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

It’s Wednesday night here at BCB After Dark: the hippest hangout for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us for a while. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. We still have a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night I foolishly asked you how Jordan Wicks did in last night’s game, settling on a topic and writing the article before first pitch. Well, 79 percent of you gave him an “F,” and I can’t argue with that. Another 16 percent gave Wicks a “D.”

Here’s the part where we listen to jazz and talk movies. You can skip that.

We continue to celebrate Miles Davis for the 100th anniversary of his birth. As noted in earlier pieces, Miles was never content to stay in one place. With his 1968 album Miles in the Sky, Miles went electric. No, it wasn’t as controversial as Bob Dylan going electric was, although there is always grumbling from the purists. Miles didn’t invent fusion, but him getting on the bandwagon of this merger of jazz and rock music gave it a kind of respectability in jazz circles. Plus, he had the better musicians and the better ear to take fusion to a new level.

In 1969, Miles released the electric In a Silent Way that was a lot more controversial. Working with producer Teo Macero, In a Silent Way featured just two tracks, one on each side. While previous jazz records had merged different performances into one longer number in the studio, In a Silent Way was the first to take one solo and loop it into a different part of the piece. Macero even repeated the same solo at different times in the same track. The way I think of it is that Miles used Macero as yet another musician who turned the studio into an instrument in and of itself. Macero and his engineers proved to have just as much creativity as Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul. But it’s also a kind of performance that can only be done in the studio with multiple tracks and not on stage.

Miles always said he was influenced by Jimi Hendrix in making In a Silent Way. I think that Hendrix influence is definitely there (especially the Electric Ladyland album), but there’s a lot more there than just trying to do a jazz version of cutting-edge rock.

Here’s side one of In a Silent Way entitled “Shh/Peaceful.” Besides Miles on trumpet, Shorter is on soprano saxophone, John McLaughlin on electric guitar, Corea, Zawinul and Herbie Hancock on electric piano, Dave Holland on bass and Tony Williams on drums.

A great story from the recording session come from McLaughlin, who had just joined Miles’ group and was understandably nervous. Miles was not happy with McLaughlin’s first take on the album and told him to go work on it. With McLaughlin sweating bullets, Miles told him “Why don’t you play it like you don’t know how to play guitar” which was brilliant advice that only makes sense coming from Miles Davis.

I don’t have a film to write about tonight. I’m in the middle of watching director Wong Kar-wei’s 2004 film 2046, but I had to go to sleep last night with about 45 minutes left before the end of the film. The movie is a sequel to Wong’s earlier In the Mood For Love which I wrote about earlier this year. In the Mood for Love made the BFI Sight & Sound poll of the ten greatest films ever made and I agree that In the Mood for Love is a masterpiece. My opinion on 2046 is still out. So far, it’s like if they decided to make a sequel to Love Story that follows what happened to Ryan O’Neal’s character after the events of Love Story. In fact, they made that film—it’s called Oliver’s Story. But it’s as if someone making that film said “Do you know what Oliver’s Story needs? Some elements from Blade Runner. What Love Story was missing was that science fiction element.“

So in light of that, I thought I’d just throw it open for you to talk about your favorite romantic movies. It can be a rom-com or a straight romantic drama. Even if it’s not your favorite, tell us ones that you think are overlooked and the rest of us should check out.

And yes, you should all check out In the Mood for Love.

I don’t have to tell you that the Cubs are struggling to find pitching, as several players whom they were counting on this year have come up injured or Phil Maton. In that light, the Cubs signed 32-year-old left-hander Aaron Bummer to a minor-league deal.

So it’s never a positive sign when a pitcher gets released from another organization, especially since the Braves still owe the pro-rated portion of the $9.5 million Bummer was owed this year. But since it’s a minor league deal, the Cubs are only on the hook for the major league minimum once he gets called up. So the risk is low—the Cubs can send him to Iowa for a few weeks and then decide whether or not they want to add him to the major league roster or release him.

To be clear, Bummer has been poor this year. Teams don’t release good left-handed relievers. Over 15.1 innings this year, Bummer has allowed 15 runs, 13 earned, for an ERA of 7.63. His four-seam fastball has lost some velocity, which normally might not be much of a problem since he doesn’t throw it very much. But it does seem to be affecting how his sinker and cutter give the hitter a different look.

Bummer’s problems are that he’s been walking too many hitters and giving up too many home runs. Six in 15.1 innings qualifies as too many. Bummer has been a ground ball pitcher throughout his career, but this year the fly balls are up and they are leaving the yard at an alarming rate. Some of that might be poor luck, but the increases in the fly ball rate indicate it’s not all bad luck. Also, the increase in the walk rate make those home runs hurt more.

So why would the Cubs want someone like that? For one, Bummer was a pretty good reliever with Atlanta in 2024 and 2025 when he posted an ERA of 3.58 and 3.81 respectively. You’re probably familiar with Bummer from his time with the White Sox, but historically he’s been a pretty good strikeout pitcher as well, striking out 10 batters per nine over the course of his career.

