds I’ve witnessed first hand. I wouldn’t quite say he’s the Mariners absolute best pitcher right now, but that it’s close is borderline unbelievable. Even just the idea that Hancock might throw a perfect game would have seemed impossible this time last year. Of course, that he might strike out 14 would have seemed impossible, too.

I probably beat this drum too often. Every time I cover a Hancock start, I remind you that he was once bad and that now he’s good. One of these days, he’ll just be good.

Anyways, Hancock wasn’t perfect. I did not burry that lede. He got into a jam in the fifth, walking the lead off batter then giving up a single. But he set down the side in order from there to escape the inning unscathed. The command started to falter in the sixth with a walk and a hit by pitch. But he painted another perfect top rail fastball to strikeout Kurtz in between, and got Brent Rooker to groundout to again shimmy out unscathed. 

A fully rested bullpen, fresh off a complete game from last night’s starter, did its job from there. José Ferrer worked around a single in the seventh. Gabe Speier, in his first game back from the injured list, worked around a hit by pitch in the eighth. Speier also struck out Kurtz to snap his 48-game on base streak, leaving him forever (or maybe not forever) tied with Mark McGwire for the longest in A’s history. 

Andrés Muñoz pitched the ninth with a 4-0 lead. He gave up a homer to make it 4-1 but eventually got the job done.

The Mariners took the series from the first place A’s with the win. Everyone in the division is now under .500. The Mariners could be in first place alone Wednesday — still under .500 — if they finish off the sweep.

Late Nite with Nola is the hottest show on television. It’s got celebrity guests. It’s got a good opening monologue. It’s got fun interviews about Bryce Harper’s toothbrushing preferences. One thing it doesn’t have a lot of is runs for his opponent.

The night started with Kyle Schwarber getting most of a cutter, but not all of it. It ended up as a fly out. But Bryce Harper got all of his, and sent it over the fence in right field: good night, baseball, and good night to the many Phillies fans who nod off before these late West Coast starts. Brandon Marsh singled on the first pitch he saw, then got picked off at first for the last out of the frame. As he slid, the tag from Ty France caught his fingers. He regarded them gingerly, but returned to play. In the bottom of the inning, Aaron Nola sent the first three Padres he saw back to their dugout in rapid succession, operating at a pace that was a kindness to East Coast fans hoping both to watch the game and get some shuteye.

J.T. Realmuto, like Harper before him, saw a Randy Vásquez cutter he liked, and sent it on a tour of of the Western Metal Supply Co Building in left for the Phillies’ second homer of the night. Not to be outdone as a philanthropist, Trea Turner treated a sinker to the same tour one inning later, and the Phillies were up 3-0. After Harper walked and Marsh and Alec Bohm both singled, they were up 4-0. Meanwhile, Nola dealt with the minimum number of Dads through three. Edmundo Sosa almost joined the solo shot parade, but a leaping grab from Jackson Merrill stopped him.

Marsh left the game as the bottom of the fourth dawned. The tag on the pickoff turned out to have caused a sprained middle finger; Adolis García was his replacement. Nola breezed through the first two San Diegos, then found trouble: a sharp hit from Gavin Sheets up the middle bounced off Turner’s glove for the first Padre baserunner of the night, and Manny Machado sent a liner over the left field wall to narrow the score to 4-2.

The score remained there through the sixth, with Nola righting the ship following the homer and sending the next five Padres down in order. It would’ve been six, had San Diego not successfully challenged an out call at first. Unfazed, Nola struck out Sheets to end the sixth.

That ended his night on a successful note (3 hits, 2 ER, 5 K). Orion Kerkering was brought in to replace him and struck out three, continuing a solid night for Philadelphia pitching.

The Phillies put two runners on to start the eighth via Padres reliever Wandy Peralta granting free passes, but quickly saw that start become two outs via a Bohm pop out and Bryson Stott grounding into a force out. Realmuto was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but a groundout from Justin Crawford ended the frame.

Brad Keller was given the eighth and quickly allowed a solo shot to Ramón Laureano. Nick Castellanos was called in to pinch-hit. He struck out, Fernando Tatis Jr. singled, and Sheets walked. An infield dribbler from Machado threatened to load the bases, but Bohm charged in and deftly completed the play, sending the Phillies to the ninth with their narrow lead.

