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What we learned as Ray's strong start, timely hits fuel win vs. Reds originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

• BOX SCORE

CINCINNATI — For five innings Sunday, Robbie Ray looked like he was going to put manager Bob Melvin and new pitching coach J.P. Martinez in a very uncomfortable position.

Ray was perfect through that point of his debut, and in any other month, his pitch count of 61 would not have been an issue. But this being the first time out, that meant Ray had only about 25-30 more before the Giants would have to make a decision. As it turned out, Ray wouldn’t make it out of the sixth. 

The finale in Cincinnati was a strange one, with both pitchers taking a no-hitter into the fifth and Ray flirting with perfection before a home run derby broke out on both sides. In the end, it was a 6-3 Giants win, which clinched a road series win to start their season. 

The first baserunner on either side didn’t come until the fifth, when Heliot Ramos hit a solo shot with one out. Matt Chapman, who had the usual Matt Chapman defensive game, made it 4-0 with a two-run blast but the Reds countered with two homers in the sixth. 

It was a bullpen game from there, and the Giants are confident that always will favor them this season, although this one came with a twist. It was Camilo Doval, not Ryan Walker, who got the ninth. Doval returned to the ninth by striking out Elly De La Cruz and he had a 1-2-3 inning. 

Loves A Debut

In his first appearance as a Giant last July, Ray threw five no-hit innings at Dodger Stadium. He was better than that Sunday, at least until he reached the sixth.

Gavin Lux ended the perfect game bid with a single up the middle and it unraveled from there. After a highlight-reel grab from Chapman prevented a double, Ray was hit with a pitch clock violation. Former Giant Austin Wynns followed that with a two-run homer to left that cut the deficit in half. 

The next batter, Matt McLain, hit a solo shot, and Ray was pulled after walking Santiago Espinal on four pitches. Ray went from perfecto watch to three earned in 5 1/3. He struck out four while leaning heavily on his four-seamer, which had fluctuating velocity. 

Ray picked up a new changeup in the offseason and worked on it often during the spring. He didn’t try it until the bottom of the third and threw 10 overall, just two of which landed for strikes. 

The Right Way

Two games against very different kinds of right-handed starters. Two different pitches. Two homers for Ramos. 

Martinez was sailing along until he threw a changeup down and away to Ramos, who reached for it and yanked it down the left field line. On a day when everything was getting knocked down by the wind early on, the ball had enough to get a half-dozen rows deep in left. It was Ramos’ second homer of the series, joining the blast he hit to right off a Hunter Greene fastball on Thursday. In the eighth Sunday, he added a 110-mph RBI single. 

Ramos didn’t even make his 2024 debut until the 38th game of the season and still hit 22 homers. He’s as good a bet as any Giant to break the 30-homer draught that goes back two decades. 

Circle of Trust

Saturday’s appearance was Lou Trivino’s first in the big leagues since 2022. He had a long road back from Tommy John surgery, but he signed a non-roster deal with the Giants in the offseason and easily won a bullpen job this spring. 

Trivino, who broke into the big leagues with Melvin’s Athletics, was sharp in a perfect eighth inning of Saturday’s loss, throwing 11 of 13 pitches for strikes. A day later, Melvin tasked him with holding a one-run lead in the seventh. He got a pair of groundouts and then a long fly ball to right. 

The Giants already had used Randy Rodriguez twice this series and Walker was unavailable due to back tightness, but still, it’s clear that Trivino will get high-leverage innings right away. 

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Turner and Realmuto out Sunday, could play home opener originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

WASHINGTON — Two of the Phillies’ four right-handed bats were out of the lineup Sunday afternoon, with Trea Turner sidelined again by a low back spasm and J.T. Realmuto missing the series finale at Nationals Park with a foot contusion.

Manager Rob Thomson described both absences as precautionary, and it sounds like they could both be in the lineup for Monday’s home opener against the Rockies.

“J.T. is still sore but it’s more of a precaution than anything,” Thomson said Sunday morning. “We’ll work on him during the game today. We could play him if anything happened to (Rafael) Marchan. And kind of the same thing with Trea. We’re shooting for those guys for tomorrow.”

Realmuto fouled a ball off his foot in his final at-bat Saturday and was removed in the seventh inning of a seven-run game. Turner was scratched an hour before that game after his back locked up fielding a grounder. The Phillies won, 11-6, to improve to 2-0.

Turner thinks the back spasm Saturday was caused by hip tightness late in camp.

“Maybe three or four days left in spring, my right hip,” he said. “Felt good playing, it was more sitting down or sleeping. It felt a little weird, but then when I played, it would feel fine. I think that turned into this.”

Without Turner and Realmuto, the Phillies started Edmundo Sosa at shortstop and Marchan behind the plate. Max Kepler was also out of the lineup against a lefty. Thomson had planned to start Kepler and sit Brandon Marsh against Mitchell Parker but reversed the decision after Marsh went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer on Saturday. The next time the Phillies face a left-handed starting pitcher is Wednesday, Colorado’s Kyle Freeland, and it sounds like Kepler will start that game with Marsh on the bench.

When their moment came to show the world what they were about, they were served a fastball over the middle of the plate.

And the Dodgers whiffed.

Stupid me, thinking they’d overcome their penchant for choking when they won the World Series last season.