So if the Cubs see something that they can fix in Bummer, then maybe they’ve just gotten a good reliever for free. And if they can’t get him back to his 2024 and 2025 form, they haven’t lost much.

So what do you think of the Cubs signing Aaron Bummer? I couldn’t resist tweaking the traditional “Yay!/Nay!/Meh” format that we normally use by replacing “Nay!” with “Bummer.” I guess I could have replaced “Yay!‘ with ”Bummer!,“ but that would have been too confusing.

Thanks for stopping by. We’ve had a rough week, but it’s been better because of you. Get home safely. Recycel and cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next week for more BCB After Dark.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Gerrit Cole and his new right elbow will, in fact, allow a run at some point.

It just has not happened yet through his first two starts back in the big leagues after Tommy John surgery.

Cole looked very much like his vintage self Wednesday night in a dominant showing against the Royals, striking out 10 across 6 ²/₃ scoreless innings to help the Yankees finish a sweep with a 7-0 win at Kauffman Stadium.

“Feel like maybe the first game was a little appetizer and that was the main course right there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “That was surgical.”

The 35-year-old right-hander scattered just four hits and did not walk a batter while pounding the strike zone all night. After tossing six scoreless innings against the Rays on Friday in his season debut, Cole’s toughest opponent Wednesday was once again his pitch count, capped at 79 pitches as the Yankees continue to build him back up carefully.

But Cole made the most of those pitches, dialing his fastball up to 98 mph for a called strikeout in the fifth inning on a night when his command was on point.

“I think it’s coming along,” an understated Cole said in the visiting clubhouse, shortly after his warmup song, “Lean Back,” had finished blaring over the speakers as the Yankees headed into an off day on a high note. “There’s still some stuff to work on, absolutely, going forward. But with what we had tonight, I thought we used it really well.”

Cole and the Yankees (34-22) have acknowledged there will be some inevitable bumps in the road as the former Cy Young winner settles back into pitching every five or six days. But until then, he has only offered a tantalizing preview of how he might elevate an already strong rotation.

“He’s one of the greatest to ever do it, and you see it with starts like this, where you come back from a major surgery and it looks like he hasn’t even skipped a beat,” said Aaron Judge, who threw a runner out at the plate in the third inning to keep the shutout intact.

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Paul Goldschmidt, Ben Rice and Ryan McMahon provided most of the offense, each recording a pair of hits and combining to drive in six runs, as the Yankees won their 14th straight game against the Royals (22-34) — including outscoring them 50-10 in the now-complete season series.

Rice got the Yankees on the board in the fourth inning with an RBI triple and then scored on Judge’s sacrifice fly.

The slugging first baseman later added a two-run single in the seventh before McMahon crushed a two-run shot in the eighth.

Cole, meanwhile, had only two strikeouts in his season debut, but matched that in the first inning alone Wednesday and then kept piling on. Even more encouraging was that after walking three batters against the Rays, Cole had only two three-ball counts all night Wednesday.

The first came in the fourth inning when he fell behind 3-0 to Bobby Witt Jr., who had the green light and popped out to second base.

The other came against the final batter he faced, Carter Jensen, who drew a full count with one out and one on in the seventh inning before also popping out.

“I think when I first started throwing [in the rehab process], and I was able to get through the four-seam better than I had been in the previous few years, that was obviously an encouraging sign,” Cole said. “Outside of that, it’s two games, man, small sample. There’s still stuff to improve.”

But Wednesday offered the Yankees another chance to dream on what their rotation might be capable of doing the rest of the way.

Cole, Cam Schlittler and Will Warren combined to give up just three runs across 18 ²/₃ innings in this series.

They have Carlos Rodón and a surging Ryan Weathers lined up to start the first two games against the Athletics this weekend, and hope to add Max Fried back into the mix at some point this summer.

And if Cole continues to look like this?

“I just thought we were watching excellence,” Boone said. “I don’t want to overstate it or understate it. It was just an excellent, efficient, surgical outing where I thought he had a little bit of everything going.”

After a tough loss in extras Tuesday evening, the White Sox put on a hitting clinic against the Twins, ending in a 15-2 blowout. David Sandlin pitched a gem through six innings, breaking franchise records, and both the small and long ball were prevalent tonight. There was even a grand slam!

Believe it or not, things started out a bit dicey, when Sandlin tossed a low fastball to Byron Buxton for his second pitch of the game and it left the park. However, that would end up as the only hit the rookie would surrender on the night.

Back-to-back singles at the bottom of the second would be fruitful for the Good Guys. A successful sac bunt advanced Colson Montgomery and Edgar Quero, and Sam Antonacci knocked both runners in to take a 2-1 lead. The White Sox would not look back from there.

While the White Sox continued to nibble their way to a bigger lead (including a Montgomery RBI double in the third), Sandlin cruised through the Twins. The righty was not only dominant, but efficient. With help from Quero and ABS in the fourth, Sandlin closed out Minnesota on just nine pitches in the fourth. One inning later, he stood at just 51 pitches and became the first White Sox hurler to retire 15 in a row in his debut since 1920.