The Padres went with Adrian Morejon rather than Mason Miller for that final frame; he faced three Phillies and sent them all down, aided by a baserunning blunder from Schwarber that turned a lineout into a double play.

That cued up Jhoan Duran for the bottom ninth. This being a road game, he did not get his traditional entrance. It turns out, however, that he does not need flaming tarantulas to get himself in the zone. He induced a groundout from Miguel Andujar, made Merrill strike out on an awkward looking failed check swing, and bid bonne nuite to France, and the Padres, with a low splitter for strike three.

The Phillies thus sent their fans to bed happy, and provided a happy wake-up for the fans who didn’t stay up for the game. All’s well that ends well.

The Phillies are 28-27. They’ll finish the series in San Diego tomorrow at 4:10.

The offense came up short for the Good Guys, going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position in a frustrating 5-3 extra-inning loss to the Twins on the South Side tonight. This game had all the emotions: annoyance that the bats couldn’t ignite, excitement from a game-tying homer, shock after the go-ahead run was thrown out at home, and then back to sadness in the 11th. You can almost feel them just from the win probability chart.

This loss ended Minnesota’s seven-game losing streak against the White Sox, but there are still two more this week and another three next week against them to rebound and shut them down. It would have been nice, though, to pick up a game on the entire division as the Tigers, Royals, and Guardians all took an L Tuesday, but the South Siders remain 3 1/2 games back.

Sean Burke had a solid seven-inning, two-run start, but received absolutely zero run support from the offense. The righty was hot out of the gate, needing just eight pitches to get through the first and going hitless through three. The second inning got a bit dicey as Burke walked two batters, and though it took him 28 pitches — the most in an inning for his entire outing — he still worked out of the jam without any runs scoring.

Burke ended up with 100 pitches thrown with 65 strikes, with the two runs coming in the fourth after Trevor Larnach and Kody Clemons mashed a double and an RBI triple, respectively, for Minnesota’s first run of the game, 1-0. Austin Martin followed that up with an RBI single for Burke’s only other run allowed for the Twins to take a two-run lead, and even with the two tallies, Burke was otherwise efficient and got out of the inning with just 13 pitches.

Though he wouldn’t end up on the hook for the win, Burke gave up just three hits, walked two, and struck out eight. Recording 10 swing and misses, he averaged a 30% called strike plus whiff rate (CSW%), using his fastball the most at a 36% CSW — the highest of all of his pitches — peaking at 97.4 mph and producing the weakest average opponent exit velocity (85.9 mph). On the bright side, he brought his ERA back below 4.00 (3.90), so it was definitely progress and good to see him looking more like he did at the start of the season.

On the other end, righthander Joe Ryan was essentially mowing down White Sox hitters left and right and racked up nine Ks in his 7 2/3 frames. Through seven, Ryan was practically unhittable for the South Siders and had only given up three hits until the eighth. With 14 swing and misses, he posted a 37% CSW% with his knuckle-curve and sweeper getting the best of the Good Guys, accumulating 42% and 43% called strike plus whiff rates. In other words, the White Sox couldn’t touch the ball to save their lives for seven innings.

Until Munetaka Murakami saved the entire game for the South Siders, they had plenty of chances to score runs before the eighth. It doesn’t help when your DH (Andrew Benintendi) comes up with runners in a prime spot, and he just grounds out to second, which is exactly what happened in the fourth after Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth strung consecutive base hits together. Sure, he had two hard hits, but we must get better production from that spot.

Another foiled chance for the South Siders came in the seventh when Benny hit a two-out single, Tristan Peters was (maybe?) hit by a pitch, but Drew Romo struck out on three straight pitches to end the threat and the inning. I’m sure that the Twins regretted not ending Joe Ryan’s day after seven, but in their defense, he was cruising through his entire outing. Rikuu Nishida poked his second career hit out to left to start the bottom of the eighth, flipping it back to the core of the White Sox lineup. Sam Antonacci ended up striking out, but Murkami sent a game-tying tank over the right-field fence for his 19th of the season. It was beautiful.

Once Burke was replaced, the bullpen was a big reason that the Good Guys were able to hang in the game. Lefthander Sean Newcomb handled the eighth and ninth innings almost flawlessly, allowing just one hit while striking out two, including a clutch inning-ending K against Byron Buxton in the eighth after Buxton challenged the strike call. Newcomb, with ice in his veins, already knew he snagged the strikeout, and didn’t even wait for ABS to clock it.