The Dodgers have accepted an invitation from President Trump to visit the White House on April 7, the franchise of Jackie Robinson bending the knee to hateful forces similar to the ones they challenged when breaking their sport’s color barrier.

How pathetic. How spineless. More than anything, how hypocritical.

Read more:Dodgers will visit President Trump and the White House to celebrate World Series title

Eight days after their White House visit, the Dodgers will celebrate Jackie Robinson Day. They will insinuate, if not outright say, they are more than a baseball team. They will portray themselves as leaders of social progress. They will be full of it.

The Dodgers are embarking on the path of least resistance, and that’s not what leaders do. Leaders don’t cower in fear of ignorant extremists, no matter how many of them there are. Leaders do what is right and deal with the consequences.

Before the Dodgers’ home opener on Thursday, team president Stan Kasten made an unconvincing effort to reframe the discussion about the upcoming trip to the White House.

“This was something we discussed with all the players, all of whom wanted to go,” Kasten said. “Remember, everyone in here grew up wanting to be a world champion and all the things that come with it, and it comes with a champagne toast, silliness in the locker room, a parade, rings, an invitation to the White House. It’s what they all come to associate with being world champions. Everyone wanted to go, and so we did.”

In other words, Kasten would like for the Dodgers to be treated like just a baseball team when it comes to the White House visit. How convenient.

Read more:Plaschke: Honoring past, dominating present, unbeaten Dodgers shine in home opener

Asked about the discrepancy in the values promoted by his franchise and the Trump administration, Kasten replied, “This [has] nothing to do with politics. For everyone in this room, this is about what they get as their reward for being world champions, getting to the White House. I think there are probably people in this room who have different points of view on politics. No one thought this trip is about politics, it’s about celebrating their world championship.”

But this is about politics. Regardless of the Dodgers’ intentions, contributing to the normalization of Trump’s rhetoric and behavior is political. Pretending Trump is as harmless as the average president is political.

I don’t expect athletes or coaches to be informed about anything outside of their fields of work. I don’t expect them to understand how a president’s policies can affect everyday people. What I do expect is for an organization’s primary decision makers to see the larger picture and for individuals such as Kasten to embrace the responsibility of doing what’s right by the Dodgers’ legacy, whether his players like it or not. Kasten disagreed.

“You can’t separate me from the players,” he said. “I won’t let you do that.”

There are times such separation can be beneficial, however.

When the Dodgers announced plans in 2013 to stage their first Pride Night, management encountered resistance from some corners of the clubhouse. Management’s decision to overrule the players has resulted in the Dodgers earning a reputation as a gay-friendly organization.

Kasten didn’t want to hear any of that.

“You can do whatever you want on the subject,” he said. ‘I’m finished responding to you, and I thought I gave you a well-considered, clear-English-sentence set of answers. That’s all I can do for you. That’s all I’m going to do.”

But did Kasten appreciate how a significant part of his team’s fan base was disappointed by the choice to accept Trump’s invitation?

“Either way,” Kasten said. “Whenever there’s politics involved, there’s approximately half of the fan base that feels one way and half that feels the other way. That’s everywhere. That’s how we are on political issues. We didn’t view it through a political prism. We viewed it through the reward that all of these players have spent their lives trying to achieve, and they deserve it and they wanted to do it.”

Except the fans of his team aren’t split 50-50. The majority of L.A. county didn't vote for Trump, and by defying their wishes, the Dodgers have broken their unwritten contract with a city that has supported them almost unconditionally.

The Dodgers owe this loyalty to the widespread perception that they represent Los Angeles and its residents. They have largely followed through on this unspoken agreement, by creating a stadium environment in which people of every background feel welcome, by constructing rosters that reflect the belief that diversity is a strength.

Read more:Letters to the Editor: Dodgers force an error with fans by agreeing to visit the Trump White House

Trump campaigned on xenophobia in multiple election cycles. He called Mexican immigrants “rapists” in 2015 when announcing his first presidential candidacy. He made unfounded claims last year that Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs. The rhetoric has led to actual policy decisions, as he has issued multiple executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the public and private sectors. The administration’s anti-DEI efforts were believed to have played a role in a temporary removal of an article on Robinson’s U.S. Army career from the Department of Defense website.

Trump’s presidency is characterized by a mean-spiritedness that runs contrary to the progressive vision of this country. The administration seems to be taking a bizarre delight in firing federal workers, with little or no consideration for how this could affect countless families.

There’s a reason so many of their fans feel betrayed. There’s a reason so many of them are despondent, especially after the Dodgers’ moral flexibility was exposed two years ago in their dealings with a drag group which they invited, disinvited and reinvited to be honored in a Pride night pregame ceremony.

The Dodgers will spare themselves the headache of dealing with Trump supporters in the short term, and whatever Kasten says, it’s obvious this is why they’re doing what they’re doing. But in doing so, they are losing what gave them a distinct place in American history.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Put bluntly, it was not a great Opening Weekend for the Mets -- especially on offense.

New York lost two out of three against the Houston Astros, scoring a total of five runs in the three games and culminating with getting one hit in a 2-1 loss on Saturday. Even in their lone win, the Mets pushed across just three runs and managed only five hits.