The White Sox side of the fifth proved to be a whopper of a crooked number.

Munetaka Murakami picked up a walk to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and Miguel Vargas followed with a single, giving Connor Prielipp a tough time. Randal Grichuk singled, and without a throw to the plate, Murakami was waved home to make it 4-1. Prielipp faced Montgomery again before getting pulled after 93 pitches in just under five innings. Eric Orze inherited runners in the corners with one out. A sac fly would send Vargas home, and Tristan Peters, who stepped in to pinch-hit for Derek Hill, singled. Antonacci singled, allowing Grichuk to score, and on a throwing error, Peters was waved home, too. But not to be outdone, and perhaps in response to all the shit-talking White Sox fans have done about him, Luisangel Acuña also knocked in a run with an RBI single. Still no home runs, but the Good Guys finished off the fifth inning up, 8-1.

Sandlin would finish his night by serving the previous pain in his side, Buxton, a fly out, before letting out a hearty yell. Well deserved, kid. He retired 18 in a row (most-ever in a White Sox debut), only giving up one run on one hit, with four strikeouts and no walks. Sandlin was greeted with a standing ovation from a grateful fan base. Leading off the bottom half of the sixth, Murakami singled and stole second, standing up, his first career SB. With one out, Grichuk’s single produced another run before Montgomery hit into a double play.

While the Twins continued to flounder with just one hit, Chicago responded with another onslaught after the seventh-inning stretch. Quero started with a single, Peters picked up a walk, and Antonacci singled to load the bases. Enter Chase Meidroth with a GRAND SLAM.

Yes, Chase Meidroth hit a grand slam.

But it was far from over, because Mune hit a home run right after that, his 20th, putting the South Side Hit Men up, 14-1:

Munetaka became the third White Sox hitter in history (along with Frank Thomas and Jim Thome) to homer at least 20 times before June.

Brandon Eisert gave up a solo run in the top of the eighth and a double to Luke Keaschall, but escaped the inning. At that point the Twinkies gave up, putting a position player on the mound. Orlando Arcia stepped in and walked Quero, gave up a single to Peters, and walked Antonacci. Acuña grounded into a double play, but still sent Quero home to make it 15-2 before Meidroth ended the frame with a grounder.

Trevor Richards stepped in to close out the game and retired the Twins in order. Cue the fireworks, friends!

It was a stomach-churning performance.

Rays hurler Jonathan Heasley — making his first MLB appearance in two seasons — threw up on the mound just three pitches into his outing against the Orioles on Wednesday at Camden Yards.

The 29-year-old right-hander let it loose on three different occasions in the fifth inning, prompting a visit from the Rays’ training staff.

But in a similar case to that of pitcher Adrian Houser last year with the White Sox, Heasley’s repeated regurgitation is not out of left field.

“Heasley actually talked to this about us pregame when he arrived here,” Rays Baseball sideline reporter Ryan Bass said during the TV broadcast as Heasley was evaluated. “This is something he’s actually is regularly known for. He actually did hurl on the field when he was with [Triple-A] Durham.

“He said when he used to play high school football, it would happen regularly. He just has a weak stomach. It sometimes happens when his nerves kick up a little bit. He said, ‘I’m totally fine.'”

Heasley, who has appeared in parts of four MLB campaigns with the Royals and Orioles, is also no stranger to potently puking during a game in the majors.

During an Aug. 23, 2022 outing, Heasley — then a member of the Royals — unleashed a barf barrage during a start against the Diamondbacks.

Visibly frustrated as he blew chunks, Heasley confirmed after that game that he was fine and was more irked by failing to complete five innings.

“I feel good now. Most of you guys know this has happened before,” Heasley told reporters, per The Kansas City Star. “It happened last year in a game. I think it’s — I don’t know, honestly. There’s nothing I can do to stop it. It just kind of hits me sometimes. I think it’s a mix of adrenaline, everything, getting a little amped up, whatever.

“It sucks it happened when it did. I was more frustrated about not getting through that fifth inning. I knew the bullpen was a little thin today. I was more frustrated that I had to come out when I did and just kind of put the team in a tough spot.”

After wiping himself off and hydrating Wednesday night, Heasley stayed in the game and pitched the final four innings for the Rays, to less than stellar results.

The journeyman allowed eight hits and five earned runs across his four frames while striking out two batters in an 11-2 loss.

Heasley’s promotion from Triple-A was part of a series of roster moves by Tampa Bay in recent days, including signing a pair of Mets castoffs: future Hall of Fame reliever Craig Kimbrel and outfielder Austin Slater.

Carson Benge utilized a time-tested method for breaking his latest slump: He eliminated his mustache before Wednesday’s game.

“I really haven’t been getting a ton of hits, so I just shaved it off and it worked,” Benge said.

The rookie outfielder returned to the form of May flowers — after April showers to begin his major league career — with two key RBI hits that helped lead the Mets’ 4-2 victory over the Reds at Citi Field.

