SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 31: German Marquez #33 of the San Diego Padres looks on as Matt Chapman #26 of the San Francisco Giants rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the third inning at Petco Park on March 31, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Another rough start for a starting pitcher resulted in another loss for the San Diego Padres. German Marquez started the second game of the series against the San Francisco Giants and struggled to get through three innings. Marquez allowed four runs on eight hits with one walk and one strikeout, as the Padres dropped their second game to the Giants by the score of 9-3 at Petco Park, Tuesday.
The outing for Marquez had an ominous start with San Francisco leadoff hitter Willy Adames starting the game with a home run down the left field line on the second pitch thrown by the right-hander that put San Diego in the hole 1-0. The Giants would go on to add two more runs in the inning and had a 3-0 lead before the Padres took their first at-bat.
San Francisco added the fourth run of the game in the top of the third inning and had a 4-0 lead when San Diego came to the plate in the bottom of the inning. The Padres showed some fight, scoring three runs in the inning, which was capped by a Miguel Andujar RBI-single to right field. That proved to be the final highlight of the game for San Diego.
Kyle Hart came in for Marquez in the top of the fourth inning and worked two scoreless innings, but in the top of the sixth he allowed a leadoff double, a walk to open the inning. Hart recorded the first out with a strikeout, but then Adames struck again with an RBI-single to put the Giants up, 5-3. Hart allowed another single to Rafael Devers before being replaced by Bradgley Rodriguez.
The first batter Rodriguez faced was Heliot Ramos and he hit a bases loaded single that scored two runs to give San Francisco a 7-3 lead. Luis Arraez then hit a sacrifice fly that allowed the eight Giants run of the game to score. Rodriguez followed the sac-fly with a forceout of Matt Chapman to end the four-run sixth for San Francisco.
The Padres went down in order in the bottom of the sixth, but started the bottom of the seventh with a leadoff double from Nick Castellanos. He was stranded there after back-to-back groundouts from Freddy Fermin and Jake Cronenworth and a flyout from Gavin Sheets. The eighth inning had similar results for San Diego. Manny Machado started with a single, but Jackson Merrill grounded into a double play. Xander Bogaerts followed with a strikeout.
David Morgan surrendered an unearned run in the top of the ninth inning to give San Francisco a 9-3 lead and San Diego fizzled out in the bottom of the ninth with a strikeout, a single, a forceout and another strikeout to drop to 1-4 on the season.
Much like the first series of the season against the Detroit Tigers, the Padres will try to salvage the series and avoid the sweep when they face the Giants, Wednesday at 1:10 p.m.
Mar 31, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Jose Fernandez hits a home run and first MLB HR against the Detroit Tigers in the fourth inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images
Jose Fernandez. That is it. Thatâs the recap. Give the guy his flowers.
From a pitching standpoint, Brandon Pfaadt had a very Brandon Pfaadt outing. He rolled through 5 innings, but was so bad in the 3rd the announcers on the broadcast thought he was tipping his pitches. Pfaadt was atleast able to give the team 6 innings, but his innings were so stark. He is either dominating with elite efficiency or he is giving up loud contact at an unimaginable rate. Really a confusing situation that has seemed to plague Pfaadt his whole career and the team clearly hasnât found an answer for it over the offseason. In the postgame show, Mark Grace was speculating that it may have had something to do when Pfaadt was pitching out of the stretch. Something to continue to monitor.
From an offensive standpoint, this is going to be known as the Jose Fernandez game for a long time. Fernandez was able to get his first career hit out of the way in the bottom of the second inning with a hustle single on a slow roller to the 3rd baseman. It is worth noting that Fernandezâs sprint speed was clocked at 30.2 feet per second when he was busting up the line. That is elite speed! Fernadez came up next in the bottom of the 4th and smashed a hanging slider 408 feet for his first career home run to put the Dbacks on the board. However, it was the bottom of the 8th that really cemented the Jose Fernandez lore. Fernandez came to the plate with the Dbacks down 5-4 thanks to a couple of walks, a clutch double by Corbin Carroll, and some balls in play that moved the runners. The Tigers countered by bringing in their closer Kenley Jansen, and Fernandez took the 3rd pitch 409 feet for a 3 run home run putting the Dbacks up 7-5. What a storybook ending to a rookie game.
It will be very interesting to see what Jose Fernandezâs role looks like moving forward especially considering he was playing for the veteran Nolan Arenado tonight, but you have to continue to give this guy regular playing time in my opinion. Torey Lovullo is notorious for sitting guys the day following big performances, but I would be shocked if Fernandez didnât earn himself another start tomorrow. So often do we see these guys come up and only get to play sporadically which can make it so hard to get any momentum going. What do you guys think? Did you see enough from Fernandez tonight for an extended look?
Chase Olson throws against K State | Nebraska Athletics
It was a tale of two games between Nebraska and Creighton. The two in-state rivals always seem to play games that have wild momentum swings in the late innings. Tuesday night in downtown Omaha was no different.
Nebraska put its offense to work in the 2nd inning. Dylan Carey led off and sent a pitch deep to right, forcing the Creighton right fielder to make the catch with his back against the fence. It was an out, but a harbinger of things to come for the Jays. Jett Buck reached on an error, with the first baseman dropping the ball. Then Max Buettenback was hit by the next pitch. Clearly rattled, the CU starting pitcher tossed a wild pitch to the backstop, allowing both runners to advance into scoring position.