But the weekend wasn't all bad for New York whose bullpen pitched 9.2 innings without allowing a run. In fact, throughout the series the Mets were able to get all eight relievers into a game, with all eight looking good in the process.

Max Kranick's return to MLB

Saturday saw the team debut of Kranick who last pitched in the majors in 2022 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. His first order of business back on the job? Coming in to face Yordan Alvarez with the bases loaded and one out in a one-run game in the bottom of the eighth inning. Not exactly the "soft spot" that manager Carlos Mendoza was hoping to use the right-hander for in his first MLB appearance in three years.

And still, Kranick managed to escape the jam unscathed with a foul pop out and groundout to give his team a chance in the ninth. "Huge, huge," Mendoza said about Kranick's performance.

"My heart was definitely racing," Kranick said. "It feels good to get the jitters and the first one out of the way. I’m happy with how it went."

Kranick earned himself a spot on the Opening Day roster thanks to his spectacular spring training. And after getting the first one out of the way after all these years and an arduous journey following Tommy John surgery, he's excited to show the Mets what he can bring to the table out of the bullpen.

"It’s been tough the past couple years," he said. "I was really anxious to get the first one out of the way and hopefully keep rolling."

Jose Siri's impact

Siri made his first start of the season (and first with New York) on Saturday after Tyrone Taylor got the start in center field for the first two games. While he did strike out twice in two at-bats in the No. 9 hole, he also worked a walk, stole a base and scored the team's only run manufactured entirely by him.

Down 1-0 in the sixth, Siri led off the inning with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a fly out and scored the tying run on a groundout to the pitcher, breaking for home plate after Houston starter Spencer Arrighetti turned his back on Siri to get the out at first base.

"That's instincts right there," Mendoza said about the heads up play. "He can impact and help you win baseball games in a lot of different ways, not only with his defense, with his legs, with the way he runs the bases. But he’s also got power so he’s a good player with a lot of tools that he’s gonna impact this team in a good way moving forward."

It'll be interesting to see how the center field position gets divvied up this season as both Siri and Taylor, two excellent defenders, bat from the right side. Taylor went 1-for-8 in his two starts.

Griffin Canning's uptick in velocity

The second starter to make his team debut this series after Clay Holmes pitched on Opening Day, Canning looked good over his 5.2 innings. The right-hander allowed two runs on four hits, striking out four and walking two, but his last pitch thrown went for an RBI double against Alvarez that was the difference in the game.

Nevertheless, after a spring training where his fastball sat around 93-94 mph, Canning's velocity topped out at 96 mph on Saturday, causing Mendoza to take notice.

"I thought Canning was really good overall," the skipper said. "The slider was good, changeup was good, the velo. I mean when you look at the first couple of innings, the fastball was up to 96 – something that we didn’t see in spring training. And he kept attacking, kept mixing his pitches. I thought overall he had a really good outing."

For Canning, he views the start as a good one to build off of going forward. But if he can prove to be a solid option like he was on Saturday and for all of spring training, the Mets "have something there," Mendoza said.

As for Alvarez, the slugger just got to Canning once again after entering play on Saturday 2-for-6 with a home run against the 28-year-old. Before the double, Alvarez was 0-for-2 on the night.

"I’ve had some tough battles with Yordan so that’s unfortunate to end it that way," Canning said.

Roki Sasaki chose right when he signed with the Dodgers.

Never mind not being ready to lead the rotation of another team and challenge Shohei Ohtani. The 23-year-old Sasaki doesn’t look ready to pitch in the major leagues.

Sasaki made his second start for the Dodgers on Saturday night, and it was somehow worse than his first. He didn’t make it out of the second inning of a 7-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Dodger Stadium, his control problems even more pronounced than they were in his debut in Tokyo.

He recorded only five outs. He walked four. He was charged with three hits and two runs. Of the 61 pitches he threw, only 32 were strikes.

Read more:Shaikin: Will Dodgers win a record 117 games? Orel Hershiser would like to see it

This disheartening start to his major league career — he walked five batters in three innings in his previous start against the Chicago Cubs — shouldn’t sound any alarm bells, but that’s only because he’s playing for the Dodgers.

If Sasaki needs another start or two to get acclimated to the pitch clock or low-quality American baseballs, the Dodgers can afford to give them to him.

If he needs to spend time refining his delivery in the minor leagues, the Dodgers have the necessary depth to cover his absence.

Sasaki won’t have a rookie season like Fernando Valenzuela’s or Dwight Gooden’s, but the Dodgers don’t need him to. The Dodgers are World Series favorites with or without him, and they have the luxury of treating him as if he’s a prospect without compromising their championship ambitions.

His circumstances would be completely different if he’d signed with another team. On the San Diego Padres, he probably would have started the season as the No. 3 starter. Him pitching like this would have erased whatever chance the Padres had of dethroning the Dodgers in the National League West. The pressure to perform would be greater by several orders of magnitude.

However, there is a downside to not being needed, as Sasaki is with the Dodgers, which is that a player can be forgotten. Around this time last year, Bobby Miller was viewed as a star in the making. Miller didn’t have the season the Dodgers envisioned, as his performance declined and his health failed him. He started this season with the franchise’s triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City.

Read more:Moving Teoscar Hernández in lineup pays off for Dodgers in sweeping win over Tigers

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Based on the Dodgers’ original lineup, Teoscar Hernández would have been in the dugout during the biggest at-bat of Saturday night’s game.