Taking over in the 10th with the ghost runner on second, the pressure was no match for Bryan Hudson, who struck out the first two batters he faced. Hudson gave up a hit on the next at-bat, but Nishida was prepared out in right and came up firing home and threw the go-ahead run out with a few steps to go. Two games in a row, he’s thrown someone out at home — dare I say the outfield isn’t as scary as of late?

With the winning run standing on second in the bottom of the 10th, the South Siders completely folded and were unable to push the run across. Rikuu’s job was to get the bunt down to move the runner over, but he could not get it done. He even attempted on two strikes, but he let the bat drop and fouled out, completely wasting the at-bat. Antonacci manufactured an infield single to put runners on the corners. Still, the inning ended on a strange unassisted double play after Mune sharply grounded out to first, and Antonacci caught in the cross-hairs. With Luisangel Acuña and his speed on third, it made sense for the Sox to steal with Sam to put both runners in scoring position and take away a double-play opportunity, since the Twins might have just let him have it. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but it would be great if we could go back and try it to see how that play changes without Antonacci on first. So it goes.

On to the 11th we went. And things did not go as smoothly this time around. Righthander Tyler Davis was next out of the pen, and though he struck out one, a Luke Keaschall base hit, and a walk to Buxton loaded the bases up for Brooks Lee, who capitalized with a double to right to clear the bases, 5-2.

Murakami had started the bottom of the 11th on second with the three, four, and five hitters coming up. If the Sox were going to tie or win the game, it was now at this part of the order. Miguel Vargas flied out deep to center, which allowed Mune to move to third, and Montgomery lost an eight-pitch battle and struck out. Down to their last at-bat, Meidroth ripped a base hit out to left that scored Mune and brought up Randal Grichuk as our last hope, who smoked a 104.9 mph grounder to shortstop Ryan Kreidler, who was able to make the play at first to end the game, 5-3. He hit it hard, and it did have a .540 xBA on the play, but a second comeback wasn’t in the cards for the South Siders tonight.

The Atlanta Braves kept things interesting on Tuesday night but ultimately improved to 37-18 after a 7-6 win over the Boston Red Sox. Spencer Strider got the start, and the win; things started out shaky, but he settled in to give the offense a chance to even things up. His night ended after five innings, allowing three runs on three hits. He walked three and struck out five.

The Atlanta lineup tallied nine hits, and Michael Harris II accounted for four of those. He went 4-for-4, recorded three RBI, and scored two runs. It was a sight to see after he had a quiet series offensively against the Washington Nationals.

The series continues tonight at 6:45 ET, as the Braves go for the series win. 

More Braves News:

Today we remember Bob Horner, the Braves star who passed away at 68.

MLB News:

The New York Mets made several roster moves on Tuesday, including reinstating A.J. Minter from the injured list. 

The Milwaukee Brewers placed right-hander Logan Henderson on the 15-day injured list with a low back strain. The move is retroactive to May 23. 

The Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to a major league deal with veteran Craig Kimbrel. He was designated for assignment by the New York Mets last week and elected free agency. 

From the Feed:

Cast your vote here for Player of the Game after the series-opening win at Fenway Park.

José Azócar has returned to the Braves on a minor league deal and appeared in Gwinnett’s lineup on Tuesday.

Kiké Hernández got off to an excellent start in his first two games back, collecting two hits in each of his first two games since getting activated off the injured list on Monday. But the Dodgers infielder/outfielder left Tuesday’s game after four innings with a strained left oblique strain.

Hernández doubled and scored in the Dodgers’ four-run fourth inning. But on replay appeared to be laboring while running around first base on the hit.

He was replaced on defense by Hyeseong Kim in the top of the fifth inning, with SportsNet LA showing manager Dave Roberts talking to a frustrated Hernández in the dugout, before Hernández retreated to the clubhouse.

It was a long road for Hernández just to get his season started. He missed the first 53 games after undergoing left elbow surgery in November, and played three weeks on a rehab assignment in Triple-A before getting activated off the 60-day injured list on Monday. Hernández told reporters on Monday at Dodger Stadium this was the healthiest he’s felt in a year.

