Author: MLB Baseball News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games

PHOENIX — Well, maybe Munetaka Murakami won’t have a difficult time making that transition from Japan to Major League Baseball after all.

In the meantime, is he ever making a whole lot of teams look foolish for ignoring him in free agency.

Murakami made more history Tuesday night by homering for the fourth consecutive game in the Chicago White Sox’s 11-5 rout over the Arizona Diamondbacks — a 434-foot shot —going where no Japanese player has ever gone before.

He is not only the first Japanese-born player to hit nine homers in his first 23 games, but also the first player since at least 1900 to produce nine homers and more than 20 walks in the first 23 games of a career.

The only Japanese players who have ever homered in four consecutive games at any juncture in their career are three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs All-Star outfielder Seiya Suzuki.

MUNETAKA MURAKAMI HOMERS FOR A 4TH STRAIGHT GAME! pic.twitter.com/68FsSqpqi1

— MLB (@MLB) April 22, 2026

Murakami, 26, is looking just like the dude who was Nippon Professional Baseball’s premier slugger, breaking the legendary Sadaharu Oh’s single-season home run record with 56 homers as a 22-year-old, and winning two MVP awards.

Sure, the season is just three weeks old, but the strikeouts and swing-and-miss rates that spiked since his historic 2022 season, with teams concerned whether he’d make enough contact to even provide power, now are regretting that they allowed the White Sox to virtually steal Murakami with a modest two-year, $34 million contract.

Murakami is soft-spoken and humble about his early heroics, saying he simply is happy that he’s contributing, but his bat is doing a whole lot of talking.

Murakami is hitting .234 with nine homers — just one behind MLB leader Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros — with 17 RBI and a .978 OPS. He has struck out 33 times in 97 plate appearances, but he has also walked 22 times, giving him a .398 on-base percentage.

He is everything the White Sox could have imagined, and much more.

After a truly insane nine innings of baseball, the White Sox (9-14) won their second game in a row, taking the first game of the series against the Diamondbacks (13-10), 11-5. The South Side bats were on fire, the pitching was solid, and the defense was making diving plays all over the place — it would probably be easier if I told you what didn’t happen. It’s been a minute since I was this excited watching the Chicago White Sox play baseball, so bear with me as I am still slightly in shock.

Outhitting the D-backs 14-8, the Good Guys smashed six of those for extra bases: a double, triple, and four home runs. Although they exploded for 11 runs, they did still manage to go 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base, but we’re not talking about that right now. Nearly everyone got a hit, except for Everson Pereira and Reese McGuire, who still managed to drive in at least one run. There was so much offensive production from this team tonight that half of the lineup (five batters) produced multi-hit games.

Sean Burke mostly cruised through his start and was able to maintain control, though the same couldn’t be said for righthander Merrill Kelly. The Good Guys nearly batted through the order in the top of the first, and they wasted no time pouring runs on Kelly and the Diamondbacks, dropping a four-spot to give Burke plenty of cushion before he even threw a pitch. The Sox immediately caused trouble to start the game with consecutive base hits from Andrew Benintendi and Munetaka Murakami, and Miguel Vargas walked to load the bases. Keeping his momentum up from Sunday after mashing a long ball, Colson Montgomery squared one up and ripped a two-run double to center to give the South Siders a two-run lead, 2-0. They tacked on two more after a sacrifice fly from Everson Pereira, and Sam Antonacci drove in his first major league run with an RBI triple to make it 4-0, Good Guys.

If you thought the first inning was fun, the second was even better. Murakami continued to showcase his prowess at the plate and kicked off a two-out rally by smashing his fourth home run in as many games, joining some solid company as just the third Japanese-born player ever to homer four games in a row. Have a freaking week, Mune:

To really pour salt into Kelly’s gaping wound, Vargas followed up Mune’s moonshot with a line drive homer to left, and Montgomery clobbered a 440-foot tank to center to give the Sox a seven-run lead.

BACK.

TO BACK.

TO-BACK!

With seven runs to work with, Burke simply just had to lock in and throw strikes, and he pretty much did just that. It also helped that the South Siders added an eighth run in the top of the fifth on a Reese McGuire sacrifice fly. Burke had gotten into some hot water in the bottom of the first, but cleaned up after himself. Ketel Marte drove a leadoff base hit, making it to second a few moments later on a wild pitch to get into scoring position. A swinging bunt pulled Burke over to the first base line, and he was able to tag the runner and get the double play at the plate to end the inning as Marte was trying to sneak a run in.

Burke was otherwise scoreless through three and was efficient overall in his six innings. Geraldo Perdomo tripled to begin the fourth and subsequently scored on an RBI ground out for Arizona’s first run of the game. Just two runs allowed on five hits — including a solo home run from Alek Thomas in the fifth — and one walk while striking out three. Burke has now lowered his ERA from 4.43 to 4.10.