Originally, on a night the Dodgers gave normal No. 2 hitter Mookie Betts a scheduled day off following his battle with a stomach virus last week, switch-hitter Tommy Edman was supposed to follow leadoff man Shohei Ohtani in the batting order.

About an hour before first pitch, however, the team announced a late change.

Read more:Mookie Betts' walk-off homer in 10th keeps Dodgers undefeated: 'We just don't quit'

In the new lineup, Hernández was bumped up to second from the cleanup spot. Edman, who has been a significantly worse hitter from the left side of the plate since joining the Dodgers last year, was dropped to eighth against Detroit Tigers right-hander Reese Olson.

The switch meant that, when the Tigers intentionally walked Ohtani with a runner on third and two outs in the fifth, it was Hernández who came to the plate in what was then a tied ballgame.

Sometimes in baseball, those are the fine margins on which contests can be decided.

On cue, Hernández produced the biggest swing of the Dodgers’ 7-3 win over the Tigers in his pivotal fifth-inning at-bat, lining a two-run double inside the third-base bag to help the Dodgers extend their perfect record to start the season to 5-0 — making them just the fourth defending champion in MLB history to begin their season with five consecutive wins.

“Just kind of thinking through things, I just felt that if you slide Teo up, I felt good about that,” manager Dave Roberts explained. “And it just worked out.”

Read more:Nancy Bea Hefley, Dodgers organist who entertained fans for 27 years, dies at 89

Like the four wins that preceded it, the Dodgers’ performance was far from flawless. 

Rookie phenom Roki Sasaki failed to get out of the second inning in his first career Dodger Stadium start, struggling with his command again in a two-run, four-walk, 1 ⅔-inning outing.

The Dodgers’ bats only mustered two early runs off Olson, with Freddie Freeman hitting a solo home run in the first and Andy Pages scoring on Michael Conforto’s double in the second (despite running through a stop sign from third-base coach Dino Ebel and getting bailed out by a wayward throw to the plate).

Then, in the seventh, the Dodgers almost let the Tigers back into the game on two defensive miscues. Hernández dropped a fly ball while crashing into the wall on a running catch attempt, resulting in a leadoff triple. Two batters later, reliever Luis García created more traffic for himself by failing to cover first on a ground ball, albeit after appearing to tweak something on his pitch.

And yet, in what has become an early theme of the team’s title defense this season, the Dodgers nonetheless found a way to pull away late.

Hernández’s double gave them their first lead in the fifth. Will Smith and Edman extended it with solo home runs in each of the next two innings. And despite being called upon for more than seven innings of work, the bullpen posted almost nothing but zeroes the rest of the way, completing the club’s second-straight series sweep to open the season.

“The bullpen did a fantastic job ... and obviously the offense picked us up and scored some runs when we needed to,” Roberts said. “That's a good ball club over there. So for us to win three at home was a huge series for us.”

Like the first two nights of this home-opening series, Saturday began with another (albeit more muted) round of pregame ceremonies. Hernández, Betts and Ohtani were given their Silver Slugger Awards from 2024. One of last year’s postseason heroes for the Dodgers, Tigers pitcher Jack Flaherty, was presented with his World Series ring by a group of his former teammates on the field. The same thing happened back in the clubhouse, with Dodgers players distributing rings to members of their behind-the-scenes staff.

"I think we've been able to compartmentalize,” Freeman said. “It's been a great weekend.”

It didn’t include a great start from Sasaki, though. Just like in his MLB debut in Tokyo last week, when he sprayed the ball around with shotgun-esque command, he put the Dodgers in an early hole amid more command issues.

In the top of the first, Sasaki found the zone on just 24 of 41 pitches, fell behind on five of the eight batters he faced, and gave up two runs on three singles (one of them, a swinging bunt by Manuel Margot that opened the scoring) and two walks (the second, a bases-loaded free pass that forced in another run).

In the second, Roberts pulled him with two outs after Sasaki issued two more walks, giving him nine in less than five total innings.

“Roki, throughout his entire career, he's been a command guy,” Roberts said of the 23-year-old right-hander, who only averaged two walks per nine innings during his four professional seasons in Japan. “Right now it's just not syncing up. So we're going to keep working on it.” 

That work, however, will have to come later.

Roberts then turned to his bullpen, counting on the group to pick up the slack in the same way they did so often in October.

“Those guys are ready for it whenever that happens,” said Smith, who caught six relievers over the next 7 ⅓ innings. “Like they say, they're dawgs down there. We're fortunate to have all of them.”

Indeed, the Tigers’ only other run scored after Hernández’s dropped ball in the seventh.

And by then, the right-field slugger already put the Dodgers in front.

Although Hernández said he didn’t realize he’d been bumped up to No. 2 spot in the batting order until he got to the dugout shortly before the game, he was fully locked in after watching Ohtani get intentionally walked in front of him.

“Any hitter that gets the guy in front of them intentionally walked, you put a little more effort and focus on the things you have to do in that at-bat,” Hernández said. “Just to do damage and help the team.”

This time, Hernández’s damage came in the form of a scorching one-hopper that snuck past Zach McKinstry at third base. Conforto, who led off the inning with a walk, scored easily from third. Ohtani, who was motoring around the bases from first, slid in safely behind him.