Freshman Drew Grego, who has been as clutch as anyone in the past month, punched a ball just in front of the left fielder. The runners had to hesitate due to it being a close play, so only Buck could score on the play. After a strikeout, Josh Overbeek drew a full count walk, loading the bases for Mac Moyer. The left handed Moyer hit his patented ball right by the short stop, scoring Buettenback and Grego. Moyer ended the game batting .404, just barely hanging onto the team lead over Carey at .403. Nebraska took the early 3-0 lead.
Husker nation held their collective breaths in the 3rd. With 1 out, Dylan Carey was hit by pitch on his left wrist. He was seen by the trainer and was in noticeable pain. The call was reviewed to ensure he was hit and the ball didnât hit the cap of the bat for a foul ball, giving him a bit more time to recover. In true Carey fashion and grit, he stole second base on the next pitch, sliding headfirst, wrist injury be damnedâŚ. Two pitches later, Jett Buck split the right center gap for a double, scoring Carey easy, and pushing the Husker lead to 4-0.
Freshman catcher Jeter Worthley showed off all of his offensive skills in the 4th. He rocketed a ball down the left field line for a standup double. He then advanced to third base on a fly ball by Case Sanderson. Carey then lifted a ball to shallow center. The Jays centerfielder caught it and as Worthley tagged and ran home, threw a strike to the catcher who couldnât hang onto the ball, as Worthley slid by him and knocked the ball out of his glove. Worthley stopped his slide, stood up and stepped on home plate for the Huskers fifth run.
Gavin Blachowicz was making his first mid-week start of the season, and rolled through his 4 innings of work, allowing only 2 hits, and 1 walk while striking out 2. He was on a pitch count after getting the last week off, but looked like he was close to the pitcher we saw early on in the season.
Nebraska built their lead to 6-0 in the 6th, as Creightonâs left fielder misplayed a ball off the bat of Josh Overbeek. Beek motored all the way to third for his second triple in the past week. Moyer would bring him in with an RBI ground ball to the first baseman, his 3rd RBI of the game.
Caleb Clark had come in to relieve Blachowicz, and after a quick 5th, ran into a lot of trouble in the 6th. A walk, hit by pitch, and 4 pitch walk loaded the bases with no outs. He gave up a 2 RBI double, before being pulled for Pryce Bender. Bender seemed to right the ship with a strikeout and a hard hit ball to Overbeek at third, which he gunned down a runner attempting to run home. The next batter hit a 2-0 fastball for a 2 RBI double, and then an RBI single cut the Nebraska lead down to 6-5.
Nebraska looked to respond in the 7th, starting the inning with back to back singles. Three hard hit balls, all coming off the bat at over 90 mph, all found the gloves of Creighton fielders. Creighton was hanging on.
The bullpens held through the 8th, and into the 9th. Nebraska was able to get a pair of 1 out singles from Sanderson and Carey to put the pressure on. Creighton went and grabbed their closer, Matt Goldenbaum, and he slammed the door shut with back to back strikeouts of Buck and Buettenback.
Husker closer JâShawn Unger had come in to work a spotless 8th, but an error by the usual sure handed Rhett Stokes at second allowed leadoff batter Rocco Gump to reach base. The speedy Gump stole second. Unger struck out the next batter. The next batter hit a fly ball to left, and as Buck hauled it in, Gump had wandered off second a little too far. Buck threw to second and beat Gump back, but was just far enough towards the third base side of the bag that it pulled Stokes off the bag just by a hair, allowing the inning to continue. Unger walked the next batter, bringing up Ben North, Creightonâs best hitter with the winning run on base. North hit a towering fly ball to left center, which Moyer called off Buck, but had overran the play a bit and drifted back towards center field, and as the fans held their collective breath, caught the ball for the final out of the 6-5 victory.
â Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) April 1, 2026
Nebraska has now won 18 of their last 19 games, and in a rare occurrence in that streak, the offense was unable to come up with a clutch hit in the late innings with runners on base. Making the response after the nightmare of a 6th inning even more important. Chase Olson and Unger combined to throw 3 innings of no-hit baseball in a crucial 1 run rivalry game. They are both pitching as well as anyone coming in relief in the scarlet and cream.
The 19th ranked Huskers are back in action Friday as an underachieving Penn State team comes to Lincoln to start a 3 game series. Itâs an important series to pile up wins as the next two conference series are against ranked teams in Oregon and USC.
Mar 31, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Jose Fernandez hits a home run and first MLB HR against the Detroit Tigers in the fourth inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images
A night after a not-quite-comeback in Arizona on Monday, the Tigers were the ones with the comfortable lead for most of the game on Tuesday before it all went belly-up late in the game, ending up with a 7-5 loss.
Making his season debut for the Tigers was Casey Mize, who had a generally solid 2025 season⌠except for July, when in four starts batters had a .970 OPS against him. But hey, Porcello-out those starts and he was lookinâ gooooood. The key for Mize is to stay healthy and avoid spending time on the Injured List.