To help Burke and the pitching staff out, the defense was also excellent and definitely helped keep some Arizona runs from scoring, especially as the ninth inning got a little dicey. Antonacci had made a nice sliding catch out in left, and Pereira was all over the place, laying out twice for two different balls to rob a couple of base hits, making the catches flawlessly. This play, especially in the seventh, was key to shutting down any momentum that the Diamondbacks were building up, as this almost surely would have been a triple had Pereira not caught it:

Out of the bullpen, Lucas Sims tossed a hitless inning thanks to Pereira bailing him out, as the two baserunners reached base on balls, though he did strike out one. For the final two innings, righthander Osvaldo Bido made his first appearance in a White Sox uniform, picked up on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Atlanta Braves last week. Bido walked two batters but was otherwise decent in the eighth, and he fortunately didn’t have to worry too much about the lead since the South Siders tagged on three more runs in the ninth.

After checking his first MLB RBI off the list earlier in the game, Antonacci decided to cross off his first major league homer: an inside-the-park home run. The rookie ripped a ball down the left field line that ended up sort of hitting the ball boy, but Lourdes Gurriel Jr. gave up on the play, likely thinking that it would be called a ground-rule double or interference. Who knows.

Since the top of the inning was weird, the bottom half had to follow suit. Arizona started to rally, and it seemed like the game wasn’t ever going to end. Will Venable clearly didn’t want to go to the bullpen for a couple of outs with a nine-run lead, and I can not blame him for that, but Bido was struggling to throw strikes, and when he did, the D-backs were really starting to catch up to him. After two base hits, he gave up a garbage-time three-run bomb to Ildemaro Vargas, who extended his hitting streak to 19, right in the nick of time. Though Bido walked a couple more batters, he eventually was able to get out of it to close out the game, officially crediting Burke with his first win of the season.

In the words of Jack Sommers, regression is a harsh mistress. And the past 2 games the Dbacks have played, there couldn’t have possibly been more regression. This game seemed like a game where absolutely nothing went the Dbacks way and everything the White Sox’s way. From baseballs getting stuck in Nolan Arrenado’s mitt, to inside the park home runs due to golden glover interference. The Dbacks could absolutely not catch a break in this game.

The starting rotation may have been a storyline of the early season, but the Dbacks have now allowed 12 runs in the previous 2 first innings. Merrill Kelly flat out stunk in this one allowing 4 ER in the first inning and 3 consecutive home runs to put the Dbacks into a 7 run deficit almost immediately.

The offense was able to come up with 5 runs tonight, however they should’ve come up with a lot more. Dbacks had leadoff hitters on base 6 of the 9 innings tonight, a 45.5% hard hit percentage and an xBA of .277. The White Sox defense seemed to be positioned perfectly all night to take hits away from the Arizona offense. It felt like almost every single inning there would be some base traffic followed by a diving catch in the outfield or a snared line drive by a White Sox infielder. Certainly a frustrating loss for the fans and the team, however with slightly better luck the score could’ve certainly been much closer.

About the only positive from tonight’s game may have been the the bullpen did a good job of holding the White Sox in check. They had to really shoulder the load tonight because of Kelly’s ineffectiveness, and they did a pretty good job of doing just that silencing the White Sox offense to mostly singles the rest of the game.

In addition, Ildemaro Vargas continued his hitting streak in this one with a 3-run home run in the 9^th inning. This marks the 16^th straight game he has hit safely in to begin the season. What an accomplishment!

As if this game wasn’t already lopsided enough against the Dbacks favor due to batted ball luck, things really got ridiculous in the 9^th inning when a ball was hit down the 3^rd base line that was clearly interfered with by the golden glover and the umpire team ruled that the play wasn’t reviewable despite the challenge by Torey Lovullo. This was the second time in the past 3 games a golden glover interfered with a ball in play. The official scoring came back as an inside the park home run. Clearly one of the most bizarre plays you will see and a clear head scratcher as to why that play wasn’t reviewable. Home plate umpire Doug Eddings had already had himself a game by not allowing several players to challenge ball strike calls, and then he didn’t allow Torey to challenge the clearly blown call by the 3^rd base ump.

Obviously none of the above matters a whole lot when your starting pitcher allows 7 runs in the first 2 innings, however nothing much was going the Dbacks way tonight. There is still time to salvage this series to maintain their series winning streak, however it doesn’t appear as thought the White Sox are going to just roll over and just let them take it. The Dbacks are going to have to do a better job this season of playing when they have expectations on them to win, something this team has struggled with in previous seasons.

New jerseys of new, losing streaks of old. One was introduced, and another stayed the same on Tuesday night in Mizzou baseball’s 11-4 loss against SIUE at Taylor Stadium. After two straight SEC series, which have now accumulated to two sweeps and seven straight losses, Mizzou’s offensive struggles reached their compounding point, accumulating just five hits against the Cougars.

The Tigers started well from the plate, with a lead-off homer from Blaize Ward, his second over the last four games and of his freshman season as a Tiger. Missouri bats continued to slowly chip away at SIUE pitching, as catcher Juliomar Campos’ RBI double and an infield RBI single by Eric Maisonet gave the two Puerto Ricans with an RBI apiece and a 3-0 Missouri lead by the bottom of the fourth.