It already marked the fourth time this season the Dodgers managed to erase an early deficit.

And, with the help of another insurance run in the eighth — when Freeman’s RBI double scored Ohtani from second following his first stolen base of the season — the unbeaten Dodgers never looked back again.

“To go out there and play a good baseball game, get the sweep in front of our fans, while we celebrate last year,” Freeman said, “I think that was just a great job by all of us this weekend."

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Before the Mets received MVP-level production from Francisco Lindor for the vast majority of last season, the superstar shortstop endured an April slump that sparked the ire of fans for weeks.

Of course, it's still far too early to declare history repeating itself. But the opening series of the 2025 campaign certainly mirrored more of the worst from Lindor than the best.

A lineup built for serious damage has yet to check in, as the Mets were held to a single hit in their 2-1 road loss to the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Since the third inning of Friday's game, they've produced only two knocks, and at the center of the skid is Lindor, who went a hitless 0-for-11 in the series.

The heart of the Mets' order offered very little at Daikin Park. Aside from Juan Soto, who produced the lone hit on Saturday and reached base seven times in three games, other key contributors -- Pete Alonson, Brandon Nimmo, and Mark Vientos in particular -- combined for a measly 4-for-31 (.129).

It's no secret that Lindor, chock-full of energy and flare, has long been the tone-setter atop the Mets' lineup. Luckily, the sample size is tiny. There's no need to press the panic button or even lift up the security cover. If it provides some comfort, Lindor isn't worried about the skid either.

"I've got to do a way better job to be on base and to make things happen," Lindor said after the loss. "I think once I do that, then the offense is going to continue to get better. I feel like the guys had quality at-bats the entire weekend."

Before the game, manager Carlos Mendoza revealed that Lindor's wife is expecting their third child in the next week or two. The team has yet to learn how much time -- if any -- the 31-year-old veteran will miss.

Following the loss, Lindor was asked if it's been "tough" to play with the family news on his mind. He smiled and jokingly dismissed the notion.

"It's life, I'm sure I'm not the only one going through it. There's no excuses," Lindor said. "There was no baby last year and I was in the same spot. This is not my kid's fault. This is not my wife's fault. I own up to it. I didn't get any hits."

The Mets' offense will look to wake up on Monday in South Florida, when they begin a three-game set against the division-rival Miami Marlins. The trip back east could bode well for Lindor -- he's slashed .289/.387/.471 with five home runs, seven doubles, and 17 RBI in 31 career games at Marlins Park.

"I've got to do a way better job to be on base and to make things happen. I think once I do that, then the offense is going to continue to get better"

Francisco Lindor talks about his slow start at the plate: pic.twitter.com/UWhQezcGek

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 30, 2025

The Mets wrapped up their Opening Weekend series on a sour note, falling to the Houston Astros, 2-1, in a rubber game on Saturday night at Daikin Park.

Here are some takeaways...

-- In his first at-bat, Juan Soto benefited from Daikin Park's short left field wall and, well, the Astros’ short left fielder. A towering shot that struck the manual scoreboard resulted in a stand-up double, as Jose Altuve’s leaping attempt to catch the ball was futile. Soto tagged up and advanced to third on a flyout to right from Pete Alonso, but he was ultimately stranded on the corner bag after a Mark Vientos strikeout.

-- Griffin Canning, who earned a rotation spot in spring training, didn't look the least bit fazed by his starting assignment. The leadoff single he allowed to Altuve was a line drive snagged by Vientos deep in the hole, and the long throw to first didn't arrive in time. But the defense picked up Canning moments later, as catcher Luis Torrens gunned down Altuve trying to steal second after a strikeout of Isaac Paredes.

-- Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti locked in after Soto's one-out double in the first, retiring 13 straight batters with four strikeouts through five innings. Canning matched Arrighetti's efficiency with one hit allowed -- the single to Altuve -- and four punch-outs of his own entering the fifth inning, but Houston drew first blood when Jeremy Peña took the Mets' right-hander deep for a leadoff solo home run to left.

-- Jose Siri broke Arrighetti's streak with a leadoff walk in the sixth, and his speed helped put the Mets on the board. After stealing second base with ease and advancing to third on a Francisco Lindor flyout, Siri aggressively charged home on a comebacker to Arrighetti that caught the Astros' infield by surprise once the play was made at first. Siri's bold baserunning helped knot the score, 1-1.

-- Houston managed to get the last laugh against Canning in the sixth. With two outs and a runner on first, Yordan Alvarez crushed a 2-2 slider that dented the center-field wall and brought Paredes home. The mistake pitch was Canning's last, but his Mets debut was strong. He allowed two runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts (87 pitches).

-- Jose Butto entered in relief of Canning and prevented further damage by striking out Christian Walker. He returned for the seventh inning, retiring the Astros in order on just seven pitches.

-- New York squandered a prime opportunity to tie the game against reliever Bryan Abreu in the eighth. Torrens led off the inning with a walk, and then Luisangel Acuña entered as a pinch-runner, successfuly stealing second with nobody out. But luck quickly turned Abreu's way, as he punched out Brett Baty and Siri, and induced a Lindor groundout. The Mets' superstar shortstop is now 0-for-11 to start the season.