(For those of you who arenât old-timers around here, to Porcello-out is a verb meaning to consider the entirety of something, minus a very specific, very crappy part in the middle. If youâre curious if this refers to former Tiger âKid Rickâ Porcello, why yes, yes it does.)
Facing Mize for the Diamondbacks was Brandon Pfaadt (pronounced the same as âfoughtâ). The right-hander from Louisville has been reliable for Arizona in his two-plus years in the rotation, although his numbers donât really jump out at you in any way. In his career heâs consistently had an ERA around 5, struck out around 8 batters per nine innings, and has had a WHIP of about 1.3 â again, not great, but not terrible.
Early on, the Tigers looked pretty sleepy at the plate while the Diamondbacks were getting some very solid contact. Arizona loaded the bases in the bottom of the second with two out, but Mize got Jordan Lawlar to strike out on a really nice splitter, and that was that.
The Tigers got on the board first in the top of the third: Parker Meadows legged-out an infield single, and Jake Rogers hit a double to the wall in centre, scoring Meadows for a 1-0 lead. Colt Keith singled to right to advance Rogers to third, and Kevin McGonigle hit a dribbler to first on which Carlos Santana (yep, still playing!) couldnât make a play, scoring Rogers for a 2-0 score. Then, with two out, Riley Greene smashed a double to the right-centrefield gap to score both Keith and McGonigle to put the Tigers up 4-0. Kerry Carpenter thought that all looked pretty fun, so he singled to right to cash-in Greene for a 5-0 lead.
Jose Fernandez, who was making his major-league debut, had an infield single under his belt in his first at-bat. He added to that with great prejudice in the fourth with a no-doubter solo home run to left to narrow the lead to 5-1. (More on him later, unfortunately.) That aside, Mizeâs splitter continued looking mighty fine, getting six swinging strikeouts on the pitch; he was also throwing it in unusual counts, too.
Pfaadt had kind of a pfunny game: he was dominant for the first eight batters, then gave up hits aplenty⌠but then buckled right back down and got a whole bunch of Tigers in a row. The Tigers have broken out for some big innings early on, but the middle of the order bats are scuffling early on.
Mize got the handshake after six innings and I will take this final line from him any old day you like: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K. Mize was relieved by Drew Anderson, who had a sensational spring but a mediocre first outing. Well, his seventh inning featured some nasty changeups and a couple of whiffs.
But in the eighth it all fell apart: Anderson started off the inning by serving up a first-pitch double by Old Friend⢠James McCann, and a single to left put runners on the corners, and in came Will Vest. He walked Ketel Marte to load the bases, and Corbin Carroll hit a two-run double to make it a 5-3 game. Another walk reloaded the bases â again, with none out â and a grounder to third got an out but allowed another run to score. A soft grounder to second got the second out and put runners on the corners, and Vest was dispatched in favour of Kenley Jansen.
And then Fernandez, who â again, was in his first major-league game â already had a solo home run, smashed a three-run home run to put Arizona up 7-5.
Saw this and thought you might enjoy this clockwork precision: second baseman moves in, glove drops, pitcher spins and throws, tag applied. Thatâs how itâs done, kids.
I know itâs early, but that New York Yankees pitching staff has really been getting it done: coming into tonight, theyâd only given up three runs in four games.
Ya gotta love the olâ Small Sample Size, though, eh?
C.B. Bucknorâs having himself a pretty tough week so far, eh?
âEh?â is a pretty good conversational lubricant, eh?
On this day in 1889, the Eiffel Tower opened. What an eyesore!
Mar 30, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Boston Red Sox right fielder Wilyer Abreu (52) reacts after striking out during the second inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
For the fourth day in a row, the Red Sox managed to play their new worst game yet of the young season. And while thereâs still 157 more of these after tonight, thatâs suddenly starting to sound more like a threat than a reason to get comfortable. Only two good things happened in this one: It ended quickly (two hours and 30 minutes), and nobody got injured.
On the mound, Brayan Bello got clobbered, allowing 11 baserunners and six runs in just 4.2 innings of work. (It was really five innings, but weâll get to that more in a moment.) In the meantime, hereâs three other irritating details from this outing that stood out to me the most:
There were two, two-out walks that helped jumpstart unnecessary Houston rallies.
Bello showed a familiar inability a finish off hitters, and this was despite generating some encouraging swings and misses on his cutter. Itâs that familiar âthe stuff is there, but he canât seem to put it all together in a packageâ trope weâve seen from him.
Cookies were repeatedly handed out to one of the best hitters on the planet in Yordan Alvarez. I mean, get a load of this pitch:
At the plate, the Red Sox struck out 13 times (thatâs 27 over the last two games) and recorded just four hits, with most of them coming late in the proceedings when the house was already on fire. Speaking of four, thatâs how many times Roman Anthony struck out, and the first three of them came on a grand total of just nine pitches. For the lineup as a whole, it took until the bottom of the fifth inning for the team to record its firs hit.
But you know what didnât take until the bottom of the fifth to happen for this Red Sox offense? Dumb baseball! Hereâs Ceddanne Rafaela burning an ABS challenge on an 0-0 count with one out and nobody on base in the top of the third inning.