The main difference between SIUE and Mizzou? The Cougars’ offensive production wasn’t slow but surely, and it wasn’t spread out; it was condensed to just two innings of pure offensive devastation. A three-and-eight run slot in the sixth and eighth innings was too much to overcome for Kerrick Jackson’s squad, on a night where the debut of brand-new COMO jerseys and free admission aimed to set a more positive evening tone for the Tigers.

The visitors did exactly that from the sixth inning onward, scoring 10 runs against the Tigers’ bullpen, to the one run in response by Mizzou, which came on a Kam Durnin sac fly in the bottom of the sixth.

“[From an offensive standpoint] just not consistent and focused in what their approach needed to be,” Jackson said. “We had flashes and had a couple of guys that were consistent on the day with how they went about their business. But again, just getting anxious. The worst thing for us was Blaize hitting a home run in the first, and the reason why that was the worst is that that’s his second home run of the year. Everybody else after that thought I should hit a home run too.”

THE INFAMOUS EIGHTH

After the Cougars scrapped their way back from a 3-0 deficit, Kam Durnin’s sacrifice fly gave the Tigers a one-run lead. In the space of an inning, two in-game replays, and what felt like a slow-motion collapse, SIUE turned a one‑run deficit into an 11–4 lead before the Tigers recorded the third out.

An error on a routine grounder by Ward at second base resulted in Gage Franck reaching first. The inning grew more complicated from there for Tigers reliever Juan Villarreal, who didn’t end up earning any earned runs due to the error by Ward.

A passed ball moved Franck up, a balk pushed him to third, and suddenly, Juan Villarreal was working with a runner ninety feet away and no real margin for error. He walked Joshua Heyder, and SIUE brought the game even when Ethan Willoughby lifted a sacrifice fly to right.

Missouri still had a chance to settle things, but the Cougars kept stacking up runs. Mack Mitchell jumped ahead in the count against Villarreal and turned a 3–0 pitch into a two‑run homer that traveled well over the left field fence.

Brenden Fry followed with a double to right‑center, prompting a move to the bullpen, but the momentum didn’t shift. A pitching change by Jackson led to PJ Green didn’t stop pinch hitter Cooper Eggert from attacking the first pitch he saw and sent another two‑run shot out to right.

Even after the opening onslaught, Missouri couldn’t slow the inning down. A walk and a wild pitch set up another run when Daniel Gierer punched a single through the left side. Another wild pitch moved Gierer up a base, and a throwing error on a comebacker to Green brought in yet another unearned run.

By the time the Tigers finally recorded the third out, SIUE had turned a one‑run game into an 11–4 lead, fueled by a mix of hard contact, free bases, and defensive mistakes. A bullpen game for the Tigers rotation ultimately led to seven total pitchers being used, starting with Dane Bjorn and ending with a very sudden and devastating end in the infamous eighth.

“Guys come in and throw strikes, but you also need to execute pitches,” Jackson said. [SIUE] was aggressive. Their ball club was aggressive, and we threw pitches in the zone, and they attacked them. Hopefully, if anything, our guys are watching that thinking to swing the bat. If a guy’s coming in, he’s coming in to throw strikes, and if he’s gonna throw strikes, then you could be on time, that’s what they were.”

THE MENTAL ERRORS

What was going wrong for the Mizzou offense and defense was compounded by mental mistakes that drove the point home of Tuesday evening being one to forget for the Tigers. Two players, Isaiah Frost and Juliomar Campos, were sent to the bench mid-game by Jackson. Jamal George replaced Campos to begin the fourth, and Donovan Jordan replaced Frost to begin the ninth.

The common theme? Errors on the base-paths. After a Tyler Macon walk occurred in the bottom half of the second, Campos inexplicably wandered too far off of second base and was caught in between the baselines between third and second, thrown out at third, by Jose Fichera behind the plate.

Frost, after reaching base on a hit-by-pitch in the eighth, was doubled off at first base following a line drive hit by Eric Maisonet. Jackson was critical of both of these moments post-game when I asked about the thought process behind the two substitutions.

“[The subsitutions] were based on stupidity.” Jackson said. “You can’t just take off running when you’re Campos in a situation where we just drew a two out walk, where were you going? Isaiah Frost, we talk all the time about when a line drive is hit, you go back on a line drive. This is the second time that as a fifth year senior, he’s looked to advance, and you just can’t do bad things on the baseball field, and then think that you’re still going to have the opportunity to be out there. If you’re going to do that, then just come out and let me put somebody who is hopefully is a little bit more mentally locked in.”

UP NEXT

Missouri turns its attention back to Southeastern Conference play later this week. The Tigers stay home to open a three‑game series against No. 24 Arkansas on Thursday night at Taylor Stadium, with first pitch set for 7 p.m. The matchup begins another stretch of conference play where Mizzou will look to steady its bullpen and bounce back from its seven-game losing streak.