“I think I was in so much pain this year that it helped with the patience,” he said Monday.

Hernández started at third base on both Monday and Tuesday. He doubled in a run and singled on Monday, then homered in his first at-bat on Tuesday before the fourth-inning double. Now we’ll see how long that 1.000/1.000/2.250 batting line holds for the utility man.

Mookie Betts strained his oblique earlier this season in April, and he missed 36 days before returning.

“I was trying to hurry, but the docs were like, ‘It takes a month for it to just heal,’” Betts said on May 11 when he was activated off the injured list. “Then you have to do all your prep to get back to playing. So you can’t really rush time.”

It's been more than a year since A.J. Minter took the ball in a major league game, but on Tuesday night, the veteran left-hander completed his long road back.

Although the Mets' offense continued to struggle in their 7-2 loss to the Reds, the biggest silver lining from the game was Minter's first action since April 2025. 

Minter allowed one hit and struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning. 

"Felt like I debuted all over again," Minter told reporters after the game. "Some butterflies...The first one is always the hardest." 

"It was great to have him back," catcher Luis Torrens said through the team interpreter. "He’s obviously an important part of the team and it’s great to have him back in the fold." 

It was a good outing for Minter, who had season-ending lat surgery that erased most of 2025 and the start of the 2026 season. The 32-year-old spoke about the range of emotions he was feeling from his rehab to getting on the mound, and was effusive about the Mets' organization for helping him get back out there.

"A lot of emotions. Makes you not take this game for granted. Never know when it will be your last one," Minter said. "A lot of people got me back here. I can’t speak any more highly of this organization." 

Minter only made 13 appearances for the Mets in 2025 before his injury. With the loss of Minter, many believed the Mets' bullpen was never the same as it was taxed following the starting rotation's struggles, which resulted in the team missing out on the postseason last year.

Now that he's back, Minter wants to bolster a Mets bullpen that has pitched very well -- seventh in the National League with a 3.35 ERA -- and try to save the team's season.

" Last year, I feel like I let the team down. Took me a little bit longer to get back here," Minter added. "Got this first one, but now it’s time to help this team get back in the right direction."

"It was good to see him after a long recovery, long year for him," manager Carlos Mendoza said of Minter's outing. "Couldn’t wait to get back on a big league mound, he looked good. He looked sharp…it’s not easy to go through what he went through."

Including Tuesday night, Minter has pitched to a 3.22 ERA over his 10-year career, with 36 saves and 121 holds. And to be that successful over that period of time, Minter understands he needs to pitch to his strengths and be able to adapt. 

He said that he's pitched long enough to be a pitcher and not just a "thrower," and that he hopes to pitch for seven more years, and to do that, he needs to stay healthy, be durable and throw strikes. And while he tries to do that, he wants to learn from his first big league start in nearly 400 days and keep improving.

"Felt like I still need to improve on a few things, and can still get better," Minter said of his outing. "I’ll take that first one. Feel like the weight is off my shoulders and now I feel like I can get back to doing what I know I can do."

What can you even write for recaps nowadays? After a strong early May where the Mets legitimately got themselves back into the conversation, they immediately said that was enough of that and lost five in a row, and six of their last seven, to bring themselves down to a lowly 22-33.

The game was whatever. David Peterson, sans opener, was bad, surrendering 11 hits, three walks, and six runs. The bullpen was good, with The Most Expensive Mop-Up Guy In MLB History(™) Sean Manaea throwing three innings of one run ball, striking out six. Carlos Mendoza said postgame that its possible he will switch Manaea and Peterson in the rotation, which does make sense, even if I was being rather glib a sentence ago. A.J. Minter came back from a torn lat that sidelined him for a year and played well, which is lovely to see. Juan Soto hit a two run home run, and the Mets had a whopping four hits outside of that.

Games, losing streaks, seasons like this, drive me to existentialism. Will the Mets ever be good again? Will Juan Soto play meaningful baseball in Queens while he is here? Will I be one of those grandpas you saw after the Cubs won in 2016, saying they’ve been waiting 90 years for this? As one of the rare Lakers-Mets fans in existence (it’s a really funny story that involves my dad trolling his high school best friend about the Lakers being better than the Knicks back in the 1970’s despite not watching basketball at the time, and working himself into a shoot, brother, accidentally giving himself a lifelong Lakers fandom he passed onto me), will Soto and Luka Dončić get their primes wasted by nonsensically bad organizations? Frankly, all of these thoughts are more compelling than 99% of the games the Mets played this season, because everyone is either hurt, bad, or a rookie (or Juan Soto).