Not only was the pitch not close to being a ball (the Red Sox have been really bad at identifying pitches to challenge out of the gate), but a bases empty, 0-0 count situation screams low leverage. You canât be burning resources like this in early inning spots!
Now granted, this game stinking worse than a cesspool by the middle innings rendered this mistake irrelevant, but weâre a mere five games into the season and this Red Sox team is already developing a pattern of not knowing how to to use the ABS challenge system properly. Thereâs a strong argument to be made that burning both challenges early on Saturday cost them that game, and it will probably cost them more wins soon if they keep piling up foolish situational challenges like this one from Rafaela tonight on anything other than blatant missed calls in low leverage situations.
Speaking of dumb things and missed calls in less than high leverage situations, check out the 1:11 mark on this video posted on Twitter from Tyler Milliken:
HP Ump Mark Wegner lost track of the count and it seems like everyone else did too.
Thatâs everybody on the field falling asleep and not realizing a strikeout just happened, and in some ways, this is the worst sign of all from a game filled with nothing but bad omens. How disengaged does the team as a whole have to be to not realize thatâs strike three? Cora missed it, the entire defense missed it, and even Bello missed it. You would think that if you were a pitcher desperately struggling to work your way out of a two out jam, youâd notice when you had strike three to end the frame. Itâs a really, really terrible look for everybody involved here, and par for the course in what was a really, really terrible game for the Red Sox.
Studs
None: Nobody is getting a stud next to their name after this hideous performance! It was a complete and total failure of the group project across the board, and garbage time hits against low leverage relievers does nothing to change that.
Three Duds
The entire lineup, but specifically Roman Anthony: He had twice as many strike outs as any Red Sox pitcher recorded tonight. He set the tone early and often for this complete stinker of a game.
Everybody who pitched, but specifically Brayan Bello: Walks, home runs, not finishing guys off, not knowing when you struck a guy out to get out of your last inning. Thereâs a reason he was demoted to the No. 5 slot out of the gate this year after flirting with being the No. 2 guy for much of last summer. Itâs Show & Tell time for him to take that next step, and he didnât do himself any favors tonight.
The baseball IQ of the entire team: If it gets any lower, weâre going to have water it twice a day.
Play of the game:
If you want one messy highlight play to sum up the embarrassment that was this game, itâs this clown show from the team thatâs picking up right where it left off in leading the American League in errors last year.
If youâre looking for some good news, Garrett Crochet starts the series finale tomorrow, so they still might salvage a 2-4 start before the home opener on Friday.
HOUSTON, TEXAS - MARCH 31: Hunter Brown #58 of the Houston Astros pitches in the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Daikin Park on March 31, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) | Getty Images
He may have been on a smaller pitch count than usual, but Hunter Brown didnât let that stop him from charging through the Boston lineup.
Brown earned his first win of the season tonight, hurling 6 innings of 1 run ball with 8 strikeouts as the Astros throttled the Red Sox 9-2.
Brown was lifted after 6 innings despite only throwing 78 pitches. The Astros led 8-1 at the time. After the game, manager Joe Espada said he wanted to keep Brownâs workload a little lighter after he pushed Brown to 102 pitches on Opening Day.
Brown threw 51 of his 78 pitches for strikes. He had 21 called strikes and 8 swings and misses in a dominating performance in which he allowed only 1 hit.
After dropping the first two games of the season, the Astros have won four straight. They have also scored at least 8 runs in those 4 straight wins, the first time theyâve scored at least 8 runs in 4 straight games since 7/26-30 2021.
Speaking of those 8 runs, Yordan Alvarez was responsible for 4 of those 9 runs. Yordan had an RBI double in the first that banged off the wall in center field in the bottom of the first inning, scoring Jeremy Pena from first. He hit a solo homer in to the second deck in right for the second straight night in the fifth. Alvarez also walked and scored on a Carlos Correa 2-run single in the 6th.
Alvarez (2Ă3) was one of four Astros hitters with 2 hits on the night. Carlos Correa (2Ă3), Christian Walker (2Ă4) and Cam Smith (2Ă3) had 2 hits as well.
Correa singled, doubled, walked, scored twice and drove in two.
Walker singled, doubled, scored, and drove in two.
Cam Smith had an opposite-field solo homer in the 7th.
Cody Bolton, called up from Triple-A Sugar Land yesterday, pitched the final three innings for his first career save.
Houston is now 4-2 on the season, the Red Sox are 1-4.
The final game of the series is Wednesday at 1:10pm. Mike Burrows will start for the Astros, opposed by Garrett Crochet.
Mar 31, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; New York Yankees left fielder Cody Bellinger (35) is tagged out by Seattle Mariners shortstop Leo Rivas (76) in a steal attempt during the third inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: John Froschauer-Imagn Images | John Froschauer-Imagn Images
FanGraphs when they listed WPA to the thousandth: Julio RodrĂguez, +.01 WPA
FanGraphs now that they list WPA only to the hundredth: Logan Gilbert, -.19 WPA
Game Thread Comment of the Day:
That game may have sucked, but the trans contingent of our community certainly does not. Love to you all.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 31: Yoshinobu Yamamoto #18 of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Donald Glover greet Yoshi after throwing out the first pitch before a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians at Dodger Stadium on March 31, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ryan Sirius Sun/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be the first Dodgers pitcher to make a second start in 2026, finishing off the six-game homestand on Wednesday evening against the Cleveland Guardians at Dodger Stadium.