A’s 5, Mariners 2

Good: Cal Raleigh, +.25 WPA

Bad: J.P. Crawford, Eduard Bazardo, -.13 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day:

The Mets fans who showed up to Citi Field on Tuesday night were none too happy when they walked out of the Queens ballpark, and they voiced their frustration throughout a disastrous night.

The Mets lost to the Twins 5-3 after holding a three-run lead over the Twins for their 12th straight loss. 

Mets reliever Austin Warren getting MVP chants from the Mets crowd after Devin Williams gave up the lead pic.twitter.com/Ha1gGTorGr

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 22, 2026

After Devin Williams imploded in the ninth and allowed the go-ahead runs to score, the Mets called in Austin Warren to try and clean up the mess.

After he struck out his second batter of the inning, Mets fans began sarcastically chanting “M-V-P” at the right-hander. 

The small but vocal group of Mets fans that had started the tongue-in-cheek chant summed up the frustration of Mets fans on Tuesday night. 

Warren did manage to end the pain by getting the last out of the inning and capping the damage to just a 5-3 deficit. 

Video from inside the stadium showed Citi Field nearly empty by the time the final out was recorded. 

And the fans that did remain all the way until the end were loudly booing as the Mets left the field. 

The Mets’ 12-game losing streak is the longest the franchise has had since the team lost 12 straight back in 2002. 

“We’re all very aware of it,” Francisco Lindor told reporters after the latest defeat. “But at the end of the day, every day is new. We have to come out and bring it. It’s one of those where you know what’s happening and everybody has the urgency of winning and trying to do their best. You just got to learn from it and move on.”

Mendoza told reporters afterward that “it sucks” after the loss. 

The Mets have two more games against the Twins before they begin a three-game series against the Rockies in Queens.

This time, the boos were reserved for him. They followed Devin Williams as he walked off the field and toward the Mets dugout, his latest implosion scattered around the bases and evident on the scoreboard.

There were mock cheers — “MVP” and “Aus-tin War-ren” chants — when Austin Warren entered in the ninth inning after Williams was pulled and proceeded to record three consecutive strikeouts.

Because for the third consecutive appearance, Williams, handed $51 million and the Mets closer role in the offseason to prove his brutal year in The Bronx was an anomaly, delivered a disaster.

This time, in the 5-3 loss to the Twins on Tuesday that marked a 12th consecutive Mets defeat, he allowed the final two runs on one hit and three walks, bringing his ERA to 9.95 this season.

He entered a tie game and failed to record an out, adding another chapter to the Mets bullpen woes this month.

“I felt a little out of sync mechanically,” Williams said. “Couldn’t really land my changeup for strikes, so it was tough to try and just beat guys with just the fastball.”

Williams entered play with a career ERA of 4.95 in March and April, and around this time last year, he was demoted from the Yankees closer role they’d just acquired him for in the first place.

It didn’t take long for those issues to appear again with the Mets, as he allowed a grand slam on April 15 against the Dodgers and then blew the save Sunday against the Cubs.

And against the Twins, Williams struggled with command. Three of his five batters had three-ball counts. He struggled with the challenge of being a one-dimensional pitcher when his signature “Airbender” change kept missing the zone.

He walked Josh Bell on four pitchers. He walked Ryan Jeffers. Mark Vientos couldn’t record a force out on a sacrifice bunt, which loaded the bases. Then, Luke Keaschall singled to left and Matt Wallner walked, and the Mets lost any chance to snap their lengthy skid — their longest since 2002 — in the bottom of the frame.

“Once you start walking people,” manager Carlos Mendoza said, “you’re in dangerous territory there.”

Instead, Warren mockingly became the star of the ninth inning. He was the one who entered and stranded the bases loaded.

This was the risk when the Mets signed Williams. There was always the danger that his struggles with the Yankees last season weren’t a fluke.

Those concerns have only continued to reappear. And Tuesday was just the latest instance.

SAN FRANCISCO –– Shohei Ohtani saved his on-base streak with an infield single in the seventh inning on Tuesday night.

But in the Dodgers’ 3-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants, it wasn’t enough to spur a late comeback.

By the time Ohtani came up for his final at-bat in Tuesday’s series-opener at Oracle Park, it had been a long night for both himself and his team.

The Dodgers had fallen behind early with a comedy of errors in a three-run first inning. They had barely threatened offensively outside of a four-walk rally in the fourth.

Ohtani himself was hitless at that point, having struck out his first two times up before hitting a harmless flyout in the fifth inning.

But then, for a fleeting moment, he gave the club renewed life.

After Alex Freeland had drawn a two-out walk in the at-bat before him, Ohtani made some club history with his ground ball to shortstop, flying down the line to beat out a bang-bang play at first.

With that, Ohtani had his on-base streak to 53 games dating back to last year –– tying him with Shawn Green for the longest on-base streak in the Dodgers’ Los Angeles era (Green reached safely in 53 consecutive games during the 2000 season), and moving him five back of Duke Snider for the franchise’s all-time mark (which Snider set back in Brooklyn in 1954).