Benge delivered RBI singles in the fifth and seventh innings on a night the Mets assembled a strong bullpen performance in ending a five-game losing streak.

After scoring two runs or fewer in six straight games — the first time in a decade they had struggled to that extent — the Mets had a decent night offensively to avoid a second straight series sweep.

Benge was in a 1-for-20 rut before he stroked an RBI single in the fifth that gave the Mets a 3-1 lead. Two innings later, he singled in another run, giving the Mets their final margin of victory.

“[Benge] is always aggressive and has a really good swing, and he knows it,” Juan Soto said. “He’s squaring balls most of the time, and that is really cool to see.”

Before his slump, the 23-year-old outfielder was thriving, with a .919 OPS over 17 games, a stretch in which the Mets went 11-6.

“The one thing I like about him is you can never really tell whether he is 0-for-8 the past couple of days or he’s coming off a couple of games where he hit a walk-off or had a game like this,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s going to show up the next day and be the same person and give you his best. It’s pretty impressive for a player his age.”   

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Devin Williams infused drama by walking the bases loaded in the ninth before escaping with the save. Williams struck out Dane Myers and Blake Dunn in succession to end it. The Reds left 17 runners on base.    

Jonah Tong created plenty of traffic in his bulk relief appearance but lived to tell the tale.

The right-hander surrendered three hits and four walks over 3 ²/₃ innings behind opener Huascar Brazobán, but only an unearned run scored on his watch.

It was a second straight effective bullpen outing for Tong, who pitched three hitless, shutout innings in Miami last Friday upon his recall to the Mets.

Soto’s first-inning homer against Andrew Abbott gave the Mets their initial run. The blast was Soto’s eighth in 12 games and second in as many days.

“I keep thinking to do damage every time, but the difference is the results,” Soto said. “I just feel good. I have been seeing the ball well and swinging the bat well. Just do damage whenever I can.”

Eric Wagaman, who started at DH to give the Mets an extra right-handed bat in the lineup, homered with two outs in the second to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Wagaman hit nine homers in a full season for the Marlins last year.

Tong’s throwing error on Elly De La Cruz’s grounder leading off the third led to the Reds scoring an unearned run. Eugenio Suárez drew a two-out walk in the inning, and Nathaniel Lowe’s RBI single sliced the Mets’ lead to 2-1.

De La Cruz’s error with two outs in the bottom of the inning helped the Mets extend their lead with an unearned run. Luis Torrens and Benge singled in succession, with the latter hit giving the Mets a 3-1 lead.

Sal Stewart’s infield single in the sixth pulled the Reds to within 3-2.

Myers allowed a leadoff double to Tyler Stephenson, and Blake Dunn singled before Brooks Raley plunked De La Cruz. With two outs, Stewart’s roller to third brought in the run.

A.J. Ewing’s diving catch in center on Dane Myers’ line drive ended the top of the seventh with the tying run on first base following a walk to Stephenson.

Benge’s RBI single in the seventh gave the Mets a 4-2 cushion.

Jared Young’s pinch-hit single leading off started the rally. He reached second on a wild pitch.

“I am just trying to stay short,” Benge said, referring to his swing on high fastballs. “Just put it in play and not try to do too much, and things have been working out.”

The San Diego Padres completed their longest homestand of the season by being swept. The Philadelphia Phillies, who had been in a slump of their own, got well against the Padres. There were no blowouts; the Phillies never scored more than four runs in any of the three games. It’s just that the Padres scored three runs total for the whole series, being shutout twice. 

Over the nine home games, the Padres won the series against the A’s two games to one and lost the series against the Dodgers two games to one. Finishing the home stand with a 3-6 record, the Friars went from being 0.5 games up on the Dodgers for the division lead to being four games back and tied for second/third with the Diamondbacks.

The poor stretch dropped them to a 31-24 overall record, which is still in the Wild Card hunt, but who cares in May?

Takeaways from the first third

It will not come as a shock to any Padres fan to state that the offense has been largely absent for the whole start of the season. We have watched the rare explosion followed by multiple runs of offensive mediocrity. 

Everyone knows the struggles of Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill, and Manny Machado are a large part of why this team has been so ineffective as a group.  The best hitter on the team continues to be a guy who has been on the injured list since early May, in Luis Campusano. Semi-regular first baseman Ty France and most-of-the-time DH Miguel Andujar are the only other hitters with anything resembling normal numbers.

Over their last 10 games the Padres have a 4-6 record. They have played to a 16-16 record at home and a 15-8 record on the road. They are 9-15 against teams with a .500 or better win percentage.

For April, when they were winning multiple games with late-game heroics, the Padres played to an 18-7 record. In May, when those heroics have mostly failed to materialize, they are 12-13 with three games left to play on the road against the red-hot Washington Nationals.

The numbers don’t lie

The Padres, as a team, are hitting .215, last in MLB. Their OBP is .291, last in MLB. The team slug is .361, 29th in MLB (ironically, the New York Mets are the worst). The team OPS is .652, again only one off the worst (Mets again).

They have improved in the home run category, now sitting 18th with 55, and have 207 RBI, good for 24th. The run differential sits at -1 for the season.