Of course, while things seem terribly hopeless at 10:49 pm, the exact time I am typing this sentence, things change on a dime in baseball. The 2024 Mets were once 22-33, and the Jorge Lopez glove throwing game happened on May 30th of that year. If you told a Mets fan at that time that they would go to the NLCS your sanity would have been called into question, and rightfully so. While that is not a recipe for success, its an example of how things can change. The 2025 Atlanta Braves were a disaster, and they did not do much this offseason, and look like the Atlanta Braves again in 2026. Because sometimes, stuff happens.

The recaps to the these games are dull, its true. A.J. Ewing looks like a future building block, Carson Benge has really turned it around after an absolutely horrific April, and, like I said a few times, Juan Soto is Juan Soto. However, with the amount of injuries on the offensive side of the ball, they just do not have the juice right now. The pitching has largely been fine, outside of the recent McLean blowups and the Peterson/Senga/Manaea spots. They lose in alarmingly similar ways almost daily: they fall behind early, Soto does something cool, Ewing and Benge get on base, and nothing else happens.

Maybe they’ll go on a run, maybe they won’t, but the beauty of baseball is it’s always on tomorrow. The Mets will look to get back into it starting then.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Luis Torrens, 5% WPA
Big Mets loser: David Peterson, -28% WPA
Mets pitchers: -27% WPA
Mets hitters: -23% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto’s two run home run in the sixth, +4.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Eugenio Suarez’s two run double in the first, -19.1% WPA

The Mets lost their fifth straight game on Tuesday night, getting out-hit 15-5 in a 7-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

If things are going to get any better for New York, there will have to be changes. One of those may be switching David Peterson and Sean Manaea's roles in the rotation after the two had another game of very different outcomes.

"I'm pretty sure there's going to be a conversation. We just ended here, but we're going to need all of them," manager Carlos Mendoza said. "We're going to need Petey to throw important innings for us, whether it's a starter, whether it's coming after an opener, or pitching out of the bullpen. We're going to need innings from them, especially with how the rotation is right now.

"And Sean, another good outing for him. So I'm pretty sure there's going to be a discussion here what's next when it comes down to the next turn in the rotation."

Peterson allowed six runs on a career-high 11 hits in Tuesday's loss, while Manaea let up just one run over 3.0 innings in relief with six strikeouts. 

"It was a tough one for him from the very beginning, missing arm side," Mendoza said of Peterson. "Looked like he didn't have the best feel for his pitches. And they put some really good swings on it. There was some hard contact there; we made some good plays behind him, but there was a lot of traffic in those early innings.

"He competed, but it was a tough one for him today."

Peterson had gone 3-0 over four outings in May, but looked more like his April self (0-4, 7.92 ERA) against the Reds. Manaea, on the other hand, has looked good recently and is down to a 3.75 ERA in May.

Mendoza went on to say Manaea's delivery and his success against right-handed batters stood out against the Reds.

"There's a lot to like there," Mendoza said. "With his delivery, you got to give him credit, man, he kept working and he continues to work. The life on the fastball. I think you see the swing and misses, especially at the top of the zone. The cutter, the sweeper, some changeups in there. He faced a lot of righties today... but overall, he came in with runner on third and got out of it.

"He's been very good against lefties, but it was good to see him today against righties."

When asked about a potential move to the bullpen or something else, Peterson said he is just focused on getting better. 

"I haven't thought about it," Peterson said. "It's been week-to-week every week. I'm focused on going back and looking at what we did well, what we need to do better, and move forward. Focus on the next one, whatever situation that's in."

For now, Mets pitching will remain in flux as they look to snap their losing streak on Wednesday against the Reds and avoid a second straight sweep. 

Tuesday marked the 12,000th game in the already historic career of Aaron Judge. He became the 33rd Yankee to reach that plateau in pinstripes and the player with the most home runs by game 12,000 in MLB history with 385, 58 ahead of Ralph Kiner. The captain and his teammates marked the occasion with aplomb, dismantling a 22-33 Royals squad in a laugher to take a three-game set while notching a nice little bit of history.