“It speaks to his talent,” manager Dave Roberts said of the four-time MVP, who has kept the run going despite an 11-for-43 grind at the plate over his last 11 games. “He’s really not hit his stride yet. He’s really not comfortable with his swing. It just shows that he’s an impact player. He’s getting on base.”

Unfortunately for the Dodgers (16-7), they couldn’t capitalize in a lackluster offensive performance, en route to suffering their third loss in the last four games.

Even before then, the team had wasted key chances –– none bigger than the inning-ending double-play that Alex Call grounded into with the bases loaded in the fourth.

Things only got worse after Ohtani’s infield hit put two aboard in the seventh. 

Kyle Tucker struck out to extinguish that threat. The Dodgers left another runner stranded on second in the eighth. And overall, they finished a three-hit, seven-walk night with eight baserunners squandered and 0-for-5 mark with runners in scoring position. 

“I think we took good at-bats overall, we grinded them out,” Call said. “Ultimately, we just didn’t get the big hit when we needed it.”

Forcing Ohtani’s historic moment to come in defeat.

What it means

Yet again, the Dodgers didn’t have to worry about their opening at closer in the wake of Edwin Díaz’s injury.

After blowing out the Rockies in their first game without their $69 million offseason signing, Tuesday’s loss also came without a save opportunity.

Despite that, the team’s ninth-inning plans remained a topic of conversation prior to first pitch.

Roberts reiterated that the club will go closer-by-committee for now, with several relievers in the mix for save opportunities. But when he was pressed on who he thinks will get the most, he finally relented.

“I would say probably Tanner Scott, if I had to guess,” he said.

That might send a shiver down some Dodger fans’ spines, after Scott converted only 23 of 33 save opportunities as the club’s primary closer last year.

However, the left-hander has gotten off to a better start this year, lowering his ERA to 0.93 on Tuesday by pitching a scoreless inning in the eighth.

Who’s hot

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who responded to the three-run first inning with some of his most dominant pitching this season.

After the Giants took their 3-0 lead –– we’ll get to how they did so in a minute –– Yamamoto didn’t allow another run in a seven-inning, 101-pitch outing. He finished with seven strikeouts, including three in a row to punctuate his night in the seventh. He retired 19 of his final 22 batters, leaving his ERA at 2.48 through five starts this year.

“I think it shows why he’s the staff ace,” Roberts said. “For him to manage the pitch count, give up three runs and then go seven innings and give us a chance to win the game, says a lot about him.”

Who’s not

The Dodgers’ defense, especially in Tuesday’s first inning.

The three-run frame started with an error from shortstop Hyeseong Kim, who airmailed a throw into the dugout to put Yamamoto under immediate stress. It was bookended by a flare to right field Kyle Tucker couldn’t get to. 

But the worst moment came on a fly ball in between.

With the bases loaded, and one run already across in the inning, Call and Teoscar Hernández collided in left-center field, miscommunicating on what should’ve been a routine play.

Hernández initially erred in left, breaking back on a ball that wound up falling well in front of him. Then, as he and Call converged, neither heard the other trying to call to make the play. It resulted in a violent collision that Call got the worst of. And though he managed to hang on to the catch, he had no chance to hold the runner at third in what resulted in a sacrifice fly. 

“Certainly not the way you want to start the series,” Robert said.

Up next

Shohei Ohtani (2-0, 0.50 ERA) will take the mound for the Dodgers as they continue their series against the Giants on Wednesday. And this time, he will be back in the batting order as designated hitter –– though Roberts took a long pause before confirming that in his pregame address Tuesday.

Roberts said the team will still look for opportunities where they have Ohtani only pitch on his start days, as they did last week while he was nursing a shoulder bruise.”It takes a little bit of a toll,” Roberts said of the days Ohtani plays both ways. “He certainly has managed it really well, but if it makes sense, I’ll have that conversation with him.”

For Wednesday, however, Roberts said he felt good with Ohtani hitting and pitching, even with a day game looming on Thursday.

Four games ago, the Dodgers were on a pace to win 128 games. They would win the National League West by, what, 20 or 30 games?

Today, for the first time this season, the Dodgers do not own sole possession of first place in the NL West.

They are tied for first with their rivals: the San Diego Padres.

On a cold and intermittently rainy night in San Francisco, the Dodgers’ bats were cold, and most productive when not used. In a 3-1 loss to the Giants, the Dodgers scored their only run by bunching four walks in one hitless inning.

In the first inning, the Giants tagged Yoshinobu Yamamoto for three runs before he had recorded the second out. Yamamoto righted himself by retiring the next 11 batters he faced, but the Dodgers lost for the third time in four games.

The shine on the Dodgers’ most historic rivalry has faded, right along with the Giants. San Francisco has posted one winning record in the last nine seasons, and the chants of “Let’s Go Dodgers!” at Oracle Park were more spirited than the chants of “Beat L.A.!” until the last couple of innings.