Yamamoto will be on five days rest after earning the win on opening day with six strikeouts in six innings, allowing only two runs to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Gavin Williams starts for Cleveland.
Max Friedthrew seven scoreless innings andGiancarlo Stanton drove in two runs as the Yankees defeated the Mariners, 5-0, on Tuesday night in Seattle.
Yankees (4-1) pitching has dominated so far this season. Starters have allowed just one run in the first five games, and the team as a whole has allowed just two runs this season.
Here are the takeaways...
-Fried was dealing. He didn't allow a hit until two outs in the fourth inning, and even then, he coasted into the seventh inning. But the Mariners would get to the southpaw a bit in that inning.
Fried would erase an infield single by Julio Rodriguez by getting Josh Naylor to hit into a double play. But after hitting Randy Arozarena with a pitch, Brendan Donovan looped a single to give Seattle their best chance to score a run off the lefty. However, Fried hunkered down and got Victor Robles to line out to the outfield to end the threat.
Fried was done after that, allowing just three hits and one walk across seven scoreless innings (90 pitches/60 strikes). He also struck out six batters. Fried has now pitched 13.1 scoreless innings across his first two starts of the season.
-The Yankees scored one run on Mariners pitching on Monday, they would double that in the first inning off of Logan Gilbert. After Gilbert disposed of Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger worked the count and eventually picked up a single. Ben Rice then lined a double just fair down the right field line that kicked off the jutting wall. Bellinger scored from first on the double before Stanton's bloop single pushed Rice across for the first two runs of the game.Â
The Yankees' bats would be quieted by Gilbert after the first, but would break through again in the sixth. After a leadoff double by Grisham, Bellinger hit a one-out single to put runners on the corners. Bellinger stole second, but Cal Raleigh -- who got Bellinger stealing earlier in the game -- threw the ball into the outfield, allowing Grisham to score and Bellinger to get to third.Â
After a Rice walk, Stanton lined a double to put the Yankees up 4-0. Jazz Chisholm Jr. got into the fun with an RBI single
-Stanton finished 2-for-4 and has now had multiple hits in all five games this season. That's the fourth-longest streak to start a season in Yankees history. Rice was perfect at the plate, finishing 2-for-2 with two walks.Â
Judge went hitless (0-for-4) with two strikeouts. He did run into a bit of bad luck in the seventh when he hit a liner (107 mph) back to the pitcher. The ball hit Cole Wilcox's glove and right to second baseman Cole Young on a line for the out. It likely would have been a single if Wilcox hadn't slowed it down.Â
Judge has now started the season 3 of 20 with two home runs and 10 strikeouts.
-JC Escarra made his first start of the season and went hitless (0-4) with a strikeout.Â
Cricket Australia have confirmed that Test opener Jake Weatherald is in their long term plans as the left-hander was awarded a maiden national contract on Wednesday.
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) â Connor Ingram celebrated his 29th birthday Tuesday by making 27 saves for his second shutout of the season as the Edmonton Oilers extended their winning streak to four games by beating the Seattle Kraken 3-0.
Max Jones, Kasperi Kapanen and Connor McDavid scored for the Oilers who have won six of their last eight.
Edmonton moved two points back of Pacific Division-leading Anaheim and three points up on third place Vegas. The Oilers are now 28-5-5 when scoring first this season.
The Kraken have lost six of their last seven and remain two points out of a wild-card playoff position.
Philipp Grubauer made 21 stops for Seattle.
Bobby McMann, who leads Seattle in goals and points since coming over in a deadline trade with Toronto â seven goals, four assists in eight games â had his goal scoring streak stopped at three games. He had a chance to match the second-longest goal streak in franchise history.
McDavid extended his goal streak to five games. He leads the NHL in goals since Dec. 1 with 32. The Oilers captain in now one point back of Dale Hawerchuk for the third-most points by a player before age 30. Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux are first and second on that lofty list.
Edmonton has been a regular pest for Seattle, as no team has recorded more victories over the Kraken than the Oilers. Edmonton came into the contest with a 14-4-0 record all-time against Seattle including going 7-1-0 at home and had outscored them 76-50.
"I just think we're not going in the right direction," Hart said. "We're not trending upwards. So, we've got to figure it out. It was three tough ones. We've got another one tomorrow. That's a must-win for us, and build from there."
The Knicks trailed 14-1 in Tuesday's opening three minutes and entered the second quarter down 37-21.
"That effort, the attention to detail, the discipline was pretty embarrassing," Hart said. "So, we've got to figure it out, make sure we're all locked in mentally to get where we want to go and, like I said, build on that."
Mar 31, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; New York Knicks Head Coach Mike Brown reacts during the third quarter against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Š Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
Unlike Sunday's game against OKC, which improved to a league-leading 60-16 with a 114-110 overtime win over the Eastern Conference-best Detroit Pistons, Tuesday in Houston saw the Knicks lack a fight, according to Mike Brown, who said that he was "frustrated with that part."