-- Butto ran into trouble in the eighth, allowing a walk and a single that set up runners on the corners with nobody out. While he induced a grounder to third that resulted in a fielder's choice tag out at home, he loaded the bases with a walk to Paredes. Max Kranick was asked to clean up the mess, and he delivered with a foul out and groundout on five pitches. It was Kranick's first MLB appearance since 2022.

-- The ninth inning began with an intense rematch between Soto and Astros star closer Josh Hader, and this time, Soto reached base by walking on six straight sliders. But there wasn't a rally in the Mets' bones. Alonso popped out to shallow right on one pitch. Brandon Nimmo grounded out, pushing Soto to second. The game ended on a line drive from Vientos that found Peña's glove at short.

-- The Mets recorded just one hit -- Soto's first-inning double -- and they've produced only two knocks since the third inning of Friday's game. Overall, New York hit 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left four on base.

Game MVP: Yordan Alvarez

The clutch hit of the night belonged to the Astros' star slugger, even though it was his only knock in four at-bats. Call it a confidence-booster for Alvarez, who's now hitting .125 through three games.

Highlights

Griffin Canning strikes him out, Luis Torrens throws him out 💪

(via @Mets) pic.twitter.com/3Tj520BXbL

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 29, 2025

Mark Vientos, Brett Baty and Pete Alonso turn 2⃣

(via @Mets) pic.twitter.com/NjCTV6NXW7

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 30, 2025

BRILLIANT BASERUNNING BY JOSE SIRI TO TIE THE GAME! 🏃

(via @Mets) pic.twitter.com/NFMmbDRddk

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 30, 2025

Upcoming schedule

With an unsual Sunday off-day to begin the regular season, the Mets (1-2) will return to South Florida for a three-game set against the division-rival Miami Marlins that starts Monday at 6:40 p.m.

David Peterson is scheduled to take the mound and oppose Cal Quantrill on SNY.

HOUSTON -- It is a straightforward question, the one asked most by Mets fans at the beginning of this promising season: folks want to know if the starting rotation is good enough.

Or, more pointedly, they want to know why the Mets did not do more to build a name-brand rotation after investing so heavily in a top offense. Clay Holmes on Opening Day, they say. Griffin Canning in Game 3. Really?

It’s a fair question -- and it’s not just the usual internet knuckle draggers asking. It’s legitimate baseball people, like the longtime major league scout who told me simply this week that “the Mets don’t have enough pitching.”

The Mets themselves disagree. Strongly. And they’re not stupid. So what gives?

On our SNY shows and in conversation, I’ve handled this question by saying that one has to assume that president of baseball operations David Stearns and his people know what they are doing. Stearns made his reputation running the Brewers as a guy who oversaw the acquisition and development of great pitching.

Those are my words, though, not Stearns’. On Saturday evening, standing in the Mets’ dugout in Houston, I asked the man himself how he would answer this oft-posited challenge to his offseason work.

Here’s how I worded the question: “Why is this rotation, which does not look like a championship-caliber rotation to the untrained eye, something that you guys feel good about?”

Worth asking, right?

What Stearns said:

“We think we have really talented pitchers,” he said. “And it's the talented pitchers that are in our rotation right now. It's the talented pitchers who are presently on the IL and it's the talented pitchers who may be in the rotation later in the year.

“A lot of what we try to guard against over the course of the season is what you can't predict, right? You can't predict things like injuries. You can't predict things like underperformance. You also can't predict breakouts, and if you lock yourself in with no flexibility, you also don't have the opportunity to take advantage of breakouts.

“The notion of a championship-caliber rotation, I think, is one that is worthy of discussion. I think if we look at the actual champions of baseball over the last however long you want to look at -- decades, 15 years, 20 years, some of them might have the Hall of Famer at the front end of the rotation, and some of them have guys who signed one-year deals and were traded midseason and all of a sudden got on the heater in September and October, and a team rode them to a World Series championship. Teams can be built in a variety of different ways. And I think successful rotations can be built in a variety of different ways.

“The last thing I'll say is like the long-term, successful rotation depends upon our ability to develop really quality starters, right? And that is what we are aiming to do. That is what the continuously successful teams at this level do, and really, that is where our focus is."

I then asked Stearns if he thought of pitching more in terms of staff than rotation.

“I think certainly in the playoffs, you do, but in building your opening day staff, you do need -- especially as MLB has cracked down on the number of pitchers and has cracked down on the roster movement we can do in season -- you do need some length out of your rotation.

“I don't think it needs to be seven innings every night, but you do need some length out of your rotation and or if not, you will go through your bullpen, you'll pay the price at some point later in the year. So I don't discount all the importance of starting pitching. In fact, I think starting pitching is really important.”

Some additional thoughts:

What I heard there were three basic elements:

1) Confidence in the pitchers who the Mets chose and the people who chose them -- Canning, Holmes, Paul Blackburn etc.

2) A desire to develop aces from within, and maintain flexibility to allow for top pitching prospects to potentially contribute later this year.

3) A related desire to keep a lane open for trade acquisitions. I strongly expect the Mets to be in on Dylan Cease and Michael King, if the Padres make them available this summer, and any other rotation rentals. They are too well-resourced and ambitious to have a passive trade deadline.