Although the eye test tells us that the starting pitching is also an area of concern, it is far from the most concerning. The bullpen, which started the season with some clunkers, is back to being the best in baseball.

The team ERA sits at 3.83, 12th in MLB. Starters are responsible for a 4.47 ERA (19th), and the bullpen has a 3.07 ERA(1st).

One area that does not bode well for the starting corps is the strikeout ranking. The Padres starters have 234 strikeouts, good for 26th in MLB. The bullpen has 232 strikeouts; they rank fourth in MLB. 

April was an illusion?

The amazing come-from-behind and final innings heroics of the Padres offense in April were an unsustainable fact. You can’t play a whole season like that, but it was fun while it lasted.

The Padres hitters chase too much, strike out too much, and hit a ton of ground balls. Many of those groundballs go directly to a defender. Much has been made of the fact that Fernando Tatis Jr. hasn’t hit a home run. That situation weighs on the minds of many fans, and probably Tatis himself. 

It seems pretty easily explained if you look at his stats. He is not hitting the ball in the air to the pull side. His 25.8% pull rate in the air compares negatively to the 39.4% of the rest of the team and all of MLB. There is nothing wrong with his bat speed, or barrel rate, or his launch angle and sweet spot data. The only glaring issue is that he is hitting a ton of balls into the ground and fly balls to right field.

Apparently, this is not an easy problem to fix, or we wouldn’t still be obsessing over it.

But Tatis is not the only problem. Manny Machado is hitting .169. Amazingly, he is on track to come close to his season numbers for home runs and RBI as he currently sits at nine homers and 27 RBI, a third of the way through the season.

Jackson Merrill is hitting .200 with 19 RBI  and a .271 OBP. He has struck out 55 times, second most to Ramón Laureano at 64 (he is hitting .211).

Primary catcher Freddy Fermin has a .140 average, which is worse than either Martin Maldonado or Elias Diaz in 2025. Rodolfo Durán has filled in great defensively but he is hitting .100.

The two main bench players, Sung-Mun Song and Bryce Johnson see very little playing time and are both hitting below .200.

The bench player getting the most playing time, Nick Castellanos, is hitting .186. He has four home runs and 19 RBI.

What is to come?

This can’t be the reality for this season, right? This many good baseball players can’t be this bad for a whole season. It just seems illogical to think that players who have track records and histories of success will stay this bad for months.

It should be obvious at this point, however, that the turnaround has to be soon. Before they dig themselves into a hole they can’t climb out of. The end of May is too soon to panic, but there has to be improvement. This kind of baseball is not only frustrating; it’s also boring.

The coming road trip to Washington and then to Philadelphia to play the Phillies could provide some clarity. The Nationals are playing above what was expected of them and the Phillies always play the Padres tough, especially at home. 

We need a reverse course, and it needs to come soon.

For the first time in their last seven games, the Mets scored more than two runs, and it turns out that it’s a lot easier to win a baseball game when that happens. A relative explosion of offense saw the team win 4-2 in their series finale against the Reds tonight at Citi Field, a win that snapped a five-game losing streak that might’ve felt even longer if the Mets hadn’t already lost twelve in a row earlier this season.

Juan Soto opened the scoring with a solo home run that he lofted and hooked a little bit inside the right field foul pole. He went on to have a 2-for-3 night with a walk, and whatever is occasionally ailing his right wrist when he swings and misses lately doesn’t seem to be having much of an effect on his performance when he makes contact.

In the bottom of the second, Mets designated hitter Eric Wagaman—a phrase you certainly wouldn’t have expected to hear when the season began—hit a solo shot that was much more of the no-doubt variety. It was his first hit as a Met, having joined the organization on a waiver claim from the Twins in late April, and he hit it 110.1 miles per hour to left field.

The Reds got on the board in the top of the third with an unearned run off Jonah Tong, who worked as the bulk guy after Huascar Brazobán made another successful appearance as an opener. Tong himself committed the error that allowed Elly De La Cruz to reach first base to start the inning, and he eventually came around to score on a two-out single by Nathaniel Lowe.

Tong was neither efficient nor dominant, but he did manage to keep the Mets in front through his three-and-two-thirds innings work. He walked four and only struck out one batter, gave up three hits, and threw 76 pitches. But his first two major league appearances this year have been encouraging.

Speaking of rookies, Carson Benge had himself a big night, as he went 2-for-4 with an impressive pair of RBI singles in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively. The one in the fifth that plated the Mets’ third run of the night turned out to be the difference maker.

Tobias Myers got into a quick jam in the top of the sixth, giving up leadoff double and a one-out single to put runners on the corners before Carlos Mendoza gave him the hook. Brooks Raley loaded the bases with a hit-by-pitch and got the second out of the inning before an infield single to third base allowed the Reds to score to get back within one run.