Bailey Falter served as the Royals’ opener, entering play with a 9.82 ERA. It didn’t take the Yankees long to show him why. After retiring the first two batters of the game, the veteran southpaw allowed a home run to Clay Bellinger, a Stantonian blast that left the bat at 105 mph and cleared the right-field wall on a line.

Paul Goldschmidt, starting his sixth straight game after beginning the year in a reserve role, laced a double just over the head of the reigning AL Gold Glover at third base, Maikel Franco, before coasting into second with a double.

Despite the rocky start, Falter nearly got through the frame with just one run on the board. The struggling Ben Rice, who came into the game mired in a 5-for-37 funk, smoked one to right. The ball was playable for Jac Caglianone and the hulking right fielder initially appeared to make the inning-ending grab. Yankees manager Aaron Boone challenged the apparent snow-cone grab, and upon review it became clear the ball scraped the ground while in Caglianone’s glove, netting Rice a single and an RBI as Goldschmidt was awarded home.

Amed Rosario, making his first start in over a week, made that defensive miscue hurt two pitches later, yanking a hanging curveball 420 feet to left field.

When it landed, the Yankees had a 4-0 lead, an embarrassment of riches given their starter, Cam Schlittler, had yet to allow as many as four runs in any of his 11 outings entering play.

In the bottom half of the inning, Schlittler worked around a two-out single to put up a zero. He was aided by a nifty play from Anthony Volpe, gloving a ball in the gap between short and third and throwing across his body to retire a plodding Salvador Perez. Tuesday’s game marked Volpe’s second straight start at shortstop while his competition for the job, Jose Caballero, was on the bench for the first time since returning from injury on Friday. A few minutes after the inning-ending play, Volpe smoked a center-cut fastball deep to left center for his first home run of the season.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro let it ride with Falter, presumably in hopes of saving as many of his relievers as possible in what was quickly becoming a nightmare scenario: an unwinnable game requiring an emptying out of the bullpen. After allowing four more hits, he threw in the towel, pulling his opener with two on and one out in the third. The next man out of the Royals’ ‘pen, Luinder Avila, didn’t get off to a much better start. Volpe, the first batter he faced, lined an RBI single to score Rice.

Then, after Austin Wells singled to load the bases, Trent Grisham grounded out to first, scoring Rosario. Judge followed with a walk before Bellinger hit a hard grounder through the hole between first and second, scoring two more to stake the Yankees to a commanding 9-0 lead. The inning only ended, mercifully for KC, when Judge was thrown out advancing to third.

The Bombers continued to pile on, with Grisham and Jazz Chisholm Jr. going yard in the late innings. Every starter ended up with at least two hits, a first in the Yankees’ long history. In total, New York hitters reached base 29 times, accounting for more than half of their plate appearances. After winning their last two games in the ninth inning to break out of a 4-10 skid, the comfortable victory was, as Ryan Ruocco put it on the broadcast, a much-needed chance to exhale.

Bellinger, who entered this series facing a narrative that he was struggling to hit away from Yankee Stadium, led the way with a three-RBI showing. Rosario, buoyed by a two-run shot in the ninth against utilityman Tyler Tolbert, actually ended up with the gaudiest stat line, notching four hits and as many RBI to make a case for expanded playing time.

Judge reached safely in four of his five plate appearances from the two hole. Rice notched three hits to break out of his slide. Perhaps most consequentially in the scope of the Yankees’ season, Volpe’s three-hit, three-run, two-RBI day continued to build on the erstwhile golden boy’s case to regain the starting shortstop role he’d held the last three seasons.

This offensive output placed Schlittler firmly in the catbird seat. He took full advantage, allowing just one run (on a Bobby Witt Jr. homer) on four hits. Despite throwing just 77 pitches, he was pulled for Ryan Yarbrough after six innings, cruising to his seventh victory of the season. The showing was just another day at the office for the sophomore starter, whose 1.50 ERA was unchanged by the dominant showing.

The Yankees will go for the sweep tomorrow. Gerrit Cole’s scheduled to make his second start of the season for the Yanks while the Royals will hand the ball to left-hander Noah Cameron. The game, which will air on Amazon Prime, is scheduled to start at 7:40pm ET.

Box Score