"I think the togetherness is there," Brown said. "Now, like any other team -- throughout the course of the season, sometimes you feel like it's not there, sometimes you don't. But if I'm talking overall, yes, I do. But tonight, it wasn't -- especially in the pick and roll. And there are isolated times where it feels like you're not on a string defensively and/or offensively, and tonight was definitely one of 'em -- especially on the defensive end of the floor."
After Wednesday's game in Memphis against the Grizzlies (25-50), the Knicks return to MSG for Friday's 7:30 p.m. tipoff with the Chicago Bulls.
"The last few games, we haven't had it," Brown said. "And teams go through stretches like that. We've got (six) more games to try to find it."
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MARCH 30: Ketel Marte #4 of the Arizona Diamondbacks runs to second base during the first inning of the home opener against the Detroit Tigers at Chase Field on March 30, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks defeated the Tigers 9-6. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Introduction
For the past couple of years, I have tried to compile lists of individual player milestones that might be reached during the season. Those lists have included Eugenio Suarez successfully reaching 300 career home runs and Torey Lovulloâs elusive attempts to return to a winning record as a manager. I find it fascinating to see how close (or far) players are to certain big, round-number milestones in their career. I love that baseball is one of the most team-focused sports we have, but I still think itâs worth focusing on the individual from time to time so we can remind ourselves of the kinds of individual goals that players may have. As always, these milestones are not comprehensive, are not listed in any particular order, and are primarily centered on milestones that would make for nice headlines. And since the team is only four games (and counting) into the campaign, I thought a check in at the beginning of the year would be an appropriate way to start the yearâs column.
Ketel Marte slamming his 200th career home run
Arguably one of the best second basemen in the game and inarguably the teamâs leader on and off the field, Marte has been an incredible offensive force over the last three years. In that span, heâs posted a .283/.368/.519 slash line and blasted 89 homers â seven more than he had in the previous eight seasons. That combination puts him at 172 career home runs, good enough for 53rd on the active list â and somewhere in the upper 400s on the all-time list. No matter, reaching 200 career homers would be a nice capstone for Marte as he enters the next phase of his career of his early 30s, and heâs already got one tater on the young season. And thereâs more than a few other milestones that are possibly within sight â including Marte moving to the number two spot in the all-time list for the franchise. Heâs currently sitting ~6.8 bWAR behind Paul Goldschmidt on that list so a repeat performance of his 2024 campaign would match that perfectly. As long as he isnât traded, itâs likely more a question of when rather than if heâll move up that list, but itâs another one Iâll be watching this season.
Nolan Arenado hitting his 2000th career hit
Itâs not often that likely Hall of Famers are traded for relative peanuts, but Arenado is not most players. For one, there arenât very many players who have complete MLB articles detailing their top-10 defensive highlights. And there havenât been that many players who have managed to stay in the league for 14 plus years either. While Arenado wasnât brought to the desert for his offensive prowess at this point in his career, that doesnât mean there arenât some offensive milestones the longtime veteran could read this season. In my opinion, the biggest one is hitting his 2,000th base hit which heâs very likely to get at some point this season. Even a particularly disappointing offensive performance similar to the one he put up last year when he had just 95 knocks all season would still net him this milestone. As of writing, Arenadoâs 1.923 hits places him sixth on the active list for career hits and reaching 2,000 hits would put him in some elite company as just 298 players in all of baseball have ever reached that plateau.
Paul Sewald securing his 100th career save
Itâs not a particularly bold statement to point out that the D-Backs have a bullpen problem. Weâve seen that in four out of the first five games as the relief corps nearly blew an eight-run lead last night and struggled to keep a powerful Dodgers lineup down. Amazingly, Sewald has been one of the few bright spots coming out of the pen as he has yet to allow a hit in either of his first two appearances on the young season. That obviously wonât hold for long, but he will still likely play an important part in the bullpen rotation until AJ Puk and Justin Martinez return from their respective injuries. Youâd also be forgiven for not realizing that Sewald was so close to this particular milestone as heâs quietly accumulated saves over the last five years since moving to the back end of the bullpen with the Mariners back in 2021. But reaching 100 saves would similarly put Sewald into some relatively rare space: there are only 171 relievers who have hit that milestone since saves became an official statistic nearly 60 years ago. Iâll also go out on limb and assume that if Sewald reaches the milestone this season, the D-Backs will be in pretty good shape as it likely indicates quite a few converted save opportunities before Puk and Martinez make their way back to the team.
A regular-season record crowd of 3,207 at Taylor Stadium saw a contest on an afternoon with little cloud cover. For all nine innings, Columbia had enough wind to launch a combined five home runs between the two rivals, four of which were Jayhawks homers over the wall in what was ultimately a Border War defeat for Mizzou. The defeat marked the fifth straight for Kerrick Jacksonâs group, all coming on home turf.
In terms of promotion, Mizzou brought all of the stops. The 2.99 beer and hot dogs, flashy throwback hats for all Missouri students living in residential dorms and the in person appearance of several MU athletes in major revenue sports.
One in particular, Tigers running back Jamal Roberts, whoâs 63-yard game-sealing touchdown against the Jayhawks back in September, which fired up the Tiger contingent and the thousands of students who made the rowdy atmosphere.