Raley and Luke Weaver wound up recording four outs apiece to get the Mets to the top of the ninth with their lead—which had grown by a run with Benge’s seventh-inning single—intact. And Devin Williams tried his best to lets the Reds score, issuing back-to-back walks to begin the ninth before getting a strikeout and issuing a third walk to load the bases. Fortunately, he struck out the next two batters he faced, earning one of the most laborious saves you’ll ever see.

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Win Probability Added

Big Mets winner: Carson Benge, +17% WPA
Big Mets loser: Mark Vientos, -8% WPA
Mets pitchers: +36% WPA
Mets hitters: +14 % WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Devin Williams strikes out Blake Dunn to end the game, +14.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Sal Stewart hits an infield single to score a run in the sixth, -12.1% WPA

The Royals were swept by the Yankees in the season series for the second year in a row, losing Wednesday evening 7-0.

Tonight’s game was a pitchers’ duel through the first six innings. The 17th batter of the evening, Michael Massey, was the first hitter who managed to reach base when he hit a liner down the first base line in the bottom of the 3rd by hitting line. It looked like the Royals would have the first run of the day when he was followed by a Maikel Garcia single to right. Unfortunately, Aaron Judge gunned down Massey at the plate.

Gerrit Cole looked in control from the outset. His 4-seam fastball and slider were both moving a little faster and spinning more than in his first start against Tampa Bay last week. The Royals, who are 19th in the majors as a team in strike out rate, were punched out 10 times by Gerrit in just innings 6 2/3 innings. He only had two counts where the hitter had 3 balls and 59 of his 79 pitches were for strikes. It is always hard to know how much to blame the offense and how much to credit the pitcher in a game like this. Cole looked like his dominant old self today.

Noah Cameron was very good too, just not anywhere near as dominant as Cole. His final line of 5IP, 4H, 1BB, 2ER, 4K is not amazing, but it was against one of the best lineups in the game and part of the two runs was a weird bounce off of the left field wall to get Ben Rice an RBI triple and then in on a sac fly. Both of those came in the top of the 4th. The only other trouble he got into was in the 6th when Paul Goldschmidt singled to lead off the inning and then Rice walked. John Schreiber was called on to bail him out and bail him out he did. Aaron Judge grounded into a double play and was promptly followed by a Cody Bellinger flyout to keep the 2-0 score through six.

In the seventh, Nick Mears took over and made some trouble for himself too, though in part it was BABIP luck with Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon both singling on poor contact. Sandwiched between those two was a walk to Anthony Volpe, so the bases were loaded. Nick almost escaped, getting a lineout from Jose Caballero and then a strikeout of Austin Wells, but he could not find the third out. Goldschmidt walked in the Yankees third run, which resulted in Mears being pulled. Alex Lange then allowed two more runs on a ground ball to the left of Vinnie Pasquantino and the Royals had 9 outs left with a 5 run deficit to make up. It only got worse from there.

Mason Black was the next out of the pen for Kansas City. He also got touched up. McMahon hit a two-run line drive into the visitor’s bullpen with one on to move the score to 7-0. So, just like last year, the Royals faced the Yankees twice and were swept in both series. It will be at least 2027 before the Royals pick up a win against the Yanks who they last dispatched on October 7th, 2024. Next up for the Royals is a 10-game road trip where they will face Texas, Cincinnati, and Minnesota. They have struggled on the road this year, though they just struggled through a homestand too, so it cannot be much worse.

After six straight games of scoring two runs or less, the Mets offense was able to give their pitching staff enough run support to secure a 4-2 win on Wednesday night at Citi Field.

This win snapped a five-game losing streak as the Mets (23-33) avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds (29-26).

Here are the takeaways...

-Mets relief pitcher Huascar Brazobán opened the game with a clean frame, surrendering two runners on base by striking out Cincinnati's DH, Eugenio Suárez.

-Surging superstar Juan Soto sent a hanging Andrew Abbott curveball over the right field fence to give the Mets a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, his seventh homer in the last 11 days and his 11th of the season.

-Jonah Tong served as the bulk reliever for the Mets tonight. While he struggled with his command, walking four batters and striking out just one, Tong limited the damage, surrendering just one unearned run through 3.2 innings. He was relieved by Tobias Myers.

-In his first game as a Met, exactly a month after being claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Twins, DH Eric Wagaman hit a solo shot to left field in his first at-bat.

-Mets right fielder Carson Benge singled home Brett Baty in the bottom of the fifth inning, extending New York's lead to 3-1.

-With Reds baserunners on first and third and nobody out in the top of the sixth inning, Brooks Raley relieved Myers. An infield single by Sal Stewart scored one run to close the gap on the scoreboard, but Raley was able to get out of the jam for the Mets with the lead still intact at 3-2.

-Jared Young led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a leadoff double, and was eventually driven home by a two-out RBI single by Benge. 

-Devin Williams walked the bases loaded in the top of the ninth with the game on the line, but held firm, striking out Dane Myers and Blake Dunn to secure his eighth save of the season and the 4-2 win.

Game MVP: Carson Benge

Benge's two RBI were the difference tonight for the Mets. Both of Benge's hits were singles to center field in two-strike counts with two outs in the inning. Clutch hitting from the rookie leadoff hitter.