Read more:Who's the Dodgers closer? Tanner Scott ... maybe

The Dodgers collected three hits, never more than one in an inning. They had a prime chance to score in the seventh, when Alex Freeland walked and Shohei Ohtani singled to put the would-be tying runs on base with two out.

Kyle Tucker then struck out, for the third consecutive at-bat.

In 28 at-bats this season with runners in scoring position, Tucker is batting .214, with no extra-base hits.

The walk did extend Ohtani’s on-base streak to 53 games, tying Shawn Green for the longest in Los Angeles Dodgers history. The franchise record: 58, by Hall of Famer Duke Snider for the 1954 Brooklyn Dodgers.

Yamamoto finished his evening’s work by striking out the side. He completed seven innings for the second consecutive start, something he did not accomplish until September last season.

He was succeeded on the mound by Tanner Scott, whom manager Dave Roberts had said before the game might be the first choice in a save situation. In this situation, with the heart of the Giants’ order due up in the eighth inning and two left-handed hitters included, Roberts summoned the left-handed Scott.

Scott worked a scoreless inning, lowering his earned-run average to 0.93.

Read more:Dodgers Dugout: The first problem of the season has arrived

The first inning was ugly. The first batter singled, then advanced to second base on a throwing error by shortstop Hyeseong Kim. The second batter singled, the third batter walked, and the fourth batter singled home a run.

Casey Schmitt then hit a very catchable fly ball to left-center field, where left fielder Teoscar Hernández and center fielder Alex Call tried to catch it. Call did, but he slammed into Hernandez and tumbled to the ground. He did get up in time to return the ball to the infield, but the Giants scored a run on what was scored as a sacrifice fly, then another run on a dying fly ball that dropped just in front of Tucker for a single.

That put the Giants up 3-0 with one out, marking the first time in five starts this season that Yamamoto had given up more than two runs in a game. The next two outs were long outs, one to the warning track and one almost as far, balls that might have carried for extra-base hits on a warmer night. After throwing 26 pitches in that first inning, Yamamoto threw 28 over the next three.

In all, Yamamoto gave up six hits over seven innings, striking out seven. All of his first five starts have been quality starts; no other major league pitcher has more than four.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

No one is coming to save the Mets. Rosters cannot be overhauled in April.

Yes, Juan Soto is returning from the injured list Wednesday. And yes, at times during their 12-game streak, this Mets offense looked a mere Juan Soto shy of normalcy.

But that time was a few series ago, when at least some things were going right. After a huge home run from Francisco Lindor and a would-be Nolan McLean no-hitter evaporated into a 12th straight loss Tuesday, it is safe to say nothing is going right for the Mets anymore.

“It sucks,” Carlos Mendoza said.

No one will ever know how many times out of 10 this roster David Stearns assembled for Mendoza would start this badly. It is not hard to imagine a universe in which Bo Bichette started hot or Jorge Polanco slid in seamlessly or Brett Baty translated a promising spring into a big April or the return of Kodai Senga’s velocity led to the reemergence of an ace...and so on. But none of that happened in this universe, which has thus far proven to be home to several worst-case scenarios at once.

For example: In this universe, Devin Williams looks vulnerable to New York again, not inoculated against it. Tuesday night, with the game tied in the top of the ninth, the All-Star walked the first two hitters he faced. A bunt loaded the bases. A bouncer over third that would have been an easy out or two with the infield back hopped over the drawn-in left side and gave the Twins their first lead. Another walk doubled it for them. Williams blew a save in the Mets' last loss, which came to the Cubs at Wrigley on Sunday. The outing before that, he surrendered a grand slam.

“Honestly,” Williams said. “I would say all three outings were [caused by] something different.”

Maybe, given that Edwin Diaz needs elbow surgery, the Mets would have found themselves facing ninth-inning questions even if that part of their offseason had gone differently. But as things stand now, they must turn to Williams and other internal options for answers. No teams are selling yet. The Mets, who can rightfully assume they will not play this way forever, might not even know exactly what they should be buying. Because almost no one in their lineup is performing as intended.

Quite clearly, the Mets' biggest problem is their so-far relentless inability to sustain offensive pressure beyond a few innings a game. And in that way, Soto should help. The Mets have scored a total of 22 runs over the course of the streak, or 1.83 runs per game. Soto has 702 career RBI in 1,104 career games — or roughly .635 runs batted in per game. In other words, if Soto were to produce runs at his normal rate upon returning, he would increase the Mets' nightly run production by 33.3 percent.

Obviously, that math ignores some statistical nuance. Still, those numbers are illustrative: Soto can increase the Mets' offensive production dramatically. But even if he adds exactly six tenths of a run driven in per game, the Mets could then count on just fewer than 2.5 runs per game – at least if they keep scoring as rarely as they have during the streak. No other team in baseball is averaging fewer than 3.30 runs per game this season.

“We can’t wait for [Juan] to come back and do his thing. At the end of the day, I hope everybody doesn’t put all the pressure on him,” Lindor said Tuesday. “That would be a little unfair. But I know he’s going to help us a ton. He’s a top three-hitter in the league.”