The same energy wasnât quite brought on the field. At least not enough for the first three innings for the Tigers, as the Jayhawks took a commanding 6-0 lead, getting to the Tigersâ pitching early. Then, the fourth inning rolled around, and a small spark set gasoline to the eight-run heater that Kerrick Jacksonâs offense went on against three total pitchers from Kansas, including two pitching changes to the delight of the sellout crowd.
THE EIGHT-RUN RALLY
After three innings of two total hits and no runners left in scoring position, a strikeout from the freshman Blaize Ward seemed just to continue the story that was being written. A walk from freshman outfielder Donovan Jordan brought up the freshman catcher Juliomar Campos, who was making his third start of the season.
Whether it was three games or three months, heâd played, Campos rose to the occasion. A two-run shot over the wall in right-center field gave the Tigers fans something to cheer about for the first time all game long. Little did they know, it was just getting started.
âWeâve talked about our freshmen, thereâs a true freshman there that can step in,â Jackson said. âMateo (Serna) was sick today, so he wasnât here. Juliomar does a good job behind the plate. One thing we know about him, heâs gonna swing, and he does strike out a lot, so thatâs the gift and the curse of it. He battled during that at-bat, and then you saw what heâs capable of doing, what he can do when he puts the barrel on the ball.â
The gift of the free pass and a pair of singles, in order from Keegan Knutson, Tyler Macon and Kam Durnin gave the Tigers the absolute best case scenario. Kayden Peer, bases juiced, momentum swinger. Peer gave the black and gold, exactly that with his two-run single.
One batter later, designated hitter Jase Woita was hit by a pitch, and the second pitching change of the evening occurred, and in perfect sync, the Tigersâ PA system played Mr. Brightside, firing up the Mizzou faithful and the dugout in sync.
Thatâs the best home crowd Iâve ever seen,â Woita said. âHuge shoutout to them. They showed up, showed out, and totally fired us up that inning. They put pressure on their pitchers to make some pitches and fired us up in the boxâŚIâm getting chills thinking about it right now.â
Post rivalry anthem, the freshman, Blaize Ward, lit up Taylor Stadium as Iâve never seen before, with a bases-clearing, three-run triple. Another Freshman, Donovan Jordan, scored Ward on an RBI double right after, and the once quiet stadium had a highly ruckus atmosphere.
In the moment, Missouri taking an 8-7 lead, despite it being small, couldâve easily been a back-breaker for the Jayhawks. That wasnât in their plans.
ROUGH START AND ENDING FOR THE TIGERSâ PITCHING
PJ Green was on the bump for the Tigers to open. Both of his starts this season have come on a Tuesday, both against Missouri rivals Illinois and Kansas.
Kansas started getting to him right away as Cade Baldridge took a 3â1 pitch from PJ Green in the first and sent it out to center for a solo homer. Despite a mound meeting from Drew Dickinson after a walk from Green, another walk and a single from Tyson Owens made it 2â0 Jayhawks in the second.
In the third, Augusto Mungarrieta got Green again with a 390âfoot shot to rightâcenter for his ninth homer of the season. Dylan Schlotterback added another run on a fielderâs choice as the inning kept moving, and a pitching change, Jackson Sobel came in after that, and it didnât slow down the Jayhawks offense. Brady Ballinger opened the fourth by turning on a 3â2 pitch from Sobel and sending it to rightâcenter for a twoârun homer.
Sam Rosand came in following Sobel and gave the Tigers what they desperately needed. Innings with stability and zeros. Despite one run, not earned, on an RBI single, Rosand had few blemishes throughout his 2.2 innings of work, as did the pitcher who replaced him at the start of the seventh inning, Kadden Drew.
The heartbeat (for Rosand) never goes over, you know, then doesnât rise, and he just gets out there and just works and works and works and gets things done for us.
The eighth inning very much brought the rocky pastures for Drew after a 1-2-3 seventh, a single, and a balk kickstarted the inning, followed up by an RBI single hit by Jordan Bach, tying the game up at 8, leaving runners on first and second, as Jackson replaced Drew.
One batter later, Kansas flipped any Missouri momentum on its head, on a three-run shot from Tyson Leblanc, that sucked the air out of the stadium. A rocky start and a finish, concluded by the fourth homer of the day, surrendered bye the Tigers staff.
âWhen you go back, and you look at some of the hits that they got early to start, you get some little slap hits to the middle on the change-up, and some little things here and there,â Jackson said. âAgain, at least in that situation, we werenât necessarily executing pitches where we wanted them to be executed, and they just did a good job of putting the ball in play and giving themselves a chance.â
THE ATMOSPHERE
The stadium felt bigger than a regular Tuesday night. A record crowd for a regular season game thoroughly packed Taylor Stadium to the brim for the second leg of the Border showdown and it left me with the feeling of wanting to see this not just for this game, but more home games in the future.
âMost of the time we donât have a big crowd here, and so when weâre playing someplace else, we talk about taking the energy that youâre getting from the crowd,â Jackson said. âWhether or not what theyâre saying or what theyâre doing, you use that energy to fuel you. That helped with our guys today, and being able to get fueled by that energy.â
In the fourth inning, each foul ball, each pitch taken for a ball got a rise and Wardâs bases-clearing triple had the place rocking. Following the three-run inning by the Jayhawks, the bottom of the ninth saw the Tigers put runners on base, starting with a leadoff walk from Peer, who stole second and later, a free pass issued to Cameron Benson.