Highlights

Embed

Juan Soto's home run celebration looks familiar 👀 pic.twitter.com/TmuOac1fpe

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) May 27, 2026

 

Carson Benge worked an eight-pitch at-bat before his RBI single 👏 pic.twitter.com/BjDSnaOBaZ

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) May 28, 2026

What's Next

The Mets begin a three-game series at home against the division rival Miami Marlins on Friday night. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m.

Freddy Peralta (3.52 ERA) is slated to toe the rubber for the Mets, while breakout righty Max Meyer (2.52 ERA) is expected to start for the Marlins.

The Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-0, on Wednesday to complete the sweep.  

New York has now won four straight games, improving to 34-22 on the season.

Here are the takeaways....

-- Making only his second start of the season, Gerrit Cole loked like his old self on Wednesday night. The right-hander tossed 6.2 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts, allowing just four hits. His fastball topped out at 98.4 mph and averaged 96.3 mph on the night.

Cole opened with a 1-2-3 first inning, including back-to-back strikeouts of Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino. He let up his first hit of the night in the third inning on a double to Michael Massey, and after another strikeout, gave up a single to Maikel Garcia. Luckily, Cole got some help from Aaron Judge in RF, throwing out Massey at home on Garcia's single for the third out of the inning.

He stayed in a groove and retired eight straight from the fourth through sixth innings, including four strikeouts. Garcia snapped the streak with a two-out double, but he got Witt to fly out to end the frame. Cole got two outs in the seventh inning, and was then pulled after 79 pitches with a runner on first base.

-- Paul Goldschmidt got the Yanks first hit of the game in the top of the fourth inning and he'd come around to score on Ben Rice's triple off the LF wall. Rice would then score on Judge's sacrifice fly as New York took a 2-0 lead.

-- Goldschmidt and Rice reached base again in the top of the sixth inning, but Judge grounded into a 6-4-3 double play and Cody Bellinger flied out to end the scoring chance.

The duo bounced back in the seventh inning and found ways to produce for New York. Goldschmidt picked up an RBI on a bases-loaded walk and Rice drove in two more on a single to make it a 5-0 game. Rice finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a walk, while Goldschmidt went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a walk.

-- McMahon added insurance runs in the top of the eighth inning with a two-run HR, pushing the lead to 7-0.

-- Fernando Cruz kept Cole's line clean by getting Lane Thomas to line out to right field for the third out of the seventh. He continued the shutout by tossing a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Camilo Doval got three groundouts in the ninth to close it down.

Game MVP: Gerrit Cole

The former AL Cy Young Award winner was locked in, recording his first 10 strikeout game since Aug. 10, 2024. 

Highlights

What a catch by Jose Caballero!pic.twitter.com/56hwernhpc

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 27, 2026

What a throw from Aaron Judge to get the runner out at home!pic.twitter.com/m7h2o3m7i1

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 28, 2026

Ben Rice with the RBI triple 💪pic.twitter.com/2Pvyq7fHu2

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 28, 2026

9 strikeouts for Gerrit Cole in 5 innings 🔥pic.twitter.com/n4pREIXgyo

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 28, 2026

Ben Rice drives in two runs to extend the lead to 5-0pic.twitter.com/n7uTW2Epn2

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 28, 2026

Ryan McMahon homers to make the lead 7-0 pic.twitter.com/kE6mxN81cb

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 28, 2026

What's next

The Yankees remain on the road and head West to Sacramento to face the Athletics on Friday at 9:40 p.m.

Carlos Rodon (0-2, 4.15 ERA) faces former Yankee Luis Severino (2-5, 4.23 ERA).

One Piece Night is returning at Dodger Stadium this summer.

The Dodgers announced they will host One Piece Night on July 2, when they host the Padres.

The first 40,000 in attendance are eligible to receive a One Piece straw hat as a promotional item ahead of the game.

Tickets have skyrocketed in price; the cheapest seat at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium is $157, while the most expensive seat is going for $2,337 (as of Wednesday).

Last season, One Piece Night was among the most popular promotions at Dodger Stadium. The first 40,000 who showed up received a co-branded straw hat, as well as a trading card of the show’s main character, Monkey D. Luffy.

One Piece Night is scheduled the same day that Anime Expo begins at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The convention is considered one of the biggest events of the summer in Los Angeles; more than 410,000 from 65 different countries attended last year’s convention.

One Piece is considered one of the best-selling manga series of all time after it was created by Eiichiro Oda in 1997.

In 1999, One Piece went from books to the television screen, and it is an anime series that is still on the air today, with 22 seasons.

In 2023, a live-action version of the show was created as a direct-to-streaming show on Netflix. So far, the live version of the show has premiered two seasons, while a highly anticipated third season is set to come out in 2027.

Shohei Ohtani faces Tomoyuki Sugano as the Dodgers look to sweep the Colorado Rockies.