The Mets had four hits Tuesday night, the fifth time during the streak they have been held to five or fewer. They own the lowest on-base percentage in baseball. Only two teams have hit fewer home runs. Maybe in other versions of this season, a lineup composed of these players would fare better than it has during the first month of this season, when everyone is struggling at once. Maybe, a recovery to a better offensive mean is inevitable.

But right now, it feels impossible. Soto is coming to help, but no one is coming to save them. There is, as Lindor put it, only one way for the 2026 Mets to end this spiral, let alone become the first team in history to lose 12 straight games and still make the postseason: “By winning.”

Everyone is getting their shots in at the Mets these days. 

The Twins took to social media on Tuesday night after they defeated the Amazins 5-3 in Queens to poke fun at the Mets’ 12th straight loss, which is now the franchise’s longest since it lost a dozen straight in 2002. 

“Things you can get in a dozen,” the Twins official account wrote in a post on X. “Eggs, Roses, Mets losses.”

Things you can get in a dozen:
– Eggs
– Roses
– Mets losses pic.twitter.com/qACxaxYOn4

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) April 22, 2026

The Mets have not won a game since April 7, when Ronny Mauricio hit a walk-off single to right field in the 10th inning as the Amazin’s defeated the Diamondbacks 4-3.

Since then, things have reached a critical point for the Mets as the team reached a new low in 2026 on Tuesday night and found themselves in a spot that doesn’t provide much hope going forward. 

The Mets blew a three-run lead and their offense completely shut down after the fifth inning, when they couldn’t produce another hit. 

The Twins aren’t the only team that has used social media to clown the Mets’ predicament. 

MLS club Charlotte FC, made their own joke at the Mets’ expense earlier in the day while posting a recap video from their win over New York City FC. 

NYCFC call Citi Field home on occasion when their home matches conflict with the Yankees’ schedule at Yankee Stadium. 

“Wins at Citi Field since April 8,” the post started off before noting that the Mets have zero wins there and NYCFC have zero wins there. 

The latest Mets loss casts a further pall over the baseball season in Queens and will likely further calls for changes to be made, namely a change at manager after Carlos Mendoza has not been able to turn things around. 

Wins at Citi Field since April 8:

– Mets: 0
– NYCFC: 0
– Charlotte FC: 1

End to End in full : https://t.co/9Dl7DpqiRNpic.twitter.com/dmK8KAflCz

— Charlotte FC (@CharlotteFC) April 21, 2026

The Mets face the Twins on Wednesday and Thursday before beginning a three-game series with the Rockies. 

Superstar Juan Soto is expected back from his calf injury on Wednesday.

Patrick Corbin turned in a second pretty good start in a row today, giving the offence time to overcome a slow start. Jeff Hoffman continues to be disturbingly combustible, but the rest of the bullpen did good work. Louis Varland picked up his first MLB save, and you have to wonder whether he’ll start to get some more opportunities with the way he’s been dominating.

Amazingly, this was their first series win since sweeping Sacramento to open the season. They’ve dug a hole, but this little three game win streak hopefully represents the turning point.

We had a scoreless pitchers’ duel for the first half of tonight’s game. The Jays got runners in each of the first three innings against Jack Kochanowicz, but couldn’t score. Ernie Clement lined a single in the first, and Jesus Sanchez and Daulton Varsho singled in the second, while Kochanowicz hit Lukes in the third. A pair double plays helped erase all the runners, though. An Eloy Jimenez walk and Varsho’s second hit put a pair on in the fourth, but again they were stranded. Kahanowicz faced the minimum for the first time in the fifth.

Patrick Corbin, on the other hand, retired the first six Angels hitters before walking Vaughn Grissom to open the third. The Jays got their own double play, though, on a nice backhand flip by Clement and a strong turn by Andres Gimenez. Corbin again allowed no runners in the fourth.

Finally, Oswald Peraza broke up the no-hitter with one out in the fifth, on a grounder into left field. Nolan Schanuel followed with another single to put runners on the corners. That set the table for Grissom to break the stalemate with a sac fly to centre field, putting LA in front 1-0. Corbin then walked Logan O’Hoppe, but got a ground out to escape the jam.

Vlad reached on a throwing error after grounding to third with one out in the sixth. Sanchez pulled a grounder through the gap into right to advance him to third, putting them in the same position the Angels had been in in the previous half inning. And like the Angels, they got a sac fly to plate their first run. This one came courtesy of Eloy Jimenez and tied the game at one. Sam Bachman was called from the bullpen to take over for Kochanowicz. He got Varsho swinging to preserve the tie.

Spencer Miles took over in the bottom of the sixth, working a clean inning including a strikeout and a nifty bare-hand on a Mike Trout broken bat tapper back to the mound. Bachman remained in the game, taking care of business against the bottom third of the Jays order.

In the seventh, Gimenez made an amazing leaping grab on a broken bat liner by Jorge Soler for the first out. Peraza bunted for a single, prompting John Schneider to call on Mason Fluharty to face the lefty Schanuel. He got his man, and Brandon Valenzuela got Peraza at second to turn the strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play.