Stearns has certainly earned credibility from his time with the Brewers, when the team developed starters Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff, along with a slew of top relievers. Now with the Mets, he is operating with new budget parameters and can not only oversee the ascent of homegrown pitchers, but sign them to contract extensions rather than lose them to free agency.

We can trust that when the Mets' front office hones in on a Blackburn at the trade deadline or a Canning in free agency, they see an element that excites them. It might be a plus pitch that has just started to click. It might be a potential adjustment in their delivery that, if implemented correctly by ace pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, could unlock a level of dominance.

The Mets know they will not hit on every acquisition; the $34 million ticketed for Frankie Montas’ bank account is not looking great at the moment. But when the team chooses a pitcher who seems random to us, it is always because of a specific quality or qualities that make that pitcher stand out.

Finally: did you notice when Stearns seemed to gently challenge the premise baked into my question about a “championship-caliber rotation,” and posited that champions assume many different shapes and structures?

To his point, the mighty Dodgers operated last October with Jack Flaherty at the top of their rotation. Flaherty is a talented pitcher, but he was a trade deadline acquisition pitching on a one-year deal after posting a 4.99 ERA the year before.

This was not how the Dodgers wanted to draw it up, or how they are attempting to draw it up this year, but it worked in 2024.

Yankees left-hander Max Fried never needed to stress about run support in his pinstripe debut. His new teammates crushed a franchise-record nine home runs -- four of which came during the very first inning -- in an emphatic 20-9 drubbing of the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday in the Bronx.

But the historic offensive production didn't even help Fried register a win. The southpaw failed to complete five innings of work, as a slew of fielding errors and unlucky soft contact resulted in six Brewers runs -- two of which were earned -- by the time he was pulled with two outs in the fourth at 94 pitches.

Fried's underwhelming season debut simply took a back seat to the Yankees' onslaught. Blame it on the poor defense behind him, or the lengthy breaks in the dugout while the lineup flaunted its power. But the team's biggest acquisition of the winter didn't resemble his established ace self.

The obvious good news is that the calendar has yet to flip to April. It wasn't the performance that Fried wanted or fans expected, but it's easy to shrug off mistakes on Opening Weekend.

"I would've loved to [qualify for the win], but there were a lot of things throughout the outing that I didn't do my part in to be able to earn that," Fried said after the game. "Adding a bunch of pitches, the PFP [error] in the second inning added a bunch of pitches. I walked a bunch of guys. It wasn't a clean game. So at that point, if I wanted to be able to earn that, I should've done a lot more earlier in the game."

Fried's afternoon started on an efficient note. He induced a weak comebacker on the first pitch of the game, recorded a scoreless top frame, and watched sluggers Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge put on a show with three straight homers on three straight pitches from former Yankees lefty Nestor Cortes.

But a 4-0 lead entering the second inning didn't provide enough comfort. After allowing two singles and a hit-by-pitch, the Brewers scored their second run on a throwing error by Anthony Volpe. Two batters later, Fried committed his own gaffe with a poor throw to first base on another soft comebacker.

Max Fried was asked how much he wanted to stay in the game to get through five innings and qualify for a win:

"I would've loved to do it, but there was a lot of things throughout the outing that I didn't do my part in to be able to earn that." pic.twitter.com/E3nM2Igril

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 29, 2025

A pair of errors from Pablo Reyes and one from Jazz Chisholm Jr. extended the fourth and fifth innings, and Fried ultimately exited with a somewhat unsatisfying 16-6 lead.

"He did great. There were a few plays that we could've made behind him," Goldschmidt said of Fried. "He did a good job staying focused and just continuing to attack them. It wasn't a perfect outing, by any means. We kind of hurt him on defense a couple times... It just showed a lot about his character, the type of pitcher he is to not give in."

It's no secret that the Yankees are heavily relying on Fried to take command of the starting rotation. The team lost Gerrit Cole to season-ending elbow surgery earlier this month, and when they signed Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract in December, he assumed ace-level responsibilities.

The pressure on Fried is immense -- he's the de facto ace. But the results from Saturday aren't indicative of what's to come. The 30-year-old lefty earned two All-Star nominations during his eight-year run with the Atlanta Braves, and his 3.08 ERA over the last six seasons ranked third among starters with 800-plus innings.

Fried is slated to make his second start on the road next Friday, when the Yankees begin a three-game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Manager Aaron Boone isn't the least bit worried about the prized lefty, even if the anomalous offense and defense make the trip to Pennsylvania.

"Obviously we didn't catch the ball great, that's an understatement. Probably not his best command, hitting a couple of guys," the skipper said of Fried. "As great of a fielder as he is, he didn't make a play. I thought overall he threw the ball fine, we're just giving way too many outs. It's hard to get a read on the outing, but I thought stuff-wise, he threw the ball well."

With Juan Soto playing across town now after his one-year stint in The Bronx, the Yankees knew they had to do something during the offseason to make up for the loss of the generational 26-year-old.

That something was bringing in a cast of characters, including Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger, in an effort to lengthen their lineup and help with their depth outside of Aaron Judge. In just New York's second game of the season, those moves paid off in a big way.

Facing former Yankee Nestor Cortes and the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of the regular season, Goldschmidt, Bellinger and Judge hit three straight home runs -- on three straight pitches -- off the lefty to start the game. Before most of the 46,683 fans in attendance could even sit down and take a bite out of their hot dog, the Bronx Bombers -- true to their name -- had a 3-0 lead.