WEDNESDAY GAME INFO

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Rockies
• Stadium: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 (Spanish)

Every baseball season has at least a few of these games for every team, but that doesn’t make it fun when it happens to the one you root for. On Wednesday night, the Braves had to suffer through a bunch of things that they didn’t even come close to overcoming: an awful Bryce Elder effort, bad luck on both sides of the ball, and bad defense. That’s how you lose 8-0. It is what it is.

Most of this game didn’t really have anything warranting discussion, and pretty much everything hinged on one inning where the Red Sox plated six runs. Bryce Elder wasn’t particularly good up to that point, with just a 1/0 K/BB ratio through the first three frames. Whatever mechanical adjustments he had made to move up a performance notch this season were seemingly absent, and his pitches were all over the place in eminently hittable ways. A great throw from left field cut down a runner at the plate for the third out in the first, and Elder was relying heavily on his defense in this one.

Which, of course, made it a real issue when the defense stopped backing him up. In the bottom of the fourth, Elder threw a four-seamer down the middle, and it turned into a hard-hit leadoff single. He then had a pretty gross walk (falling behind 3-0, non-competitive 3-2 pitch) to put two on. A bunt moved the runners over and brought up Marcelo Mayer. Elder threw a cutter up and in and Mayer somehow chopped it weakly to Matt Olson at first, but Olson booted it, and it was 1-0 in favor of Boston. Elder then threw a slider that didn’t quite dive as far as it needed to, and it was yanked into left field to make it 2-0. A bloop single on another down-the-pipe four-seamer loaded the bases, and Cedanne Rafaela unloaded them by mashing a meaty first-pitch sinker into left field. That was it for Elder, but Wilyer Abreu got some revenge for Michael Harris II’s onslaught and his own game-ending grounder from last night by hitting a Dylan Dodd pitch below the zone up the middle for a two-run single. So, in the span of not very long at all, it went from a tie game to a 6-0 rout.

This wasn’t Elder’s only bad start of the year (he also had some pretty bad pitching against Detroit and Cleveland), but it’s the sort of thing he needs to avoid to keep the good times rolling. He didn’t really have any trouble bouncing back after those other outings, but he has absolutely no margin for error of just kind of throwing pitches willy-nilly across the strike zone, nor for forcing his defense to make every play because he’s not striking anyone out.

Offensively, the Braves didn’t do much, but it wasn’t entirely for lack of trying. To be fair, Connelly Early had a nice game (7/3 K/BB ratio in seven innings), but things could’ve been different. Ozzie Albies hit into an inning-ending double play with two on in the first. Chadwick Tromp struck out to end the second, stranding two more. Ha-Seong Kim hit a ball decently well with a man on and two outs in the fourth, but it went for a harmless flyout.

Even after the game imploded, the Braves’ lack of sequencing and BABIP fortune didn’t end. Olson had a barreled out to start the sixth. After Tromp doubled in the seventh, Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a 100+ mph liner… but right at the right fielder. Meanwhile, the Red Sox added a seventh run on a seeing-eye roller and a bloop. The top of the eighth was probably the silliest in this regard, as the Braves had two hard liners, a weak fly ball, and a walk, but none of those balls in play found grass. Jarren Duran made it 8-0 with a crush job off Carlos Carrasco, and the game ended with, what else — a hard liner out off the bat of Tromp.

Not much else to say, really — it happens, it sucks. I played catch with my kid after the game got out of hand, and that was a lot more fun to pay attention to than the Braves lining out over and over while the Red Sox sprayed the ball through the fielders.

The Braves can still win the series tomorrow behind Chris Sale, though they’ll need to overcome Payton Tolle and avoid all the nightmarish stuff that happened tonight to do so.

Cristopher Sanchez has now gone to a place where no Phillies pitcher has visited since the dead ball era.

Yes, really.

The left-hander extended his scoreless streak to 44 2/3 innings with seven zeros during Wednesday’s 3-0 victory over the Padres.

In the middle of the effort, he broke the previous scoreless record (41 innings) held by Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, set in 1911 — when the National League comprised eight teams.

Sanchez went the entire month of May (five starts, 39 innings) without allowing a single run. He was last charged with runs on his ledger in the first inning of an April 30 start against the Giants.

Since then, his record is as clean as it could be.

“I just told them it was something special for me,” Sánchez told reporters after Wednesday’s win, which sealed a three-game sweep over San Diego. “First I thanked God and then I thanked all my teammates and everyone around me for their support. It’s really special to have their support, in the good times and through the rough times as well. That’s something I admire with this group.

“This is a game that it’s not only about me or about what I do on the mound, it’s about our group and I think it’s really something special and beautiful to feel the support of the team as a whole.”

Sanchez, an All-Star in 2024, finished second in the National League Cy Young race last year and is making the case early this year to win the award. His 1.62 ERA leads the NL, and he’s the only pitcher in the big leagues this year with a shutout.

“It’s a lot of fun right now,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said, according to MLB.com. “I mean, he’s just been so dominant. He makes my job easy. It’s kind of like playing a video game back there.

“I just press buttons and then he executes.”

Sanchez still has a ways to go for the overall MLB record of 59 innings held by Orel Hershiser.