Drew Pomeranz took over for the eighth, and Schneider decided to get deep into his managerial bag to counter. Myles Straw pinch hit for Lukes and flew out to right, but Clement laced a double down the left field line. The Angels intentionally walked Guerrero to get to Lenyn Sosa, who was hitting for Sanchez. That proved to be a mistake, as Sosa doubled off the wall in right. Clement scored standing up, and Vlad narrowly beat the throw at the plate to put Toronto ahead 3-1. Davis Schneider came on to run for Sosa, and Jimenez hit a ground ball single to bring him around and increase the lead to three. I’ll admit using Straw to hit and Schneider to pinch run is not how I would have done it, but you can’t argue with the results. Tyler Rogers came on to protect the newly acquired lead, gettin his usual three easy ground outs.

Old friend Nick Sandlin pitched the ninth for the Angels and retired the Jays in order. In the bottom half, Jeff Hoffman had yet another meltdown. He struck out Zach Neto, but then Trout lined a single. Hoffman hit the next two batters to load the bases, then gave up a hard line single to Yoan Mondaca, plating one to make it 4-2. That finally prompted Schneider to give Louis Varland a chance to pick up his first major league save. It took him one pitch to get Schanuel to ground into a double play.

Jays of the Day: Varland (0.33), Sosa (0.31), Sanchez (0.12), Corbin (0.12)

Less So: Hoffman (-0.29), Okamoto (-0.18), Gimenez (-0.12)

It’s a day game tomorrow, with first pitch at 3:07pm ET. Eric Lauer (1-3, 7.13) will look to keep working his way back into form, while Jose Soriano (5-0, 0.28) looks to continue what’s been a breakout year for the Angels. After that it’s a travel day, with the Jays coming home to host the Guardians over the weekend.

The highest-scoring team in the majors managed only three hits on Tuesday night at Oracle Park, and when the Giants scored three runs in the first inning that proved to be enough to beat the Dodgers 3-1 in the series opener in San Francisco.

Chaos reigned in the bottom of the first inning, beginning with Hyeseong Kim airmailing a throw from shortstop into the Giants dugout. Yoshinobu Yamamoto issued only his fourth walk of the season and loaded the bases before recording an out. All three runners scored during the four-hit frame, including on a sacrifice fly in which Teoscar Hernández collided with Alex Call, who started in center field with Andy Pages getting his first off day of the season (at least until pinch-hitting in the ninth.

But after that 26-pitch first inning, Yamamoto locked in, retiring 11 in a row and 16 out of 17 batters at one point, enough to get through seven innings without allowing another run, and on just 101 pitches to boot.

Yamamoto nearly gave up a fourth run thanks to a pair of two-out hits in the sixth, but Jung Hoo Lee’s mad dash around the bases in the rain was for naught, thrown out at home plate trying to score on a single.

Yamamoto followed this by striking out the side in the seventh inning, completing his night.

MLB teams through Monday had a .674 winning percentage when their starting pitcher completed at least six innings this season. The Dodgers are now 12-3 (.800) in those games after Tuesday’s loss. Two of the three losses are Yamamoto starts.

The Dodgers managed only one single off Landen Roupp, though they did make him work. He walked four batters in the fourth inning alone, though the Dodgers scored only once in the frame, which ended on a double play grounder by Call.

Roupp needed 106 pitches to complete five innings thanks in part to five walks, the most by any pitcher against the Dodgers this year. It might have been six walks, but Alex Freeland seemed allergic to challenging what appeared to a three-ball pitch outside the strike zone for the second time in three days. Roupp was able to limit the damage during his outing thanks to seven strikeouts.

It only took two batters after Roupp exited for a Dodger to reach second base on his own volition, thanks to a Teoscar Hernández one-out double into left field in the sixth inning. But Max Muncy struck out and Dalton Rushing flew out on the first pitch he saw to end that rare threat by the Dodgers on Tuesday.

Shohei Ohtani singled in the seventh inning, extending his on-base streak to 53 games, matching Shawn Green (2000) for the longest streak in Los Angeles Dodgers history. In modern franchise history (since 1900), only Duke Snider’s 58-game on-base streak in 1954 for Brooklyn is longer than Ohtani’s. It’s also the longest MLB on-base streak since Orlando Cabrera reached in 63 straight games for the Angels in 2006.

Ohtani’s single put another runner in scoring position, but Kyle Tucker struck out.

Los Angeles had the tying run either on base or at the plate in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, but was hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position on Tuesday, with three strikeouts.

Tuesday particulars

Home runs: none

WP — Landen Roupp (4-1): 5 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 5 walks, 7 strikeouts

LP — Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2-2): 7 IP, 6 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts

Sv — Ryan Walker (2): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts

Up next

Shohei Ohtani is back on the mound in the middle game of the series on Wednesday night (6:45 p.m.; SportsNet LA, MLB Network), with right-hander Tyler Mahle pitching for the Giants.