Donovan Jordan had the chance to be the hero who tied the game for Missouri, with the crowd fully behind him, and ultimately grounded out, giving Kansas the 11-8 victory. The air might have left the building in the eighth, but the ninth certainly didnât see a deflation of the rivalry atmosphere.
NEXT UP
Itâs back to SEC play for Missouri, as theyâll travel to Lexington to clash with the No. 24 Kentucky Wildcats in a 3-game set. As April begins, the Tigersâ chances to pick up conference victories like they were able to do in Knoxville will continue to be on the table.
âIf we just play good baseball, I told our guys in our post-game, but out of the 13 games that we lost, thereâs not one of those games that I walk away from that game saying, we played really well, and they were just better than us today,â Jackson said. âWe have a lot of self-inflicted wounds, and so we have to be able to fix that.â
The first pitch Kodai Senga threw in his first start of the season was a 98 mph fastball. The second pitch from the Metsâ right-hander: Another 98 mph fastball.
In his six-inning outing on Tuesday in St. Louis, Senga's average velocity on the 36 four-seam fastballs he threw was 97.4 mph, which is up 2.7 mph from his average velocity last season. The added speed got him seven whiffs on 23 swings and could be a huge addition to his arsenal.
âHitters gotta get ready for that type of velocity, and then on top of that, you got so much movement from some of the other pitches, whether itâs the fork ball, the cutter, the slider, heâs got so much that can keep hitters off-balance,â manager Carlos Mendoza said. âThe velo, thatâs a plus there.âÂ
Whenâs the last time he had a fastball this good? Senga shrugged his shoulders, âI donât remember,â he said, speaking through an interpreter, after the Metsâ 3-0 loss to the Cardinals in which the righty struck out nine.
"He was really good today,â Mendoza said of the 33-year-oldâs outing.
âFrom the very first pitch, you saw the velo, and for him to be able to maintain the velocity throughout the outing. Up to 90 pitches and you [still] saw 97 [mph],â Mendoza said.
Senga, who said at spring training that he felt much more physically better entering the season, pointed to being more in control to getting the extra giddy-up on his heater.Â
âJust controlling my body,â he said. âManipulating what I need to manipulate. The mechanics need to work a certain way to get that velo, and I havenât been able to do that. But this year, and today, I was able to do so.â
For the night, his average fastball velocity never went lower than 97 mph in each of his six innings, and the final pitch he threw was a 98 mph heater at the knees for a called strike three as he struck out the final three batters he faced.
âThat first inning, I wasnât able to manipulate everything as well as I thought, first time back out on a big league mound in a little bit. But other than that, felt pretty good,â Senga said, adding that it took a bit of time for him to get a feel for the âghostâ fork, but it eventually got âbetter and betterâ in the later innings.Â
The forkball only got six swings on 15 offerings, and not one called strike, but Cardinals hitters whiffed four times, good for the put-away pitch on three strikeouts.
The cutter was his second-most used pitch of the night, and it also saw an uptick (0.9 mph) in average velocity, while getting him his highest called strike plus whiff rate at 38 percent.
âI thought that the cutter was really good,â Mendoza said. âHe was pretty good. Thatâs exciting there.âÂ
Of course, three batters in the third inning cost him, as he left a few pitches up in the zone, allowing a double and a single on the fastball before Ivan Herrera got a bit of a hanging slider for a two-run double.
âHindsight is 20/20,â Senga said. âItâs a mixture of pitch selection [and] location, but at the end of the day, giving up the first runs in the game isnât always a good sign. So thatâs something to work out.â
But that was his only blemish of the night as he didnât allow a hit over his final 12 outs. And the positives far outweighed the negatives, especially when factoring in LuisRobert Jr.âs misplays in center, which accounted for the first hit of the third and allowed a runner to advance into scoring position on an errant throw after the second.Â
And from where Senga ended last season â a 6.56 ERA as he allowed 29 runs (26 earned) over 35.2 innings over his final eight starts before being sent to the minors â his performance in the first start of the 2026 campaign represented a positive step.Â
âThe last time I was out on the mound and in the dugout, I had to be thinking about my body and making sure itâs gonna do what I need it to do, but on the flip side, today, I didnât have to worry about any of that,â Senga said. âI can face the hitters, and it really felt like Iâm a starting pitcher again.â
All of that tracked with what the Mets saw from him during the spring, and that is what the skipper is expecting.
âIf heâs healthy, weâre gonna see that a lot,â Mendoza said. âI think a lot of guys saw [the] 2023 [version]. We just gotta make sure that he recovers well, and then that he continues to feel good. Because that was electric there.â
Senga called it a âgreat start to the yearâ that had him feeling much more like a pitcher.
âBeing out there, and I can start to deduce, âWhat is this hitter thinking? What are they looking for? Whatâs something that theyâre not looking for?ââ he said. âBeing out there and able to do that, itâs a good feeling. Iâm excited.â