"Swing first pitch," Judge said with a laugh on what was going through his mind walking up to the plate in that first inning. "The place was rocking once I got up there. I was just trying to control [my] breathing and just get a good pitch."

Good pitch he got, indeed, sending an 88-mph cutter 468 feet to left field, the farthest and loudest of the three first-inning home runs.

But it was Goldschmidt, making his first plate appearance at the leadoff spot, who got the party started with a solo shot to lead things off, just as Austin Wells, who was as unfamiliar batting first as Goldschmidt, did in Thursday's season opener. It was the 37-year-old's first hit as a Yankee.

Overall, the first baseman went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and three runs scored, passing his first test batting leadoff with flying colors.

"It’s tough to start better than that," Goldschmidt said. "I just tried to take my same at-bat, my same mindset. Fortunately I was able to get a good pitch to hit and get it out of there."

Congratulations, Aaron Boone, you're two for two.

Fellow newcomer Bellinger followed soon after with a blast to right center field and in the blink of an eye, New York was on top, 2-0.

"That was a really cool moment," Bellinger said. "Super unique to be a part of and it was just nice to get the party started."

After hitting his first home run in pinstripes, Bellinger noted that Saturday's win was a great way for all of the newcomers to feel comfortable with their new team and get some of those firsts out of the way. Whether it be first hit with the new club, first home run, or even just first game as it was for J.C. Escarra, who made his MLB debut by pinch-hitting in the seventh inning.

Another first almost happened, too.

Following his first-inning homer, Judge hit a second home run (this one a grand slam) in the third before going yard again in the fourth for his third three-home run game, tying him with Joe DiMaggio and Alex Rodriguez for second in Yankees history behind Lou Gehrig's four.

"It’s a special group," Judge said. "Any time you get mentioned with those guys, with what they’ve done in the game and the careers they’ve had, it’s pretty special. Our story’s not done yet, so hopefully we can keep adding to those lists."

The reigning AL MVP would have three more plate appearances to try at his first four-homer game, something accomplished by just 18 players in MLB history.

In fact, Judge came a few feet away from achieving that feat after his RBI double off the right field wall in the sixth inning. Then in the eighth, facing position-player and former Yankee Jake Bauers, Judge hit another long fly ball to left field that barely left the yard but was caught.

"Nothing’s out of reach for him," Boone said. "I wanted to give him that opportunity at least."

Judge ended his day 4-for-6 with three homers and eight RBI -- quite the contrast from his less-than-stellar spring training.

As for the rest of the lineup, Wells, Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Oswald Peraza also went deep, giving New York a total of nine home runs on the afternoon, a franchise record.

"We like where we’re at. We love our lineup, we love our depth, we love the guys that we got in this locker room and it’s gonna be fun," Bellinger said. "This is a very difficult game, but we got a lot of guys that have been there and are gonna have some fun doing it."

Francisco Alvarez still isn't expected to make his regular-season debut until sometime in late April, but the injured Mets catcher is continuing to make strides in his recovery.

Prior to Saturday's rubber game against the Houston Astros, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza shared a positive update on Alvarez, revealing that the 23-year-old participated in receiving drills with soft baseballs while using his surgically-repaired left hand. Mendoza simply called the workout "a good sign."

Alvarez, who fractured his left hamate bone on March 8 during live at-bats in camp, had stiches removed from his hand on Monday. Mendoza mentioned on Wednesday that baseball activities were on the horizon for Alvarez once strength work began. The latest news suggests that he's still on track to return on the shorter end of the initial six-to-eight week recovery timeline.

"Maybe six weeks," Alvarez said on March 12. "My goal is to make that as quick as possible... They said after the third week, maybe I can start hitting. It's on me. If my body takes more time than normal, maybe take eight weeks. But it's very on me. If I feel comfortable, if I feel good, I can move quicker."

Due to the injury, Alvarez was limited to just nine spring training games in which he hit .227 (5-for-22) with five walks, two RBI, and 11 strikeouts. He's also dealt with a string of bad luck to his left thumb, as he tore a ligament last April against the Los Angeles Dodgers and needed surgery that kept him out of the lineup until mid-June.

Only time will tell how Alvarez's thumb responds to additional catching and hitting activities, but the Mets are counting on his production in the heart of the lineup. He wound up playing 100 games last season, slashing .237/.307/.403 with 11 home runs, 14 doubles, and 47 RBI in 342 plate appearances.

Red Sox prospect Kristian Campbell hits first career MLB home run originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Boston Red Sox prospect Kristian Campbell is making his presence felt.

The Red Sox rookie hit his first career MLB home run in the fourth inning of Saturday night’s road game against the Texas Rangers.

Campbell crushed a pitch over the middle of the plate and sent the ball 431 feet over the fence in left-center field:

Campbell went 1-for-3 in the Opening Day win over the Rangers on Thursday before going 2-for-4 at the plate in Friday’s loss.

Campbell entered the season as the Red Sox’s second-best prospect and the No. 7 ranked prospect in all of baseball, per MLB.com.

He’s a tremendous hitter and a quality defender. Don’t be surprised if Campbell plays a meaningful role in Boston’s success this season.